(D10, EE) A Scorpion walks into a Crane House

[Soshi Eiji]

"And I'm sure Doji-san is also quite talented at Sadane, but he doesn't wander the halls of Kyuden Ikoma ridiculing every piece of the furniture as well." he adds.

"I've read the rules on Sadane, I really should learn how to play. It's not terribly popular in Kyuden Ikoma, but quite popular among my new clan." he admits.

[Doji Shinnosuke]

"Oh, it's great fun. Mostly harmless." Shinnosuke chuckles. "Some people are cruel with it, I suppose, but it's mostly about the play of creativity, you know. Being the subject of a game is good practice, too."

[Soshi Eiji]

That got a raised eyebrow from the Lion turned Scorpion.

"Oh? Do you mean your art is the target of the game, or you yourself, Doji-san? Though given your chosen artform, there is perhaps scant difference between the two." he asked with a touch of flattery.

[Doji Shinnosuke]

"Oh, but there is a difference, or at least there ought to be. If you're just playing yourself all the time, you're not much of an actor," Shinnosuke says, shaking his head. "Anyway, in a fair game of sadane, the target is the art, but it's rather hard to talk about art without the artist, isn't it? Even if you don't know anything about him personally, what he's made is a reflection of his skill, so he's there as an abstraction, if you see what I mean." He gestures at air as if indicating such a ghostly presence.

"If one can listen to a well-played game of sadane about one's own work and smile through it, that's a fine accomplishment of skill and mental balance."

[Soshi Eiji]

Eiji nods.

"True, but I feel like given your earlier remarks, that while you are not playing 'yourself' there is a small bit of 'you' in each performance, and a small bit of each performance in 'you.' Although..."

He smiles a bit.

"I wonder if a poorly played game of Sadane would be an even greater test of your skill and balance. After all, if someone is clever in finding fault in your works, you might be amused, or perhaps strive to better yourself. But to smile through someone simply being unfunny and unoriginal in their critque of your work? That would seem the greater feat...unless Doji-san simply does not hear such remarks." he offered.

[Doji Shinnosuke]

"A blunt and dull criticism has rather less power to cut, don't you think?" Shinnosuke counters, brows arching mischievously. "One might still blame oneself on the whole for failing to touch that person with one's art, but if they can't express any intelligent or true insights about why it didn't reach them, then the specific words they've used have less sting. I suppose that might be a result of practice, too. Or the famous Crane pride," he adds, chuckling.

[Soshi Eiji]

Eiji grinned a bit at that.

"Ah, but Doji-san so too is a tetsubo powerless to cut. But when one has a thick shell, be it around their body or around their heart, sometimes it the brute force of such an attack that will overcome them, rather than the sharp edge of a tanto or a taunt that would merely glance off such a target." he counter-countered!