It was only five days after he passed the NCR basic training, and after all the ceremonies, parties, and all of that hullabaloo, he was dead bored. Now he was stuck sitting around McCarran waiting for an official command from the commander, not exactly the fast-paced action he expected right out of boot camp. He longed to be out on the field, fighting raiders and slavers and driving scum out of NCR land, not sulking around "pending" assignment. The rest of his regiment, who had passed alongside him in basic training, had been given their posts the night after graduation. It wasn't fair, he didn't go through all that training just to sit around. He was a soldier for petes sake! It was if they'd just gone and forgotten him.

Basic training hadn't been the easiest trial for him, he lacked the natural abilities of a born soldier, and even after day after day of rigorous muscle training and excercising, in terms of fitness the most you could call him was "average". Not to mention he was clumsy to boot, which sure didn't help his case none. It even resulted in his nickname, "Clutz", which soon became a favorite to a large majority of soldiers stationed at Camp McCarran. What did get him through was his stubbornness and dedication, his will to never give up. Walking proudly up to the stage when his name was proclaimed by the commander was indisputably the best moment of his life, except for, maybe, when he had tripped trying to climb the stairs onto the stage, which resulted in a nasty black eye.

He still felt a burning pride when he thought of that moment, about finally being able to don the uniform of the NCR, but those feelings were subjugated by his overwhelming boredom. If he wasn't given assignment today, he was marching right into the commander's office and demanding an explanation for this tardiness. 

*Bonk!* He walked himself directly into a towering figure in front of him, having been lost in thought he'd accidentally dazed out while still walking. "Ee, I'm sorry I didn't mean t-..." A tree, he'd just apologized to a tree. Rubbing his forehead where a painful bump was just beginning to swell up, he gazed upwards at the tree growing in front of him. It was a tall thing, towering far above any buildings in sight, except for maybe a couple of casinos in New Vegas. Strong branches jutted out at common intervals across the base, which would function as remarkably good handholds if one were to need them. All in all, it was an alluringly climable tree. There was only one problem - The lowest branch streched far above his height.

Ten minutes later, he was back with a long length of rope with a rock tied to the end of it. This would do the trick very nicely. Chucking the rock up over the branch, the rope followed along obediantly, stringing it along to the other side. Rather than going through the troubles of tying the rope down and all that hokum, he decided that the best course of action would be to just grab both sides of the rope together in his hands, using the trunk as leverage for his feet and using the rope to climb upwards. Once he was up on the first branch, it was all child's play from there, and in no time he found himself at the very top of the tree. At the tip there was only a single branch jutting out from the side, longer in length than any other branch around and it looked quite sturdy too. If one were able to stand on the tip of it, they'd have a beautiful view indeed.

Sitting on his bottom, he pulled himself closer and closer to the end of the highest branch, moving at a slow but steady pace. Finding himself at the tip, there was only open air beneath him, and the experience proved to be quite exhilirating. But he knew that if he were to stand up on the branch, he'd be able to see for miles and miles around, a view of the wasteland that any mapmaker would kill for. Of course, this would be quite dangerous, but danger wasn't something that bothered Sabin too much. He glanced to the rope that he'd used to climb the tree which was now at his waist, deciding to tie the rope onto the branch beneath him, and another end to his ankle, for extra insurance incase he fell. As he shakily pulled himself up to a standing position, he temporarily lost the abilty to breath. The view was magnificent, he could see everything! He stood, admiring the view, loving every moment of it. Of course, this left him little attention to focus on his balance, and he began to tilt sideways...

"Shucks, got myself in a pickle now." Sabin muttered, now hanging by his ankle from a height of 100 feet. He hadn't bothered to think exactly what would happen if he were to fall, he'd just tied the rope there to feel safe. At this moment, one begins to wonder how a tree of this height even came to be in the wasteland, but he dispelled such thoughts from his head and brought himself back up to the current problem. The nearest branch was 5 feet below him, the length of rope he'd allowed to catch him being approximately 10 feet in length. The branches he'd climbed up upon were on the opposite side of the tree, far out of his reach. His only chance was to build up momentum and fling himself over to the trunk, cutting the rope afterwards and somehow shimmying downwards to the closest branch...

Swinging about upside down didn't exactly make his head feel peachy. But he was almost there, just a little more... he was just about to reach it, he just needed to grab ahold of it now...

"The hell you doin' up there, clutz?"

*Bonk!* The surprise of hearing a voice had caused him to lose his focus, managing to hit his head once again on the trunk rather than grabbing it. So much for momentum. "I'm er... meditating! Real peaceful up here it is, works wonders for the brain and your uh... spiritual awareness." He glanced down to see who exactly he was speaking to. Of course it had to be him, Major Bauer, the snobbiest officer in Nevada. Rumor has it he pulled some strings to be stationed at McCarran permanetely, one would never need to see combat in that case. "Yeah, I bet all that swingin' is real agreeable to that small brain of yours. Jus' hurry up and get the hell down here, the Commander's got some "special" orders for you."

Did he say orders? Would he finally be given command and be put out on the field with the rest of the troops? The Major had said "special" in a rather smug way, as if it meant something bad. Could they be stationing him at some desolate, boring old camp in the middle of nowhere, or even worse, discharging him for his incompetence? No, it didn't matter, he was getting orders to a new station! "Oh uh.. I don't exactly kno-... I'll be down right quick, and I'll head for the Commander's office right away!" "Sir!" He added a the last second, rather hesitative, but he'd surely be disciplined if he didn't provide proper respect. The officer did nothing more than scoff smugly before walking away. Muttering as the figure faded away into the distance, excitement and anxiety worked its way through him as he focused back on the task at hand.

This time he was sucessful in clutching onto the base of the tree, managing to snatch up a small stick protruding out of the tree, which fortunately held his weight. Stretching down to pull his combat knife out of his boot with his spare hand, began to slice away at the rope tied around his ankle. As the rope came free, flung downwards and managed to wrap his legs around the base of the tree. He looked down, realizing that he now was only being held up by a small stick hanging from the trunk and his legs. He could feel the stick begin to give away, he had to act fast.

Abandoning the branch, he instead wrapped his arms around the trunk and slid downwards, moving at a faster pace than would be desired. He hit the closest branch beneath him, landing hard on his bottom. He wasn't steady enough though, and as he began to slide sideways he fell from the tree once again. He managed to catch himself multiple times on different branches throughout the tree, but none he could keep a hold on. This kept up, him catching branches throughout the tree to temporarily break his fall, but continuing to fall downwards. As he finally reached the bottom, he unceremoniously landed upon his side on the ground. Miraculously, he managed to make it down covered in scratches and banged up, and the air driven from his lungs, but nothing severe. He smiled, glad that he was able to make it down without any horrible injuries, but the smile was soon wiped off his face as he looked up to see the Commander standing above him, peering down at him in annoyance. He'd seen the entire thing.

He pulled himself up to a clumsy salute.

"Private Sabin Sharp reporting for duty, sir!"