Not In Siberia Anymore [Intro; Open to everyone at the Institute]

[kid_from_chukotka]

Ilya stood in the lobby of the mansion, attempting not to panic. While his SHIELD handler worked out the final paperwork, she'd benignly told him to stay there. The thing of it was, though, he was pretty sure that an entire apartment complex from home could fit in here. He tried not to fidget as it continued to hit home just how far away from, well, home that he was. The world seemed suddenly much too big, leaving him motionless as he tried to figure out what to do. He looked at his bags and wondered if he should take them up to his room... except he had no idea where his room was. And despite SHIELD having taught him fluent English, the Russian was loathe to call out for help and say something stupid and grammatically incorrect. He didn't want to look like an idiot right after he'd walked through the door.

So the fifteen year old stood there, glancing around awkwardly, silent as a mouse.

Comments

[kid_from_chukotka]

It's not like I want to compare myself to other people. I just can't help it. I don't know what SHIELD put in my file, but there's... kind of a cultural pressure I'm not sure how to explain in any language. After all, being Chukchi or being any minority was an experience that people who weren't had never gone through and never would. Being a mutant is another layer on top of it, making him a minority within a minority, giving him more to prove. He can't screw up.

[nohoundsallowed]

Rachel kept her calm, placid expression up. She sat easily in the chair, but the part of her mind that Ilya could not see was noting things on a more professional level. Things she would have to counsel him for that had been in the file and were being borne out in conversation.

Well, you have my permission not to. It'll be a habit you'll need to refine. Being a little competitive is fine; putting yourself under undue pressure is something to watch out for. You're equal to any student here in terms of how you'll be graded and mentored during your education. If you make mistakes, we'll help learn from them.

[kid_from_chukotka]

I'm not sure it's undue pressure. Shouldn't everyone aspire to do their best? And also, in a case of proving in one sentence how much he misses the point, I'll try not to make any mistakes.

[nohoundsallowed]

"There's doing your best, and then unreasonable expectations of perfection. Mistakes help in the learning process." She smiled as she slowly untethered their minds. She wasn't remotely tired of it, but she had done enough assessing and giving Ilya a taste of what his own powers could do once he was trained enough.

"Mistakes are fine. Never learning from them or being so careful you never make them leads to problems. But that's something we can discuss later. It's your first day here. I should let you settle in."

[kid_from_chukotka]

"My level of 'mistake' is different from other people. I don't make little mistakes, just big ones. And I don't want to do that kind of thing anymore." His view of the world had been skewed; one wrongly timed joke had changed his life and put him in a gulag. Ilya didn't know how or why, but when he screwed up it tended to be a vivid thing, and these people were too nice to inflict himself on. Really, if it hadn't been this or SHIELD, he wouldn't be here at all. He's too inadequate.

"Um, about settling in - if I get a room mate, are they, uh, going to know about the whole fifty-nine-years-on-ice thing?" That's not a story he wants getting out among the other students.

[nohoundsallowed]

Rachel smiled wryly. "You're in a school filled with big mistakes, and I'm not talking about the students. I don't think there's anyone on the staff who hasn't made one, and we're all still here. We understand they can happen and will help you no matter the mistake. We're a school for mutants, we're infinitely kinder than the Russian government you know."

She considered him with her green eyes. Then she shook her head. "No. That's something for you to tell if you want to."

[kid_from_chukotka]

"What I know intellectually and what I feel are pretty different. My SHIELD handler said that's part of why I need to be here." Well, that and his SHIELD handler was a bit of a 'bro' who had declared Ilya needed to gt laid, but Ilya was steadfastly ignoring that because that would involve a lot more social skills than he even wanted to envision learning.

He sank back into his chair, relieved. "Spasibo, velikiy i moguchiy vorona v'nebe. I - I'm really not good with talking about it. I don't know why, but even though I talked to people at SHIELD about it, it's just really hard to get into. The whole thing makes me feel like I'm going to be sick and I don't know why... maybe I can work on that? I'll try, but I don't think I can get comfortable with it overnight. Is that okay?"

[nohoundsallowed]

"It'll take time, patience, and a little work, but the staff and myself will help feel less conflicted in that regard. Interacting with students might help in that regard as well." Rachel would have to do more than power training, but with Brooke more or less on an even keel, she would have some openings for counseling.

"We can work on that in the future. You're noticing lingering effects. So, it's something we can talk about when you're ready after you've gotten comfortable here." She spoke in a calm and smooth manner. No trace she knew exactly why he was having troubles. It would be something that would be handled further down that figurative road. It was just his first day at this school, settling in was in order.

[kid_from_chukotka]

"I think interacting with the students might be easier than with the teachers. I really don't want to disappoint any of them. But I've talked to a couple of the students here and they seem really nice, so it's already a very different atmosphere from back home. Less competitive - and that's not a Russian government thing, that's just a Russian thing, I think." It's a little hard to figure out how to work with that, with an acute lack of subtle or outright jabs and undercutting, but he could definitely get used to it. Better that than the fearful way SHIELD agents who weren't that much older looking than him acted around him.

"SHIELD went over it a lot. I guess they're worried about lingering effects. And I do have nightmares where I'm drowning in the Omolon River, or where I'm falling through the snow, so they're not wrong. I just hope I don't bother my room mate if I wake them up like that." He bites his lip, picturing his reputation sinking when it got out he was some kind of nutjob who couldn't get through the night without muttering to himself. Sure, it wasn't actually that common of an occurrence, but it couldn't be pleasant to live with.

[nohoundsallowed]

"Good thing you'll mostly be dealing with the students until classes start after Labor Day," she said with a grin. It wasn't that far off, but it would at least give him some buffer time. Rachel thought he needed some.

"I've taken those things under consideration while I work on assigning you a roommate. It'll be fine, Ilya." With all the negative emotions, she was not likely to put him in the same room as Topher, for instance. Thankfully, she had time to figure out a permanent roommate situation.

[kid_from_chukotka]

"I'm still trying to learn American holidays and the order they come in," he admitted. It was one of those new things he'd never even thought about before. "Thank you for doing all this for me. I know it's not easy having SHIELD dump a case like me on you, but I'll do what I can to make this work."

[nohoundsallowed]

There was the sound of a desk drawer opening and closing. A bound stack of papers floated up from behind Rachel's desk and over to her waiting hand. She grabbed them gently and then held them out to Ilya.

"Not many months left, but a lot of holidays coming. This will help you." She held out the small calendar with pictures of puppies for the months.

"It's no problem. We've had worse entries into the school, but either way, we're here to help."

[kid_from_chukotka]

"Thanks. I really need to learn to keep track of everything. I'm sure it'll get easier once I have some experience with it, though." He flips through the calendar and smiles at the cuteness. Puppies are a cure-all for that which ails him. "I wish there was something I could do to give back to the school, but... I'm not really at that point in my life, am I?" There's a note of defeat in his voice.