#signed jackdaw

[moonlightrentrymaker]

Edits to previous templates

I just realized that some of the previous templates were made using images that were uploaded to discord - and after an update a while ago no longer work. I'm working backwards through them and fixing them, so older templates should still work going forward. Sorry if that caused any inconvenience!

[greywoe]

"The she-wolf laid into the squires with a tourney sword, scattering them all. The crannogman was bruised and bloodied, so she took him back to her lair to clean his cuts and bind them up with linen."

[vickysaurus]

I bought a connector thingie for taking photos through my binoculars, and because I am always willing to try polevaulting before I can walk, I made my second and third targets ever with it the Moon and Saturn. As blurry as these photos are, I am astonished I managed to actually capture the rings with a phone camera.

[homunculus-argument]

To me, the interesting thing about travelling is noticing the things that nobody seems to photograph. What kind of birds dig through the trash here, what kind of weeds grow on peoples' lawns. The time we went to Arizona, we walked to the nearest grocery store (y'all aren't kidding about "unwalkable cities" btw) and one thing I noticed was how different city landscape there looks when it's run down.

In Finland, neglected pavement turns bumpy and cracks as the water in the ground beneath freezes in the winter and thaws and runs out again. Wild flowers grow through it, even brave saplings of birches and rowan trees. Moss starts to grow on the shaded walls of buildings where it isn't washed off, growing over graffiti. Seagulls and jackdaws swoop over town market squares, squirrels skitter across roads and at night, you see rabbits and hares.

In Arizona, the places that aren't maintained are taken over by sand and dust. The merciless sun scorches everything that's left outside, brightly coloured plastic fades into pastel shades and into white, as if the land itself prohibited these colours. Shaggy bushes and even cacti grow on neglected yards. I saw long-beaked birds, the like of which I had never seen before - the only sign of animal life.

I had never considered how desperately cities where I live long to return into being forest land, before I saw a city that was determined to remain a desert.

[clanslist]

Warrior Cats Name Generator in 2023

FIRST LETTER OF FIRST NAME:

A - Aster

B - Blank

C - Cone

D - Dreary

E - Ebony

F - Flint

G - Gull

H - Hay

I - Ice

J - Jackdaw

K - Kite

L - Little

M - Moose

N - Newt

O - Olive

P - Pasture

Q - Quill

R - Rising

S - Soot

T - Trail

U - Ucinia

V - Veil

W - Whittle

X - Xylosma

Y - Yelling

Z - Zap

ZODIAC (SUN) SIGN:

Aries - dapple

Taurus - stomp

Gemini - eye

Cancer - feather

Leo - scream

Virgo - patch

Libra - heart

Scorpio - thorn

Sagittarius - fur

Capricorn - muzzle

Aquarius - storm

Pisces - whisker

[sparxyv]

Milena Student ID 💜🦅

I decided to finally issue a proper introduction to Milena Chase for you guys so she doesn't remain a face without a story any longer 😤

Thank you for the template @kiwiplaetzchen !! 🫶

Brace yourself for a big infodump - here is Milena's backstory etc etc 🫠

Family

Milena Jacqueline Chase was born in 1874 to a French muggle, Henri Marie Chase, and a Japanese witch, Miyuki Hoshino.

Milena is the oldest of seven siblings.

The Chase Family™ is extremely rich, like, buttloads of money rich. Coming from a long line of vintners, they founded one of the leading brands of the best quality wines in Europe, as well as owned a luxury hotel in central Paris.

Milena's grandparents on her mother's side lived in Feldcroft, and still do. They often watched over the Sallow twins after their parents death when Solomon was busy. (Milena does not know her grandparents. 👍)

Miyuki - Milena's mother - was a Slytherin in Hogwarts, and was friends with Solomon Sallow.

Life Before Hogwarts

Growing up, Milena and her siblings resided in their family's hotel in Paris, France. Since their parents were too busy with business and galas, they were raised by the housekeepers and servants that worked at the hotel.

Milena was homeschooled, undergoing typical muggle education with many tutors over the years. She gained a passion for learning early on, intensively studying practically anything that piqued her interest! (my little Matilda LOL)

Milena did NOT go to Beauxbatons, yet showed signs of magic very early on. The only reason she was aware of magic and wizardkind because of her mother's house elf, Teeley. (we love Teeley 🫶)

She had so much free time on her hands that she'd mastered and studied so many different things, making her a true jack of all trades! Some of these things include - Chess, fencing, horseback riding, painting, embroidery, baking, PLUS she's fluent in German and Russian (in addition to English and French).

Relationships

I'm planning on going more in depth with Milena's relationships in a series of separate posts so I'm just going to list her closest friends 💜

Sebastian Sallow

Anne Sallow

Ominis Gaunt

Imelda Reyes

Athol 'Mousey' McGregor

Samantha Dale

Amit Thakkar

Natsai Onai

Garreth Weasley

Poppy Sweeting

Sacharissa Tugwood

Richard Jackdaw

Personality

MBTI - ENTJ-A

Alignment - Neutral Good

I really think of Milena's personality as close to the in-game MC as possible, but I do tend to wander from that sometimes.. 😗😗

Milena always strives to help out people when faced with trouble, but never actively seeks out problems to solve - they just always seem to find her. Nevertheless, she always takes on difficult situations and rises to the challenge.

It helps a lot that she's very self-assured, something that came out of spending most of her childhood alone and taking care of herself AND others. That being noted, she's a natural born leader. Milena is assertive and logical and can easily adjust and adapt to many different situations - which makes her the perfect person to deal with a certain Slytherin boy who's emotions control him and not the other way around.. 👀👀

Milena is an ambivert. While she enjoys socializing, she's also comfortable being alone. She doesn't exactly prefer one over the other though. Socializing comes easy to her, and she has a secure attachment style when it comes to her relationships, never really feeling insecure about them or getting jealous easily. Milena tends to be more mature, and she never internalizes things when people are rude - but because she's so calm and mellow, people are usually either drawn to her or intimidated by her.

As a Ravenclaw, Milena is naturally curious! She's constantly on the hunt to learn new things, which is why she enjoys exploring outside of Hogwarts so much, taking in everything she can about the hamlets and just the Highlands in general. Her curiousity helps her find wonder in even the smallest of things. She's very open-minded, yet nearly always at least slightly skeptical when it comes to new things. She can be very opinionated, but is always open to other perspectives.

Milena is not one to be overly expressive with her emotions (but to be clear - she doesn't hide them either 😗), yet she does have a side of her that naturally comes out only when she feels comfortable. With friends like Sebastian especially, she feels like she can let loose and be more playful as well as a bit snarky/sarcastic.

Additional Fun Facts!

I've already mentioned this before - but Milena's absolute favorite things in the world are BIRDS. Birds of all kinds. She knows everything about every species, and I mean everything. And somehow, birds naturally flock to her like she's some type of woodland princess.

Milena's hair is NOT naturally curly/wavy, nor is it naturally auburn! Prior to Hogwarts, she used a charm to change her hair color, but it seemed to have some extra effects on her hair texture too..

Milena doesn't often speak French after arriving at Hogwarts, but since it's her native language, she finds it much easier to express herself in French even though she speaks near-perfect English. She also enjoys sneaking in French phrases to occasionally mess with Sebastian since he has no idea what she's saying 🥰🥰

Her love language is gift-giving, but when it comes to receiving it would be acts of service and quality time.

Is VERY passionate about potion-making.

Becomes an animagus in the summer before sixth-year, her animagus form being a giant golden eagle!

Already mentioned but she's quite fearless, except for when it comes to mooncalves. (She's more creeped out by them than scared of them, though.)

More of a dog person - Raphael is the exception 💜

Seeker for Ravenclaw in her sixth-year!

[shadowtriovibes]

✨ HL fic masterlist ✨

also crossposted at shadowtriovibes on AO3!

💌 inbox is closed for requests. i expect to have capacity in october!

--------------------------------------------------------

currently writing: break a sweat

weekly updates can be found in the break a sweat masterlist

Oneshots:

Sebastian Sallow x f!MC

🩶 the deathday party (PG) [AO3]

🩶 as our lives change, come whatever 🔞 [AO3]

🩶 the potioneer’s apprentice (PG) [AO3]

🩶 rumor has it (T) [AO3]

🩶 break a sweat V1 🔞 (tumblr only)

🩶 blood, sweat and tears || break a sweat V1 pt. ii 🔞 (tumblr only)

🩶 sweat it out || break a sweat V1 pt. iii 🔞 (tumblr only)

🩶 never let 'em see you sweat || break a sweat V1 pt. iv 🔞 (tumblr only)

🩶 i think i’m gonna love you (for a long, long time) 🔞 [AO3]

🩶 a guy like you should wear a warning (T) [AO3]

🩶 dance in a storm in my best dress (T) [AO3]

🩶 bewitched, bothered, and bewildered 🔞 [AO3]

🩶 jealousy, you got me somehow (T) [AO3]

🩶 it's a sign of the times || signs of the times pt. i (PG) [AO3]

🩶 the train ain't even left the station || signs of the times pt. ii (G) [AO3]

🩶 before the origin of love (T) [AO3]

🩶 the waves won’t break my boat (G) [AO3]

🩶 ‘til we get the healing done 🔞 [AO3]

🩶 tell me anything (but don’t you say he’s what you’re missing) 🔞 [AO3]

🩶 i wanna be praised from a new perspective 🔞 [AO3]

🩶 fever (what a lovely way to burn) (M) [AO3]

Ominis Gaunt x f!MC

🩶 take my hand 🔞 [AO3]

🩶 take a bite 🔞 [AO3]

🩶 the devil was once an angel 🔞 [AO3]

🩶 something wretched about this, something so precious about this 🔞 [AO3]

Garreth Weasley x f!MC

🩶 maybe i'm too busy bein' yours 🔞 [AO3]

Sebastian x Ominis x f!MC

🩶 the polyjuice plot (PG) [AO3]

🩶 only bought this dress so you could take it off (T) [AO3]

Sebastian x f!MC x Garreth

🩶 where there's smoke, there's firewhiskey 🔞 [AO3]

🩶 where there's smoke, there's firewhiskey, pt. ii 🔞 [AO3]

Gen Fic

🩶 waiting for the gift of sound and vision (G) [AO3]

🩶 let this be our little secret (G) [AO3]

Multiple/Other Pairings

🩶 tease me, please me 🔞 [AO3] - Sebastian/f!MC, Ominis/f!MC, Garreth/f!MC

🩶 these little numbers (Ratings Vary) [AO3] - Sebastian/f!MC, Ominis/f!MC, Sebastian/Ominis

🩶 your memory is ecstasy 🔞 [AO3] - Richard Jackdaw/f!MC

[emi-writings]

Just A Few C!Niki Headcanons:

Niki is a fallen angel, but prefers to just pass herself off as an avian hybrid, specifically a jackdaw hybrid, to most people. Only a few people know she’s actually a fallen angel and she prefers to keep it that way. She will playfully bat people over the head with her wings on occasion.

Niki’s eyes actually change colors depending on her mood and mental state.

Niki’s most preferred weapon to use in combat are spears. Spears simple to use and provide excellent reach, which is great for someone who can fly, as well as someone who doesn’t have as much reach as her enemies without it. They also pair nicely with her magical abilities. Also, it’s cool to imagine her with a spear, spears are very fun.

Despite preferring spears, Niki also learned how to use swords in combat thanks to Techno training her a few months before she joined L’manburg.

While she doesn’t have as much magic and abilities as a true angel, as a fallen angel Niki still has some abilities and magic. She has the ability to create and control fire. She also has the ability to dreamwalk – to enter other people’s dreams (this is kinda canon, but not as many people know about it so I’m listing it here as a headcanon).

She will play with lighters and candles when bored, mostly to either practice her fire magic, and sometimes to do some fire scrying. Sometimes, all she does is use her fire magic to light candles repeatedly, or she just flicks her lighter on and off again. She thinks fire is very pretty.

Niki is able to play a few instruments, her favorite and the one she is most skilled at is the lyre, though she can play a few other stringed instruments such as guitars and harps.

The reason why her L’manburg uniform is different is because she was the one who made her own, so she was allowed to pick the colors of her uniform.

While it’s canon that Niki has Wilbur’s coat, I like to think that she patched it up and embroidered. One of the things she used to patch up the coat was the remains of the first L’manburg flag, the one that she made, that got burned. She made a lot of subtle, symbolic choices with what she embroidered on the coat, though she doesn’t explain that to anyone.

Despite being prone to wearing cute and colorful outfits and her décor aesthetic being more cottagecore and fairycore, her favorite color is actually black.

When mentally okay, she is prone to stress baking. This usually results in a variety of things being baked, and she’ll continue to do it until she’s no longer stressed or she’s out of room to make more baked goods. When she’s not mentally healthy, she doesn’t bake at all, and her stress relief is often more destructive.

Niki really likes gardening and nature. This pairs nicely with her baking hobby, as she’ll use edible plants and flowers in her baking.

In terms of zodiac signs: Sun Sign is Sagittarius. Moon Sign is Cancer. Ascendant Sign Cancer. Mercury Sign is Sagittarius. Venus Sign is Virgo. Mars Sign is Gemini. Jupiter Sign is Sagittarius. And that’s as far as I got before I gave up on researching zodiac signs, but I think that’s a fair amount for the sake of fun shenanigans in fics.

Her chat manifests as soulfire that flickers and dances around her sometimes. She tries not to make it obvious she can hear the souls in soulfire, because she doesn’t want to freak anyone out.

Niki is an absolute bisexual disaster, and this is especially obvious when she sees women kicking ass. Something about women being powerful and strong makes her heart speed up.

[lairai]

Hell, or-

I don't often (or, really, at all) make paintings that are in any way relevant to any of my real life circumstances, but this one has been haunting me just a tiny bit so I just had to try and translate it to a canvas somehow. Putting the rest of the info under 'read more' so I can spare anyone not wanting to go through this essay lol.

Floods are one of the only extreme weather types we get in my country, and while I'm sure in XYZ nation out there it's worse and the locals have much worse to contend with etc., the knowledge of it doesn't change the fact that the rain which has hit central Europe recently has been catastrophic. As always, the worst of the floods hit by evening or night, and there's just something about the combination of darkness, wind, and lamplight, where you can hear the water everywhere but can't properly see it and you're kind of dreading what you'll wake up to in the morning, that gets to you. Doesn't help that this time, the situation did not improve the next day, and many people woke up to things having gotten drastically worse.

I included a good number of things, drawn mostly from memory, that have stuck in my mind from the floods my hometown experienced in the summer this year, as I was reminded of all of them yesterday evening when the worst of the weather hit the city I have since moved to. A good part of the city I live in has been evacuated, and I would not at all be overestimating if I said the weekend has been devastating so far.

The trees - In lamplight, trees look kind of sort of cursed. I just find the extremely vivid green that immediately disappears into pitch blackness as soon as the light stops reaching the leaves kind of unsettling.

The hose - This is a vaguely drawn reference to the hoses the firefighters use when pumping water out of flooded homes. Since floods inevitably entail everything getting wet, it looks very shiny and resembles a pipe.

The plants - The stream opposite of my family's house almost always overflows during floods, but there's no measuring stick in our part of the neighbourhood that we could use to tell how high the water has risen, so we use the plants that grow alongside the stream to kind of eyeball it.

The jackdaw - Jackdaws are extremely common in cities here and are an everyday sight. I wanted to include something that would refer to the "normal" state of things that could work in contrast with the rest of the image, and to me, jackdaws kind of represent that. Its wings are red and blue because those are the only colours you're seeing at night besides the street lamps, from the red firefighter trucks with blue lights.

Bags of sand - If you live in an area prone to flooding, you know 'em, you love 'em.

Traffic sign with reflective label - This is a direct reference known only to me that points to a nighttime photo of my hometown being flooded - in the photo, this one label on some traffic sign reflects brightly into the camera, and it's what's made the photo easy to recognise to me.

[ojcobsessed]

Few actors have endured as fraught a journey as Oliver Jackson-Cohen. Few actors are more in demand than the star of The Haunting of Hill House and Jackdaw

by Maeve Ryan

OLIVER JACKSON-COHEN HAS been doing this a while. He decided to act at the age of six. Joined a theatre troupe and began to climb. He continued until university but didn’t get into any drama schools. Throughout our conversation, he tells me there were no signs pointing him in this direction, no surefire chance at success. But he’s found it, and then some.

He rose to prominence with his highly acclaimed portrayal of Luke Crain in Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House. 

A character that battled a heroin addiction to cope with past traumas, though addiction was the least interesting thing about him. The show featured stars of the past, and launched new ones into the present, Oliver Jackson-Cohen being one of them. The role of Luke changed the course of his life – for more reasons than one. 

It was the first time in his life he no longer had to hide, he tells me. “I could be as fragile as I felt.” He took his newfound Netflix fame and began to carve a path that finally aligned with who he was, not who the world wanted him to be.

Now, he takes centre stage in Jamie Dobb’s new film Jackdaw. When he read the script, he thought he was the last man for the job. When Dobb explained the hyper masculine lead needed someone to bring softness behind it, he signed on.

Jackson-Cohen’s career, and presence, proves that the strength of a man lies in his ability to go beyond society’s standards. He breaks the stereotypes like bread over a long conversation in Soho. We discuss his entrance into the industry, facing traumas, and finding a safe place to land.

sm: What was the first movie you ever saw that made you want to act?

o-jc: Home Alone. I remember seeing that film and saying, oh whoa, so a kid can do this? I remember telling my dad, ‘I think I want to do that.’ I was six or seven. 

But it gets dark. So, my mum and dad’s house had a bay window that was on the street. And when I came home from school for a week, I just sat in the window thinking, any minute now, someone from Home Alone is going to walk past, and go, there’s a kid! Let’s get him! I was willingly wanting to get kidnapped. Which is so fucked. My dad came home and was like, ‘What are you doing?’ And then he was like, ‘Yeah, that’s not how that works.’

We found a theatre program – I started going there when I was eight. I was never the golden kid. In the drama clubs, I was always like the snake in the background. Or just the scenery. We used to put on terrible plays. I was such an insular kid. I found a safe place to feel where it’s real, but it’s not. So you can experience it all. I did that for three years, and then I was kicked out.

sm: What! Why?

oj-c: I had an attitude or something like that. I got suspended so many times. I genuinely was not looking for trouble. I was always the one to get caught. Like, I was the kid who someone handed the knife to, and I’d be standing above the dead body, and then the next thing I knew it was 20 years in prison. It was always stuff like that. But it was time to move on anyway.

I found this drama school at Riverside Studios. It was a small group, maybe eight or nine people. It was so interesting, because I’m going to do a gross name drop, but in the group was Carey Mulligan and Imogen Poots. It was incredible.

sm: Those were the kids that were just there? Did you have to audition?

oj-c: No, but I did a trial. It was a lot of devised stuff, like improv. A guy named Andrew Bradford ran it. He really supported kids. It was all day Saturday. We were all teenagers. It felt like another life. It grew and grew and by the time I left I was 17 or 18. It wasn’t one of those places that you were beaten down. No fake bullshit. It was a safe place to try stuff. We’d put on plays and we all got agents from that as kids.

sm: Is that the moment you look back on and think of as the beginning?

oj-c: I think so. But it was such a long period of time. Career wise, it was quite stagnant. I did one job when I was 15 that was some late night soap. Then I didn’t do anything until I was 18. I wasn’t like this is real until later. It started to snowball when I finished school. I went to get a French lit degree, hated it, dropped out, and applied to drama school. I didn’t get in anywhere.

In the meantime, there was a job at the BBC for a silly period drama. I did that, took the money, and went to do a foundation in New York at Strasberg.

sm: Tell me about the audition for drama school. You didn’t get in anywhere?

oj-c: Yes. I’m telling you there were no signs that pointed to me saying, yeah, you’re quite good at this. It felt like everyone was saying, ‘don’t do it.’ Which is a really interesting place to start from. If no one around me believes in me, how do I? And I just keep going? It was a mix of delusion and stupidity.

sm: Did you think about doing something else?

oj-c: When I was still in high school, I worked as a runner on productions, mainly at the BBC. I was revolving through that so when I finished school, that was kinda my job.. I got to see the inner workings of how sets worked, rehearsal periods. I got to see the writers and the actors, how they would construct a joke, and adjust things.

When I was 17, I started doing the European Music Awards. I would go and work in the costume department, I didn’t fucking know anything about how to sew on a bun but it was amazing. I got such a solid understanding of how a production office works, how a schedule works.

Tragically, you see a lot of how an actor is a small cog in this machine. Everyone is working so diligently. This whole idea of superiority that can go on, it was important for me to witness early on. Because when you go onto set and someone says five minutes, it actually means five minutes. But it was also hard because I was watching people do what I love. I didn’t get into school, so I said fuck it, I’m gonna do a foundation for a year and reapply to drama school from New York.

sm: Why choose the Strasberg program?

oj-c: Someone told me about it. I thought I needed to go do something that gives me a playground, a space in the meantime. But when I got there, I was with this small agency, and they started sending me out on auditions. The first or second one I went on, they flew me to LA to do a screen test and I got it. This was six weeks into the program. I was like: what do I do?

sm: What did you decide?

oj-c: There were three or four movies I got, but then the financial crash happened and it all fell apart. So I went back to New York to continue with the program. But meanwhile, I had been signed to WME and my agents were like, let’s go down the studio route because that’s going to be fun. I got an audition for this Drew Barrymore movie, got that, and then I dropped out. Then got another job that moved me to LA. I was there for a year shooting and doing the prep for that.

The whole idea was that I’d do that and reapply to drama school. Then I kept on booking. It’s only in the past couple years I was like, thank fuck I didn’t stop. There were moments that I thought I needed to stop and do three years of training.

sm: Did you feel like you were missing something that other people had?

oj-c: I felt like I was back-footed. Like I had no idea what I was doing, then I realised no one does. There is no arrival point where you’re like, ‘I know how to act!’ A lot of it was becoming comfortable with learning and making mistakes. Some will hurt and some don’t matter.

sm: So you start booking jobs, and then it just keeps going? No break?

oj-c: There’s obviously periods where you’re out of work. Or you really want a job and you do 50 auditions for it and you don’t get it. A lot of that went on. But I was 22. I ended up staying in New York until I was 28. I felt like a deer in the headlights. I was just so grateful that I was working and that people wanted to hire me that I never stopped to ask if it was actually fulfilling.

I listened to a lot of people early on. I needed guidance. I needed someone to say, do this job, this will lead to this, or it’s important you work with this person. Then I woke up one day and was like, is there anything here that I’m actually proud of?

That comes with experience and maybe a little bit of delusional confidence where you go, I think I want to try and do something here that is more aligned with me. It was a weird time to be in LA. I’m six foot three. I look a certain way. People wanted the product. I thought that was how I’d get there. I’ll pretend to be confident, I’ll be a version of what these people want. Keep my mouth shut and pretend. I reached a point where I was like, I cannot keep going this way.

sm: Did you feel that you’d abandoned yourself? Or was it a slow realisation?

oj-c: It became harder and harder to pretend to be this chill guy. I’m not chill. But when you’re handed something, you go, this is fun. Then the more you read and become accustomed to the environment you’re in, you start to feel entitled to have an opinion. To feel entitled enough to say: I actually don’t like this, I actually find this quite soul destroying. Having to make myself small, or block myself off and not be as vulnerable as I feel. To not show that.

It was an interesting time – in the late 2000s, men were men and what I was being asked to do was be an idea of what a tall, white, masculine man was that sort of never really sat. I actually feel really fragile. So I took a break for six months. I was like, I’m just going to say no now and try to re-shape the direction of what I want to do. Then The Haunting of Hill House came along.

sm: How did that audition happen?

oj-c: I’d done a film with the producer before. They sent me a conversation that happens in the show between Luke and his twin sister, it was him asking her to get him drugs. They asked me to read that and literally the following day, they called me and were like yep, you.

means something to people. It was an amazing thing to be a part of.

sm: Did you immediately recognise that Luke was the kind of character you were looking to play on the page?

oj-c: Sort of. If I’m honest, I did quite a lot with the role. Mike was very open to collaborating. I put a lot of stuff in there that wasn’t necessarily there originally.

All of the siblings were there but they were sort of blank canvases for anyone to put whatever they needed to put in it. We all came in and made bigger choices to create this family dynamic. They brought on this incredible writer, Scott Kosar, who wrote The Machinist, to tackle the Luke character because he was in recovery at the time.

sm: The writer was in recovery?

oj-c: Yes. He tackled all those monologues about staying clean and everything. That was him. You know, you’re talking about a family that lived in a haunted house, that’s sort of a silly premise but all the substitutions that everyone did, it was all about trauma. Living and being followed by things unless you face them. 

sm: What did you bring to the Luke character that wouldn’t have been there if somebody else played it?

oj-c: Someone else would have brought something amazing to it. But Mike Flanagan had so many tapes come through of people playing the addiction, and you can’t play the addiction. When I first looked at Luke I was like, okay, he’s a heroin addict, but then I was like, actually, to put a label on that, to label him, does such a disservice.

So it became about what he was running from, and what was terrorising him. For me, it became about childhood sexual abuse. How do you escape this thing you don’t want to feel? And if you can’t keep it at bay, it will take over. It became about that struggle, not ‘I need my fix.’ It became about this terrorising thing that’s always present, which translates into the show. We all have things that follow us. It became about trying to humanise it and make it real by using that as a way in.

sm: You’ve been open on social media about the sexual abuse you faced as a child. How did you navigate acting something so close to home?

oj-c: I’m of the school of thought: use whatever is real for you. That’s why I do the job. A lot of us use our own personal experience, but we bring it to a safe space where it’s okay for us to experience it. In a way it calls for that, and it felt important to do for the show.

I come back to this idea of needing to stop and reassess what I wanted to do, where I wanted to go, and what I wanted to say in the work that I do. I felt like I couldn’t keep hiding. We’re all complicated, we’ve all had complicated upbringings. That’s just part of life. It’s unfortunate, but it’s sort of always going to be a mess. I needed to put everything that I felt into something. I do that all the time.

We use the parts of yourselves. Including the darker parts, and some of the stuff we don’t want to look at. I’ve never been one of those people to go half on something. You either do it or you don’t. There’s no middle ground. I’m not going to half step in, or pretend.

sm: Did you have any practices while filming to help you not carry the hurt from that world into your own?

oj-c: What was interesting was that all of that sadness was in there anyway. I wasn’t generating any of it, I was just opening it up. I didn’t whip myself up into a frenzy. It just felt like I didn’t have to hide, or pretend it wasn’t there.

sm: Would you say acting has been healing for you?

oj-c: I don’t think the word healing is correct. But it’s been incredibly helpful in helping me understand myself better. It’s probably not the healthiest but I’ve said this before, I feel like I need the job to lay out all my neuroses and vulnerability. I keep myself so closed off in real life. It’s an outlet that feels necessary. That’s why I go off to work every couple days.

sm: You are cast in a lot of thrillers and horrors. Why do you think you mesh well with that genre as an actor?

oj-c: You know, after I did Haunting of Hill House, it was sort of this big thing where the amount of horror scripts that came through was crazy. The amount of, ‘do you want to play a drug addict?’ It’s incredible how desperate people are to put us into boxes.

After Hill House, I did The Invisible Man. That was a horror but the messaging - we’re talking about gaslighting, we’re talking about toxic relationships to an extreme. It was so much more than a scary film. It felt like it had something to say. That’s the thing about horror. When it’s done well, it’s incredibly impactful.

sm: After Hill House, did you feel you had agency when choosing your roles?

oj-c: To a certain extent. But no matter where you’re at: the job you want, they don’t want you. You can be Julianne Moore, but they’d rather have someone else. It’s constant. But it did change quite a lot. In terms of becoming Netflix famous, which is the strangest, most intense thing ever because you’re the most famous person on the planet and then something else comes out. I felt like I was in a fortunate space where I could choose more, but there were films that I really wanted that I didn’t get.

sm: I heard that when you first read the Jackdaw script, you didn’t think you were right for the role?

oj-c: Yes. I called the director Jamie Childs and told him he was nuts. Because again, here’s this hyper masculine man that felt quite robotic on the page. I met Jamie on the set of Wilderness. He was telling me, ‘I’ve written this movie. I’d love to get your feedback on it.’ So I read it. It was still an early draft. Then he said, ‘Do you want to do it?’ I genuinely thought I wasn’t the right fit. I thought it was just out of convenience that he wanted me.

He said to me, ‘It needs someone to come in and make it human. To give it vulnerability.’ He said the film is about how this man readjusts his life following the death of his mum, and I was like, sold! You need some tears? I’ll bring you tears! I’m never leaving my sad boy era. It happened so quickly. We wrapped Wilderness, and then started filming three and a half weeks later. We were up north in January.

sm: You go swimming in the North Sea quite a bit in the film…

oj-c: Oh yeah. It got to like minus nine. It ended with me getting hypothermia. I think I’m a bit too delicate, that’s why. I had this amazing stunt guy called Jamie Dobbs who’s this gold motor-cross champion, and we had to shoot all this stuff of us in the night. They’d get me on a rig, and then they’d get Jamie and it got to minus 12. He got frostbite on his face. It was unbelievable. It was all night shoots. I am so surprised we all made it out alive.

sm: Had you ever cold plunged before?

oj-c: Not at all. I’m one of those people in August that’s like, I don’t know if I want to go in the sea, it looks a bit cold. We did three days on the water. Some of it was in a kayak. The underwater stuff, that’s where it got brutal. We were all eating every 25 minutes because we were so cold. There was a boat just for food. I couldn’t name one thing we ate. It was just fuel. We were going to work at 5pm, and then wrapping in the morning.

sm: Do you often try new things on film sets that you’d never do otherwise?

oj-c: Yes, all the time! That’s part of the allure of it. You get to learn all these weird things that you’d never do. You get to experience these amazing things. I’ve been doing this for so long, because I’m 150 years old, and someone will bring something up and I’ll be like, oh I’ve done that! But then I’m like wait no I didn’t, the character did.

sm: Was there anything else you learned on the set of Jackdaw? Motorcross?

oj-c: Yes! I fucking loved it. If I’m honest, a lot of it is me jumping on and starting up and then getting out of frame. Insurance-wise, I couldn’t do any of the jumps or anything. But it is so great. There is nothing quite like it.

sm: Do you ever think you’ll get into the writing side of film?

oj-c: I have. I just don’t know what I have to say yet. Everyone reaches a point where they think, I don’t want to forever be a product. It would be nice to be part of the creative. I have a lot of opinions.

You go into a job with the best intentions. This is what they’ve told us, this is what’s been sold and then you’ll see the final product and be like: that’s not at all what I thought it would be. The more you do it, the more you feel like you know what you actually like and what you want to be part of. I’ll get to it at some point.

Jackdaw is in cinemas now.

[moonstruck-stormy]

Rook - (Nemesis) - Under the Cut is the reasons why I named him this, as I name all my FL OC's after birds in a way. He insists that he named himself NOT after the chess piece, and I encourage you to continue making chess jokes.

A highly intelligent bird who symbolizes an omen (whether or not they are a good omen or bad omen is up to you) The omen depends on context. For example, rooks deserting their rookery is a sign of ill fortune for the family nearby.

Nobles tend to like them because them nesting nearby is a sign of the family being of good character.

They are often seen with jackdaws (a type of smaller Corvid) which in this case are the Urchins, as he's a good ally, and he tries to be an older brother figure to them

Rooks, like Rook are considered pests. Nothing can deter the rook once it realizes there will be no true harm. You will have to kill him to stop him.

Juvenile rooks are often hunted. HMMM.

(source avibirds.com)

[moonlightrentrymaker]

HHIH I REALLY LOVE UR RENTRIES THEYRE SO AWESOME :33 i was wondering if you could do jouno (idk how ti spell hid name) form bungou stray dogs?? if thsts alright(⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)

Of course! You can find the finished template HERE.

[green-with-envy-phandom-event]

It is time....

For you to come on over to the Green With Envy event!

We still have one month left for you to submit your line art or sign up as a colorist!!! You can make it! Be part of the cult fun and make new friends! The event is for anyone who wants to spread chaos and generally just have a good time! =) Draw or color, it's up to you! And don't be afraid to get your hands dirty! Painting, crafts, etc. are more than welcome!

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Sign-Ups close and Line Art's due on Sunday, February 25th (02/25/24) 11:59 pm, Pacific Time Zone!

The coloring competition starts on Friday, March 8th (03/08/24) and finishes Sunday, April 7th.(04/07/24) Pacific Time Zone

Sign-ups for line artists are here

Sign-ups for colorists are here

Line artist submissions go here 

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Curious about what the heck this event even is? Take a look at the Masterpost, or look at some highlights from last year.

And thanks so much to @jackdaw-sprite! This line art is soooo nice and detailed! It scratches the itch on my ocd brain quite nicely~!

[fromashesweriseuphiddenones]

How I Write and play Desmond Miles

So to me, Desmond is not a traditionalist by any means. He doesn't do dating or any showy proposals. He gives a pendant with a Phoenix on it as an engagement ring replacement. It's easier to hide and can always be worn.

He has Autism Spectrum Disorder, basically a catch all for those showing signs of learning disabilities with Autism but not enough for a singular full blown diagnosis. So when he has his bad days he's pulling the hood up on his head or wearing his sunglasses inside. 

While he has a hard time learning normal spoken foreign languages, he has a breeze learning fictional ones. He knows Klingon, Na’vi, Tolken Elvish (D&D as a dialect), Undercommon, Dalish, and Qunlet. As more is revealed he will learn Tvine. 

On the note of languages he can fluently speak ASL and Auslan. Once he meets Shaun, he quickly picks up British Sign Language. Oh he knows Drow Hand Signs and the Na'vi hand signs as well. 

After hearing what befell the Jackdaw and Aquila Desmond swore he would care for any historical ship he got lucky enough to own. Going as far as to learn the proper lingo and speech on and about the ship, care and maintenance, and even got lessons from a tall ship sailor when the Tall Ships were in New York one year.

Desmond is a Goth and knows Aurelio Voltaire. Voltaire is often the one who points Desmond towards New York and either travels there with him or meets him there. Voltaire teaches Desmond Spanish, Japanese, to play guitar and to sing. 

Desmond still bleeds if he survives dying. His brain is that messed up.

[homunculus-argument]

Hey! I bumped into your post about the Russian man who has Rusalki in his pond and Baba Yaga's house poops in his yard occasionally. I liked it a lot. It's a shame that people always focus on Eurocentric supernatural folk stories and don't give Russian folk stories a chance. Slavic mythology, in general, is awesome.

I've wanted to do something with finnish folklore in a magical realism sort of setting, but I haven't figured out how to get the vibe right. Finnish folklore isn't particularly epic, mainly the supernatural is just mundane everyday things that want to ruin your crops, eat your cattle and kill you, just like every other daily inconvenience of rural farming life.

There was this concept of metsänpeitto - "cover of the forest" - where someone going through the woods either accidentally slips through the veil to the side of the forest spirits, or is covered up by the elves or tonttu on purpose (they'll do that out of spite because they're dicks), where everything looks the same or eerily similar, but you can't find your way back home. Sometimes you even can find your way home, but somehow can't touch anything or be seen by anyone, or they don't recognise you.

There's magic things you can do in order to try to undo it and get back to your own side, but most of the time you're just as hopelessly lost as a fly that's stuck between two window panes and can't figure out why it can't fly right through. People and cattle that were lost this way sometimes appear weeks later, starved startled and haggard, but sometimes the forest just covers you up and you never find your way back.

I wanted to incorporate this into a magical realism story, set in a world very much like modern Finland. Metsänpeitto isn't confined to forests anymore, there's woodland spirits that have adapted to life in cities just the same as pigeons, rabbits and jackdaws that forage their food from city parks and human trash. At one point the characters are in a city and can't find their way, and one of them realises that his cell phone has no connection and half the street signs are all garbled nonsense - shit, they're in spirit cover!

And his companion looks at him like no you idiot, you forgot to pay your phone bill again, and reminds him they're in the south. The signs aren't garbled nonsense, they're in Swedish.

[peccatulum-b-gone]

It's been three days now. Still no sign of Snakehead. The raccoons are barely distracting enough for the younger kids and the fixer broadcast has nearly killed the battery in Snakehead's phone (thanks a lot, Beryl).

We can't even recharge it because the custom-built charger was left behind in Snakehead's apartment. But that's barely an issue.

I've seen the jackdaws Snakehead mentioned before. They now hang out around the Seven's café, feasting on cookie crumbs and seeds that fall off of the savory baked goods. Geryon is among them, too.

I haven't told the others. False hope is the only thing they have left. I will not take it from them.

This is Jasper, signing off.