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"Are you alright?!" Seven cried out. "You seem sick!" Her sensors were picking up abnormal temperatures from Alec, and the way he collapsed on the desk. It couldn't have been what she said, right? Her chest wasn't that much of a matter, honestly. It was merely a coverplate for the hardware within her. On a human, sure, that would have been improper, sure, but she wasn't human, she didn't count.

Was he sick then? "Hold still, I'll take you to the clinic!"

And swiftly, she wasn't a laptop, but a young woman, sitting on Alec's desk and leaning over, her hand on his shoulder, her face almost too close - she was practically talking right in her ear.

"Please be okay!" Seven pleaded

Seven stared at Alec, the constantly adjusting lens in her eyes creating a slight shimmering effect from the reflecting light. She leaned in a little bit closer, still crouching on the desk, examining Alec.

"Patient shows increased blood flow. Heart rate, rising. Temperature rising. Impaired speech."

Seven blinked, and reached out, her hands on Alec's shoulders. "Stay with me, man!! Don't lose it! I'll call Ophi right away! Pleeeaaaaaase!!!" She looked so close to tears. "I don't want to lose you! Not before you save Master Ialo! And I really don't want to lose you anyways!"

Seven's hands felt strangely nice on Alec's shoulders. But the way she was looking at him now... It jerked at Alec's heartstrings in ways he couldn't quite explain. One thing he detested more than anything else in the world was watching women cry. It just didn't seem right, so something in the back of Alec's brain told him to man up and take charge.

And he did.

Alec leaned forward and grabbed Seven's shoulders as well, making sure she was looking him dead in the eyes. Her own lenses shifting and focusing looked like some kind of surreal whirlpool, swirling and churning their green waters into a portal that lead to a place that no one had ever been before.

It was mesmerizing.

But that was secondary to the task at hand, so Alec kept a straight face and looked at Seven with a reassuring look. "Seven! It's alright! I'm fine, look at me!"

Silas was currently sitting in his extravagant golden chair, leaning back slightly and sipping his coffee absently as he browsed over the paper. He was glad to see that there was a small article in the business section about how Enlil Corp. was starting to take some losses now that their CEO had been labeled a dangerous criminal. Their stocks had taken a nose dive since shareholders had jumped at the chance to sell their stocks before the storm hit. Silas' smile got just the slightest bit wider as he imagined men in suits scrambling to get rid of their stocks in Enlil Corp. like it was diseased.

After a few minutes passed Silas looked over at the packaged that still laid open on his desk, the elven tea sitting inside it's paper wrapping nonchalantly. Silas began to wonder if it was as good as it was supposed to be rumored, and eventually his curiosity got the best of him. Silas set down his coffee and hit a small button on an intercom that was installed on the desk. "Hot water. Now." Immediately there was a small flash of blue light and a small mug of hot water appeared on his desk next to his hand. Silas smiled as he opened up the tea bags and began to dip them into the water. There was certainly something to be said about magical room service. Silas almost began to feel at home again now that he was Headmaster of the school rather than just another student.

However, Silas' happiness was about to abruptly end. After a few minutes the elven tea was ready, and Silas began to sip at it. It was delicious at first, far better than anything he had ever had. It was full of flavor, and had a large hint of honey that seemed to already be added into the mix. However, after about 5 seconds Silas began to feel strange. His stomach began to growl at him, and soon after there was a sharp pain in his gut. Immediately Silas shot up from his chair and bolted for the bathroom that was attached to the office. Silas slammed the door shut and immediately began to take care of business.

Silas wasn't sure, but he felt that he might have just been poisoned. And judging from how quick it went through his system it must have been some pretty potent stuff. Being a slug demon Silas was essentially made of festering ooze, and as such was essentially poison himself. With this in mind, it's impossible for a slug demon to be poisoned. However, they do suffer an acute bout of painful bowel movements, which Silas was suffering through at the moment. Loud grunts of pain could be heard audibly from the hallway outside the office, and an occasional scream every now and then broke up the monotony.

Silas would make who ever did this to him pay dearly. This was just too much for one man to bear. The pain was UNBEARABLE.

Seven stared at Alec again, processing his statement. Love? How could she be feeling love? She had only overwritten her code hours ago. She could not be feeling love this early, that was absurd.

"If by love, you mean a psychological attachment to others, then perhaps so," she said. "But if you mean the more traditional sense of love, then I doubt your opinion."

She did doubt him, right? She felt a little bad about that, she had never disagreed with him much before. After all, she didn't love Alec, she simply enjoyed his company. And Master Ialo - it wasn't proper etiquette to have feelings for your boss... but he wasn't just her boss, he was her father too, in a non-traditional sense.

"... I think."

Alec's voice was calm and comforting as he spoke to Seven, trying to assail her worries. "No, I think the first one is more accurate. ...Kinda. See, love just means that you care about someone, that they hold some significance to you in a positive way. That's not to say that you're IN love, but the base form of love is essentially just caring for someone. Wanting to see them happy, wanting to see them safe, becoming sad if you have to go away from them and becoming frightened if the possibility of you losing them comes up."

Once Danni had returned Poopsie to Cook and Sly, she'd returned to her tower, her thoughts more than a bit scattered. She'd looked at herself in the cracked mirror for a long, long while. And then, with an oath that was annoyance and resignation, she'd strode over to the desk and planted her butt in the seat.

Since then, she'd had her nose buried in-of all things- a book. She'd been relying too much on flashy magic and advanced, energy sapping spells. It was time-no matter how much she'd rather be doing anything else, like having her appendix removed-to go back to the basics. It was the basics, she knew, that often saved your life.

She hadn't worked on the basics since...well, ever, really. She'd always known she held power, so she'd always used it as she pleased, never really practicing much at it until she'd been given the Book of the Ancients. Those had taken some work, but then, they were advanced spells.

So now she was reading-and God she hated the cursed reading glasses she had to wear. This was why she hated textbooks. Audio books were the way to go. Watching movies based on books was also the way to go. But this...It was necessary.

She couldn't keep with this impulsive magic of hers. Impulsive magic, impulsive everything, was why Ialo had gotten hurt during the battle with Satan. A battle he'd only been in because he'd been worried for her. And she hadn't even been able to help him.

No, she thought with a scowl, running a finger along the thick rim of her glasses as she glared at the text. It was in French, which pissed her off as well. She could read it just fine, but the 'language of love' had always seemed much too frilly. No, she hadn't been able to. But the elf had. The elf and Ophi. She didn't mind Ophi, but Lin...The goody two shoes elf was turning into the bane of her existence.

She'd broken her brother's heart, looked at her as if she were the scum of the earth, and so on. But mostly, the reason she hated the elf now more than every other day was for one specific reason. She'd gotten to touch Ialo's bare chest. That was something she and Athena had never managed, since God knew what weapons that man hid under his pillow at night. But no, as soon as he'd fallen unconscious, that elf had gotten her hands on hers and Athena's plaything. As if she'd had the RIGHT. And that was completely off topic, and completely pointless to think about it.

Shaking her head, she sighed, finished reading the last paragraph on the page she was in. With a sigh, she drew her hair up in a ponytail, something she rarely bothered with, and considered, as she often did, just chopping it all off.

Rolling her shoulders, she stepped a few feet away from the desk, stopping in the center of a magic circle she'd drawn on the floor. Letting her eyes drift shut, she lifted her hands so her palms faced the ceiling, focused her magic into her fingertips, focusing on her breathing.

The power stirred in her, warm and steady, and she blew out a breath. As she did, the air around her stirred, swirling like a sudden gentle breeze, ruffling her bangs.

Stirring the air was something she'd rarely done, since it didn't really have any use. She'd forgotten how soothing it could be, the simple flow of magic through the air, swirling about, gentle as a kiss as it brushed over her skin.