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

[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.