"You grew up here?" there's a little note of envy in his voice, mixed with a sort of uncertainty. People should grow up with their parents and if instead Topher's grown up here, then... Well, Ilya won't assume anything. Maybe Topher has mutant parents or parents who work here. Ilya doubts there will be many others like himself with no one they know left.

"I'm not sure how to make myself at home. I grew up in a small town." A beat, as he processes what 'small town' means in New York versus Chukotka. "By which I mean there were a hundred and four people back home." They could probably fit the town's population in the Institute if they needed to. The thought is dizzying.

He tenses visibly at Topher's next words. "I... well. Uh." He has a sinking feeling, a spike of nerves suddenly. He's not sure if Chukchi religious practices count as witchcraft or not and he's not about to ask and out himself. "I see. What part of Russia was she from?" It's a doomed question, because if the answer isn't 'Siberia' or 'the Russian Far East' then he's going to immediately feel like the primitive of the East stuck in her shadow.