Posted by Civilian Urg’tohn, Son of the House of Duroc (Klingon Warrior) in Challenge Accepted (Tag Urg’tohn)

Posted by Civilian Jal’na of House Duroc (Head of Physical Therapy - Sacred Heart Hospital) in Challenge Accepted (Tag Urg’tohn)

Posted by Civilian Urg’tohn, Son of the House of Duroc (Klingon Warrior) in Challenge Accepted (Tag Urg’tohn)
Posted by… suppressed (22) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Hours later…

Urg’s scarred body lay amongst the ruins of the table, chairs, food, wine, ale, and clothes. Nothing was intact save the two Klingon bodies intertwined in the wreckage. He stared at the ceiling and smiled. “I never imagined it could be like that. Had I known, we could have broken the tables and chairs at the tavern that first night.”

Urg

Jal’na chuckled. “Those tables and chairs are not a sturdy, and as fun as that would have been, I would not want to spend hours pulling splinters out of your backside. There are better things to do.” Their bodies were intact, mostly. Jal’na rolled to her side to look at him and moaned as she flopped back suddenly. Her fingers probed along her shoulder where something didn’t work right. She began to laugh loudly. “My clavicle is broken.”

Jal’na

Urg laughed and said “So is my wrist!” and he held up his left arm and the wrist was swollen and not quite where it should have been. “If only we had a doctor nearby…” He sat up and winced as the cracked ribs made their presence known as well. “This was a good day.” He turned to Jal’na and said “I will have clothes brought. And medical supplies.” and he lurched slowly to his feet. He stood tall and proud, looking down at her with a smile. Ten lifetimes of scars decorated his body, but somehow they all seemed to fit the massive form that was Lord Duroc. He held out his unbroken hand and said “Come wife… I want you to meet your new family.”

Urg, Lord Duroc

Jal’na stared as he stood over her. He was magnificent. Each scar only made him more so. She set her left hand in his and stood. She wiped blood from the corner of his mouth before pressing against him and kissing him with a soft purr and a lot of affection. “Today was a very good day.” She began walking toward the cabinet with the medical kit. The bruise in her head and her thigh slowing her gait for just a moment. “Tell me, Husband, what type of patient are you? Argumentative, strong and silent, or the type to diagnose for me?”

“I know when to give orders, wife… and when to listen to others.” He watched her walk and a low growl rumbled in his chest.

She pulled out the kit, “Head wounds and broken bones are a must. The rest is optional. Unless we’ve managed to cause severe internal damage.” She walked toward the fire and the skin rug. There was no where to sit, they had destroyed it all. She grinned at the memory. “Come here so I can care for you.”

Jal’na

Urg walked over and stood before her, unashamed and silent. He stood close to her and said “Do what you will… but know that when you are tending to our injuries, I plan on taking you to a proper room in which to fully enjoy you.”

Urg

Jal’na was pleased to see the dermal regeneator was also a osteogenic stimulator. Her fingers gently but expertly probed his wrist and then set the parameters on the device and held it over his wrist. She looked up at his face. The man was easily distracted. It brought a warmth to her eyes. “I believe we will spend a fortune in new furniture.” She gave him a hungry grin and turned back to what she was doing. She took a scan of his rubs just to insure they didn’t puncture anything and then set the stimulator to fixing cracked ribs and then the large bump on the back of his head. Jal’na was thoroughly enjoying having her hands on him, even if she was ‘doctoring’ him. She touched his cheek, “Scar or no scar?”

She used the regenerator to heal the large bruise on her forehead. When she was done the bruise was gone, and she had a healed but visible scar from the cut. She ran her hand across her clavicle and looked up at him. “I will need you to set the bone.” She held out the stimulator to him.

Jal’na

Urg nodded and said “As you wish.” He took her hand on the injured side and said “On three.” and then immediately jerked down on her arm, causing a loud SNAP as the bones slid back into place. He looked at her and grinned and said “You will never know what number it will be on.”

Jal’na ground her teeth as the bone snapped into place. She smirked, “That is best. It does not give one time to tense the muscle and cause more damage.” She lifted the stimulator to her shoulder and turned it on.

He walked over to the wall and pressed the comms. “Bring clothes for us.” and a voice replied “They are outside the door, my lord. We took the liberty of making a selection for…” and there was a slight but wholly noticeable pause, “… Lady Jal’na?” Urg turned and smiled at Jal’na and then said “Very good.” and didn’t correct the speaker. He opened the door, bent over, and picked up a large bag and closed the door.

Jal’na was smiling, but it had nothing to do with the title or the subtle question. Well mostly nothing to do with those questions, and everything to do with the view. They were a curious bunch though. The stimulator finished and Jal’na replaced it in the kit. She scanned the remains and picked up the tattered remains of her dress, and picked up a heavy intricate necklace, the chain was broken. Her jinaq. She would not need that anymore. She smiled as she put in her bag, filled with knotted yarn, that somehow survived the chaos.

One if the few pieces if furniture in the room that survived was a long, narrow table against the wall. Urg set the bag on it, opened it, and began pulling out the contents. Leather and thick fabric clothes came pouring out and Urg looked at Jal’na, smiled, and tossed her a bundle. It unfolded into a jet black and blood red shirt and pants, and inside was a metal box. “Get dressed, then we open the box.” he said with a cryptic grin as he dressed.

Urg

Jal’na caught the bundle as she walked across the room and replaced the medical kit, and then dressed. The shirt and pants fit decently. Someone was quite observant. The red accents across the pieces were strategically placed and flattering. Most Klingon clothing was though. There was no cultural taboo about enjoying the beauty of the physical form.

Jal’na

Urg was dressed similarly and watched as she finished. He then went over and picked up the box and took a deep breath. “The time before… when you were spoken to… I told you it would not be the last.” He tapped a black nail on the metal lid as he looked down at it and said “It may happen again if you choose this. Or it may not. But what I can tell you is that if you choose this-” and he tapped the box again, “- is that it will be pain unlike you have ever felt. And it will make all past and future pain pale in comparison… if what happens is what I believe will happen. Just know the pain isn’t a punishment. It is *acceptance. But the choice is yours. And this is not about you and I, nor what we are. This about you. And how much of this world you want. ” and he held out the box to her.

Urg, Chosen of the Builder

Jal’na stared at his face and then looked at the box. Before hadn’t been…painful exactly, just terrifying. And she was pretty sure that box had to do with Kvaar’ton…or whatever he…it?…was. But she still could not wrap her head around the experience. She lifted her eyes back to his, “Acceptance of what? What am I choosing? What world?”

Jal’na

Urg took a breath. When he spoke his word were heavy with the weight of importance. “Acceptance of the reality of Kvaar’ton the Builder, of his role as the guide and protector of this House. You are choosing to believe. Of the world that I, my mind and soul, exist in. The world I want to share with you… but only if you show choose.”

Urg, Lord Duroc, Son of the Builder

Jal’na didn’t say anything. She looked back at the box, still closed, a part of her mind curious as to what was in it. The rest trying to decide. A thought came to her, one she had had many times in the last three days. That she didn’t really believe or not believe in a god or his/her/its influence in their lives. Certainly she knew that Urg did, without a doubt. Something convinced him to go in search of proof of Kvaar’ton and his family. And he found it, so certainly he was guided and therefore so was his House.

Something, someone, spoke to her. Of that she was certain, even if she couldn’t comprehend it. Jal’na was not one to believe or accept anything blindly or in hearsay. Was that enough? To know, to believe that Urg was so guided and his conviction was complete? Was the desire, her conviction to understand him, share with him, stand beside him in all things enough? Or would this Kvaar’ton strike her down? Would choosing that box be enough of a step in the direction of belief?

Could she really be Lady of his house if she did not do this? If his house believed so, could she do any less? Could she show as much courage, devotion, Love, as Kvaar’ton’s mate? Kvaar’ton and Duroc’s story called to her soul, made it burn brightly. Urg said it was Kvaar’ton’s will and not coincidence. She believed that story, she chose to believe it because it touched her soul.

Urg said there would be pain, but he also said the first time was the hardest. Whether the pain was momentary or constant she could endure because he did. She would believe, and she would share his world. And if she could not, well she would be dead and it didn’t matter.

She looked up, unflinching into his gaze. “I will chose the box.”

Jal’na

Urg looked at her and nodded solemnly. He opened the box and inside, on a bed of red silk, sat a golden amulet on a thick, heavy chain. As he lifted it reverently from the box, it showed the deal of House Duroc on one side; but on the other was a familiar symbol: crossed hammers, the symbol of Kvaar’ton the Builder.

Urg looked at her and set the box aside holding the necklace in front of her. “With this, you become all that you have thought about… both here and out in the galaxy. Wife. Partner. Companion. Advisor. Confidante. You will be Lady Duroc and you will help lead this House to honor and glory. Are you ready?”

Urg, Lord Duroc

A deep harsh breath slowly expelled from between Jal’na’s lips. “Can someone truly be ready for the enormity of all this? You know my fears, Urg, and I won’t change my mind even given more time. QaparHa’qu.” She wrapped her hands about his forearms and took another breath and nodded firmly. “Yes, I am ready.”

Jal’na

He set the necklace on her…

Her very soul was in flames.

The moment the the medallion touched her it deserved that every nerve, every neuron and synapse in her entire body suddenly caught fire; each burning like millions and million of miniature suns inside her body.

Jal’na screamed…or would have had there been air inside her burning lungs to release. Her body went rigid and her knees buckled. Hands clamped and nails dug into his forearms. She twitched and convulsed as nerves fired, missed, snapped, and tried in vain to relay to her brain to step away from whatever it was causing so much pain. But there was nowhere to go, there was no escape, no self-preservation, from the impossibleness of the pain. Her mind snapped under the incomprehensible endless agony.

You are brave. Bold. And forthright. You will make him… and more importantly yourself… very proud. Know that I watch over you, and will be with you from this moment until the end of everything. It was the voice from before, but different now. As they spoke, each sound… each syllable of the spoken words in her mind, seemed to quench the fires that seemed to burn forever in that single moment. As the voice rolled through her mind, it brought relief… hope… and strangely enough… peace of mind and spirit.

Then there was that voice again. Even more incomprehensible than the pain. In the wake of that pain the mind, the soul, should not be able process anything else. But the voice brought relief, stopped the burning. All Jal’na wanted was the voice to stay, to keep the pain away. Instead it healed…well everything - the soul and the mind, and vowed to stay.

Urg, as soon as the medallion touched Jal’na, Urg grasped her and held her close. He didn’t interrupt, but he knew from experience how powerful the feeling ls she had at that moment were.

Urg, Lord Duroc

Then it was over. Her body shook as if she hadn’t eaten in weeks as the adrenaline dropped suddenly to nothing. Her breath rushed out on a muffled moan and then she gasped as she breathed deeply. She could have roared, screamed, for the agony and terror and inability to fight it. Then she could have wept for the total relief, the peace and hope and beauty of something she could not understand, but only know it was those things. He lived in this every day? She struggled by pure strength of will to not rage or cry, though she wasn’t sure if she would succeed. She did not care if she shamed herself, but she would not shame him with such behavior.

Jal’na

Urg let her breathe, let her body and mind recover from the intensity he knew all too well, in silence. After a few minutes, he lifted her chin so she looked at him and he said “The Builder founded this House himself the night J’uuv betrayed and killed him, giving his only child to to the one who loved him more than anything else in the Universe, Duroc the Unwavering. For millenia unknown, Kvaar’tons blood flowed unheard inside of those who carrying his power and his will, until the time for vengeance and righteous retribution came to be. And Kvaar’ton chose my brothers and I to be those weapons of revenge. But Kvaar’ton is The Builder, not the destroyer. And the foundations he laid are still with us all these thousands of year later. You and I, together, will build a House that will bring glory. Not to the Builder, such things matter not to him anymore. But to the people who carry the name Duroc. To those brave enough… strong enough in mind, spirit, or body to carry the sheer tenacity that is the bedrock of our House. I, Urg’tohn, First Lord of House Duroc, Chosen of Kvaar’ton the Builder and Son of He Who Sits At The Right Hand Of The Unmerciful One… name you, Jal’na of House Noggra, as my mate. My wife. My partner for all my years. You are Jal’na, First Lady of House Duroc. When you speak, you speak for me and all those who share our name. And may the gods themselves shake at your words.” There was an almostdeafening gong sound, and the whole embassy seemed to vibrate with it. Suddenly, from behind the walls and outside in the courtyard, a chant… like hundreds of voices yelling out filled the air so much they heard it even inside. “**DU-ROC!! DU-ROC!! DU-ROC!!” and then it stopped as suddenly as it had started.

Urg smiled and said “Our House welcomes you… Lady Jal’na of House Duroc.”

Urg, Lord Duroc, Husband of Jal’na

His words brought serenity and weight, and his confidence in her, in his choice, was a gift that would give her strength in the years to come. The noise shook the walls of the house and was joyous. Jal’na breathed deeply and smiled and spoke with conviction and passion. “I, Jal’na, who was of the House Noggra, and now First Lady of House Duroc, name you, Urg’tohn, son of House Duroc, as my mate. My husband, my partner for all my years. You are Urg’tohn, First Lord of House Duroc, Chosen of Kvaar’ton the Builder and Son of He Who Sits At The Right Hand Of The Unmerciful One, my husband and Lord of my House.” Her hand gripped the back of his neck, pulling him to her. She kissed him with fierceness and certainty, she bit his lip, drawing blood, her tongue ran along his lip and then she looked up at him. “Your blood is my blood, and so I will always know you and be with you.”

Jal’na, First Lady of House Duroc, and wife of Urg’tohn

Urg smiled and said “Good. Now that all of that is out of the way. We get to do one of my favorite things in the galaxy.” He kissed her briefly and the walked over to the wall and pressed the comm. “Prepare a feast in tangqa’ Tavern! Invite all the staff from the hospital and all the crew of the ship! Anyone who isn’t working comes! Food, drink, music! We celebrate the marriage of Lord and Lady Duroc!!!” He looked back at her and grinned wickedly…

“We get to have a party.”

Urg, Lord Duroc

Jal’na laughed. He looked so excited about that fact. And really who didn’t love a good party. The mention of the hospital though…she had been there with him a long time. “I need to contact the hospital. My shift starts in an hour. I do not think I can make it to the door of the embassy in an hour.” Too many people would want to speak to them she was sure. That’s when the comms chirped.

=/\=Lord Duroc, there is a woman here. She is demanding…=/\=

“I know she got in an embassy car last night, and she never came home, and she is not answering her comm. You tell me where that car took her!” Another guard could be heard trying to shut the woman up.

=/\=She believes we have a Ms Sherko in the embassy.=/\=

“I did not say you have her, I said she got in an embassy slider. Where did it take her? Surely you can tell me that. She is missing.” There was a huff and obvious worry in the woman’s voice. “Ask Lord Duroc, he knows her.”

Jal’na stood there hands on hips and listened. . Then she threw her head back and began to laugh. “That…” she took a breath and chuckled. “Do you remember I told you about my friends, and Alice Shrine? That she thinks we are all her children. That is her. She was not home when I left yesterday.” Jal’na looked around, she had not gotten any comm calls…of course she wasn’t likely to have heard it go off. She spotted the device and began to laugh louder. It was crushed in a hundred pieces under a board of the table. “Can we let her in? I can’t promise she is harmless, but she is reasonable.”

Jal’na, Lady Duroc

Urg looked at her and said “Why are you asking me? This your house. She is your friend. You do not need to ask my permission for such things.”

Urg

Jal’na grinned, “I ask because if you wished to keep me to yourself for a bit longer, I would not object.” She walked passed him, giving him an inappropriate caress, and went to the panel button. =/\=Bring her up.=/\=

There was a pause where it was obvious the guard didn’t recognize the voice but also did not want to err and possibly offend Lord Duroc’s new wife. Who else did they think was up here? Did they think she would be offended for doing their job? Certainly not. Then it was her turn to hesitate a moment as she hit the button again. =/\=This is…Lady Jal’na. You will bring her in.=/\=

=/\=Right Away.=/\= Shortly after Jal’na could hear the quick heavy footed gate of Alice Shrine. She was in a hurry and on a mission. There was a knock and once bidden the door opened to admit an older, grey haired, human woman, who had once been extremely fit and stunning and was now softened by age and a classic beauty, with fire in her eyes - Alice Shrine.

Shrine hurried into the room not even batting an eye at the utter destruction though it did not escape her notice. “Jal’na Sh…” Eyes that were used to seeing far more than they should halted her speech. The similar styled and colored clothing, the scars, cuts and bruises to their faces, the new pendant Jal’na was wearing. She paused just long enough to look at the man in the room and nod. She grabbed Jal’na in a tight hug and then took her right arm and pushed up the sleeve revealing the wounds on her wrist. Shrine crossed her arms and stared at Jal’na.

Jal’na had the audacity to smile at Shrine. “Alice Shrine,” and she nodded toward Urg, “this is my husband, Lord Duroc.”

Shrine’s brows scowled at her, “Of course he is. I don’t care how many rooms you destroyed, you could have answered your comm at some point.” She turned a sweet and grandmotherly smile on him. “Lord Duroc, it is a pleasure to meet you. Truly. Forgive the intrusion, it’s not like Jal’na to disappear all night.” She looked about the room and grinned, “But I see she has been busy.”

Jal’na and Shrine

Urg walked forward and kicked the remains of the comm band across the floor a little and said “Welcome to the House Duroc embassy. I am afraid that is my fault, Alice of House Shrine. In the midst of our… revelry… her communicator was, er, somewhat damaged. I apologize for causing you concern. And I can assure you that I will make sure she has a far more robust model going forward. Now then… would you care to sit and have a drink? Or are you merely checking in on the well-being of Lady Jal’na?”

Urg, Lord Duroc

Shrine smirked knowingly, “A marriage should always be celebrated with such revelry. But what she needs is not a studier comm unit,” she looked about the room again, “well…maybe.” She looked at Jal’na, “I am sure there are many comm stations here. You need a clock.” Her countenance was mock-harsh, but her eyes twinkled with laughter.

Jal’na laughed warmly and pulled the older woman into an embrace and in a very human gesture Jal’na kissed her cheek. “I am sorry I worried you, Alice.”

Shrine smiled and patted her cheek, “Well, you had a good reason.” She turned to face Lord Duroc, “Well I had come only to check on, Lady Jal’na, but given the circumstances I would be honored to share a drink with you.”

Jal’na and Shrine

Urg poured three cups of blood wine and handed one to each woman before lifting his. “For honor.”

“For Honor,” Alice said and then took a looong pull of the wine. Impressive because Blood Wine was usually too strong for most humans and Alice was smaller and older by comparison. “Oh that is excellent!”

Urg looked at Alice and said “We are planning a party to celebrate our bond. We would like the nurses and doctors who are able to make it to come and celebrate with us. You especially. Jal’na speaks highly of you, and it would be our honor to have such an esteemed leader amongst the guests.”

Urg, Lord Duroc

Alice grinned. The man knew how to flatter. “Of course. We all love her dearly. I wouldn’t miss it.” She gazed at Jal’na, “Would you like me to arrange for everyone to be there? Should I tell them why or do you want to?”

“I think that you have your ways and can get them to come without telling them. Especially Yavia and Sharah. After they sprung their surprise on us, I would like to see their faces when I tell them mine.” Jal’na smirked.

Alice nodded, “And I suppose you will not be at work today. You shouldn’t be. So I will take care of that for you.” Then another thought occured, “And you will not be participating in the fundraiser Saturday.”

Jal’na