by Tom Jones
The drive back to the two anthro’s home was uneventful. If it was not for the stereo system in the vehicle, then the ride would have been completely silent. Arcades mainly kept his attention to the road, but his facial expression suggested that he was still bothered by ridding himself of all of his firearms even if they were illegal for him to own. Photias was debating on saying something to the fox, but the wolf thought that waiting until they got home would be a better time to cheer the fox up. The vehicle’s stereo was not playing any music from the local radio stations; it instead played songs that were saved on a small USB device that was plugged into the vehicle’s auxiliary input. The roads were also not too crowded, but the anthros did not take too many main roads during their trip back home. The sky was still clear, the sun was shining as bright as it normally did, and everybody still went about their day without paying too much attention to matters occurring outside of town. As the 4Runner drove by people carrying on about the same business they kept every working day of the week, they had no idea that the car that passed them by just so happened to be driven by the same anthros who were ultimately responsible for buying them time to continue their usual activities without the likes of the Illuminati interfering in their lives. If Arcades and Photias did not do their part in the Invisible War, it likely would have been too late for a great chunk of people around the world. They would never be thanked for their efforts while they lived, and they would not even be recognized for their efforts in any such way. Nobody would ever hear of their plight, but they still knew that their true reward would not be on the earth they lived on. Rather, the two Saints would receive their true reward on the Day of Judgement.
Arcades finally pulled into the driveway of their house: It was a residence that was slightly secluded from any neighbors; the nearest neighbors were about a block or two away. The two anthros had a couple acres worth of land, and they would be rather undisturbed by anybody who would be in the area given their seclusion. The fox pressed the button in the SUV to toggle the garage door, and he waited for the door to completely open before driving into the parking space. To the immediate right of the 4Runner’s parking spot was the Ford Mustang, albeit with a repaired roof. The wolf laid his eyes on the Mustang, and even though he saw the same car every single time he entered the garage, this time especially seemed to make him think about more than just the car that they would occasionally take when they did not need to use the 4Runner. Photias thought back to when the car was used during the Invisible War, and he was quite surprised that the car was able to survive the conflict. Even though the Mustang was not directly used in any specific operation, save for the operation in Hong Kong, it had been taken all over the world and had even taken enemy fire.
When the SUV came to a complete stop, the fox disabled the vehicle’s engine, “Welp. Here we are once again.” When the key turned the entire way to the off position, the music player in the vehicle also disabled itself, and the vehicle fell silent again. The wolf undid his seatbelt first, but he did not open the door until the fox removed his own seatbelt. With both of the anthros now free from their seatbelts, Arcades went to open his door first, and he was soon followed by Photias. Both the fox and the wolf stepped out of the vehicle, and they closed the door behind them before meeting at the door which would take them into their house from their garage. After pressing the button to close the garage door and stepping through a short connecting room, the two anthros were now back home again. The wolf had removed his shoes when he came back inside, but Arcades did not need to remove his shoes since he was not wearing any to begin with. When the wolf met the fox in their house, he remembered what he was going to do for the fox to cheer him up, “So, Kurt. How about you go and change into something you’d be the most comfortable in?”
Arcades understood what Photias was talking about, and he did not see any reason as to why he would decline the wolf’s offer, “Sure.” The fox proceeded to go towards his room, and the wolf followed in order to grab the same bag which Arcades had held onto for over an entire decade. Photias grabbed the heavy bag from the top of the cabinet which it remained on, and he briefly spoke to the fox before leaving the room to allow him to change, “Meet me in the main room when you’re ready. Yeah?” Arcades nodded and replied to Photias, “Sure thing, Jason.” The wolf left the fox alone, and he brought the heavy bag to the living room where he sat it down in the middle of the room and sat down himself in order to check out the bag’s contents. When the wolf opened the bag, he was met with the same restraints that Arcades had amassed over the years. Photias remembered back to the first time he had ever restrained the fox, and he was quite amazed when he took into account that about four years had passed since he first did such. Nowadays, the contents of the bag were not used too often, but when they were used, it was always an immensely enjoyable experience for both the fox and the wolf. Photias tried to remember the last time he had restrained the fox, and the most recent time he could think of was probably four months ago. The bag’s contents also remained relatively unchanged since the end of the Invisible War, with the fox only acquiring just a couple items since both anthros moved into their new house. It was not like there was much to obtain anyways; Arcades had basically everything he wanted in the bag before the Invisible War even began in the first place.
Photias looked into the bag, and he visually checked the contents over while remembering all the times he used the carbon steel devices contained by the bag. The wolf’s train of thought was interrupted when he heard the fox enter the room and say, “Alright, Jason. I’m about ready.” Photias looked up at Arcades, and he looked to see what the fox chose to wear: Arcades was only wearing a black Under Armour moisture wicking shirt and a pair of blue high-cut shorts, typical attire that the fox wore for such occasions. The wolf stood up, but he did not grab anything out of the bag, “Are you ready, mate?” The fox nodded, and he came closer to where Photias was now standing. The wolf bent over to grab something out of the bag, and he was not initially too sure with what item he wanted to use first. Arcades watched the wolf dig through the bag, but the fox decided that he would turn himself around to face away from the wolf. Not only did Arcades want to be surprised by what Photias took out of the bag, he also knew that the wolf was also likely going to ask him to turn around anyways. Sure, Arcades was not required to turn around; after all this was a completely consensual activity that he was participating in, but he also would have complied with the wolf had he asked him to turn around anyways.
The fox kept his arms by his sides, and he was anticipating for the wolf to reach out and take hold of them. All Arcades could really hear was the sound of Photias still browsing through the bag, and he was beginning to wonder if the wolf was having a difficult time choosing which item to start with himself. After a good moment of waiting, the fox could hear Photias finally make his decision: The wolf stepped up behind the fox and gently grabbed his wrists and brought them around behind his back while avoiding the fox’s fluffy tail from getting in the way. Within the next several seconds, Photias had locked the fox’s wrists in a pair of Smith & Wesson M-300-1s. After waiting for the wolf to double-lock the restraints by using the post on the end of the key, Arcades began to feel the restraints for himself in order to try and identify them without looking at them. The fox could feel the unique hinge that the Smith & Wesson hinged handcuffs used, and he also could feel the open slots that were used for double-locking. Arcades took his guess, “Smith & Wesson Model 300?” Photias did not have all of the restraint models memorized, but he did know that the Smith & Wesson models were the ones with the slots for double-locking, “Yeah, that’ll be it, mate.”
The fox formed a smile, and he turned his head to the left until he was able to somewhat see the wolf in his peripheral vision, “Off to a good start, I’d say.” The wolf smiled back at Arcades, and he gave a suggestion for the fox, “How about you kneel on the couch? I’ll put some of these around your legs as well, if you’d like.” Arcades immediately proceeded towa
rds the couch to kneel on it, and he also replied to the wolf as he did so, “Of course. It wouldn’t be complete without that.” The fox placed his knees on the couch, but he made sure that his ankles would be hanging off the edge of the couch; his ankles needed to still be accessible to the wolf. Photias spent less time searching for the restraints he was going to use next, and he was already walking towards the fox with a pair of Smith & Wesson M-1900-1s in his hands.
The wolf stood behind the restrained fox, and he took a look at the fox’s hands: They visibly appeared relaxed, and Photias slowly nodded to himself in order to note that he was currently doing a good job at relaxing the fox. Photias opened the shackles manually, not wanting to open them by knocking them against the fox’s ankles, for the wolf knew that Arcades would most likely not appreciate the feeling of cold steel rapidly colliding with his achilles tendons. As Photias shackled the fox, he noticed that Arcades had spread his legs in such a way that his tail would not get caught up on the soles of his feet while waiting to be restrained. Even though Arcades’ white-tipped tail was not directly getting in the way, Photias still had to run the chain underneath the tail to ensure that it would not get caught on top of the tail when the fox decided to stand up. The wolf tightened the leg restraints to the same configuration that he knew Arcades preferred, and he made sure to double-lock the shackles to prevent them from tightening in case the fox decided to kneel on them.
Now that the Photias was finished, he stood up and took a few steps away from the fox before saying, “There you go, Kurt. How’s that feel for you?” Using his knees, the fox backed himself up until he was able to roll backwards off of the couch and stand on his feet. Arcades looked down at the distinctly-shaped shackles around his bare ankles, nodded, and said, “Looks about right. Feels pretty nice as well. Thanks, Jason.” Photias was glad that he was doing a good job at comfortably restraining the fox, “Glad to hear it, Kurt. I’m sure that you’d be alright staying like that for a ‘lil bit? Even though you can always ask for me to let you out.” Arcades turned around to face the wolf and nodded, “Yeah. It wouldn’t be a problem for me.” Photias smiled and said, “Good. How about we sit down somewhere?” Arcades looked down towards the ground, “You want me to sit here or what?” Photias shook his head, “Anywhere you want, mate.” The fox took a couple steps forwards before dropping down to a kneeling position in the middle of the room.
Once the fox took his seat on the ground, Photias sat directly to the fox’s right, but the wolf was not in a kneeling position like Arcades was. The wolf turned his head to the left to face the fox, but Arcades was not currently looking back at Photias. Instead, Arcades was looking at the fur on his exposed thighs. The wolf turned his eyes towards the fox’s back, and he could see that Arcades was trying his best to get to a comfortable position while wearing the hinged handcuffs and leg restraints. Photias noticed that the fox seemed to continue to shift his position for a good few seconds, so the wolf decided to ask, “Kurt, if that’s too uncomfortable for you, I can let you out.” Arcades stopped moving around when he heard the wolf speak, and he turned his head towards the right in order to face Photias, “Oh, you don’t have to do that, Jason. I’m just trying to get into a good position. That’s all.” The wolf decided to ask the fox the same question, though partially rephrased, “Are you sure? I can put those in the front if you’d like; though I’m pretty sure you’d still be able to do that yourself by bringing your hands underneath your legs.” Arcades only shuffled for about a second before replying, “I’m sure I’ll be fine like this. If I get uncomfortable or want you to let me out, I’ll let you know.”
“It’s not like you need to ask my permission to get out, though,” Photias said as the fox finished his own statement. Arcades nodded, “Yeah, I know.” The two anthros fell silent for a moment, and Photias could see that the fox was just about in a comfortable position since he was no longer shuffling on his knees: Arcades was on his knees with his left foot crossed on top of the sole of his right foot, and the fox’s tail was practically going straight over his feet with his hands lying on top of his tail. With no more movement from Arcades, Photias decided that he should ask the fox a question, “Well, Kurt. Now that you don’t have those guns anymore, they can’t detain you for that. Now, I’m the only one who can do that, even though you’re not really detained, of course.” Arcades perked up a small smile and said, “At least you treat me better than they would. Those guys don’t love you, and they don’t really care whether or not you’re feeling alright or not.” The wolf placed his left hand on the fox’s right shoulder, “Aren’t you glad that I do care?” Arcades nodded, “Of course. I know that I have nothing to fear from you. I know that we’re just doing this because we both enjoy it.” Photias replied, “Fair dinkum, mate. You like being in it, and I still somewhat like seeing you like that, even though it’s not nearly as intense as it used to be. I’d say it all seemed to work out in the end, now didn’t it?”
Arcades remembered back to how the wolf originally acted when he saw the fox in chains, and he compared that to how the wolf acted now. The fox could definitely tell the difference, “Yeah, I’d say so. I’m glad you were able to get over it.” The wolf looked at the fox’s legs while Arcades knelt, and he formed a small idea in his head, “How ‘bout you sit with your legs out? I’ve an idea I’m sure you’ll like.” Arcades briefly sat up while still on his knees, and he brought his legs forwards before sitting down again. By the time the fox was sitting back down, his legs were fully extended, and he could already see that Photias was looking at his feet. Arcades chuckled, “Heh. Did you ask me that just so you could look at my feet?” The wolf shook his head, “Not quite. I’m about to do something.” Photias took the key, and he began to unlock the shackles around the fox’s ankles. After the fox’s legs were briefly free from the leg restraints, the wolf went back into the bag to grab a pair of Smith & Wesson M-110-1s. The restraints which Photias returned with were practically identical to the M-1900, but they had a short length of chain that regular handcuffs featured.
Arcades recognized the new restraints which Photias had chosen, and he lifted up his right ankle first to allow for the wolf to lock his ankles in the restraints again. Since the M-110s shared the same frames and general construction as the M-1900s, Photias tightened them the same amount as he did with the previous shackles. Once the fox’s ankles were locked in restraints again, the wolf produced the same key he used earlier and double-locked the shackles to keep them from tightening. The fox commented on the wolf’s use of the restraints, “You know, those were originally made for people who had big wrists. I think it’s interesting that they didn’t just make an oversized variant of the standard model. Instead, they used the leg shackles and just gave them a short chain.” Photias sat in front of the fox’s feet and said, “I like seeing your feet in these, Kurt.” Arcades smiled and replied, “I know you do, Jason.” The wolf continued from the last thing he said, “Do you know what else I like seeing your feet in, mate?” Arcades was curious, but he already had a pretty solid idea of what the wolf was referring to, “What’s that?”
Photias went back to the bag once again, and he pulled out a very small synthetic case before opening it and revealing a pair of Taiwanese thumbcuffs, “These.” Arcades’ smile became a bit wider once he saw that his guess was correct, “I had a feeling you’d pull those out. Go ahead and put them on me.” The fox continued to hold his feet out as he watched the wolf lock the thumbcuffs around his hallux digits. Since digits on feet were larger than digits on hands, the wolf was only able to tighten the thumbcuffs to two notches before having to double-lock them. After locking the carbon steel device into place, Photias scooted back to look at the fox’s bound feet, “That’s what I like to see.” Arcades was still smiling, “Y’know, I guess you could say that’s kind of another reason why I don’t wear shoes: I like it when people see that you can use those digits for putting these thumbcuffs on. I’m also glad that the thumbcuffs open large enough t
o accommodate the hallux digits as well. However, I still know it’s not like that for everybody since not everyone can fit in them. I guess I’m lucky enough that they fit right on me.”
The wolf spoke in response, “I’d say I’m ever luckier to have a fox that’ll let me do this stuff to him.” Arcades shrugged as much as he was able to while sitting restrained in the way he was, “Sounds like it all works out, doesn’t it?” Photias agreed, “Of course. If I never came to the United States, I wouldn’t be able to do any of this. You and I both know that these things are prohibited weapons back in ‘Straya.” The fox took a deep breath before responding, “They sure are, but I’m not even sure why they’re prohibited in the first place. Maybe they’re afraid that somebody will use them against unwilling people, but I don’t remember an event like that occurring in the US or anywhere else that allows these. I’d say that Europe’s even more tolerant to stuff like this than the US is, and they’re not even regulated at all in the US.” Photias looked up from the fox’s feet to look at his face, “Would one of those European places happen to be Germany?” Arcades nodded, “Yep. It sure is. Germany is somehow more tolerant than the US is when it comes to this stuff.”
The wolf could not help but smile, “Isn’t that something? Your ancestors are German, and you like this stuff. Do you think there’s a correlation between the two?” Arcades was looking at his own feet, but when he saw that Photias looked up at him, he turned his own gaze towards the wolf as well, “I’m not entirely sure. Honestly, I think it’s just some big coincidence, but maybe one day we’ll figure it all out. It’s not like it’s too important, though.” Photias chuckled, “Hah. I guess we’ll have to see. Now won’t we?” Arcades formed a smile again, and he looked at the wolf until Photias decided to go back and look at the thumbcuffs locking the fox’s hallux digits together. The wolf had to comment on the carbon steel device, “Why did they even make these things in the first place?” Arcades tried to answer the question in the best way that he could, “I heard that they were originally made for American detectives who did not want to carry around a pair of regular-sized handcuffs. That was back in the 1950s or so, but I don't really have the strongest handle on the dates for these things. I just have them so we can play with them.”