by Tom Jones
The wolf nodded as he looked at the cached images on the screen, “Find anything yet, mate?” Arcades waited until Jason looked back at him before responding, “Not yet. I’ve been searching around for a few hours now. I’ve probably been looking in all the wrong places.” Jason asked another question, “Where have you been looking?” The fox replied, “The deep web. I don’t expect any of the NSS’ stuff to be indexed on the regular internet.” The wolf thought about what the fox said. He then saw the unplugged ethernet cable, “Why did you unplug that?” The fox looked to where Jason was pointing. Arcades said, “Oh, that? People have been writing malware for the Linux OS’s that people use to run Tor with. Tor may or may not have exploits that are not patched. You never know. I’m not taking my chances with someone finding out that we’re looking for information.” The wolf scratched his head, “Oh, that’s right. Don’t you have a computer background?” Arcades smiled, “I’m glad you remember when I told you that. Anyways, I suppose it is a good time to take a little break.”
Jason remembered what he came here for, “Oh, right. So, how are we going to do this?” Arcades turned away from the wolf, and he retrieved a black pistol bag that was up on a shelf. As Arcades grabbed the bag, Jason noticed the remains of the jade cane on the top of the shelf. Arcades sat the bag down, and the contents made a very audible metallic sound. Jason asked about the block of gold with a jade gem on it, “Did that used to be the jade cane?” The fox let go of the bag and he nodded, “Sure is. I had it melted down so nobody would be able to read the symbols inscribed on it.” Jason crossed his arms, “I suppose some things are better left useless.” Arcades nodded, “Yeah… If that other group obtained this cane before we did, I’m not too sure what they would do with it.” Jason pointed at the bag that Arcades had placed on the floor, “What’s in there, mate?” The fox stepped aside and gestured towards the bag, “Come and see for yourself.”
The wolf unzipped the bag, and he reached inside of it. He grabbed a handful of the metallic contents, and he started placing them on the floor. The wolf was surprised, “Bloody hell, mate! You’ve got quite the collection of handcuffs.” Arcades nodded, “Yeah. I’ve been collecting those for a while. That’s how I made up my keyring. I put every unique key I get on it. I can basically open all of the cuffs that I know of. And well, I basically have all of them there.” Jason was still browsing through the collection of metal restraints, “I never saw you take any of these with you on any of your missions. What do you use these for?” Arcades’ hands began to slightly sweat, “Well… I only use them on myself. I never bring them with me.” Jason then asked, “Can I use any of these on you?” The fox nodded, “You sure can. I just want to keep my keyring on me. I won’t release myself until you say that I can be released.” Jason was puzzled, “How come you need it?” Arcades replied, “I don’t like to feel as if I’m helpless.” The reply made Jason feel slightly disappointed, “Isn’t that what you want to feel by putting these on?” The fox shook his head.
“So, what is it then? What’s the purpose of all this?” the wolf asked Arcades. The fox thought for a moment before he had an answer, “That’s a question that I do not have the answer to.” Jason held a pair of the restraints in his hand as he looked up at the fox, “What do you want me to do to you?” Arcades thought about the way he should word his response before speaking again, “I just don’t want you to hurt me or anything. I don’t want that either.” Jason nodded, “I can do that for you. Now, can I just start? Or…” The wolf did not finish his thought. Arcades tried to help him along, “I have another keyring in that bag. Most of these come with two keys, so I was able to make another keyring as a backup. You can use that to make sure you can release me if you want to do it rather than me.” The wolf replied, “Alright. Is that all you got for me before we start?” The fox scratched his head, “Uhh.. I think that’s about it. You can use any of those that I have in that bag. Make sure you can fit two fingers in there to make sure they ain’t too tight, and you should also watch out for my tail. Make sure that my tail doesn’t get in the way.”
Jason stood up, and he was holding a pair of Smith & Wesson hinged handcuffs. The wolf grabbed Arcades’ left wrist, and the fox turned around to allow the wolf to restrain him. Jason was somewhat surprised that Arcades was just letting him lock him up in handcuffs. The wolf grabbed Arcades’ right wrist, and he placed it in the other cuff. He then tightened the cuffs until he could not tighten them any further with two fingers in the cuffs. Jason asked Arcades if he was satisfied with the tightness, “Is that too tight for you, mate?” The fox shook his head before saying, “No, that’s good. You should double-lock them so they don’t get tighter.” Jason was unfamiliar with the commonly taught practice, “Double-lock? How do I do that?” Arcades forgot to tell Jason how to double-lock the handcuffs, “Whoops. I never told you. Here, I’ll show you.” Jason raised an eyebrow and said, “How are you supposed to do that?” Arcades said in response, “I’ll show you. Watch this.”
Arcades opened his back pocket, and he removed his keyring from it. Arcades remembered what he told the wolf earlier, “Oh, do you mind if I release myself real quick?” Jason shook his head, “No, mate. I don’t mind.” Arcades held the keyring in his hand as he squatted down before sitting down. He pulled his restrained hands underneath his tail, and he continued to pull his hands down until they cleared his lower body. He then brought his hands underneath his bare legs, and he was able to move his hands to the front of his body. Jason was mildly surprised, “Wow. That’s interesting.” Arcades unlocked one of the cuffs before replying, “Heh, I’ve practiced that a lot. I’m really good at it. Works unless your hands are locked around your waist.” After the cuff was unlocked, Arcades used his free hand to show Jason how to double-lock the cuffs. He spoke while holding the key upside down, “Alright, so. These keys all have pins on the top. These pins are used to double-lock these. All you need to do is find a similarly sized pin on the cuffs, and you press them in with the key’s pin. Here, I’ll show you how.”
Jason carefully watched the fox as he pushed the double-lock pin down with the key. Arcades preferred the Smith & Wesson models which featured the push-pin double-locking mechanism rather than the sliding bar mechanism. After the fox finished, Jason asked, “So, what does that do?” Arcades tested the feature by squeezing the bow of the cuff that was already applied to his wrist, and it did not tighten further. The fox spoke, “Use this to stop them from tightening further after you have it where you want it. Oh, also, if you want to make things go a bit faster, the handcuffs tighten on my wrists to the point where you cannot see the notches on the bows anymore.” Jason was confused by the terminology, “What do you mean by bows?” Arcades held the other cuff with his free hand, “The arm that swings shut is called the bow. These notches are what go into the ratchet pawl. You tighten the one on my right hand good enough. See, look at this one. You cannot see the notches anymore.” The wolf nodded when he saw that Arcades was showing him, “Oh, that makes sense.” Arcades nodded, “I’ll put this one on, but I’ll let you double lock it.”
Arcades let the other cuff hang from his restrained wrist as he used his free hand to place his keyring back into his pocket. He then shifted himself onto his knees, and he placed his free hand into the cuff behind his back before he tightened it to where he wanted it. The fox sat on his knees and said, “Alright. Give it a shot.” He held out his bound wrists backwards towards Jason. The wolf looked at the pins on the collection of keys, and he held the cuff that Arcades had just applied to himself. Jason located the corresponding pin, and he depressed it. Jason stepped back, and he looked at Arcades’ bare soles that were facing up at him. The fox squeezed the bows on the cuffs, but they did not tighten further. The fox smiled, “There you go. You got it. Now, just remember that you have to turn the key both ways in order to release me. Otherwise, you’d only undo one of the locks, but not the other.”
Jason told Arcades what he wanted him to do, “Can you l
ie on your stomach for me?” Arcades did so carefully, as he did not have his hands to support him. Once he lied on his stomach, he asked, “So, what are you going to do?” Jason went to the bag of restraints, and he found a pair of Smith & Wesson leg shackles. He then moved back over to the fox, but Arcades caught a glimpse of what the wolf was holding. Arcades smiled, “Oh, I like those. They apply the same way as these. All of those restraints in that bag feature double-lock mechanisms. Make sure you apply that on all of the ones you put on me. They all activate in the same manner save for a few.” Jason grabbed the fox’s bare ankles, and the wolf raised them ninety degrees. He spent a moment looking at the fox’s soles before he began locking the shackles around Arcades’ ankles. He locked them around the fox’s ankles before Arcades said, “Those are made by Smith & Wesson. I like them because they have an oblong shape to them. You can apply them tighter, and they don’t dig into your ankles when you walk in them. However, you should still probably observe the same two finger rule with those. There is one exception to that rule though, but I think you’ll find out what that exception is soon.”
Jason activated the double-locking mechanism on the shackles, and he sat the fox’s feet back on the ground. He stared at Arcades soles, but he did not ask him what that one exception was. Jason moved back to the restraint bag, and he noticed several different pairs of restraints. These restraints were far too small for wrists, so the wolf asked, “Um.. What are these for? They’re small.” Arcades got up to his knees, and he shifted his body around to face Jason. He immediately noticed what the wolf was holding, “Those are some of my favorites. They’re called thumbcuffs. They’re made to bind your thumbs together, but I don’t find them too effective. I can still unlock myself from those even if I’m wearing handcuffs at the same time. However, they make it surprisingly hard to hold things. Also, you can apply a pair of those to bind my big toes together as well. That would completely negate my ability to walk entirely.”
Jason picked up several variants of the small restraints. One of them was linked by a chain, but all of the others were solid devices. A couple variants even featured irregular shapes. Jason asked, “Why do you have so many of them?” To which Arcades replied, “All of those are different, and you can use them for different situations. It really depends on what you want me to do. Now, I want you to look at a few details on those. Most of those have serrated teeth on the lower frame of the cuffs. That feature is implemented in order to prevent someone from wiggling them off his or her thumbs. Most of them only feature the teeth on the frame, but the South Korean Yuil thumbcuffs feature the teeth on the bows as well. The pairs that do not have any teeth at all were made in Russia. If you want to cuff my toes together, then make sure you choose the cuffs that suit what you want me to do. If you’re going to have me kneeling, then you should use the chain-linked thumbcuffs because they are the most comfortable to kneel in. The second most comfortable cuffs to kneel in are the Russian thumbcuffs. They do not chafe my toes with the teeth. However, the standard thumbcuffs and the Yuil thumbcuffs are very uncomfortable to kneel in. If you want me to wear them, then you should have me sitting with my feet out in front of me. “
Arcades’ crash course on thumbcuffs was a lot for Jason to take in. Jason looked at several of the thumbcuffs that Arcades owned, and he was deciding which ones he should use. He picked up a pair that only had teeth on the frame, and he stood the fox up before turning him back around. Jason grabbed the fox’s thumbs, and he locked them in the thumbcuffs. The wolf then located the double-locking pin on the top of the thumbcuffs, and he depressed it with the opposite end of the key. The wolf then sat Arcades down on his knees. The fox sat still as he waited for what Jason would do next. Jason looked at Arcades’ soles as the fox’s tail swooshed past his soles. Jason grabbed a pair of chain linked handcuffs from the bag, and he returned to the restrained fox. The wolf helped Arcades lay down on his stomach again before he grabbed the fox’s legs again, and he brought his legs up at a ninety degree angle again. Jason locked the chain of the shackles in one end of the cuff, and he locked the other end around Arcades’ hinged handcuffs. Arcades recognized this familiar position, “You want to hogtie me? Well, sure. You can do that.” Jason said in response, “I’m not done yet, hold on.” He moved back to grab a pair of Russian thumbcuffs. When he came back to his captive fox, he locked the thumbcuffs around Arcades’ big toes.
“Hmm. Looks like you got me there,” Arcades said as he was not entirely expecting the wolf to cuff his big toes together. The fox considered the little movement capabilities he now had left, “I ain’t going anywhere now. Whatcha gonna do to me?” Jason moved beside his captive, and he looked at the soles of the fox’s restrained feet. After the wolf spent a moment thinking, Jason asked, “Can I touch your feet?” Arcades replied, “Go ahead.” The wolf felt the soles of Arcades’ feet, and he was immediately surprised with how soft the fox’s feet were. Jason commented on this, “Bloody hell, your feet are so soft. How does that happen if you never wear shoes?” Arcades attempted to shrug, “Well, I know that anthros are supposed to have soft feet, but I guess my feet never got too thick.” Jason rubbed Arcades’ soles and paw pads with his fingers, “I really like the way your feet feel.” Arcades chuckled, “Heh, ain’t really something that I hear too often, but I’ll take it.”
After Jason finished, he sat back to view the captured fox, “Are you comfortable in all that?” Arcades was able to turn his head in order to clearly view the wolf, “Yeah. This ain’t a problem at all for me. I could easily stay like this for a few hours, but I’d probably be ready to come out by then.” Jason watched Arcades as he spread his toes apart. Arcades could tell the wolf was looking at his feet, “I don’t blame you for looking at my feet. I don’t mind either. Just don’t try to put them in your mouth. I would not like that.” Arcades chuckled as he finished the statement. Jason shook his head, “Nah, I wouldn’t do that, mate.” Arcades chuckled again, “I’m just messing with you. However, some anthros probably would not hesitate to try that.” Jason returned to the bag again to see if there was anything else that he wanted to try out. He pulled out a long chain that had two sizable rings connected to each side. He then pulled out another chain, but it only featured one large ring. The wolf asked, “Hey, what are these for?”
Arcades found out that he could not shift his body due to the restraints that he was in, “Whoops. I physically can’t turn around to see that. Come over here and show me.” Jason stood in front of the fox, and he showed him the two chains. Arcades recognized them, “The one with two rings is used to connect handcuffs to legcuffs in order to tether them. The one with only one ring is used to keep my cuffed wrists as close to my body as possible. However, those are best applied when my hands are cuffed in front of me. Otherwise, my tail gets in the way too much. If you want to put those on me, you can go ahead. However, you’d have to unlock most of the cuffs that I’m in first in order to do that.”
Jason started to unlock the cuffs that connected the fox’s wrists and ankles together. He sat the restraints aside, and he let Arcades lay his cuffed feet on the floor. The wolf then began to unlock the thumbcuffs on Arcades’ toes followed by the shackles on his ankles. After finishing, he unlocked the thumbcuffs on the fox’s thumbs and finally the cuffs binding his wrists together. Arcades rolled over to his back and he sat up. Jason was gathering some restraints that were on the ground. The now free fox asked, “So, are you done? Or, do you want to continue?” The wolf looked up at Arcades before saying, “I’m not quite done yet.” Jason picked up the chain from the ground that only had one large ring. Holding the chain, Jason said to the fox, “Stand up for me, mate.” Arcades got up to his feet, and he watched as Jason wrapped the chain around Arcades’ torso. The fox asked, “Do you plan on using the other chain that has the two rings?” The wolf nodded in affirmation. Arcades then asked, “So, what cuffs are you going to use on me?” The wolf pointed to a pair of Safariland rigid cuffs that were laying on the ground.
The fox made a suggestion to the wolf, “I’d prefer those cuffs on the front if you’re planning on using the waist chain on me. Especially with my tail in the way, it gets kinda uncomfortable. But, I’ll let you decide. I won’t stop you.” After clipping the chain with a D-ring to fit the fox’s thin waist, Jason picked up the rigid cuffs, and he walked back over to the fox that was waiting patiently. He looked at the ring, and then he looked back at the pair of handcuffs he was holding. Jason asked Arcades, “How do I use these with that chain around your waist?” The fox promptly answered, “You have to open the cuff first, and then you slide it through the ring. Keep in mind, you have to do that in order to attach the other chain to it, as well. I suggest that you put both rings on first before you cuff me.”
Jason took the fox’s advice. The wolf started by opening one of the ends of the rigid cuffs, and he slid the ring over the plastic cover body in the middle. He then took the other chain, and he did the same. After Arcades knew that the wolf was done, he allowed Jason to bind his wrists together in front of him. Arcades smiled as he saw that Jason remembered to double-lock the handcuffs. The wolf then looked down at the dangling ring that was hanging from the chain. Jason grabbed the Smith & Wesson shackles from the floor, and he ran the ring through them before shackling the fox and double-locking the shackles. Arcades’ wrists and ankles were now securely restrained, so he said aloud, “Nice job. I like being cuffed like this. I am able to walk slowly, but that’s about it. It’s also pretty comfortable, so that’s a plus.” Jason looked over his captive, but he felt that he was not done yet. The wolf picked up the pair of thumbcuffs that he had used earlier, and he cuffed Arcades’ thumbs together. After Jason double-locked the thumbcuffs, Arcades commented, “Oh, so I guess you weren’t done yet. Now I can’t pick anything up myself.”
