Ballad

Name: Ballad Giocoso
Gender: Male
Pronouns: He/Him
Species: Candyfloss
Clan: Sigma
Flavour: Honeyfloss
Age: 31
Birthday: December 25th
Height: 2'8
Orientation: Straight
Occupation: Musician
Lives in: Travels

Ballad was born into a family of music-loving floss in Caila Florent, Mu. Everyone in his family played at least one instrument or sang with a joyful heart and the voice of an angel. Naturally, Ballad himself followed suit; becoming a music prodigy early on in school, being part of the local choirs, joining his middle and high school concert bands, and continuing his passion into his post-secondary studies. 

After graduating, he moved to Aime City for a change of scenery and to enroll in a music school for his undergraduate studies, spending two years there focusing on the classical and jazz genres, before transferring to another music school in Zhōngyāng City in Beta, where he finished his last two undergrad years studying the traditional music and instruments of the Beta culture. He took a great interest in both his learning there, as well as sightseeing, being lucky to have gotten to soak in the splendor of the clan’s architecture in the years before the war with Alpha wreaked havoc on the city’s beautiful landscape. 

After being encouraged by some of his professors and other acquaintances he’d met on his educational travels, he decided to broaden his horizons as a musician even further, deciding to branch out into learning more on genres such as pop, rock, and R&B while attempting a masters degree in New Hendrix, Phi for the next four years. There, he met a classmate who, while wildly different in both personality, style, and musical interests, he got along with surprisingly well. The two of them worked on assignments together that often ended in them blending Ballad’s traditional classical tastes with his classmate’s tastes in R&B, Gothic, and Alternative music. The projects they created together had mixed results, but was still fun for the both of them to experiment with, and they eventually managed to create pieces that had a unique style while showcasing both of their identities, and actually sounded pretty decent.

Before finishing their final school year, the two friends decided to venture out and took a year off to travel across Caramella together - studying songs, instruments, and dances from various cultures, including making two-month-long stops in Autryville, Gamma, Storlocke and Great Arnor, Delta, Knus Port, Psi, Willow Villa and Little Ledenets, Chi, Iatrikó Loutró and Póli ton Archaíon, Omega, and Arcoíris Grande, Omicron. While there, Ballad also took time from his regular studies to help teach vocal lessons to newly-turned brittle-twizzles who were still learning to master their new set of vocal chords, as well as learning about the acoustics of cave environments in relation to music in the Omegan caves.

After finishing his studies, Ballad joined a well-known orchestra group that travels across Caramella to perform concerts and record albums. While on breaks, he takes on side gigs with smaller jazz, folk, blues, and polka bands in Mu, Phi, and Psi to earn additional money, as well as doing charity events, such as participating in a local choir during the Chioni Festival. More recently, he’s begun putting out his own work, such as cover albums of his solo instrumental pieces, and writing songs with lyrics for the first time. Since words aren’t really his strong suit, he chooses to take his time and put a lot of care and revisions into his craft. 

Other Info:

• Has learned to play over a dozen different instruments, including the piano, organ, viola, lyre, button accordion, archlute, cittern, piccolo, ocarina, flugelhorn, piccolo trombone, hammered dulcimer, glockenspiel, timpani, harmonica, and hardanger fiddle. He can also play the banjo, but he keeps it a secret, playing it only for himself in private
• Ballad is quiet and reserved, sometimes coming off as cold or unfriendly. He likes to let his instruments be his voice
• He’s contemplative, reflective, and likes to think logically in most situations, trying to remain polite and non-confrontational
• He likes to stay clean and dress sharp, favouring sleek, formal clothes and a polished look to casual, unkempt, and especially slovenly ensembles
• Because he travels often, he likes to keep his possessions to a minimum, but is still materialistic and enjoys finer, simplistic luxury items
• He’s a romantic that enjoys hiking to see beautiful scenery, wildlife, and architecture, watching emotional theatre plays, and going to art galleries
• Hates crowds, arguing, and loud noise that isn’t musical. This often includes rambunctious small children
• His non-music hobbies include ice fishing, chess, wine tasting, and wood carving. He also tried knitting once, having made several ragged scarves before leaving the hobby alone
• He keeps a small collection of his favourite carvings of little wooden animals and stylized handmade woodwind instruments 
• Winter is his favourite season
• He got into the habit of smoking for a short while, before quitting so as not to ruin his lungs and prevent him from playing or singing at peak performance level
  
  

Some things about the species: 
- Candyfloss do not have noses, fingernails, eyelashes (except honeyfloss), breasts, or any visible genitalia (they can, however, have decorative fake nails and eyelashes)
- Candyfloss have four arms and four digits on their hands and feet (except sourfloss, which have three digits, and honeyfloss, which have six arms)
- The soul gems on their forehead should never be covered by hair, clothes, or accessories unless that Floss has been outcasted from their clan.
Candyfloss are a closed species by Tenshilove.