#❡ ѕᴏᴜƖ ʙᴏηɗɪηɢ ● Tʜᴇ Wʀᴀɪᴛʜ

[wraith-of-christmas-future]

If not to add emphasis, she was his maker.

In the world of vampirism, his sire. It is through her pact that he lives eternal and has a deeper hunger than no mortal non- creative could possibly comprehend. This is the severity of their bond. Practically a fledgling to her, or a neonate concerning vampirism as a whole.

When I stated she is his mother, I do not shy from the full meaning of the word, she had granted rebirth to him. It is both literal and metaphorical ties that goes beyond death.

Course we have the " I am the car and the car is me. " Which can also be interpreted as now that she is tied to his soul, they are one in the same etc. I touched up on this on my other notes, but...

Growing up, I see Charlie having had to become the mother and father to himself. It's an reflective insinuative in a sense. She may be sentient to him, but his essence was what had broken the barrier of a stagnant reality. Again, playing on the a gift for a gift. He gave her leeway to thin the veil, she gave him eternal life. Where we come full circle of her becoming his shadow and molded to his being.

While discussing plots with a partner , I suddenly had a thought that made me terribly sad. It is no secret that I play the Wraith as her own being.  Parasitic at times with her connection to Charlie, possessive and highly protective of her driver. If not very Kingverse influenced. With her backstory being more of a high born Witch-like ; a Hansel and Gretel type of tale. She needs the children , perhaps more than Charlie ever would. To devour their pain. It’s a trait that would not be possible if her and Charlie had never molded as one. After all, he was her first lost boy.

She was his forever shadow of never never land.

– and yet, her bond which shaped them ? She is the mother he never had.

[wraith-of-christmas-future]

𝔗𝔥𝔢   𝒲𝓇𝒶𝒾𝓉𝒽

                       ᴬᵖᵖʳᵉᶜᶤᵃᵗᶤᵒᶰ

A ʙʟᴀᴄᴋ sʟᴇɪɢʜ ᴛᴇᴀʀɪɴɢ ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ᴀ ᴄʟᴏᴜᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ᴅʀᴀɢɢɪɴɢ ᴛᴀɪʟs ᴏғ Dᴇᴄᴇᴍʙᴇʀ ғʀᴏsᴛ ʙᴇʜɪɴᴅ ɪᴛ. Dᴇᴄᴇᴍʙᴇʀ ғʀᴏsᴛ ɪɴ Jᴜʟʏ. Tʜᴇ ʀᴏʟʟɪɴɢ ᴡʜɪᴛᴇ sᴍᴏᴋᴇ ʙᴏɪʟᴇᴅ ᴀᴡᴀʏ ғʀᴏᴍ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪᴄᴇɴsᴇ ᴘʟᴀᴛᴇ﹐ᴏʟᴅ﹐ ᴅᴇɴᴛᴇᴅ ﹐ ʀᴜsᴛ﹣sʜᴏᴛ ﹕NOS4A2.

[wraith-of-christmas-future]

This particular digital short holds a special place in my heart. It also serves as one of many key factors on playing the Wraith as I do in counterpart of ol' Charlie during verses. She is her own creature after all, molded from his shadow and eternally bound.  

[wraith-of-christmas-future]

The Wraith and her Backstory

Just a quick reminder. How I play the Wraith is very similar to Christine.  It holds the inspiration a little more highly than what the canon aspects of her being would carry. 

We didn’t get much backstory on the Wraith : other than someone had died in the backseat before Charlie got a hold of her. My headcanon is the entity that died, was an elderly woman who’s entire existence dabbled in dark witchcraft.  A woman who’s family that can be traced back into the Salem witch trials. [ Which would mean the very mentioning of Salem Massachusetts, Witch Trial museum could be labeled an easter egg to my own headcanons. ;) ] ( Edited : My first take on this headcanon explained it a bit better, if I recall.  However, the elderly woman wasn’t the one who owned the Wraith.  Though she did, however , own the company in which the man who did own the Wraith, served. The one who committed suicide with his two little ones.  So all in all, there had been three deaths in the Wraith. The only one mentioned would depend on the verse. For one death was conveniently swept under the rug. So only one incident would be known to the resell value. At least that is what I had in my notes originally. It also conjoins the fact that Charlie had literally killed himself, his daughter(s) and wife.  For history repeats itself with the car. Except, Charlie was special and didn’t quite stay dead as her first victims had. So their connection grew by the graces of Christmasland, the knife , and the permanent imprint of Charlie’s soul upon her steel , valves and cranks. Just to clear that up. ) It is within her craft during life, that in death she can hold such a high mold to Charlie and his psyche, merging as one. His influential shadow. To the point where she can influence his thought, but he can also move the car through her at his will. It’s a very parasitic relationship between them. But like the old crones from faery tales past, she has a deep keening toward children.  Children she could never have. Which is why Charlie’s savior complex was so appealing.

Though keep in mind, it is not a lover influenced attachment to Charlie like Christine had with Arnie. Instead, she is more like an elderly grandmother who wants grandchildren from a son or grandson she chose to adopt and beguile him into taking her home to see his family. Sensing the deeper connection this man could provide for her, due to the car in itself becoming his knife. Where her seed began to sew in his mind during the trip home, so too did the tendrils extend to ensnare her driver. It’s her subtle influences that can divide what is actually her and not just Charlie showing off his power.

So yes, she influences him. Though he can also influence her.  Which is why her being Charlie’s shadow , a parasite attached to his psyche -- is far more suiting. ( Something that can still accommodate his catch phrase “  I am the car and the car is me.  “  Because her spirit is so deeply routed to his own now.There is subtext there as well as truth. ) However , even parasites can become loving caretakers. Or at least appear to be. Hence it has become a loving nickname that some of us from the fandom have dubbed her :    Nana Wraith.

[wraith-of-christmas-future]

                  His head tilted her way; canted amid an angle that spun curiosity kindled to childlike qualities. She did indeed hitch his attention abroad such tone prescribed of him and the predicament that pulled him under. Surveying her expression with frantic eyes that were hindered away from one focal point to the next. His breathing heavily accompanied gnashing into the garment provided to subdue his cries. Pardoned to substitute the kicking with chewing relentlessly, at this rate Victoria may not have a belt left.

His whole body drew for her course stringently while registering the exotic address mulling over his name - his forename delicately cast across her tongue. Perceived invitingly along the enunciation his ears tuned for instantaneously. Focus for me.  He hung onto that suggestive in particular. Repetitively depositing it, with it, it was likely liable how slack his strain against Margaret became. Yet fibers within those limbs remained tense alongside the rest of his frame during, though stationary. It almost harbored an inferred expectation of being hit while that recessive state captivated him ; anticipating a blow while lulling him with false conciliation. His mother used the same trade countless of times, one often mimicked too , with his first marriage. Cassie in her later years diverged to secrets he trusted her with. Remodeling them into tools of misery.

The slightest move would manifest into another quail from him. Becoming drastically visible in his attempt to recoil. Condemning his eyes shut and veering his would be gaze to avoid any blow he had thought she may have disciplined upon him. When there had been none, eyes shot for her, invoking wild bewilderment. Static began to carry an amp louder, distortion crackling in between breaks of clarity. Figments of it’s bleached and ink disarray speckled his sclera sporadically.

                        “ My knife.. “ half mumbled with exertion , he broke in when his own jaw reduced against the bit he had been masticating into. Her interjection gradually set fade to the abnormality within hue. Margaret had tore him from folding in on himself, from failing the present reality. Allowing him to cling onto his pain and anger , registering it temporarily as the anchor which kept him. He partially swiveled a glimpse her way. “ She would never betray my safety willingly “a plunged reply which craned with his irritability.  “  It was always those closest to me - people, who betrayed my safety.  “ He instructed of her in an odd opaque slur along the leather he navigated around.

@victoriafreakingmcqueen​ , @aurora-stantler-our-historian​

10-48 Fairbanks

It had been a crazy plan. One no one but Vic could have cooked up with how many bats her bridge was missing by this point. Even her father and Maggie had wondered if they could pull it off. 

The plan? Kidnap Charlie Manx. 

They’d caught him unawares leaving a gas station and knocked him out. Maggie’s tiles had given them the location. Only after trying to get Wayne out to no avail had they gone through with the plan. It was what Vic expected though, that’s why they needed Manx. He was the only one who the Wraith would listen to. 

Out gunning the Wraith once she realized her driver was missing had been a white knuckling experience, but they’d reached the warehouse and gotten in unscathed, barely. The side of the building had some of the Wraith’s paint on it where Chris had been a second beforehand. 

It was surreal now to see an unconscious Charlie Manx, bound to a chair in the middle of a leaky roofed warehouse while the Wraith revved and squealed her tires outside like an angry guard dog. 

“You really think this is gonna work, Brat?” Chris McQueen asked his daughter wearily, arms crossed as he looked at the man who’d taken his grandson and nearly killed his daughter in the process. 

Vic dragged a chair at least six feet from Manx’s chair and turned it around to sit and wait for the maniac to wake up. “We have him. Now we find out what buttons to push to get Wayne back.”

@wraith-of-christmas-future @aurora-stantler-our-historian

[wraith-of-christmas-future]

Discussions ;

I’m torn on leaving the story I have for the Wraith as is, or break them into a two part ?  Been going back and forth with it for ages.  I dunno, what do you all think ?  Do feel free to comment below.

              Yanno’ , the familiar story that she ends up being his split shadow ;  a character drawn from him and emulating life of her own all the way up to the point he has his first encounter with death. Where the spirit dormant then moves in to possess her ? 

I mean, not saying she didn’t have a few hiccups and influences down the line prior to his death. 

               Or that she had very few years to spare as her own and the possession was almost immediate after their first event along the icy roads that make the St. Nick Parkway ?

[wraith-of-christmas-future]

❝ you’re not a ghost, are you? ❞ ( page )

                      " Am I , " a designated pause afloat a whir wilting into amusement. Tiers strained against the grin emanating over the thought. " -- some would argue, but I assure you, I am flesh and blood. " It took for a jest but his tone edged with something ominous undertow.

The irony served by one gloved hand barely gracing the hood of the antique automobile he now leaned against , glistening obsidian appeared almost cellular ; like a void which enchanted it's onlooker. A subconscious rift that would propel yearning. His foot hiked against the vehicle's running boards. Digits glided amidst this semblance, soothing over her panels with a deeper insinuation; an unnerving aura.                Russet hues were swift to register the girl in full, emboldening the rove along her stature just beyond the bill of a chauffeur's cap. Taking in her assets winding the long haul whilst premeditatively embarking his returned gaze to peer assertively up at her. Dampening his levity within the shifting interest, " do you opt to ask all that you meet, if they're a spook ? " A brow furrowed , partially suppressing the chuckle which followed. @rubiesintherough

[wraith-of-christmas-future]

 -- picture if you will.  A union of both Wraith and Driver and you’ll begin to understand why I chose this particular one for Charlie’s playlist.

[wraith-of-christmas-future]

Headcanons;

Story time !

Charlie did not steal Jolene’s skates to end her, or cripple her per say. Quite the opposite, really.  She was already becoming crippled for over using them in their chase. He didn’t extract them to end her meddling - he enjoys the chase too much. The attention.

Like with Victoria, he will take whatever he can get with the women of his life. He honestly doesn’t know any better. Or knew any other form of love. So violence to him goes hand in hand with romance. As does the vile onslaught of name calling when said love is rejected or humiliated in anyway when he opts to give.

I also strictly headcanon that he had not intended to run Jo through with the Wraith during the ring refusal. The automobile was what fueled his rage and tainted a clear thought. The Wraith was very much like Christine at that particular moment in my headcanon. She does influence him in more ways than one. She felt his pain, his sorrow, when Jolene refused, and worst yet, accused him of doing wicked things to his children. They more or less influenced one another in a hyper fixation roused to one general emotion. Blinding all elements of reason. However, I headcanon that he hesitates at the last minute which is why the vehicle did not get up to speed before Jolene vanished to her own inscape. She sensed his hesitation when he , himself, had not.

He made the choice in taking her skates to relieve her from the cost they were causing her. It’s the reason he didn’t destroy them. The reason he kept them.  He’s quite possessive over what he becomes attached to, and Jolene was his first attachment since dying in the 40s. Plus he craves control.

So taking her knife was the object of everything he is, whilst the benefit of keeping her alive and well. She was his and he couldn’t allow her to be in that particular pain so he did what he could by preventing that. Let us not forget that he mourned her passing in his own way.

( Now some would argue over that, and make him hurling Vic’s bike into her bridge as an example.  Well, I have a thought ,or several for that too. He simply was getting rid of her way of escaping him. Where he intended her to go, she would not need her knife. The ultimatum of having her come with him to Christmasland despite all what Bing tarnished to her name. Charlie still gave her one last choice, even a reprieve, and when she refused - his own house was set ablaze in his passionate tantrum.)

Course he was painted in a bad light for taking the skates however, if not already by the misconception of taking children. Jolene assumed the worst of him when regarding those he took. Granted, I’m not excusing his behavior of murder and mayhem. Yet I’m simply trying to shine the light on the way his mind would work justifying it.

[wraith-of-christmas-future]

Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come

                 To those who know me best find it to no surprise on why I consider Charlie the Ghost of Christmas Future and not the past or present( hence the play of words in the url on my role play blog ). If not probable of an Alternate Universe in which that is eventually his toll ; his transfiguration. A twisted half life of vampirism playing the evolution and biggest conduit when connecting being immortalized as this figure in question.

Or even the more canon route of his innovation. His nature in general plays a big part upon that insinuative. As well as the nature of his automobile. The entity that shapes him , influences him as much as he does her. Yes, I consider her a female spirit in possession of said vehicle at the cost of a death in the automobile. For he is the car and the car is him ; yet it has always been a game between them of quite literally possession.I think , in my personal opinion ,  Joe drops subtle hints on the car itself deliberately placing him under that mantle. He is, in fact -- the very result of bad parenting. Coming to take their fledglings away for a better future. Or at least in the eyes of his deeply seeded savior complex. Were parents to not change their ways, to cherish said child in practices and instinct a mother or father should - he shall alter their futures by stripping them from the little tyke all together. If not bringing death upon their doorstep for their negligence as penance. Depending on the severity of their crimes that is. Which leaves me to mention the Graveyard of What Might Be and the exact parallels of what the older title of said ghost use to be ; The Spirit of Christmas yet to Come. Again, insinuating what all is shown is not yet written in stone.

For that particular ghost is often depicted as

Death

in the tales of yore, the darker tales. Black robes, foreboding presence . All color faded from said world, leaving the abyssal carnage within it’s wake ; hence a black steed in place of a pale horse. Also, in my corrupted mind , that steed is known as the Rolls - Royce Wraith. Playing on the words of Wraith -- ( shade, revenant . The stereotyped as darkly robed phantoms more often than not. )

Or even the alternation of Charlie’s own apparel could interpret this.  Gone from a dark royal navy to the metaphorical soot riddled state of rising from the ashes of his own death. Hence an obsidian black “ cloak “ to match his “ steed “ . Honing in on loss ; his own soul to be exact. The loss of restraint, or therefore lack of knowledge upon restraint bridging his triggers and igniting his wrath far more easily. Which is also the reason of how prone he is to this rage induced tantrums of violent proportions more often than not after his rebirth. Or why as each death that is notched in -- he loses that much more of control that makes him less human both physically and mentally. The very monster he had joked upon when it all began.

Thank you for listening to my insane rambles. My often absurd explications. I thought it appropriate to touch up on during Christmas Eve.

Have a

wonderful

Christmas to you all !

[wraith-of-christmas-future]

Story time. 

What I really headcanon Charlie’s teeth to look like. Without his usual glamour illusion. The type of feral tools that are prescribed when his hunger bests him, or worse his wrath consumes him. These traits become ever more apparent after death and near impossible to glam over after his second death verse.

There are shots in the show that uphold high similarity to these particular canines.  But they distribute burs on the bone in places. In some shots his teeth are normal - with the remaining factor of having just  fed -- or relatively calm on an emotional standpoint. When his teeth are displayed more jaggedly, it would seem he had been either A.  Without a child for a couple of days or even had died. ( Also would like to add that it would seem these traits are almost semi permanent within his inscape, so there is also that to consider.)  B. His rage tears him asunder. His finger nails seem to suffer the same fate at times. Almost as if loss of focus unravels his glamour.

I too play it out in that same manner.  Both concepts are at high regard. I’ve said before they insinuate he holds a similar grain to that of his children and I intend to play it out that way more so than the show got to dabble in. For no one is born a monster. They were often molded onto this platform and shaped under the hand of cruelty.

[wraith-of-christmas-future]

For the meme ask “You’re hands are shaking. You need to stop” post Vic and after first resurrection. (Aurora to Charlie)

              Distant was the harrowing stage behind hues, they danced frantically whilst his expression dampened from the austere ruse he had habitually regarded her under. He stiffened under the lingering pain. Such an unsettling ache across his chest each time the spasm electrified his fibers with inflammation. Contorting features into a more perturbed flex, where brow affixed aloft frustration. He descended his gaze to register his own two hands amidst disbelief before capitulating her demand with a frail element in reason once he acknowledged truth behind her warning. They shook intensely over each strain he muscled stubbornly through.  “  I must tend to my children.. “ he objected rather tenaciously, even to his own considerate pause. Sliver of fear strangling the undertone , one aberrant to Charles Talent Manx -- or at least not a trait openly conveyed for all to witness.

@aurora-stantler-our-historian

[wraith-of-christmas-future]

So ------ I got to thinking , I know, it’s never a good thing.  Or perhaps to some it may be ?  Regardless it is about that particular set of clothing that Charlie insists on wearing majority of the time.  Which the first initial discussion can be found here :  Extension of Self.

          I have noticed that when he is wearing the wardrobe, he can heal and find comfort without being in the Wraith. Extending their bond through a reasonable distance like I originally thought. Like when he was shot near point blank to the head. All it took for him to be revived and healed was her igniting her engine just outside.  Yet when he was wearing that poor trucker’s gear, he was struggling massively to even seal the giant chest cavity without being in the Wraith, which as soon as he does climb into her driver seat, he immediately heals. Course this may have something to do with how long that wound manifested, the distance at first between him and the Wraith, or the fact her own engine was extracted for a time, or the possible factor that he literally died and was resuscitated without being fully sewn up.  Or perhaps all are aligned to be in disfavor ?

I think I may put all into play.  That the wardrobe indeed will provide defense. That if he were to wear one particle less ; his defense weakens.   Like say if he were without his coat ?  He’d be slightly less protected and closer to vulnerable. Without the vest and cravat too - closer to being mortally wounded if he isn’t capable of getting to the Wraith in time. So the more I think about it..he was quite vulnerable when proposing to Jolene July and honestly that makes the scene even more sad to me. Cause he was giving her his trust and vulnerability, which is severely rare.

[wraith-of-christmas-future]

Okay but -- 

Every day is Christmas for Charlie.  Yet when the month of December actually hits the rest of the world. I imagine Charlie is just the type to decorate the Wraith month ‘round.  A wreath on the grille ? 

Ooooh it is plausible.

[wraith-of-christmas-future]

A Mix I made from the original track. I would liked to have done more if I had a better editor to mix the track, one with better pitches and equalizers . Yet the song spoke to me as a theme for the Wraith in particular so much in the beginning that I wanted to focus on that part in particular. As a junction to her lullabies. I do not own the original. I did however bought and merely extended the first half of this particular tune. Nana Wraith, as we so fondly dubbed her in this fandom. A theme both haunting as it is tender. Interpreting the soothing sounds by engine amplifiers as they manifest this intricate tone to a child's imagination.  A haunting lullaby that only innocence can hear. 

[wraith-of-christmas-future]

While discussing plots with a partner , I suddenly had a thought that made me terribly sad. It is no secret that I play the Wraith as her own being.  Parasitic at times with her connection to Charlie, possessive and highly protective of her driver. If not very Kingverse influenced. With her backstory being more of a high born Witch-like ; a Hansel and Gretel type of tale. She needs the children , perhaps more than Charlie ever would. To devour their pain. It’s a trait that would not be possible if her and Charlie had never molded as one. After all, he was her first lost boy.

She was his forever shadow of never never land.

-- and yet, her bond which shaped them ? She is the mother he never had.