Samuel Goffe

Samuel Goffe was the father of Hector Goffe.

## Personality

Samuel acted calm and distant in his interactions with Hector, preferring to spend time with his wife Vanessa. However, this seems to not have always been the case - according to Samuel, taking care of a baby Hector was, while bothersome, also fun in a strange way, and after Hector turned two it became a bit boring. Samuel demonstrated that side of himself again when helping Hector take care of Colt’ children.

Samuel was a very private person, even more so than his wife. He suffered from unspecified mental problems that required taking medication, but hid it from his son, seemingly from embarrassment. On his “bad days” he skipped work and had tremors in his hands, preferring to be left alone. According to Geoffrey, those problems included vivid hallucinations. The refusal to show any weakness was also presumably the reason behind Samuel’s insistence on not putting Hector up for adoption like his wife wanted.

## Relationships

### Hector Goffe

According to Geoffrey, Samuel never actually loved his son and had trouble understanding him. Not wanting to admit it, he used his mental problems as an excuse to keep Hector at arm’s length, and even convinced himself it was the truth.

### Vanessa Goffe

According to Geoffrey, Samuel loved his wife fiercely.

## Appearance

Samuel has a slender build, thin nose, prominent brows and slightly darker skin tone.

## History

According to Geoffrey, Samuel served as part of a bomb disposal squad, which left him suffering from PTSD. Once he hallucinated that baby Hector was a bomb and almost threw him out of the window, only snapped out of it by Hector’s crying. He never told Vanessa about it.

During Hector’s childhood there was a period when Samuel and Vanessa struggled to find work, often having to take jobs in separate cities, presumably because bills were piling up. They were always trying to readjust things so that they could both get a job in the same place, and because of that changed cities a lot. When Hector was ten years old, they accidentally left him behind in previous city once, and only realized he was missing after a week.

Samuel was killed by Geoffrey, with his body replacing the aberration’s original one. The body was used by Geoffrey for Calman High Massacre, perishing at the end of it by Hector’s hands. Following that, his body was taken by Damian and used to make a number of bone rings, due to Geoffrey’s power remaining in it.

## References

1. ↑ “I’ll make some little beds for them,” his father said. “Won’t exactly be a crib, but it should suffice for the time being.”

“Uh, but--you don’t have to do that--”

“Oh, they’re still sleeping in your room. Don’t you worry about that. You can handle the midnight crying and feeding, thanks.”

Hector followed him to a hallway closet, where the man retrieved a set of fresh blankets. And with a pair of large laundry baskets, the beds were complete.

“This cop friend of yours must trust you a lot.”

“Y-yeah.”

“There’s really no one else, huh?”

“No...”

In his room, they found a nice spot by the foot of the bed. And as they placed the children in their new beds, Hector saw a gentler expression on his father’s face than he could ever recall.

“...Dad?”

“Yeah?”

“Um... w-what was I like? As a baby, I mean.”

“Oh, you were horrible,” he said. “Cried all the time. Couldn’t take you anywhere without making a scene. Really picky eater, too. Annoyed the hell out of your mother.”

“Oh... s-sorry.”

“Eh, don’t be,” said Samuel. “Bothersome as you were, it was still kind of fun, in a strange way. And besides, you really mellowed out after you turned two or so. It got a bit boring then, actually.”

“Boring?”

“Yeah. Potty training you was a breeze. Same with teaching you to dress yourself and tie your shoes. Never made a fuss about your food anymore.”

“Y-you wanted me to be more difficult...?”

“I don’t know about that. Boring can be a good thing.” He started back for the door. - Excerpt from pages 245 and 246
2. ↑ *‘My dad takes medication,’* said Hector. *‘Sometimes, he has... bad days... and... I mean, even normally, he’s not very... um... talkative. But... he likes to be alone on his bad days...’*

*‘Hmm. What kind of medication?’*

*‘Eh... honestly, I’m not sure...’*

*‘What?’*

*‘My parents have always kinda... hid it from me... I think Dad’s embarrassed by it. And Mom just... I don’t know...’*

*‘How could you tell he was having a bad day, then?’*

*‘He was home when he should have been at work, for one thing. And... I could see the tremors... in his hands. They were weak, but...’*

*‘Ah.’* Garovel paused. *‘Y’know, I could follow him around and probably figure it out, if you want.’*

Hector’s eyes widened, and he shook his head. *‘N-no, that’s... please don’t do that...’*

*‘Why not? You’d rather not know?’*

*‘I just... That’s, um... My parents are very private people. My dad even more so than my mom. I don’t... wanna... do that to him... I mean, he doesn’t want me to know, so...’* - Excerpt from page 112
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Geoffrey smirked after a moment. “You have always been a difficult person to read, haven’t you? Even your father--well, your *previous* father--even he never really felt like he understood you. But then, he did not take a very active role in your life, did he? I am honestly curious as to what you thought of him. The whole reason I took his body was because I thought the two of you were close, but according to his memories, that does not seem to be the case. And yes, I know I said we should not drag things out, but I think we need to have a nice father-son chat before we finally settle matters here. Don’t you?”

Hector had no intention of responding. All he wanted was an opening.

“Ever the quiet one. Hmm. Then perhaps *you* will be interested in what *I* have to say. For instance, did you know that your father suffered from quite vivid hallucinations? Your parents never told you, right?”

Hector felt the fury bubbling up to the surface again. He didn’t even try to put it into words. That was probably what Geoffrey wanted him to do.

Geoffrey just kept talking. “They could be quite scary, these hallucinations. One time, when you were just a baby, he saw a bomb. Strange, right? Just this simple canister with a digital timer on it--very obviously reminiscent of his days spent defusing such things, not that he ever told you about that, either. The point, however, is that not only was it not a bomb, but it was actually *you*!” Geoffrey laughed. “He almost threw you out of a window! If you hadn’t started crying, he might not have snapped out of it in time. And he never told your mother about it.”

“...Why are you doing all this?” Hector finally asked. “Why do you enjoy seeing people suffer?”

“Hold on, I’m not finished with my story. See, your father used this condition of his as an excuse to keep you at arm’s length, under the pretense that he was afraid of hurting you or some such nonsense. He convinced himself that this was the case. But really, the truth of the matter--the thing he would never admit--was that you simply did not interest him. Because he didn’t love you. Isn’t that something?”

Hector’s chest trembled. “...Why would I believe anything you say?”

“Because it’s so surprising! I may not be human, but even I know what love feels like. And your father never felt it. Well, not for you, at least. Your mother, sure. He was fiercely in love with her. But you. You were always just. Sort of. There.” - Excerpt from pages 268 and 269
4. ↑ Hector shook his head. At this point, he was honestly just curious. “If that’s the case... then why didn’t you just put me up for adoption?”

She seemed amused by the question. “I thought about it more than once. But your father was stubborn. He insisted we keep you. Though, if you’re thinking it was because he loved you, then--”

“I already know he didn’t,” he said, suddenly wanting to get there before her. He felt a change taking place in himself, a kind of quiet epiphany, though he wasn’t quite sure where it was coming from just yet.

The look she gave him then seemed more disappointed than surprised.

“Dad never wanted to show any weakness. If he didn’t want to put me up for adoption... then it was only because he was worried how it would look.” - Excerpt from page 518
5. ↑ By appearance alone, Samuel Goffe was certainly Hector’s father. They shared their slender builds, their thin noses, their prominent brows, and their slightly darker skin tones. - Excerpt from page 111
6. ↑ For a while, he merely listened to the motorcycle and the wind roaring together. *‘When I was younger, uh... my parents both struggled to find work. They’d often have to take jobs in separate cities--I guess because the bills were piling up or something. They were always trying to readjust things so that they could both get a job in the same place. So, ah... we ended up moving around a lot. And there was this one time... when I was about ten... and, um... ah... b-basically, they, uh... they left me behind.’*

Silence drew out, and Garovel waited for Hector to continue.

*‘I spent, like, almost a month in foster care, I think... and then the police found me. My parents thought they’d lost me somewhere in the new city. They didn’t, uh... they didn’t realize I was missing until like a week after the move...’*

*‘A week is rather specific,’* said Garovel. *‘How do you know it took them that long?’*

*‘Well, on the way back, the cops were really happy. Um... they told me it was amazing, because I’d been missing for three weeks... and I knew it had been longer.’* - Excerpt from pages 206 and 207
7. ↑ And abruptly, a broad grin split the reaper’s face. *‘Now that is more like it.’* He eyed Samuel Goffe’s body. *‘Don’t forget to scrap Geoffrey for parts, too.’*

“Right.” Damian turned to the coroner. “I need a body bag for this one.”

The man blinked at him. “E-excuse me?”

“I’m taking--what was it, Mr. Goffe? I’m taking him with me.” - Excerpt from page 297
8. ↑ “Right!” said Damian, rummaging through his pockets. He retrieved a fistful of pearly white rings--identical to one he was already wearing, Cisco noticed. “Now, these are only rings, so they’re not as strong as they might otherwise be, but they’ll help keep you safe. And choose your finger wisely, because once you put it on, it’s not coming off unless the finger comes with it. Everybody take one. Come on. Don’t be shy now. I made sure there were enough for all of you.”

When Cisco received his, he examined it more closely. It had a polished sheen to it on the outside rim, but the inside was much plainer. *‘Is that... bone?’* thought Cisco.

*‘I believe so,’* said Dennex privately. *‘This ring is the remains of an aberration. I can sense its sinister power.’*

Cisco watched as everyone else was putting theirs on. ‘*Should I really wear this?*’

‘*I don’t think you have much choice, right now.*’

‘*Ugh...*’ Cisco frowned as he stared at it. He’d wanted to become an aberration hunter, but was this the end result of that? Or was it just some twisted approximation? Would the Vanguard have made him wear this thing, too?

Maybe so. The Vanguard had certainly demonstrated that it wasn’t nearly so noble as he’d hoped it was.

‘*You can cut your finger off later, if you really hate it that much*,’ said Dennex.

Cisco took a slow breath and put it on, choosing his middle finger on his right hand. It felt like any other ring would, at first. Then a sharp pain bit into his finger, and he could feel it go all the way to his bone, like it was attaching itself to him.

But there was no blood. And it didn’t look like his skin had actually been broken. It just *felt* like he’d been cut into. But that, too, was fleeting. After a few more moments of agony, the pain was entirely gone.

The others were already manifesting shadows around themselves. A deep and dark red, each one was, which suggested to Cisco that all of these bone rings had come from the same aberration. Though, perhaps not. Surely, there were repeated colors among aberrations. Perhaps they’d all just come from the same *type* of aberration, assuming there were such classifications. - Excerpt from page 1476