Christian

Christian Laurent
Portrayed By	Adrian Grenier
Gender	Male
Date of Birth	August 17th, 1984
Age	23
Zodiac Sign	Leo
Aliases	N/A
Place of Birth	Los Angeles, CA, USA
Current Location	New York City, NY, USA
Occupation	Writer
Known Relatives	Barbara Laurent (mother)
Significant Other	N/A
Known Abilities	???
First Appearance	Talk Like a Pirate Rave

Christian is an up-and-coming writer currently residing in New York City. He is known for his recently published collection of short stories, titled Within a Closed Room, and is an accredited screenwriter for several successful independent films. His is a familiar face within New York's upper-class nightlife.

History

“Models and bottles” – this has been Christian Laurent’s life philosophy for a great part of the past ten years of his life, ever since he was old enough to realize that his was a lifestyle far more privileged than 90% of society and young enough to consider that privilege a justification for hedonism and nonchalance rather than cause for any kind of responsibility or obligation. The only child of big-time corporate attorney Barbara Laurent, of Langdon, Laurent & Torps LLP, Christian spent his youth surrounded by the children of Los Angeles’ elite, the offspring of celebrities and power brokers, the rich and the beautiful. His mother was doting, but rarely available as a parental authority figure due to the sheer amount of hours she spent at the firm, leaving Christian free to indulge himself in all the vices and attractions obtainable to a teen-ager with money and connections. At the age of sixteen, he freely acknowledged and embraced his own bisexuality, discovered one night almost by accident that he was attracted to the male as well as the female gender during a drunken celebration at a close friend’s summer house bash.

Even so, the young playboy-in-the-making was not entirely opposed to academics. Installed from a young age in a series of highly influential, private institutions that basically guaranteed a bright university admission ahead, and clever enough to get by in most of the general subjects with little effort, Christian was a dutiful if not zealous student. He graduated in a timely manner and proceeded onto his college-level studies at the University of Southern California. It was there, after enrolling in an introductory-level creative writing class for fun, that he discovered his life’s passion.

Writing was and still is Christian’s primary joy in life; it revealed to him a surprising aspect of his own nature – that given an emotionally powerful focus to his life, he is capable of dedication, hard work, and ambition. He dabbled in poetry and fiction, attended readings and constantly badgered his professors for advice and assistance. Given the close ties between USC and Hollywood, it was natural for him to gravitate towards the film industry even in his writing. By the time he graduated (completing his B.A. in 3 years due to his relentless enthusiasm and aggressive course-loads), he had several of his screenplays developed into small independent films, published a couple short stories in notable if not glamorous magazines, and was making a name for himself as an up-and-coming figure in both the production industry and the literary world.

A year after graduation he was in France for the summer, visiting his mother’s relatives and awaiting the release of Within a Closed Room, his collection of short fiction. And it was there, in the countryside near Aix-en-Provence, that Christian Laurent, playboy and writer extraordinaire, fell in love for the first time in his life. His name was Gaston Morel, and he was an aspiring singer from Paris as well as a friend of Christian’s aunt. The two young men began a fiery relationship, traveling all over the French countryside together in a haze of fervent ardor and easy companionship set in a beautiful landscape.

Three months into their relationship, Gaston Morel was diagnosed with HIV, transmitted to him three lovers ago from a casual acquaintance during a careless night of pleasure. Not long afterwards, Christian himself was found to be infected with the same deadly virus. The two lovers clung together in their time of fear and anxiety, swearing to support each other and stand by each other during this period of mutual terror. Then… the impossible happened.

Approximately five days after Christian was diagnosed with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, he had a night where he simply could not fall asleep. Walking to his desk, he tried to do some writing, but could not focus. Wracked by fear and worry, he walked outside to enjoy the cool night air… and suddenly fell to the floor screaming, torn by a sudden, knife-like pain passing through his entire body. Seconds later, he blacked out. When he awoke, he was in the emergency room of the hospital, surrounded by gaping doctors, nurses, and one shocked Gaston Morel. It was a miracle, he was told. The virus was receding. It was as if an insanely powerful anti-viral drug had suddenly been injected into his system, but even more astonishing was the fact that the HIV’s devious replication cycle (usually very fast and responsible for the virus’ devilishly high genetic variability capable of spawning many different variants of itself in a patient within a single day) had simply been… stopped.

It was then that Gaston began to break away from Christian. The singer initially tried, in his own valiant way, to be excited and supportive of Christian’s inexplicable recovery, but it became increasingly difficult as his own health began to succumb to the virus. Several weeks after Christian was healed, the two parted ways, spurred on by Gaston’s bitterness and self-pity, emotions that translated themselves into a blind anger towards Christian. Heartbroken and utterly bewildered, the young writer returned to America, but chose to settle in New York City for the time being, desiring more than anything to be away from familiar faces waiting to offer unwanted sympathy and condolences in Los Angeles.

Having leased an apartment in Manhattan for a year, he has since undertaken a quest to drown his sorrows in a morass of unprodutivity and debauchery. For the first few months, he rarely stepped outside his own door unless it was to purchase bare necessities. After this initial period of isolation and solitary depression, he made something akin to progress, but not in a wholly positive way.

This is where and how we find our hero in the present day.

He has started to go out again, but not in the purely joyous and happy way of his youth; he stays away from men in a romantic sense and drowns himself in women and liquor, steadily gaining a reputation as a hard partier who knows no bounds. He has not written seriously since he left France, but spends the hours of his day writing trash romance pieces for disreputable magazines and writing and producing pornographic films under the false name “Jose Bonero.” When he first arrived, he received invitations to guest speak at various universities and colleges around the city, but he infrequently responds at all to them. His lifestyle is chaotic and he rarely sticks to a schedule. Above all, he still has no idea who or what saved his life.

Personality

Christian is the consummate Leo – a fiery, proud, and creative person who has recently been crippled by tragedy. A lover of attention and a graceful seeker of the spotlight, Christian enjoys making his presence known in a way that is welcomed by others, rather than causing them to feel as though he is thrusting himself upon him. In this, he is capable of a certain kind of empathy that translates into a kind of inspirational leadership rather than sympathetic assistance. He thinks very highly of himself and the words “arrogant” and “cocky” have been flourished at him on more than one occasion, though he himself prefers “confident.” He laughs easily and smiles even more freely and is slow to anger.

Creativity plays a huge role in the way Christian views and enjoys life. His foremost passion in life is his art and the experiences he undergoes in life are mainly, to him, a source of inspiration for his work. As a social butterfly possessing of an attractive and winning personality, he can often be dismissed as a lightweight dandy incapable of solemnity. However, this is untrue. It would be more correct to say that he is far more comfortable expressing the depth of his emotions within the words of his creations, rather than in overt public displays.

Though this has been disrupted in recent times, Christian is quite a meticulous person when it comes to his daily routine. He is usually very conscientious about his looks and takes extreme care to make sure he is immaculately groomed and fashionably dressed. He is, in many ways, a materialist and a fan of luxuries, as well as a dynamic thrill-seeker. Coming from a privileged background, he is quite used to living the high life and this has become standard fare for him.

Timeline

• Notable IC events.

Quotes

• "Memorable quotes!"

Trivia

*Fashion Nut

The walk-in closet in the bedroom of his apartment building says it all: You won't often catch this man wearing the same outfit twice.

Hot Wheels

Christian is a motorcycle fanatic and a lover of high-speed thrills. Though he owns several different bikes and cars in Los Angeles, he has only had one shipped to him in New York:

Christian's beloved 2006 Kawasaki ZZR 1400 - He often takes personal sojourns up to the twisties of upstate New York to unwind and indulge his habit.

Though currently a resident of the Land of Taxis, Christian finds his LA car-driving ways quite difficult to give up and has thus recently leased an flamboyantly yellow 2008 Porsche Cayman S Coupe to navigate the traffic-congested streets of the city with.