An Urban Myth? (Russia & Switzerland)

"Why do we have to take the metro to your house, Russia?", Switzerland asked when they stood on the escalator that took them down to the metro station Revolution Square, Ploshchad Revolyutsii. He was at Russia's place for business affairs—whenever he visited Moscow, it was on business—and Russia had invited him to stay at his house. Of course, he had agreed. Russia might be scary at times, but saving the expenses for a hotel could never be wrong.

"Erm…" Russia tried to hide his face behind his scarf; a sure sign he was blushing. "My style of driving … you know … my driver license…"

"You lost your driver license?" Switzerland looked at Russia in mild surprise. On the one hand, he wasn't actually surprised because he was familiar with Russia's driving style. On the other hand, he had assumed the avatar of Russia was among those who were "more equal" and didn't have to worry about losing his driver license. "But why didn't we take a cab, then?"

"I wanted to show you something", Russia said mysteriously.

"In the metro station?"

Russia nodded; it was almost imperceptible because he still hid behind his scarf.

"Oh, so you wanted to show me the metro station because it looks like a palace?", Switzerland said when they were underground. They were standing in a hall before the platform where lustres hung from the ceiling and reliefs and mosaics were everywhere.

"Da," Russia said. "That's not what I wanted to show you most, though. Look at those bronze sculptures in the alcoves; aren't they beautiful?"

Switzerland looked—and failed to see what was so special about them for Russia. To him, the statues looked pretty much like the average works of art Socialist realism had created.

"There are 76 statues in total", Russia said proudly. "They show the people of the Soviet Union: farmers, industrial workers, soldiers…"

"That's a really large number of statues for just one metro station," Switzerland had to admit.

"…and they have magical powers!", Russia continued, beaming at Switzerland with his trademark smile.

Switzerland didn't really know how to look; he didn't want to offend Russia by showing him his incredulity. In the end, he settled for a neutral facial expression. Neutral country—neutral expression.

"You see, students from the Bauman Technical University say certain wishes will come true when you touch certain statues," Russia explained. "There's the border guard's dog, for example." He pointed at it. "It's probably best known among all of the statues because stroking its snout brings good luck in exams."

"Ah … yes?" Switzerland, Calvinist Protestant that he was, still tried to make sense of what Russia told him. "So this is sort of a … socialist urban myth?"

"It's not a myth!", Russia objected sulkily. "It actually works! Look, if a woman touches the leg of this statue of a mother with a little boy over there, it will help her to have children. One of my assistants did so after she got married and she has two healthy little children now!"

She'd probably have had healthy children anyway, Switzerland thought to himself. He had to pull himself together; otherwise, he would have told Russia his actual opinion about the statues.

"And this one"—Russia continued his sightseeing tour, gesturing at the statue of a farmer's chanticleer—"will bring you good luck in financial matters!"

In the same moment, they heard the sounds of an incoming train from afar.

"I guess we'd better hurry if we want to catch the next train!", Russia exclaimed and turned to walk through one of the marble arches in order to reach the platform.

Switzerland shot the chanticleer a doubtful glance. Then, he quickly brushed his fingers over it before he hurried after Russia.

Even if it didn't work, it couldn't hurt, after all, could it?

Notes

Ploshchad Revolyutsii (Пло́щадь Револю́ции) is a metro station in central Moscow below Revolution Square that opened in 1938. The station was designed by Soviet architect Alexey Nikolayevich Dushkin (Алексе́й Никола́евич Ду́шкин, 1904-1977) and the bronze sculptures were formed by Matvey Genrikhovich Manizer (Матве́й Ге́нрихович Ма́низер, 1891-1966). I got the idea for this fic after watching a Weltspiegel report about the statues.