a study in: the lost child, escapism, daddy's pride, mother's wrath, sister's keeper, losing everything, the dream dies, when reality sinks in, daddy issues, mommy issues, being afraid to love, being afraid to lose anyone else.
TRIGGER WARNINGS:
maternal abuse, child violence, themes of cannibalism, death, drug use, alcohol abuse, smoking, murder, blood, gore, abandonment issues, implied sex, christmas themes, severe issues with maternal figures, milder issues with father figures, more to come.Character Specific Rules:
1. Child Millie - I only write Millie as an adult and not as a child. If there are any threads of Millie under the age of 19 years old, they are heavily plotted out with people that I trust and are usually with people that are connected to her past. Typically Charlie, Lorrie, a Christmasland kid, Vic McQueen, etc. I will not do any non-plotted threads willy nilly with people that I don't know with an underaged Millie.2. Romance - As I write Millie as an adult, romance and flings are things that will happen with her from time to time. However, while this is not the primary reason that I aged her up, I will not deprive myself of exploring this aspect of her character simply because some weirdos think that people who age up child characters think it's "wrong." If it makes you uncomfortable, don't interact.
3. Source Material - As I've stated several times, I mainly draw from the book and the graphic novel as my source for Millie over the show. While I may take light aspects from the show ( see below ), overall I ignore it. It blatantly disrespected a lot of important aspects of the novel and changed way too much stuff that it did not need to change. However, that being said, you don't need to have seen the show or read the book to interact with Millie. I've outlined a lot of what you need to know below and I can always explain more if needed.
Characters
Biography
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. integer nec odio. praesent libero. sed cursus ante dapibus diam. sed nisi. nulla quis sem at nibh elementum imperdiet. duis sagittis ipsum. praesent mauris. fusce nec tellus sed augue semper porta. mauris massa. vestibulum lacinia arcu eget nulla. class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. curabitur sodales ligula in libero. sed dignissim lacinia nunc. curabitur tortor. pellentesque nibh. aenean quam. in scelerisque sem at dolor. maecenas mattis. sed convallis tristique sem. proin ut ligula vel nunc egestas porttitor. morbi lectus risus, iaculis vel, suscipit quis, luctus non, massa. fusce ac turpis quis ligula lacinia aliquet. mauris ipsum.My Portrayal
* My version of Millie Manx is based on a variety of sources with a heavy emphasis on the novel. While I've incorporated several aspects of the show ( including the lovely actress who portrays Millie ), a lot of her bio, verses, and headcanons will reference people and events that only happen within the novel. Please keep in mind that there's a lot of aspects of the show that I absolutely loathe and will be ignoring. If you've come here expecting the show version of Millie, you're going to be sorely disappointed. By default, I play Millie years post-canon. Unless otherwise discussed, Millie will be in her early twenties and on her own. In her post high school verse, her foster parents were brutally killed when their car ran off the road on a night of bad weather. As their only beneficiary, Millie inherited all of their money and properties and mainly lives in the rebuilt Sleigh House.* Because this is my version of the character and I can do what I want, I've decided to make Millie's knife the car Christine from Stephen King's works. Since Christine inspired the Wraith and since both Joe Hill and Stephen King have given each other playful nods in their various works, I figured that it'd be a fun little thing to do. Please note that Millie isn't affected by Christine in the same way Arnie Cunningham was in the book and film. Due to the darkness in her soul and her own abilities as a Strong Creative, Millie and Christine have formed a bond that's incredibly similar to the bond that Charlie formed with the Wraith. Be warned that Christine is incredibly protective of Millie and has caused incidents for people who've hurt / crossed Millie in the past. Millie can also sense if someone so much as touches Christine, both because Christine is her Knife and because of the bond that have formed between the two.
* All of my headcanons, Millie's post canon story, and storyline / plot ideas are all my creations ( unless stated otherwise ). If I discover that my ideas have been stolen, I will be blacklisting you to everyone that I write with. If you wish to write your own version of Millie, put in the work and come up with your own ideas and headcanons and leave mine alone.
Important Definitions
* Strong Creative - Strong Creatives are incredibly smart and creative individuals who, with the help of their Knife, have the ability to open a door into their very imagination. However, they have to pay a cost in order to access their inscape. The costs differs from person to person, but always leave a lasting mark on the individual. Individuals with this ability are fairly rare and most of them don't even fully understand the scope of their abilities nor do they have a name to put to it all.* Knife - A Knife is an object that Strong Creatives use to access their inscape and the object can vary from person to person. For Charlie Manx, he had two knives: a sleigh when he was a child and the Wraith as an adult. Victoria McQueen also had two knives: a bicycle as a child and a motorcycle as an adult. Maggie Leigh had only one known knife: a scrabble bag that she could reach into and pull out tiles that would spell out a simple answer to a simple question.
* Inscape - An inscape is a location within the very imagination of a Strong Creative. A Creative's inscape can vary, depending on the person. Victoria McQueen's inscape was the Shorter Way Bridge and it carried her from one place to another in her attempts to locate a person, place, or object. Maggie Leigh's inscape was smaller and only accessed by the use of a Scrabble tile bag that she could reach into and pull tiles out. Charlie Manx's inscape was Christmasland and was built with the help of his daughters.
* Christmasland - Christmasland is Charlie Manx's inscape and is far different from other inscapes that we see due to the fact that Manx lives within his inscape and often brings in others ( typically children ) to live there with him. Christmasland was built with the help of his daughters, Millie and Lorrie ( note: Lorrie is absent in the show for some unknown reason on the part of the writers ).
* Parnassus & The Night Road - The Night Road and Parnassus is a collective inscape built by many Strong Creatives over the various years. No one knows who started it, only that it's there as a place of rest and sanctuary. In order to access it, the Creative must have a certain darkness within their soul.
* The Wraith - The Wraith is more than just Charlie Manx's knife. Charlie's continuing existence is tied to the very essence of the Wraith and, in order to truly harm or kill him, one must attack the Wraith. The Wraith can move under its own power and seems to know where Charlie is, no matter how far apart they are physically. Charlie can tell when harm comes to the Wraith and vice versa. The price of the Wraith's continuing existence was the essence / souls of the children that Charlie took to Christmasland and Charlie's own empathy. Please note that the primary inspiration for the Wraith and the relationship between Charlie and his car was inspired by Stephen King's Christine.
About the Show
WHAT I'M IGNORING:
* Fanny Manx - Charlie's mother was a horrible woman. She would send Charlie outside at all hours so that she didn't have to mind him and so she could work as a sex worker and made him sleep in a coffin. She didn't protect him when she should have and it ended with him getting raped by one of her clients. She was never caring or soft towards her son.* Cassie Manx - Charlie's wife was canonically an angry and bitter woman who mentally, emotionally, and physically abused Charlie. When she told her family about the abuse and openly abused him in front of them, they would laugh and mock him. In my headcanons, she also emotionally abused the girls ( Millie especially due to her similarities to Charlie ). A notable incident that was mentioned by Charlie is the time that Cassie threw a lit lantern onto his back, setting him on fire, and did nothing as he ran around trying to put himself out. She was not some sad woman tired out by her husband's dreamy antics.
* Lorrie Manx - In canon, there are two Manx daughters. Millie and Lorrie were very close in age and were each other's best friends. In the show, she seemingly doesn't exist. However, she fully exists in my Millie's world. As far as Millie knows, she died with Charlie.
* Wayne's Parentage - Unlike what the show would want you to believe, Louis ( Lou ) Carmody is Wayne's father, not Craig. Victoria McQueen is not a teenage mother and didn't have sex until she met Lou Carmody. She lost her virginity to him. Lou wasn't forced to take care of another man's child. The way that the show handled this, especially given that they cast a black man in the role of Lou, was absolutely disgusting. Lou is still black, he is still nerdy, and he is fully Wayne's father, thank you very fucking much.
* Bing Partridge - Unlike what the show would want you to believe, Bing is not an uwu easily manipulated baby boy. He's a disgusting creep who has raped both women and men, killed his parents, raped his mother, and who would keep the mothers of the kids that Manx took as his prisoner, keep them drugged, and rape / torture them for days before killing them. He's absolutely disgusting and it's gross that the show completely changed his character and linked him so closely to Vic.
* The McQueen Parents - Both Linda and Chris McQueen were abusive, but in very separate ways. Both emotionally neglected Vic with Chris outright abandoning her once he left Linda. There was no Vic going to live with her dad to "take care of him." She tried and was rebuffed after a fight with Chris's girlfriend. Chris and Vic didn't really make up or come together again until Manx returned. Even after Chris left, Linda was still emotionally abusive and neglectful towards Vic. When Vic was seventeen, Linda snooped through her things and found some stuff. Instead of talking it out with Vic like a rational person, she took everything away from her and screamed at her. Vic, understandably, ran away and that was how Vic and Charlie officially met face to face. Vic continued the cycle of unstable parenting, neglect, and alcholism, which was a huge point of her story.
WHAT I'M KEEPING:
* Maggie Living - In the book, Maggie Leigh is killed by Charlie. However, the show allows her to live and that's what I'll be going with. Maggie is a great character and her death made me sad, so I'm going to keep that particular change.* Vic Living - In the book, Vic dies from a combination of a very deep stab wound and the collapse of her inscape. The show allows her to live, possibly trying to open up hopes for a third ( unneeded ) season. I like Vic and so I'm allowing her to live. Of course, there are some very big consequences for Vic. But she's alive, at least.
* Millie's Escape - In the book, it's not really elaborated on if both Manx girls died or if it was just the one who was discovered with Charlie after the collapse of the Shorter Way in 1986. As such, I'm keeping Millie's escape that we saw in the show. She had a fight with Charlie and got fed up, so she found a way to escape Christmasland shortly before its destruction.
* Abe, Parnassus, & the Night Road - Abe, Parnassus, and the Night Road were inventions of the show and were never really mentioned in the book. However, I thought that these elements added something extra and filled out certain parts of the story. As such, I've elected to keep them so that those particular flourishes can stay and so that Millie does have some sort of connection outside of Charlie, Vic, and her guardians.
* Trauma House - The Trauma House wasn't really a thing in the book. However, I think it adds a fun tragic flare to the entire situation, so I'm allowing it to stay. The incident with the 'ghost' of Cassie is canon for my Millie and it helped her shake the rest of the fog from her brain. At the time, she didn't fully remember her life before Christmasland, so the figure of Cassie could easily manipulate Millie. However, when Millie escaped and began to remember, this only furthered her anger and resentment towards her mother.
Verses
new christmasland. - main verse
Millie has successfully found her own knife at sixteen and spent years restoring it, resulting in a beautiful red car that is far more than she appears. Millie and the car have bonded, their souls becoming intertwined much like Charlie and the Wraith before her. She successfully accessed her inscape and began to build her own version of Christmasland. She's now searching for a way to balance out the costs that accessing her inscape incurs.human desperation - secondary verse
This verse takes place after the events of The Little Vampire. She was discovered by the Sleigh House and her ornament was unintentionally destroyed. She was eventually taken in by a couple who are a little too into true crime. They take care of her legally, but she has full free reign to do what she wants. She eventually gets her own knife and sets out to restore her beloved Christmasland. ( plot only )the dreamer - pre-canon
This verse follows Millie during her human years, pre-Christmasland. She's a very bright and imaginative child who often dreams of leaving her home and traveling the world. She plans to leave as soon as she's sixteen years old. ( plot only )the little nutcracker. - novel canon
This verse follows Millie during her many years in Christmasland. She's incredibly ruthless and blood thirsty, but also deeply loyal to her father and protective of the Christmasland children. Over the time that Charlie is absent, she becomes noticeably disillusioned with Christmasland and with her father. ( plot only )the little vampire. - post canon
This verse takes place post-canon and deviates from the book. Inspired by the show's ending, Millie has escaped the destruction of Christmasland and is living in the woods near her destroyed childhood home. She kills animals and teens / adults who wander onto the land and refuses to destroy her ornament. ( plot only )nightmare after christmas.
Instead of being adopted by the Queens, her story reaches the ears of Morticia and Gomez Addams. Always up for adopting the strange and feral, they don't hesitate to scoop Millie up and bring her into their home. Things are incredibly rocky at first, especially given all of her issues surrounding parental figures and trying to adjust to the real world once again. However, it eventually becomes clear even to the very stubborn Millie that this is the best place for her. The Addams give her the space to adjust and to be herself, never forcing her to change and even encouraging her more impulsive and feral side. She soon finds herself an honory Addams, fitting into the family even with her obsessive love for Christmas. ( addams family verse. written in collaboration with addamned, but welcoming to all versions of the addams clan. )the little wolf.
Daughter of an infamous child kidnapper, Millie was left to rot in the foster care system as a "problem child" after her father's arrest. She quickly proved to have her father's dangerous temperament, often getting into fights and biting other children. At thirteen, after being spotted fighting an older boy three times her size, she was taken in by someone who specialized in thieving and killing for hire. Millie was trained in the art of murder, stealing, and cons and took to it quite easily. By the time that she was sixteen, the "Little Wolf" was becoming quite the name in the underworld. Millie occasionally uses the Hotel Artemis and other similar locations when she needs to hide. ( hotel artemis verse. 19-25 years old. NOTE: This verse is grounded in more futuristic gritty realism than the horror of the canon material, meaning that there are no knives beyond the actual weapons, creatives, or inscapes. )beauty in the blood.
Shortly after murdering her legal guardians at nineteen years old, Millie found herself in New York City where she impulsively answered a modeling call. She soon found herself in the world of high fashion, fake attitudes, and dangerous games. Although she found a lot of her new 'friends' boring and vapid, the job kept a nice cashflow for her and allowed her to travel and create new experiences for herself. Thanks to her connections in the fashion industry, she began making connections in other high end worlds as well, including finance. She eventually crossed paths with one Patrick Bateman, an occasionally charming and quite handsome man who has quite the dangerous glint in her eyes and who keeps Millie on her toes and feeds into her most toxic impulses. ( american psycho verse. created in collaboration with americanedpsycho. )