The Final Arcana

And now, the last of it... distractions, distractions...

15 - Devil
My life - Haley23
Persona games - President Tanaka (3), Sayoko Uehara (4)
The Devil is all about temptation. With Tanaka, you are tempted to focus on money and swindling people out of it. With Sayoko, she tries to seduce you, having a flirtatious attitude in past and present. Haley23 is a denizen of a game room that I frequent - there is precedent to having a social link be a virtual person; that would be Maya, the Hermit link from Persona 3. Haley23 is supposedly a 14-year-old girl, who apparently has body issues, and claims to love every boy in the room. She is my temptation - she makes me want to act ten years younger than I am, with my adult vocabulary. She also makes me want to rip her hair out, or melt her keyboard. Yet despite these temptations, she is fascinating, and she may actually be a good person on the other side of the screen... but who can tell?

16 - Tower
My life - My parents
Persona games - Mutatsu (3), Shyuu Nakajima (4)
I have yet to meet Shyuu in-game, so my basis for the Tower arcana is through Mutatsu. He is a gruff, rather pessimistic monk that the Protagonist meets in a bar. He is a giver of tough love; he has made mistakes, has thought about them, and eventually is able to pass on advice. My parents are rather far away from me right now, and they have a lot of tough love for me, but they are also very kind, sending me goodies and news from home. Eventually, like Mutatsu and his family, we'll reconcile and start a new relationship, as equals.

17 - Star
My life - Audrey Miller
Persona games - Mamoru Hayase (3), Teddie (4)
Mamoru is a star of the rival track team, and Teddie is your main contact from the TV world. Both are bright, hopeful individuals. Teddie is closer in personality to Audrey, in that at first meeting, both he and she are hard to understand - Teddie's weird, and Audrey is less than two years old. However, during the course of time, each one grows and becomes much more dynamic individuals. My niece-to-be is adorable, a little fussy, but still a bundle of fun. The Star is only a depressing card in that a star will eventually fall - in Audrey's case, the only disappointment is that her innocence as a child will eventually fade away, once she grows up. Right now, though, she's a cute handful.

18 - Moon
My life - Theresa St. John
Persona games - Nozomi Suemitsu (3), Ai Ebihara (4)
The Moon arcana is all about illusions. Nozomi has the illusion of indulging in both overeating and a religious cult, while hiding inner sibling issues. Ai is a materialistic individual, who often has shallow reactions, but is holding past weight and pressure issues inside. My future mother-in-law loves me dearly, and can be very sweet, but she also has an addictive personality, and tends to be quite lazy and lax about household duties. She smokes, watches reality TV late into the night, and has weight issues and type 2 diabetes. She has also had issues with alcoholism and physical abuse in the past - since my upbringing was pretty idyllic, the thought that my love had to deal with this sort of thing in the past is scary, especially since Terri is mostly harmless these days. I can only hope that if something DOES happen, it will allow her to shed some of the addictive practices and become a more normal person.

19 - Sun
My life - Joseph Larose
Persona games - Akinari Kamiki (3), Yumi Ozawa (4), Ayane Matsunaga (4)
The Sun is a symbol of clarity and redemption - Akinari accepts his dying fate, and becomes redeemed; Yumi accepts her father's abandonment and death; and Ayane accepts that she has great musical potential, despite not playing the instrument she wanted. Joe is not always a ray of sunshine for me, but we have always had a lot of common ground, even with some sexual tension. These days, he reminds me of the good, geeky times we had, and flirts with me online. He also uses me as a sounding board when it comes to relationships (this is not limited to him, for I've helped others, too), and hopefully through my feedback, he finds a way to redeem himself in his own heart. There is no doubt in my mind that I'll be glad to see him again when I come home.

20 - Judgment
My life - Our marriage
Persona games - Nyx Annihilation Team (3), Alliance of Truth Seekers (4)
In the games, the teams once represented by the Fool Arcana eventually cap, then are reformed into teams represented by the Judgment Arcana. In my life, the next natural step in our engagement is our marriage. We will form a much stronger bond, and be legally recognized as a couple, beyond any doubt. This will happen when we are back east, when we have finally begun to live on our own, and stand on our feet - we will find a new form of freedom.

21 - World/Aeon
My life - Our future children
Persona games - Aigis (3)
The World is a culmination of all the other Arcanas. In the Persona games, it is usually the force which allows the Protagonist to defeat the final boss of the game; it is also the hidden arcana that represents Aigis' social link, if the right ending is chosen. Aigis has this arcana because when it begins, she is finally becoming more human, exploring her emotions and making her own decisions. For Case and I, our children will be the culmination of our journey that we started in the beginning. It is the end of our cycle, and the beginning of a new cycle of growth, for the little ones that we will raise together. The thought of this, of all these arcanas leading up to this, gives me great hope for my future as an individual, as a fiancee, as a wife, and as a mother.


So, those are the Arcana!
One last note: in perusing the Arcanas, I was considering which I might be as an individual. I came to the conclusion that I was the Priestess: quiet, intuitive, knowledgeable, and mysterious. I also have similar personalities to Fuuka, Yukiko, and Ripley (yes, I know it's hard to gauge a cat's personality, but bear with me, we're very much alike).

And now, back to your regularly scheduled (ha!) posts about my life.