McNALLEY, Declan Oliver

[Declan Oliver McNalley]

DECLAN OLIVER McNALLEY

FULL NAME: Declan Oliver McNalley.
NICKNAMES: He gets called by his last name more often than not
AGE: Thirty
GENDER: male
SEXUALITY: Straight
STATUS: Single
GROUP: Citizen
GRADE: N/A
MAJOR: N/A.
JOB OCCUPATION: Owner of Sal's

HAIR: Short, dark brown hair. Currently a little bit longer on the top than the sides.
EYES: Brown.
SCARS/BIRTHMARKS: None 
TATTOOS: None currently
PIERCINGS: None.
PLAY-BY: Bernardo Velasco!

LIKES: cooking, pasta, cold pizza for breakfast, Sal's (his restaurant), New York at night, The Dukes of Hazzard, Christmas, a cold beer, catching a hockey game, jogging through the park, dogs, photography (his favoured hobby), rock music, bowling, concerts, Shakespeare, horror films, Alice in Wonderland, Comics, Moose (he's damn near obsessed and he has absolutely no idea how or why), Queer Eye (and he will HAPPILY talk about it), rainy days, crossword puzzles.
DISLIKES: word searches, warm beer, romantic comedies, sour customers, pinball, having to remove someone from the bar area, bees, cats, thinking about his law career, slow drivers, early mornings, most night clubs (he's not a fan of that crap they call music), cheaters, liars, bad timing.
FEARS: His greatest fear is that Ciri won't be there at the carousel and he'll have spent the last twelve years pining for a girl who didn't really care for him after all but there's also bees and rats.
SECRETS: Though his law career isn't actually a secret, he's not spoken about it at all since he left Boston behind. It's not something he wants to think about as he feels responsible for that young girl's death
PERSONALITY: Declan is a man of many, very mixed emotions and he's not afraid to be that man. He's not at all shy, preferring to be a bit more on the loud side, though he is not obnoxiously so. He's quite proud of the business he currently owns, loving that he's making people happy through good food. He's a pretty playful guy, enjoying a good joke and an easily flirtation, though he is not the type for one night only entertainment. Declan is a man who enjoys dating, planning those dates and watching how well, or not, his surprises land. He is a planner, preferring to have plans for his backup plans. He wouldn't say he's a secretive man but he also doesn't talk about his time as a lawyer, trying hard to forget those few short years ever even happened. It was a cruel twist of fate for a young woman that led him to leave that life behind. He feels very guilty that the young girl died and though therapy has helped him, it hadn't really been enough. Leaving the life behind had been much more helpful, though he would never say no to talking it all out. He is a great believer in many things, romance and love, that good fright in horror houses, loving that feeling at the top of the roller coaster before it takes that plunge and the justice system, though not at all a fan of how long it takes for justice to been taken. These days Declan prefers his home life to be a little slower and more enjoyable than it was previously. He is a family man, taking tons of time out of his week to make sure he sees his sister and her family, his parents. He knows all too well that life is short and that you need to make the most of what you've been given. He's not about to let a week go without at the very least talking to those he loves.

MOTHER: Jeanette McNalley & 61.
FATHER: Michael McNalley & 65.
SIBLINGS: Molly Steele & 31.
OTHERS:
Cirilla Echo Sweeney, thirty, Crush/old friend/everything?
Jacob Steele thirty-five, Molly's husband
Jasmine Steele, five, Niece.

PETS: Bo, Luke and Daisy, Husky siblings of two!
HOMETOWN: Woodstock, New York.
HISTORY:
Michael and Jeanette met at work. She was in the accounting office of the medical office and Michael was a new paediatrician. Jeanette was a bit nerdy, a little shy but was an absolute whiz with numbers. Michael thought she was brilliant and tried for months to get her to notice him. It wasn't until the office Halloween party that they finally connected over their shared love of The Princess Bride. They took things slow enough but fell for each other hard and within two years, they were married with a little bundle of joy on the way. A son followed their daughter a little under twelve months later, agreeing that it would be best to have their children close in age. Molly and Declan grew up wanting for nothing but knowing the value of hard work and a dollar. They were a happy family with their curiosities and opinions on life and the world. Molly wanted to be just like her daddy and become a doctor while Declan didn't know what he wanted to do. He liked sports, was quite good at basketball and soccer but felt he lacked the motivation to go very far in either; even at a young age. He liked the games well enough but he didn't want to play them forever. He loved to read and would rather spend all his time outside by the family pool than indoors unless it was raining. He enjoyed hanging out with friends and had plans for high school when he graduated from junior high. None of those plans included moving or changing schools, however.

The partner's in Michael's and Jeanette's office had decided they wanted another office and offered up a partnership to Michael and a couple of other doctors if they would be willing to move. It hadn't occurred to Michael to be something he wanted but when offered, the deal sounded too good to be true and after talking it over with Jeanette, who would be the head of the accounting department there, they couldn't say no. So the family packed up and moved; to Poughkeepsie, New York. Declan wasn't happy about having to move. He'd been wanting to start and finish high school with his friends but sadly, that would not be the case. He tried to make the best of it but it was difficult. He'd had plans and now all those plans were thrown out the window. Molly didn't give a damn about any of it, she had always been more interested in her education than making tons of friends. Sure, she made a few more friends in Poughkeepsie and came out of her shell a bit more but it was Declan who seemed to transition so much better, especially considering how against the move he'd been. The first day of school, he'd made a dozen or more friends, one of which would become his best friend and though it took him a while to feel close to them, it did happen. Ciri made life in a new school bearable, science classes amusing and made him feel like the move hadn't been so bad. There were moments scattered throughout their high school years where he thought maybe but it never quite worked out for them. She started dating another jock named Kevin and he took a mutual interest in her friend Liza. Sadly, that didn't last nearly as long as either of them had hoped. Their attraction fizzled out rather quickly and Declan found himself, once again, single, though not exactly looking to mingle with the masses of interested girls. A week before their Senior Prom, Liza had called time on their romance. Declan had felt it, too but he'd been willing to stick it out as it were, at least until after Prom. He'd asked her to the dance as his date back in January and felt it was the least he could do though they each ended up going separately. Declan hadn't been willing to miss the dance because he'd already bought the tickets and thought it was a waste of the hard-earned money he'd been saving for school in Boston.

Somewhere in her sophomore year, Declan had finally decided on a career path that interested him enough to keep his attention; law. He wanted to become a lawyer. He wasn't brilliant with numbers like his mother and the sight of blood made him queasy so follow either of his parents was a path out of the question. He had needed something else. So Declan made plans, which forced him to spend a little less time with his girlfriend, something she didn't like and a little more time at his part-time job and in the library studying. He'd always felt this connection with Ciri but never felt like he could act upon it and then he started dating her friend and then after they'd broken up, he felt like girl code will dictate that they could never be more than friends. Still, when he saw her walk out of the prom amongst the drama and fuss, he'd wanted to follow her. It took him a couple of minutes to get away from the conversation he'd been having with a fellow basketball player but eventually, he did make an excuse and rushed out after her. He found her, sitting by herself so he sat down next to her. They talked for ages about everything, moving slowly from sitting there to dancing around to the sounds of the crickets and the faint music from inside. From one minute to the next felt like a lifetime and a second when Declan realised that Ciri felt about him how he felt about her. Slowly, he leaned forward to kiss her, a hairsbreadth away from it when she pulled back and made a good point about it being the wrong moment. Those always seemed to be there for them. He had to ask if they would ever have the right moment, thinking it would never come. He hated the faraway look Ciri got on her face like she was about to tell him it was too late for them but then she smiled and gave him hope with a beautifully cheesy and romantic, poetic line about meeting again in twelve years. He knew the day, it would be her thirtieth birthday; he wouldn't miss it for the world. He promised to be there.

The summer seemed to fly and before anyone could blink, everyone was off, doing their own thing. Declan had gotten into Vassar, pre-law and fought for his spot at Harvard Law School when he finished his programme early, all the while, he'd continued to work at the same little restaurant that he'd been at since he'd been fifteen. University was a challenge but Declan loved it and found himself with a position at a very impressive law office in Boston. He worked himself up the ranks, proving to be a reliable man about the office and a very impressive and knowledgeable lawyer. There were talks early about making him a junior partner; talks that turned to reality after he'd been there only fourteen months. Soon enough there were talks about making him a full-fledged partner, his record was so impressive and Declan had been so proud of those rumours. He'd been one case away from getting his name on the wall when things went sideways.

Declan had been working towards being the youngest partner at his firm when a case tipped him over the edge. All the parts to the case were there, an eye witness saw everything and was willing to testify but was killed before they had the chance. They hadn't needed their testimony, though it would have helped. And while the criminal did get sentenced to life without parole, Declan was finished. He'd been the last person to see the witness alive and that knowledge haunted him every time he closed his eyes. It was too much and took it's toll so he quit. He handed off the few cases he had and walked away from Boston. He missed New York and wanted a fresh start in a place he hadn't been a lawyer. He was barely twenty-seven, still plenty of time to figure out what he wanted to do next. His first task, once his plane touched down, was to hire a realtor to find him a place to live. He liked hotels well enough but he didn't want to live in one. He didn't mind starting from the bottom again and found himself in a quaint little pizza place called Sal's. He'd worked in a mom and pop joint when he'd been a teenager and had surprisingly enjoyed it quite a bit. He went back to school for business, instead of law, took some night classes at the local art annex and saw a therapist twice a week to work through the trauma of knowing he couldn't help the poor girl who'd been trying to help him when she'd died. A couple of years in, Sal's owner, Vincent Salvatore told the staff of the restaurant that he was looking to sell. He wanted to retire and spend some real time with his wife, their grandchildren and just be Papa and not just the man in the pictures. The restaurant had been in the family for three generations but none of his children were interested in the place so he was going to sell.

Declan had come to love the restaurant and everyone in it, he didn't want to see it be handed over to someone who would tear it down or turn it into another Starbucks so he knocked on Sal's door and made an offer. He would keep the name, keep everything as it is, though he would throw in a couple of recipes from his childhood and Sal would eat for free whenever he walked through the door. The older man had been good to Declan, hiring him on, even though he believed the man should be working in some law office, putting the years and education to good use. Vincent Salvatore agreed to the terms and the change of ownership happened quite quickly. Once again, Declan had taken extra courses over the summer and online to graduate from school early but that didn't mean everything went smoothly. Some people didn't like that Sal's was no longer owned or run by Sal himself and it took a bit of time for people to come around but they did; eventually. New York was good to Declan and he tried to return that whenever he had the chance. He put up meals in silent auctions, sponsored several sports teams and offered up fundraisers for arts programmes. He wanted to be a man his community could be proud of because he felt like he hadn't been back in Boston. All the while, the calendar days were being crossed out with giant black marker slashes, closing in on the fifteenth of February, which was circled every year in his calendar to remind him of the promise he'd made. While he'd dated throughout the previous twelve years, none of the women had lived up to the memory of Ciri, though none of them were exactly short term girlfriends; he'd even shared an apartment with one. Unfortunately, the situation in Boston had knocked him down and that hadn't been alright with that particular woman, so since his move to New York, Declan had kept a lower than normal profile and hadn't exactly dated very much at all. A couple of dates here and there but nothing that went further than that because he'd not felt up to it yet.

He hadn't known if Ciri would remember their promise or if she thought about him often, or at all but she was never far from his thoughts; especially since moving to New York. He wondered if she'd married if she had children that looked like her running around if she found her dream, her calling and was thriving. The fifteenth of February rolled around Declan felt like he needed to do something special. The night before the restaurant had been packed full with happy couples celebrating love and affection, that day, they were busy again because Declan had a singles sort of night for all the men and women of the city who didn't have a date the night before. It was probably wishing ill business on himself but he'd noticed after the first year he'd done it that people connected over their shared loneliness and seemed to find happiness or at least attention for one night. It was busy and before Declan realised it, his alarm was going off, the reminder he'd set for ten-thirty to make it to the park in time. He'd stopped earlier before he'd gone to the restaurant to pick up flowers and grabbed those from the back office before heading out the door. It was brisk and he was cutting it too close for comfort but with exactly ninety seconds to spare, the carousel came into view. He stopped for just a second to take a breath before pushing himself forward, towards the waiting ride and hopefully his true high school love!

YOUR ALIAS: Cali.
RULE WORDS: I've taken them hostage.
WHERE YOU FOUND US: Queer Eye >.>
SAMPLE:

YASSSS KWEEEN!

[Cali]