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PLAYER INFORMATION
Name: Kat
Preferred pronoun(s): she/her
Contact: crystallium or discord: crystallium #8185
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CHARACTER INFORMATION
Name: Leo Valdez
Canon: Heroes of Olympus
Canon point: the end of Blood of Olympus, before reuniting with Calypso
Age: 15
History: wiki link here

Personality:
When you first meet Leo, the first thing you take in is his carefree attitude. He seems to care about having a good time, having a laugh, and backing out when things get tough. But really, this is only the surface of Leo Valdez, brought on as a coping mechanism for his life.

See, Leo's mom died when he was young. He blames himself for her death, because he lost control of his fire powers and the warehouse they were in burnt down. His resistance from fire protected him, but she didn't make it. The rest of Leo's family didn't want anything to do with him, thanks to his Aunt Rosa. She called him a diablo and turned the rest of his family against him. Because of her, he was thrown into the foster system and eventually began a cycle of running away from homes. He found running from his past made it easier to deal with. Running got him away from the pain. The jokester attitude appeared as another way to hide the pain, but also as he learned to handle himself around others. As he put it, "if you cracked jokes and pretended you weren't scared, you usually didn't get beat up. Even the baddest gangster kids would tolerate you, keep you around for laughs." It wasn't until he found Camp-Half Blood and was accepted in, even with his power over fire, that he realized he didn't want to run anymore.

But Leo gets scared. Ghosts and dying were two big things that unnerve the kid, even though he hides it fast, especially by cracking jokes. He does this on many occasions, or really, throughout the books. Though Leo acted excited to be at camp for the first time, he got a little freaked out when he learned his bunk in Cabin 9 belonged to a previous dead counselor. When he volunteered to go on the quest with Jason, he questioned his own sanity for signing up for what would probably be his death. He acted all high and mighty, but in reality, he was scared out of his mind. And that's just two examples. The thing about Leo, though, is that even when he's scared out of his mind, he knows what he needs to do and he'll do it, especially when it means protecting his friends.

However scared he gets, Leo is extremely loyal to those he cares about. He still takes the blame for his mother's death, even though he was just trying to protect her from Gaea. And even after all this time, he's constantly thinking about her and what she taught him. As he grows closer with Jason and Piper, he does everything he can to protect them. When they were attacked by the cyclops, he could have easily turned and ran, but he stood and fought, even if he technically hid and put machines to work. He jumped into action again when they confronted Enceladus, taking out six Earthborn by himself, using the construction equipment to his advantage. Even when Khione tried to seduce him, he resisted, saying she would just throw him aside when she was done with him. He fought her, even when he had previously been all into her. His friends were more important than a pretty girl, and that was saying something, considering Leo's high affinity for girls. The same applies when he meets Frank, Hazel, and Percy. While they don't all get off on the right foot at first, Leo does everything he can to save them. When he got trapped with Hazel and Frank, Leo used his gift from Nemesis, knowing full and well the consequences. Nemesis had warned him by using it, he would have to sacrifice something important, but he didn't care. He had to save his friends. What he didn't expect was that to mean they would lose Percy and Annabeth in exchange. While the two falling in the Tartarus may have had nothing to do with him using the gift, he blamed himself, thinking he messed up, even though he saved Frank and Hazel. He even sacrificed some of Archimedes' spheres to save the two, which was really saying something for him, proving that even priceless machines weren't as important as friends were to him. In House of Hades, Hazel remarks that Leo seems more angry and focused on completing their mission of trying to get to the House of Hades to find Percy and Annabeth and close the Doors to Death. She told him multiple times that it wasn't his fault that the lost the two in the first place, but Leo didn't listen. He knew it was his fault and was determined to save them because of it.

The first time Leo is mentioned in the book, he's described as having "a mischievous smile that told you right away this guy should not be trusted around matches or sharp objects." Right away, you learn just how mischievous he is. Besides making a megaphone sound like Darth Vader, he doesn't actually pull any pranks during the book (but to be honest, a lot of serious stuff was going on). However, you do hear all about pranks he has pulled. He replaced whipped cream with shaving cream, he put tacos in people's socks and sleeping bags, made up inappropriate lyrics to songs, and more. Instead of pranks, he is the life of the party on the Argo II. Leo's quick to making a joke, even at the expense of others. He's not usually mean in his jokes, but he can push the limit, without always meaning to. After Leo gets back from Ogygia, Jason remarks at how Leo was what kept things light in there group. When anything gets too serious, Leo was always there to throw in or add some stupid comment and make everyone laugh and lighten things up.

He is capable of being serious, even if it's not very common. While he loves a good prank or joke, when he was put in charge of building the Argo II, he put that all aside. Not only did he have a lot of pressure on him to build the ship and have it ready by a certain time, he actually...cared. The Argo II was the first project he had worked on that he put his heart and soul into. He wanted it to be perfect. As he put it, it was his masterpiece. That isn't to say he lost his sense of humor, because it was still there, it just was much less prominent until the ship was finished. (And he then proceeded to insist they should paint a huge smiley face on the bottom of the hull with the word "WHAZZUP," not to mention the fact that his ship was controlled with a Wii remote and a sound board). His focus and seriousness came back into play after Percy and Annabeth fell into the Tartarus. Since he blamed himself, joking about getting them back didn't happen. His goal was to make it to the House of Hades and rescue his friends. After returning from Ogygia, he was very somber again, too, but this time, from a broken heart.

Often, Leo acts cocky and obnoxious, but it's just a show, almost like his joking habit is. In reality, he doesn't think all that highly of himself. He thinks he's lame, unlucky, ugly, and has no chance of having a girl ever like him. He gets jealous easily, even with his best friends. When under the spell of Medea, he even voices some of this. He goes on about how Jason is always the star, while he's always taken for granted. Even when Jason and Piper appear to be having feelings for each other, Leo gets jealous - but not because he likes Piper. He doesn't like feeling left out, like a third wheel. He's happy for his friends, and he wants them to be happy, but he also wants to feel needed. And when he is needed, he's always surprised, even if he doesn't doubt his abilities. His feelings only get worse when the seven demigods embark on their journey on the Argo II, where Leo was the seventh wheel. He felt like he was the outsider, like he wouldn't ever really belong. It didn't help, either, that the goddess Nemesis used those exact words about him. To make matters even worse, most of the crew was mad at him for attacking New Rome, even though he was possessed when he did it. When Leo finds himself on Ogygia, he meets Calypso, who...isn't exactly happy to have him there. Leo's mind immediately went to the worst and he just knew that if it was Jason that had ended up there, Calypso would have fallen in love immediately. But for him? He wasn't surprised she hated him.

Out of all the crew on the Argo II, Leo and Frank take the longest to get along, mostly due to the fact that Frank was afraid Hazel and Leo would start liking each other. See, Hazel had a thing for Leo's great-grandfather (LONG STORY), so Frank was worried she would dump him for Leo. Hazel had to step in on multiple occasions to stop the two from arguing, and even argued with Frank a couple of times. Leo ragged on Frank because he was intimidated by the male, not realizing Frank was just as afraid of him, if not more, because of his fire power. It's when Leo gets back from Ogygia that they really become okay with each other. Knowing Frank's life is tied to an easily burning stick, Leo brings Frank a fireproof bag. Leo didn't have to do this, but he was looking out for a friend, even if they weren't exactly close.

Leo can't sit still. He's one that needs to be constantly doing something. Annabeth commented once that, even by demigod standards, Leo was very ADHD. If there's a pause in action-- and sometimes even when something is going on, he has a habit of fiddling with things. Gears, knuts and bolts, and other mechanical related objects tend to be what he goes for, but when those are available, he'll go for what he can get, such as pipe cleaners. And if he can't get his hands on anything? Then he'll just keeping moving. He'll drum his fingers on things, fiddle with his clothes, you name it. He just can't be still. When he does have something to work with, he doesn't even think about it. Believe it or not, more often than not, he doesn't have to think about it. Machines comes so naturally to him, he can fix them without consciously thinking it through. While he does know what he's doing, he doesn't have to sit there and think every little process through. He just knows what to do.

Leo's got a severe problem when it comes to girls. See, whenever he sees a girl, and not just any girl, one that is completely out of his league, he falls madly in love with them. Granted, yes, he admits being able to fall for any girl, it's those special ones that don't pay him a lick of attention that he falls the hardest for. One such example was with Thalia, Jason's older and immortal sister. She is one of Artemis' Hunters, meaning she made a pact never to love a man, yet the moment Leo saw her, he was head over heels in love. He even tried flirting with her, and when she shot him down, all he did was insist she was just in denial, or that she was just hiding her true feelings. It was the same with Khione, the goddess of snow. He even commented that the water Naiads were worth drowning for. He does know where to draw the line, though. When he meets Hazel, yeah, he thinks she cute and nice, but he knew Hazel and Frank were together. He knew not to mess that up, even though he wasn't even sure what he felt towards her. It was after his trip to Ogygia and meeting Calypso that Leo really makes a turn around. At first, he didn't like Calypso. She reminded him of a mean, popular girl that just wanted to make his life miserable. But he also thought she was beautiful. After days of being around her, though, while he still acted like he didn't care for her, his heart got the best of him. He fixes things around her garden without her ever asking, and was even daydreaming plans and ideas on what they could do together once they both left the island. Naturally, Leo was forced to leave the island without her, but he swore on the River Styx he'd come back for her, even knowing the vow could mean his death -- and it does. When he gets back to the Argo II, he's heartbroken to be away from her, having fallen hard and fast. But it also brought things to a close with Hazel. He knew where he feelings lied and there was no reason to make things awkward around her anymore. In the end, e sacrifices himself to defeat Gaea and save his friends, but thanks to the Physician's Cure, he was brought back to life and finally able to get back to Ogygia and reunite with Calypso.

Another thing about Leo is that he gets along better with machines than 'organic life forms,' something he gets from his dad. Since his dad is Hephaestus, the god of the forge, it only makes sense that Leo has a knack for machines, but it comes to the point that sometimes he would rather spend his time with those machines and not his friends. Frank commented that Leo cared more about his ship than his friends, and Leo couldn't deny it. He cared about his friends, yeah, but it was different. He even makes a bond with a metal dragon he fixes, which he affectionately names Festus, and considers it to become one of his best friends. It practically destroys him when Festus is blown up, to the point where he actually cries. He begs his father to allow him to at least reuse the dragon, and Hephaestus transports the dragon's head back to Camp Half-Blood, where Leo reanimates the dragon's head and uses it as the masthead for the Argo II. He grows attached to a three-legged table named Buford, as well, and is pretty distraught when the table runs away on him at one point in time. At the end of Mark of Athena, Leo gets a fancy new toy to add to his collection: an Archimedes sphere. By House of Hades, he had the sphere downloaded into the Argo II and was going nuts using it to upgrade the weapons around the ship. When he fell onto Ogygia, he first went into a panic mode because he was afraid he broke the sphere, but it ended up that it was safe. He even chased after two monkey dwarfs, as he called them, using his own wits and knack for making explosives and things of the sort to get it back. Another thing he took up was sleeping in the engine room floor, opting to be around the purring machines than sleep on a bed just because the machines made him feel safe.

Powers/abilities:
Like with most halfbloods, Leo comes with major ADHD and dyslexia. In reality, the ADHD is a built in fighting mechanism. It allows him to analyze and respond in battle quickly, but it's been stated that even by demigod standards, Leo is extremely ADHD. While he's not exactly a trained fighter, he has been known to wield a hammer to help fend of enemies. The dyslexia is his brain being hardwired to read Ancient Greek and Latin rather than other languages, though he's never been overly good at this.

Being the son of Hephaestus, the god of blacksmiths and fire, he has a keen ability for working with machines. There isn't much he can't fix if he knows what to do, and sometimes, even when he doesn't know what he's doing, he can make things subconsciously. His most major accomplishments include fixing a rabid metal dragon and giving it wings, and building the Argo II - a giant flying Greek battle ship, and inventing a holographic scroll. He can also 'sense' traps, and is able to find them and disarm them when no one else can even see them. Along with this, on some occasions, he can will machines to work for him, such as a time where he willing an old, rusted hinge to open for him. He can also get a full comprehension of a machine just by touch, allowing him to know and understand how to work them.

As for fire, he inherited the ability of pyrokinesis. Not only is he resistant to fire, only feeling a slight tingling when touching the element, he is able to control it and make it do his will. Besides the standard pointing and shooting flames, he can summon fire on his body, to the point the he'll be engulfed in flames and the surrounding area will heat up. This happens sometimes on accident. When he gets overly emotional (like when he's really angry, and when he's really excited), his body heats up and flames will appear, and he won't even notice. He can also sense fire and heat that is around him, the same way he can with traps. If he focuses really hard, he can also prevent his clothes from burning, but most of the time, he can't avoid that problem. Unless he's wearing the fireproof clothes Calypso made for him.

Besides abilities he gained from his father and by being a halfblood, Leo is able to speak both English and Spanish fluently and has been known to switch between the two without realizing it. When he was young, his mother taught him Morse Code and he also learned what he called "Creak and Squeak", meaning he learned to understand Festus the automaton dragon. He can also cook pretty decently. Though it's never really explained, it's assumed he learned while he was taking care of himself on the run.


Questions: may be written icly as the character or oocly as the player; please limit to maximum 5 sentences each
✽ What does your character consider to be their top three strengths? If he's being full of it? That he's devilishly handsome, the best builder in the whole entire world, and the funniest guy around. If he's being serious? He's good at making his friends laugh, he's an excellent seventh wheel, and he's great at being a screw up.
✽ What do others consider to be your character's greatest weakness? Doesn't seem to take anything seriously, is emotionally distant and doesn't connect well with other people, and acts obnoxious
✽ What are your character's three greatest fears? Losing his friends, being alone forever, not being able to fix something
✽ What would your character choose for a last meal? his mom's enchiladas
✽ Has your character ever killed? If so, how did that affect them? If not, how would it affect them? He's mostly killed monsters, but they did have to fight a few evil mortals brought back to life. Even if it's been proven he's not to blame, he still carries the guilt of killing his mom in the warehouse fire he accidentally started.
✽ If your character was given one selfish wish (eg. must be applied to themselves and not affect others), what would it be? Bring his mom back from the dead.

Sample: sample!

[Character Name] Leo Valdez
[Canon] Heroes of Olympus
[Point Taken from Canon] post-Mark of Athena

[Age] 15 16
[Gender] male
[Sexual Orientation] VERY Hetero

[Eye Color] brown
[Hair Color] brown
[Height] short 5'6"
[Other] He's described as looking like a very mischievous santa elf

( Rest under the cut. )

» PLAYER INFORMATION
Player NAME: Kat
Current AGE: 20
Personal JOURNAL: crystallium
IM & SERVICE: AIM: c4g3db1rd
Player PLURK: crystallium
Current CHARACTERS: n/a

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