24th Dec: 09:00AM Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way...oh what fun it is to ri...ah, right, this is my diary, not my songbook. Seeing as I get the rest of the year off to myself, I wanted a special festive victim to see me out of 2015. I spent a long time thinking about it. Reindeers are cute, but they have hooves, so wouldn't offer much in the way of foot tickles. Snowmen can potentially have feet but I don't want frostbite on Christmas morning. Then I though, of course! One of Antarctica's finest creatures, the polar bear! They will have nice thick paws as well as potentially ticklish upper bodies, and besides, it's been a while since I had any kind of bear in my grasp here. So I sent out my henchmen in the early hours to track down any polar bear they could find. At first, they were unable to find any, probably because I didn't give them enough bus fare to go to the far ends of the planet, and they're dreaming if they think im paying for a taxi. But at last, just a few minutes ago I had details through of one they had found! They have warned me that he may not prove to be a good victim, urging me to approve the capture of either a grizzly bear or a panda that they also found instead, but to that I say – nonsense! Bears are wonderful whatever the type, and a polar bear is perfect for the festive season! CAPTIVE PROFILE: Name: Ice Bear Species: Polar bear Restraints required: X-Frame Suspected sensitive spots: ?????? My men could not figure out any sensitivity details whatsoever. Reportedly he barely even moved during the capture, and sounded suspiciously calm and monotone when responding verbally. He may prove to be much more resistant upon torture though. We shall see... -Mendel –--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ice Bear awoke whilst Mendel was writing his morning diary entry, although immediately went back to sleep before he was noticed. The chilly breeze through the dungeon probably helped with that. Mendel had thought he was oddly light and easy to restrain into the X-Frame, but his body seemed promising – his fur was soft and cuddly and he looked cute, so Mendel had no reason to believe that he wouldn't be a very fun victim. The dragon paced around the dungeon for a while before looking back to the bear and noticing that his eyes were wide open. Finally! The bear had awoken (again). Mendel opened his mouth to introduce himself...and then saw the bear's eyes reduce themselves to almost barely visible black dots. There was absolutely no other movement from the bear – the brief eye widening was the only response he had to waking up restrained. The torturer had never seen anything like it. “Uh....hello? Are you awake, bear?” Ice Bear took a few seconds, but eventually tilted his head towards Mendel a little. A few seconds beyond that, he spoke in his normal deep monotone voice. “What is Ice Bear doing here?” “Ah! So you are awake! You certainly seem calm for someone who is completely helpless. I am...” “Ice Bear isn't helpless.” “Did you just interrupt me, bear? I can punish you for that!” The bear stayed quiet after that, although certainly didn't show any sign of anxiety. Mendel continued talking to him, albeit unsure if his captive was even listening. “You are in a predicament, bear. I'd suggest you quickly realise just what is about to happen to you...” Mendel picked up a large white feather and showed it to Ice Bear, twirling it menacingly and hoping to elicit some panic response. Nope. “Ice Bear isn't ticklish.” the bear responded, turning his head back uninterested, no longer even looking at the dragon, who was becoming increasingly frustrated. “Trying to act tough, eh?!” Mendel shouted, now angry at his current victim not deferring and panicking as they usually do, “That ain't gonna help you when I start doing this, bear!!” With a devious smirk on his face that indicated he was 100% certain he was about to get the upper hand on Ice Bear, Mendel began swiping the feather across the bear's left side, slowly. Keeping it up for a good few minutes, his smirk reducing gradually across that period, it became clear that it was having absolutely no effect on the polar bear. He didn't even turn his head again to look. “You must have thicker fur than usual...no problem! I have some brushes that work wonders on fluffy creatures like you!” Mendel immediately picks up a rough hairbrush and gets straight to work on the bear's large belly, scrubbing it roughly and quickly. He may as well have been blowing air on him for the reactions that he got, which were – nothing. Other than his fur becoming slightly more messy, the polar bear did not laugh, did not smile, did not even move any part of his body in the slightest. It was as if he was paralyzed. “Hmm, you are a difficult one! But I have a secret weapon – one that has never failed me in the past!” Mendel showed off his secret weapon to the bear – his shiny new pinwheel set, with 5 prickly metal wheels in one device. No response from the bear, but the dragon was certain this would break his streak of non-response. Trying in vain to build tension for the victim, he slowly lowered the wheels to Ice Bear's feet and began rolling them up and down his soles. Although the dragon was sadistic enough to simply enjoy the feeling of running the wheels down the bear's footpaws, he very quickly realised – to his absolute annoyance – that it did absolutely nothing further to get any reaction. Ice Bear remained still, his expression remained blank, and neither his feet or toes flinched even slightly as the pinwheel rolled on them. It was time for Mendel to get rougher than he thought he was going to – Ice Bear sure as hell isn't going to react in the slightest in his current form – so maybe a brief round of whipping would put enough fear into him to make him flinch? The dragon pulled out a riding crop from his toolbox – only a small one, but he could gauge whether whipping would work on the bear from it. “Well, if you aren't going to be a good bear and laugh for me, then I think it's time to show you how I punish my victims...” Mendel taunted cruelly, to a bear who he wasn't sure was even paying attention anymore. He shouts at him much louder and hits his belly with the crop, certain that would at least get a flinching, “Are you listening, bear!!!!!!???” Ice Bear was indeed listening, but he certainly wasn't giving the physical reaction that his captor wanted. The whites of his eyes returned at the crop smack though, before narrowing slightly and making him look angry. Against his better judgment, Mendel took advantage of this and smacked him two more times – once on his legs and once on the soles of his feet. The bear's eyes narrowed further, and he looked very angry indeed – perfect for the sadistic dragon who was finally getting some kind of reaction. “Well, well, looks like someone doesn't like being whipped! Maybe you should have thought of that before you resisted the tickling~ Now I'll have to find something even rougher to punish you with.” The dragon turned around and rummaged through his toolbox. At last, he was sure that the polar bear was worth it. It would take significantly longer than usual, but it looked like Ice Bear could be broken, with some time. He might even be going into Christmas morning with the torment if the bear does not react enough before then. As he looked through his assortment of torture tools, Mendel felt something unexpected – someone was tapping on his shoulder to get his attention. Believing it must be a guard informing him of something important, he turned around. “What is it? Can't you see I'm in the middle of...a...torture...........session........” The dragon was not greeted by any guard. Instead he saw the familiar blank expression of the polar bear he was torturing, directly behind him and up close. He could see that the metal rings restraining him to the X-frame had been completely shattered – then looked down to see that Ice Bear was in fact holding one of them in his paw. Before he could even respond to the sight, Mendel was told advice that he should have taken heed of much earlier: “Don't waste Ice Bear's time.” And in a quick and painful flash, the torturer dragon received a metal ring restraint directly to the head, knocking him unconscious down to the floor. –---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25th Dec: 15:20PM I regret to inform readers of this diary that not only have I failed to torture my previous victim properly, failed to keep him captive, and allowed myself to be defeated, I have also failed to regain consciousness before the Queen's Speech. Apologies to Elizabeth, if she may be reading this. You haven't aged a bit, ma'am. The polar bear was unlike any creature I had ever seen. No amount of tickling would even so much as make his flesh flinch, and even beating or whipping only resulted in his expression becoming slightly angrier with no visible pain response. Add to that I have no idea how he broke the restraints in the 10 seconds I had my back turned, and I must have been dealing with some kind of super bear. The henchmen reported that he casually walked away from the dungeon as soon as I had been attacked. They emphasised that they have kept tabs on the two other bears that this one resides with, and that they are more likely to be tormented by my methods, but revenge is not a festive ideal, and I shall refer back to those another time. In the meantime, and while I regret not buying any ibuprofen tablets before the stores closed: Merry Christmas! -Mendel P.S.: Next year I will have to go for that German one. He isn't as insane.