Xavier was not always the dependable professional he is today.

Making him get piano lessons from a young age is his parent's biggest regret, since instead of being a good boy and moulding himself into a flawless vessel for Debussy, Xavier got into doing his own thing. Their second biggest regret was never confiscating the bass guitar he'd secretly saved up for over the course of a frenzied summer. They reasoned they shouldn't be so hard on him since.... well, Xavier was a really sick kid. His twin brother had not survived infancy, and Xavier was not much healthier. It was devastating enough to lose one son, they could not lose two.

His family were not outstandingly rich, but they were not poor either. Xavier only had to do well enough to inherit his father's small electronics business, and he'd be made for life. Still, he was never coddled, or allowed to get complacent. He was driven hard to succeed, and to fill the shoes of the brother who never grew up enough to disappoint them. Perhaps this is the source of his rebellious streak--there's just no competing with the dead.

Xavier never showed an interest in his studies. What he was interested in was music, and, as stereotypically came with it, girls and drugs. The latter on this list landing him a brief stint in juvie where he met a boy who would, for better and worse, go on to become one of the most important people in his life. A haunted autistic coathanger of a kid who everyone called The Heron and everyone was convinced was a serial killer. The two turned out not to live so far away from each other--went to different schools, yeah, but not far enough apart they couldn't just wag class and smoke weed together. He was the only kid who was as voracious for the same kind of music Xave was--they would spend days on end on their musical duels, always challenging each other, always pushing further.

All that was going swimmingly until about the point where other kids were graduating highschool. Xavier was a dropout, but his musical prowess was unignorable, and despite his terrible record, a music uni was willing to give him a chance. This time, Xavier was determined to excel. He had all the skill and drive he needed to prove himself--to finally be good at something... yeah, he was gonna show everyone what he was all about.

And he did! He proved himself a quick study, a reliable session worker, and a great person to hang out with. At the end of his first year, he'd already gotten everything he needed: connections. To his parents chagrin, he dropped out, but it was the best thing for Xavier's musical career, which has since exploded. At last, he was making a name for himself. At last, he was living the dream.

Things weren't so rosy for Heron, who lacked the privilege of a tertiary education, and instead floundered, and developed increasingly terrible drug habits until Xavier took it upon himself to be the intervention--he might have been the only one who could. Xavier would pull his influence to keep Heron in an active band with him, which was a thinly veiled mechanism for keeping him accountable. He was rehabilitated on Xavier's parents dime, given employment in Xavier's father's shop. The gamble paid off--with this support, Heron managed to get his shit together, and his loyalty and subservience to the family was guaranteed for life. And what with Heron's existing affinity for tinkering with electronics, he's a way better employee than Xavier ever could be.

They like to joke that, if you ignore the junkie phase, Heron is the son they actually wanted all along.

Well... whatever! It's not like Xavier's interested in becoming his father's heir. No, his ambitions are much greater than that--he will live a life that most can only dream.

The music industry is hard work. Brutally hard. Sure, you have your hobby bands, your weekend warriors. But to make it a full-time job, you need superhuman grit. There's not a minute in Xavier's day which he can afford to waste--phonecalls, emails, gigs, rehearsals, studio work and transcribing and practice and so much travelling--there is no downtime if he wants to hold his ground.

Of course, he's on top of it. He manages it masterfully, throwing himself into his punishing itinerary with what could almost be construed as gleeful masochism. Sick? Suck it up. Recovering from surgery? Fucking suck it up--if he doesn't, someone else will take his place in an instant. Work like this weeds out all but the most devoted workaholics, and Xavier is precisely that. The rule he lives by is this: The show must go on.

And he makes it look effortless. He's a picture of calm control--you've never once seen him flustered or upset, no matter how hectic things get. What's more, he's never so busy he can't afford to talk to you in a way that makes you feel like you matter. For someone very short on both, Xavier's ceaselessly generous with his time and energy. Everyone knows they can depend on him--if there's work, he'll do it excellently. If things go wrong, he'll find a way to manage it. The reputation he's constructed for himself is pristine, and he's never failed to live up to it.

This arrangement is perfect, since if he's always busy then he simply never has time to fall apart. You're never lonely when you have four gigs in one day, and there is no energy to spare resenting anything about your life when you've got eight dozen songs to learn in a week.

• Performing. Obviously
• Crazy fucking jazz

• Not being busy
• Shitty mic stands

Xavier is outstandingly talented on an array of instruments. Bass guitar? Upright bass? Keys? Guitar? Vocals? You got it, and not only that but he'll juggle three of those things at once for some gigs.

Holy shit. There's just something about the way this guy speaks--holds himself, presents himself--that makes you like him. Xavier is a real people person... and cunning manipulator. Good thing he's a muso instead of a cult leader.

• 5'8" tall which does class him as a manlet. He's only upset about it because it means he doesn't have huge hands.
• Lives with Dannika, a long-time friend with benefits and fellow musician. The house is one of several belonging to her parents. Nice score, Xave!
• May or may not have a little bitty bit of a messiah complex.
• Nobody likes handshakes as much as this guy
• Spends 10mins shaving with an old timey safety razor (instead of 2mins with a cartridge one like a normal person) every morning because he enjoys the "timeless, masculine ritual"
• Unfortunately for his musician's budget, he is into niche fragrances. Always scavenging free samples.
• Drives an old Volvo Estate which would look exactly like a hearse if it wasn't bright red.
• He's mostly Fillipino, but his heritage is quite mixed.
• Smoked when he was younger, because he hated himself it made him look cool. No longer smokes because he simply does not have time to get cancer :)
• Despite his apparently strong sense of fashion, his tastes in home decor are shockingly kitsch.