Galen Hofman - Son of Aceso

Name: Galen Hofman

Gender: Galen is male.

Mortal Parent:
Galen's mortal father's name is Keith Hofman. Keith was a trauma nurse who was studying to become a Nurse Practitioner. During his studies Keith was the dedicated to saving as many lives as he could, so much so that he had gained the favor of Aceso. Over time the goddess showed herself to him in mortal form. As time passed, the few months he had left until he got his license, the two grew very close. Although as soon as he completed his course Aceso, whom he knew as Alex, left. Try as he might Keith could not find her. The a few months later a basket was left outside his door. In the basket was a baby with a note that read, "Keith, this is our child. His name is Galen, raise him well. -Alex". Keith was both happy and heartbroken by this. Happy because he now had a small piece of "Alex" in this child, and heartbroken because he thought this meant that he would never see her again. To do as she had asked Keith threw himself into his work to provide for this child.

God Parent: Aceso, goddess of the healing of wounds and the curing of illness

Date of Birth: March 19, 1999 (16 yrs old)

Place of Birth: Chesapeake, Virginia. Until the age of ten, when his father moved them to Illinois.

Hometown/Last Residence: Glenview, Illinois. Where they moved just before he ran away.

Race/ethnicity:
Caucasian. Galen doesn't know much else due to his father's inattention. Although since arriving at Camp Half=Blood, Galen now says he is Greek, (Not a lie, but still) as a way of rejecting his father.

Accent: Due to the area he grew up in he has a bit of a southern drawl, only noticeable when he is angry.

Skin Tone: He is fair skinned but not pale, at least not since he came to camp..

Eye Color: His eyes are a piercing emerald green.

Hair Color: Galen's hair is light brown, like milk chocolate

Hair Length: His hair on the shorter end of medium, it reaches just past the coller of his shirt.

Height: At his tallest he stands 5' 3"

Weight: He weighs 127 lbs

Body Type: Galen has become lean form the muscle he put on since coming to camp, though he is still small and slim.

Appearance:
When it comes to apparel, Galen tends to stick with a casual and comfortable look. His typical, every-day outfit consists of a dark olive zip-up hoodie, a light tee, and jeans. On rare occasions, he’ll spice it up a bit with a pair of shorts, but only when he knows he’ll be involved in athletic activities or it’s just insanely hot outside. He also nearly always wears a hunter green lab-coat** that he got from his mother, Aceso, on his fifteenth birthday. (See notes)


Weapon:
Galen had found a sword, to unwieldy, and typical daggers lacking. One day an Athena camper put throwing daggers into his hand. He found that they settled better. Still, he worried about monsters getting to close but he was again saved when a clever Hephaestus camper gave him a 10ft leather stockwhip that had Celestial Bronze woven in to it and three Celestial Bronze blades at the tip. The whip could hide as a belt when he wasn't using it, but the knives were just plain Celestial Bronze throwing knives which he hid in his belt, sleeves, coat lining, pretty much anywhere he could hide them.

Armor:
Galen wears the typical Greek armor of a Bronze chest plate and helmet, with the addition of bracers and grieves on his hands and feet. While in armor his whip is strapped to his belt, and his knives on belts around his chest.

Pets:
Galen has a pet female Poicephalus Parrot (Cape Parrot) name Tink. Tink was only one and half years old when she came into Galen's possession, which was when he was ten. They have been together since.

Skills/Talents:
Talents --
+ Lip Reading
+ Exceptional Memory
+ Reading People
Skills --
+ Knife-Throwing
+ Herbalism
+ Sewing Sutures/Stitching wounds (though he has not really tried sew cloth, it simply hasn't come up)
+ First aid

Flaws:
Physical--
Galen has a scar from his left shoulder to the middle of his upper arm where a Giant Badger slashed him.
Personality--
Galen has extremely fragile trust, which is only made worse by the fact that he judges everyone harshly, including himself. In fact he is a far harsher judge when it comes to himself than others. He is also very blunt and brutally honest. He will tell you what you need to hear even if you don't want to hear it. This makes Galen just as many enemies as it does friends, if not more. On top of everything Galen is very bull-headed if he thinks that he is right, he won't really listen to anything else, at least not until he is forced to look at a mountain of evidence against his point.

Strengths:
Galen treats pretty much everyone politely the first time he meets them, this can usually make a decent first impression. He can remain fairly calm even under emergency situations such as a battle/battlefield medic station. He also has very dexterous hands and can preform delicate tasks, from sewing up a wound to wielding his 10ft Stockwhip which is woven with celestial blonde.

Weaknesses:
Galen has a small figure, because of this he is lacking in muscular strength. Even six years of training cannot overwrite the fact that Galen simply lacks the build to have a lot of muscle. Since he is shy Galen will often hold his tongue when talking about things that don't fall into his area of knowledge, meaning medicine. He also gets very anxious when he is left completely alone, he usually avoids this by keeping his pet parrot Tink near by.

Likes:
Galen perfers, if not demands, honesty. He doesn't care how you think the truth will make him feel, Galen would much rather be told the truth so that if there is a problem, it can be addressed and fixed. He enjoys being able to help those around him to the best of his abilities, whether it involves a physical injury, or some emotional problem. (Though he's a tad blunt when it comes to emotional things) And ever since he got Tink, Galen has had a soft spot for most birds and will often feed wild birds if he has the chance.

Dislikes:
Galen truly dislikes when people are far louder than they need to be. Excess volume does nothing but put people in a bad mode and slows down whatever discussion is taking place. Or is simply disrupts the peace of others. Galen is usually very quite, so when he actually does say something he get very annoyed when he is ignored, or not even noticed. However, his truest thorn, the best way to truly piss him off, is to respond to "What is wrong/the matter?" with "I'm fine." He will tell you to get out and refuse to talk to you for a few hours at least.

Fears:
Because his father, his only family, was never around Galen spent a lot of time alone. He spent nearly all of his life in solitude, after finally having something that feels like a family Galen fears that if he is ever alone again he'll go insane. On the way to camp Galen was with a Satyr and another demigod. During the trip they were attacked by a Giant Badger, and the other demigod god slashed across the abdomen. Galen had pressed his jacket to the wound trying to stop the blood, but the wound was to bad and as Galen watched, the light left his eyes. Galen would never let that happen again. He will never simply watch another person die. That incident also sparked a fear of badgers. (Not that you can blame him)

Personality:
When you first meet Galen he is shy, meaning quiet and a little reserved, however once he gets to know you and opens up the full force of his personality comes out. He is dignified, meaning that the respects those that should be respected and is always polite unless provoked. Galen tries to be as compassionate as he can, but he sometimes has difficulty at this since he is very blunt and honest. He tends to say what he thinks would solve the problem whether it make the person feel better or worse. He typically gives the reason of "If you have a problem and don't solve it, it will continue to cause pain until it is dealt with. Best to remove the problem even it hurts some, at least the problem will be gone." Galen is quite stubborn, once he decides on something it usually takes a great deal of work to change his mind. Because of this and his loyalty if you break his trust it excessively hard to get it back. Something that does not help this is the fact that Galen in overly critical of everything including other people, but mostly of himself.

Abilities:
Medi-touch: Galen can touch someone and get a general sense of their well-being. This includes any injury external or internal, as well as any illness or toxin/poisons (does not work on animals).
Self-healing: Due to Galen's mother, his body is naturally quick to heal and his wounds heal 33% faster than normally.
Powers:
Quick healing: Quick healing is like his self-healing, only he can use it on others. He pours his energy into the would causing it to double the rate of healing, however there is a price depending on the wound he is healing*. When healing minor wounds Galen is simply drained and tired. Major wounds have a higher price, when healing a major wound Galen feels the pain of the wound himself, as if the wound was being inflicted to him. (See notes for what makes a wound Major or Minor)
Potent Medicine: Galen can use his energy to make medicine more effective(10% more). This is easiest with his poultices, that he makes himself. (No mechanical difference) To do this Galen has to apply the medicine, then concentrate for a minute or so.(1 post) This drains him though, so he has to wait several minutes before attempting it again.(5~8 posts) If he pushes to hard he'll collapse from exhaustion. (This means that he can do in 5 posts, but doing as soon as 5 or 6 posts will cause exhaustion, he should wait 7 or 8 before attempting it again).

Social Status: Loner, not meaning that he was total alone. He had a few good friends, but just a few.

Summer or Year Rounder: Year Rounder

Years at Camp: Six, ever since the Satyr brought Galen there.

Life Before Camp:
Galen's life was very quiet for a demigod. His father Keith stayed home until he could find a babysitter for Galen since he had to work so that he could support his new child. However, Keith fell into his work a little to hard. Eventually work had become top priority so that he could provide for Galen, but Galen, being a mere child, didn't know why his father spent all his time at work. All he knew was that to his dad work was more important than he was. For ten years this was what Galen read from his father's workaholic attitude, and by the time Galen was six he told his father that he didn't need a babysitter anymore. Keith believed him. So for the next four years Galen was alone most of the time.

Then when Galen was ten, came the final straw. Keith had gotten a job offer in Glenview, Illinois half way across the country form their hometown of Chesapeake, Virginia. He took the job and relocated Keith hundreds of miles from the few friends he actually had. Galen hoped maybe that a new place meant a new start and his dad would pay attention to him now., after all his dad got him a pet bird as an apology. He waited a month with no change in his dad's actions. So Galen thought of a plan, he'd run away. If his dad came home and found him gone he might realize what was going on. One day when his dad left for work Galen put his plan into action. He ran to his room and packed a bag of clothes, and then threw the rest of his clothes around the room. He went to the kitchen then made and packed three or four meals, mainly of sandwiches. Then grabbed Tink, since she would give away that he planned to come back. Finally he grabbed all his emergency money and left.

The first day that he was on his own was tiring, partly because he walked for almost ten hours to Chicago, and also because he was anticipating hearing about his dad looking for him. He tried to wait as long as possible before eating worried that he may need to spend the night before someone found him. That day seemed to last both only an instant and an eternity, like the whole world was holding its breath to find out what would happen. He spent the day lounging in a big park. Eventually day gave way to night, and he was glad that he managed to remember to bring his sleeping bag. However as the next day wore on Galen grew more and more angry, he was right! His dad never cared about him! He spent the day pouting, his anger building by the second.

It wasn't long before a sudden wind sprung up. But something felt strange, it just kept getting stronger. Soon Galen realized that he had to into a building and he grabbed his pack, Tink (still in her cage), and his sleeping bag but as he ran the wind tore it from his hand. At last he managed to get into a small cafe, and with the help of two other customers close the door. Galen slouched against the door as the two had helped backed up a step or two. One looked about thirteen-ish, and the other a bit older, though Galen couldn't even guess at his age. They asked his name and eventually the older guy said that they had come looking for him. They sat in that cafe for quite a while trying to convince Galen that he was the son of some Greek goddess. The only reason he believed it at all was the younger guy was saying that he was in Galen's shoes just yesterday. Once the wind died down they took a bought bus tickets to New York. Galen went with them, after all his dad has just proved that he didn't care so why not.

Once at the bus station in New York the older guy, who was apparently a Satyr, told them that they'd have to walk a few miles to get to camp. After about forty minutes of walking their was a strange sound just before a HUGE badger jumped out of the bushes nearby and attacked them. Time seemed to slow down and Galen saw every horrifying detail, but was paralyzed by fear. Suddenly he was shoved from behind and the thing attacked. It's claws raked across his left shoulder, pain burned through him. When he finally collected himself and turned the badger was gone, and the demigod was lying on the ground with the satyr over him. Galen's eyes went wide as he though about what could have happened. The demigod protected him and got hit to, so Galen rushed to his side forgetting about his own elbow. He stared straight into the other kids eyes and watched as the light left him. He only remembered on other thing after that, what the satyr said as the kid died. "Never had an second of training but still died a hero."

Role-playing Example:

Notes: Galen is ambidextrous.
* Minor wounds are injuries that can be quickly treated before sending the person off to heal on their own (i.e. Broken bone[partially healed], cuts less than 1/4 of an inch deep, bruises, colds, flu). Major wounds are wounds that require immediate attention and over night observation (i.e. Broken bones[fully healed], cuts more than 1/4 of an inch deep, cut arteries/veins, strong poison/toxin)
**Galen's lab-coat is a gift from his mother Aceso the goddess of the healing of wounds and the curing of illness. So it can produce small medical supplies --i.e. gauze(square or bandage), sutures, needles, medical tape-- It can only produce a maximum of 6 items in a few seconds (1 post) then it has to wait a few minutes(5 posts) before it is able to do so again. It can also magically store medicines that have been placed into it. And for some strange reason, no matter how much blood is spilled on it, it simply doesn't get dirty.

I count four flaws, one physical and three personality. I need one more flaw.

Your coat from Aceso, do you have a godparent gift to get it?

Abilities:
Medi-touch: Galen can touch someone and get a general sense of their well-being. This includes any injury external or internal (including how much pain they are in), as well as any illness or toxin/poisons (does not work on animals).
Self-healing: Due to Galen's mother, his body is naturally quick to heal and his wounds heal in 2/3 of the time that they would normally take.
Powers:
Quick healing: Quick healing is like his self-healing, only he can use it on others. He pours his energy into the would causing it to double the rate of healing, however there is a price depending on the wound he is healing*. When healing minor wounds Galen is simply drained and tired. Major wounds have a higher price, when healing a major wound Galen feels the pain of the wound himself, as if the wound was being inflicted to him. (See notes for what makes a wound Major or Minor)
Potent Medicine: Galen can use his energy to make medicine more effective. This is easiest with his poultices, that he makes himself. (No mechanical difference) To do this Galen has to apply the medicine, then concentrate for a minute or so.(1 post) This drains him though, so he has to wait several minutes before attempting it again.(5~8 posts) If he pushes to hard he'll collapse from exhaustion. (This means that he can do in 5 posts, but doing as soon as 5 or 6 posts will cause exhaustion, he should wait 7 or 8 before attempting it again).

I will allow meditouch except for how much pain they are in.

66% healing rate is a little much for the child of a minor god. Bring it down to 33%. I don't think the goddess of healing would have a child that can heal himself faster than others.

Make a broken bone a major wound.

And tell me how much more effective the medicines are.

Okay,
1: Edited
2: Yes, I do have a God Parent Gift. Athena.Sammy, didn't want one of her's and she gave it to me.