Persona Persona Persona

[elementalherodragonlord]

Persona Arcana Meme

→ Post and respond to characters → Click on titles for prompts → Pick & choose or RNG 0-21 for Arcana → Take the prompt as a role or scenario or just inspiration → Have fun!

	0. Fool { the void } innocence, divine inspiration, madness, freedom, spontaneity, inexperience, chaos, creativity, "jack of all trades" Fools are blank slates, those who are able to adapt their personality to any situation at hand. They're protagonists who draw in all kinds of people to themselves--to their benefit and detriment. » A new beginning awaits you! How do you proceed?
	1. Magician { unfailing determination } action, initiative, self-confidence, immaturity, manipulation, power to harness one's talents Magicians may shield themselves from their inferiority complex or identity crisis with their strong sense of confidence. They seek to fufill their inner potential and have a strong vision and aspiration for the future. They also, unfortunately, have an ongoing theme of romantic tragedy. » It's time to practice those skills! What are you doing?
	2. High Priestess { profound wisdom } hidden knowledge or other untapped power, wisdom, female mystery and patience High Priestesses, who are often modest and shy, are hardworking and very intelligent. They are also usually quiet and reserved. Due to highly exigent family members there's a recurring theme of inferiority complexes. » It's time to share your knowledge or wisdom with someone. Maybe tutoring?
	3. Empress { life's grandeur } mothers, prosperity, creativity, sexuality, abundance, fertility, protection, and comfort Empresses, elegant in character, are either women of authority or wise, motherly figures. They present a high degree of care and concern towards others, though some may be cold-hearted in personality. » You find yourself taking care of someone or something. Or are you in need of care?
	4. Emperor { lead one } the desire to control one's surroundings, trying too hard to achieve this, possibly causing trouble for others, some elements in life are just not controllable Emperorers are often male leaders and/or father figures who are often troubled by something very personal and don't know how to deal with it. » Relinquishing control is difficult. Maybe someone can help.
	5. Hierophant { forces that guides } education, authority, conservatism, obedience to rules and relationship with the divine Hierophants are quite wise, logical, and often older. They have a connection to and, at times, an obsession with the past. » Something from the past has come back. Is it good or is it haunting?
	6. Lovers { joy and wonder } two paths life could lead to, standing at a crossroad, needing to make a decision, love and romantic relationships, finding agreement with an ordinary friend or two conflicting elements within Lovers are "spirited" if not "popular" who are cheerful and place an emphasis on social interaction. » There's a decision to be made. Is it romantic or unrelated?
	7. Chariot { pursue one's goals } victory, conquest, self-assertion, self-confidence, control, war, and command Chariots are very driven individuals who have a personal goal or two that they aim to achieve at any cost. It's not uncommon for them to be short-tempered or aggressive. » You're pushing for something to happen. Do you get what you want or push too far?
	8. Justice { one true path } justice, objectivity, rationality and analysis Justices are concered with matters of fairness, and otherwise are very stoic individuals. » Things may be unfair right now. How is this affecting you?
	9. Hermit { oneself honestly } wisdom, introspection, solitude, retreat and philosophical searches Hermits prefer to place themselves in situations that hide themselves from the public eye, such as in more supportive roles that keep them out of the spotlight. » You've been keeping to yourself. How did someone get in?
	10. Fortune { bearer of cruelty } fate, luck, fortune and opportunity Fortunes attempt to seize their own destiny in spite of fate, and are typically involved with making important choices and decisions in response to what life throws at them. » Life has thrown you a curveball. What's next?
	11. Strength { endure suffering } stronger power of self-control, gentleness, courage and virtue over brute force, creative or physical energy Strengths have strength of heart and are not upset easily. They typically portray fortitude. » Your will is strong! Is it good energy or to combat something bad?
	12. Hanged Man { opportunity for renewal } self-sacrifice for the sake of enlightenment, the bindings that make one free, paradoxes and hanging between heaven and earth Hanged Mans are more notable for being caught between two different extremes, parties, or stages in life. They are also sometimes self-sacrificial. » You're caught between circumstances. Where will you emerge?
	13. Death { absolute end } foreboding, doom, metamorphosis and deep change, regeneration and cycles Deaths are associated directly with death and the cycles of change they experience. » There's a change happening. What kind?
	14. Temperance { balance and moderation } synthesis, prudence, harmony, and the merging of opposites Temperances often struggle to find balance in their lives and in their hobbies. » Things are finally coming together! Is it going smoothly?
	15. Devil { impulse and feeling } selfish, impulsive, violent, tempation / healthy bond or commitment Devils are often "devilish" individuals who can be greedy, proud, lustful, or otherwise of poor character. It's not uncommon for them to have somewhat of an antisocial tendency and to not care much for the needs and well-being of others. They are committed to a cause, which is usually their work. » Time to jump into something without thinking! How's that working out?
	16. Tower { the fall } overly arrogant, prejudiced, authoritarian, omen of doom and disaster Towers can be arrogant and will typically find themselves in bad situations where they themselves have fallen from grace. » You're in an unfavorable situation. Can you get out of it?
	17. The Star { it shines } hope, self-confidence, faith, altruism, luck, generosity, peace and joy Stars embody the traits of hopefulness and joy. » There's something to be happy about! Yay!
	18. Moon { psychically } creativity, inspiration, dreams, madness, illusions, fear, fantasy, the subconscious and trickery Moons project their own fears and faults onto others and, because of that fear, they try to correspond to an ideal person. They often tend to have trouble accepting themselves for who they are and there is a hidden depth as to why they act in their behaviors. » You're struggling with something internally. Have you reached out?
	19. Sun { accomplishment } happiness, joy, energy, optimism, and accomplishment, initial happiness Suns almost always, ironically, find themselves in terrible situations which bely the underlying optimism present in nearly all ofo them. They have deep thoughts about the meaning of life and manage to find their answers. » You've accomplished something! That's great!
	20. Judgement { one's calling } deep understanding of life, feeling of acceptance and absolution Judgements are well-aware and quite intelligent who view the world with infinite possibilities and are most powerful when combining their intuition with their smarts. Their thought process is among the most vast and realistic. » You're absolutely certain about something. Is it time to be confrontational?
	21. World { final triumph } world's totality, the symbol of fulfillment, wholeness and harmony World is a power based on the Fool's bonds with others. » Friendship and bonds are important. Don't you agree?

Comments

[getoutoftherobot]

[Shinji is completely and utterly out of his depth. What is happening right now. This is way too much positive energy for a persona conversation? He's so confused, and people are looking at them, and he's not really used to people just talking to him out of the blue, especially girls. He knows Haruhi is a girl by now, but that's a whole different kind of embarrassment.]

Um! Do-- Do you live this way? I live down past the station, we can go a different way if you want!

[What's polite when you're walking a girl home? Is it different if you're walking her home so she can interrogate you or something?]

[a_flower_girl]

[Aerith looks in the direction of the station and then back at Shinji, still smiling.]

Don't worry about me, I can get myself home!

[She gestures to the bike. Aerith lives in the complete opposite direction but she doesn't care. She's determined. Plus, this way, she can find out where he lives. That seems helpful!

She pulls out her phone, which has a cute floral phone strap dangling from one side, texts her mom that she'll be home late, and then puts the phone back in her bag, which is resting in the basket of her bike. The bag, which is just a standard school bag, also has some very cute keychains attached to it.

Aerith leans in towards Shinji and lowers her voice a little so that only he can hear.]

We should go now, your classmates are really nosy.

[getoutoftherobot]

[If anyone was reading Shinji's mind right now, it would sound roughly like a kettle coming to boil. He has been taken incredibly off-balance and does not seem to be recovering with any kind of haste.]

Huh?

[He glances around after she whispers to him, and turns, impossibly, even redder. Someone from his homeroom catches his eye and winks at him. Horrifying.]

Oh! Y-yeah, good idea!

[He shoves his music player (it isn't as old-school as his canon one, but he is using an old iPod instead of his smart phone) into his pockets with haste, clearly flustered. Time to flee the scene of the crime! The crime being 'talking to a girl'.]

[a_flower_girl]

[Aerith has a bounce in her step as she follows Shinji, who seems to genuinely be speeding away from the group of students leaving school. Once she catches up to him again Aerith realizes that she actually has to talk to Shinji for real now.

To have information, she has to be open and a little vulnerable. This isn't ideal. She will just have to be brave. Shinji didn't have a choice about revealing his deepest and innermost fears so it's the least she can do. Aerith is quiet next to Shinji, looking contemplative suddenly. She doesn't even know where to begin.

Finally, after a long moment, with her eyes towards the road in front of them, Aerith speaks.]

You know, I recognized your name...when we found out you were missing. It was weird though, because I didn't remember you, not really anyway, but as soon as we walked into your dungeon I remembered that building.

[She grips her bike handles tighter for a moment before turning her gaze to Shinji.]

Do you remember me?

[getoutoftherobot]

[The mood shifts almost immediately once they get away from Shinji's classmates. That had been a trial, but a mundane one, and this is something else entirely. Shinji grips the strap on his bag hard enough that it digs into his palm.]

You were another test subject, then?

[There's real dread in Shinji's voice, guilt and horror and something unrecognizable even to him. This is the other shoe dropping-- he'd known NERV was involved somehow, it just had to be.]

I'm sorry, I only knew the kids they put me with for fights. I thought... the records Misato found made it seem like everyone before us died.

[a_flower_girl]

[She smiles at him in an attempt to ease his discomfort but it doesn't reach her eyes. The tone of his voice says everything. She wants to talk to her brother about this, and maybe her mom. How much do they know? She's been afraid to ask.]

No, it's okay, it would be silly to assume you'd remember me if I didn't remember you.

[Aerith hums softly. How can she even explain what happened?]

I don't remember everything, and I was only there until I was 7 so...the records might be right, besides me and my brother.

[She's glad that they're walking because it eases some of the tension in her body as she talks about her past.]

My mom...my birth mom...she must have been through a lot of testing because I remember her being gone a lot.

['I was alone' she thinks. However, in spite of everything, she's trying to leave her feelings out of this conversation. Shinji doesn't need that additional burden.]

I don't know much about my dad, he died when I was really young. I think he was a scientist? He...probably worked at NERV...

[Aerith's expression is closed off for a moment. It's an unsettling thought, so she has to pause to collect herself before she continues.]

Anyway, when I was 7 my mom helped me and my brother escape. She...didn't make it though. Sephiroth was 12 at the time so he kept us safe until we got to Elmyra.

[She smiles again, this time it's more genuine.]

Like I said, I don't remember everything I went through either. Some of it is...starting to come back...but, I guess I'm pretty lucky...Elmyra isn't my birth mom, and Sephiroth isn't really my brother, but they were both there for me after NERV. It seems like that's the best case scenario.

[getoutoftherobot]

[Shinji gradually goes pale as Aerith talks. He doesn't interrupt her, both because he's got decent manners and because he feels like he just swallowed a bucket of ice water. Way too much of that is familiar.]

[Even after she's done, he has to swallow twice to clear his throat before he can speak.]

Your-- they were doing experiments on your mom?

[His hands are shaking. He remembers photographs of Yui's body suspended in a tank, a tube down her throat and wires embedded in her skull. Flashes of images from the inside of the glass, fed directly into his mind by Unit 01, the way her scream became more human the longer he had her summoned--]

Mine too.

[Deep breaths, Shinji, you've talked about this more than once in the past few weeks.]

You don't... hear her in your persona, right? Fujioka-san says the ones you're using aren't artificial, but that's... how NERV made us our personas. It had to be an adult family member and a child. I think it might have only been mothers and their children but they-- they killed the person who was stealing the records, so I never found out for sure.

[Rest in pieces, Kaji, you admittedly useful piece of shit.]

[a_flower_girl]

[It's pretty much what she expected when she saw his dungeon but it's still something else to hear Shinji talk about this out loud. Maybe she should have emotionally prepared herself a little better. When he shares that his mom went through the same thing she looks up at him and sees him shaking. She has an urge to hold his hand to comfort him but they barely know each other. She holds back.]

No, Haruhi was right, ours don't work that way. I'm glad, I don't know if I could keep going if I had to hear her every time we fought shadows. But...I still don't know what happened to her after we left...

[Aerith presses her lips together.]

I don't think I want to know. I don't really know what happened to Sephiroth's birth parents either. He never told me anything after we left. He...hasn't really ever talked about NERV at all. There's so much I don't know.

a little less intense than the icon lets on

[getoutoftherobot]

[Shinji is sinking into that usual mix of relief and envy that comes from hearing about other persona users-- he's still reeling that this can happen without someone purposefully creating it. He's torn between being deliriously glad that NERV's method isn't still happening, that he stopped it, and wishing his persona could have been like that. Even the new one doesn't feel like a part of him, it feels like a ghost.]

[But that doesn't last long enough to really spiral, because it occurs to him as she talks that he does know what happened to her mother. He killed all the test subjects when he brought the basement down, so even if they did still have her or her body around...]

[He feels nauseous. He drops eye contact entirely and has to swallow a few times before he's sure he isn't going to actually throw up.]

If you... If you want, I can... try to answer questions. I was there longer, and-- and I've read some things they didn't want us to have.

[And, you know, he was directly responsible for some of it.]

[a_flower_girl]

[Shinji's very strange behavior immediately tips Aerith off that he probably knows exactly what happened to her mom. Aerith stops walking and turns directly towards him.]

Yeah...I thought you might be able to...

[She pauses for a moment while she takes in Shinji's nervous expression and lack of eye contact. She knew in her heart that nothing good could have happened to her mother in that place after she left but not knowing gave her the space to imagine something better than whatever might be about to come out of Shinji's mouth.]

Haruhi didn't really tell us anything except that you didn't want to fight with us and that you said you could answer questions. Well...to be fair to her, I haven't really told her anything about this either, she doesn't even know that I'm here today, so she probably wouldn't have thought it was important to tell us anything else you might have said.

[Aerith sighs and shifts her weight from one foot to the other, her hands still on her bike's handlebars. She might as well start with the real question she came here to answer.]

Shinji-senpai, there's no way NERV is still around...right?

[getoutoftherobot]

[Well, that's not what Shinji was expecting. Haruhi has been nothing but kind to him, but there's still a difference between "kind" and "respecting his boundaries even when it might have a personal cost". She... really didn't tell them the details on that breakdown he had in her room. Probably for no other reason than respecting his feelings. He's a little stunned.]

I don't-- god, a month ago I would have said there's no way, but I still can't get my head around people having personas without NERV making them. But--

[He swallows and fixes his eyes on the ground. His hands are shaking and no matter how tightly he clenches them, they won't stop.]

The last time I used my persona, it... broke. In the middle of NERV headquarters. I wasn't awake for a lot of it, but it... brought the building down with everyone still in it. Most of the people who were NERV died.

[Screw the shaking hands, he has to take a moment to wipe at his eyes, embarrassed and upset.]

M-Maybe one or two important people made it out, but nobody who worked on me or my friends. The doctors and the researchers and-- and my father, they all...

[He wipes at his eyes again, angrily this time, hating himself for crying. He can hear a voice that sounds like his father's asking him what good he thinks he's doing.]

I'm-- I'm so sorry, I really thought... I really thought it was over, that the one good thing that came out of that goddamn mess is that this wouldn't happen to anyone else but-- but it's happening again, isn't it? It's just going to keep happening.

I don't have a good icon for the amount of emotions Aerith is experiencing here oops

[a_flower_girl]

[When Shinji explains what happened Aerith lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Well, that's that, isn't it? If her mom wasn't already gone then she certainly is now. If Shinji was looking at her he might notice that her body language is stiff but her expression hasn't changed much. This is so much to process and she's holding it all inside.

It's his fault, but is it really his fault? Can she really blame him for what he did? Even though she doesn't remember much she knows what it was like at NERV deep down. She knows he's just as much of a victim as she is. She can imagine from his dungeon, her foggy experiences, and his words what kind of torture he must have been through. In spite of that, there is still a part of her that can't help but feel bitter. Could her mom have escaped if the building didn't collapse suddenly? Could she have done something if she had remembered? Did Shinji ruin any chance they had to reunite? She's not sure but she can't stop herself from feeling angry? upset? frustrated? bad. Aerith can't keep herself from asking more, her tone determined.]

Did your persona kill my mom?

[This isn't what she wanted to ask at all but she couldn't stop herself before it came out of her mouth. She hates asking him this question. It's hurting her and he's already crying. Her eyes glaze over with tears and she shakes her head suddenly.]

No--no it's...you don't have to answer that. That's not--

[A few tears escape down her cheeks. She wipes them away and takes a deep breath, straightening back up again. If still isn't looking at her he might have missed her crying completely.]

That's not what I came here to ask about.

[If what he said is true then there's no way this could be another NERV experiment. It's impossible. Not to mention this seems so out of character for NERV. Everything was so regimented and controlled. Nothing about whatever has been happening has felt like anyone could be gathering data. But...she can't get the thought that this might be them out of her head.]

How much do you know about the people in charge of the experiments? Do you really think this could be them?