I started this yesterday and was gonna post it for Ace Day, but then I didn't have the energy to finish all of it, so, yeah. Take this headcanon a day late >:]
I'm so self-indulgent with all of these characters. I find it hard to imagine characters that aren't ace, so I guess it's not really a surprise lmao. Like, I was looking at my character database, and I realized that a good half of these guys are on the Aro or Ace spectrum:
[including my aro people here too because I can >:]]
My heart hurts whenever I write about him I'm gonna cry but he's so perfect to me you have no idea
Ok, so, I have written so much on this man because of how overly complicated I made Buster's entire family situation. But I can't. Share. A single. Crumb. Of. It. And it's killing me. Guys, I'm dying. I'm simply gonna perish if I don't write about him. So. I'm gonna headcanon dump, heehee :> [gonna do this with a bunch of other characters once I get art for them going ~_~] [I look at my drafts and weep-]
TD!Charley:
Age: 47 [deceased]
Height: 3' 02" [96cm]
Male - He/Him
Sexuality: Aroace
Build: H A T
The name is a headcanon in itself. Charley. He was never given a real canon name for whatever reason.
It just felt like it fit
Oh boy,
Ok, heavy lore time-
TW: Mentions of religious trauma and [briefly] kidnapping
[there's a fluff tab if you're wanting to skip all that]
So for a quick lore-dump, there was a HUGE war between the different animals [mammals, reptiles, and birds being the most prominent groups] that lasted from 1903-1955, before finally cutting off because a bunch of animals had practically gone extinct
Koalas being one of them
And Charley was born in late 1956, right after the war had ended, so yeah. Generational trauma's real rough-
Plus his hometown [all Koalas btw] was extremely religious and controlling over him, and he wasn't even allowed to buy his own clothes until he started to carve out his own life in Calatonia
The only thing they let him do was play music, usually with the idea that he'd be playing for the church band
[which he never did]
He was set up on arranged dates, made to feel like he was wrong for not wanting a relationship, and ridiculed for his desire to have a different life in the city- along with a lot of other things I probably couldn't fit into this post
He has a sister, Holly Moon, who is 4 years younger than him, who was seen as a golden child because she always listened and did everything their parents asked
[Parents being Darrick and Kara, for more TD lore]
He had a horrible family life before sprinting away at age 18 to Calatonia to hopefully make it big
This is where he met animals who weren't Koalas for the first time
Let me reiterate that- first time
[he'd read about other animals and seen what a few of them looked like in pictures, but never the real thing]
He learned the true meaning behind the words his family always spoke
"Make a family, there aren't many of us left"
Yeah, he was the only Koala in Calatonia for a good minute
Which kinda sent him spiraling-
Imaging you growing up in a small gated community, where you're a human around other humans, and then you leave and find out that there aren't any humans left and the rest of the world has been populated by aliens or something
He was very curious at first, which got him into some trouble
He met Harry after almost getting poached/getting ganged up on and almost kidnapped. Harry saved him, took him to calm down at his restaurant for the night, and the two quickly became friends
Ok, fluff time
Meeting Harry for the first time, the thing he offered Charley was a sandwich, which would start Charley's "give sandwich = I care about you" thing
Like his go-to way of making friends after this encounter would be to meet somewhere for sandwiches
It became a comfort food, and an introduction into other flavors besides the basic food groups + eucalyptus
This little quirk got passed down to Buster
Amazing cook
Like, he invented a couple of the recipes on the menu at Harry's Bar [despite having a diet of mostly eucalyptus, which is poisonous]
Even back in his hometown with his limited ingredients, he was fantastic, but after learning that there were other foods, he got a little obsessed
He has a cookbook he put together [which got passed down to Buster, who cannot cook for the life of him lmao]
Harry tried to get him to go to culinary school or something, but Charley always insisted on loving his little bundle of odd jobs in Calatonia [including the carwash, which was his baby]
After coming to Calatonia, making his home in a shady little apartment complex [which he ABSOLUTELY ADORED], getting a job, and finally getting his first-ever paycheck, he immediately went thrifting
Which is where he got his raggedy hat and patchy coat
And learned what a turtleneck was
He taught Buster the art of thrifting too :D
He dresses like he's homeless by choice [mostly]
[money's always tight]
Back to the odd jobs that he got instead of getting a real job- Charley always hated "luxurious" things if that makes sense. Not only did it remind him of home, but he's just a minimalist in general
If he doesn't need it, he won't take it
Modest guy [opposite to his entire family ~_~]
The hat is kinda a symbol of his independence and freedom in a way, so that's a little sweet
He never takes his hat or coat off really, even in the hot summer days in Calatonia
Harry always has to remind him to drink water [woah, Koala moment]
Oh yeah, Koala stuff-
Harry ends up helping out Charley with the complete lack of Eucalyptus products in Calatonia by ordering it in with his usual imported restaurant food, and then just giving it to him
Harry insists on paying for it all, despite Charley's objections
Charley always gives monstrous tips when eating at Harry's to balance things out
He's actually pretty tall for a Koala
He made good friends with all of the waiters and staff and musicians at Harry's, and was always there for the music nights where Harry'd get someone to play atmospheric stuff on stage
You see this in the first movie
Charley's actually really great on the guitar, and has a very nice voice [I don't have a voice claim yet ;-;;;;;] so he was eventually given the offer to try playing in front of a crowd at Harry's. Which he took
[And Harry made him take money for it, of course]
Had no intention to have kids, but ended up taking in Buster due to family drama and strange circumstances [later explained in Tone Deaf] [also why they have different funky patterns btw! :DDD]
Please, it's so complicated-
He quickly fell in love with the idea of show business after seeing some street performers, and eventually got over his discomfort with doing illegal things [the idea of it being a sin really had him in a chokehold for a while-] and grew into his true personality of "very chill and very shady charlatan" after a few years away from his hometown
Actually, it was his urge to steal a ticket to see a show at the theater that drove him to get over it all
Learned how to pick locks and pockets to scrounge around enough money to get by
Charley and Harry were best friends. Practically brothers
To the point of Harry being called "uncle Harry" by young Buster
Charley was the best man at Harry's wedding to his Panda wife, Claire. Buster was given the honor of being both the flower boy and ring bearer lmao [he pulled it off]
Claire definitely mothered both Charley and Buster quite a bit
Back to Charley living in the apartment complex, he made good friends with an old Lizard who lived next door-
Yeah, Miss Crawley [Irene Crawley]
After Harry realized that Buster was an absolute demon child, Charley tried asking her to babysit instead
She must've had the magic touch or something, because he was perfectly behaved with her
Harry was speechless
Buster was absolutely a problem child, and Charley would frequently get calls from school about him [especially in elementary]
[half of the trouble he got into was due to bullies, but this ain't about him 🤭]
Charley taught Buster how to commit crime, and play guitar
And when he got older, the two would duet together at Harry's
[I'm crying it's so sweet]
Crawley would always bring homemade candies around to give to Buster when she came over to visit with Charley, specifically Turkish Delight
She eventually taught him [with lots of hand-holding] how to make the candy himself. If left alone, he'd just set things on fire and eat the chocolate chips plain though :D
She lost her lover in the war, and even before that, struggled with infertility problems [they were different species- working with the idea of a Gila Monster] so she never had any of the children she had wanted before the war basically ruined her life
She adored that child and never accepted pay
[she was paid by the government anyway since she was a war vet]
All of the money that Charley would slip into her pocket, she'd either secretly give right back, or spend it all on Buster
She was like a mother to him
Still is
She offered to help with the theater after Charley realized that the place didn't just come with staff
Charley and Buster's bond was basically unbreakable
Charley would always stand up to the school system whenever they treated Buster unjustly
[Trust me, there was a lot of prejudice against Koalas and other endangered species, no matter how small or harmless they seemed. People fear what they don't know, and to say Koalas are an oddity would be an understatement-]
[Like even irl, they're Marsupials, sure- but they're so different that they've been given a classification all to themselves called Phascolarctidae. They're so alone in the animal kingdom, it's not even funny. Their closest "relative" is the Wombat, and even then barely]
[Give me another animal that's even remotely similar to Koalas appearance-wise. Their facial structure, the double-thumbs, massive ears, the fact that they can only eat one thing, and it's poisonous [catch me writing Buster poisoning someone with eucalyptus >:D]- yeah, they're super interesting to work with. And of course, I give them hardships for it ~_~]
[Everyone that saw Buster and Charley just immediately knew they were endangered just because of how alien they looked]
["freaks"]
[They just rolled with it]
[Well, Buster was always bothered by it, but Charley was always there to tell him that it should be something to be proud of. Didn't always work all the way]
[I'll talk about Buster later, don't you worry]
[Ok enough with the gushing about Koala facts in brackets-]
Buster would also stand up for Charley during family gatherings [which they eventually just stopped going to entirely] because Charley would just freeze up and not say anything whenever people started fighting with him
✨trauma✨
The two protected each other is my point pretty much
Ok, for a rough timeline:
[1903 - 1955] - Great War
[1956] - Charley was born
[1960] - Holly was born
[1974] - Charley ran away to Calatonia
[1980] - Buster was born
[1988] - Charley took Buster in
[1990] - Harry meets Claire
[1994] - Harry and Claire get married
[1997] - Theater was sold to Charley and quickly opened
[2003] - Charley is killed
It's fucking tragic how he dies
Like, him and Buster were literally in the middle of planning the show when Buster got the call
Late too
He couldn't get to the landline at first because he was busy with set design, and actually saw it a LOT later, which- yeah. Cue horrific amounts of stress as he bikes as fast as he can to the ER
"Where's dad!??" he's in the hospital bucko
Why must I kill all the characters I love-
Charley'd just gone out to get some supplies from like, home depot or something, and then yeah. Dead
Buster could never finish the show, so it sits collecting dust in the attic now
Grief made him unable to write much, which is how he eventually went into debt too
The whole thing with them is absolutely tragic, oh boy-
Can't wait to draw the funeral scene
Ok, so I keep forgetting what's been posted and what's still a draft, so sorry if something just- absolutely jumps out of nowhere here. I think I've mentioned the war before? And Poachers- I hope I at least mentioned Poachers-
Charley (I think that's his name? Is that a fanon thing?) would be the most supporting dad in the world. I have this idea that when Buster was figuring out his sexuality (around 11-15), he came out to his dad, and his dad just hugged him and was very supportive and aaaaa!
Check out Toronto native Charley Moon’s new visuals for “Temple of Gods” featuring Shariq DeVonte, stemming of his recent release “AOE” (Art Over Everything). Which is available below for stream and download. The video was shot in Toronto by Maxym Perron of La Vie Motion Pictures. Stay tuned for more.
