Charlie


 * "Chaz" redirects here. For the LG15: The Last character "Chas", see Chasina.

Charlie is Kate's best friend and former roommate in the KateModern series. She lives in East London, where Charlie works for a P.R. Company. Kate believes she is a bit mad, but she excuses this because Charlie introduced her to Vegemite.

Background
Charlie grew up in the suburbs in Melbourne, Australia. While she was there, she dated a few guys whom she called "boring mincers." Since moving to London, she has let her hair down a bit, and enjoys partying and dancing. Her favorite foods are tomato sauce and sangas. She has a sister named Rose and a daughter named Kim, who is currently being raised by Rose.

Helping Kate
From the beginning, Charlie has looked out for Kate, trying to keep her away from guys like "Creepy Steve." When Gavin contacted her with information regarding Kate's safety, she rushed down to his office. However, the two ended up locked in the building, and had to rely on fans to help save Kate. While trapped in the office, Charlie slept with Gavin. Later, she believed this encounter may have caused her to become pregnant. Luckily, though, she discovered that it was- as the video was titled- a 'false alarm'. Charlie and her friends then went to see the movie "Disturbia," and she quickly became obsessed with the starring actor, Shia LaBeouf. She went to the Regency Grand Hotel, in an attempt to meet up with him, but was stopped by Gavin, who instead asked her to be his girlfriend. She accepted, and the two began a close relationship.

Later, Kate was contacted by her blood specialist, who had faked his death. He asked Kate to meet him in the woods, and Charlie came along to help protect her friend. She quickly became scared for her life and asked that if she didn't return, her niece Kim would be told how much she was loved. Luckily, both girls got home safely. Kate was soon invited to feature her art at a prestigious gallery, where she and Charlie witnessed a shooting. Afterwards, Charlie convinced Kate to take a short vacation to Devon. On returning to London, Kate assaulted Charlie and disappeared after a meeting with Michelle Clore.

Despite this inexplicable behavior, Charlie attempted to get help from Kate's friends to find her, but was met with much resistance. Along the way, she learned that Michelle Clore was an Elder in the Hymn of One, but was reassured when Dr. William Griffin told her that there was still time to save Kate before she could be "Ceremonied." This fact was later verified by Steve. Shortly after Steve realized this connection, the same van that Kate got into with Michelle Clore began following him. He called Charlie and Tariq and asked them to come see, but things quickly got violent with the Watcher who had been driving the van. In order to save his friends, Tariq hopped in the newly-vacated van and ran over the Watcher. He, Charlie, and Steve then took off in the van, in which they ended up finding a laptop that potentially contained information about Kate's whereabouts. The trio camped out in the woods, examining the materials left in the van, hoping to find any information about Kate. After days of no success, Charlie called Dudley to ask him for his help. However, that ended badly after Dudley pulled a gun, which resulted in the group fleeing from the van. However, one good thing came of it; Charlie received a text message from Kate. Charlie went home, and along with Gavin, met up with Kate, who informed Charlie that she did not want to be found. This angered Charlie, who had just spent a week living in a van searching for her friend. She stormed off, but later realized that Kate was still brainwashed by Michelle Clore and vowed to continue trying to help her friend.

Charlie's spirits were lifted when she received a message from Spencer Gilman in Los Angeles about a serum she could use to make Kate trait negative. Charlie received the serum, but was attacked by Dudley, who wanted it for his own purposes. Kate mysteriously reappeared in time to save Charlie from Dudley, but ended up pushing him out the window in the process. Kate became distraught and begged Dr. William Griffin to leave the two of them alone. Thinking she was putting an end to the craziness in her friend's life, Charlie injected Kate with the trait negative serum. However, Kate began to cry, apologized, and ran off, leaving Charlie bewildered. When Charlie tried to look for Dudley, he has been taken away mysteriously by a black van; she has reported on the same video that Kate has killed Dudley because he tried to attack her.

Things Fall Apart
Since then, Charlie stopped looking for Kate. This is most likely due to growing problems at her job because her colleagues started with mocking her vlogging. Her boss nearly fired her for vlogging on the job. Furthermore, Kate left without having paid the rent for the month, which caused Charlie to get evicted. Seeing Charlie in need, Gavin quickly re-let the flat and offered to share it with Charlie. Meanwhile, Charlie managed to redeem herself at work by putting together a campaign for Pantene.

Unfortunately, Gavin's mistreatment of his employee, Lee, caused Lee to steal the software Gavin and Tariq had created. This culminated in a massive London-wide treasure hunt to recover it. Charlie and Julia, who were becoming fast friends, received the final clue to the software. In the video, Charlie was forced to kiss Lee in order to have him return Gavin's software. Lee was then beaten by Terrence, Gavin's silent partner, and Charlie stole the software from the two of them. Terrence chased after Charlie, but the software was eventually lost to a Watcher. Gavin became increasingly depressed over the loss of his software, and Charlie was forced to have him move to another room in the flat.

Shortly after the hunt for Gavin's software, a reporter (Patricia Nielson) had contacted Charlie in order to make a documentary about the Hymn of One and Dr. Griffin's faked death. At first, Charlie refused to work with her, but she eventually agreed, provided that reporter gave her a copy of all of the master tapes. Charlie was taken to meet with Dr. William Griffin in order to positively identify him and get more information about the trait positive girls. Dr. Griffin gave a list of all of the girls he had experimented on, who were in grave danger, to Patricia. The list eventually passed to Charlie, along with the documentary's master tapes, when Patricia was fired. Charlie then began a manhunt for any of the remaining girls on the list, in order to help save them. The list was then stolen by Terrence, who believed it to be the stolen software. With the list, Gavin schemed with Terrence to trade the list of girls' names for the real stolen software with the Order. This caused Charlie to leave Gavin.

With no place else to go, Charlie moved into her office and began receiving messages from a mysterious texter. Fearing that they meant trouble, Charlie considered asking Gavin for his help, but decided to meet up with the person on her own. Much to her suprise, the texter wasn't a thug, it was Steve, who had tracked down a long-missing Kate. Kate, who had been living with Michelle Clore all this time, seemed brainwashed and refused to listen to her friends' pleas to leave Michelle behind. Finally, Steve showed Kate a clip of Michelle talking about her intentions to use Kate for the Ceremony, and Kate agreed to come home with Charlie. The three, along with Gavin, had a nice Christmas together, during which Kate ended up finding out about Dr. Griffin's list of trait positive girls he had genetically altered. The next day, Kate took off, leaving Charlie and Steve to frantically search for her. With the help of Patricia Nielson, Charlie and Steve tracked down Kate, who had been living on the streets, and tried to convince her to come home. Kate pretended to agree, but ran away before they could stop her. The next day, Kate posted a message saying that she wanted to help the trait positive girls she had learned about, and asked Charlie not to try to find her anymore. This, along with another fight with Gavin, led Charlie to board a plane to Australia and visit her daughter, who had been raised by her sister all this time.

Mourning Kate
Unfortunately, Charlie's trip was cut short by the untimely death of Kate. Charlie was devastated by the loss of her friend, but found a bit of comfort in the arms of Steve. However, this comfort was short-lived, as the two turned on a radio, which announced that a Hymn of One symbol had been found at the scene of Kate's murder. Steve panicked and ran. He was later arrested in front of Charlie, but let go due to lack of evidence. Later in the week, Charlie hosted a very touching memorial service for Kate.

The next day, Charlie returned to work, where she had received a promotion, but found that she had trouble concentrating. Steve came and visited her at the office and requested Charlie's help in solving Kate's murder, for he feared the police were no longer interested. Charlie agreed to help as best she could. This did not come to fruition, however, as Steve seemed to give up on Charlie's help once he teamed up with Rupert Van Helden.

Charlie since ran a very successful campaign for Cadbury Creme Eggs. Following this success, she bought a car, which she decided to utilize in her next campaign for JustIncredible.TV by touring the country, filming new media, and spreading the word about the channel. While on the road, Charlie discovered that Michelle Clore was displaying Kate's work in Edinburgh, and she went to confront her. Michelle denied any connection between herself and Kate's murder, and suggested that Steve may have had something to do with it.

Shortly before leaving on the trip, Charlie acquired a new roommate and (to her dismay) his freeloading friend with no regard for anything in the apartment. Upon returning from the trip, Charlie finds the flat obscenely messy from parties that Kyle and Niall had thrown while she was away. She discovers that Kyle had lied to her during the interview, and she threw him out, later discovering that the neighbors had complained about the noise and she was evicted as well.

Wary of Steve after her encounter with Michelle Clore, Charlie cut off contact with him, and refused to let him in the apartment. Though she went back to work to run a radio show, she begins investigating a possible suspect: Tim, Kate's ex-boyfriend with a infamous temper. Before she can find him, she is visited by Steve and Terrence, but was "protected" by the male workers in the office. The next day, Charlie and Gavin go to Brighton Beach to look for Tim, but almost miss him after getting distracted by a fair. Though it turns out to be a dead end, Charlie and Gavin see a newspaper front-page article about a series of missing girls.

Protecting Lauren
Charlie then buries herself in her work and doing research on the missing girls. At the same time, Steve and Terry go to the address of the last girl that went missing, and discover that her younger sister underwent the same drug trial as her sister. Charlie and Julia attempt to talk to Lauren, and manage to convince her to sit down and talk with them. However, Steve and Terry show up and, spooked, Lauren attacks the group with a baseball bat. Despite this, she visits Charlie a few days later, but is unconvinced by Charlie's explanation (though she eventually accepts it).

During this time Charlie receives missed calls on a regular basis. Eventually, she discovers that the calls are coming from Kate's cell phone (as she never erased Kate from her contacts, and it showed up on her Caller ID). At long last she manages to answer it, but is greeted with the audio of Kate's murder, upsetting her greatly. She then sends a message to the killer, telling them that she'll hunt them down.

Soon after, Charlie sets a plan in motion to pretend to be Lauren so that the kidnappers will try to take her. But when she gets to Lauren's apartment, she finds Steve and Terry putting her in the trunk of their car. Anxious to get help, she goes to Julia's flat, only to catch her in bed with Rupert Van Helden. Appalled, Charlie leaves. Taking advice from the chat, she goes to find Gavin at the pub in order to get his assistance. While there, they run into Terry who tells them that Steve is behind the murders and that he's going to kill Lauren, and leads them to an abandoned bunker where she is being held.

When checking Terry's bag for a flash light, Charlie finds Kate's cell phone, and immediately gets a confession from Terrence, who attempts to harm them. After escaping the bunker, Charlie and Gavin run into Steve and Lauren, who have escaped from Terrence as well. Wanting vengeance, Steve goes back into the bunker to find Terrence, pursued by Charlie. Instead of Terrence, they encounter Kate's Watcher and Michelle's Shadow, who chase them around the bunker. While running, Steve and Charlie find the blood-stained room where Terrence committed his murders (which still contained one body). Deeply disturbed, Steve and Charlie leave and go to Steve's apartment. There, Charlie and Steve confess their feelings and share a kiss.

As Charlie left, she was abducted by Terrence, who threatened to rape her unless the community could find out where he had taken her. It is quickly figured out to be Gavin's Aunt Joan's house. Lee, Gavin, Lauren, and Steve go to the house and find Charlie and Aunt Joan tied up in one of the bedrooms. They soon discover that it's a trap, and that Terrence has doused the house in gasoline, and encounter him outside. However, he is unable to light the match as he is chased off by the Watcher and Shadow.

Once the danger is over, Gavin confronts Charlie about her intimacy with Steve, and orders her to leave. Afterwards, Steve informs her that he needs to rediscover himself before he could have a relationship, leaving Charlie crying on the sidewalk.

Starting Over
After the traumatic events, Charlie barricades herself in her bedroom (in the new flat she shares with Lee and Lauren). Lee eventually manages to coax her out with the lure of "Happy Food". However, she is dismayed by Lauren's desire to avenge her sister's death and help the Los Angeles group fight the Order. She is also annoyed that Steve hasn't said anything to her about the night they shared. When Jonas arrives, Charlie decides to use him to make Steve jealous.

While Steve is Away in America, Lee posts a blog saying that Charlie will be working at Saturday of Radio 1’s Big Weekend. To prepare for the event, Charlie has to work overtime, and ends up missing a dinner party that Lauren and Lee had planned to get Charlie to deal with her love life. At the event itself, Charlie is thrown by the news of what went down the night before, but still manages to show Lee and Lauren around the event.

Julia and Rupert post a video invite for their unity bond on 17 May, and Charlie responds by posting a nasty animation where she depicts Rupert as a demon ready to swallow Julia for dinner, who is saved in the nick of time by Ninja Charlie. Julia is appalled by the video, but still asks Charlie to attend the ceremony. Feeling Guilty, Charlie attends Julia's hen night and apologizes profusely to Julia, who accepts her apology and the two become close again.

After having a bit to drink, Charlie begins letting out the emotions she had been hiding regarding Steve, and is upset more when she thinks that she is ruining Julia's night. However, she brightens up when Gavin arrives, and the two end up making out by the end of the night. The next day at Julia's wedding, Steve hijaks the ceremony to spread Celestial Network propaganda, and Charlie ends up leaving with Steve, believing that he needs her. Gavin is upset by this, and ends up breaking furniture in a drunken rage. Charlie becomes increasingly concerned over Gavin's erratic behavior, and his belief that Kate is still alive and is causing all the problems in his life. Charlie and Steve set out to find Gavin, and find him by Kate's grave. After Gavin tackles a woman whom he believes is Kate, Charlie makes him seek professional help.

Charlie turned her attention back to work, and hires Lee as her new assistant in order to handle the workload of the Skittles Project. She and Lee decide to ask for the audiences help, and are pleased by the overwhelming response (although Charlie's isn't thrilled with Lee's submission).

Charlie briefly becomes distracted from her work troubles when Julia returns from her honeymoon with a black eye, fueling speculation that Rupert is abusive. Charlie only encourages the rumors, leading Julia to criticize Charlie need to see something on film in order to believe it. Charlie apologizes, but continues to receive the cold shoulder from Julia.

Dealing with Friends
It is also around this time that Charlie begins dating Steve. However, their first date is cut short by the accompaniment of member's of Steve's new cult, The Celestial Network. Charlie accuses Steve of fooling around with the "two blonde chicks," and leaves angrily. Jeremy, one of the members, turns the camera away during the fight, but Steve scolds him for it, claiming he wants the world to see Charlie's transformation into a devoted member of the Celestial Network. Charlie responds by telling Steve via webcam that she is not going to change anytime soon.

They reconcile, however, and go on another date, where Charlie is once again annoyed by the presence of Celestial Network members (i.e. Jeremy). Charlie questions Steve about what he's trying to achieve with the Celestial Network, making Steve re-evaluate everything he is doing. However, he ultimately decides to stick with the Celestial Network, and it soon becomes known that Charlie has been lending Steve money in order to keep it going. Charlie reaches her breaking point when she comes home to find the Celestial Network meditating in her living room.

Steve apologizes perfusely, and promises to take her on a fun day out with no mention of the Celestial Network. Charlie and Steve invite Lee, Lauren, and Julia to accompany them on their day out, but Julia is unable to make it, and Lee invites Sophie along, making it their first official date. At one point, everyone begins teasing Lauren about her "imaginary" boyfriend, upsetting her and causing her to leave. Upon returning home, Charlie discovers Lauren missing, and sees a video leading her believe that Terrence has kidnapped her. However, Terrence resurfaces and denies this, shifting the blame to The FTO and Lauren herself. Charlie, Lee and Steve begin frantically searching for Lauren, but take a step back after Lee is attacked by Michelle Clore's Shadow. Lauren contacts Charlie a week after she helps The FTO kill Michelle Clore, and Charlie immediately rushes to her side. She accepts Lauren's apology, and vows to protect her from danger, even at the cost of her job.

At the start of the next week, Charlie notices a Michelle Clore's Shadow in Julia's video. Concerned, she and Lauren look for Julia and eventually find her at her father's flat. Charlie and Lauren manage to eavesdrop on Julia, Michelle Clore's Shadow, and Rupert having a conversation, and after seeing Rupert acting violently towards Julia, leave. The next day, Charlie sees a video sent to her by Julia which shows Rupert being extremely violent to her, and so Charlie vows to make Rupert pay. She goes to Steve but when she finds him sees that he is still doing work on the Celestial Network. Her anger at this persuades Steve to end the Network, and on the same night Charlie, along with Steve, Lauren and Toe, Lee's brother, leave for Paris to find Julia. Along the way Charlie suggests that they are being followed by another car but, even though she almost runs Terrence over, the group make it to Paris safely.

Winning and Losing
When the group go to the meeting point Julia suggested, they find that Julia is not there. In a short space of time, both Toe and Steve leave the group, leaving Charlie and Lauren on their own. Charlie manages to get in touch with Julia on a payphone, but Julia assures her that no person by her name lives there, and instead gives her a short message, which Lauren suggests could be code. She is correct, and community members locate a Gabcast account with a message from Julia instructing Charlie to pick her up outside of the unveiling of Michelle Clore's Last Work while Rupert gives the speech. While Charlie and Lauren wait in the car, they are reunited with Steve, who had followed Julia's bodyguard to the event. They finally spot Julia exiting the building, but her bodyguard is with her, and they drive away. Charlie follows her to an apartment complex downtown where they are assaulted by a group of street thugs who play keep-away with the camera. Ironically enough, Julia's bodyguard comes to their rescue, and leads the K-Team to where Julia and Toe are being held.

The next day, Charlie is arrested after authorities discover Michelle Clore's last artwork stashed in the back of her Aygo. It is later revealed that Julia had faked her kidnapping in order to frame Charlie by planting a duplicate in her car, while Julia and Rupert made off with the real one. Charlie is extremely upset by Julia's betrayal, and vows that she won't get away with it. Lauren is even angrier than Charlie, and decides to give Julia a taste of her own medicine. She attacks Julia's father, and openly taunts Julia on camera. Charlie and the others intervene before Julia arrives, and she and Lee confront the angry couple. Charlie asks why Julia has turned against her friends, and Julia scoffs at the word. Neither Julia nor Rupert take kindly to Charlie's accusations that Rupert doesn't truly love his wife. Julia says that the abuse was part of the scam, but Charlie points out that what they filmed from outside the house was real. Having the last word, Charlie leaves the house with Lee in tow, writing off Julia as a lost cause.

On their way home, the K-Team pass by Rupert's car and discover him inside bleeding from an attack by Michelle Clore's Shadow. They reluctantly take him to the hospital, later learning that the Shadow is holding Julia hostage in order to get Clore's finances. Steve goes off to help Rupert rescue Julia, and Charlie gets a call from Gavin, who had escaped from Grinstead and gone off to an address he found in a file for Kate he had found at the institution. Charlie and the others meet him there to discover that the address is that of Kate's childhood home. There, they meet Kate's mother who tells them about Kate growing up and why she moved to London and changed her name. On their way back to London, Kate's mother calls Charlie and asks her to come back so she can show them something. Gavin and Lee are anxious to get home, so Charlie and Lauren go to the house alone. There, they find Hazel dead and Terrence lurking outside the house. Charlie grabs a sword Hazel had as decoration and uses it to defend herself. She ultimately stabs Terrence, who slowly bleeds to death.

The foursome head back to London where they meet up with Steve and Sophie and celebrate Lauren's birthday. Charlie receives a video message from Julia, who blames Charlie and her friends for the misfortune that has befallen her. Charlie gets upset, and is comforted by Steve, leading Gavin to reveal to Lee that he will be there for Charlie when Steve leaves her for yet another cult. The group decides that videotaping their lives wasn't helping them leave normal lives, so they break the video camera.

Etymology
Charlie is the diminutive or feminine form of Charles. Charles comes from the Germanic name Karl, which was derived from a Germanic word which meant "man". However, an alternative theory states that it is derived from the common Germanic element heri meaning "army, warrior."

Meta
"Tara Rushton"

- I play the character Charlie aka: Chazontoast who is an Australian art student living in London. Charlie isn't just a 'token' Ozzie who busts out a couple of lines about 'throwing shrimps onto the Barbie,' she is a little crazy, outgoing, outspoken, and just 'out'.. As in generally out of the house party girl who is immersing herself in as much London culture as she possibly can. Charlie also has a deeper motherly side to her, which simmers underneath all of the loud behaviour, which makes her an incredibly interesting character to play. Charlie is the type of friend that would be a hoot to spend time with – the one making all of the wisecracks, dancing the craziest, pulling the most outrageous facial expression and talking the loudest even if she is having a conversation with someone sitting right next to her – when I read my script I often find myself laughing out aloud at her shenanigans. I guess that everyone can relate to aspects of Charlies personality in one way or another. She had strengths that we all wish to possess at times and weaknesses that I have definitely felt at times. I love the fact that there is an Australian character in KateModern – even though I'm not from Melbourne originally I can definitely relate to my character's experience of being a foreigner living in London.