Lost Count

Talk

When Artyom got back from his scouting mission, Pavel stepped forwards to pull him aside. I need to talk to you, Artyomshka. Please it's important. But Artyom shot him one look and shake of the head before going to Miller, flattening his hand and sweeping it out from his chest. Artyom's symbol for 'not now, later'. It made sense, as it would be easier to talk once they got out of this damned place. But Pavel still couldn't help but feel a little bit hurt by the rejection.

Artyom was to take Duke and Krest to the docks to steal a tugboat. They would then go to the bridge and find a way to get the train past. The rest of them had to get the Aurora ready for travel, securing the new train carriage and Krest's railcar properly. Pavel quickly volunteered himself to take a watch cycle as well as cleanup duty, eager for something to distract him until they left the river behind. The Tsar-Fish cultists seemed to want them to leave as well, so perhaps there wouldn't be any unneeded bloodshed. Working with the other men on the crew gave him some more insight as to their lives and values. They seemed nice enough, beginning to warm up to him the more he showed dedication to the team.

Maybe in time he would be able to call himself one of them.

Pavel found himself gravitating to Damir the most, as the soft spoken man often took initiative to check up on him. It was nice to see one of the Rangers showing concern for someone who wasn't one of them, and Pavel appreciated the sentiment. It also came to his attention that Damir was one of the men who had helped him carry Artyom back through VDNKh when he was wounded. As their resident medic he was often deeply concerned about everyone's well being, even going so far as to ask Pavel how he was doing after falling onto that old abandoned bunker.

What a stupid idea that was. He had just been tired of it all, wanting to go off on his own for a while. He never meant to trip and fall like an idiot, tumbling down into some hole and nearly knocking himself out on a bit of exposed pipe.

"Hey, man. You're one of us now, like it or not," Damir had said as they were hauling supplies. "It doesn't matter who you were before, only who you will be. Sometimes I felt like I didn't belong with the Rangers either, but they took me in regardless and I have no regrets." A pause as Pavel grunted and shoved a couple of heavy bags into a locker. "And if Artyom trusts you then I do, too."

"Um, thanks..." Pavel replied, almost a bit uncertainly. It was nice to know he had at least one ally here, someone who didn't seem to know or care about what he did before down in the Metro. He didn't want to get on any of their bad sides, as that was a surefire way of being left behind with no one to help him. Even if he didn't entirely agree with their current goal of making it to the Yamantau bunker. He still didn't think that any of this nonsense about 'occupying forces' was true. It had been over twenty damn years! It was simply impossible for a war to go on for that long, not to mention the absolute devastation that the world was already facing. There just simply weren't enough people to keep a war going on for that long. "Good to know. The same goes for you as well. Anyone Artyom trusts is good in my book."

Damir smiled at that and Pavel felt something deep in his chest tremble.

~*~

"How is it you can live in Metro for twenty years and still have shit Russian?" Pavel asked as the train thrummed beneath their feet. Sam laughed at the remark and shook his head, leaning back in his chair. They were making their way to the bridge now, where Artyom and Duke were waiting.

"You try learning a new language and alphabet when you're a couple years past your prime. I may be fluent now but you should have heard me when Miller first nabbed me." Sam straightened in his seat and then spouted out some of the most horribly accented Russian that could have ever graced Pavel's ears. He couldn't help but to burst out laughing at the sound. It made Miller, who was looking out through one of the windows, whip his head around to fix Sam with an incredulous look.