The next morning Thomas found Bentley bouncing around the room getting dressed. As he got up he smirked inwardly at how chipper the new footman was, soon he'd be as tired as the rest of them; realising that he too was stuck in service for the most part of his life. As Thomas went through his morning routine he was annoyed at how frequent Bentley would get in the way, he allowed his frustrations to simmer as he was trying to get on the good side of the staff if he wanted to move up. It certainly didn't help when Bentley whistling. Thomas thought to himself it would be one of those days where everything and anything annoyed him, so he let his opinions on the hyper man dwindle until he was calm enough to judge him properly. "Race you down!" Bentley almost sounded childish Thomas thought snidely, "I hope he's not like this all day." He murmured, when he reached the bottom of the stairs he bumped into O'Brien; who looked flustered. She had clearly been hit by the whirlwind that was Bentley. "That boy won't know what's hit him after a few days of shift, 'specially with the added hustle-and-bustle of Christmas." She said in a devious tone, almost willing him to devastation.
"Now now Sarah, we can't wish ill on people, especially you, it's not lady-like and as a lady's maid that wouldn't bode well." He said sarcastically. O'Brien just huffed passively and went off to her duties. She was used to the sarcastic pit of gloom that encircled Thomas and so it didn't offend her when he used his slimy, patronizing tone that played so much on the other's nerves. Thomas, oblivious to O'Brien's contemplations, was sat in the kitchen and watching as all the new staff looked nervously around, he eyed up a few. There were a few young gullible maids and some quite slick footmen, but he would be playing that game just yet, it could be dangerous. The only other time he'd ever had a fling with Downton staff had been the gardener's apprentice, "Ahh, I'll miss him, sort off, probably not." He smiled as he knew that it hadn't really meant anything but it was bloody good fun and quite an adrenaline rush trying to keep it a secret but frequent affair.
"He smiles, what next? He grows a heart that beats?" Susanne commented. The Downton staff sniggered and O'Brien shot her a look, although she did ponder on the fact that it was a very 'Thomas' thing to say. Thomas simply looked over his paper, "I do have a heart, but I choose not to waste it on the likes of you." He said calmly, being drawn back to his paper mid-sentence. "Ooh that really stung." she remarked, "Well I don't exactly see a queue of young maidens at the door, do you?!" She was getting in her element and was glad to see Thomas's face distort with irritation. Miss Patmore started to laugh hysterically, clutching at her rounded middle and going red, she struggled to regain breath after the hysterical moment had passed. The older and more knowledgeable staff sort-of clicked, but miss's Patmore's joviality had left various confused faces. Daisy for one was confused, there was something about Thomas that seemed to get Miss Patmore going every time. Thomas just looked around, blushing a little and then murmured to O'Brien that he was going for a fag. As they got outside O'Brien knew that he wanted to say something about Susanne. "Bloody cow…should mind her own, she's only guest staff and she shouldn't just say things to someone who's higher up the food chain then she is." He grumbled on, disappointed that she had got to him, of course he didn't have the girls lining up, but he had proved before that it was easy for him. Maybe she was challenging him, maybe he should prove it.