Fowl Manner July 12 2012

Artemis and Holly stumbled out of his suite the next morning, her hair frazzled and unkempt spreading out in glorious waves and whirls down the back of Artemis's dress shirt that she was wearing. It was the only thing that she was wearing and the simple act of dawning it had stopped any arguments from Artemis about her lack of decorum. Walking stiffly down the hallway (Artemis was most definitely a Mud Man now) she clawed her way towards the scent of coffee that was wafting through the house. She was already wide awake, Artemis making sure that they had both exercised vigorously before they left his room to face the outside world. But even that and her magic could not fight off the caffeine cravings running through her head.

Artemis was rather disheveled himself, which equated to him actually dressing like a normal person for once. Holly had at the scent of the coffee only bothered to pull on his dress shirt from the night before and unwilling to leave her side for even a second Artemis only managed to pull on his pants and a plain white undershirt.

Butler grinned as the two made their way into kitchen.

"Holly I had no idea you would be spending the night." said the manservant feigning ignorance.

Holly growled at him. "Where's the coffee?"

Butler held up a china mug the aroma of the expensive above ground brew cruelly wafting towards her.

"Did you not get any sleep? You look as if you were attacked in the night." said Butler noticing the crescent shaped bruises around her neck and swollen lips.

Holly growled again unwilling to take any more ribbing until she had coffee.

Laughing Butler lowered the mug to her level, grabbing at it Holly downed the human sized portion of hot liquid, not caring that a few magical sparks jumped up to heal the burn in the back of her throat as well as her slightly worn out vocal cords. She directed the sparks to avoid her skin however, deciding to wear those marks for now.

"Damn, who won the bet then?" Asked a gravely tone from the small table in the kitchen.

Holly whipped around to glare at the source and even Artemis raised an eyebrow at the visitor.

"I believe Grub won, he bet on this month July of 2012" said Butler ignoring the outraged glare from the new couple.

"See why couldn't you two have done this a month earlier, help out a friend." asked Mulch thinking of the amount of money that had been on this particular bet. He had even thrown in some of his own money, making it the first time he had spent any gold in over a year!

Holly threw her mug at the dwarf aiming for his head.

Mulch yawned and opening his cavernous mouth chomped down on the fired clay.

"Hmm, bit dry. "said the dwarf. "tasty though."

"You participated in a gambling pool on Holly's and my own affection Butler?" asked Artemis scandalized as Holly stalked towards the dwarf murder in her mismatched eyes.

Butler shrugged "It was best to know who might try to manipulate the results on any particular month."

Artemis frowned "What month did you bet on?"

"May 2014"

"That long? You have no confidence in me" said Artemis wounded.

"SEE HE WAS IN ON IT GET HIM!" yelled Mulch as Holly\'s fists continued to fly at him. Dwarfs were one of natures toughest creatures they did after all survive cave ins and the pressure of tons of rock while digging, but Holly\'s well placed attacks still hurt.

Holly paused eying Butler " I don't have any weapons on me right now Mulch, and I have sneaking suspicion you started this bet! So your the target for now!"

"Nope wasn't him who started it." said Foaly appearing on the tiny television in the kitchen.

Holly froze for a moment looking over at Foaly, loosening her grip enough for Mulch to wiggle free out of her grip. Staggering away from her the dwarf ran into the pantry and slammed the door, hiding from the crazy elf.

"Who was it?" asked Artemis curious as to had started such a profane bet.

"Trouble." Said Foaly laughing.

"Trouble? TROUBLE STARTED THE BET?" screamed Holly, and Artemis winced, this was not the type of yelling he wished to hear at full volume.

"I'M GOING TO KILL HIM!" vowed Holly fuming as she ran through the possibilities in her head.

Below Ireland in the Lower Elements Trouble Kelp the LEP Commander shuddered and glanced nervously around his office. Something was very very wrong. Searching he spots the reader standing in a corner of the room with an evil grin on their face.

"D'arvit what the hell did I do?" asks the Commander nervously.

The reader laughs.

Their are just some people that you don't want to piss off.