Lucia Merrimouser

Huh, I made her look a lot more magical than I intended. Ah, well, here's the last of the Squad.

Lucia (Redd) Merrimouser is an amiable and curious 10-year-old squirrel with an itch for adventure. Humble and modest she may be, but she wishes to try new things and see new places, and she feels right at home in the outdoors. She'll happily climb trees, splash in the creek, dig a hole, and various other activities outside before she's called in for dinner. Often, she has a sketchbook that she carries around to draw whatever thing strikes her fancy when she's out and about.

While one may worry about her running into trouble, she does have a handy power that she uses to escape danger--her power of light. Typically, she blinds foes in a flash and then makes her escape, or bends light around her to render her invisible. In cases like fighting a supervillain, she can create holographic illusions to trick them, or create light constructs and fire lasers from her paws when in direct combat. And as a squirrel, her natural agility can add to her powers' effectiveness in stunning or confusing opponents. There's usually little need to worry about her, and she's faithful about returning home.

As fun as exploring the nature near their outskirts-of-town home is, she's also involved in a couple of clubs. She's a dedicated Acorn Scout learning about wilderness survival, takes gymnastics classes to improve her agility, and is in the Ranch Kids Club learning how to care for and ride chickens and ducks (which take the place of horses and cows in this world). She even likes doing textile work and baking whenever she can. Mom worries about her wearing herself out, but she may also be taking energy from the sun and keeping on going throughout her days.

It's often hard to believe that she started out so quiet when she first met the others. Before, she was a star in the underground child pageant world, with her sleazy biological parents making money off of her junior beauty queen image and strictly keeping her tied to fashion, makeup, and overall beauty in order to keep her a winner. If she stepped out of that image--even through something as minor as a yawn--she was locked in her tiny room, surrounded by beauty queen posters to 'inspire' her, and not allowed outside for fear of her being tainted. She hated every minute of it... so when one of the magic beams from the Great Comet ricocheted off a spotlight and onto her, it kicked off a chain of events leading to her ending up at the special group home with the rest of the Squad.

It took her a fair bit to warm up to the others and shake off the guilt that plagued her every time she did something not beauty pageant-related, but Anna the Squad Mom was there to assure her that it's actually great if she wants to climb a tree, thinks the neighbor's farm is cool, or wants to try baking even though it's messy (that's why aprons exist). There were still things that she shouldn't do (steal, lie, be rude or disrespectful to others, etc), but she did have more freedom to explore any new interests. Adoptive sister Katie was even eager to teach her how to be a kid, and the two have been close ever since.

She still hates the spotlight, though, and is quick to disappear when the cameras come out. She's also averse to makeovers and fashion, preferring to be comfortable in more casual clothing. But most notably, she's claustrophobic, and being in a tiny space would have her hyperventilating and crying. She even had a hard time with sleeping bags at one point.

Even so, she's currently an almost literal ball of sunshine.

She was created during a camping trip in 2019 when I was working on the Super Rodent Squad revamp, as another girl to balance the genders of the Squad. My sister suggested making the new member a squirrel, since that's an iconic rodent, and it took a little back and forth before we decided on her powers and name. And thus, we have the final Squad member... at least of the main team--who says that it couldn't grow into an organization in the future?