Carmelo Ortega

Carmelo Ortega is a 17-year-old Greek demigod, the son of The Empusa and Martin Ortega, a clear sighted mortal. He came to camp at 13 years old

## Basic Stuff

### Alias

Car, Mellow, Melon Man, Empusa, Ortega, Shapeshifter, Cari, Little Chameleon

### Residence

Camp Olympia (Currently)Los Angeles, California (Formerly)

## Family

### Biological Family

* Martin Ortega (Father)
* Empusa (Mother)
* Medea, Scylla (Aunts and Uncles)

## Appearance

### Outfit

* Colors usually orange, dark orange, and black
* White long-sleeved shirt
* Bright orange ruana with darker orange streaks
* Black pants
* Black sandals with white etchings

OR

* A black zip up jacket
* Orange shirt that says "I'm more confused than a chameleon in a bag of skittles"
* Gray, dirty sneakers

## History

### Early Life

Carmelo Ortega was born to Martin Ortega, a clear sighted and The Empusa, goddess of shape-shifting in Los Angeles, California on June 13, 2004. Martin Ortega was a member of a traveler community in America made up solely of clear-sighted mortals. They moved around America on the hunt for some clues to the Greek Gods' existence. Martin himself was a 17-year-old college dropout when he met Empusa They met when he strayed from the place where they'd settled at the time and stumbled across one of Hecate's laborotories. Sensing an intrusion, she teleported there from The Underworld and appeared before Martin's eyes. Noticing that he could see her, she became interested in him and, instead of vaporising him instantly, she began to chat to him, all the while slowly dosing him with love potion. Eventually, she got her wish and the two had intercourse, before she disappeared and sent Martin away, with him waking up outside the caravans the next day. 6 months later, Martin awoke to find a baby beside his bed with only a note, a bronze bracelet and a recipe book, filled with recipes for common potions.

### Childhood

Growing up, the baby, now christened Carmelo, was the center of attention for the community, as he was a direct link to the gods. The letter that came with him explained that Empusa was his mother and told of Camp Olympia, with a command to send Carmelo there when he was Martins age when he learned about the gods, in order to protect him. His father actually tried to distance himself from Carmelo as much as he could, as the sexual encounter happened against Martin's will so he had no idea how to feel. Although the nature of being in a travelling community denied Carmelo the chance of a substantial education, he constantly studied books in an effort to be as knowledgeable as he could and have knowledge that others didn't. He also read the potion book constantly too, but was too afraid to actually try making potions in case something disastrous happened.

### First Attack

When Carmelo was nine, his first monster attack happened. He was out gathering firewood from a nearby forest when a harpy flew in towards him. It knocked him to the ground. As he fell, he knocked the bronze bracelet, which he wore everywhere, and it broke open. The surprising thing though was that it then morphed into a dagger. On instinct, he picked it up and waited for the harpy to fly again. As it did, he plunged his dagger upwards through it's stomach, killing it instantly but earning a cut on his back for his troubles. When he returned to the community, he quickly filled everyone in on what happened. He knew he needed to be prepared and, with their help, he consulted the book in order to make a simple noise potion using household ingredients that they gathered for him so that he could distract the next monster and buy himself time.

### Coming to Camp

The potion was not required until the year after, when he was attacked by a flock of stymphalian birds. This time though, he saw them from a distance and threw his noise potion at one of the three monsters. However, it missed horrendously and hit the ground below. Fortunately, stymphalian birds turn out to be extremely vulnerable to loud noises and just hearing it from a distance caused all three to crash in a daze. From there, it was easy for Carmelo to get close enough to decapitate each of them, killing them all. That encounter taught Carmelo the usefulness of potions and being prepared and from then on he constantly carried potions on his person, along with studying monsters and their weaknesses. This helped in his next attacks. When he was 11, , a myrmeke was disabled by a potion that glued its mouth together, preventing it from spitting acid or using it's mandibles. From there it was a simple task of puncturing its belly and killing it. When he was 12, he killed a scythian draconae by using a potion to summon a smokescreen and then sneaking up behind it and killing it. By the time he reached 13 his community had gotten close enough to Camp Olympia for Carmelo to make it there alone. After being there a few days, he was officially claimed by the Empusa and resides there full-time.

## Personality

Described as a "theater kid" and natural entertainer, Carmelo is a fun-loving, easy-going, and energetic teenager. Unlike his quiet friend Cassandra and the timid Marko Madrigal, Carmelo is more extroverted than them and is the one that takes after his spirited parents the most. Social and charismatic, he is on good terms with many of the campers at Cassandra's claiming ceremony. While not boastful or vain, Carmelo enjoys the spotlight and has a good sense of humor with a penchant for dramatic movements, such as twirls or exaggerating stories based on rumors (his tales about Kronos, Daedalus, and Kelene) for flair. He is noted to enjoy eating, particularly food by his friend Melody, and is seen trying to sneak seconds by pretending to be Damian. Despite his wisecracking and impish demeanor, Carmelo has a very tender, sweet, and responsible side, especially towards his friends. There are many times when Carmelo shows no harm in his pranks, such as when Carlos flicks flowers into his open mouth for his teasing, he merely spits them out with a sheepish look on his face, showing no annoyance when caught when he does mischief. While not addressed or shown through the years, Carmelo does suffer from pressure and has insecurities, though he hides it under his cheerful demeanor. Although he enjoys his powers, it makes him question his sense of self, and constantly shape shifting for others does tire him out. Much like many of his friends (Aubrey, Evelyn, Emily) is good with children and infants, frequently using his gift to play with them and care for them as part of his service to the camp. Young and still discovering himself, Carmelo enjoys using his shape shifting ability to try different personas and playing pranks or teasing his friends. While mischievous and a bit impertinent, Carmelo’s antics are harmless and are simply playful, often taking to being caught or scolded by Zoe in good stride, such as responding with a good-natured "worth a shot". Although he likes to exaggerate his expressions when he transforms into other people, Carmelo himself displays a dry wit, like when he snarkily emphasizes that the UnderSquad is left homeless with an incredibly neutral expression. Overall Carmelo is a good kid with a love for entertainment and entertaining others, especially his friends.

### Fatal flaw

One of Carmelo's fatal flaw's is loyalty. He would do anything to protect any of his friends. Another one of his fatal flaws is Hubris, meaning he thinks he can any thing better than any one else

## Appearance

Carmelo is a 17-teen-year-old Colombian boy with a slender build, light golden-brown complexion, curly, dark auburn hair, brown eyes, and freckles across his nose and cheeks, along with a dark tint on his eyelids. He wears a white long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and his collar unevenly unbuttoned with the rest left loose, except for the right side tucked into his pants. He also wears a bright orange ruana with darker orange streaks, black pants, and black sandals with white etchings. Symbolizing his shape shifting ability, Carmelo’s clothes have a chameleon motif, with chameleons on his shirt collar, ruana, and sandals. Another of his casual outfits would be a black zip up jacket with a chameleon patch sewn on it, a orange shirt that says "I'm more confused than a chameleon in a bag of skittles, jeans and gray, dirty sneakers.

## Powers and Abilities

### Empusa Kid Powers

* He is able to shape shift into anything less than 4 times his size
* He is able to shape shift any object into anything less than 2 times the size of the object
* He is able to shape shift other people into anything that's the size of the human or smaller, however if he shape shifts into other demigods, then he does not get their powers
* He is able to shape shift into any animal he wishes, mythical or real although the animal can't be completely out of the ordinary such as an elephant mixed with a lion.

### General Abilities

* ADHD: Like all demigods, Carmelo possessed inborn supernatural battle reflexes and senses that he used to analyze the fighting style of his opponent
* Dyslexia: His brain was "hardwired" for Ancient Greek instead of modern languages
* Parkour Skills: Carmelo is shown to be very good at doing parkour and is something he uses to his advantage
* Superhuman strength: As a demigod, Carmelo is stronger than the average mortal.
* Superhuman durability: Being a demigod, Carmelo is more durable than a regular mortal
* Superhuman Agility: Being a demigod, Carmelo is more agile than a regular mortal
* Superhuman Reflexes: Being a demigod, Carmelo's reflexes are faster than a regular human
* Dagger usage: Carmelo is very skilled at using a dagger
* Spanish: Because Carmelo's family is from Colombia and because he was taught the language, Carmelo can speak fluent Spanish
* Flexibility: Carmelo is shown to be very flexible

## Relationships

### Friends

#### Cora Williams (Formerly)

One day, while his community had traveled to Atalanta, Georgia, he met the daughter of Calliope and became good friends with her. Because they were good friends, Cora often bought Carmelo small stuff to show her affection. When they met back up at camp, Carmelo realized how toxic she got, and soon broke off their friendship

#### Cassandra Scroll

Cassandra is Carmelo's best friend. They're as close as siblings. The two often bicker like siblings, but they are dynamic duo who do everything together.

#### Carlos Rodriguez

Carlos and Carmelo are pretty close. Carmelo likes to mess with the son of Demeter and Carlos often responds by flicking flowers/leaves in his face, but they get along well.

#### Melody Potvin

A dynamic duo that is a force to be reckoned with, Melody and Carmelo are basically siblings. While Melody isn't the pranking type, Carmelo does use his powers to make her happy whenever she's sad. Carmelo often goes on about different musicals and Melody is all just "smile and nod", even though Melody also budded in with her on opinions, jokes and pop culture references \*cough Dream SMP/MCYT cough\* in other words, Carmelo and Melody are a "wonderful" duo

#### Sonny Sol

Before either Sonny or Carmelo got claimed, the two where "Roomed" together. Carmelo and Sonny got along well. The two shared the power of shape shifting and the love of theater, so the got along well and soon became best friends

#### Hector Pineda

Ah, the trickster pair. A son of the god of thieves and the son of the goddess of shape-shifting...friends? Dear gods save us all. Anyways, this prankster pair loves messing with everyone and anyone, so be sure to *never* make one or the other or both mad

### Family

#### Empusa (Mother)

Now Carmelo has stated that he and his mother have a distant relationship. He's never met his mother, since she left when he was young. However Carmelo does respect her since she was the one to give him his powers

#### Martin (Father)

Even though Martin was distant with his son, he absolutely loves his son. He was, at first, unsure about Carmelo leaving for Camp Half-Blood, but soon decided that it would be best since Carmelo would be safe

## Etymology

Carmelo as a boy's name is pronounced kar-MAY-loh. It is of Italian and Hebrew origin, and the meaning of Carmelo is "**orchard;, garden**"

**Dweller at the sign of the grouse; one with the characteristics of a grouse**. Ortega comes from Ortuno, Ortono or Ordono which could come from the latin meaning the fortunate one or the Basque "ordongo" meaning the daring one.

## Trivia

1. Carmelo was inspired by Camilo Madrigal from Encanto
2. Carmelo was born on June 13, making him a Gemini
3. Speaking of Gemini, the Zodiac is known as "The Dual Nature", being represented by twins. This could be a reference to Carmelo's shape shifting powers
4. Carmelo own a chameleon plush
5. Carmelo has stated that he can no swim
6. Carmelo has a fear of growing up
7. Carmelo's favorite musical is In The Heights, cause he feels his Latin American Culture is finally being seen
8. Carmelo likes doing gymnastics