"It's a classic small town. I mean, when was the last time you heard of someone leaving Pageson for good?"
— Gail Rubens
Off the Page and Into Life
is a Tumblr based roleplaying blog centered around the idea that classic literary characters (ranging from Arthurian Legend to the works of Mark Twain) have been reincarnated as residents of a small town known as Pageson. The blog mainly focuses on the interactions between the students and staff of Pageson High, and their various romantic and non-romantic relationships. The RP was dead for awhile, but it was recently rebooted and the Reset Button was hit, starting everything over again. The reboot is called Chapter Two.
In Chapter Two, the plot was revamped, providing a backstory. This backstory gave us knowledge of Grimmearth, which is where all the literary characters originated, and an explanation as to why, exactly, the literary characters are being reincarnated, and what the Storyteller's problem is. Read it here.
There is a character sheet, so all character tropes should go there. It's under construction, so feel free to pitch in!
Chapter One
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Acting for Two: Currently there are eight active roleplayers, and twelve active characters. That alone should tell you something. - Angry Guard Dog: Toto tries to be this, but he seems to forget he's smaller than most puppies.
- Bad Date: Henry and Gail have one that ends in her breaking his nose.
- Beta Couple: Emily/Gloria (Glemi) to Gail/Henry (Gailry).
- Close-Knit Community: Practically everyone in Pageson has known each other their whole lives.
- Everyone Is Bi: Almost everyone has had it implied, with the possible exception of Emily, who is just flat-out gay.
- First Kiss: Gail and Henry have theirs with each other.
- Friend Versus Lover: Terrence is repeatedly upset over Henry and Gail's relationship.
- I Know Karate: Emily went to school on a boxing scholarship and won't let you forget it!
- Love Dodecahedron: Let's see... Gail and Henry are together and very happy, but Gail may or may not like Megan, who may or may not be with Matt. Matt is hopelessly in love with Megan but Megan isn't sure. Terrence likes Henry and Henry lied and said he liked him back so they wouldn't stop being friends, but Henry is smitten with Gail. Gloria and Emily only have eyes for each other, but Frederick likes Gloria and constantly hits on Emily, and Megan likes Emily. Got all that?
- Love at First Punch: Gail and Henry.
- Love Triangle: Implied with Terrence, Henry, and Gail.
- And now that Terrence has confessed his feelings for Henry, it's official.
- Mathematician's Answer:Frederick: Is he trying to steal him or isn't he?Gail: Yes.
- Mister Muffykins: Gail's pet Yorkie, Toto, to some extent. It has the "small, yappy, and annoying" bit down, but instead of her spoiling him, he's overprotective of her.
- Mythology Gag:
- Gail owns a pair of sparkly red sneakers, a reference to the ruby slippers.
- Sherman's last name is "Hope," which was the name that was originally going to be used for Sherlock Holmes.
- Sherman's text to John: "Do you ever wonder what life would be like if you were a small Asian woman?"
- Henry at one point suggests that Sherman should jump off a building. The mun even apologized for that one.
- And Gail responded with suggesting Henry drowns in a river and Terrence get shot at.
- No Antagonist: Except for maybe Madame Blue.
- Nobody Thinks It Will Work: The Gailry relationship. A sweet goody-two-shoes dating a juvenile delinquent. What would possibly go wrong?
- No Plot? No Problem!: Literally began as just another day in high school. Then the characters stared falling in love with each other.
- Odd Friendship: Megan/Gail, Gail/Henry (which eventually becomes a romance), Gloria/Emily and (barely took any time at all to become a romance).
- Official Couple Ordeal Syndrome: Gail and Henry still have to go through a lot of shit, mostly thanks to Terrence.
- One-Hour Work Week: How often are Frederick, Emily, and Gloria actually seen doing their jobs?
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Portmanteau Couple Name: Loads.- Gailry (Gail/Henry)
- Mattgan (Megan/Matt)
- Glemi or Graye (Gloria Faye/Emily Green)
- Rubens le Fay (Gail Rubens/Megan le Fay)
- Livers (Terrence Lawrence/Henry Rivers)
- Emgan (Emily/Megan)
- Johnman (John/Sherman)
- Gaiman (Gail/Sherman)
- Running Gag: Terrence is "gay as the fourth of July."
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: Emily vs. Frederick.
Chapter Two
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Gail and Henry. At least, that's what everyone seems to believe. GG says Gail has this for her, as well. "There's a fine line between hatred and love."
- Henry having some sort of twisted crush on Gail isn't even subtext at this point.
- Blunt "Yes":Gail: Punch me and I break your arm.Henry: I'd like to see you try, you pampered pisssuck. In what world do you think you could beat me if we actually fought?Gail: Yes.Henry: You are NOT serious.Gail: Yes.
- Bonding over Missing Parents: Henry and Colleen's friendship started out with this.
- Blackmail: Gossip Girl's entire schtick.
- Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Henry and Gail, to some extent. Gail's patience can only last so long, and she isn't beyond knocking him out of his moods when words don't do the trick.
- Can't Hold His Liquor: Preeeeetty much everybody, judging by Theo's party. (Then again, they are teenagers.)
- Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon:Gail: (discussing Gossip Girl) I swear, once I find out who she is, I'm gonna strangle her with a brick.
- Darker and Edgier: Much more serious than Chapter One, though there's still plenty of fluff to go around.
- Deadpan Snarker: Again, damn near everyone. Right now the most obvious is probably either Gail or Sherman.
- Don't Go in the Woods: Everyone avoids the local woods, nicknamed the Hanging Woods, due to a local legend. It's unknown whether the woods are really dangerous, probably because no one wants to be the one to check.
- According to the Gail/Henry para "Placing Bets," it is indeed dangerous.
- Dreaming of Times Gone By: It's mentioned in the full plot that the Storyteller tries this in an attempt to get the residents of Pageson to remember who they are.
- Driven to Suicide: Tim, but she survives the attempt.
- Forceful Kiss: Henry not only forces Gail into a kiss, but seems to be holding her down while it happens.
- Hated Hometown: Most of the characters hate Pageson, but as pointed out, people very rarely leave.
- Hate Sink: Gossip Girl, by her own admission, is just there to create drama.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: Jackson, Henry, and Terrence.
- Well... You see, about Terrence...
- High School AU: Of classic lit.
- Killed Off for Real: Grant. Probably Hank. Colleen.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Gossip Girl took a brief hiatus (which became a permanent absence) because her mun was on a trip to Italy. When discussing how quiet GG has been lately, Gail suggests she took a vacation to Italy.
- Terrence was sent an anonymous ask requesting he start a boyband.
- Love Triangle: Subverted. Colleen worries that there's a love triangle going on between herself, Gail, and Henry (with herself as "a," Henry as "b," and Gail as "c"), but as Gail informs her, Gail and Henry can't stand each other.
- Massive Multiplayer Crossover: Characters from fairy tales, Sherlock Holmes, Tom Sawyer... and, apparently, Gossip Girl.
- Noodle Incident: Sam's life seems to be made up these. Gail and Sam discuss several—the Hitchhiking Pineapple Incident, the Disneyworld Spaghetti Incident, etc.
- Small Town Boredom: Not all the characters, but several of them.
- Stepford Suburbia: Pageson, though it's not a typical suburb. It's pretty clear no one really likes living there, and what seems like a quaint little small town out of the 1950s actually holds some pretty dark happenings.
- Teens Are Monsters: Played with. They do some morally questionable things, but none of them seem to be completely bad.
- Where the Hell is Pageson?: It's never revealed officially, and not even the admins agree on where, exactly, Pageson is supposed to be. Nebraska, Louisiana, Kansas, Tennessee, and Missouri were all discussed as possibilities.
- Why Can't I Hate You?: Gail and Henry seem to feel this way about each other.
- Wild Teen Party: The twist? No one actually wants to be there.
