The Ballad of Cassius Basolus: On Cassius Basolus and his history.

Character Name: Cassius Basolus (pronounced Cash-us)

 

Character Age: 19

 

Character Species: Halfling

 

Hair color: Cassius has a thick and curly head of untameable mousey dark brown hair.

 

Eye color: Eyes the colour of warm honey, or amber

Cassius Basolus is a bright and lively young halfling male who stands at roughly three and a half feet tall. He’s tanned from a solid years worth of traveling under the sun with bright honey coloured eyes and an untameable mop of mousey brown hair. His wide smile reveals a chipped incisor from a youthful indiscretion where he fell from one of the orchard trees his family keeps. Aside from a smattering of freckles on his face and neck, his broad calloused hands have a slew of small silvery skinned scars on his fingers and palms; a testament to long practice learning to juggle knives. 

A soul of good cheer prone to jokes and tumbling, juggling and banter. Cassius is almost unable to sit still, always brimming and enthused with a nervous sort of energy he expels physically. He tends to make friends fast and easily, but ultimately superficially. He grew up in a plain and small farming community in a painfully boring household. With nothing beyond a most rudimentary education Cassius longed for more to his life than the endless cycle of caring for the trees of their orchard and harvesting with the seasons. It was the constant tedium of tending to the family orchards that he picked up juggling, having originally learned from (and thus terribly bruised) no small number of the apples over the years. 

 

Thus when a wandering troupe of performers trundled through their farming community in time for the harvest festival it was big news amd quite the event. Cassius couldn’t help but be excited and often hung around the troop on the days leading up to the event. That was were Cassius met one of the entertainers, another young halfling man named Lew whose family traveled and worked as troupe members. Over the course of the harvest festivities which lasted about a week, the two young men formed a close friendship which quickly became a fairly tempestuous romance. Near the end Lew confessed that he didn’t want to leave Cassius behind and when Cassius confessed back that he would give anything to travel with Lew and his troupe to see the world with the other man, it seemed only natural that Cassius would run off with Lew and effectively join their traveling circus. Informing his family of his plans was a difficult thing to face, but with Lew by his side he was pleasantly surprised by how well his parents and siblings took the news.

 

For the next year and a half things were wonderful for the new couple. They traveled and lived together, and Cassius joined Lew and his family in their work as a juggler and tumbler. It during this time that Lew and the others helped Cassius shift from juggling balls to knives, and eventually had him start training as a knife thrower; finding Cassius had a natural knack for it. 

Unfortunately that is where the good times ended. As during one of his first performances as a knife thrower  Cassius had an accident, one resulting in a terrible injury to Lew who had volunteered to help his boyfriend. 

 

Cassius isn’t entirely certain what occurred save that he had been bumped into just as he was releasing one of his throwing knives, and it ended up nearly killing his lover. Cassius was understandably distraught over the accident, and accepted all the blame and disregard Lews family had to heap on him. Taking their blame to heart, and broken over having quite possibly killed his beloved Lew Cassius was unable to face their accusations and was kept from seeing Lew for himself by the family. He was only ever told by them that in his brief moments of wakeful lucidity Lew had simply said he never wanted to see Cassius again. 

 

Unknowing that they had lied to him (for Lew had yet to awaken even after the third day after having recieved treatment) Cassius took their words to heart and left the troupe and city in the dead of Night, only hoping to offer his beloved Lew what he had been told the other Halfling wanted. Cassius left behind his pay with a letter for Lew in their shared wagon and took with him only his rucksack, some of his savings, rations and his knives. Though he felt sick towards them, they were a gift from Lew, along with a fine leather bandolier to house them and he could not bear to part from them. 

 

Cassius left, heading in the opposite direction he knew the convoy of performers would eventually be heading. So he began to wander alone, burdened by the loss of home and love he believes he himself caused. 

 

There was a period of time where Cassius considered merely going back home and resigning himself to a life as a fieldhand, but traveling on his own slowly sparked his lust for adventure and travel again, so he continues to wander, though on his own now; making ends meet as he goes working as an entertainer juggling and tumbling. And while he will juggle with them he no longer tosses or throws his knives for entertainment any more.

 

Unknown to Cassius when Lew properly awoke from his healing, the other man was heartbroken to know that his family had driven off his partner with their overprotective accusations and lies, and desperately hopes to reunite with Cassius on the road.