Given that my post about why you are not obligated to blog about Current Events (whatever they are at any given time) is going around again, I'd like to say the same thing from a slightly different angle and state what you ARE obligated to do.
You are still not obligated to blog about ANY specific subject, no matter how serious, no matter how urgent, no matter how grave. You never will be. The impact of social media on real world atrocities has the potential to be great, but it is cumulative. No one is going to die in a ditch somewhere, barely uttering the tragic final words, "if only...if only...tumblr users wormhentaiafficionado and mothmanbutthole...posted about how sad they are...then maybe things would be different..." - nor are policymakers going to change their minds because some tweet has 749,845 cumulative likes and retweets instead of 750,000. Make no mistake, if you have the energy to be sharing these kinds of things, it can be good to do! We live in a society, it's always good to help where you can, even if all you can do is show public support for people who are hurting - but if you can't do that, for any reason, you're not obligated to. Period. End of.
What are you obligated to do?
1. Give people the benefit of the doubt. Social media accounts are not most people's entire lives. Just because someone isn't blogging about whatever tragedy is occurring does not mean they don't care. Sometimes it does mean that, sure, and that sucks - but not only are you not going to change that by yelling at them, sometimes it means they care too much. Sometimes it means they're closer to it than you assumed and need a moment to think about something else, anything else. Sometimes it means it's not safe for them to be blogging about it, be it due to abusive family potentially finding out, being at risk of getting fired and quite possibly dying of poverty sooner rather than later, or even taking very illegal direct action that they do not want to be linked to on record in even the vaguest possible way. Sometimes it means dealing with it is their day job and they're on the internet after a long and exhausting day of trying to make things better. You don't know. You'll never know unless they decide to tell you. No one owes you that explanation. You are obligated to make peace with that fact.
2. Slow the fuck down.
Listen. When bad things happen, from natural disasters, to manmade horrors beyond our comprehension, it's only normal to get scared and desperate to do something, anything about it. That heightened emotional state is very vulnerable, and because of that, there will always be people out there looking to take advantage of the chaos for ulterior motives - and no matter how good your intentions, and in fact no matter how right you are in your values and at the core of your strategy, you will never be immune to garbage-in-garbage-out. Misinformation can be deadly, even in the hands of someone who means well. You need to pause long enough to sort out the garbage. You need to learn to fight the impulse to trust every single post that tells you that your share/comment/etc. is URGENT and WILL mean the difference between life and death for someone, somewhere. Do your fact checks. Scan for dogwhistles before you end up passing around a post that implies [insert group that is marginalized in most of the English-speaking world but has hegemonic power in some other part of the world and is committing some atrocity there] is coming after you next if you stay silent. Vet charity and advice links before you accidentally send scared, desperate, and vulnerable people to a scammer - or worse, hand them over to a honeypot operation or give them a recipe for poisonous "medicine".
Or, to put it another way, you are obligated to make an attempt to stay informed enough to avoid making things materially worse. You are not obligated to doomblog. In fact, doomblogging can be antithetical to your obligation to not make things worse. Choosing neutrality in times of great tragedy and injustice is bad, yes, but you should immediately be wary of anyone who says that simply not blogging about a subject - let alone not sharing a specific post - is inherently "choosing neutrality".
So remember: breathe. Be careful out there. Mourn for the people that whatever atrocity has this or my other post circulating has taken from us or will take from us, and do your best to be kind to the people who are still alive - and remember that kindness includes using social media responsibly.
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For your consideration;
Consider.
Sky is only sleepy, because he loves cuddles.
And he always had a cuddle buddy to sleep with.
So he goes to bed early and sleep in late.
I am considering...
And I love it
In fact....
I slipped... Whoops
"Is he sleeping again?" Warriors asked as he sat beside Time, fire crackling beside them. Night had fallen and the camp had long since quietened down as the group were preparing to rest for the night.
"I think so." The old man smiled as he remained as still as possible. The skyloftian had settled on his shoulder and was soundly sleeping.. The small wood carving in his hand limply hanging from his hand.
Warriors smiled gently while shaking his head. As he reached over to take the carving and the small carving knife from the Skyloftian's hands.
"You know. This is probably the latest I've seen him here. He's normally gone to bed by now."
"Well. He's been asleep on my shoulder for..." Time paused looking up at the Sky. "Two hours and twenty-seven minutes."
"Considering you're still in plate armour, thats pretty impressive. Let me get him off you and into his bedroll so you can get some rest."
"No.... No... Don... go..." Sky's voice sounded sleepy in protest. as his hands attempted to grab at Time. Finding The captain's scarf instead. "Dont... leave me." The man in question looked down at the man in his arms eyebrows raised and worry stitched into his forehead.
Time let out a groan as he stood tall. stretching his legs. Looking towards the skyloftian as he swung his arm around. Trying to regain feeling. "That. Sounds like a dream."
"It does." The captain paused. Looking down as the Skyloftian shifted below him. Sky wrapped his arms around the Captain's neck. As he nuzzled his head into the Scarf. "uhh... this is new?"
"Not new." A new voice as the Two men turned around. A flash of blue and black as Wild approached them. "Sky's a hugger." The champion smiled as he approached from the woods. The champion looked at Warriors. Then down to the side. "Let's just say that I'll take your watch tonight Captain." He looked back at the two men. "Sky won't let you go. So you might as well rest while he's giving you the opportunity."
"I've..."
"Nope." The champion pointed to the Skyloftian's bedroll. "You go there. If you try to leave him down now He'll wake up and won't sleep for the rest of the night."
"How do you know?"
"Experience. And its too far to ordonan from here to make it in a day if we leave at our normal time."
"Wild It's my watch I really should..."
"You can take partial watch from besides him, but he need's someone close by." Wild smiled, "And anyway, I'd hate to have to set the sailor on you for upsetting him. Or Twilight for making us late to his home which I might add he's been waiting to get to for weeks now."
The captain looked down at the skyloftian, and sighed. Walking over to the skyloftians Bedroll and placing him down on it, being mindful to not jostle him too much.
Time chuckled. As he also went over. Helping the captain settle the Skyloftian down. "I can stay with him if it makes you uncomfortable. I know you dont like being... Confined."
"If I can do it in the war, I can do it with Sky now." The captain leant his arm down, allowing the Skyloftian to curl around it.
Time chuckled again. "Alright. But let me know." The older man patted his shoulder and stood up. Walking away.
Warriors ended up remaining by Sky's side all night. Sleeping sat upright his arm grabbed by the younger man.
When the sun filtered through the trees the following morning. The captain awoke with a groan as he rolled his neck. He sat up and after hearing the rustling of fabric saw a blanket had been placed over him.
"Hey captain..." A soft voice from behind him made him turn around. The Skyloftian stood a few feet away from him. A mug in his hands.
Sky was fully dressed, he looked like He'd been up for a while. The sailcloth draped over his shoulders. finished his approach to the captain and handed him the mug.
Coffee?
Sky knew he drank coffee?
Silence fell between the pair as The captain took a few cautious sips. It was perfect.
"Thank you for last night... You didn't have to do that."
right...
"It's no bother." The captain said gently as he stood. Rolling his shoulders and stretching his arms one at a time. So he could keep a hand on the mug.
"No really. I know you dont like being forced to remain still. You didn't have to do that." The skyloftian shifted nervously as he looked down.
"It's alright."
"It's just I've always got Mia or Zelda at home I'm never alone and since We've been on this quest it takes me so long to get to sleep when I'm alone cause it reminds me of my journey and how it...." Sky began to move his hands rapidly as he spoke rapidly.
"Sky."
"...reminds me of how I lost my best friend saving another i didn't feel alone cause Fi was always by my side and it made me feel safe and I do feel safe around you guys and all but I just..."
"Sky." He tried again.
Sky continued to ramble. His hands twitched nervously as he bunched the sailcloth between his fingers.
"SKY."
The skyloftian stopped, freezing in place.
"It's alright. We are brothers. You need to just ask."
"I..."
"If you say you're sorry, I'll set Wind on you."
"I'm sorry..." Sky spoke so softly as he ripped his hands together. Thinking the Captain hadn't heard him.
The captain raised his eyebrows before raising a hand to his mouth. Sky's eyes widened as he shook his head. and waved his hands in front of him frantically. "You dont need to do that."
"WIND!"
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alright. know what? with Secrets of the Obscure right around the corner and plenty of new Mists-related sky island settings coming with it, I'll just bite the bullet and interest-check a little something I've been turning in my head for a long, long while.
would YOU be interested in a Mists-based GW2 roleplay guild that uses a lore compliant multiverse system to allow canon, canon-adjacent, lore-breaking, and otherwise 'contradictory' muses to coexist in the same setting?
simply put: every writer's cast would be set in their own self-contained universe. as such, everyone could bring whatever muses they want with their own personal headcanons, and no one could dictate what is or isn't canon for anyone else. so long as your muses are GW2-based, you're good to go! bring your Commanders, bring your canon-divergent OCs, bring your canon muses-- and yes, even the ones that are 'supposed' to be dead. who can say what might have happened in a strange world far across the Mists, after all?
neutral hubs and in-character safety guardrails would be in place to keep all muses on a relatively even playing field regardless of their power, history, and prestige, too. play hardball if you like, but it might not end quite the way you'd hope. the main rule would be to maintain good OOC etiquette at all times: no godmodding, no metagaming, no theft, don't blend IC and OOC, and so-on.
if that sounds like something you might have interest in, please interact with this post! and if you've got questions or concerns, I'd love to hear them; feel free to send an ask or a DM, or just reply to this post!
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