Full Name: Carmelo Fang (pronounced FAH-ng, not FAY-ng)

Other Names: Tiger's Eye (by Giovanni and his posse); Mr. Fang (by Molly at first); Sweetstack (by Mera); Candy Man (by Indus); Cosmic Blossom (in Lorelai's world); Stripes (by Zora)

Gender: Cis Male

Race: Seaside/Deepwood

Age: 20

Birthday: June 20

Character Alignment: Neutral Good

Personality: Mel is a friendly fellow with a generous streak a mile wide, even if he sometimes lays the politeness on a little thick. He can be playful when he wants to be and is always curious and open to learning new things (especially if he can share them with others), qualities that endear him to many.

He's also very nurturing in that he likes to make sure the people he cares about are well taken care for, which suits him given how much of a homebody he can be. By that same token, he has a deep empathy that comes in handy whenever others come to him for advice or are just in the general dumps.

Unfortunately, he doesn't let others do the same for him due to 1) being stubbornly independent and 2) he's very bad at hiding his true feelings, so while it might not take much to catch onto him, it'll take a lot to get him to admit he needs help himself.

Compared to the mostly colorful people in his life, Mel is way more grounded/realistic in that he prefers to solve problems in a fair and rational manner, taking his time to analyze (sometimes overly so) first before taking action. For that reason, Mel is more practical and careful with how he handles things, preferring to be prepared (hence his trusty little cat bag, which usually has trail mix or other travel snacks). That said, he can get pretty moody whenever his warnings get ignored or his own careful plans go sideways.

When the chips are down, though, he's fiercely loyal and protective of those close to him, and will lay down his life if necessary (as much as he always hopes it won't be).

Epithet: Sweet

Mel can turn any inanimate object (a door, bullets, even the floor) into a dessert food/sweet. He can also summon desserts/sweets out of thin air, although doing so takes more time.

Regardless, it must be a dessert whose composition and recipe he’s familiar with. Now granted, he can also fabricate a dessert from reading and/or seeing enough information on it (i.e. the Internet), but he finds it much easier to summon after actually baking it by hand.

His Epithet can also affect people by "sweetening" them, meaning anyone or anything under his influence is robbed of intent to harm him and others (including objects) in any way (physical, verbal, etc.) - basically, people hit by his Epithet act like a nicer version of themselves. These effects are long-lasting and will not go away if he's knocked out.

However, Sweet has little to no effect on people who are already pleasant or decent to begin with like Molly. It also doesn't count as true mind control since the affected person still has their sense of will. Ironically, the more of an unpleasant feeling Mel has (usually anger), the stronger and larger the effects. Those who come out of Sweet's influence always report feeling like someone just shoved a bowl full of table sugar down their throats.

In combat, Sweet can solely affect attacks so that they’ll heal damage instead, turning them into literal friendly fire.

Lastly, Mel can lose control of his Epithet if he gets overemotional (i.e., rendering the floor into taffy when upset enough or accidentally sweetening people around him), which is one of the reasons he had to train himself a lot.

Biography: The adopted son of two fathers who run a family-owned bakery called Mow Ji Sweets, Mel always wanted to be a baker like them so he could bring smiles to other people...except he ran into a few problems.

For one, because his Epithet can generate desserts instantly, he had to be relegated to cashier to protect his family’s business when competitors started accusing them of using his Epithet to keep an edge over the competition (this was how he got so good at handling money). Though he never cared about being famous, Mel knew he couldn't become a baker without being subject to the same criticisms his fathers went through due to his Epithet.

Mel also grew to be wary when it comes to new friends since so many people have tried to trick him into using his Epithet for free food, only to ditch him whenever he stopped or refused. In fact, many of those same people would turn around bully him, accusing him of trying win over people through his Epithet. All the stress and maltreatment from being bullied and tricked pushed him into stress-eating as a kid, but he’s been trying to kick the habit as he’s gotten older.

Then one day, Mel found himself getting into a fight with someone who'd been bullying some younger kids Mel knew from art class, only to fly into a blind rage when that bully called Mel’s fathers a certain homophobic slur. To say the least, Mel straight up trounced the jerk after a long brawl...but what stayed with him the most was the buzz from fighting someone who refused to go down easily. Since then, he's done his best to avoid confrontation whenever possible, afraid of becoming like the bullies he had to put up with growing up.

In between this and all the drama around his Epithet, Mel got to a point where he wound up closing himself off from others outside his family, keeping things close to his chest while doing his best not to let his more negative emotions show.

That was until he heard a few customers whispering rumors about a trinket called the Arsene Amulet, which could rob others of their Epithets, and got an idea: why not find that Amulet so he could rid himself of his own Epithet? That way, he could finally prove his merit as a baker.

Too bad he's not the only one with plans for that amulet...

Inspirations: Po | Badgerclops | Steven Universe | Ragatha | Starfire

Theme: "Dreams Don't Turn to Dust" by Owl City

Disclaimer: Carmelo is my own character. Epithet Erased belongs to Brendan Blaber. The Swung Note font used here belongs to Ricardo Marcin & Erica Jung.


Don't forget to hit me up on Ko-Fi for commissions!

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