Decision

 Al moved into the now increasingly familiar office that belonged to Helena, trying hard not to be distracted by the short, short jeans that showed almost all of her beautiful, toned, sprightly,…

'Shut up!'

Cursing at himself, he forcefully looked away. It didn't help, at all, that it seemed as if she had put it on hurriedly. The left side of it was slightly pulled down as she hadn't had the time to fully pull it up. He had spotted this when she had bent at the fridge after he entered to take out two cans of Coke, and the pearly part of her waist he had seen had set his cheeks aflame.

Hastily, he tried to enter a state of calmness, a state where he wouldn't embarrass himself in front of someone he respected so much. Idly, he found himself comparing what he had just seen to what had been liberally shown in his date just the other day, and although this was a dangerous line of thought, he dwelled on it for quite some time before catching himself and destroying it in its entirety.

During that time, he remarked inwardly about how different the two were. In Jessica's case, only his base desires had been stirred. This sounded dirty, but he found no other way to describe it. Everything about her body had sent his blood in an attempt for a world record of the number of times it could circle around his body. Here, though, there was something else added to the entire feeling that he couldn't put a finger on, and thankfully, right after he stopped pondering on such a preposterous matter, she spoke, giving him a chance to think about something other than how his hand would feel around that heavenly curve.

"So what brings you here? I was in the middle of escaping a gathering my friends threw by hiding out over here...hence the dress code. If you're assuming that it's permitted in the office, none of the men would get any work done!"

She chuckled, offering him the tin of coke from which he took a large sip. Setting it down, he gave the answer by simply taking out that golden ball out of the pocket and putting it on the table between them.

Helena's eyes widened as she saw it, and all the amusement out of her as she bent forward. Al stared at her grimly, waiting for the sort of information that he had known only she would possess.

Social circles were treacherous, and many times, even deadly constructs of society. If one stepped into the wrong one, one might just be kissing their life away as it could just pull them down into a mire that no one could get out of without an ample background. When the circles were high enough, even contrivances like assassinations didn't remain in the realm of movies. He knew because of his own past that had led him to live here instead of the gigantic mansion in which he had been brought up in, so the first emotion he had felt after calming down had been that of caution.

He didn't notice that he had averted his gaze from Helena, and had been staring at the golden ball like one struggling to make a decision for the last minute. When she spoke, he snapped his head up, surprised due to his lapse in attentiveness.

"It's good that you're not enamoured by what this represents. Being careful is the way to go. Too many young villains and heroes forget this, and find themselves indebted to people they cannot afford to be in league with. I knew that you would be invited to one of these, but I didn't think they would move so quickly. The government has to be thanked for this, I guess. Either way...what dp you intend to do?"

He had hoped that she would tell him enough so that he could make a decision regarding the question she was asking, so throwing his hands in the air, he exclaimed, "I don't know! These things are so complicated. If I go, things might get messed up in a million ways. If I don't, people might think that I'm a coward, or that I think I don't deserve to be there, or that I'm too good for them, or again...a million more things. I'd forgotten that—"

He stopped himself forcefully and coyghed, trying to hide a surge of horror that had sprung up from his very depths. He had almost been about to speak about his past, a topic regarding which he hadn't discussed with anyone, leave alone someone he had met just a few days ago.

Drinking deeply from the tin, he finished it before he saw what he was doing. Thankfully, Helena said nothing, merely waiting for him to regain his composure while calmly sipping from her own drink.

When he finally managed to look at her with clear eyes, she nodded and said, "Yes. Again, it's really good that you know of the dangers. We should also think of the merits. My master will be there, you know."

Still caught up on what he had been about to say, Al took a moment to understand what Helena was implying. He had been trapped in a meandering swirl of self abuse and investigation as to to why what had just happened had happened, and it was after he found the answer that he was incredibly comfortable around Helena that he realised with a flash what she was talking about, and looked at her with eyes that were suddenly ablaze.

Raising her hand to her mouth and laughing in a delicate manner, Helena nodded, a twinkle lighting up those brown, clear, deep pools in front of him.

"Yes, I knew that would interest you. I can't guarantee whether she'll want to meet you, but you'll definitely get your first look at her. And let me tell you...she's really something."

One hour later, Al was picking out a suit with his uncle.

He couldn't help it. The demigods were the true leaders of the world, so a chance to see one in the flesh was simply too valuable for him to pass up. He wanted to get to the level where he was at least just one rung away from them in the pecking order, and he had always known of the importance of seeing a goal up close, causing the motivation one felt to get there to shoot up to a level it might never have reached without that encounter.

As was his nature, he had intended to cheap out on this, too. It was only on his uncle's insistence that they were in one of the costliest shops in the entire city.

"Stay still, Sir!"

Hearing the sharp rebuke from the prim tailor he had been assigned, he tried to stop fidgeting. He had moved because the pricetag on one of the suits nearby had alarmed him enough to make him want to twist his head and study it even though he needed to turn around, and this had irritated the man who had already understood that he was't used to being a customer in shops of such calibre.

After the measurements were taken, he was given an option of fabrics and a list of enchantments that could be added, with prices that made his eyes water. His uncle acted as if spending $ 20,000 for a suit was a normal occurrence, but Al had already started to look for the exit.

Thankfully, Jonah didn't find anything he was happy with. The tailor sniffed disapprovingly when they were on their way out, as if convinced that they had come with empty pockets only to waste his time, but neither of them did anything to correct his erroneous assumption.

Al was just happy, for the moment, that he would still be keeping most of his fortune. His uncle looked like he was in deep though, so without saying a word, he followed.

Surprisingly, they seemed to be headed to his shop. Al was curious regarding the reason, but he kept the question with him, knowing that he would find the answer soon.

When they stepped into the shop, old man Jonah seemed to finally come to his senses. Raising a hand, he stopped Al from stepping forward and said, "Wait here."

Displeased, but attempting to hide it, Al nodded. His uncle disappeared into the basement, and the sounds of him rummaging for something soon emerged.

His curiosity rising to such peaks that it almost physically hurt to stop himself from yelling out the question on his mind, Al desperately tried to distract himself by looking around. Thankfully, the man emerged a few seconds later. But when Al saw what he was holding in his hands, his jaw fell, and he wondered suddenly whether he was hallucinating.

Uncle Jonah's bulging muscles were clamped tight around an empty, burgundy suit that was actively trying to fly out of his grasp, as if a ghost had possessed it.