Even when Yuri still had dreams of going to college, he'd never set his sights as high as the kind of school where he finds himself now. He takes in a deep breath as he smells the air, looking around at the green lawn from the open window of the classroom in which he finds himself. It's beautiful in an old fashioned kind of way, if kind of deserted -- is it summer? -- and Yuri has to remind himself not to be bitter. Going to school wouldn't have mattered much anyway with the way things turned out, and if he had been away at college Erik might have been taken by the rift without him.

Not that his older brother being around had done Erik much good anyway.

A skittering sound from behind a under a desk startles him and draws him away from his maudlin thoughts. It sounds way too big to be a rodent and kind of too small to be a person, but somehow he doesn't feel the least bit worried about what it might be as he goes to investigate. Stooping, he spots something fluffy and white entangled in the legs of a chair, and a smile erupts across his face. "Well, what are you doing here, boy?" he asks.

"I'm not a boy, Yuri," replies the dog, pausing in her efforts to extricate herself and giving him an insulted, hurt look. "Um...help?"

"Oh! No -- no, of course you're not. Here, let me --" Why does it feel like he should have known? Yuri gently manipulates the dog's legs, pressing long fur down flat to help her squeeze through and get loose. She gives her whole body a shake as soon as she's free, and Yuri helps smooth down some fur that's pointing the wrong way. "What's your name?" he asks in a daze, wondering why he's not wondering why she can talk or where she came from.

"Penza," says the dog, and Yuri can't help but feel again that he should have already known that. "Come on, let's get out of here. I don't think I want to be alone with my thoughts in here."

"Me neither," agrees Yuri, holding the door open for her as they step out into the hall. "But I don't think going outside will help much."