Castle Doctrine. The right for someone to use deadly force in the protection of their abode.
Balto gripped the shotgun tightly, feeling the tension coil in his arms. Trevor's instincts screamed for confrontation, as defending the territory and asserting dominance. But David’s curiosity tugged at him, too. Who would come out here? At this hour? The conflicting urges twisted in his chest like two wires sparking. The winds were lightly blowing towards him, but the aggression mounting inside his body was diverting his focus to the intruder.
The UTS-15 tactical shotgun in his right hand twitched as he pondered a course of action, confused about what he should do. Thankfully, the 60% to 40% ratio that Tom had given him reared its head as Balto defaulted to sniffing the cross-winds for traces of the person sweating his balls off.
His sensitive nose catalogued and referenced it to the existing yet different scents he had, his weapon ready just in case he couldn't figure it out. A fallback plan just in case. Balto pieced the references together piece by piece, and the vague recollection of such a familiar method of transportation...
All the tension and stress deflated out of his body when his mind gave him the details. Chester Conway was on his way.
Wait. Chester's on his way here?!
"What the hell is Chester doing coming over in the middle of the night for?" Balto murmured and sighed in relief and disbelief, glancing at the shotgun that he had almost used in defense of his territory. From the smells, his best friend was only minutes from the gates.
Taking the initiative, Balto entered the house to rack the weapon somewhere close by and turned to the panel for the gate control system and immediately unlocked the gates. He watched the wrought iron gates swing into view of the camera and swung wide on their hinges.
Balto breathed to calm his nerves, deciding on a course of action and gearing himself to behave as much like David as he could. Chester was someone he'd never mistrust, but he doesn't know how Chester would react if he found out that David was now Balto.
In hindsight, probably best if he doesn't tell unless forced to. Balto recalled vaguely that Trevor had been in the general vicinity when the BLM protests happened and while he hadn't been the one that butted heads with old David and Chester, he had been part of the opposition.
With another breath, Balto chose his path. "Kids! Got a friend coming over so I'm gunna need you to stay in the basement!" he shouted, ears flicking as he heard them both reply with OKays. Picking up the upsized tablet, Balto returned to the chair outside and waited for his best friend to arrive.
---
Chester Conway panted hard in both excitement and exhaustion. He's not some sedentary nerd that couldn't run for more than a minute straight, since after all his fursona is a cheetah and he's gotta play the part! He had been cycling for the past 30 minutes from his house straight towards the Scott Farms, stopping only for snacks loaded in his backpack to share with his best friend.
David Nicolaus Scott III, wolf furry, werewolf enthusiast, and MTG fan. There's more, but he's not gonna bother listing them now that he saw the gates to the farm open with lights on either side welcoming him. He sped up to defeat the incoming incline up the farms, heard a snap, and felt his pedal spin without resistance.
"FUC-" he cursed as he found himself rapidly losing speed on the natural ramp, lost his footing on the dirt, and tumbled into the grass.
"Amazing," he murmured, lying exhausted on the cold grass. His bike now pinned one of his legs, which, despite its actual light weight, the exertion he had done out of excitement to try the Chronivac with David turned him powerless against it. "What a ride, so close to becoming my fursona, and my trusty bike's chain snapped under the pressure."
Chester couldn't bother reacting to the sound of approaching footsteps, knowing there was no other person who would come from the farmhouse than his best friend David. Instead, he lay there, still as he breathed in the smell of grass.
"You're not dead, are ya?" the person asked, and Chester briefly scowled not- recognizing the voice as David, and smiled, laughter breaking out of his mouth, panting in exhaustion. "No, no, I'm just tired of biking the entire way here and then crashing when the chain snapped on me. Care to help the cheetah out of his bind? It's like it's heavier now than ever before."
Chester pivoted his head to glance at the approaching man, meekly failing to lift the big bike off of his legs, and noticed the man was bigger- and completely human friend of his, David Nicolaus Scott the Third. He asked as David easily lifted the bike, "Say, did you change something about your human form? I feel like something's different, but I can't put a finger on it. Did you give your hair more fluff?"
Accepting the hand that felt large- and hoisting himself up, he swiped the grass of his pants and sighed in relief.
"Yeah, among other things. Been doing a lot of changes to the house, too, straight up upgrades if you can spot them." David said and walked over the patch of grass where his chain had fallen off. "Easy fix and improvement with the Chronivac 4.23."
The lanky human perked up at the mention of the device, "No way! You used it on objects, too? Dude, I want a racing bike. One of those 125cc racers. Picture it: a cheetah on a bike. Vroom."
Chester briefly heard David audibly smirk, a "heh". Did David normally- do that in jest, right? "What, I want those top speed bikes. Imagine a cheetah riding a fast racing motorcycle and going vroom! Or have my taur half be a superbike."
Both of them walked to the front porch of the house, the lights on as they should be. The whole way Chester talked to David and got a reply about the many current situations, filling him in on the present.
"So, Holly is a kitsune and she's working at the hospital curing people, her kids are in the basement playing games. Is that all? What about her crazy husband? She's planning to divorce? Did he come over yet?" Chester asked rapid-fire, unaware of David's face falling slightly as he racked the bike to the side of the house.
"He did, and he was handled. Not gunna say the details cuz what happened was insane and I'd rather not relive it." he stated while finishing with the storage of the bike's chain.
"Why? Did he go Second Amendment?" Chester prodded, and seeing David nod, his face fell as well. "Oh."
David gestured to Chester to sit, which he did, and thanked him. "Yep. Fired rounds into me that, honestly, I would have died if not for werewolf regeneration. Thank god bullets aren't made of silver. Not that I've tried yet."
A spark of wrong wanted to spark in Chester's head when David thanked god, which- was completely fine. It was a high-stakes situation, and understandable.
"Flaws make the story compelling," he stated instead, continuing where they were cut off. "If every pork chop was perfect, we wouldn't have hot dogs. And then we'd stagnate with some OP character that no one could beat except for plot reasons."
David nodded, crossing his arms in thought. "Fair, honestly. After that whole fiasco, I think Holly's far stronger than me," he said while staring off into the distance of the night.
The lankier man perked up. "You both fought?! How, what happened, tell me tell me." Chester requested with the zeal of a hyperactive cheetah, then groaned. "Ow, still sore."
David quirked an eyebrow, pulled out the tablet, and began fiddling while continuing, "There was some... sparring we did. When I changed Tommy into his requested form as a massive dragon, he swatted me into the fence and broke enough to kill me. It was only by regeneration that I didn't die."
Chester shuddered when he felt freshness and energy flow through him, the pain and exhaustion going away. "Whoah, is that tablet the Chronivac?" he asked, eyeing the tablet.
"Nope, this is," the larger man answered, pointing to the USB attached to the device. "And what I just did to you was restore your normal state."
Chester stretched his arms, creaking a bit. "Yep, feels just like waking up in the morning," he said and settled into the chair. "Chakat transformation for me?" Chester asked as he looked up at David with puppy dog eyes.
"Chester," David called, the lanky man focusing his eyes on the guy who now stood a head taller than he was. "Yeah?" Chester replied while rocking the chair.
"Do you... see nothing wrong with me?" David continued, gesturing with his hands all over his chest. Chester squinted, looked closely at the man he knew was his best friend, and shook his head.
"You must have added size and made yourself muscular, right? That's like the most obvious thing any guy that gets godlike powers to alter reality would do." Chester stated and chuckled, his arms now behind his head as he lay on them.
"You don't see how that's out of character for me? You don't think that's… weird? That I'm suddenly jacked?" David continued, pointedly staring at Chester with a critical eye. He saw Chester trying to piece it together, until with a snap, his expression changed.. "Whoa, that glamour is strong." he murmured while checking his stats on the tablet.
Chester blinked. “You’re… stronger, sure, but I mean, it’s you, man. You always did stuff like this, right? I'm sure you wanted to surprise me, but with that in hand and having watched you become a wolftaur, nothing can." Chester then looked at the tablet, then at the bulge in David's pants. "Did you shove a gun in your pockets too?" Chester asked while grinning.
"No. This is me now." David was visibly downcast, and Chester could see that the big guy was conflicted about something.
"Is there something wrong? I'm sure you can just tell me." he prodded, leaning forward to make eye contact with the emerald green eyes of David- which is absolutely normal.
"I'm not David..." he admitted, pausing and then releasing a breath he was holding. "Chester, I'm Balto. Balthazar Nicolause Scott the Third."
Chester at first wanted to laugh, but it was like a haze, a curtain fell away from his eyes. And suddenly he was aware that no, David never would have looked like this. He could see similarities, but the guy in front of him could have easily been some random gym dad, and he'd never realize it was David.
Chester blinked again. Once. Twice.
It hit like waking up mid-dream.
The voice, the bulk, the way he said “this is me now”…
A cicada trilled in the night, long and shrill. It filled the silence between Chester’s realization and his next breath.
It was David. Of course it was.
But that voice…
And when had David ever smiled like that? Confident. Cocksure. Like he expected you to follow his lead.
This isn’t right.
"Wh- what the fuck. Who the hell are you?!" Chester screamed as he scrambled away from the man, falling to the ground in shock. The sound of a door creaking open caught both men's eyes, and they glanced over to see two pairs of eyes peeking. "Dad?" said the girlish voice Chester recognized as Alice.
"Tom, Alice, stay there." Balto said, and Chester realized he'd been rationalizing everything the man had been doing as David.
"No. No, wait—this isn’t right. You’re not him. You can’t be-" he murmured as his mind scrambled, trying to fit this stranger’s face into the friend he’d grown up with.
“Trevor?! What did you do with David?” he shouted, standing up and readying himself for a fight if it came to be. The possibility that David was dead when he was shot and Trevor took over was no longer a slim chance.