Silvermoon34

Sooo I got tumblr! I honestly don't know how often I'll post on here, but I'll try to post every so often.

My primary interests are Ace Attorney, Persona 5, the Naturals book series, AGGGTM, and Enola Holmes. (I'm obsessed with mysteries!)

My current/past writing projects:

A Naturals fic called System Breach involving my OC Thea Carter

Several Naturals one-shots (cross posted here and on AO3)

A Naturals x Lunar Chronicles fic called After the Stars Fall

An Ace Attorney series called Court of Shadows (finished part 1; part 2 currently on break until I finish my Naturals story)

An Enola Holmes fic called Case of the Mysterious Time Traveler (also on break until I finish my Naturals story)

Part 2 of Lia pulling everyone into doing the suspect trend! (They also did the the pass the phone trend and filmed the boys part if you want to see those) Cassie:

Cassie: *starts running*

Lia (off screen): Suspect is constantly profiling everyone she meets.

Cassie: *turns her head over her shoulder* I do not—

Michael (off screen): It’s true Colorado. You always get those crows feet around your eyes when your profiling. In fact, you’re doing it right now as we speak.

Sloane (off screen): "Cassie has her profiling face on approximately 76% of the day, meaning she spends majority of her time profiling.

Lia (off screen): *in a sing songy voice* Sloane’s not lying, Cassie.

Cassie: *rolls her eyes* Fine, you want to know what I’m profiling about you all right now?

Michael: *you can practically hear the grin in his statement* Go ahead, Colorado.

Cassie: Michael, you can’t stop inserting yourself into the conversation because you like the attention to be on you all the time. Lia, you are forcing us to film this outside despite the weather being extremely hot because you are always looking for the ‘perfect lighting’. Sloane…is wondering why we’re filming something for the internet in the first place, but she’s going along with it because Lia asked her to. [COMPLETE SILENCE]

Sloane (off screen): There’s a 98% Cassie is correct about all three statements.

Michael (off screen): Damn Colorado, you don’t hold back your punches do you?

Cassie: *smirks* I can fight back too you know.

— Camera cuts off —

Thea (My OC who is a Natural mechanic/engineer):

Thea: Is this necessary to be out here in this hot weather, Lia? We’re all melting out here.

Lia (off screen): *sighs* Yes, it is because we can’t film once the sun sets, and I want this to go out today.

Thea: *shakes her head but starts running anyways*

Lia (off screen): Suspect spends more time in her workshop surrounded by her machines than with actual people.

Thea: *snorts* Listen, I’m trying to spend more time with you all! I agreed to do this after all!

Lia (off screen): I’m sure you are. I guess we’re just going to forget the fact that I had to drag you out of there a few minutes ago to film this?

Thea: *stops running* I’m heading back inside.

Celine (off screen): You can’t head back inside yet. We’re all obligated to be out here until we’re all done filming.

Thea: *rolls her eyes and sighs* Okay, I guess I’ll stay out here. But if we all melt, I’m blaming Lia for this.

— Camera cuts off —

Sloane:

— Take restarted multiple times because we had to determine the ‘optimal running speed’ —

Sloane: *starts running*

Lia (off screen): Suspect is very sweet and leaves us all incapable of getting upset at her.

Sloane: *flashes Lia a smile* Thank you Lia!

Celine (off screen): Suspect is also very cute when she starts telling us random facts and statistics.

Sloane: *turns around* I was doing some research on this trend, and I found out that this trend has been done approximately 4,290 times already on TikTok alone! It’s been done on other platforms as well such as…

[SLOANE TALKS FOR APPROXIMATELY 10 MINUTES ABOUT STATISTICS OF INTERNET TRENDS]

Lia (off screen): Thank you for the statistics Sloane, but we need to finish filming Celine and me. Maybe we could talk more while I’m editing?

Sloane: Oh, sure!

— Camera cuts off —

Celine:

— Camera handed to Sloane because she wanted to film this one —

Celine: *starts running*

Sloane (off screen): Suspect is always there for me when I need her and is an amazing artist!

Celine: *smiles* Aww, thank you Blondie!

Lia (off screen): Sloane, the point of the trend is to…trails off

Sloane (off screen): Is to?

Lia (off screen): Never mind. It’s fine.

— Camera cuts off —

— Another take because Sloane wanted to do it properly —

Celine: *starts running again*

Sloane (off screen): Suspect is always carrying art supplies everywhere she goes, including on our dates.

Celine: *grins* It’s because I like drawing you, Blondie.

Sloane (off screen): Oh…really? Thank you Celine!

— Camera cuts off —

Lia:

— Camera handed off to Dean —

Lia: *starts running*

Dean (off screen): Suspect is—

— Camera shifts suddenly and sounds of a scuffle can be heard —

Michael (off screen and now holding the camera): Suspect is accused of breaking up with me one minute and then making out with me the next.

Lia: *turns around and runs towards the camera with a fierce look in her eyes* Michael, I swear—

Michael (off screen): *can practically hear the smirk in his tone* Did you hear a lie in my statement, Zhang?

Lia: *smacks him ‘lightly’ in the shoulder (it’s actually a little harder than ‘lightly’ but Lia is the one editing this footage so…’lightly’ it is)*

— Camera shakes —

Michael (off screen): Ow! Watch the injured shoulder here! [referring to the bullet wound in his shoulder]

Lia (off screen): Your insolent remarks are unnecessary, Townsend. This is why I gave Dean the camera!

Thea (off screen): You didn’t say he was lying, Lia.

Lia: *turns suddenly in Thea’s direction and narrows her eyes* Thea, you can’t be suppor—

Dean (off screen): Lia, listen, the sun is setting. I think we’ve done enough filming for today.

Lia: *glances up at the sky and rolls her eyes* Fine, I suppose this will do. Thanks everyone for participating.

— Camera is taken by Lia —

Lia (off screen): I’ll have to catch Briggs, Sterling, and Judd tomorrow then.

— Camera cuts off —

I need some new songs for inspiration if you all have any! Here's what I'm currently listening to:

Party Music:

Die Young by Ke$ha

Evacuate the Dancefloor by Cascada

Solemn Music:

The One that Got Away by Katy Perry

(I'm posting some of my favorite one shots I wrote on AO3) (This is from my OC Thea's POV)

Whew, that project took longer than I thought.

I’m walking back upstairs from the basement after finishing one of my personal projects, when I hear crying from the hallway.

That’s never a good sign.

I head towards the source of the crying and find Cassie and Lia standing outside the garage door. I can hear a dull thudding sound through the closed door.

“What’s going on?” I ask, trying to piece together the situation.

Cassie’s lip quivers as tears roll down her cheeks, but she just shakes her head. Lia is leaning against the wall, arms crossed and jaw tight.

“Dean is currently punishing himself in the garage,” Lia says lightly, but her words feel like a punch to the gut.

“What?”

She sighs and closes her eyes. “One of our resident profilers visited his father in prison this morning. You can probably guess how well that went.”

Oh God. Dean…

We all knew about Dean’s past, and his particularly rocky relationship with his father.

Cassie hiccups, “He…he gets like this whenever he goes to see his father. He shuts everyone out, and…”

He punishes himself by beating his fists raw.

I place my hand on the doorknob, but Lia’s arm shoots out and grabs my wrist.

“Dean isn’t in the mood to talk with anyone right now, Thea. Trust me, Cassie and I already tried,” she says, her eyes shining with unshed tears that she quickly wipes away.

I carefully pull my hand out of Lia’s grip before opening the garage door. “Who said I’m going to talk with him?”

· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·

As I approach the curtain divider separating the rows of Michael’s expensive cars from the gym set up, the thudding noise gets louder. It’s harsher than I’ve ever heard before.

I push the curtain aside and see Dean taking punch after punch at the worn leather punching bag. He doesn’t look in my direction, but I’m quite certain he is aware of my presence.

I don’t speak to him — not right away. Instead, I head over to the shelf containing numerous rolls of hand wrap and proceed to carefully wrap my hands. When I’m finished, I head over to Dean and hold out the roll.

“I want to spar,” I announce like this just a normal Friday afternoon.

Dean remains completely silent. He doesn’t stop taking jabs at the bag nor does he look in my direction.

“Wouldn’t you rather have a more difficult target that can actually avoid your punches?” I press, taking a page out of Michael’s book on how to get a reaction from someone.

Dean doesn’t stop throwing his fists at the bag, but his southern accent creeps in a little, “I’m not in the mood to talk, Thea.”

Shoving the hand wrap closer to him, I reply, “I don’t want to talk. I want to spar.”

He glares at me but slows the bag down and takes the wrap from my hand. His knuckles are bruised and bleeding, but he wraps them without a single flinch.

I pull the sparring mats off the wall and set them up in the center of the floor.

We spar for a little while. Dean throws harder punches than usual, but I don’t hesitate. I know him well enough to understand the difference between someone trying to hurt me and someone trying to outrun the thoughts in their head.

This is good. He’s not actively punishing himself anymore.

After four rounds of sparring, I finally manage to catch him off guard and knock him over for the first time ever.

I can’t help but smile as I offer my hand to help him up. He eyes me for a moment, seemingly stunned that he ended up on the floor this time, before taking my hand and pushing himself upward.

“Well, I suppose there’s a first time for everything,” I say lightly, hoping to break him out of his thoughts.

Dean watches me carefully but doesn’t reply. I glance down at his hands and notice that he’s bleeding through the wrap.

Shit. His knuckles are more injured than I thought.

“Come on. Let’s take a break and get those wraps changed,” I say and head towards the bench.

Dean unwraps his hands, and I have to keep myself from wincing upon seeing his battered fists. As he silently wraps them again, I lean my head against the wall.

“Listen, I don’t know how to comfort people with words,” I say quietly. “I’m not Cassie who can read people like a book or Lia who can tell when people are lying about how they feel or even Michael who can read people’s emotions at a glance.”

I glance at him. “My point is: I’m not going to talk things out with you if you don’t want to…but you should at least go see Cassie and Lia. They’re both worried about you right now.”

Dean fixes his gaze on the floor before giving me a firm answer, “No.”

I sigh in frustration. “You want another sparring round?”

“Thea—” Dean’s southern accent comes out stronger and his voice is laced with irritation, but I don’t care.

“I said do you want to spar some more?”

Dean doesn’t speak for a long moment. I let the silence sit between us.

When he finally speaks, his voice is low and guttural, “I hurt you when we were sparring.”

“And?”

He snaps his gaze to me, guilt shining clear in his eyes. “And? Aren’t you afraid I’m going to hurt you?”

You’re afraid of becoming like your father.

“No. I’m not.”

His face twists into something unreadable. “Thea—”

“Dean, listen to me,” I say bluntly. “You told me once that I didn’t have a choice back then. Well, neither did you.”

I watch his hands curl into fists, but I keep going, “I’m not going to pretend like we didn’t do terrible things. We did.”

“You don’t know the things I did,” he whispers. “You don’t know the full extent of it.”

My jaw tightens. “But you chose to get out of it. No matter how difficult the decision was, you chose to get out of it. And every single day that you’re here, you’re actively choosing this team over him.”

The gym falls into a tense silence.

I don’t know what overcame me. The words just rushed out.

I stand up and brush the dust off my pants. “Now then. Are you going to spar with me or are you going to see Cassie and Lia?”

Dean hesitates for a long moment and glances down at his hands.

Please. I don’t want you to be stuck in that dark corner in your mind.

“I guess…we can do a couple more rounds, and then I’ll go see them.”

I internally breathe a sigh of relief before outwardly smiling. “Good. Because I want a real fight from you. Not these half-baked jabs you’ve been throwing at me for the last 30 minutes.”

(I'm posting some of my favorite one shots I wrote on AO3) (This is from my OC Thea's POV -- she's a natural mechanic/engineer) I don’t know how I ended up in this position.

I stare at the clear blue water, the board underneath me bouncing unsteadily as I shift my weight back and forth.

Actually, I know exactly how I ended up here.

· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·

It started off as a simple pool party. We had just wrapped up another cold case, and Judd suggested the idea of having a barbeque and pool party to celebrate before the last days of summer wrapped up. The barbeque was delicious, and we all played water polo for a while before Michael declared that he was tired of playing water sports and insisted on playing something else: Truth or Dare Summer Edition.

I knew that Truth or Dare with my fellow Naturals was only going to end in trouble, but I was high on the adrenaline rush of excitement and stupidly agreed to play.

It was all fun and games until it was my turn.

“Come on, Thea! Live a little for once!” Lia pouted, when I chose Truth for the third time in a row.

“I’m afraid you’re breaking the sacred rules of Truth or Dare, Thea,” Michael tutted with a click of his tongue.

“The rules don’t say anything about someone choosing a particular option three times in a row,” Sloane argued.

“Well, I’m changing the rules then. You have to pick Dare this time in the name of sportsmanship,” Michael retorted with a charming grin.

“That’s not—” Cassie tried to interfere but I cut her off.

“Cassie, it’s whatever,” I replied with a roll of my eyes.

If I keep choosing Truth, they’ll mercilessly tease me for the rest of the week and I’ll never hear the end of it.

With a sigh, I answered, “Give me a Dare.”

Michael gave me his signature devilish grin, and I immediately knew I was in trouble.

“I want you…” he tapped his finger against his chin as though deep in thought, “to take a leap of faith off the diving board.”

I instantly froze.

“What?” I asked quietly, sincerely hoping I misheard him.

I hated heights. Everyone knew that including, unfortunately, Michael.

Jumping off the 20 foot diving board…

“Oh and, one more thing,” he announced while pushing himself off the concrete floor. “You’re going to have to roleplay while doing it.”

I had no idea what he meant by that until he pulled a plastic pirates sword from the box of pool supplies.

Flashing me a grin, he brandished the sword and screamed “Argh maties! I’m sentencing this traitor to walk the plank!”

I quickly scrambled up from my sitting position on the concrete floor and started backing away from him. He approached me with his sword and pressed the tip lightly into the center of my chest.

“Michael, please,” I pleaded with him.

Anything but this.

He tilted his head to the side and bellowed out a long laugh.

“Oh, Thea…consider this revenge for hotwiring one of my favorite cars in the last game,” he replied with a wicked grin.

“I did that on a dare!” I protested as he dug the tip in and forced me to walk backwards towards the diving board.

Desperate, I looked towards the others for help, but none of them budged. Cassie and Sloane looked at me helplessly, while Lia looked far too pleased with herself. Dean and Celine had gone inside a few minutes before my turn to get more drinks, so there was no one to save me from the terror that was Michael Townsend.

Shit. I think I’m going to have to do it.

My back pressed against the cold metal rungs of the diving board ladder as Michael pulled back his sword and raised one perfectly cocked eyebrow.

“Go on, prisoner of mine,” he gestured upwards with the sword, “Up you go.”

I turned around and stared up at the ladder. I could barely see the end of it.

20 feet. That’s…not too bad.

Michael’s plastic sword touched my back, and I started to climb. My hands shook with every additional rung as I refused to look down at the ground below me. My hands grew slick with sweat as I went higher and higher.

You’re going to be okay. You’re going to be okay. You’re going to be—

“Michael! What the hell are you doing?”

Dean’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts as I reached the top of the ladder and pulled myself up onto the diving board. I whipped my head towards him, the board bouncing precariously with the movement.

He looked at me wide-eyed, like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He looked towards the others, now standing near the edge of the pool, before bringing his gaze back towards me.

“Thea, you don’t have to do this!” he shouted as I inched closer to the edge of the board.

I heard footsteps running on the hard concrete as I reached the edge of the board.

· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·

“Tsk tsk, Redding,” Michael’s voice rings out from behind me. “It’s a dare, and Thea accepted it.”

My toes hang over the edge of the board, every tiny movement making the board shake.

No, it’s not my movements making the board shake.

I carefully turn my head and see Michael standing on the board behind me, plastic sword in hand.

“Well, my pirate prisoner,” his grin widens with every word. “Are you going to jump or do I need to give you an extra push?”

I look back at the crystal clear water below me.

I’m not going to let Michael have the last word.

I see Dean reach the top of the ladder, and he puts a finger to his lips. He gestures towards Michael, and I know exactly what to do.

I turn back around so Michael can’t read the fear written all over my face. “So long, captain,” I reply solemnly.

If he wants roleplay, roleplay he shall have.

“I am indeed a traitor, and I’m deeply sorry for betraying you as such.”

I take a deep breath and close my eyes.

“But I’m afraid you should be more careful with whom you place your trust in, lest you be the one to end up in the deep end.”

I glance back at Michael’s face just in time to see his grin falter a little.

With that, I take a leap of faith. I brace myself to make contact with the cold water below as I hear another scream from above me.

I crash into the water with a hard splash and quickly move out of the way before another shape falls into the water next to me. I come up for air to find Michael absolutely seething with anger towards the person standing at the top of the diving board: Dean.

“Redding, you’ll pay for this!” Michael shouts angrily as everyone bursts into laughter. It doesn’t take long before Dean jumps in after us and the others jump in from the sides, each of us trying to splash the others as much as possible.

(I'm posting some of my favorite one shots I wrote on AO3) (This is from my OC Thea's POV -- she's an expert mechanic/engineer)

It’s a normal Wednesday afternoon. Well, as normal as it can be when you have seven teenagers who are secretly helping the FBI solve cases all living in one house together.

I’m sitting in the living room trying to watch TV when I hear shouting coming from nearby. One of the voices is Agent Sterling’s, and judging from the tone of her voice, she was not happy. The other voice was Michael’s, and he seemed quite…amused?

Soon, the voices cease and Michael comes sauntering into the room with a dramatic sigh before plopping down on the other sofa.

He definitely wants me to ask him what’s wrong.

Which meant I wasn’t going to ask him what happened.

I’m curious but I’m sure Michael must have done something or else Agent Sterling wouldn’t have raised her voice like that.

I go back to paying attention to my show, completely ignoring Michael, when he says, “That actress is doing a terrible job of hiding her real feelings. She’s supposed to be happy because her man just proposed to her but she’s really thinking ‘Why did they pair me up with this guy?’”

I do my best to ignore him, but Michael continues to keep talking over the actress until I finally pause the show and glare at him.

“Do you mind?” I reply, not bothering to hide the irritation in my voice, and gesture towards the TV.

He flashes a grin at me. “I find that pointing out terrible acting is a far more amusing pastime than watching the actual show.”

More like irritating me is one of your favorite pastimes.

I roll my eyes and turn off the TV. “Fine. You clearly want my attention. What did you do this time?”

Michael looks at me with mock offense and places a hand over his heart. “Thea, how could you accuse me of wrongdoing?”

I let out an amused chuckle at his antics.

Dramatic as always.

“You’re Michael Townsend. Trouble is your middle name.”

He scowls before replying, “Agent Sterling decided to confiscate my keys. All of my car keys.”

“Well, I’m sure she had a very good reason.”

His scowl turns into an amused smirk in the blink of an eye. “I might have toilet papered Agent Starman’s house.”

I raise an eyebrow. “And what in the world would possess you to do that?”

He grins at me. “Agent Starman may have said something about being ‘sick of my crap’. I just wanted to give him something to take care of it.”

I imagine Agent Starman’s house covered in toilet paper, and a laugh bubbles out of me before I can stop it.

“Goodness Michael! You sure love troubling authority, don’t you?” I answer with a smile.

“Well, I wasn’t exactly given a choice to be here. If I’m stuck in this program, I might as well have some fun,” he replies with a smirk.

My smile slips a little. “What are you talking about?”

I thought the others were voluntarily recruited for this program?

Before Michael can reply, another voice chimes in, “Awwww, did I overhear Michael getting chewed out and grounded by Mommy again?”

Lia saunters into the room with a mischievous grin. “Do you need another lesson on ‘How to Not Get Caught 101’?”

“Oh that’s rich coming from someone who nearly got sent to juvie for stealing when she was 13,” Michael retorts.

I slowly sit up. “Wait…Lia, is that true? You nearly went to juvie?”

Lia doesn’t answer. Michael does.

“Did you think our precious rule breaking Lia decided to join a federal program where she has to follow rules for the rest of her life?”

Lia stares daggers at Michael. “Well, I’m sure you just decided to join this program as part of your 16th birthday present,” she snaps.

She turns her attention to me. “The previous director of the FBI offered Michael’s father immunity for white collar crimes in exchange for leaving Michael at the FBI’s doorstep when he was 16.”

I’m stunned into complete silence.

I didn’t realize they were both blackmailed into joining this program.

“I thought everyone here had some level of choice about joining,” I finally manage to say.

I mean I knew that some of them don’t like being here, but I never really considered that the others might have been blackmailed too.

Lia scoffs. “Oh sure, I was offered a choice. Either go to juvie or join this mysterious Naturals program that’s basically just glorified federal child labor.”

Michael turns his attention towards me. “How about you, Thea? You never really talked about how you came to join this wonderful program.”

I keep my mouth shut and turn my face away from Michael so he can’t read me.

I’m not about to expose my own criminal record.

Unfortunately, Michael doesn’t give up easily and walks over to where I’m sitting.

“Mm, someone’s trying to hide the concern written all over their face,” Michael says in a sing-songy voice.

“Shut up Michael,” I answer and start getting up to leave.

“Sounds like someone’s deflecting,” Lia adds with a click of her tongue. “How did you come to join this program Thea? You aren’t exactly a goodie-two-shoes yourself.”

“I didn’t do anything!” I snap at her.

Her eyes widen and she audibly gasps in mock outrage. “It’s not polite to lie, Thea! So you did do something.”

I’m about to tell Lia to bug off when I hear another voice ring out from the entrance of the living room, “I thought Thea got caught hacking into the FBI databases before she joined the program.”

I internally curse at my horrible luck. Of course Sloane had to walk by while we were having this conversation.

Sloane comes deeper into the living room and looks at me puzzled. “You got a criminal record after that. It’s written in your file.”

Michael and Lia slowly turn to look at me as my face burns with humiliation.

“Sloane,” I say slowly, “No one else knows about that.”

Her mouth shapes into an ‘o’. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize…”

Her expression turns so guilty that I can’t stay mad at her.

I run my hands through my hair. “I was 17 when I got caught. They said either I join this program or they’ll move up my trial date to be past my 18th birthday. Meaning I would have gone to adult prison.”

No point in hiding it any longer.

Michael looks at me curiously. “Let me get this straight: Thea Carter, the most reasonable of us troublemakers, decided to hack the FBI and got caught before getting threatened with an adult prison sentence?”

I shrug. “That’s the gist of it.”

He glances around at all of us, a grin forming on his face.

“There is a 93% probability that Michael is about to suggest a terrible idea,” Sloane says quickly.

Lia snorts. “Michael has never met a bad idea he didn’t immediately act on.”

“So, the FBI has decided to leave the three troublemaking recruits they forced into the program,” he says as he points at Lia, me, and himself in turn, “without any supervision for the night.”

I don’t like where this is going.

“I propose we go out. We’ll take one of my cars and go out on the town.”

“How are we going to do that?” Lia asks. “The lovely Agent Sterling has confiscated all your car keys.”

Michael eyes me, and his grin widens. “Why use keys when we have someone who can start a car without them?”

I realize his implication almost immediately. “You want me to hot wire one of your cars?” I ask in disbelief.

“If you would be such a dear, Thea, that would be much appreciated,” he answers.

I should say no. This was only going to get us all in trouble.

But then I think about how three of us were basically blackmailed into joining this program, and a small flame ignites inside me.

(I'm posting some of my favorite one shots I wrote on AO3) (This is from my OC Thea's POV -- she's a hacker like Sloane) Sloane and I are working downstairs in the basement with one of her new crime scene recreations of a two-year-old cold case. We were given the files for the case, but they didn’t include any photographs because they were considered ‘too graphic’.

“That splatter pattern looks wrong,” Sloane says with a frown.

I stare at the splatter created from the bag of fake blood I dropped on the floor at Sloane’s instructions. “What’s wrong with it?”

She sighs in frustration. “It’s spreading 12% faster than normal blood would. This fake blood just isn’t cutting it. We need a proper reference if we’re going to solve this cold case.”

A sparkle appears in her eyes as she quickly grabs her laptop. Her fingers fly across the keys.

Abandoning my post from the middle of the recreated crime scene, I head over to her and glance at her screen.

“Got it!” she shouts triumphantly. She grins at me as she turns the laptop towards me. Photos of the grisly crime scene cover her screen. My stomach churns at the sight, and I shift my gaze towards Sloane instead.

Sloane definitely hacked these from somewhere. And whoever decided they were ‘too graphic’ was absolutely right.

“Sloane, how do you look at photos like these?” I ask.

Crime scene recreations are one thing. Seeing the real thing is completely different.

“I look at them with my eyes,” she answers simply, reminding me that Sloane tends to take questions literally.

She turns her attention back towards the photos. “These photos are far better than the descriptions in those files,” she mutters. I take another quick glance at them and notice something else — a case file number followed by four letters: ICPO.

ICPO.

Full name: International Criminal Police Organization.

More commonly known as Interpol.

“Sloane!” I hiss in surprise. “You hacked the Interpol database?!”

“Yes. We needed the original photographs from the crime scene,” she replies casually, completely ignoring my shock.

Hacking the FBI databases was one thing — I had done that a few times before — but hacking into Interpol was a whole other level. Once the shock had faded, curiosity took its place.

“How did you do that? Please, you have to show me!” I excitedly ask her.

“It’s not as difficult as it looks,” Sloane answers with a smile. She starts to show me how she got through each layer of their security. We’re a few layers deep when Agent Sterling’s voice startles us both, “What’s this about hacking into Interpol?”

I jump and look up, only to find Celine trying to hold back her laughter. “Oh, the expression on both your faces was absolutely priceless.”

That’s the moment I found out about Celine’s other talent besides sketching — she can do perfect vocal impressions of people.

“Celine! You didn’t have to scare us like that!” Sloane protests in annoyance, but her frustration is short-lived as Celine walks behind her and wraps her arms around her in an embrace.

“I think we need to work on both of your ‘I swear I’m not doing anything wrong’ faces,” Celine says with a laugh. “You’re both going to get caught if you keep looking like deer in headlights.”

She clears her throat. “Anyways, I came down here to tell you two that dinner is ready. Judd made the best roast beef in the world.”

My mouth waters at the thought of Judd’s cooking.

AKA Lia pulls everyone into doing the suspect trend. They film in pieces, and Lia's going to edit everything together later. Let's just say things don't quite go according to plan for some of them... (I wrote them doing the pass the phone trend already, so I wanted to do the suspect trend next. :) )

Dean:

Lia (off screen): Dean you’re up first!

Dean: Why am I going first?

Lia (off screen): Because you’re the one who is most likely to sneak off and not do this with us and we’re all doing this as a team. Now, start jogging.

Dean: *sighs and starts running*

Lia (off screen): Suspect wears black all the time and refuses to wear anything colorful.

Michael (off screen): Oh, he won’t be able to wear black anymore after what I did to his closet.

Dean: *immediately stops jogging* What the hell did you do, Townsend?

— Several minutes later —

Dean: *muttering something under his breath*

Lia (off screen): Looks like our suspect has found himself a closet full of pink clothes!

Cassie (off screen): *bursts into laughter*

Dean: *glares at Michael* Townsend…I—

— Camera cuts off —

Michael:

Lia (off screen): Now that we've managed to get that situation under control, Michael it's your turn.

Michael: *smirks at the camera* I don't know if the camera is going to be able to handle this *gestures to himself* awesomeness.

Lia (off screen): *scoffs* Get running you idiot.

Michael: *starts jogging*

Lia (off screen): Suspect is a heartless dirty perpetual liar who has a tendency to instigate chaos.

Michael: *turns around and jogs in place before dramatically putting his hand over his heart* Lia, you wound me so! How can you be so cruel!

Lia (off screen): Cut the dramatics Townsend. I'm just stating facts.

Sloane (off screen): Technically speaking, Lia's statement isn't wrong except for the fact that Michael has a heart or else he wouldn't be alive in front of us nor is he dirty as he isn't covered in dirt.

Lia (off screen): *short pause* Thank you Sloane for supporting my campaign against Michael. I'll get you some coffee later.

Sloane (off screen): Yay!

— Camera cuts off —

I’ve started working on the next part of my main Naturals fic and I’m so freaking excited for this one! I’ve been waiting to get to this act since I started writing this story for two main reasons:

1. I finally get to write from Lia’s POV (which means I’m adding a few Michaelia moments from her POV 🤭 — they’re non-explicit sweet moments)

2. The Naturals are going to do what the Naturals do best: break the rules and cause absolute chaos 😁

I love all the characters, but if I had to choose my favorite character is Cinder. I love her sarcasm and stubbornness, and the fact that she does everything she can not to misuse her glamour or her cyborg weapons (after she gets them). She's a strong female protagonist in my opinion, and I love her for it.

My favorite ship has to be Scarlet/Wolf. Scarlet/Wolf reminds me so much of Dean/Cassie (I talk about this more below). Scarlet didn't see Wolf as a monster, and Wolf protected Scarlet. I see them as the personification of 'You touch my partner and you die' ship. <3

Bonus: I saw so many parallels between the Lunar Chronicles and The Naturals. Dean Redding & Wolf Kesley:

See themselves as monsters

Don't talk too much/quiet

Willing to do anything to protect their partners

Physically intimidating but actually really sweet underneath

Carswell Thorne & Michael Townsend:

Charming and flirty

Love attention

Pretend not to care as much as they actually do

Use humor as a defense mechanism

Iko & Lia Zhang:

Dramatic

Fiercely loyal

LOVE fashion

Their personalities match so well I swear

Cress Darnel & Sloane Tavish:

Socially isolated from a young age (leading to being socially awkward later in life)

EXPERTS at computers and anything technologically related

Genius-level intelligence

Analytical thinking

Linh Cinder and Thea Carter:

Expert mechanics/good with technology

Became self-reliant from a young age

Stubborn/sarcastic

Pragmatic

Scarlet Benoit & Celine Delacroix:

Radiate confidence

Assertive

Direct/Honest