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

[marvel_boy]

He wouldn't need to stand their awkwardly for too long. Topher had heard a new student was arriving, and given that he'd been told to wait in the lobby alone...well.

Sometimes that tended to scare newbies if they weren't used to the whole people with powers thing.

"Hey," he said, putting on his most welcoming smile. "New guy, right?" As if Topher didn't know. He knew everyone at the school by virtue of practically having grown up there. His parents had been X-Men on and off since practically the beginning. "I'm Topher. Topher Summers. Welcome to the Xavier Institute."

The Cake is Not a Lie

[dolemeck]

Once he made his way to the kitchen with Ilya, Dolemeck wheeled himself behind the counter to start getting out the things he would need to make him his cake. The Chicken pot pies he spoke of were out and ready for students to eat for lunch. Already a majority of them were gone, but there was enough left for himself, Ilya, and a few other people.

"Alright... they still look warm!" Dolemeck took note, floating a plate over to Ilya, and then a chicken pot pie to sit on it. "Grab yourself a fork and a knife and dig in! I will get to work on that cake for you."

[nohoundsallowed]

Rachel went through the file SHIELD had given her one last time. She wanted to be familiar with this special case. Even if it really wasn't the strangest personal experience by a person on the campus, but it certainly was unique. She closed the file with a sigh and leaned back in her chair.

This meeting would certainly be interesting. She sent one of the students who had been loitering near her office to have the newest Xavier's student come to her office.

[shadeblossom]

Hana got the usual staff notice that a new student arrived. She liked to know a little about where each one was from so that she could occasionally try to work some local dishes into the school menu. It was nice to give them a little bit of home every now and then.

When she heard they were getting a student from Russia, she was very excited! Misha had been helping her with her Russian speaking and she'd tried her hand at a few dishes, but it was exciting to get a fresh perspective on her progress. And another guinea pig for her recipe experiments, since the local kids sometimes didn't care much for Russian fare.

Hana checked with Rachel to see where Ilya would be roomed until the dorms opened and popped into the room before he was scheduled to arrive. She left a small, white box tied with pink ribbon on the desk in the room with a note written in Russian attached:

Welcome to Xavier's! I'm Hana Blaire. I run the kitchen here. I hope your trip here was pleasant and I hope you're settling in well.

I'm looking forward to meeting you. I've been learning the Russian language and cooking for a while now. I would be pleased to have a chance to practice more. Feel free to stop by the kitchen and say hello any time!

In the meantime, I hope these vatrushka give you a little taste of home while you're setting in.

Hana Blaire

Inside the box, there were two sweet dough pastries with a rich, sweet cheese filling.