classpectlab:

Originally written by @savemodtony, for ClasspectLab’s Task 1.0, 2016.

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Pagehood forces you to realize a few things about the world. One, you either keep moving or you sink, swallowed by the oceans of people who can’t see past themselves and those who are merely looking for ways to lighten their own life with no regard for the investment it takes for a true friend. You cannot stop growing or else you will stagnate and freeze, being a statue to warn those around you not to face the same fate as you and forced to watch as everything crumbles. You stop learning, you end up stupider than the day you were born. Momentum is everything as a Page, and when that flow is interrupted it’s hard to get it back.

Two, even if you get knocked flat on your ass you are way stronger than it. You get the fuck back up even after the worst of blows no matter how long it takes. Being a Page is staring right in the face of tragedy and crying while going forward. You don’t forget and move on, each blow, each cut, each tear shed and drop of blood lost, you become that. You remember every single thorn in your side and use it to make yourself stronger.

Three, every failure is just another step closer to an answer. Because of One and Two, you start to realize “failure” means nothing. You trip and fall, you lose friends, you cut yourself on your own blade but you use that as just one way that doesn’t work, not that you are shit. Being a Page is trying to learn a complex topic on your own and getting frustrated but learning how to do everything by failing until you find the method that works. It’s trying a bunch of creative solutions to a problem until one works and the satisfaction you get from solving it. Its having been stuck on the same damn problem that everyone finished a half an hour ago and finally finding the right answer.

But, Pagehood pays out after you get those three things down. After finding all the wrong ways, you speed through the rest of the damn test in the blink of an eye since you now know what goes with what. You understand how to help those around you with their issues from all the shit you spent so long holding in your mind. Your ability to just push forward lets you act as a beacon for everyone else who might have started to stand still. You are no longer that shitty party member at the start of the game, you are now one of the best damn characters in the game. You might have taken longer than everyone else but that time bred something incredible. Everyone who forgot you, they come flocking to you like a bunch of ass starved people and you got some real juicy ones. To be a page is to spend years at a time learning how to do everything and failing every step of the way, but coming out at the end with the best understanding of everything about what you experienced. You started off as a follower, but now you are leading something you didn’t even intend to make. You are a magnet and these are lost charges looking for a place to latch on to become balanced, and goddamn if you aren’t there to help.