#ask cas

[my-castles-crumbling]

hey I love your work!! you seem like such a gorgeous, thoughtful person.

I had a question, and you seem trustworthy—Cas have you seen the new ao3 privacy policy? the one with another checkbox? what’s that about? I’m a little scared especially with recent events and the actual documentation seems a little vague. what do you think? I live in the states

I have, and I come armed with research!

For those of you who don't know, the new policy states:

By checking this box, you consent to the processing of your personal data in the United States and other jurisdictions in connection with our provision of AO3 and its related services to you. You acknowledge that the data privacy laws of such jurisdictions may differ from those provided in your jurisdiction. For more information about how your personal data will be processed, please refer to our Privacy Policy.

To translate, this means you are consenting to your personal information (IE: e-mail address and IP address) being shared according to US privacy laws, not the laws of whatever country you live in or happen to currently be reading from. This is because AO3 is US-based.

This sounds scary.

However, if you delve deeper into AO3 privacy policies, it says:

We may share Personal Information if we:

are legally compelled to do so;

have a good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with a current judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process served on the OTW; or

are cooperating with law enforcement authorities.

We will cooperate with all investigations conducted by law enforcement authorities within the United States when legally required to do so. Cooperation with law enforcement authorities from other countries and cooperation when it is not legally required are at our sole discretion. Our discretion looks favorably on freedom and justice, and unfavorably on oppression and violence.

Basically this means they'll share your info if they're told to by law enforcement, which has ALWAYS been a law. This isn't a change. I think they just added this to say "Hey, remember if you live outside the US, just know that we as a website have to comply with US-based laws because we live here, and things suck here right now!"

The last part of their statement is also really telling. The creators of ao3 believe in free expression and are not trying to get you in trouble or censor your work. You're not going to get in trouble for posting/reading gay fanfics. It's not illegal to do so. (If that changes, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it).

I think the most important thing now is to advocate for the necessity of websites like ao3, because some people don't like websites like that. I think this shows that there will be probably more opponents to websites like this in the future. But I don't think the FBI is going to come and knock on the doors of everyone who reads bedtime stories on ao3.

Honestly, Ao3 is more transparent about this info than most people. all websites can share any personal info you put in if legally compelled to do so.

[my-castles-crumbling]

i need some pandalily/dorlen fics do you have any recs??

I am unfortunately not the best person to ask 😭 Tumblr? Any recs?

[my-castles-crumbling]

ROSEKILLERSTARSEEKER HEADCANNONS: - evan is the cook, because barty is allowed nowhere near fire, james could burn water and regulus can't be asked - when someone's ill, james will take care of them, get them hot water bottles, soup, blankets, anything they need and much they don't need and while they all protest, they secretly love it - when james is ill, barty sits on him and steals the soup evan heated - on dates, they always sit in the same configuration around tables and stuff but will make out with the person next to or opposite them, or sometimes even diagonally across the table - barty likes to bite the others to remind them that they're his - james tends to come up with date ideas and regulus will plan and overthink them, but barty and evan are content to just snuggle/playfight/cuddle on the sofa and james and reggie join in - they all end up proposing on the literal same day (their anniversary of getting together) because they've all helped plan an incredible day out and night in - even evan and barty helped - and thought they would make it extra special with the announcement hi it's smol anon :)

omg I love all of these <3

[my-castles-crumbling]

Is there a specific order in which you answer asks? Like, shortest first, oldest first, ones you want to answer the most first?

Advice and pronoun asks that require deep thinking I do about five a day (oldest first). other shorter ones, fandom ones, and silly ones I do as many as I can before I lose motivation. microfic requests are in any order, whenever I feel motivated. I only leave something unanswered deliberately if it's hate, breaks a boundary, or if I need to think about it more.

[my-castles-crumbling]

requesting your art skills for remus taking padfoot on a walk

SPOTTED: Moony and Padfoot walking around London

(Help this took me like 20 minutes)

[my-castles-crumbling]

cas your fanart is fire let’s see rosekiller

Of course! But please don't be jealous of my amazing skill.

I swear I'm an adult with a full-time job.

[my-castles-crumbling]

Absolutely stunning art. Could you draw... wolfstar?

Don't be too blown away by my talent, now

[my-castles-crumbling]

R-edge and r-edgy

OR

R-egg and r-eggy

Oh gosh, guys this is the question that will lose me all my followers.

R-egg and R-edgy

[my-castles-crumbling]

Cas I NEED fanart from you now that self-portrait was beautiful

Guys should I become a professional artist?

[my-castles-crumbling]

May I request deer James and cat Regulus art?

Ngl I used reference photos for this one

[my-castles-crumbling]

I am sorry to be a burden,

..

I don't want to come out anymore, I don't want to have surgery anymore, I am scared, and being a girl will only make my life harder, but, I need someone to ask and, my family hates lgbt...

Am I a girl if I didn't pass? If I look like a boy still? I am sorry, I am sorry but I just want to know, if everyone uses he/him still, do I still count as a woman?

YES

I need all of the trans, queer, lgbtqia+ people to read this and be very clear:

Whether or not you are accepted, whether or not you are able to be loud about who you are, whether or not you feel safe transitioning or coming out: your identity is true and valid. Nobody can take your identity from you, even if they physically force you into the damn closet, and you need to remember that you are perfect exactly as you are.

It absolutely is infuriating to have a country that is against your identity. But don’t let anyone take your actual identity away from you. You are so valid, no matter what some dickhead in power says, and I love you and am so proud of you.

[my-castles-crumbling]

TW: SH

To the anons who have sent me things about being tempted to SH because of the election:

Take a drink of water. Eat your favorite food. Wrap yourself in your favorite blanket and cry a bot. But do NOT let this horrible, disgusting excuse of a man be the reason that you hurt yourself. He already has too much of a say over our bodies. Don't give him any more power.

[my-castles-crumbling]

Oh! Whos this?

Awww look at them it’s Sirius and Remus!

Oh it looks like Sirius has noticed Remus! I wonder what he’s gonna do…

Oh… oh my god… guys not here… Guys stop this is a public place!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA OMG this made me laugh so hard

[my-castles-crumbling]

Hi, I'm Cas, and I care way too much about kudos sometimes.

Hi guys! I just want to be a bit transparent with you all!

This summer, I've done a lot of writing. Like a LOT of writing. I set a goal to do at least 4 microfics a day, and update my longfic twice a week, plus answer asks, run a fest, and be active on multiple discords (and work a part-time job, while preparing for my new position in the Fall).

I did all of this because I love it, and because I love all of you. But I'd be lying if I said I don't also love the love I get for my writing. It's built my confidence, and taught me that I am decently talented, which is something I shy away from saying in any regard.

However, I think that @starchasersunseeker @beautyoftheships and @slightly-unhinged-femme have seen that sometimes, this passion for my hobby has turned into stress. I've started basing my self-worth on the kudos I get, and worrying that if I don't create that amount of content daily, you all will 'forget about me' or 'stop caring.' Which is silly because 1. this is the internet, and neither of us in under any obligation to interact and 2. this is supposed to be fun for me.

Because of this, and the fact that I am going back full-time tomorrow (I did my training last week), I am going to be focusing on creating the things that bring me joy. I am not going anywhere, and this blog will still be active. I will still be giving advice, and I will still be doing daily microfics, but I'm not going to force myself to create when I just am not feeling it anymore. I'm not going to set lofty goals or do things that hurt me mentally. I'm just going to focus on doing things that make me happy! I hope you all understand where I am coming from, and I hope you all still interact, but I need to take steps to be healthier for myself, and remind myself that kudos and reblogs cannot be my only source of self-worth.

I'm sending you all so much love!

[my-castles-crumbling]

GASP YOU’RE ART IS AMAZING!!!

can we please have some prongsfoot? 😔

ta da!

[my-castles-crumbling]

mental health trick i got:

Assign all your insecurities to Marauders Era characters

you cant hate your thick thighs when James Potter had them and was worshiped!

oh you hate your freckles? Would you say that to Remus or Lily?

This is so smart though. I’m gonna start doing this.