Trying to be More Sociable

Writers: Jane, Vix
Date Posted: 11th August 2008

Characters: O'rian, Ch'bal
Description: O'rian offers Ch'bal suggestions to expand his social life.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 11, day 12 of Turn 4

"Ch'bal." O'rian nodded at the greenrider - now a full member of the fighting wing but also somebody who had only recently graduated. The senior weyrlings had helped the very junior ones in those early days after Impression, and O'rian would be the first to admit he had been grateful. "Mind if I sit here?" The meal was over but those who were staying on for a time for the evening's entertainment by the harpers had gathering into groups; families, friends, wingmates. Craftmates, too, but O'rian didn't feel like sitting with the healers and didn't think he would be welcome among more senior riders.

The greenrider sat with chin propped on his hand, eyelids drooping. "Suit yourself, but I doubt that I'll be very good company. I'm just too tired to get up and go back to my weyr." "Tired? Did you party too hard last night?"

O'rian tried to remember if anything had been brewing in the dining cavern the night before when he had left to meet his curfew. He couldn't recall, but sometimes events blew up out of nothing at odd times of the night.

"Not really," Ch'bal replied. "I'm trying to be more sociable – both Vaith and my sister tell me that I should try harder – so I joined a bunch of other riders for cards. I guess that my body isn't used to later bedtime, even if it was only a short while." "Some people just need more sleep," O'rian said with a shrug. "My father can -" He stopped, realising that it was tactless to suggest that his father could party on late into the night with no ill-effects when the Threadfall disaster could be attributed to that as well as anything. "Well, some people take to late nights better than others. Are you really not-so-sociable?"

"It's not that I don't want to be. I just. . ." The greenrider shook his head. "Where I lived before I Impressed, there weren't as many people as here, and I knew all of them for as long as I can remember. Here. . . it's just different." "I suppose it is." O'rian looked around and couldn't remember a time when he hadn't felt perfectly comfortable in such a crowd. Even the comings and goings of people transferring between Weyrs didn't impinge much because it had been a constant in his life as most of his childhood had occurred in the Turns when the dragon population on the rise. "What are you going to do about that, then?"

Ch'bal pursed his lips as he considered that. "I don't know what I really can do about it beyond what I've already tried. I'm forcing myself to join in when there are get-togethers, hoping that I'll start to fit in. But I still never know what to say or do and end up on the edges of the crowd, watching." He glanced at the other rider hopefully. "Do you have any suggestions?" The weyrling bronzerider shrugged. "Find out what you _do_ like doing and find others who have the same interests? I _like_ socialising, just chatting in the evenings or out on the beach, but some people don't, I suppose. Do you have hobbies?"

"Hobbies? I haven't really done much of anything since moving here." The greenrider paused. "When Toncha and I lived with our grandda, I was always happiest when planting seeds and tending to them. But I guess that doesn't count as a hobby." "But the soil isn't too bad here. That way," O'rian waved a hand in a landward direction although the confines of the dining cavern meant there was nothing to see. "Past the sandy stuff. People grow fresh greens and things for the kitchens. Before my apprenticeship I did enough digging and weeding there to know."

Ch'bal listened in interest, but then shook his head. "But. . . but dragonriders don't help with that, do they?" "If that's what you want to do as a hobby then you just need to check with whoever's in charge and I'm sure your help will be welcomed." O'rian would have welcomed any extra pair of hands when he had been on that duty. "A lot of children are drafted into the work - and they're not exactly dedicated to the task."

The young greenrider considered the suggestion. "I might enjoy that." He glanced up at the other rider. "But that won't really help me meet people, will it?" "You think you'll be the only person working there?" O'rian asked with a laugh.

"Oh." Ch'bal though that over. "But aren't most of those working ones who are required to be there? If they're all complaining, we won't have much in common." The weyrling bronzerider eyed the young greenrider. "Why don't you try it and see how it works out. Even if you don't meet people, you'll still get a hobby out of it."

The other rider nodded, the idea more tempting as he thought about it. "I just go there when I have some time and tell whoever is in charge that I want to help?" "Yes. They'll welcome you, you know."

Ch'bal frowned at that, pretty sure that the other rider's pronouncement was false. "It's worth a try."

"Well, if it does nothing else it will get your sister off your back about socialising, won't it?"

"I doubt that anything will truly get her off my back, but maybe she'd leave me alone for a bit." The greenrider nodded and smiled briefly. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Let me know how you get on, won't you?"

"I definitely will," Ch'bal replied, still doubting, but hoping that the other rider was right.

Last updated on the August 16th 2008

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Trying to be More Sociable