Four-Twelve-Kappa
Episode Name: Four-Twelve-Kappa Written By: Free RP Cast: Cristobal, Gr'laH, Churas. Produced By: Starfleet Directed By: Starfleet Aired On: Sat Jun 14 09:37:40 2003 Stardate: 53287.7
Time: Sat Jun 14 09:28:35 2003
Stardate: 53287.7
And so did they come to La Casa Gr'laH. Churas proceeds directly to the chair she usually occupies, though she waits until her father is seated before settling down herself.
Gr'laH lumbers into his quarters, Iliara carried on his hip, dozing quietly from her recovery from the care center. He shuffles her off to bed and tucks her in neatly, smooching her brow and otherwise being paternal. He leaves the door cracked as he shuffles back out of the bedroom, finally claiming his seat with a slump. There's a bit of shifting this way and that followed by the inevitable growl of relaxation.
Cristobal picks the remaining chair handy and sits in it. He lets Churas lead, given what he suspects the nature of the conversation to be.
As the station rotates, the anomaly passes out of view.
She waits. Churas is fairly patient, for all that she's really not. And, truth be told, she's more than a little nervous, not that she'd ever admit to this. It shows, however minutely, in the way she shifts her feet just slightly and the fact that she has to adjust her hands on her stomach once or twice before she's comfortable. There. And once her father is entirely comfortable, she pauses for a moment, considering, before going forward with her thoughts. "I want to speak with you about the matter of wedding. And thus, I wish for Nathan to be here. I understand your wishes as far as the ceremony for families -- and I understand that Nathan's parents are on their way." She pauses for a moment. "I would like to be married before this. Quietly. And go through with the public one once all of the familial parties have arrived. And we should like to ask you to officiate over this." Another pause. "You have been, Father, the agent of my strength, my growth, and many other things through my life. You have often been the agent of my happiness. And I am asking -- we are asking -- for you to be so again." Churas is, by this point, leaning forward, her elbows propped on her knees, expression earnest and thoughtful. She's struggling for words here, it's clear: she's not the orator her father is, and asking things of Gr'laH has never been easy for her.
Gr'laH considers Churas' nervousness with a small frown and a knit of the brows. Churas is rarely nervous about anything. When the matter comes to light, Gr'laH growls quietly and thoughtfully and takes to combing fingers through his beard. Hmm. "You would need to acquire the necessary permits. Whatever is necessary here to marry within the Federation. I imagine Nathan can acquire the necessary permits with expediency. They tend to be formalities only. For the purposes of documentation. Once you have them, I can marry you at once. It is. Up to you. How you would wish to see this done."
Cristobal pulls the PADD from his belt and holds it out to Churas. He says, "Form four-twelve-Kappa. Registration of a two-sentient marriage, one of whom is a citizen of a non-Federation but friendly power, no change in citizenship required. It's filled out, and just needs your thumbprint, retinal scan, or DNA sample. It's sent to the nearest civilian legal database, which is on Dulcais. With couples not altering citizenship or transferring funds or contraband into or out of the Federation, confirmation of receipt not necessary for marriage to be legal." Or in otherwords, press here and we're married. /Somebody/ came prepared.
. o O Churas thinks "I love you, Nathan."
Blink. Blinkblink. Churas breathes out a long, slow breath at her father's response. Oh. Guess she'd been holding her breath a little bit. She hadn't realised. Her eyes swing from Gr'laH to Cristobal, questioningly, and she finds a PADD extended in her direction. The PADD is accepted, and she looks back at her father with a blink. "Well. Then. Father." She's rather affectionately amused by Cristobal's efficiency and preparedness. It's very cute, in its way.
Perhaps that had been a stalling tactic. Gr'laH eyes the proferred PADD with his usual resolute deadpan, not stirring once in his seat. The utter lack of emotive response from him means, naturally, that he's concealing one. And rather perfectly, at that. After several long moments of simply staring, he says only, "Bring it to me. I cannot hold it and thumb it at the same time."
Cristobal says, "Ah. /You/ need to thumb it, Churas. The document only requires affirmations from the two participants. The parental consent subsection is only needed if one spouse is below their homeworld's age of consent." A glance to Gr'laH and he says, "Maybe I misunderstand, but I believe she is asking you to administer a ceremony of some sort."
Lack of reaction from Gr'laH is, generally speaking, concealment of a non-favorable reaction in Churas's experience, and from the look on her face, she knows that. After a moment, however, of glancing between Nathan and Gr'laH, she replies, the amusement of a moment ago having faded rather profoundly, "Yes. That was. Rather the idea."
"That is why I asked. What you wished. By way of ceremony." Gr'laH's eye shifts between the pair slowly, finally showing a faint frown at Churas' sudden loss of enthusiasm. He sighs softly and rubs at his good eye for a moment, taking a moment to clear his head it would appear. "This is. Sudden. And I have had no time to prepare. No ceremony, no words. Not myself, either. And with all of that said, my chiefest regret is that your mother is not here, Churas. I am not. Averse to this. Not against it. But you have followed me to my quarters to speak with me. And speaking with me seems to mean that you wish me to marry you. Now. Without having told me what you wish or how you wish it. How am I meant to react?"
. o O Churas thinks "I do not know ceremonies! I fight things. I make them /dead./ It is what I am good at. Like I know ceremonies? The only ceremony I know has four words!"
Cristobal notes, "She did not say 'now,' Gr'laH. While I agree that she implied a wish for alacrity, a wish I admit to sharing, I tend to believe she perhaps meant 'As soon as possible', with the subtext that we want /you/ to be pleased with the event as much as we will be."
Agreeing to Cristobal's words with a nod -- they clarify what she would wish clarified, apparently, and rather well -- Churas adds, "I do not know, Father. I have no taste for ceremony, and the only marriage rite I know consists of four words. It is a failing of mine, I suppose. I am no orator and I do not know what makes for a good ceremony." Her shrug is a loose and comfortable sort of event beneath the tunic she always wears to Fight Night. "I did come here to speak with you. And that is not what I meant, I must reiterate. I would not /object/ to now. I would be a fool to do so. But it was not... my intention. My intention was to discuss this with you."
Gr'laH frowns all the more as he is corrected. He eyes the PADD in a 'then why did you bring that' sort of manner. But he's long since learned arguing his reactions with the two of them is often deleterious to harmony if not actually futile. "It is not my wedding," Gr'laH finally answers, "and I will not forge for you some ceremony if you wish four words. I will not deny you, in your later life, whatever memory you wish to carry from your wedding for the sake of my own. Speeches are pointless without an audience. Whatever counsel I could give you for the years ahead, I have given you. Marriage is compromise. Communication. Trust. Loyalty. Honesty. It is the epitome of the trefoil. I have forced Nathan to prepare himself for what will come of this union. I have forced you, Churas, to prove your wishes to yourself and to him. So that none may question your wishes in the days to come. I have prepared you in all the ways I am able to prepare a daughter and a suitor for the day of their union. With all of this achieved, you both lack the first notion of what you desire this day to be like. That is something I cannot teach you. Give me some sort of answer apart from a demure and we will proceed."
The muscles in Cristobal's jaw tense. Save this tension, however, he does not respond. He looks over to Churas, a questioning expression on his face.
Churas wears the expression of someone who didn't bring the damn PADD and didn't know about it. That is to say, she watches her father's face rather blankly through his frown and his eyeing of the PADD, glancing aside at Cristobal before looking back at her father. Her mouth opens, and then closes again. "All of that being said, Father... I will take the simple Oath, then. Nathan has long maintained that the ceremony itself is not important to him. I am much of the same opinion. It is the life which follows it that matters to me, and always has."
"Then swear it. Both of you. Do not let an old man stand in your way." Gr'laH gestures with his hand, managing good-natured grumbling.
Cristobal frowns as everyone looks at the PADD like it's an armed torpedo. "What?" he gripes, "I filled the form out six weeks ago. I've been waiting to send it ever seince."
A long moment of staring at her father, as if Churas might say something, and then she turns a sharp glance to Cristobal. It is, to put none too fine a point on it, a very Wife sort of glance. It's the sort of glance that says /NATHAN/ while the mouth remains silent. Rising to her feet, she extends her hand toward Cristobal, summoning him to do the same. "jlH dok." Once she's resolved herself to her course of action, there's a sort of peacefulness that comes over her expression that belies the fire in her eyes. Despite all the bristling and hedging that occured before coming to this moment, once she's in it, that's it. She's just /in/ it, and perhaps Gr'laH will forgive her if not only does the old man not stand in her way, he barely exists. In this moment, there is Churas, and there is Nathan. Everything else is a sort of faded Other outside of her present tiny sphere of cognizance. It is, in other words, as such moments always are.
Cristobal stands quickly at the Wife-ish look, incidentally not setting the PADD down as he does so. For all that the ceremony itself shouldn't have a great deal of meaning to him, it does nonetheless. He walks up to her and fixes her eyes in his. He replies, "maj dok," with a mixture of determination and elation in his voice. The pronunciation is acceptable, though his accent is odd, to say the least.
For his part, Gr'laH rolls up from his seat and unobtrusively -- for him -- slips towards the bedroom to peer in on Iliara. She is, of course, sleeping. And he does not, despite the occasion, head in to wake her. It's not as though she'd understand. Still, he focusses in on her for a long moment prior to glancing back to the couple currently reciting the four words necessary to be considered a ceremony. He waits a suitable amount of time before interposing his presence in the moment once again. "A blade, wielded with honor, never shatters. So, too, this marriage. Carry it as you do your blades, keep its edge keen and its point sharp. Keep it free of rust, wrap its hilt tightly and well. Test its balance. Practice with it until you carry it without thought, like a breath come and gone. Lost in the beating of a heart." He pauses for a moment before adding, "May your stars never dim." There is a lengthier pause before Gr'laH notes finally, "By the power afforded me as a Captain of an Allied power, I pronounce your union made."
She listens to her father's words while never looking away from Nathan. Such as is it always is in such moments. Everything rings extremely true and extremely brilliantly for a few long moments, and some time thereafter. And so rages a momentary debate inside Churas that seems -- for her -- to take much longer. It's quite evident on her face. What to do now? Displaying a bit of impulsiveness that certainly wasn't inherited and is entirely a product of her own self, she snatches the PADD from her husband's (ee!) hand, glances down at it for long enough to locate the spot where the thumbprint goes, mashes her thumb against it, drops the PADD, grabs Cristobal by the shoulders, and kisses him. Just once, and oddly chastely, but with no small measure of fire nevertheless. Hey. If you're going to have any time when you'll actually kiss your partner in front of someone else, this is the time to do it.
Cristobal knew the old diplomat had it in him. He blinks when Gr'laH speaks of blades though, as if he is reminded of something. He is about to speak when the PADD is snatched away and he is kissed. He blinks once more at the kiss, finding something about it a bit odd. He picks up the PADD, presses a few buttons to send off form 412K to Dulcais, and says, "I have forgotten one thing. I will return quickly," and promptly runs outside, mumbling quietly, almost too quietly for even Gr'laH's hearing, "Mom'll kill me if I forget-" before the door closing behind him cuts him off.
Well. This is awkward. It shouldn't be. But it manages to be. Gr'laH's eye tracks Cristobal's departure, then shifts back to Churas, and down to the PADD. Then back to Churas and finally into the bedroom where Iliara sleeps. He shifts a bit on his feet, saying nothing at all in the interim.
Churas looks nothing short of entirely confused by that reaction. She doesn't actually /say/ 'that doesn't /usually/ happen when I kiss him,' but her expression manages a pretty clear interpretation of that. Once she's recovered from the confusion and the shock -- apparently trusting Cristobal when he says he'll be back quickly -- she turns away from where she'd been standing and moves over to her father. Unless prevented from doing so, she stands on her toes and kisses the old grumbler above his good eye, moments before punching him in the shoulder. Hi. I love you. Let's not be awkward. Okay?
Cristobal comes running back in as fast as he can run. Cristobal, who was on the track team back in his Academy days, can run fairly fast. Strapped over his shoulder is a blue cylindrical case, about one and a half meters long, maybe thirty centimeters in diameter. Gr'laH has seen this particular case, not long ago. He isn't panting, but he is breathing hard. Either he took the stairs or he's just a tad nervous about something.
Prior to Cristobal's arrival -- because Gr'laH'd never in a trillion years say anything like this in his presence -- and during the brief smooch to his brow and sock to his arm, Gr'laH grumbles out a somewhat mumbly, "I love you." He could have coughed through it, of course, but that would be just far too obvious a concealment. Once he's muttered it out, he leans forward to smooch Churas on her brow and brush back her hair gently. Just so. There. The expressions of tenderness recede as the doors begin to hiss open. Back to being awkward and estranged is Gr'laH, eyeing the case with an openly dubious expression. 'What,' his expression asks, 'is /that/ doing here.'
Aww, Dad. Another, lighter, punch on his arm is given just as the doors start to open. Churas doesn't respond verbally, because, well, the doors are opening, and, for her part, just looks a little confused at the object that Cristobal carries. "Nathan?"
Cristobal frowns at Gr'laH's expression, his own expression saying 'I told you already. Right before I stuck this in you.' He opens a latch on the case and removes a sword. The sword is one-bladed, lightly-curved, with a blade about a meter long. The hilt of the blade is made of some time of green mineral, etched with the image of a woman, rays of sunlight emanating outward from her forehead in a circle, as she looks down on the world beneath her. He says to Churas, "This blade belonged to my mother, to her mother, and back, nearly seven hundred years. It has been passed down from mother to eldest daughter, for nearly seven hundred years. The name of my ancient ancestress have been lost in the mists of time. Before she had it, legend has that it belonged to one of the ancient Gods of my mother's people, Amaterasu, Goddess of the Sun. Two times before in its existence, the mother had no daughters. It was the duty of the son to find a suitable wife to wield the blade. Over four hundred years ago, one such son chose an heir, a woman named Raven Rollins. She was the first woman not of Japanese descent to wield the blade of Amaterasu. Two hundred years ago, The second of those two sons, tasked to find a suitable mate, chose another man. The daughter they raised through genetic manipulation of both of their DNA, was given the guardianship of the sword. Finally, we come to the present." He picks up the sword by the blade and kneels on one leg, holding the sword up to Churas. "I, Nathan Cristobal, son of Emiko Tojo Cristobal, have found a wife. Though she is not of the planet which Amaterasu shone her light upon, I know that uncounted generations of foremothers are proud to welcome you into their fold. I have even used the sword they have lent me to ensure that this is so. As you have gifted me with a sword of your own people, so do I relenquish stewardship of the Sword of Amaterasu to you, Churas."
Gr'laH juts his chin out towards Cristobal with a gruff sort of grunt. Go. Get your sword. For his part, he's content to give the whole matter a wide berth on his way back to his previous seat in the enormous metal chair her prefers to house his bulk.
Churas turns fully toward Cristobal, listening with an expression of at first confusion, and then comprehension; finally, she's both pleased and understanding. Stepping away from her father, she walks over to Cristobal, leaning down to take the sword from him. "I... will. Guard it well." It seems like the thing to say. And really, what's she going to do? Use it? Probably not. But she'll guard it! "Thank you, Nathan." Not much for the oratory, no. But she's trying.
Cristobal looks inordinately pleased by Churas's acceptance of the blade. He either doesn't notice or isn't the least bit put-off by her lack of speech making. He also looks a bit relieved for some reason. Impulsively, he reaches out, grabs Churas by the shoulders, and pulls her towards him. The kiss he gives her, while brief, is rather decidedly not chaste. He grins widely at her.
. o O Churas thinks "Not in front of..."
Gr'laH raises his eyebrow at the kiss, more amused than anything else. He gives his throat a theatric clearing prior settling his chin on his palm. "Do not think me rude for ushering you out of my quarters, but if you intend to continue such behavior, there is a room down the hall." See? He's not a hateful sexless curmudgeon. He's just a hateful curmudgeon.
That earns Nathan a rather sincere punch to his shoulder. Not to say that Churas doesn't kiss him back, just that she punches him afterwards. /This/ look says, 'Not in front of DAD, sheesh.' This look is only reinforced by her father's comment and throat-clearing.
"Ah. Yes. Father. Understood." And she punches Nathan in the shoulder again, using, of course, the hand not holding the sword. See?
The station's rotation slowly brings the anomaly into view.
Cristobal just grins at the whole image of Churas holding his sword. He mentally curses himself for not bringing a holo-imager. Mother would love to see this. He still hasn't sent her a picture of Churas where she wasn't wearing a pirate's costume. Arrr. He socks her back on her shoulder, continuing that big goofy grin.
Gr'laH shakes his head once more, head still perched on his palm. He's resuming his role as silent observer, allowing the two to be giddy and newly married and leave of their own accord, it seems. But he's hardly pressing them to dally about, either. The awkwardness that was present before is beginning to recede, of course. He's settling in to the whole idea.
Ahh, Klingons. Where Giddy and Newly Married often involves a lot of punching. Smacking Cristobal on the shoulder once again, Churas turns to look back at her father. "We are going to retire now, Father." No pretense and no explanation. She's under no delusions as to how exactly she came to exist. But, while her head's turned away and Cristobal can't see, she does manage to mouth, 'I love you, too,' and grin a little bit. So she didn't manage to fit it in before he came back. She got to convey the idea anyway.
<CONTEST> Cristobal contests his Intellect (Perception) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Fails!
Cristobal peers at the head-turning and arches a brow. He shrugs and thinks 'Klingons. Probably reliving a battle or somesuch.' Aaaaanyway, 'retiring' strikes Cristobal as a fantastically good idea right now, so he nods and repeats, "Yes. Retire," again nodding as he takes Churas's hand.
Gr'laH nods his head slightly in pardoning the pair, crooking up the corner of his mouth at Churas' mouthed benediction. "Goodnight. Both of you. Q'pla."
"Goodnight, Father. Q'pla!" Pointy object of soft-tissue destruction in one hand, hand of husband in the other -- what more can a girl ask for? -- Churas departs without further ado.
Cristobal repeats, "Q'pla," and again runs out of Gr'laH's quarters. He's doing that often, tonight?
