Christian Gallagher

"Find one song A song about love Glory from the soul of a young man A young man Find the one song Before the virus takes hold Glory like a sunset One song To redeem this empty life Time flies And then - no need to endure anymore Time dies"

ATTRIBUTES

Specialties:
Charisma: Inviting
Appearance: Rebellious
Performance: Music

Languages Spoken:
English

Backgrounds:
Allies: His ally is Maureen Cohen, a woman who works security at various clubs around town. She helps him find gigs if his usual clubs fold, and has stood up for him on a couple occassions when he's gotten himself in trouble with folks. She's a fairly intimidating person.

Contacts: Christian's contact is his brother, Adam Gallagher. He's a drug dealer, and is able to hook Christian up with most anything he needs...including AZT off the streets if he can't get it.

Description: 
Young and hip. He's one of the beautiful creatures, no doubt about it. Upon first glance, his age could be estimated at the mid-twenties. He's got the rebel feel to him...hair a soft brown, falling to the shoulders of his well-worn leather jacket. He has about a day's growth on his face, just enough to be a bit scratchy, underneath soft blue eyes. He could hardly be called big...maybe 5'10, and weight 160 tops. The leather jacket sits over a T-Shirt that reads "1f u c4n r34d th1s u r34lly n33d t0 g37 l41d" and an olive button-down. Blue jeans and an old pair of sneakers finish the look, one that says "I don't take much time...'cause I don't need to." And it's true, he looks good anyway. A small chain rests around his neck, a single gold hoop in his left ear. (Fame 1: Professional DJ.  Check Rich and Famous for Details)  http://www.ravyns-nest.com/images/Christian.jpg

Weapons:
He is usually unarmed; however he does have a switchblade knife (Str+1 Lethal) if needed.

Equipment:
 

History:
Ever feel like you had it all, then watch it fall on top of you? Yeah. That's me.

This is my life. The remixed version.

Growing up wasn't so bad. Here in New York...well, there's not so much you can say about life in New York. Because saying "Here in New York" is like saying "Here in the United States." There's so many facets to New York, that to use the stereotype often just isn't accurate.

I grew up in Staten Island. Nice, residential neighborhood. Me, my older brother Adam, and my mother, Joanne. My dad was a cop...died in the line of duty, shot during a routine traffic stop. I know it crushed my mother, but she never showed it around us. She worked hard, waitressing in nightclubs, pulling in enough money for us to stay afloat. The money we got from dad's death allowed us to keep the house, but times were always a little tight. It was okay, though...despite that, we made it through.

My dad's death affected my brother far more then me. I was four when he died, so I never really knew him. Adam was eight, and he did. He was never...quite right after that. He was always in trouble in school...getting into fights, not doing well in grades, no matter how bright he was...and he was.. He just fell in with the wrong crowd, the teachers said. Started smoking, getting into drugs, stuff like that. Adam dropped out of school when he was 15, and left home. My mother never saw him again.

In contrast to my brother, I lived life on the straight and narrow. I studied hard, did my best, and tried to make my future the best it could be. My mom wanted me to be happy is all...and not to go on the self-destructive path Adam did. Somehow, my chosen vocation didn't reassure her, despite my clean life.

Music had always fascinated me. I spent a lot of time waiting for my mom to get off work in the nightclubs she worked at, and the dance beats were something I quickly fell in love with. When I grew up, I started doing my own mixes...and surprise surprise, I was damn good at it. I started deejaying friends parties, and did school dances. I got on well with people, and my talents, charm, and looks made me popular in high school. Class Validictorian...I had it all. Including Jessica.

Jessica Lacey Sparks. She was the most incredible thing at Susan E Wagner High School. Smart, beautiful, witty. She was everything someone could want. And she wanted me. We fell in love our senior year...and just like that, we had each other. Everything was great...better then great. Everything was wonderful. We graudated first and second in our class...me first, her second. And just like that, our future was going to be amazing.

Jessica went to Columbia University, while I started working in clubs. She was studying to be a lawyer, and was going to work ifor Legal Aid...I was deejaying to my heart's content. We were doing quite well...Jessica's family was very well-off, and what's more, we were in love. We got married six months after we were out of high school. It was all good...until Adam came back into my life.

I didn't think things would go like this when he first called me, broke and destitute and needing help. He was hooked on the drugs he was selling...cocaine, mainly. He was my brother, and I understood him like other people didn't. Jessica argued with me, but in the end, we took him in, and tried to help him. We got him into rehab...got him clean. He started working with me in the clubs. He wasn't as good as me, but we got by on my talent.

Two years went by like this. Jessica was still in school, but working as an intern...I'd developed quite the following. we were doing well. So well, we didn't see what was going on under our noses.

Adam...just wasn't cutting it. He didn't have the talent I did. He came to me one night and told me that he just couldn't do it. He couldn't keep doing something he wasn't good at...but it was going to be okay. He had his own ways of making money. I nodded and told him it was fine.

Things continued to go okay for a while...or at least, I thought they did. I was working a lot, and Jessica was too...we didn't see each other. We wanted to have a child, but barely even had time to make one, much less raise it, and we weren't going to make another latchkey kid. So we held off. I was blind. I didn't see how much that hurt her...and how she was starting to look more ragged. She wasn't sleeping much anymore. Working so much. I didn't realize what it was until the day I came home to find her and Adam doing lines in our bed.

Life after that was a blur. The divorce was quick, and I won quite the settlement. Used to a certain standard of living, the lawyer said. She caused the end of the marriage, not me. I got a good alimony settlement. I didn't care. My life was a disaster...a lie. I worked in the clubs...and eventually, I tried to lose myself in them. Random encounters in bathrooms, hits of ecstacy here and there. Eventually, some harder things. My love and my brother dragged me toward their path without even meaning to.

You know, it's funny, the way the good ones always get punished worse for doing the things that the bad ones do. It's like, if you're virtuous, the fall is that much worse. It was only a year later that I was diagnosed. HIV. What the fuck, man? Jessica and Adam are clean bills of health, and I end up condemned? It wasn't fair. It was undeniable, though. Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

To say it was a wake-up call is an understatement. It threw me out of my downward spiral with quite the jolt. I've gotten my career back on track...I'm not showing symptoms yet. I've even reconciled a little with Adam. My brother takes a lot of the guilt for what happened...of course, that doesn't mean he's not still married to my ex-wife. He helps me out a little, when I need a hit of X to make it all go away, or AZT if I can't get any.

Through it all is the club life. I live for my music now. And if my life can show others the error of their ways...so much the better.