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"Excuse me?" An unfamiliar and timid sounding voice rose over chatter of the Moon Theatre troop, causing Johnny to peek over curiously. No one else seemed to have heard because Rosita and Ash were still arguing over what truly made a pop song a pop song, with Gunter and Meena running commentary. The young gorilla rolled his eyes, knowing that it would take someone a lot louder than the shy sounding llama poking her head into the auditorium
"Can I 'elp you?" Johnny made sure project his voice over his squabbling friends, though they quickly stopped to look at him in confusion. It was a quick second after that for them to look into the auditorium and see the shaggy looking white llama in a crisp powder blue pants suit at the door to the lobby.
"I apologize for just coming in like this but I'm looking for Buster Moon? I had tried calling yesterday as well as this morning, but it's concerning a legal matter that is on a restricted schedule." The woman took a few more hesitant steps into the theatre, her hand keeping a large messenger style bag tightly to her side. "My name is Janice Kowal, I'm a paralegal for Prime and Smyth."
"Hello Janice, what can I do for you today?" Buster stood with a slight flourish to hide his nerves. There wasn't anything good he could think of that would require his attention; actually there wasn't anything that he could think of at all so it was more confusing than anything. He was square with the bank, the theatre was officially owned by Nana Noodleman, and the insurance from the collapsed theatre had more than covered what was left of the mortgage on the theatre, as well as the over-due utilities and well over-due cheques for the staff.
"Again I apologize for intruding, before we get ahead of ourselves, I just want to confirm that you are the son of Theodore Moon?" Janice continued towards them until she was standing just in front of the raised stage looking up at the motley group.
"Yes?" The koala was doing his best to not appear nervous and walked towards the edge of the stage to were the paralegal was waiting. His ears still betrayed him a little, twitching back and down ever so slightly.
Janice seemed to relax a little at that. "I'm looking to get in contact with your sister, Ashley Moon, and we at Prime and Smyth have been trying desperately to find her." She smiled encouragingly at Buster, so hopefully that her mission was about to be completed.
Buster's face scrunched up at that before he could control himself. "Unfortunately Ms. Kowal I will have to disappoint, I don't have a sister named Ashley Moon." He spread his hands and arms out with a faint smile trying not to laugh at the over dramatic gasp that came from behind him and undoubtedly from Gunter. "I don't have a sister at all. Sorry." He continued when he saw the pale llama go to interject.
"But... But, Sophia Harlow only had one child, a daughter listed as Ashley Moon, father Theodore Moon. We double checked the birth records!" Janice's ears flicked back and forth from distress, her hoofed hand tightening on her bag. "Please, I don't know what falling out your father might have had with my client, but please, it is very, very important that we speak with Ms. Moon." She ground her teeth a little before she spoke again. "I'm not really supposed to say what this is all in regards too, but Sophia Harlow passed away two years ago. Her Will states that if her daughter couldn't be found within the allotted time that the estate would be donated instead of passed on to the family. And that time is up at the end of this week."
Tiny fists clenched and Buster stared at her in disbelief. "Mom died?" His voice was soft and strained, shock from finding out in such a callous manner only compounding the pain from hearing that it happened so long ago.
The llama frowned at that, shifting back and forth uncomfortably on her pink high heels. "I'm terribly sorry Mr. Moon, I had no idea Ms. Harlow had raised you as well. Were you close?"
Old pain mixed with new and the small koala took a couple of deep breaths to center himself, ignoring the soft murmurs of comfort from behind him. "No, we weren't. Mom didn't approve of my life choices."
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry Mr. Moon... Our parents generation didn't always handle gay people in the best of manners." Janice shifted her bag awkwardly, far out of her comfort and depth. Not too mention all of the confidentially clauses she was breaking right now by doing this in front of all of these people who weren't Ashley Moon.
Buster made a low sound in the back of his throat and had to cover his face to stop himself from yelling. "I'm not gay." Why was it people always thought he was? Was it the bowtie?? It had better not be his bowtie, it made him look dapper.
"I'm sorry Mr. Moon, I am terribly confused." Janice confessed, finally making eye contact with the people standing behind the koala in varying degrees of upset. They all looked concerned for the short marsupial in front of them and it tugged at her heartstrings ever so slightly to see them clearly hurting for their friend.
Buster took a deeper breath as he dragged his hands down his face slowly, and made sure that he had full eye contact with the paralegal before he spoke. "My parents only had one child. They incorrectly thought I was a girl when I was born and named me Ashley. Since I am very clearly not a girl, the name was ill suited. I picked Buster because it was obviously much better. My Dad had no problem accepting it but Mom... Mom refused to believe that she didn't have a little girl. They ended up getting a divorce, Mom hated that Dad 'indulged' my 'delusions' and Dad... Dad understood. The last time I spoke with my Mom was on the phone eight years ago when I graduated university."
Two long, slow blinks let Janice process what the koala in front of her had said and she raised a brow, partially in disbelief and partially in the faint hope that this would be dealt with. While it wasn't any concern of hers if this was true and the koala got the estate -they would be paid regardless- the Executor to Sophia Harlow's Will was adamant that they found Ashley Moon, to the point that it was borderline harassment over how much they were contacted. "Well, if that is the case, then I need to speak with you in private Ms. Moon reg-"
"-MISTER Moon." Buster cut her off, teeth gritted to stop himself from yelling.
"But you just said-"
"-I just went over how I am not a woman. It is not a hard concept MS. Kowal." Buster's voice had an edge to it now, his temper slowly starting to get the better of him. He let out a little disgruntled sound and fought the urge to massage his temples. "We will continue this discussion upstairs in my office." When the woman hesitated he hoped down beside her to lead the way to the back and up into the offices. "This way ma'am."
Janice followed in a slight huff. The amount of paper work she was going to need for this to go through was going to be astronomical. Ugh, which meant more prep-work for her and the other paralegal that was assigned to this case to get it all in order for the actual lawyer that was handling the Will.
Once Buster and the paralegal were gone the silence that had descended on the singers lifted with explosive chatter. One voice cut over better than the others, stunning them into a moment of confused silence. "I don't get it? Wot's wrong with the name Ashley?"
"It's a girl's name Johnny, and if what we all heard is correct, Mr.Moon is a trans-man." Rosita explained gently with the other-worldly patience that only a mother of twenty-five could have.
"Yeah, I got tha' bit, but I mean, wot's wrong with Ashley? Innit a bloke's name?" Johnny looked at the other's, taking in their stark looks of disbelief. "Innit?"
"No..." Ash said slowly, as if she wanted to be sure that she had the young gorilla's full attention when she went over this. "Ashley is definitely a girl's name. Actually it's my full name." Which was painful for her to admit and she sure didn't blame Mr.Moon for changing it, it was a terrible name.
"Wot? Tha's so weird. Ashley's a bloke's name. One of my dad's guy friends is named Ashley." Johnny rubbed his hand against the back of his head, feeling silly arguing over this.
"So, apparently over in the UK Ashley is more commonly a boy's name and was originally a male name. Where as here it's almost exclusively a girl's name." Meena spoke softly, reading from her phone where she had quickly googled the name.
Johnny made a face at that. "Americans are weird sometimes." There were more than a few times where he had thought this, but never over something like a name.
"Poor Buster." Gunter murmured, his normally almost fanatically upbeat voice somber as he looked stage left where the stairs to the office were.
Rosita rubbed the back of her neck and sighed softly. "I'm going to go grab some tea and maybe a few cookies. He'll probably be at least an hour with that woman." Janice was not in her good books right now, callousness aside, the misgendering of Buster was past rude and she wanted a few minutes to calm herself down. It wasn't something she spoke of often but she'd had a sister who had been trans as well and had committed suicide when they were both in University. It was nearly fifteen years ago but the memory of it all was still painful.
"I'll come with you." Meena murmured, going over and picking up her backpack and bringing Rosita's purse back with her. "I don't really feel like practicing anymore right now." Not that they had been practicing particularly hard before the interruption but still. Her ears folded down to cover part of her face, uncomfortable with everything that had just happened. "Ready?"
"Ready." Rosita smiled up at her and patted her arm reassuringly as they headed out, leaving the rest of the crew on the stage.
The walk to the cafe was spent silent, and while it wasn't the closest one, it was of a better quality. Rosita ordered enough for everyone, picking up a few sweets other than cookies as well as the drinks. A strong cup of coffee for herself, chai for Gunter and Meena, hot chocolate for Ash and earl grey tea for both Buster and Johnny. They had all taken turns coming to the little cafe and that was the default order unless anyone spoke up to say otherwise. Of course Eddie and Ms. Crawly had their own orders, an overly complicated latte order and a simple cappuccino respectively, though the cappuccino was only if Ms. Crawly was feeling 'fancy' as she put it. It brought a smile to Rosita's face thinking about it, lifting her spirits momentarily.
Between the walk to the cafe and back plus the time spent inside, ordering and waiting for the drinks it was a little over an hour gone by the time they made it back to the theatre.
"I'll make sure the rest of the paperwork is faxed this evening Mr. Moon." They caught Janice saying at the doors, just as she was leaving. Buster nodded at that and let the two singers in as he saw the llama out, making sure to lock the door behind her.
Rosita frowned at Mr. Moon's slumped shoulder and down-turned ears. She plucked out his tea, one sugar, two cream and held it out silently to him, smiling when it was gently taken and cradled against his chest.
"Are you ok Mr. Moon?" Meena spoke up hesitantly, clutching the bag of cookies and pastries like a shield.
He smiled at her tiredly, thankful that the young elephant hadn't called him Ashley or Ms. Moon, though he didn't really want to deal with everything, it would be better than letting it fester. "I'll be ok."
"Ok... Just... we're here, if, if you need us, ok?" Her ears curled over her face and she tried to keep her voice level as she continued. "I... When, when we found out about my dad, it... the Service man didn't handle it much better than that lady did." She still remembered the blunt words, the way her mother had clung to the door frame and sobbed. "He was in the military..." She shrugged, turning and hiding a bit more as her throat felt like it was closing up on her.
"Oh Meena..." Rosita's voice was gentle and she put a hand on her back comfortingly.
The tea was held a little tighter at that and Buster's smile faded. "Thanks Meena... I... my mom and I weren't exactly on the best of terms, but still..." It was hurtful that none of her family had reached out to him, it wasn't like they didn't know who he was. Maybe they were just upset that they hadn't been named in her Will.
"She still could have handled that much better." There was a firm fire in Rosita's voice, her posture rigid. "In many, many ways." She was tempted to file a complaint on the koala's behalf but it likely wouldn't do any good.
The rest of the troop had ambled down the aisle and into the lobby from the stage, having seen them all standing together and not wanting to be left out. Drinks were taken and passed out as well as the treats. Cookies were nibbled at in silence, no one wanting to break the almost awkward atmosphere.
"Eddie knew, before I mean." Buster finally murmured from behind his tea, not looking at any of them as he shifted awkwardly in place.
"You're still just Buster Moon to us, slightly annoying director and producer." Ash teased casually, bumping the short man with a shoulder, mindful of her long quills. There was soft laughter and a murmur of agreeance from the others as they watched on.
He smiled faintly at that and bumped back. "Good to know."
"Buster." Rosita's voice was firm again, wanting to be sure that she had the other's full attention as she looked down at him. "If they give you any trouble with the Will or any of that let me know, alright? Norman's a lawyer." She explained, shouldering her purse a bit better now that the drinks and treats were almost done.
"I- thank you Rosita." Buster almost put up a token protest but settled and smiled behind his tea. "Alright." He breathed deeply and tried to put his game face on. "It's gotten much later than I would like to begin anything, so like my dad used to say-"
"Get a good night's rest and do a great day's work tomorrow!" The crew shouted and laughed, happy to see a stunned smile form on Buster's face.
"And dream big dreams." Buster relaxed, unlocking the door to let them all out since they were all at the main entrance. "See you guys tomorrow." They filtered out and he relocked the door behind them, smiling faintly to himself. He still had a lot to do, but he felt a thousand times better knowing that in the eyes of his employees, his friends, that nothing had changed.