Chapter 1 is essentially Chapter 0 which is represented by The Fool in tarot. This is the beginning of our journey. The fool represents innocence, naïveté, and new beginnings. The Fool carries all potential within them, standing at the precipice between the known world and the unknown, about to step off the cliff in an act of either supreme faith or supreme foolishness. They don't know which it will be. Neither do we.
Note on Numbering: The Major Arcana runs from 0-21, with The Fool as 0. Since I can't label a chapter "Chapter 0," each chapter number is one off from its corresponding card number:
When I refer to "the second card in the Major Arcana," I mean The High Priestess (2), even though she's physically the third card you'd encounter in the deck (therefore aligning with the third chapter of our story). This offset continues throughout: Chapter 22 will represent The World (21), completing the Fool's journey.
The title "Sin (New York)" follows (or tries to) the format of painting titles—work and location—establishing from the start that art will be central to how this story communicates meaning.
We’re also already starting off strong with the Biblical motifs lol
In Christian theology, Original Sin refers to the first sin committed by Adam and Eve (eating the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge) in the Garden of Eden, defying God’s direct command and causing the Fall of Man. In this chapter the Met is almost like Eden—a sacred space of history and beauty that Regulus violates by stealing Monet’s *Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies.* The water lilies is the first crime that catalyzes the entire narrative.
Museums present themselves as temples to human achievement, spaces where art and history is "protected" for public viewing. The irony, of course, is that many museums have built their collections through imperial theft and cultural pillaging (but that’s neither here nor there).
This single transgression, like the biblical Fall, sets off a chain of consequences that will consume every character. Once paradise is violated, once you have fallen, there's no return to innocence.
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The Fool from the Rider–Waite Smith tarot deck
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*Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies,* ****Claude Monet, c. 1876-1877
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The water lilies serve as both a recurring motif and a narrative anchor, with water imagery flowing throughout the story (See Chapter [redacted for now]). While the Magritte is what seals their fates together, The Monet is what brings them together in the first place, showing our copycat and Regulus as two sides of the same coin.
File:Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies.JPG
