Pop Goes the Weasel (Part 3) by Amethyst

Amethyst wrote:

Nope, she didn't. But she does seem comfortable as a girl and a lot of the reason for placement in Poe is for peer support. While Carmen could probably use some, she can likely manage without it. We'll see how she gets along with her roommate, maybe they'll at least become friends.

mhalpern wrote:

yes but it would have made it easier to protect her from the Amazons, given her experiences she's particularly vulnerable to being taken in by such a group

Amethyst wrote:

Yup, they most likely won't be interested in a four-foot seven shrimp of a girl with fairly major GSD,

Rosalie Redd wrote:

Amethyst wrote:

Yup, they most likely won't be interested in a four-foot seven shrimp of a girl with fairly major GSD,

typical Amazon: "The ferret girl? Nah, she's flatter than a Kansas Highway."

Amethyst wrote:

Nope, she didn't. But she does seem comfortable as a girl and a lot of the reason for placement in Poe is for peer support. While Carmen could probably use some, she can likely manage without it. We'll see how she gets along hewith r roommate, maybe they'll at least become friends.

Dreamer wrote:

SPOILER ALERT
Below is a stream of conscious commentary I type up as I read the story. There will be details from the story included in it. If you have not read the story yet and don't wish to have details of it spoiled, read no further.

Pop Goes the Weasel Part 3 comments

Warning: Spoiler!

Claremont Road
Mesa, Arizona
Dr. Deville’s Clinic
Wednesday, December 14th, 2016 – 5:45 p.m.

Alison Tsosie aka Toho, teleports to Dr. Deville's office for her appointment. Aww, just her there as the rest of the team has to deal with a pair of C-lister villains making trouble. Oh, so there is a plan being worked on to help Carmen and less than a week until the window of opportunity closes, this is going to be rough. Yeah, Carmen shows signs of at least some form of abuse with how she reacts to things. Toho took Fanak to get her MID last week, I hope it went smoothly.

“Yeah, I have,” Alison admitted. “That poor girl needs somebody to give a shit about her. She looked so… terrified and beaten down. I was so close to getting her to open up to me the other day when we parted ways, I could see it in her eyes.”

Carmen's mother seriously needs to be turned in to CPS. Ouch, Dr. Deville knows Carmen started to have a panic attack from being recognized by her, to fear a doctor who wishes to help you, her mother has messed her up and Carmen will need counseling for years.

Rats, one of the few times doctor/patient confidentiality messes up helping someone. Share her observations of Lucia, yes, please do.

“The woman,” she said distastefully, “is hard to read. She puts on the act of a concerned mother, but I fear that it’s just that, an act. I believe that she is an experienced manipulator and since I can’t do much without some form of evidence, or at least more than a gut feeling, we will have to out-manipulate her. I know you’re concerned, but we need to handle this carefully if we’re going to give Carmen an escape route.”

I wish it was easy to get kids out of situations like this. Oh boy, get Carmen to take a chance or her mother to take that chance, I think building a skyscraper out of cards would be easier than the latter.

A lot of paperwork and brochures, I hope they are trying to get her into Whateley and away from her mother. Please, take the offer, Carmen, and use this chance to escape your mother before it is too late.

“I just know there’s something wrong with her home life, I know the signs, she reminds me of me and my sister before Mom finally got the nerve to kick the abusive prick who fathered us to the curb. You have no idea how hard it is for me to not just teleport to wherever she is right now and bring her somewhere safe, but you’re right, we can’t act on just gut feelings, and she needs to choose to take the hand we’re offering.”

No wonder she relates to Carmen so much and wants to help her. Darn, they need solid proof of abuse to get Lucia hauled away in cuffs.

“I’ll find a way to convince them,” the horned doctor promised with a faint smile as she stuck out her silver-hued tongue. “I believe that woman has a special place waiting for her in hell, so who better to offer her a deal than a silver-tongued devil?”

She has a silver tongue, that is priceless.

Claremont Road
Mesa, Arizona
Friday, December 16th, 2016 – 12:34 a.m.

Carmen is in a panic on the trip to see Dr. Deville again, afraid of everything that could go wrong including Dr. Deville knowing that Carlos and Carmen are one and the same. MID just in case and hidden from Mom. Carmen, Dr. Deville already suspects your mother of abuse, I doubt she will say anything about your misadventure.

Text Megan about the reason she will be in town and not to give away they already know each other. No child should have nightmares over their parent's reaction to something they did. Oof, quessy stomach from worry and stress. Ask if she wants to stop for ice cream, then says she has been looking a little chubby lately, and girls need to watch their weight, I want to strangle this gaslighting monster!

Still, I couldn’t believe she went there, she knew how sensitive I was about my weight before. “D-did you just call me fat?”

Mom rolled her eyes and sighed as she huffed, “That's not what I meant, you always blow things out of proportion. Look, Corazón, I don’t want us to be mad at one another when we should be focusing on your appointment. Let's forgive and forget and go have a treat together."

More gaslighting, must not try to reach her through the computer monitor no matter how angry I am.

Great, she has got Carmen believing her gaslighting, this is bad.

“Don’t thank me yet,” she quietly hissed. “Kelly is memorizing your face and scent and if I ever think you’re in any sort of danger from your mother, she and some of her friends will come and find you and pull you out of that hellhole you call home. Don’t think she won’t or can’t, now that she’ll know your face and scent. With her powers, she could track you down anywhere.”

A true friend will help you even if you get angry or upset at them for doing so. No wonder Megan is so nice, with Kelly as her guardian it would be hard not to be. Dang, Carmen is so out of it she empties her chocolate milkshake before even realizing it.

Makes sure Stacy and thus Dr. Deville know the correct name to call Carmen by now, Lucia is a piece of work. Yes, go in without your Mom there, this is your chance to reveal stuff she tries to keep hidden. The paper gown, those things will never be comfortable! Boy, Dr. Deville gets right to the point.

“I didn’t, at least not at first. Not until I saw that you recognized me,” the devilish doctor admitted. “Since I already gave you a fairly thorough exam last week, today I will just give you a brief visual exam and have you get into the larger scanners that I wasn’t able to use last week. We can use the rest of the time that I would have spent for a full exam to have a little talk.”

Carmen, don't protest, use the time to talk to Dr. Deville, she has a way for you to escape your mother.

Straight to the point, no beating around the bush, it is about time someone asked her these things. I knew we could trust Dr. Deville. Oh, Carmen, you are in tears over what she said and think you can't tell her about what your mother has been doing to you. Please, open up now before it is too late. The Nuevo Rangers will make sure her mother pays if anything happens to Carmen. The poor girl has been manipulated, gaslighted, and subjected to a form of brainwashing that she is terrified of saying anything against her mother. Yes, Lucia would make herself out to be the victim, she is that kind of manipulative monster.

Well, sometimes the same goes for life. If you can’t take charge of your life, somebody else will, and they usually won’t have the best intentions or your best interests at heart. It could be a bully, a manipulative friend or boyfriend, or it could be your own mother.”

Carmen has been needing to hear this for years. With all those conflicting emotions and feelings, it is hard to watch Carmen go through this. Please report Lucia, before she does something to Carmen that can't be reversed, healed, or treated with time and therapy. Great, if CPS is as bad as Carmen thinks the system needs an overhaul.

Good, test results are to be revealed this time instead of waiting. Carmen's physical changes are complete, good. An opportunity that Carmen is uniquely suited for that could change her life. Lucia's reaction, automatically thinks it is a quack medical solution, oh brother. Hehehe, I love how Dr. Deville knows how to manipulate Lucia without her even realizing it. A scholarship from the Nuevo Rangers for a young mutant with GSD from the Santa Fe area to go to Whateley Academy, she would be a fool to pass this up. Dang, full scholarship with all that covered, she would have to be an arrogant buffoon to turn that down.

There are bullies and troublemakers, but what school doesn't have those? Whateley is the safest place for a mutant with GSD to go to school in the world. Mom is angry at the offer and that Carmen wants to take it, but would have to drop her ruse as a caring mother to object to it. I knew those forms and brochures had to be for Whateley, I'm so glad Carmen has an escape route now.

An hour at the Cool Cat Creamery to look over the materials Dr. Deville provided them. Hehehe, they set up the scholarship with details for it specifically for Carmen, I love it when heroes get sneaky to save someone. The details about arranging testing and expenses for obtaining an MID, they are just snowing Lucia. I hope time apart from your Mom will make you realize what she has been doing to you and break off all contact with her. Hehe, nice bluff on your mom about sexuality and not getting out much to realize what it is.

Conflicted, but letting Carmen go to Whateley, she knows her schemes up till now would be revealed if she didn't allow this. I'm with Megan, Lucia might be going along with this, but what if she takes some last chance to do something nasty to Carmen before she can escape her clutches? Mom was quiet all through dinner, uh oh.

Lucia considers these new complications.

She had to accept this offer, there was no doubt about that, that devilish doctor had made that much apparent. That bitch had somehow seen right through her and expertly backed her into a corner on this, and she was still seething about it. If she refused to take this ‘golden opportunity’ then that doctor would move to have the boy taken away from her, and she couldn’t afford that. He was instrumental in her future plans and her revenge against Arthur Pond.

Arrggh! He raped you and paid you off to keep quiet about it, you should have gone public back then instead of letting your hate and resentment fester for all these years, taking it out on your child.

Good, she believes the offer is a fortunate coincidence. Oh, so that is what Dr. Deville told Lucia in private, the threat of CPS if she doesn't do what is right for Carmen. Ugh, her way of thinking about Carmen getting trained in the use of her powers is making me sick to my stomach.

This future leader of a registered hero team bit alone would have the other women in the group salivating while thinking of an entire team of women with an established presence that would hold to their ideals.

Okay, that whole group needs to be on watchlists of some kind, this is scary. Think of doing that to Carmen, still think of her as a boy, I'm going to be sick. Lucia, the more you think of Carmen and how to use her, the more I hope something happens to get you arrested or worse. Lying on Whateley's registration papers about being a changeling by a parent deliberately can result in the school using the law against you, Lucia. All this to destroy Arthur Pond, with no thought of how this affects Carmen.

Carmen, your Mom being happy is never a good thing for you, I hope you learn this soon. Toho has had to put up an act like this more than once in the past, hasn't she? Toho is trying to be gentle with Carmen and not reveal to Lucia they know each other already. Get Lucia to sign the forms in front of them, and point out if she marks down Carmen as born a girl. Take Carmen to their HQ and an MCO office that is more mutant-friendly, nice cover, Toho. I hope Toho or Dr. Deville look over the registration papers before sending them off.

Downtown
Los Angeles, California
Friday, December 16th, 2016 – 4:43 p.m.

All that taken care of and Toho takes Carmen to...Los Angeles! Clothes shopping and going to a bank, huh?

The Bank of Karedonia and the Maldives

Okay, this is serious business.

“I think it would be a good idea if you open a new bank account and place any money you have there, where only you can access it. You have a MID now, and there are a few banks that will allow you to open an account with them using that as your identification. It’s up to the banks whether they allow it or not, and most still don’t, but KatMBank is one of those that do. It’s also very secure, and one of the best banks in the world for keeping your assets safe. This is the bank that the other Rangers and I use.”

Do it, keep what money you have out of your mom's hands! Ah, an account for her living allowance while she is at Whateley.

Dang, that was fast and easy even if it is a temporary bank card for now. $400 Toho had given her, transfer funds from your other account as soon as possible or your mom will rob you blind. Carmen, your mom says she hasn't touched that account, how can you be sure she didn't lie to you? Almost $20k! Transfer it now, not when you get back 'home', now! Oof, still under her old name of Carlos, that makes it a little tricky. Oh, good, keep that money away from your mom.

Clothes in Carmen's size, huh, guess they do make clothes in almost every size now. Toho knows about Ms. Rogers's store. Carmen is a junior member in training of the Nuevo Rangers now, aww. The official team of Santa Fe, sponsored by the city, dang.

Toho grinned as she leaned closer to whisper, “I won’t tell you what pen name he uses, but Crag writes science fiction novels. White Stag offers magical services and consultations, and Bolt comes from a very wealthy family and has some investments, she’s set for life so long as she doesn’t go too wild. She was financing the team before we started getting funding from the city and state. As for me, I do deliveries.”

Ooo, I want to know the novels Crag writes. Teleportation-based delivery is the kind of stuff I love to see in worlds with superpowers. Toho has a good job.

Something for swimming, they are going to a hotel, what are you to, Toho? Oh god, Toho has fun planned for Carmen, she is right the poor girl needs it desperately.

“Absolutely, Carmen, big sis Toho has your back, so let’s find you a bikini and have some fun!” she replied cheerfully. In the end, I picked out a fairly simple white bikini with Toho’s help and tried to follow her lead.

First swimsuit as a girl and it is a bikini, Carmen never stood a chance shopping with Toho.

The Santa Monica Pier, is the most fun Carmen has had in her life. An actual good night's sleep for Carmen, finally! Continental breakfast, 3-hour bus tour of LA, Toho knows how to have fun. First time at the beach or swimming, Lucia never took Carlos swimming! Aww, you look good in the bikini, Carmen, some of the stares are probably from guys who think you are hot. Yes, actual swimming lessons are a must in Carmen's future.

Gwen Carter and Lily Pond had been on the celebrity news often over the past few months and it looked like they were doing some sort of photoshoot on the beach.

I knew those two were always in the news, but forgot if it was mentioned in previous stories with them if they were models. Jealous of the tall actresses, and checking out the buff lifeguard, Carmen is definitely a straight girl. Carmen, you can file it away, and deny all you want, but you are going to have to accept how you are eventually. Hhm, why does Gwen put back on her sunglasses and cover up whenever they are on a break from the photoshoot? Aww, Toho is like a big sister to Carmen now.

Nuevo Rangers Headquarters
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Saturday, December 17th, 2016 – 6:50 p.m.

Bolt sure loves to tease Toho. Rats, time to go back to Mom. Things are a lot more tense, Lucia is wary of Toho and the Nuevo Rangers now. Ugh, the first thing she asks Carmen once Toho is gone, Lucia needs a harsh lesson in treating others like a tool.

“What? Why, Mom? There was a section there for changelings like me,” I protested. I was not comfortable with lying to people, especially on official forms like that.

“It’s better this way; you’ll be safer if nobody knows that you weren’t born a girl,” Mom snapped, shutting me down. “And remember that the week after Christmas you’ll be coming with me to the Feminists for Freedom meeting, I want to introduce you before you leave for school.”

Carmen didn't agree to that and Lucia gaslights her again! Threatens to withdraw Carmen from Whateley, call up Megan and tell her!

You will not tell anyone that you were born a boy, you will act as a proper girl at all times, and you will be coming to that meeting with me, and future meetings when you’re not in school, or I will pull you out of that school so fast, it will make your head spin."

This is blackmail, pure and simple. Great, Carmen is afraid and had the joy ripped out of her, I want Lucia dead at this point.

Melendez Residence
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Sunday, December 18th, 2016 – 1:42 p.m.

Ouch, don't you just hate it when a show shifts to other less prominent storylines over the one you have enjoyed for so long? Ghost girl, possession, boy, they are hitting all the supernatural soap opera tropes. Oh boy, the storyline of Agatha Devereaux and the daughter she murdered who is a ghost on the soap opera makes Carmen think about herself and her mom.

The ghost girl, Gillian, was practically a prisoner in her own home when growing up, and her mother was controlling, manipulative, and just plain mean. She either ignored Gillian completely in favor of her older son or constantly criticized and belittled her, even when she was pretending to care. Even the way Agatha manipulated her made me think of my mom’s behavior since I manifested. When Gillian tried to run away, Agatha couldn’t take not being in control and while it wasn’t actually shown, it was heavily implied that she beat her to death and hid the body.

That is way too close to home for Carmen's situation.

I was lost in my thoughts until dinnertime and working into a downward spiral. “Holy shit. Is that like me? Am I like that girl? Sure, Mom kinda gaslights me all the time, and she's been so controlling since I manifested, especially last night, but she's not like that, is she? She cares in her own way, and she would never really hurt me, right?"

Carmen, think about the threat of pulling you from Whateley if you don't do what she wants, that is just the start if you disobey her. Oh boy, panic attack as Carmen finally realizes what others have been telling her is right and she is being abused by her mother. Carmen, no, call them for help now. Not rocking the boat hasn't helped you so far, your mother is still abusive to you, get out asap!

Melendez Residence
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Sunday, December 25th, 2016 – 9:02 a.m.

The morning news on Christmas day.

Arthur Pond, CEO of Pond Technologies in Silicon Valley, died this morning at Los Angeles General Hospital. The cause of death was stated to be complications from being exposed to regenerator blood after he and his wife, Evelyn, reportedly kidnapped and attempted to murder their estranged daughter, Lily.”

Oh shit, Lucia is going to snap and Carmen is going to be the target of her ire, of her revenge lost. And Lily's mom is being held without the possibility of bail until the trial, I knew things wouldn't work out how Lucia wanted, but not like this.

He was humiliated, had his name dragged through the mud by his own child, was brought to the brink of ruin, and had just died in disgrace. This was her plan. This was her plan, and that little mutant bitch stole it!

I knew, it was always about her doing that to Arthur Pond, she didn't care about anything else. Oh god, she thinks Lily did all this just to mock her and make her miserable, Lucia should have gotten counseling long ago.

“Fucking Ponds! You’ve taken everything from me! First, that bastard, Arthur, raped me and made me lose everything! Now that daughter of his has stolen my revenge!” she screamed. For a moment, I could only look at her in shock before she turned to level her furious glare at me. “But you’re the worst of them! Fifteen years of my life, gone! All of it for nothing! You worthless, useless, piece of shit! You and that fucking sister of yours, I’ll make you both pay for this!”

She has gone insane if she wasn't already, she wants to kill Carmen and Lily now. *eyes red with rage* Striking Carmen like that, Lucia needs to be locked up for the good of society. Please let Toho get here in time.

She locked Carlos in the closet as a child, she needs to die like the monster she is. Hides in the closet, calls Toho goes to voicemail, and calls up Megan who is recording the call. Carmen is trapped in a locked house with a woman who wants to kill her, this is a horror movie situation. Her only chance is to get past Lucia and escape through the window, then hide until Toho can get there.

What Lucia is doing to Carmen right now, I wish I could reach through dimensions and make her drop deep. Carmen says she is Lucia's kid and should be important to her too.

“You?! You’re a curse, you’ve been nothing but misery for me since the day you were fucking born!” she shouted as she struck me again.

Please let the authorities lock her up for life for this. Musk releases and Carmen escapes Lucia's grasp for a moment.

Grabbed by the tail! Oh, Lucia, you will pay for that. Grabbed by the hair Carmen starts slashing around wildly until her claws connect with the left side of Lucia's face injuring her. Damn it, not enough, another vicious kick to the ribs from Lucia, this woman is a brute.

I expected a third kick to follow, but that was when I heard another voice shouting in fury above me, “Leave her alone, you bitch!” I heard a blow and a thump as a body hit the floor nearby, and then I was being cradled gently in Toho’s arms as she whispered, “It’s okay, Carmen. I’m here now, and she will never hurt you again.”

Finally, I was worried. Held by Toho until the police arrive with the other Nuevo Rangers, Lucia is hauled off in handcuffs, and Carmen is taken to the hospital for pictures and treatment.

Nuevo Rangers Headquarters
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Monday, December 26th, 2016 – 11:24 a.m.

In her bedroom at the Nuevo Rangers HQ, Carmen has some cracked ribs, but not enough to keep her in the hospital, ouch. She can barely see due to swelling in her eyes and face, Lucia did a number on her. Yes, Lucia should have given Carlos up for adoption instead of keeping him just to abuse and use to get money out of his sperm donor. Lily Pond is Carmen's half-sister, I wonder how she will react to finding a sister who is also a changeling.

Not only would I be too terrified to bring it up if we ever did meet by some miracle, but I had about as much chance of meeting Lily Pond in person as I did Gwen Carter.

The universe has a funny way of arranging things, Carmen.

Someone from the All-Stars brought in to help Carmen recover from her injuries, and they owe Toho a favor. Bwahaha, it is Gwen Carter, of course, it is. She can sense Carmen is an internal energizer, her power-coping ability is so cool. Oh, good, making sure she heals everything right and not rushing it, is the sign of a good Healer with at least some training. Aunt Darcy allowing that, Gwen and Lily will never get any peace in public again. An autographed photo of Gwen and Lily, aww. Oh, please let Lily find out about Carmen being her half-sister.

New Mexico Women’s Penitentiary
Outside Santa Fe, New Mexico
Thursday, December 29th, 2016 – 4:15 p.m.

Who would come to visit Lucia in prison?

Since they had found out that she was in for child abuse, they had been doing everything in their power to make her stay here miserable. They didn’t do anything obviously violent, of course, not in sight of the guards. Instead, it was low-key bullying, a trip here and a push, a bump, or a shove there, and some veiled threats.

It is better than you deserve, Lucia. Figures only Humanity First would believe her lie about Carmen being a dangerous mutant.

Still plots revenge against Carmen and Lily, blames them for everything and not taking responsibility for her actions or choices. Lost her left eye and scars on the left side of her face, good, a reminder of what a monster you are. A male lawyer with news for Lucia, trying to get her out of prison after what she did, I hate lawyers like him. Caught red-handed by Toho, Carmen called her and she came to rescue so her testimony will count. Thanks to this and the recording of the call to Megan they have an airtight case against her, I hope the good news is bad for her.

“I can get you a plea deal,” he replied, the look on his face encouraging her to take it. “The prosecution is willing to let you off with a sentence of three years, with good behavior you could be out on parole in a year, but they want something from you.”

Of course, they did. “What is it?” she asked, fuming at the thought that the boy had brought her to this.

Her lawyer gave her a serious look. “They’ll be willing to give you that deal if you sign permanent custody of your daughter over to the Nuevo Rangers. No visitation, no contact, ever. I have the paperwork here if you…”

I knew she would take that deal the moment it came up, she never cared for Carlos/Carmen and will never learn her lesson.

Nuevo Rangers Headquarters
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Monday, January 2nd, 2017 – 3:02 p.m.

Carmen gets to keep the stuff she wants from her mother's place, finally free from that monster. Short hair works better on Carmen. Not able to see or speak with Carmen ever again, so if she comes near Carmen when she gets out and tries to get her revenge she will just end up back in prison. Carmen's new family in the Nuevo Rangers is lightyears better than her old one. A family that gives a shit about Carmen and wants her to be happy, tears of joy for her right now.

Bolt aka Jenny, anyone who is a mother figure would be upset at the thought of abuse to a child. White Stag aka Greg, a patient father type is good to have in any family group. Crag aka Nigel, gentle giant, soft-hearted big brother type, the world needs more of those in it. Toho aka Alison, the big sister of the group to Carmen and she needs one.

Oh, good, came out as a changeling to them, told what her mother said about keeping it secret under threat. Rats, not able to change her dorm this close to winter term so no Poe Cottage for now. A call every day since Christmas to chat with Megan, after what happened she needs some time to stop worrying as much about Carmen's safety. Oh no, you got Alison hooked on Tangled Webs, what have you done, Carmen? Boy, this storyline sure took off in the soap opera. The summoning circle, an ancient-looking tome, chants in what is supposed to be Latin, and the angel appears. And it is Gwen Carter in the role.

Both of the characters are healed, but they have the angel destroy Kishandra the succubus before leaving in a flash of light. Ricardo is in agony and Catherine is awake, but...has amnesia, dun, dun, dun.

Boston Station
Boston Massachusetts
Sunday, January 8th, 2017 – 12:45 p.m.

Time to head off to Whateley and Alison is worried Carmen forgot something. A new pink phone that only Megan, Gwen, and the Nuevo Rangers know the number for, so if Lucia somehow calls it we have a leak at the phone company. Carmen, your GSD won't make you stand out at Whateley, there are already bunnygirls and more to distract from you. I hope Carmen makes some friends that help her socialize and come out of her shell.

Toho was in Whitman and warns Carmen about Dickinson's cottage girls, that the feud will never end at this rate. Seesh, grown up, and Quicksand is still childish about it, some people never grow up. Teleported to Boston and waited for the train to Dunwich, boy, she got an easy trip to Whateley. Awww, if anyone bullies you while on the train I'm sure someone else will stop them, Carmen. Hide in a cabin until you arrive at the school, that seldom works.

The way Carlos was treated in this story by Lucia, she never was his mother. She was someone who actively hated him for existing as if he had a choice in how he was conceived and in being born. She was a monster throughout the story, gaslighting Carlos, scheming on how to use him to destroy his biological father for raping her 15 years ago, never once thinking he is an innocent in all of this. No, it was always the fault of Arthur Pond and his child, nothing she ever did dragged her life to this point. Rape is a horrible thing, but to go to these lengths is insane and she proves it with her response to having her revenge scheme unknowingly used by Lily to destroy Arthur, and it causes Lucia to snap and vow revenge on Carmen and Lily for taking her revenge away from her. I hope she doesn't come back into Carmen's life to try and ruin it anymore in the future, Carmen deserves better than that.

Carlos went through a lot with the changes as he manifested, turned female, and GSD manifested becoming more obvious with time. I fear if she hadn't snuck out that day and had to be rescued by the Nuevo Rangers what would have happened to her when Lucia finally snapped. I'm so glad she made friends with Megan who told her the hard truth even if Carmen wasn't willing to listen at the time or acknowledge the truth of what her mother was doing to her.

Toho, someone who knows what abuse looks like, I'm so glad she and Dr. Deville worked with the rest of the Nuevo Rangers to get Carmen out of there, to give her a lifeline if anything went wrong. It was nice seeing there are places where mutants with GSD can go to live in the Whateley Academy Universe. I wonder what life with the Nuevo Rangers will be like for Carmen when she isn't at Whateley.

I can't wait to read more about Carmen, Megan, Toho, and the rest of the Nuevo Rangers in the future. I hope Dr. Deville will be back as well, she is an interesting character.

mhalpern wrote:

Amethyst wrote:

Nope, she didn't. But she does seem comfortable as a girl and a lot of the reason for placement in Poe is for peer support. While Carmen could probably use some, she can likely manage without it. We'll see how she gets along hewith r roommate, maybe they'll at least become friends.

.... I've been diving through the wiki a bit, Tresse is also due to be a winter term arrival at Whateley for Whitman. What a coincidence....