Three social groups, all different but all the same: Magic enthusiasts, the Negro gang, and the writing fanatics.
Beware of the land with manas, creatures, and enchantments. The game of Magic the Gathering is not an easy one. It takes skill, and intense concentration. The players take this battle very seriously. To them it’s not just a card game. With each win comes great pride.
There are so many cards, and so many terms. The players have their own language. Tapping, flying, devouring, resurrecting, swinging, summoning. These words have a whole new meaning for these kids. Each word brings a smile to one player and a frown to another. Their conversations consist of bragging, and boasting. They talk about how good their cards are, and how well they are going to do.
The players have no patience for non-Magic players though. When watching them play, they treated me like I wasn’t there, or wished I wasn’t there or maybe both at the same time. They don’t have the patience for people who just come to make fun of them. When trying to watch and learn, a kid turned to me and said, “Could you move back please?” Of course I did so, but I felt rejected. I tried to play but it ended up as someone just telling me what to do. There are so many rules and restrictions. “You can’t play this card until you play that card; you can’t play this one without that one, etc.”
The players aren’t judged by their looks, or how much money they have, but by the strength of their deck. In a Magic tournament, they create a draft deck. They don’t know how to keep a poker face, because with every new card they get, a smile is conveyed across their face or a noise of joy is uttered. They are thinking of their future victories.
People of all ages play this game. There are the younger ones, who are typically the newer players. The older ones are the ones that get looked up too. The younger ones will usually ask them what card to choose, what something is, or what to do when a certain situation happens.
Like what soccer does for me, Magic helps these kids get away from drama, and let them do something that they really enjoy.
When you first see them, they seem scary and mysterious, but really, there is a lot more to them. The Negro gang that I started hanging out with is a lot different than most people.
They have very strong opinions. One of them is the “bros before hoes” saying. Their guy friends are the most important relationship they have aside from their family. They know that most of their friends will be there for them whenever they need them, unlike their girlfriends that they might have for a month or so.
They also strongly believe in what’s your business is your own business, and what’s their business is their own. If they are told a secret, they’ll keep it forever. To get one of their secrets, you have to gain their trust first. They won’t risk telling anyone anything unless they know it’s not going to be told to anyone else.
They are very straight forward with people, and won’t lie to you at all. They tolerate most people, but if they don’t like you, you’ll know pretty quickly. All in all, trust and truth is very important to this group.
This group also is very stereotypical. Maybe it’s because they are judged a lot too, just because of their color. The first time I made friends with one of the people from this group, I accidentally called him the N-word. He did get very upset with me, and helped me understand why they don’t like it. I don’t say that word anymore because of that day.
This group likes to laugh and smile a lot. They are all around a pretty happy group and are up for a good joke at anytime. The joke is usually about another person, but you have to understand that they are very sarcastic and they are good at hiding their actual emotion.
They care about their appearance a little too much in my opinion. Sometimes it’s okay, but not always. The okay parts of it, is that they always match, and their clothes are always clean and ironed. The bad part about it is: they are afraid of what other people think of them. They think that if they get up to try something new, people will say they look stupid. They care a lot about their reputation.
When I first started getting to know this group, they kept their distance. They weren’t really sure about me until I showed them that I could be trustworthy, and a good friend. Now they realize that, and we’ve gotten pretty close. They are really nice people, and when they really do care about you, you’ll know it. They aren’t afraid to show you that you can trust them too. I’m glad they’re my friends now.
My favorite group is the writing fanatics. I’m now in that group and I have a lot of fun with the other people in it.
I met this group at a camp called VAMPY. We are all in the writing class. We see each other every day for at least 7 hours, and write about the same things almost every day. But the things we write about are all different too, because we are all different people.
This group became really close. All the people in the group are all weird in some way, but we don’t mind, because it’s the weird ones that are the most interesting.
The amazing part about it though is that everyone in this group is also in another group, like the Magic enthusiasts, or the Negro gang. What brought us together was that we all love to write. We aren’t afraid of what others think about our writing because we know that everyone will appreciate it one way or another.
The moments I love with this group are just sitting outside on a sunny day in the shade of a tree just writing, or singing Beatles songs, or waiting for the bell tower to chime another tune for every hour, or just talking about a random thought.
We all learn from each other and we all help each other progress in writing or just help each other get through some hard times, like someone stealing our stuff. From the moment I met all the people in this group I didn’t feel out of place for one second. I know at least five things about each person in our group, and there are thirteen of us, and I’m pretty sure the other twelve know at least five things about me. We are open with each other all the time and actually got to know each other based on our personalities. We never judge each other according to looks or reputation. We’re all so close now and I love it. I’m really glad I’m part of this group.
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