Interview 5: Tanaka Shinnosuke

[Cearnach]

The door slides open to reveal Lady Doji, with Kakita Irie standing behind her and a number of servants waiting in the wings, seated in a chair. Another, empty chair sits across the low table from her. That one must be yours.

[Doji Shinnosuke]

When the panel door slides open, Shinnosuke's gray-blue eyes widen a bit in surprise. This is a lot of important in one place, and all focused on just him. Not a bad thing! But not quite expected, at least this early.

He steps into the space and bows with graceful propriety. "My Lady Doji, Lady Kakita, good afternoon. I am honored by your summons today, above the very great honor of being included in this Winter's festivities." Although it seems obvious that he is supposed to take that place opposite his Champion eventually, he'll wait for some indication from his superiors before sitting.

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Getting the first roll out of the way: D1 EA Meet the Daimyo--Courtier/Awa TN 25. Prodigy and I think also BB ("I'm great, please like me!") apply | 8k5 ⇒ 33 (TN: 25)

[Doji Minehime]

Lady Doji smiles as she acknowledges Shinnosuke's bow with a graceful nod.

"Above the honor of the Empress' invitation? Tanaka-san is most effusive in his praise." She gestures for you to sit across from her. "Has he had rice?"

[Doji Shinnosuke]

"Naturally everything given at the court comes from the Empress's hands. Still, I don't imagine the Child of Heaven will have added my name to the list, in specific." Shinnosuke smiles deprecatingly as he seats himself. "I hope I may reach that height, but I'm not there yet."

Now seated, he smooths the silk folds of his clothing into correct alignment with unconscious ease. "I have eaten, yes, thank you, Doji-sama. And you? I suppose the Lion, of anybody, know how best to receive guests according to rank." Of anybody besides we Crane, that is, is the obvious subtext.

[Doji Minehime]

"The Lion receive everyone according to their station, Tanaka-san. They may be stoic, but they are usually a fair people, once you understand their point of view."

She gestured casually toward the tea set, a clear invitation to begin the ceremony. "Have you turned your mind down that path before, Tanaka-san?"

[Doji Shinnosuke]

Shinnosuke nods acknowledgement and begins to handle the tea utensils, with a soft "hmm" of appreciation for their fine quality. While not a master of this art, he's capable enough, and as the conversation proceeds he will, without hurry, turn out a bowl of tea that does due justice to the tools provided.

"The path of empathy, Lady?" His eyes are slightly downcast toward his hands as he whisks the tea, but still fulsome with sincerity. Darned actors. "You could say it's my profession--in a sense. Imagining what it would be like to be someone else, what that person feels and how they think--even how they move."

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D1 EA Meet the Daimyo--Tea/Void TN 20. | 5k3 ⇒ 28 (TN: 20)

[Doji Minehime]

"That last is not so far from the swordsman's art." Her eyes flick upwards. "But the knowledge of what is in someone's mind, that is the true prize, is it not?"

[Doji Shinnosuke]

"Yes, usually. Unless they're a horribly dull person." Shinnosuke's lips quirk playfully at the tea whisk in his hand. "Most people have at least something interesting in there, though."

[Doji Minehime]

Lady Doji inclines her head. "Most, yes. Have you considered ways to apply your art to this new situation?"

[Doji Shinnosuke]

Shinnosuke pauses thoughtfully, although in fact anyone would have anticipated this question (and he did).

“An artist who wants to be recognized needs to find people who are ready to appreciate his work, and whose opinions move others. That must be my task this season.”

He slides the tea bowl, now topped with a satisfactorily steaming whisked froth, gently across the table toward his Champion. “And of course, if my Lady has any other tasks in mind for me, her wish is my command. My Aunt Tanaka stressed that to me most particularly, not that she needed to.”

[Doji Minehime]

Lady Doji pauses to inspect the bowl, rotating it as though it were the most natural movement in the world. Perfect fluidity as she raises the bowl to her lips and then returns it to the table and slides it back across.

"That will be quite the task in itself, Tanaka-san. To move the hearts of the great of the Empire will require a great deal of skill and finesse. And to where would you direct them? Toward peace, harmony? Toward a righteous leader? Toward struggle and strife?"

[Doji Shinnosuke]

The ghost of a frown compresses Shinnosuke's lips and draws in his finely shaped brows. "There are historians who say that tumultuous times make the greatest flowering of art and culture." His eyes flick up, gauging her reaction as he neatens the tea utensils. "That times of peace are stagnant ages, when creativity grows from shallow roots."

He sighs, and for a moment seems a little less an ageless stage presence and more a young man of his actual age (which is a youngish twenty-two). "If--in spite of that--I think I would rather see the Empire in an age of peace and harmony, and not one of strife and uncertainty... does that make me a coward, my lady?"

[Doji Minehime]

"On the contrary, Tanaka-san. It is not for any of us to hunger and thirst for war, just as it is not for any of us to flinch from facing it when it comes. But come it may, and the artists will respond to it--but usually afterwards, when the blood has dried and the fields are less unsightly. I am much more interested in the art that comes *before* the deluge, and what it can do to prevent it."

[Doji Shinnosuke]

"Whatever art can do, I would do," Shinnosuke says, straightening his shoulders. "Not cheap propaganda, but art, of course. Honorable means for honorable ends." With a wry smile, he adds, "And so returns the question of finding an understanding audience. Or making one."

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This seems like as good a time as any to drop Sincerity? D1 EA Meet the Daimyo--Sincerity (Honesty) TN 20. | 6k4 ⇒ 47 (TN: 20)

[Doji Minehime]

"You have the leaders of the Empire captive, Tanaka-san, for 15 days. Surely one such as you can make use of such minds?"

[Doji Shinnosuke]

"If they are not too preoccupied to listen. Even the divine nightingale might struggle to make herself heard by warriors whose ears are already full of shouts of discord or the clash of battle, so I hope that is not too common here." He tilts his head slightly--it's a neat trick, seeming without obvious artifice to look upward at his Champion even though she is, if anything, very slightly shorter than him. "If Doji-dono has any particular advice as to who might be a good listener--or a difficult but worthwhile one, for that matter--my ears are open."

[Doji Minehime]

"Certainly Akodo Sanae is known to have cultivated tastes. But I think an even more interesting entity might be Lady Shiba and the Chancellor. I hope you will overlook my conceiving of them as a single unit? They are for the most part, but occasionally one sees a fissure here or there. These could all be powerful allies. As, for that matter, could Seppun Sadako. However, I would caution against engaging with Bayushi Kaguya. Her delegation, perhaps, but she...is not equipped for your media."

[Doji Shinnosuke]

"Thank you for that guidance." Shinnosuke bows his head in acknowledgement. "Hmm. I have long aspired to meet Lady Akodo, and now I shall remember not to neglect Lady Seppun, either. Or the Matsukaze and Murasame of the Phoenix," he adds, making a playful reference to two sisters from a famous play who always appear together, even as ghosts. "From what I had heard of her, I understood Lady Shiba was be bent on keeping some distance between our Clans, which seemed a pity. If I can help draw close the distance, I will try."

[Doji Minehime]

"That would be best, I think. The Crane and Phoenix work best together. Indeed, the whole Empire works best when it functions as a unit, but we cannot let our aspirations run away from us, can we?"

[Doji Shinnosuke]

"Can't we?" Shinnosuke's smile is gently rakish.

"Set one's heart at the highest pitch, while keeping one's actions tastefully restrained--that's one of the great principles of drama I learned at the Academy. In that way, sincere and noble emotion can be conveyed without outlandish gestures." Shifts in his body language and tone, for a few moments, convey a vivid image of the grave and important schoolmaster before returning to neutral. "I think it's a very fine thing to aspire, as long as we act reasonably. If my lady will forgive my boldness."