Art by  Palmer711

Ardeo belongs to  Ardeo955 (check out his POV here https://www.furaffinity.net/view/60785790/)

Roy and story by me

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“Male, 20s, average build, mammalian (canine preference), healthy.” That’s what the next subject was supposed to be, Roy had read on the file. The polar bear sat on a park bench, dressed as inconspicuously as he could: grey sweatpants, black shirt, shades, a maroon scarf and no shoes. Unfortunately his superiors had forbidden him from wearing his signature Christmas hat – too showy, they said, it could attract unwanted attention when surveying for subjects. They almost balked at the scarf too, until the bear convinced them the cold autumn climate made sure none would bat an eye. The shades, not usually part of his outfit, hid the fact that Roy wasn’t reading the gossip magazine he held, as his eyes darted from side to side looking for a potential candidate.

“Falcon, no. Dragon, no. Bull… maybe. Shark, no, unfortunately. Grizzly… looks old, no. Horse, a bit too young, better not risk it. Wolf! No, he’s got a cane, definitely not. Frog, nope. Husky… fat.” The polar sighed. He had been at least an hour scanning for the perfect person. Canines were so common, so why was there barely any of them here today? Was there some ball fetching competition today he hadn’t heard of? He was about to get up from the bench and move to a different location, when BAM! A Frisbee hit him right in the face. “Ow ow ow, what the fuck?!”, he yells, when into his view comes a border collie. All his anger dissipates as he dissects the man.

Average build? Yes. Canine, obviously. 20s? He looked young, for sure. Healthy? He was wearing glasses, but looked good otherwise. “I’m so sorry! I told that dumbass hyena we should play somewhere less crowded, but of course he didn’t listen.” The polar smiles as he takes off his shades, looking at the collie’s green eyes with his own black ones. Roy had perfected the art of looking harmless at this point. “No problem, friend.” He gives the collie his Frisbee. “There’s a wooded terrain a few meters down that path.” Roy points down. “Barely anyone goes there, especially with this climate.” “Oh… well, thanks for the tip, bud. We’re new to this area, hah.” The collie responds. “No problem.”

The woods were separated from the park for a reason. The dense vegetation and tall, branchless trees made it a pretty boring place to do anything but hike. It was mostly empty even on busy days. And that made it a perfect spot for what Roy was about to do next. Leaving the magazine back at the bench, he runs to his car, which he hid on the woods, and grabs a tranquilizer shotgun. When the bear goes into the forest, he sees the collie and the hyena they mentioned playing. The frustrations when the Frisbee kept hitting the tree trunks were apparent, so Roy had to move fast before they left. And move fast he did. From behind a large bush, he aims the gun at the collie’s back. A perfect shot. When the hyena goes to investigate the fallen dog, Roy fires a second dart at him. He only needed one subject, but the other man did fit the description pretty well too. “Better safe than sorry”, the bear thinks. “He’ll probably come looking for this dude anyway.” Dragging both men on his back, Roy makes his way back to the car.

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His lab was but one of many in the underground research facility. It paid well, and Roy didn’t question who was ordering all these tests. Especially because the bear wasn’t even there for the money. Roy just really liked doing his job. He’d do it for free, for Christ’s sake. After the polar finished cleaning and sanitizing the padded table, he places the unconscious dog in it. He had relieved the man of his clothes, while also looking at their ID for their name – Ardeo –, and the collie currently stood fully naked and unconscious. The drug effects would wear off soon, and though he could handle the much smaller man if they woke up, Roy much preferred when his subjects woke up after the full preparation for the test was done. And so he began; first came the sensory deprivation – Roy would insert a red ball gag on the collie’s maw, then a white leather hood covering his whole head, but leaving his ears and nose in contact with air.

Secondly, came the limb restraints, which most people in the facility referred to as the “segufix”. Wrists, ankles, knees, thighs, neck, one covering the whole chest, and one pinning the collie’s hooded head to the table, for good measure. The segufix was sturdy, and even the biggest and strongest subjects couldn’t make a scratch on it, while still being comfortable and stopping the individuals from hurting themselves by straining. Because, oh they strained. And, lastly, Roy places 4 electrodes on Ardeo’s ankles and arms. The monitor that the electrodes were connected to turns on, displaying the usual vital signs, like heartbeat, oxygen and CO2 levels… and some less orthodox stuff, like “sensitivity level”, “stress level”, all of which lacked any info so far. The polar then sits in a chair nearby.
A couple of minutes later, and the collie begins to wake up. He starts to move his limbs and head, until realizing he cannot, which makes the dog start to whine and presumably yell, which comes off as nothing more than muffled whimpers because of the gag and hood. “Oh, finally, mr. Ardeo. I’m sure you’re wondering what’s going on. Well, you had the luck of being picked by yours truly for a little trial.” The collie keeps on struggling. “Well. I’m glad you asked! The trial involves the sensitivity testing of different individuals. Our latest profile involved a male canine, so I felt you were the perfect candidate. Jolly good, no?” Ardeo tries to shake his head, maybe scream. “I’m glad you agree. The test usually lasts for a couple of hours, where we carefully measure each reaction your body has to all sorts of stimuli. Thanks to our advanced tech, we can see what affects you the most. Of course, only one test is useless for scientific information, so many more will be required. But don’t worry, you’ll be properly compensated by the end.”

Roy laughs. In his years of working in this lab, he had yet to see any compensation that wasn’t “being transferred to another facility for more testing”. Poor things. Ardeo strains himself even harder, trying to get free from the segufix. “Oh mister, I know you’re excited… but I’d save your breath for the test. After all, if you pass out during it… we’ll have to start from the very beginning.” The polar laughs, and hears a clear whine from the collie. Oh, if he had a heart, he’d set the man free right then and there. Unfortunately for Ardeo, Roy simply adjusts his Christmas hat, which he put on before bringing the dog to the lab, and moves to face the collie's paws. The man couldn’t see it, but the polar was basically salivating over them. White colored arches and heels, brown toes, and the most delicious looking cherry-red paw pads. If he didn’t have any decorum, Roy would start licking and nibbling them in that moment. But protocol required him to start from the beginning.
“Alright, mr. Ardeo. Let us begin.” The bear grabs the collie’s right paw with his hand, and begins to scratch the arch, heel and bigger paw pad with his well-groomed claws. His movements are swift and quick, not even digging in that deep. The collie’s back arches like he was convulsing and he strains on every limb, as a loud laughter escapes from his gagged maw. The sensitivity level bar on the monitor quickly shoots to “max”, as does the stress one. “Oh my. It seems we’ll have a lot of fun together, mr. Ardeo.” Roy says with a gigantic smile in his face. He digs his claws deeper.