The Sins We Do |
Summary: | Marsden seeks out Leoline for a confession. |
Date: | 10/05/2012 |
Related Logs: | The Stonebridge affair |
Players: |
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The Underdocks, Stonebridge |
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The underdocks are platforms closer to the waters edge that provide dock workers easier access to the ships for maintanance or to repair damage. However, the shade provides for some dark corners and the underdocks have become known as an occasionally dangerous place where criminals and drunks squat for a place to call their own |
May 10 289 A.L. |
Down here in the squalor one cannot tell whether it is normally day or night, as the shade of the great docks and the bridge itself serve as some barrier between the denizens and the firmament. Here, men and women sell their bodies for drink and all else. Dealings are done to enslave men to their vices and sins…And the poorest of the poor try to eek out a living. Well the poorest of the poor in Stonebridge at least. In the shadow of the river barges and the great ships and cogs that come down in to off load cargo, is where Marsden finds himself today. Clad in his brown robes, as steps are carefully placed on rotting boards. Searching for someone, or something it seems.
Leoline
This young man's pale, oval face is framed by wavy brown hair that has grown a little overlong and could use the attention of a pair of sharp scissors. Vividly blue eyes are fringed in black lashes rather long and thick for a man, and set beneath dark, arched brows. His nose is prominent, though not excessively so, and comes to a rounded point. Beneath, lips are pink and caught somewhere between thin and full. His jaw is usually covered in a faint scruff of stubble that's not quite developed enough to be called a proper beard. The overall effect of the whole seems to be one of a slightly bewildered innocence.
Hardly a tall man, at seven inches over five feet, even some women will outstrip his height. His slender frame is clothed in simple brown robes, undyed and ending in wide, belled sleeves. On his back hangs a hood to serve as protection from the elements, at his hip is a small pouch and a dagger, and around his neck is a tiny silver cup hanging from a narrow strip of leather. His feet are shod in leather boots, well worn and dusty. More often than not, a tall walking stick of weathered wood completes his unassuming ensemble.
In this sort of place, whatever one is looking for, it's likely a very bad idea. But, strangely, Marsden is not the only figure in brown robes to be found down in the dimness and moral degradation of the underdocks. There is another fellow, smaller and thinner, who carries a walking stick a few inches taller than he is, drifting among the drunks. Now and again he stops and crouches down before one of the slumped bodies, speaking for a few quiet moments. Sometimes, that is all. Sometimes they clasp hands. Sometimes, the begging brother offers up a small package. Sometimes, he accepts one.
There's a glance, a look, before he is sliding his way through the crowds. When the sight does indeed strike him. After all, there aren't that many brothers in brown that are usually in Stonebridge- let alone those brave enough to come down into the darkest of places to give out light. Or other necessaries. A brief look over his shoulder and he is making his way through a press of bodies to come closer. Marsden dares not interrupt, but once he sees Leoline scop back up, he merely clears his throat, as he comes closer. A squint in familiarity for a moment before his voice is calling. "Brother- a moment of your charitable time?"
Leoline peers over his shoulder as he's addressed, wide, blue eyes studying the other septon, or man dressed as a septon. He offers a nod and a placid, "Of course, brother."
"Then walk a few paces with me, and from the ears of others. Maybe I wish to confess, and it is against the rules to hear your own." Marsden notes, before he's nodding down a small side gainway, which goes further under the bridge. "I had heard you were here, but I was unsure of it." Marsden notes as hands slide into his belled sleeves.
"Did you, brother?" Leoline asks. "I am, for a time. I can be found most anywhere. For a time." The begging brother shrugs as he walks with Marsden until they've found a spot equally miserable, but considerably less public. "I will hear your confession, when you are ready to give it."
"For a time, of course." Marsden repeats. "And I did Brother. I did not know it was exactly you, to be fair, but that a brother was here." A faint chuckle there before he nods. And there amongst the filth and the muck Marsden moves to his knees. "I have sinned brother, and I pray the Father judge me fairly."
"Was it me, particularly, you were seeking?" Leoline asks, a hint of surprise in his voice. He stands before the kneeling septon, resting a hand on the other man's shoulder. "He judges all things fairly. Free yourself from your sins, so that the father might weigh them now and the mother might grant you mercy."
"Since my last and pentitent confession it has bordered on years. I have lain with a woman of high birth and done her family grave insult." That he paid for in flesh. "I have killed not in self defense, or in service to the warrior but, in greed." a pause "And most recently and the sin I wish to confess is, I have lied on things of high importance." There he looks towards Leoline. "I had thought you would be the best one to seek regard the matter I am about to confess. And I will hold you to the strictest office of keeping this between us and the gods. Should it come out that others know, please know Stranger Sworn, I will do my best so that you can see your master."
DUMP: Rutger's eyes kind of freak out the database.
"If I were otherwise sworn, I might well feel frightened by your words," Leoline replies calmly, his hand squeezing Marsden's shoulder in a way that allows his nails to dig in. "I do not need your crude attempt at intimidation to keep a secret, brother. You may add the transgression of threatening a holy septon to your list of sins, and then continue, if you like."
"If you were otherwise, someone than you- I would be worried about you being frightened." Marsden points out. "Tact it on if you like brother. I care not." A sniff there, and Marsden continues. "I have known the truth of a matter of great importance and kept it silent.In that, I feel, I am responsible for a man's death and a possible Lady's ruin." A glance to Leoline. "I tell myself I do it, because it is the right thing. But I find with it comes else." a sniff. "More sins just trickle from it like a fount."
"That is the way of it with deception. Each lie requires the scaffolding of others to keep it from toppling, and vows much be upheld with action," Leoline replies, his tone as gentle as his words are pragmatic. "No sin lives alone."
"You would think, I would know this. Allow me to tell you then, and free my soul." And so Marsden then goes into the detail of what he knows of the Stonebridge affair, as it concerns Gedeon, Lady Danae and all else-careful to keep quiet so only their ears can hear. When it is finished he looks back up. " But, do you see why I must? I failed him- and did not protect his body nor his heart. I must see that she has better."
Leoline listens, quiet and with little reaction, save for a nod now and again to demonstrate that he still listens and understands what is being said. "It is hardly for me to choose what secrets you keep and what choices you make to keep them. I am not the Father's child."
"No, you are the child of the one with many faces, who comes for us all. " he states back, as he looks down to his hands. "I wonder if their blood is not all but on my hands at this point." A sniff. "If I was to seek penance and come back to the light- as it were. What would you see me do?" Marsden asks the other.
"What is the light for you?" Leoline asks. "Would you leave the lady and find redemption in the eyes of all the seven? Would you have your sins purged in more than whispers in the dark?"
"The light is recognition that my second chance of life was not in vain, brother." Marsden admits. "That I have done the right thing." A pause there before he looks back towards the other brother. "Were it you? What would you do?"
"I cannot tell you that. I cannot tell you what the right thing should be. I could tell you what the father would say. The mother. The warrior. But they are not in your feet, and they are but one piece of the whole. I am not you, brother, I do not build secrets. I only collect them. Whose recognition do you want?"
"Give me all of them, like a card reader would." The other septon says, as a faint grin shows. "And Aye, I know you are not I. I would not wish myself upon you." A chuckle from Marsden, before he nods.
"Well," Leoline considers, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "The father would hold justice above all, and I cannot call your path just, steeped as it is in deception. The mother would weep for her fallen child and the damage he left behind and you could, perhaps, be the shape of her mercy. The warrior would never approve a battle only half-fought, but the crone knows the wisdom of reconsidering and reexamining one's choices for errors. The maiden would feel most for the Lady and what she has been made to become through these events. The Smith admires most that which is built from nothing, but anything with a weak foundation will topple. How strong is yours? And my master… well, my master would say nothing."
"No, your master would not. He just waits at the edge of the board, to collect the pieces as they fall." A grin there as he slowly makes a small sign, and starts to rise out of the muck. " The others though. They sound promising enough. And would speak as witnesses to me, when the day comes that your Master claims me." A rub of his nose and Marsden eyes Leoline. "Am I right on your master at least?"
"How should I know?" Leoline asks with a small laugh. "I am no more privy to his secrets than any other. I only honor the importance of his having them."
Marsden grins. "How do any of us know?" he replies before nodding to Leoline. "Absolution?" As he waits for the end, or rather Leoline's part of the confession.
"I do grant it, such as a mere man, even one devoted to the seven, may grant such a thing," Leoline answers. "Go, brother, your burden lifted, and sin no more." He considers a moment, "Or, if you do sin," he adds, "may you know why."
Marsden bows his head. "Thank you, my brother." As for the other he laughs, as he begins to back down the alley. "Oh, I know why I am to sin." Marsden states as he pauses in his retreat. " I just do not know the how's yet." a grin and he turns to leave Leoline to his work.