Teacher of the Wrappings

Sabra had just finished his training with Ukimya and was sitting just outside the tyro's den, catching a breather after a long day's work. The hard training had his wrapping coming undone and in some areas frayed from overexposure to the harsh training and use of claws. He sighed and started chewing off his vine wrappings, keeping careful of the delicate yet strong feathers that clung to their ends. Every so often, his chewing would stop so that he may look around and cast a wary glance to whomever was around before continuing, Maybe I should do this inside the den... he thought with a small sigh. He picked himself up as well as what remained of his shambled vines and started into the den but just before entering he decided to instead, hide out behind the den.

<sub>The camp seemed unusually quiet today, at least to the messenger tyro who was observing what was going on. Blue eyes stared lazily at some cheetahs going back and forth, then a sigh escaped his mouth. As much as Hofu was scared of running into bugs or anything dangerous outside of camp, he was starting to get bored with being stuck in camp. Casting an annoyed glance at his left back paw he poked it gently and winced slightly. It was still sore, even though it had already been healing for about a moon. He recalled Maisha and Nge telling him it might be slightly broken and that it would take a while to heal.

Stupid rock... he thought in annoyance, but just then a movement caught his eye. Looking up Hofu caught sight of Sabra walking behind once of the dens. A slight frown grew on the yellow tom's face as he wondered what his friend was doing. Then an idea came to him, I wonder... he thought then got to his paws and slowly made his way towards where he had seen his friend disappear, being careful not to put too much weight on his injured foot.

As he reached the back of the den he poked his head around the edge and spotted the multi-colored tom. Not wanting to scare his friend he gave a slight cough of greeting before speaking quietly,"Hey Sabra..." He started talking but he stopped. Yes, he wanted to ask the tom about possibly making a vine wrap for his leg, but Hofu wasn't one to blurt out what he wanted right off the bat, so he just waited to see if Sabra was willing to talk.</sub>

Sabra flinched as he heard his name being called and turned a wary turquoise glance back towards the voice, his vines still in his mouth and he lowered his ears, wondering if he was in trouble or if his mentor was calling for him, "Hmm..?" Was all he could muster before setting the frayed vines down and flicking his black striped tail.

"Oh...Hi Hofu." He greeted the tom lightly and then looked around, not seeing his mentor or anyone else seeming to be looking for him. He had heard that Hofu was nursing a leg injury and could tell the tom was not putting any weight on it, but wondered why the tom would go looking for him if he should be resting, "Need something....?" He asked as casually as he could before consciously looking down at the wraps, placing a paw over the tendrils that held the feathers, not wanting them to be cast away with the light breeze they were having today.

<sub>As Sabra spotted him and spoke Hofu felt himself grown slightly nervous. He didn't want to trouble his friend...maybe he should have done done something else. But what? There wasn't much he could do with a bad leg, after all, his favorite activity was running and that was out of the question. Sure, he could maybe look around camp for some cool rock or leaves, but that wasn't as fun to do on your own...plus there went took many good rocks in camp. Taking a deep breath through his nose, Hofu reassured himself that Sabra was his friend and would be mad at him for at least asking.

"Umm...well...I was wondering if maybe...umm...." Hofu started but paused for a second, trying to figure out how to ask his question. Sure, it was a pretty simple question, but he wasn't always good with wording things correctly. "Well, ummm, I was wondering if you could maybe help me make a leg wrap for my back left leg? I don't want it to get uh...hurt again and I thought maybe a brace would help..." He stuttered through his words, but at least it didn't sound too bad to him, then another thought struck him and he quickly added, "Actually, maybe you could help me make one for each leg...uh, if you want to that is. I don't want to bother you if you are up to something else...."

Hofu's tail curled under his body, as it did when he was nervous or unsure. He knew it wasn't too hard of a request, but he still didn't want to bother Sabra. After all, the sentry tyro was one of the few non-family friends Hofu had, and he didn't want to make him upset or possibly risk losing him over a silly matter such as leg wrapping. Yes, he was probably worrying over nothing, but that was his nature...</sub>

At the first words of uncertainty, he tilted his head and frowned but as he continued to listen, he smiled and his striped tail whisked ever so happily, "Wrappings eh...? I can do that... I was just about to go make some more...." He looked down at his frayed one and raised a paw, "Mine got beat up during training."

There was a strange enlightenment, Sabra always felt when cheetah he knew willingly walked up to him and ask for his help. He was even more so happy that he would be asked to help with the making of something he was happy to do, even without the Keeper's gift of Crafting. He purred with a happy chirp, "Come along, its not far...I hide the best stuff under some rocks just outside of camp...Think you can walk okay till we get there...." He glanced down at Hofu's leg concerned, "Wrappings will help....They help me." He smiled knowingly.

<sub>As Sabra started to speak Hofu felt his nervousness start to calm down a little bit. He wasn't mad at him, Sabra actually seemed to be excited and that continued to aid in Hofu's relaxation. A genuine smile even started to replace his nervous frown. When Sabra mentioned his wrapping getting beat up during training Hofu felt his head tilting a bit, "I didn't realize they could get beat up with just some training...do you think they's last longer for me, since I'm only going to be running?" Sure, it sounded kind of like a silly question, but Hofu wanted to make sure he knew everything involved in leg wrapping, even if that was something as simple as how often they needed to be replaced.

Hofu subconsciously looked at his leg as Sabra mentioned it and getting to the stash of vines. "Oh...yeah I think I can make it....as long as I don't have to run or much too much weight on it..." Just to prove his point, he put his foot down just a tad, putting a little weight on it. It didn't really hurt that much, mainly because most of his weight was distributed along his other legs, but also because it was healing up, slowly but surely. When Sabra reassured him that the wrappings would help, he lifted his head up and smiled, letting his friend know that he would be fine on his leg. "Lead the way!"</sub>

Sabra blinked bright turqoise eyes with a simple happiness of getting to show Hofu what he knows, "The right vines will help, come on..." He padded past him and ith a comforting flick of his tail to Hofu's shoulder, lead the way out of camp. Sabra stopped and looked around, his eyes growing wary of other cheetah who happened to be walking on by. He started walking again only after they had moved on past him and he watched them go without a word or so much as a glanced back his and Hofu's way.

He made his way to a small dusted trail and started walking out towards a small twisted tree. Beneath, there were some large rocks. It was a good few minutes from the camp and once they had gotten to the rocks, Sabra turned and flicked his tail for Hofu to take a load off, "I'll show you my vines and wraps, just give me a second..." He chirped and after dropping his torn vines, started moving some of the rocks and sticks tht were hiding his materials.

<sub>A quiet sigh of relief escaped Hofu's mouth. If Sabra thought the vines would help, then he knew they would. Padding after his friend, Hofu tired to ignore the odd feeling in his leg. No, it wasn't hurting at the moment, but it still felt slightly weak and unstable. He recalled Nge telling him the leg would be fine once it healed....but she didn't tell him how long it would take, though he figured it would take a while.

Hofu snapped out of his thoughts when Sabra stopped and looked at a few cheetahs walking by. The messenger tyro tried to give them a friendly smile, but it probably looked more like a grimace due to his extra long teeth. Once they started walking again, Hofu was aware of the strange feeling in his foot once again, and that reminded he of how odd he felt around Nge. Maybe I should talk with Sabra about that? He might know how to make me not feel so awkward around her... he thought, but just as he was about to speak, they reached the spot where Sabra kept his vines.

Sitting down on the slightly cold ground, Hofu closed his eyes and waited for Sabra to get his babies. A small shock of excitement washed over Hofu as he waited, he was finally going to have an accessory besides his leaf, and it might even help him run sooner than is he had waited for his leg to heal without support.</sub>

Sabra returned with varying wraps and vines, Different shades of green as well as other musty looking colors. He smiled as she sniffed Hofu's leg and then nodded, "Your leg looks a little swollen...so...This one would work a little better and then... this one.." He pawed out two different vines. One flat, almost like a large leaf and the over a long thin green vine.

Sabra lashed his tail and pointed to the flat leaf looking vine, "That one makes for a great applicator, in case you need some sort of herb or ointment on your legs and it will prevent the other vine wraps from getting sticky. Plus, I notice they have a natural oil to them that actually keeps the skin cool so it stops the swelling. The more you move, the cooler your legs will be...Less swelling." He chirped as he felt almost like a healer in some sort of way. But was sure, that this would be great for any situation especially for one who likes to run like Hofu.

<sub>As his friend returned, Hofu's ears pricked forward and he listened intently as Sabra explained about the different types of wraps. There seemed to be so many! How could any cheetah decide on what kind to wear. But as the sentry tyro kept talking, Hofu found himself nodding, the large vine sounded the best, at least from how Sabra described it.

"Sounds good to me...how do you wrap it around? I mean, it looked like it would fall out of place pretty easily..." the young tyro said , reaching out a paw to touch the leaf, it felt cool and slick. He figured that might feel good on his hurt leg...and hopefully it would help him heal much faster.</sub>

"Thats the tricky part.... you see since the leafy vine is more flat, you have to make a notch like this..." Sabra proceeded to use a claw and notch the leafy vine on its edges and started to wrap one around Hofu's legs. Because of the sap on the leafy vine, he notched the two together and they were quickly fused together and holding strong. He wrapped the leafy vine around and around, keeping it tight but not to constraining on Hofu's injured leg. Once he wrapped it a few good times, he notched the other end and made sure the two locked together and that the sap stuck firmly before letting go, "See....? How does that feel...?"

<sub>Hofu watched intently as Sabra slashed a few holes into the leaf, trying to remember how he did it, but it was hard to see and tell quite where it was... Then his friend started wrapping the leaf around him bad leg. At first Hofu didn't notice a difference, it just felt cool and kind of sticky, but slowly, as Sabra wrapped the leaf tighter, he could feel his leg being strengthened by the support. Once Sabra was down the messenger tyro looked down at his leg and the new wrapping it had. He still didn't understand quite how the sentry tyro had done it, but he figured learning how to do it would only come if he gave it a shot.

"It feels pretty good, a lot stronger," he said, "though I'm not used to to feel of the vine yet." Hofu laughed a little bit at that, but it was a quiet laugh, barely even noticeable. Looking at his legs again a small frown formed on his face, his back leg looked a little off being the only leg wrapped. Then an idea came to the tyro, "Hey....do you think...if I wrapped my other legs, that they would be stronger and wouldn't be as prone to injuries in the future?"</sub>

Sabra looked to Hofu with a curious smile and nodded, "Sure... You tie the next one and I'll help. You gotta learn to do it yourself in case they fray apart and you need to make some more." He smiled and reached a paw over to his piles, grabbing a few more long leafy vines for Hofu. He laid one down, notching the ends and leaving it out to show Hofu. With a Visual guide, he was sure anyone could figure out how he tied his vines on securely.

<sub>Hofu watched as Sabra grabbed another leaf and put a few notches in it again, "I hope I can get this right...." he said half to his friend and half to himself. Grabbing an uncut vine he looked as Sabra's leaf and studied it before making a hesitant cut in it with a sharp claw. Comparing it to the sentry tryo's he frowned, his was a little lopsided and shorter than his friends' but it wasn't too bad. Once again using the cut vine as a guide, he cut another part of the leaf, but as he tried to lift his claw from it to inspect his work, the sharp tip caught on part of the plant and as he pulled up, his claw ripped the vine all the way to the edge.

"Ugh...that didn't work...." he said, with a grunt of annoyance. He knew he should try again, but he didn't want to use up all of Sabra's vines due to his lack of skill. Cutting vines was a lot harder than running and unlike running, Hofu felt as if he didn't have any expertise in vine cutting and he hadn't even tried wrapping it yet!</sub>

"It happens....Here. Use another one." Sabra nudged a fresh vine to him and grabbed the torn one Hofu had in front of him. He moved it aside, laying it over some rocks before grabbing a few more for himself and laid down beside Hofu, "You gotta be really careful.... I had trouble at first...specially since I've got big paws for some reason..." Sabra looked down at his paws which were slightly bigger than most tyros his age. He still needed some time to grow into his paws, "Notch it once... then again on that side." He pointed to the fresh vine and did the same to the leafy vines he had in front of him, to make wraps for himself.
Again showing another visual...slowly as he notched the vine and started wrapping, gentle teeth pulling tight until Sabra was sure the vines would work effectively for him. He glanced over at Hofu to inspect his work.

<sub>The messenger tyro nodded slowly and carefully pulled the uncut vine towards him. As Sabra cut his own vine again, Hofu watched even closer. Ok....I can do this....it's not that hard... he told himself, but there was still doubt clinging to the back of his mind. Could he really do it? He had never been the most graceful or steady cheetah. For goodness sakes, he tripped over his own paws all the time! Taking a deep breath, he looked at Sabra's vine and watched as he cut another one, then he returned his attention to his own vine. Unsheathing one claw, the tall tyro carefully cut one notch in the vine and the pulled his claw up, making sure it didn't get caught on the plant fibers this time. Once again looking at the guide vine, he took a deep breath before clawing another notch. This was where he had messed up before... but as he pulled his claw up, the fibers stayed in their rightful place. "I did it!" Hofu was elated, he actually did it!

Glancing over at Sabra his exuberance faded slightly. His friend had already weaved some vines together in the time that it took him to cut one. It just takes practice, the young tom reminded himself. But as he watched the weaving, he got more nervous, it looked a lot harder than cutting the vines....and it had taken him two tries to get the cutting right...how long would learning the weaving take?</sub>

"You did great Hofu... Don't worry about it too much." He budded his head against the tom beside him and smirked, "Nothing's gonna be always right on the first few tries an dI've got plenty of vines for us to mess with." Sabra rose to his paws once more and with the ripped vine Hofu had cut through before, Sabra began to grind it down against the rock, using the butt of a worn down stick that it seemed he often used. He made the vine into a poultice like substance and started slapping it on to his forepasws, atop the wrapped vines he had just wrapped on his legs. Once satisfied with the sticky substance, he moves toward the more Cord like thin vines and started looking fr the longest ones he held in store.

_{The yellow tyro beamed at his friend's encouragement, he was lucky to have such a good friend. Pulling another vine towards him, Hofu was about to try and cut it when he spotted Sabra grinding the vine he had ruined against a rock. Tilting his head, the tom watched as the sentry tyro put the juices from the vine onto his already wrapped legs. Opening his mouth, Hofu was about to ask what the juices were for when he recalled Sabra talking about different vines having different effects on a cheetah's legs....he was probably just using the juice to help his legs....or maybe to help keep the vines together? Shaking his head ever so slightly, Hofu decided not to ask about it and instead looked back at the vine in between his paws. Taking a deep breath, he carefully cut one strip then cut another bit, just like he had on the previous vine. His paws were still shaky and it didn't look very nice, but he had done it again, and this time he felt a little more sure of himself. I got this.....it's not too hard... he thought, pushing away any worries about actually having to wrap the vines.}

Sabra found the right vines he needed and started to wrap the thin coils around his legs. These seemed to be a little more difficult for him as he was sitting adjusting and readjusting until he was satisfied with the results.
An added touch were to change the vines holding four very brightly colored feathered that matched his turquoise eyes. He pawed them carefully, wanting to smooth out the ends before attaching them to the vines around his fore paws. He turned around, taking a few steps, stamping and then doing a few speed runs around the rock pile. All the while, making sure his feathers stayed in place. After the third time around the pile, he was in a skipping trot over to Hofu's side, "How's it coming...?"

<sub>Grabbing another vine, Hofu cut it, trying to perfect his work. In fact, he was so engrossed in his work that he didn't even notice Sabra running around. When his friend spoke beside him the yellow messenger tyro jumped up in surprise. Thankfully none of his vines were torn on the process. Flattening his ears in embarrassment due to his jumpy nature, the young cheetah looked at his friend then spoke up, though his voice was shaking, "Oh...umm...it's going ok....ummmm,I'm getting better at cutting them....but uh...I don't know...know how to wrap them."

Looking down at the vines, Hofu tried to figure out how they would wrap around his paws....she knew he shouldn't worry about it, but the tom was unsure how he would do in maneuvering the vines. "Can...can you show me how to wrap them?"</sub>

"Sure.... you see, you lay it out flat and place your paw here..." Sabra slowly begun by helping Hofu lay out the vine and moved his paw to lay at one end with a remainder of the vine about two inches or so, "You take the end piece here and wrap it around your paw. This is gonna be your base that holds the vine....Thats why it has the notch in it...." He gently grabbed the longer side and overlapped it over his paw and then looked to Hofu, "Now with the end piece, Notch the longer end so it stays put... Its the base so you gotta make sure it stays else you won't be able to wrap the vine around...it'll just move or come undone."

<sub>As his friend explained and wrapped the bone, Hofu tried to watch and listen carefully, but after Sabra had finished, he was still at a loss as to what he was supposed to do. He know he should ask Sabra to explain again, but he was ok embarrassed to...he didn't want the other tyro to think that he had been ignoring him. With a grimace on his face, the yellow cheetah placed his paw on the vine and then using his other paw he draped the vine over it. Then he started trying to maneuver the vine around his paw and through the holes by using his teeth and other paw. But it didn't quite work out so well. His free paw got caught up in the vine so that he couldn't move it, so he was stuck just staring at his typed up paws.

"Uhh...I guess I didn't quite understand...," he said in embarrassment, looking at the ground. With a sigh he reached down and tore the vine, freeing his paws. So much for all the work he had out in that...</sub>

Sabra flicked an ear and narrowed his eyes on the vine, trying to figure out how he could explain it in a more simpler way for Hofu to understand. It seemed simple enough to him and he lowered his ears as he tried one more time, again repeating himself and showing Hofu again with a careful paw, "You just grab this end and start wrapping it around your paw....when you get to the end, you're gonna notch it there." Sabra was looking around warily and them down at Hofu with his ears lowered, feeling suddenly self conscious that maybe he wasn't the best teacher for this sort of thing.

_{The yellow tyro watched carefully as Sabra showed him how to wrap the vine again. He felt embarrassed that he had to keep asking for so much help...he wasn't a cub anymore, he should be able to learn quickly! But even though he felt that way, Hofu was still slow in learning, apparently wanting to learn quickly didn't actually make one learn fast. But as his friend explained again, the messenger tyro felt his confusion diminish, it really didn't look too hard, he didn't know how he had messed it up before. Taking a deep breath he held down a vine with his paw and started slowly wrapping the vine around him leg slowly. It took longer than he would have liked, but eventually he finished wrapping his leg and managed to tuck the vine into one of the slits. "It worked! Thanks Sabra!" His voice was full of happiness and excitement, "And thanks for being patient with me...I'm kind of a slow learner..." Her ears flicked back fir a second in embarrassment, but they quickly flicked forward again as he smiled at his friend.}

Sabra begun to smile, suddenly feeling little more prideful that he could each Hofu how to wrap the vines, "Sure thing... Now you should be able to run faster and further without straining. The vines are durable so the only way they would ever come off is if you get into any bad scuffles." She smiled, showing his teeth and his black striped tail swayed with his words.
"Try it out, test your paws, see how it feels..." Sabra walked around Hofu and started nosing his rump for him to get up, "of course...don't overdo it until you get the okay from the healer that its all better but... you should be feeling a lot better with those vines on for sure!"

_{A grin was lighting up Hofu's face the entire time Sabra was talking. He was excited about the new leg wrap, and he even felt excited about wrapping his other legs. The vine was cool on his leg , which felt really nice on the sore spots. A chuckle escaped his mouth as his friend nudged him to his paws, urging him to try the vine out. As Hofu stood up, he immediately felt a difference, his leg felt more supported and he could put more weight on it than he could before. "It feels great!" the messenger tyro said excitedly as he pressed down on his bad keg some more. Taking a few steps forward, he found that he could walk just as if his keg was healthy! A grin broke over his face and he trotted around a small rock, continuing to test the wrap. With each step the tyro's smile grew wider. He stopped to examine the leg then beamed at Sabra, "This is so cool! Can I wrap my other legs now?" He asked, getting excited at the prospect of having support for all his legs.}

Sabra smiled watching the tom test out his leg and beamed with a sense of pride when Hofu had asked if he could start wrapping his other legs as well, "Sure...I'll get some more vines then!" He trotted over to the rock pile and shuffled over a few rocks before finding more inside and pulled out some more vines and laid them out for Hofu, "Here ya are."

_{Hofu sat down and examined his leg wrap, hoping he could remember the wrapping process for his other legs. Looking up as Sabra dropped the vines he smiled his thanks, then looked at the vines. Pulling one vine close to him, he cut it carefully, a sense of joy overcame him as he cut it without any problem. Then he carefully picked it up and started wrapping his leg. He did this two more times, surprised with how much easier it came than it had at first. When he was finished tucking in the last vine, he looked up at Sabra and smiled, "I guess I really did learn how to make a wrap, thanks!"}

"Glad I could teach~ " Sabra flashed bright turquoise eyes with glee, "Maybe I'll be a good Mentor someday~" Her chirped at the thought of if. A small purr forming as his mood was lightened and then turned away to move left over pieces back into his burrow and hiding his vines once again beneath the hollowed rocks. Once finding it secure, he turned back to Hofu with a smile.

_{Hofu grinned, happy to see his friend so happy. At Sabra's thoughts about being a good mentor the yellow tyro nodded, "You would be a great mentor Sabra! I know I'm not the fastest learner but you actually taught me how to make a leg wrap, and you were patient." Conviction lined the young tom's voice and continued to fill his deep voice as he continued speaking, "Being patient and willing to work through misunderstandings are great traits to have, especially for a mentor." Watching as the sentry tyro put up the vine, Hofu tested his legs again, he just knew they would help with his recovery, he would be running as easily before in no time! Once Sabra had put up the vines he grinned, "I guess we should head back to camp...and thanks again Sabra."}