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Legasov reluctantly opens his eyes as he hears the sound of the house phone ringing. He lets out a low groan, before pushing the covers off of himself and shuffling out of bed. He pauses for a second after standing up to adjust to the temperature change.

He makes his way out into the hallway, and after flicking on the light switch he picks up the phone. “Hello?” He speaks up in a questioning tone, his voice slightly hoarse after just waking up.
“Valery Legasov, am I correct?” The voice on the other line says, sounding more gruff and firm than him.

It doesn’t seem like they are looking for an answer, so Legasov doesn’t give one and allows them to continue talking. “There’s been an incident with reactor 4 in Chernobyl, the Soviet Union has called upon you to help fix it.” Legasov’s ears twitch slightly, and he leans against the wall with a curious spread across his features.
“Well, you can’t just expect me to ‘fix’ a reactor on such short notice. It will take time and effort-“

But before he can finish, he’s interrupted. “I’m well aware of that, professor, but this is important.” The person sounds serious and straightforward, as if they expect Legasov to instantly understand what they want.
“May I at least know what the incident is?” Valery questions.

“They say there’s been an issue with the reactor, the control system tank exploded. The radiation, so I’ve been told, is 3.6 roentgen.” Legasov listened intently, starting to wake up a bit more as the reality of the situation dawns on him.

“3.6 roentgen is still an effective amount, you should evacuate people away from the reactor-“ Legasov points out.
“That’s not my job to do, all I’ve been told to do is inform you about a meeting this afternoon.”
“This afternoon…? That’s too late.”
“Make sure you’re present.” The person says, and a beeping sound is quickly heard before Legasov can protests. The man sighs as he puts the phone back in its hold.

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At 2 o’clock in the afternoon, Legasov turns up to the designated meeting spot and is told by a young rabbit (who most likely works there) to wait until 3 o’clock until the others are ready to see him. After being offered a cup of coffee and thanked for his wait, he thanks the lady and waits patiently until the clock strikes 3 o’clock.

He’s led inside a meeting room, and hesitantly walks around the table to the one empty chair. He sits down, trying to ignore how everyone’s gaze immediately travels to him as he steps into the room. He’s wearing a blue suit, with a white dress shirt underneath and a black tie to top it all off. In his opinion, he looks quite smart.

“Now, onto the topic of Chernobyl…” A male at the end of the table says, causing Legasov to glance over at him with interest clear in his gaze. The male appears to be a bear, with brown ears and a simple black suit on. Valery isn’t surprised by this, but upon looking around the room his gaze lands on a specific person. A spider. Is that even what it is? It appears so.

“I’ve been told that there’s only mild radiation, and that the situation with reactor 4 is under control.” The spider says, and it takes Legasov a second before he realises that their voice is familiar. Was that the man from the phone call? Or is he just imagining it?
“Thank you for the update, Boris. I trust that they know what they’re doing.” The bear says as he gives a small nod in the spider’s direction. Boris, huh? An odd name for a spider.

Boris lets out a low hum of agreement, and he suddenly looks up and meets Valery’s gaze. The two stare at each other for a few seconds, with Boris’ glare being cold and Legasov’s being dumbfounded. “Professor Legasov, if you have any concerns then you can discuss them with me after the meeting.” The spider suddenly says, which snaps Legasov out of his small trance.

“Wha- huh?” Legasov replies, shaking his head a bit and causing his ears to sway along with him. Boris’ gaze hardens as he observes the man.
“Pardon, you mean. And I’m assuming that you have something to say, since you’re staring at me as if you’re in shock.” Legasov simply goes silent, knowing that he would just embarrass himself if he admitted to staring at Boris for so long. But then he realises- he does have something to say.

He clears his throat a bit before pushing his chair back and standing up. He can feel his furry tail twitching slightly between his legs, but thankfully no one seems to have noticed. Not yet, at least. “You say that there’s only mild radiation, but right here-“ He pauses while pointing to a specific page in the booklet in front of him with his claw. “It says that a firefighter was burnt by a piece of smooth, black mineral.” He reads out the line he pointed to before looking up at everyone again. They’re all waiting for him to continue.

“Graphite. That smooth, black mineral was graphite. From inside the reactor core.” He frowns slightly while explaining what the object that burnt the firefighter is. This situation is a lot less under control than they’re saying it is, and Valery is only now realising that. Stupidly enough.
“Comrade Legasov, you must be mistaken. Nothing could have come from the reactor core.” Gorbachev quickly says.

Legasov scoffs quietly, having thought ahead and known that someone would have doubted his words. “We don’t know that. Just because they tell us that it’s under control doesn’t mean it is. And I hate to say it, but 3.6 roentgen is mostly certainly nowhere near the actual amount of radiation. That’s just how high the meter they had in that moment went.”

Everyone else sat at the table, stare at Legasov with wide and shocked eyes. They would have never expected him to point out the flaws of the situation so suddenly like that. But Boris stays calm, and shoots a harsh glare at Legasov again. Upon seeing the look he’s being give, Legasov quickly quiets down and sits down again awkwardly.

Gorbachev lets out a small sigh, and glances between Boris and Valery for a few seconds before speaking up again. “Boris, you shall go to Chernobyl with professor Legasov and see the reactor. Then you will report back to me the state that it is in.” He explains, leaving no room for argument as he stands up. Soon enough, everyone else stands up along with him.

Boris doesn’t seem pleased by the news, but he’s in no mood to protest since he knows Gorbachev will just dismiss his argument. He watches Legasov closely as they both leave the room, and he sees how the male’s ears are perked up and his tail is tucked between his legs.

“Do you always look so on edge around people?” Boris asks jokingly.
“Excuse me for not being prepared to visit a reactor with ridiculously high radiation.”
“You don’t know that the radiation is ridiculously high yet. Lighten up a bit.” Legasov scowls at that.

“Says you…” He mutters under his breath as they make their way outside.

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As the helicopter arrives in Chernobyl, the pilot looks over his shoulder at Boris and Legasov. “We’re approaching reactor 4, sir.” He says, and Boris gives a small nod in response to the statement. Legasov leans back in his seat, his ears flicking nervously as he waits to see the reactor.

He glances out of the window a few minutes later, now being able to see the reactor. His eyes widen as he sees the smoke emitting from the building, and his ears immediately move to be downturned against his head. “There’s graphite on the roof… no, no, no, this is bad…” He mutters, mostly to himself.

“How can you be so sure? I can barely see anything from here.” Boris responds, standing up and glaring at Legasov as if he has two heads. The other man stands up as well, his tail now tucked between his legs as he looks at the reactor through the helicopter’s large glass window.

“You may not be able to see, but I can perfectly well! And there’s smoke… a fire…”

Boris scoffs under his breath and looks towards the pilot. “Get us over that building, we need to have a closer look.” He demands, and the male nods. Legasov immediately shakes his head as he listens to the older man, and he pushes him aside slightly so that he can speak to the pilot.

“If you fly over that reactor, all three of us will be dead within weeks! Turn around!” He exclaims, causing the pilot to hesitate.

“Professor Legasov, it is not your decision to make!” Boris protests, but he’s cut off as Legasov looks over at him with his terror-filled blue eyes.

“Boris, I beg you to think about this for a second!-“

“Don’t you dare use my name!” Boris snaps while turning his head to look back at the pilot.

He orders him to fly them over the building, but Legasov is quick to intervene. “Intense radiation poisoning, that’s what you’ll get! Your skin will burn, you won’t be able to move, you’ll wish you were dead!” He hisses, instinctually bearing his teeth a bit as he tries to convince the pilot to turn around. After a few seconds of debating, the pilot grips the handle in front of him tighter and suddenly turns it fully to the right. The helicopter spins around, causing Legasov to trip over his tail and land in Boris’ lap.

The older man grunts in frustration and pushes him off, his eyes narrowing as he stares daggers at the other male.

After a few tense minutes, the helicopter lands on a rocky and dusty piece of land. Boris steps out of the helicopter, and orders the guards that are with them to escort Legasov out just in case he tries anything spontaneous. Bryukhanov and Fomin are waiting on the other side of the open space of ground, watching as Boris and Legasov (who is being watched closely by 2 guards) make their way over to them.

“I’m so sorry that we’ve had to meet under these circumstances, Soviet Deputy Prime Minister- truly, I am.” Bryukhanov says, his striped tail swaying back and forth slightly as he apologises. Bryukhanov is a raccoon, with very evident features, having dark splotches under his eyes and lighter grey marks covering the sides of his ears and muzzle. The lighter marks are also clear on his neck, but are mostly hidden by his collar.

Fomin is a red panda, with a red fluffy body and white ears. The tip of his tail is black with stripes fading upwards, along with his arms and underside being the same dark colour. He has white markings on his face and his eyebrows are white as well, which makes his dark eyes stand out a lot more. They both wear black suits, with white dress shirts and dark ties.

Boris waves a dismissive hand at Bryukhanov and crosses his arms over his chest. His two other pairs of arms rest by his sides idly, and he switches his weight to the other foot while beginning to speak up. “Why is there graphite on the roof?” He asks bluntly, not wasting any time with introductions.

He can see Bryukhanov hesitate slightly upon hearing his words, and the raccoon’s ears droop nervously as he attempts to answer the question. “Forgive me for questioning you, but that’s impossible…” He can’t help but chuckle nervously, and Boris sighs as he realises that he won’t get anywhere while talking with the other man.

“We’ll talk again later, for now I’m with professor Legasov.” He says, before grabbing onto Legasov’s arm and tugging him away from the two other men. Which leaves them looking dumbfounded.

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Boris makes his way over to Vladimir Pikalov after noticing him stood not too far away talking to some soldiers, and the man turns to face Boris and Legasov after hearing them approach him. “General Pikalov, this is Valery Legasov from the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy.”

Pikalov nods and holds a hand out for Legasov to shake. The cat accepts the gesture and tries to smile, but he can’t bring himself to. Pikalov is a wolf with thick white fur, and a tail that hangs just above his kneecaps which is surprisingly clean. His eyes are half lidded and a dark maroon colour, with sprinkles of gold in them. Legasov is instantly drawn to his appearance and how non-threatening he looks, because everyone else he’s met so far look as if they want to hunt him.

It’s a good thing they’re civilised now.

The sound of Pikalov’s voice is what snaps him out of his small trance. “We have a new dosimeter that just arrived, if we cover a van in lead then we should be able to get it close enough to pick up how much radiation there is.” He explains, and Boris glances back at Legasov as if to check that what he’s just been told is correct.

“Try to get one of your men as close to the reactor as possible. Give him all the protection you have, but just know that even with the extra coverage it may still be fatal.” Legasov explains, his tail swaying idly behind him as he watches Pikalov nod.
“Then I’ll do it myself.” The wolf states simply, as if talking about the weather.

Legsov is taken aback by his sudden announcement to check the radiation levels himself, but when he checks to see how Boris reacted he sees no shock evident on his face. Oh, for god’s sake, Boris.

As Pikalov walks away, Legasov and Boris find that they’re left with Bryukhanov and Fomin again. While the cat doesn’t mind, the spider seems irritated by their presence. The four of them wait in a small tent, with Bryukhanov smoking and Fomin staring at the ground with his ears pinned back against his head in a guilty manner. Legasov is sat opposite them and tapping his claws against his knee, while Boris paces back and forth without saying a word. Suddenly, a guard pops his head through the tent entrance and speaks up.

“He has returned.” The young guard says, causing all four men to look over at him. Boris stops pacing and steps out of the tent, with Bryukhanov and Fomin following after him. Legasov is the last to stand up and exit, a wave of concern washing over him as he follows Boris out to see Pikalov.

The wolf is in a green suit that covers his whole body, and he pulls his helmet off to speak. “It’s not 3 roentgen.” He begins.

“It’s 15,000.” Bryukhanov and Fomin are obviously flabbergasted, and the raccoon goes wide-eyed as he stares at Pikalov. Fomin’s ears remain pinned against his head, and he knows that they can’t make any more excuses up. Boris glances at Legasov, whose tail is flicking side to side anxiously, and speaks up in a blunt tone.
“What does that number mean?”

Legasov looks back at the spider and hesitates for a few seconds, still trying to process the information he was just given. “It means that the reactor core is open…” he confirms, and Boris glances at Bryukhanov with a piercing gaze.
“Please escort comrades Bryukhanov and Fomin away. They will be dealt with later.” He tells two of the guards, who both nod and begin pulling Bryukhanov and Fomin away. Neither of them protest or try to get away, making it known that they have no more excuses to defend themselves.

Chapter Text

A list of all the animals that everyone is:

Boris: Australian trapdoor spider
Legasov: Bernese cat
Ulana: European fallow deer
Tarakanov: Darwin’s fox
Gorbachev: Brown bear
Pikalov: Hudson bay wolf
Charkov: Mosaic axolotl
Akimov: Megachiroptera (bat)
Toptunov: Champagne ferret
Yuvchenko: Leopard
Kirschenbaum: Spiny rat
Stolyarchuk: Antheraea assamensis (moth)
Sitnikov: White’s seahorse
Gorbachenko: Silverback gorilla
Perevozchenko: Neobatrachia (frog)
Dyatlov: Emerald tree boa
Fomin: Red panda
Bryukhanov: Raccoon
Pavel: Red fox
Bacho: Bernese mountain dog
Glukhov: Golden pheasant