No Escape From Reality (invite)

Rhea unbuttoned the last button of her coat, wishing that she had just left it at home, she made a mental not to leave it somewhere and 'forget' it, she could buy a new one tomorrow.

She looked at her brother for a second, before she sat down at the bar, waiting for him to order their drinks. They had done this for few years now, Rhea would let Theo take her out for a birthday drink, though the 'nice' and 'sibling-y' moment never lasted so long and truthfully Rhea wasn't quite sure why they did it to begin with. They really had a large bunch of silly family traditions.

But nevertheless, the girl did not like being alone on her birthday, though she could probably have contacted her friends, but being alone with Theo wasn't that bad, it was worse when Athena and Artemis were around too.

"Alright, order a cheap drink," Theo told his sister with a grin. "It may be your birthday but I'm not made of money." That was a lie. Yes, he wasn't made of money but if she wanted a pint of cocktails or a fountain of firewhiskey he'd get it for her today. It was her birthday, the one day of the year where he could actually be nice to her without people questioning what he was on.

"Anyway, Rhea, dear," he said, nudging her. "Happy birthday, I guess. I hope that you accept this drink as my birthday present to you. Maybe if you get off with someone that's like the equivalent to some cheap shit a brother would normally get his younger sister." He grinned."Speaking of which, see anything you like?" Theo gave a laugh and winked.

Claude headed straight to the bar, a slight skip in his step, in a good mood. Not that good moods were rare, when he was heading towards the bar he was often in a good mood. He was free for the day, didn't need to be in work early the next morning, and could spend as much time as he wanted drowning his non-existent sorrows in alcohol. Because he needed an excuse, obviously.

As his drink arrived he found himself catching the conversation of the people next to him, ears perking up at the sound of 'birthday'. Non-existent sorrows be damned, that was a reason to celebrate if he'd ever heard one. Turning to look at them he gave a small smile as he locked eyes with one of them, raising his glass in greeting. "Which one of you is celebrating?" he asked.

The man was walking to fast, Tie could not keep up with him. As the dark haired man fought his way to the exit, Valentin did his best to walk faster, but there were too many people, and he was too polite to be like the other man and shove them rudely out of the way. He saw a hole in the crowd, so he sped up to make his way towards it. But that also meant he was no longer paying attention to his surroundings, which was not a very smart idea, he would later realize.

Valentin tripped someones outstretched leg, which send him flailing, and managing to hold himself upright, he grasped onto a stranger's shirt. It however, did nothing to help his balance, and he pulled them both to the ground, ending up somehow with the unknown man on top of him.

"Oh dear Merlin, I'm so sorry," he stumbled, knowing he lost his chance to get to the man. Instead he was here, lying with a rather, very, attractive looking man on top of him. Valentin immediately felt his cheeks go red.

Rhea shrugged her coat off fully, as she pondered what she wanted to drink, "Do you know if the have something made of diamonds?" she joked, smiling a bit, though it was still a bit strained. "I'm sure you have the money, unless it's all already gone on alcohol? But a martini will do."

She had only just started to ponder her brother's question when there was a new voice, and a new face - a handsom face.
Mmmm, yes. She thought as an answer to her brother's question, smiling to herself.

She turned towards the new man, running her hand through her hair and crossing her legs. "That would be me-" she started, but got cut off when suddenly her brother wasn't sitting next to her anymore, but being pulled down and on the floor and on top of someone else.

"... Don't just lay there, Theo!" Rhea snapped, noticing that people had started to stare at the pair of them on the floor. "Theo! Get up!" she stressed, too worried about the staring of the people, to think about her brother or the other man, and if they had hurt themselves.

Theo grinned as a new voice joined, and indicated Rhea with a smirk. "I'm just buying her a dri-" He was cut off shirt as a hand grabbed him and pulled him to the floor, landing on top of another guy. Who was pretty good-looking, even from this angle. "No worries," he said, flashing the guy a smile.

Rhea's voice floated from above him and he rolled his eyes, rocking back onto his heels and offering the other man a hand up. "Are we embarrassing you, Reelee?" Theo asked, grinning and chucking her chin. "Poor snookums." He laughed at her expression and turned to the other two. "Seeing as I'm getting her drink, I'll make it a round. What do you two fancy having? We'll call it a celebration."

Claude turned to the girl who's birthday it was, about to congratualte her. He assumed that it would be rude to ask her how old she was turning. From the look of her, it was quite young. Before he had the chance, a newcomer had knocked over the girl's companion, sending them both to the floor rather comically, raising his brows in surprise, taking a large gulp of his drink while they were all focused on the boys on the floor.

"Are you two okay?" he asked, leaning forward to see one help the other up. He wasn't exactly sure what the relation between the two who had originally been here was, but it seemed slightly odd.

"I'd never deny an offer of a drink," Claude said with a bright smile, tipping back more of his drink. "Nor the chance to celebrate, especially not a birthday. I'll have a firewhiskey, if you don't mind."

He turned to the girl with an expectant look. "So what's the birthday girl's name then?"

Valentin could hear a girls voice from above them, making the redness on his usually pale cheeks intensify. Oh he wished the ground would just swallow him. He really was quite a klutz sometimes. He took the hand was offered to him to get up, knowing that if he would try to get up himself, the chance he would fall again would be quite large.

He started to blabber apologies again.

"Are you okay? Didn't I hurt you? I'm sorry, I lost my balance," he stammered. Valentin couldn't help but glance hopefully at the entrance, but like he had suspected, the dark haired man he had been following for his job was long gone.

When a drink was offered to him, he started to stammer again. "Oh no, you don't need to do that. I wouldn't want to be a bother."

Do not hit him. Do not hit him. Do not hit him.
The words played around in Rhea's head for a minute, after her brother's horrible nickname for her had left his lips. Oh, how she wanted to smack that smarmy look on his face - or just his whole face - off his head.

Calming herself down, she turned towards the first man. "Rhea." she replied, in a soft voice, in a try to keep the anger she still had towards her brother, bottled down. "Rhea Capulet. But 'Birthday girl' works too, though." she laughed. "Do I get yours, too?"

Resisting the urge to state to the blond that he was already being a bother and that he should just run as fast as he could out of the room, Rhea decided to try to be nice... ish, for an evening - or at least few minutes. "Have a seat Blondie," she said, but it came out more like an order than a suggestion (which it probably was). "Please accept his drinks, and take all his money. It would be a great birthday present."

"Seriously, you should accept. I'm never this generous." Theo smiled at the two men and leant back against the bar. "Or I'm going to have to order you something either ridiculously strong or boring. Either or. Up to you."

Tapping his feet, Theo raised his eyebrows at his sister's interactions and smiled a little, before turning to the blond guy. "I'm fine. You didn't hurt me, did I hurt you? And if you insist on apologizing then have a drink. I'm Theo, by the way. "

Claude watched as the other men interacted, amused by how different they seemed. Their little group of four that had suddenly emerged seemed rather diverse. He turned back to the woman and gave her his usual grin. "Claude Delanoir," he answered.

He chuckled slightly at Theo's words, trying to make sure he remembered their names. He turned to look at the final boy, the blond, and gave a slightly warmer smile. He looked a little bit of a nervous bundle. "And what's your name?" he seriously doubted that he could just call the man 'blondie'.

"So, how are you two related?" he asked to Theo and Rhea. He assumed they were probably family rather than romantically involved.

Valentin swallowed nervously, colour on his cheeks going an even brighter red at the nickname. The demanding tone in the woman's face made it unable for him to deny. He nodded slowly and hauled himself onto the bar stool next to them. It wobbled a bit, but Valentin steadied himself quickly. He was not about to fall to the ground twice on one day.

The guy he had pulled to the ground with him turned towards him, he finally did nod. "No you didn't hurt me, my back's a bit soar but that was more the ground than you," he blabbered slightly. "I'm Valentin, it's nice to meet you," he said politely, playing with the hem of his shirt. As he had been banned from ordering something boring, Valentin did not really know what he had to order. He wasn't one for alcoholic drinks, he had never really had one before. But he didn't want to be qualified as boring.

"I'll have a firewhiskey too then," he muttered, having heard the man whom introduced himself as Claude say before.

He turned away from Theo and went to face the girl who had introduced herself as Rhea and Claude. He was fairly certain he had picked up it was her birthday. "Valentin Beaufort," he introduced himself, hoping to Merlin the redness in his cheeks had disappeared. "Bonne anniversaire," he told her with a nervous smile.

Rhea smiled, tilting her head to the side to get a better look at the man infront of her, she was most sure he was probably older than her, maybe a lot even, but he was still very gorgeous.

"We're siblings." she replied, pointing her thumb at Theo, over her shoulder. "But we don't usually get this well on." she winked, turning around she looked at the other man - Valentin, she noted - who seemed very nervous, which excited the girl, it was like a brand new toy to play with.

"Thank you, Blondie," she said, deciding to keep the nickname. "So what brings you two here?" she asked, addressing both Claude and Valentin, this time.

"We definitely don't get on this well, usually." Theo gave a big smile and turned to the bar, ordering the drinks that had been asked for. In turn, he handed each of them out to everyone and held his drink out. "Cheers," he said. "Here's to another year of winding up Rhea. Chin chin."

Theo looked between the two men as Rhea asked a question, waiting to hear their answers respectively. "Yeah, why are you here? I mean, we're here for a knees up but you two look respectable."

Claude chuckled slightly at Rhea's explination of her relationship with her brother. Considering the way he they were talking to each other, he wasn't sure what not getting on was supposed to be. "Siblings, huh?" he joked, thinking of his own sister. Though he liked to think he got on well with her.

He felt slightly sorry for Valentin, who seemed incredibly nervous, and had now been roped into having a drink with people who certainly did not seem anywhere near as nervous. Perhaps it would do the boy some good though, losen him up a little.

The man couldn't help but laugh slightly at the question the siblings asked. "Not sure I've been referred to as 'respectable' looking in a while," Claude said, tipping back the rest of his drink and putting the glass on the bar. That was one down. Rather quickly. "I'm just here to have a break from the hard day of work," he turned to the girl, though he was addressing the group. "Picked the perfect day to come, too. I do love celebrating birthdays."

And all hopes for wishing away his very apparent blush was lost when Rhea used the nickname again. He hated himself for reacting so badly to this, but he couldn't help it. He brought up his hands and rubbed his cheekbones, as if that would make the redness go away.

He was glad when Theo handed him his glass, because Valentin had not been sure which one would be for him. He held up his glass shortly, copying what Theo did, and gave Rhea a small smile so he did not have to repeat the words he said before to her.

When they were asked what they were doing there, Valentin shifted nervously on his seat. He wasn't supposed to tell anyone what he had been doing, it was part of the job. But that meant he had to lie. "Uhm, well, the power in my apartment went out, and I didn't fancy sitting there in the dark. So I came here instead," he lied after a bit of thinking. He was quite pleased with his lie, it sounded as if it was quite convincing. Or at least, he hoped it sounded like that.

He lifted the glass given to him earlier and took a, much too large, sip. He could feel the liquid burning his tongue and throat and it took all his will power to keep tears from forming in his eyes. Oh, he should really have started out with a small sip instead of such a large one. Why did he have to be so stupid sometimes?

Theo listened to each of their responses and shrugged, accepting them. "Fair enough," he said, smirking.

"Knock it back, Claude," he said with a grin, laughing at the man in front of him. He looked like he knew how to have a good time. Maybe he should introduce him to his siblings so that they could see they were overreacting to him having a small drink. Then again, he had no idea if Claude only knocked back two or three or if he could go on all night. He hoped for the latter.

He nudged Rhea. "Do you want us to sing you a happy birthday? I hope you weren't expecting a stripper or anything. Unless Claude or Blondie wanted to go for us." He winked.

Rhea leaned her head on her hand, watching Valentin as he took a sip of his drink. He just seemed very... She wasn't sure what to call him, maybe 'innocent' was a good word, which she found very amusing and interesting.

"Yes." she knocked back the rest of her drink. "Yes, I want you to sing." normally the girl would stay away from the public humility that called is 'singing infront of people', but today she wanted to be the one that was the center of attention, and if they were singing to her, she was just that.

"I'd like the stripper too," she added, laughing as her brother suggested Claude and Valentin could do it. "Wouldn't you like that?" she winked.

Claude watched as Valentine took a sip of his drink, turning his eyes away so as not to make the boy feel nervous. He seemed like he wasn't overly used to drinking, and stood next to himself and the siblings, he imagined the last thing Valentine needed was for them all to bring this to attention.

He winked at Theo, tapping the counter of the bar. "Shall I buy the next round, when we're all ready for it?" he suggested. "I'll try not to be too quick next time."

He was very pleased that he wasn't drinking while the suggestion of 'strippers' came up. He wasn't sure exactly how to react to that, deciding to laugh. "I doubt I'm your type, a bit old. Out of practice on that front. Though I can sing Happy Birthday. Badly, mind you."