Scar Issues.

Trader pulled in to the Magnus University slowly, collecting her thoughts. She glanced at the small boy sleeping in the passenger seat, and smiled.

She had went into town to a black market to get a book for her friend Jaimz. She had been to the same market before to buy certain books to add to her collection. Today had been no different, only a few mishaps reshaping her routine. She had accidently taken a tumble down to a lower level than what she was supposed to be on, and where she stayed. Her eyes had caught a young boy in a cell, being sold as a slave. She wasn't sure what she was going to do with him now, or how he would fit in at the Uni, but her only hope was that everything went smoothly. Jaimz had armed her with a blank check, which she had bought Kyle with, and whom was also going to be royally pissed about it. There were plenty of things that could have happened down at the B.M., so a lie would only be too easy. Pickpockets, wind, weird people...

At the checking out of the Market, Trader had had a slippery run-in with a vampire. Defense following action, she had ran with the boy out of the costumed train station, took a spill, and wound up having a sliced-open left hand and horribly screwed up right leg. But they were here now, home, and safe.

Killing the engine, she used her right hand to open the door and close it again quietly. Rounding the car, Trader opened the door on Kyle's side, realizing he was down for the count.

One biggest-meal-McDonald's-has-and-way-too-big-of-an-adventure-for-a-seven-year-old-in-a-day later.... She smiled again, unhooking his seatbelt and sliding her right arm under his knees. Pulling the hood of her sweatshirt she had lent him over his ears and forehead, she slipped her left arm around his shoulders. Wincing as she hauled him out of the car, she pressed her butt against the door to close it. Being careful not to move her hand and loosen the just-begun scabs, she used her forearm instead to support his head.

Wincing as she walked, she wondered where she should go first. If she took him to her attic apartment in the Library, some one was bound to notice... well, something strange. If she went to the nurse, she could get her wounds looked at and fixed, and the kid would be with her, so he wouldn't wake up and freak out if she wasn't there. Elrith.... He would figure it out soon enough, anyway.

To the nurse it is.

Completely passed out from fatigue, Kyle lay curled up in the seat of Traders car. Never noticing the stop, the expression on his face would contort as if he might be having a bad dream. Trader would pick him up, making him snuggle up into her chest, his ears twitching as she began her walk down the lane into the university, "Mph....N...No don't..." he would mumble.

Trader cooed a "Ssshhhh...." in a whisper, entering the University building. Heading down the halls, she tried to be as quiet as possible, not meeting the faces of anyone she passed. Lengthening her limping stride, she didn't even pause as she made her way down the hallways. Feeling something running down the edge of her hand, she looked behind her as she walked, realizing that blood was dripping off her hand. Again.

Crap. She limped briskly, her leg swarming the rest of her body with pain.

Tormented by dreams filled with blood and death, Kyle would tense up in Trader's arms, his fingers gripping tightly into her shirt as he twisted his head into the cloth, sleep keeping a never surrendering grip over him, never releasing him to the freedom of consciousness. Previous hours of awakened nightmares left him to be stuck in those nightmares in all times of the day and night, but soon, he would find himself in a much different situation....For better or worse, Kyle had no idea.

Gasping as Kyle's small clawed hands gripped her chest, Trader rounded another corner.

Almosttherealmosttherealmostthere Stopping outside a closed wooden door, a thought made it's way to the front of Trader's conscience. How ya gonna open the door now, huh? Huh?! She licked her dry lips, then bit her lower one. How was she going to open the door?

She almost wanted Kyle to wake up, the look on his face making her heart ache. Nothing good could of come from living as a slave in a black market. A childhood wasted on beatings and anger, hate and abuse. Trader mentally shook herself. He was safe now. No one was going to hurt him as long as she was alive.

Trying to get close to the doorknob, Trader bent her knees, leg making her cringe. She reached for it with her right hand. Alas, her fingers needed to grown another inch if she had a hope of opening it. Her leg throbbed, wave after wave of pain anihilating her physically, and her hoody that Kyle was wearing was getting bloody.

Crap. CRAP.

Waking up with a start, Kyle's arms jetted out, wrapping around Traders neck, pulling her toward one side. Easily off balancing her, they would both tople over to the ground, Kyles tug forcing Trader to shift weight over to her bad leg.

Caught off-guard, she lost her balance, and Trader had no choice.

Catching both of their weight's on her bad leg, she heard something pop, and a scream almost esscaped her lips. She bit down hard, grinding her teeth. Leg crumpling out from under her, she swivled in the air as she had been taught, landing hard on her back, Kyle still in her arms.

OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGod OH MY EFFING GOD. Forcing air out her mouth in short tufts, she tried to regain her head to block out the pain. After a moment, she was calm enough to open her eyes and breath normally without screaming.

Sitting on Trader's chest, Kyle yawned deeply, then looked down into her face, "What happened?" Looking around, he saw they were some place compleatly different now, "Wha....Where are we!?" his voice wasn't scared, but that of an excited kid being shown some magnificent cave of sorts.

Climbing off of Traders chest, Kyle would get tangled into the hoody and proceed to fall over, landing on his front arms, "Oww."

"We're..." She took a deep breath before she could continue, "Home." Propping herself up on her elbows slowly, she stared at the wooden door for a moment.

Noticing her left leg was in kicking distance, she proceeded to pound on the door with her heel, once, twice, three times. Using her right arm, she stood up using her left leg to balance on. She held her right leg at an odd angle, not letting it touch the floor. Glancing back over at Kyle, she almost smiled at how enourmous her hoody was on his teeny tiny body.

"You ok?"

Jumping up quickly, Kyle turned around to Trader, his hands behind his back, making the hoody turn into just a torso for a moment, "I'm ok!" Still looking around the hall in awe. He then ran over to the door without really thinking, his hands jumping up and gripping the door handle, pushing the door open, "Here you go miss." moving over, he put a hand under her shoulder and attempted fruitlessly to help her up onto her feet again, her weight easly over powering his miniscule arms.

"Thank you, Kyle." She said flatly, though really appreciating his effort. Taking some more deep breaths, she ran through "Head, Shoulders, Knees And Toes" silently, moving through all the languages she knew. English, Spansh, German...

Leaning on the doorframe, she motioned for Kyle to go in first.

Following Trader's unspoken order, Kyle stepped into the nurses office. A world of objects he had never really seen befell his eyes, making him fall once again in amazement at the place he now found himself in. A single desk to one side of the room, jars and vats of odd looking objects lined the walls shelves, books filled with information Kyle could only dream of, and a globe of the world sat in the corner. Looking straight up, a spinning cealing fan/light fixture dangled down, making Kyle turn his head and start walking backward through the room. Bumbing into the desk, Kyle jerked from his trance, looking over at Trader, "What should I do now, Miss?"

Hopping over to a chair, a few of which lined one wall, she said, "Pop a squat." Taking one and dragging it across the floor, she set it in front of the desk. A small bell sat on top, which Trader tolled after sitting down. Stretching her bag leg out, she realized it would not straighten out all the way. She also noticed her knee wasn't where it was supposed to be. Cringing, she quickly looked away, up at the celing fan.

She knew there were five blades spinning. She still tried to count them, one at a time, as she waited.

Sterling fumbled through all of the keys on her key chain. They rattled in her hands as she tried each one in the door that stood just inches in front of her. Usually this would have taken her only seconds to find the key but today was just an off day for her. Her head was throbbing and she was sore and stiff all over due to a late night the night before.
Finally she found the correct key, she placed it in the keyhole and turned, only to find that the door was already unlocked. She made a low grumbling noise and pushed open the door.

Startled, she jumped a few inches into the air and covered her heart with her hand. She had stumbled into her office only to find an extremely pale woman sitting in a chair and a little boy with cat ears looking around the shelves in her office.
Noticing that the womans right leg was sticking out at an extremely odd angle and that her hand was bleeding she automatically rushed over to her side.

"What happened to you? Oh my, this does not look good at all." She lifted the womans pant leg up to get a better look at her leg. Trying to be extremely careful not to bump it or move it in any way that might be painful to her.

Her headache was now the least of her worries. This womans leg was dislocated, it looked as though it had already swelled to twice its size and her ankle was broken. Healing took a lot of energy and the smallest of fractures could be enough to wear Sterling out, and in her current state she didn't know if she was going to be able to even heal the cut on the womans hand.
"Your knee is without a doubt dislocated and your ankle appears to be broken."
The woman had probably said something but Sterling was too preoccupied with her own thoughts and worries to care.

How am I going to heal this?

Taken to Trader's order, Kyle jumped over to the chair and sat next to her, his legs folded underneath themselves with his hands resting between them. Jumping slightly when the nurse entered in, Kyle bowed his head down, attempting to keep his eyes from straying and making contact with anyone elses. Ears twitching, he listened intently to what the new woman said, though not understanding most it. Disssss.....Located... The word just rolled through his mind, making him loose track of where he was, "Dissss...Disss....Disssssloooo....Dislocated?"

Trader gasped, grabing the arms of the chair and sinking her nails in and arching her back into the air. Part of her ripped jean had caught something, and pulled. She closed her eyes tight, tears welling up.

"NAW." She took a deep breath, playing dumb, "You... You really think so? No shit? Like... Like I have never been --" She clamped her teeth together as tight as a vice, throwing her head back.

Head sholders knees and toes wasn't going to save her this time.

"Just...." The let out a short breath through her nose, "Just fix it. I don't care. Just fix it."

Several emotions were flowing through her like electricity. Some so strong they would almost knock her down. Most of the emotions were so negative that trying to keep from lashing out in agony seemed impossible, the amount of strength it took to control them nearly drained her completely. She tried to put up a wall in her mind to filter some of the feelings. Each one bouncing off of her stronger than the next. Then finally she found one. Just one emotion that wasn't negative. It was one of the strongest feelings of happiness and relief she had ever experienced. She looked at the little boy with his big violet eyes. She knew that it was coming from him. She would focus all of her energy on that feeling, using it to her advantage.

She would hold her right hand over the womans knee, a bright orange light emanating from her palm. Slowly the knee would begin to move itself back into place effortlessly as though it were moving through water.
The hardest part is over.

*Elrith was more sprinting the briskly walking down the wall toward the infermary. Several students and staff tried to say hello and strike up confersations with him, as was his usual practice while on his rounds, but he had heard about what had happened and was now concentrating on this one event. He was trying not to cause a rucuss by avioding running, however that was succusessful as rumors and acusations would be all over the next day. None of that mattered at this time however, and he quickly reached the nurses office and barged inside.*

"Ms. Trader, i heard what happened! Are you alrig-?"

*Elrith stopped mid sentence as glanced around the room. He looked at the boy and then the nurse. Then at Traders leg. His mistical eyes analyzing the spell that had just been used on her. He straightened his vest and stood up straight, in an attempt to compose himself.*

"Well, everything seems to be undercontrol... um... will she be arlight?"

*Elrith turned to the nurse. he was worried about Trader as he was always worried about every one in the University. Often times during his rounds he would check in on ever staff in the facility, and more than often he was introduced to odd reasons for injuries. Normally, Professor Harold of the Alchemic Department was the one alway blowing himself up with odd concactions. He glanced to the boy as well, wondering who this child could be.*

Kyle jumped back at the second person entering the room with gusto, landing on the back of the chair in a pearch, hiding behind Traders head, peaking behind her ear. Only having ever really been around men, and men who abused him. So when this man entered in, it was to no suprise to anyone, or at least those who understood the black market, why Kyle would jump so. Keeping at close to Trader as he can, Kyles large, slitted eyes would observe this mans actions, friendly or not, with the most intensity.

Trader lay her left hand over her stomach, turning her head to the side, away from Kyle. She shook her head -- barely a lean of her jaw -- and closed her eyes tight, digging her eye and cheek into her shoulder.

She was glad Elrith was there. The only thing she would later think of that could of possibly matched the pain she was going through would be giving birth to a dumpster. It didn't seem likely that that would happen any time soon, so...

Trader had a high tolerance for pain. She had learned pretty quick how to block out pain and go to her happy place when she had joined an underground fight club in eighth grade. This, compared to getting her face pounded in and broken bones, was like an ant compared to a jet. she sucked in shallow breaths through her nose, tears just beggining to leak out of her eyes. she coudln't understand why it hurt so much. Sure, she had broken bones before, and dislocated a shoulder once, but this wreck made her heart hurt.

This isn't pain, she realized, This is misery.

Lightheaded, she slowly turned towards Elrith.
"She should be just fine."
Sterling got up off of her knees and stood to face Trader.
"You should be able to walk now. Sorry about the pain, I guess I'm a little off today, usually it doesn't hurt that much." She chuckled a bit to try and lighten to mood. She dusted off her vest, straightened up, and reached out to help Trader out of her chair.

*Elrith sighed in relief and glanced back at tthe boy as he was obviously scared. By his reaction, he was obviously more comforted by Trader then anything he could say. He decided it would be best just to leave him alone for the moment and let him settle. He used his magic eyes to read the magic residue on Trader's leg, realizing what had been used recently. He shuttered abit*

"Realigning bones... Nasty business as i recall, reasons why i dont dable in healing magic as much as others do others."

*He glanced at the nurse, who he recognized as drained. He knew she had used alot of magic this time, and it was still flowing through Trader a bit in a ripple, itwas obvious that she had used a massive amount of magic used.*

"Are you alright Miss?"

*He made this question to the Nurse. He knew all to well what using more then the average dose of magic leaves one feeling drained. First you feel a bit dizzy as he recalled, then you will feel fine. However, 5 minutes later some mages collapse from magic shock, as the body generates more energy and the weave releases more magic then needed into the body, the body trys to use the magic to increase bodily functions. Unfortunately, as far as destruction magic goes, the end resaolt is like a crash aftrer consuming to much sugar. A Magic Crash... he had had 3 in the mast few months, not fun.*

Being the child he is, Kyle's attention would immediatly be drawn from Elrith down to Trader. Putting a hand down on her leg from sitting on her knee, he slowly lower himseld to curl up in her lap. Tail flittering inbetween his legs, he would fall into a dozing sleep.

Trader stiffened as Sterling reached for her.

Eyes flashing open, she growled, "Don't," She paused, "Touch me." Setting her jaw, she layed one hand on Kyle's small shoulder in a protective way.

Sliding one foot under the chair, she pulled, the rubber part of her shoe sticking to the floor. Scooting the chair backwards as smooth as she could, she kept her eyes trained on Sterling.

The pain was all but a dull ache since Kyle crawled into her lap. Her wrist was still throbbing, but she didn't feel it anymore. The only thing she was really feeling was a type of hate and lost trust that she couldn't really place. The only thing that was keeping Trader from getting up and kicking the crap out of the nurse was Kyle.

A hundred angry rants going through her head, she stood, Kyle in her arms, to turn away from the nurse. Laying Kyle on one of the nearby beds, she took a pillow case, folded it into a triangle, fit it around her shoulder, and slid her arm with the broken wrist through, and tied it over the oposite shoulder with one hand and her teeth. hoisting Kyle in her good arm like a baby, she turned back around.

"Thanks anyway. At least I can walk."

Sterling pulled her hand back to her side. That was definitely not the reaction she expected. She had at least gotten a thank you though. So she couldn't complain too loud.

Exhausted and drained she let down her mental block. A wave of emotions flowing through her. It was easiest just to feel them, to block them took energy, something that she currently did not posess. There was everything from overjoyed to enraged. Without her block she felt as though she was picking up on every emotion from here to the moon.

She turned and slid down into the chair that had been occupied by Trader before, and with a last glance around the room, she tilt her head onto her shoulder and shut her eyes.