#because i do plan on getting the $30 subscription

[kawaiichibiart]

:D

[treasure-mimic]

So, let me try and put everything together here, because I really do think it needs to be talked about.

Today, Unity announced that it intends to apply a fee to use its software. Then it got worse.

For those not in the know, Unity is the most popular free to use video game development tool, offering a basic version for individuals who want to learn how to create games or create independently alongside paid versions for corporations or people who want more features. It's decent enough at this job, has issues but for the price point I can't complain, and is the idea entry point into creating in this medium, it's a very important piece of software.

But speaking of tools, the CEO is a massive one. When he was the COO of EA, he advocated for using, what out and out sounds like emotional manipulation to coerce players into microtransactions.

"A consumer gets engaged in a property, they might spend 10, 20, 30, 50 hours on the game and then when they're deep into the game they're well invested in it. We're not gouging, but we're charging and at that point in time the commitment can be pretty high."

He also called game developers who don't discuss monetization early in the planning stages of development, quote, "fucking idiots".

So that sets the stage for what might be one of the most bald-faced greediest moves I've seen from a corporation in a minute. Most at least have the sense of self-preservation to hide it.

A few hours ago, Unity posted this announcement on the official blog.

Effective January 1, 2024, we will introduce a new Unity Runtime Fee that’s based on game installs. We will also add cloud-based asset storage, Unity DevOps tools, and AI at runtime at no extra cost to Unity subscription plans this November. We are introducing a Unity Runtime Fee that is based upon each time a qualifying game is downloaded by an end user. We chose this because each time a game is downloaded, the Unity Runtime is also installed. Also we believe that an initial install-based fee allows creators to keep the ongoing financial gains from player engagement, unlike a revenue share.

Now there are a few red flags to note in this pitch immediately.

Unity is planning on charging a fee on all games which use its engine.

This is a flat fee per number of installs.

They are using an always online runtime function to determine whether a game is downloaded.

There is just so many things wrong with this that it's hard to know where to start, not helped by this FAQ which doubled down on a lot of the major issues people had.

I guess let's start with what people noticed first. Because it's using a system baked into the software itself, Unity would not be differentiating between a "purchase" and a "download". If someone uninstalls and reinstalls a game, that's two downloads. If someone gets a new computer or a new console and downloads a game already purchased from their account, that's two download. If someone pirates the game, the studio will be asked to pay for that download.

Q: How are you going to collect installs? A: We leverage our own proprietary data model. We believe it gives an accurate determination of the number of times the runtime is distributed for a given project. Q: Is software made in unity going to be calling home to unity whenever it's ran, even for enterprice licenses? A: We use a composite model for counting runtime installs that collects data from numerous sources. The Unity Runtime Fee will use data in compliance with GDPR and CCPA. The data being requested is aggregated and is being used for billing purposes. Q: If a user reinstalls/redownloads a game / changes their hardware, will that count as multiple installs? A: Yes. The creator will need to pay for all future installs. The reason is that Unity doesn’t receive end-player information, just aggregate data. Q: What's going to stop us being charged for pirated copies of our games? A: We do already have fraud detection practices in our Ads technology which is solving a similar problem, so we will leverage that know-how as a starting point. We recognize that users will have concerns about this and we will make available a process for them to submit their concerns to our fraud compliance team.

This is potentially related to a new system that will require Unity Personal developers to go online at least once every three days.

Starting in November, Unity Personal users will get a new sign-in and online user experience. Users will need to be signed into the Hub with their Unity ID and connect to the internet to use Unity. If the internet connection is lost, users can continue using Unity for up to 3 days while offline. More details to come, when this change takes effect.

It's unclear whether this requirement will be attached to any and all Unity games, though it would explain how they're theoretically able to track "the number of installs", and why the methodology for tracking these installs is so shit, as we'll discuss later.

Unity claims that it will only leverage this fee to games which surpass a certain threshold of downloads and yearly revenue.

Only games that meet the following thresholds qualify for the Unity Runtime Fee: Unity Personal and Unity Plus: Those that have made $200,000 USD or more in the last 12 months AND have at least 200,000 lifetime game installs. Unity Pro and Unity Enterprise: Those that have made $1,000,000 USD or more in the last 12 months AND have at least 1,000,000 lifetime game installs.

They don't say how they're going to collect information on a game's revenue, likely this is just to say that they're only interested in squeezing larger products (games like Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, Fate Grand Order, Among Us, and Fall Guys) and not every 2 dollar puzzle platformer that drops on Steam. But also, these larger products have the easiest time porting off of Unity and the most incentives to, meaning realistically those heaviest impacted are going to be the ones who just barely meet this threshold, most of them indie developers.

Aggro Crab Games, one of the first to properly break this story, points out that systems like the Xbox Game Pass, which is already pretty predatory towards smaller developers, will quickly inflate their "lifetime game installs" meaning even skimming the threshold of that 200k revenue, will be asked to pay a fee per install, not a percentage on said revenue.

[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Hey Gamers!

Today, Unity (the engine we use to make our games) announced that they'll soon be taking a fee from developers for every copy of the game installed over a certain threshold - regardless of how that copy was obtained.

Guess who has a somewhat highly anticipated game coming to Xbox Game Pass in 2024? That's right, it's us and a lot of other developers.

That means Another Crab's Treasure will be free to install for the 25 million Game Pass subscribers. If a fraction of those users download our game, Unity could take a fee that puts an enormous dent in our income and threatens the sustainability of our business.

And that's before we even think about sales on other platforms, or pirated installs of our game, or even multiple installs by the same user!!!

This decision puts us and countless other studios in a position where we might not be able to justify using Unity for our future titles. If these changes aren't rolled back, we'll be heavily considering abandoning our wealth of Unity expertise we've accumulated over the years and starting from scratch in a new engine. Which is really something we'd rather not do.

On behalf of the dev community, we're calling on Unity to reverse the latest in a string of shortsighted decisions that seem to prioritize shareholders over their product's actual users.

I fucking hate it here.

-Aggro Crab - END DESCRIPTION]

That fee, by the way, is a flat fee. Not a percentage, not a royalty. This means that any games made in Unity expecting any kind of success are heavily incentivized to cost as much as possible.

[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A table listing the various fees by number of Installs over the Install Threshold vs. version of Unity used, ranging from $0.01 to $0.20 per install. END DESCRIPTION]

Basic elementary school math tells us that if a game comes out for $1.99, they will be paying, at maximum, 10% of their revenue to Unity, whereas jacking the price up to $59.99 lowers that percentage to something closer to 0.3%. Obviously any company, especially any company in financial desperation, which a sudden anchor on all your revenue is going to create, is going to choose the latter.

Furthermore, and following the trend of "fuck anyone who doesn't ask for money", Unity helpfully defines what an install is on their main site.

While I'm looking at this page as it exists now, it currently says

The installation and initialization of a game or app on an end user’s device as well as distribution via streaming is considered an “install.” Games or apps with substantially similar content may be counted as one project, with installs then aggregated to calculate the Unity Runtime Fee.

However, I saw a screenshot saying something different, and utilizing the Wayback Machine we can see that this phrasing was changed at some point in the few hours since this announcement went up. Instead, it reads:

The installation and initialization of a game or app on an end user’s device as well as distribution via streaming or web browser is considered an “install.” Games or apps with substantially similar content may be counted as one project, with installs then aggregated to calculate the Unity Runtime Fee.

Screenshot for posterity:

That would mean web browser games made in Unity would count towards this install threshold. You could legitimately drive the count up simply by continuously refreshing the page. The FAQ, again, doubles down.

Q: Does this affect WebGL and streamed games? A: Games on all platforms are eligible for the fee but will only incur costs if both the install and revenue thresholds are crossed. Installs - which involves initialization of the runtime on a client device - are counted on all platforms the same way (WebGL and streaming included).

And, what I personally consider to be the most suspect claim in this entire debacle, they claim that "lifetime installs" includes installs prior to this change going into effect.

Will this fee apply to games using Unity Runtime that are already on the market on January 1, 2024? Yes, the fee applies to eligible games currently in market that continue to distribute the runtime. We look at a game's lifetime installs to determine eligibility for the runtime fee. Then we bill the runtime fee based on all new installs that occur after January 1, 2024.

Again, again, doubled down in the FAQ.

Q: Are these fees going to apply to games which have been out for years already? If you met the threshold 2 years ago, you'll start owing for any installs monthly from January, no? (in theory). It says they'll use previous installs to determine threshold eligibility & then you'll start owing them for the new ones. A: Yes, assuming the game is eligible and distributing the Unity Runtime then runtime fees will apply. We look at a game's lifetime installs to determine eligibility for the runtime fee. Then we bill the runtime fee based on all new installs that occur after January 1, 2024.

That would involve billing companies for using their software before telling them of the existence of a bill. Holding their actions to a contract that they performed before the contract existed!

Okay. I think that's everything. So far.

There is one thing that I want to mention before ending this post, unfortunately it's a little conspiratorial, but it's so hard to believe that anyone genuinely thought this was a good idea that it's stuck in my brain as a significant possibility.

A few days ago it was reported that Unity's CEO sold 2,000 shares of his own company.

On September 6, 2023, John Riccitiello, President and CEO of Unity Software Inc (NYSE:U), sold 2,000 shares of the company. This move is part of a larger trend for the insider, who over the past year has sold a total of 50,610 shares and purchased none.

I would not be surprised if this decision gets reversed tomorrow, that it was literally only made for the CEO to short his own goddamn company, because I would sooner believe that this whole thing is some idiotic attempt at committing fraud than a real monetization strategy, even knowing how unfathomably greedy these people can be.

So, with all that said, what do we do now?

Well, in all likelihood you won't need to do anything. As I said, some of the biggest names in the industry would be directly affected by this change, and you can bet your bottom dollar that they're not just going to take it lying down. After all, the only way to stop a greedy CEO is with a greedier CEO, right?

(I fucking hate it here.)

And that's not mentioning the indie devs who are already talking about abandoning the engine.

[Links display tweets from the lead developer of Among Us saying it'd be less costly to hire people to move the game off of Unity and Cult of the Lamb's official twitter saying the game won't be available after January 1st in response to the news.]

That being said, I'm still shaken by all this. The fact that Unity is openly willing to go back and punish its developers for ever having used the engine in the past makes me question my relationship to it.

The news has given rise to the visibility of free, open source alternative Godot, which, if you're interested, is likely a better option than Unity at this point. Mostly, though, I just hope we can get out of this whole, fucking, environment where creatives are treated as an endless mill of free profits that's going to be continuously ratcheted up and up to drive unsustainable infinite corporate growth that our entire economy is based on for some fuckin reason.

Anyways, that's that, I find having these big posts that break everything down to be helpful.

[mysongsknowwhatyoudidinthedark]

Okay, here’s my master post on birth control

Opill is an otc birth control. It is progesterone only, so it is safe for people who have migraines with aura and people with a high risk of blood clots. It is not safe for people with a history of breast cancer. You can buy it in 1/3/6 month packs. It’s on Amazon but you can purchase it in stores. If you use a subscription plan for Amazon the first month is cheaper. You can get a 3 month pack for around the price of a 1 month pack if its your first subscription.

Telyrx might or might not ship to your state. They have birth control you might already use + plan b and Ella, which works if you’re at a higher weight. Standard Plan B caps out at 155 pound, Ella works up until 195 pounds. There are several day after pills on Amazon that’s around $15-$16, but I don’t know if it works at a higher weight limit.

Doubling on Plan B is not proven to work. If you do, you should still be fine, but you will have likely feel nauseous and possibly vomit, which could make it not work. You should be good if you vomited two hours or later after taking it. It shouldn’t be too severe.

Plan B can either work up to 3 days or 5 days after your birth control fails. Make sure you read up on what you buy. The ones on Amazon are all 3 day pills.

PlanCPills.org has a list of sites where you can purchase abortion pills. They’re on sale now for obvious reasons. Some are as low as $30. For abortion pill pack for that works up until 12 weeks is not that bad.

The specific website I used is medside24.com. These websites typically require a valid ID. Get one ASAP. Medside24.com had issues with their payment system when I used them today, but it worked out, so please don’t get too stressed. They also will not reship your order if your address is wrong, so make sure your address is right.

Plan B general lasts for four years, Plan C lasts two years because misoprostol lasts two years, but mifespristone lasts 5 years, bc is whatever it is on the package. Keep them away from extreme temperatures as they are very sensitive to temperature changes. Direct sunlight can also damage birth control, Plan B, and Plan C.

The copper IUD can be used with hormonal birth control. Do not use two hormonal birth control types together. There will be side effects in a similar manner to doubling up on Plan B.

You can take Plan B while on birth control but it could cause side effects.

Testosterone is not birth control. Estrogen can make a transfem sterile, but it is not birth control.

The mini pill, also known as a progesterone only pill, has to be taken at the same time each day for maximum efficiency. You have a 3 hour window to take it or else it’ll count as skipping a day and you will be unprotected if you have sex. The Opill counts as a mini pill, so please be aware of that. There is no skip week with progesterone only birth control. You can take the pills in any order, as each pill contains the same amount of medicine.

Birth control containing estrogen and progesterone has a more lenient window. You can take two in one day if you’ve missed one day, but you will be less protected than normal. If you missed two or more, take the most recent pill that you’ve missed and continue taking it as normal. You have to throw out the missed pills. You must take these pills in order because they may contain different amounts of hormones. You can skip the placebo week on estrogen birth control and move on to the next pack.

Feel free to add anything I’ve missed.

[technofeudalism]

i've got one more wall of text in me for today. i'm sorry, but hopefully this helps more people than it annoys.

i understand the concerns people have about social media being captured to technofascist oligarchs and i share them.

however, and you can call me a boomer for this if you'd like, i am way more worried about the fact that we are watching a scarier replay of the 2016 hyper-normalization of Donald Trump already being carried out in mainstream/establishment news outlets.

Some political operatives on the right, who saw mainstream media coverage of Trump’s first term as overly hostile, say the way the press covered Trump’s first term unwittingly did him a favor.   “I do expect that the media coverage will be a little different in tone,” one national Republican strategist told The Hill this week. “Not because the media is all of a sudden planning on being more objective and less biased, but because they probably finally recognize that their over-the-top hysterical coverage has done nothing but help Trump politically.”  

there are many reason this freaks me out worse, but i can sum up a couple of them.

the rhetoric this time is a magnitude more insane and suddenly alarmingly expansionist. logic would suggest this would justify an even more critical evaluation from the media that they are seemingly neglecting to provide.

the public, thanks to total dereliction of duty by the Democrats, are far more geared up for fascist shit than ever, but are totally ignorant to how this is going to happen (concentration camps)

speaking of the Democratic party: following a series of humiliating, high profile L's, the party finds themselves leaderless and less popular than they've been in 30 years at the worst time. when asked to name the leader of the Democratic Party, 49% of registered voters couldn’t name a person or said “nobody.”

before i continue, i know that there has been a dramatic decrease in people who get their news from traditional media and instead rely on social media, podcasts and the like. that makes sense. people aren't watching cable news anymore, chiefly because fewer and fewer people under the age of 30 even have cable TV and they definitely aren't paying for a New York Times subscription.

but what people fail to consider is that the "news" people consume via social media is often rehashed or half-baked, word of mouth versions of reporting conducted by the mainstream media or the journalists who work for them. there are still journalists working for these publications who take advantage of the increased exposure podcasts provide and go on them to talk about their writing.

people hear the same stories at the end of the day, but the way the issue is initially framed when the story first "breaks" and how it is approached by other outlets who follow up on it is significant. it's a lot less work to have to clean up and suppress news on your platform when the news is already favorable to your cause.

think along the lines of a massive disinformation campaign emerging from one outlet, social media being thrown into a complete frenzy and the only journalist who knows the truth from another outlet hesitating to speak out because of threats from his publisher to keep outrage revenue high or, perhaps more ominously, to directly serve the interest of the fascists in charge.

the US media has always been servile to whims of corporate interests because... well... they are owned by the corporate interests.

but up until today, i was holding out some sliver of hope that even if the NYT, for example, wasn't taking up antifascist actions, they would hold onto a tiny bit of reliability as a further watered down version of itself. an increasingly rare, delicate weapon against misinformation on social media, as opposed to being another tool wielded by fascists on aforementioned social media to grow legitimacy and manufacture consent.

then i saw this. my feeling is now that if the New York Times can't even write a headline - with THAT photograph underneath it - that says in plain English "Elon Musk Makes Nazi Salute Twice at Trump Inauguration," then there is going to be a frightening decrease in quality journalism being funded by mainstream outlets coming.

if you are not sure what to do and you want to be well informed, i have two suggestions. the first and most important, most difficult one that is a skill hard to master, is to develop decent media literacy and an ability to derive context from history.

the second is to build a network of trustworthy local, national and global sources that you can count on. ideally, they would be completely independent and free from editorial oversight or corporate control.

here are some of my recommendations. all of them are flawed. never rely on one source. do not immediately accept something as the truth from any single source. everyone is capable of accidentally getting a detail wrong, or even deliberately misleading.

Dropsite News - ran by Ryan Grim, Jeremy Scahill

The Intercept - sadly running out of money, alleged CIA ties

Democracy Now! - more center-left, better domestically

Jacobin - wide variety, sometimes shitty takes, Alex Press is great

The Grayzone - this one is controversial (mainly just to liberals) and they make no qualms about being committed to reporting from an anti-imperialist view of the world

Black Agenda Report - perspective from Black leftists. founded by Glen Ford (RIP), a Black Panther and accomplished investigative journalist

Hasan Piker - hate him, love him, neutral, doesn't matter. he's the largest independent political commentator on the left (by far), covering news and misinformation 9 hours a day. you can think he has shit takes, but he's still a reliable source and has been insanely accurate with his opinions

The Majority Report - been around forever, Sam Seder & Emma Vigeland are amazing, once home to the incredible Michael Jamal Brooks (RIP)

Breakthrough News

Labor Notes

Ben Norton @ Global Political Economy

Caitlin Johnstone (AUS)

these are just what i could come up with but there are many more if you do a little bit of digging using these as a baseline. just remember that the source ultimately is irrelevant and will have it's own biases. it is up to you to separate fact and fiction.

[disease-danger-darkness-silence]

The Homeless Post

Hey, guys. I've been working up the nerve to post this for a while. I'm putting most of it under a cut but I'll give the TLDR up here:

We are going to be homeless for an unspecified amount of time due to some legal issues - whole separate post. We will be living out of the car and a tent, so essentially long-term camping. We need some gear and other assorted items. Here is our wishlist.

Signal boosting is appreciated for obvious reasons.

I have a Paypal.me and a Ko-Fi; the Ko-Fi has a store that will soon have stuff available on it, and a subscription model. I also have Chime, Paypal, and Cashapp, all with the cashtag NovasPrime. At a later date I may set up a gofundme but I don't really want to right now, because guilt and self-internalized ableism is a helluva drug.

On to the story.

So, we were told (mid-December) that we needed to be out by the end of February, from the place we were living in, or eviction would be filed. I don't want an eviction on my record, so I started the process of working towards that goal.

I quickly realized that there was an Issue, and the Issue was that we simply cannot get into any of the low-income housing because… Raven has a felony "failure to comply" warrant in Oregon.

We were surprised, because we thought they were in compliance, but it turns out… No. No, they were not. The records of their attending therapy and anger management were not being sent to the place. On top of that, I discovered that they had ordered Raven to do community service, and even though they were helping with lots of causes and orgs down here, it doesn't count.

Why, you may ask? Well, for one, it wasn't being documented. Not a huge issue, it can be. But also…. They wanted Raven to do THEIR community service.

Which they wanted to charge $40 a day for.

Raven is a disabled veteran. They are limited in the type of volunteer work they can do, but also? They can't afford $40 a day for 30 days. Who the hell can? Why would that be a thing?

After a couple of phone calls, I realized we just needed to go to Oregon. So I began planning for THAT. Our roomie was still adamant about the end of February, so I started planning. We got a storage unit and started sorting shit, and packing it, and slowly transferring it to the storage unit.

And then Shit happened, as it does. The car started overheating. It has also come due for an oil change. It needs a transmission flush, too. And new brakes. Some of this I can do myself, but some of it I can't. I have a friend who could help me do most or all of it, but he's on house arrest until March 25th (he is in recovery now, but drunk driving is a bad thing, guys. Don't do it). He said he'll help after he gets off, which is awesome of him, but like. That's still about a week away (as of right now, because he works) before I can even get the overheating taken care of, let alone the rest.

In the midst of all of this, I was also trying to figure out a timeline... and realized I couldn't, because we had no idea how long we were going to be in Oregon. I have a few friends scattered throughout the state, but I wasn't counting on being able to stay with anyone. We have three cats and two people. What to do?

A friend of mine agreed to watch two of the cats for me for as long as it takes. She has her own house and cats of her own. So, until the car started overheating, we brought the two girl cats over once a week to get used to the place and meet her cats.

But we weren't packing fast enough. Winter is a rough time for both of us because of our disabilities; the weather makes it painful to move. We also had to sort through 20 years of assorted shit; at one point I had a life that hadn't fallen fully apart, so I kept everything. Plus, I had all of my dad's shit that I inherited. I've finally accepted that I can part with most of the useless stuff, but some of it I can't bear to. TLDR: our stuff is mostly still at the old place.

I was able to work out a deal with the friend who's taking care of our cats, to crash at her house for a month. WE and the CATS were out of the old place by March 1, but our shit wasn't, and we've had issues packing it up and moving it. Luckily, old roomie has agreed to just tack an extra month of rent onto what I owe him (to be paid back when we get back from the debacle in Oregon) so we're slowly moving things to storage. I'm just constantly filling the car with water to keep it from overheating and praying that the engine can take it.

However, here's the thing. The Big Thing.

We're technically homeless now, and we'll be Real Homeless as of April 1. The car cannot currently make it to Oregon (honestly? I'd rather buy a cheap minivan or SUV, and leave the car here with my kid, but I simply don't have the money, even though there's a ton of them for sale around here in good shape).

We're going to have to rough it for a while. Raven can get a pass to camp for free at all Nevada State Parks for $30 a year, so we're getting that on payday, and we have a decent tent and sleeping bag (singular, but it'll do). I have some assorted camping gear, even. But there's a lot we do need to just….fix our shit and be able to get to Oregon. Oregon has one of these as well, and it allows 10 days of camping per month. It's free and we've already applied for it. California has one too, but you have to apply in-person if you're not a CA resident. So that'll happen in a bit.

But we are gonna need… help. Raven gets VA disability. $2200ish a month. Sounds like a lot right? It's not. It's really not.

Between car insurance, gas, fixing the car, general car maintenance, phone bills, food (we qualify for a whopping $26 a month in SNAP benefits), things we have to buy to fulfill our end of bargains here, and the camping gear we DON'T have, next month is looking pretty awful.

While Raven is in jail, they get no benefits. I'm also disabled, but juuuust disabled enough on paper that I can't get disability (as you can guess, this is going to be even harder now in the Trump administration, so I'm just working on geting documentation of my disabilities so that when he's gone I can apply). I can't hold down more than really really part-time work because of pain and mental health issues, even though I have been desperately trying to find one. So I'm going to have to survive off of doordash, most likely.

If Raven's jail time isn't going to be that long, it's not that big a deal.

They could be in jail for up to six months.

So, why this post?

One, to explain that my posting will be very sporadic and frenzied when I do. More than usual, anyway.

Two, because I'm going to need your help. There are several ways to help.

Encouraging notes! Currently we have a PO Box, listed above. When we go to Oregon, if we're going to be there for more than a week or so, I'm getting another PO Box and getting mail forwarded from that one to the Oregon one. Digital notes are nice too. I just really like postcards, little cards, letters, etc. Pictures of cool shit where you live. Whatever. Something to keep my spirits up. Anything.

I have set up a wishlist, as seen above. I know, we don't like Amazon, but I don't know where else to do a wishlist that doesn't like. Give out a home address. Since I'm having this stuff shipped to a friend's house, I really don't want to do that. Once I'm in OR, I'll find out where I can have things shipped. PO Boxes are hit-and-miss with Amazon.

As noted above, I am accepting donations and I have a Ko-Fi store and subscriptions. I am working on getting things put onto the Ko-Fi store on a pay-what-you-can model; anything from short fiction to Am Adult instruction sheets to 3D designs, whatever I can manage at any given time. Raven will also be doing drawings and such. I'm also working on making things available to anyone who chooses to subscribe!

Signal boosting this post. I need as many people to see it as possible, not just for monetary benefit, but so I can find people in Oregon maybe willing to let me and my one cat crash on their couch or pitch the tent in their back yard. I'm also going to be documenting all of this and getting documentation on the case in the first place, because Raven shouldn't have even been arrested. So I need people to see this so that word gets out about this kind of thing. Oregon needs to change some shit.

Thanks for reading. I'll have updates as I can.

[mrsstruggle]

The Beast of War - Chapter 3 // Teen Wolf x Marvel AU

This is the second part of the Shadow Wolf Series. Read The Lost Child First if you haven't!

Series Summary: In the aftermath of discovering her true identity and reuniting with her long-lost family, Y/N Stilinski finds herself adjusting to a new chapter of her life in Beacon Hills. With her brother and his friends in their senior year at High School, the town faces a fresh new threat. Y/N must navigate the complexities of her new life while confronting the looming threat that threatens to hurt her and the people she loves.

Warnings: Language, Mentions of Death/Injury/Grief/Torture, Possible Grammar Mistakes (please let me know if there is anything else)

Series Pairings: Derek Hale x Reader, Stiles Stilinski x Malia Tate (for now), Steve Rodgers x Bucky Barnes, Bruce Banner x Natasha Romanoff, Vision x Wanda Maximoff

Words: 4.1k

Note: This is not my best work, but here it is! I hope all is well! I am always here to chat if you need to. Life sucks and is scary at the moment but we will persevere! My heart goes out to all of you!

Additional Note: While this is a Teen Wolf x Marvel AU, not everything is true to the shows/movies/comics. I had to change things for the story.

One Last Note: Y/N was adopted by Tony Stark and Pepper Potts. I did this so more people can see themselves in this story.

***I do not own Teen Wolf or Marvel or any related characters. This is a work of fanfiction and is meant for entertainment purposes only.***

Masterlist

The Beast of War Masterlist

The Lost Child Masterlist

Previous Chapter

---

“What do you want to watch while we eat?” Y/N calls out to Derek. She’s sitting on the couch in her pajama shorts and t-shirt, TV remote in hand, scrolling through movies on the various streaming services they pay for. She’s thought about asking Tony to buy them all out and create just one platform for everything because paying for multiple subscriptions to watch her favorite shows and movies is getting old—and expensive.

“You can pick,” Derek calls back from the kitchen where he’s plating up the dinner he made for them.

“Hm, what do I want to watch,” Y/N says to herself, continuing to scroll through the movies on Netflix. “Do I want something I want to pay attention to or background noise?”

“Don’t pick anything too long,” Derek says, walking toward the couch with their plates full of food. “You might not have work tomorrow, but I’ve got two interviews in the morning.”

“Thank you,” Y/N says, grabbing her plate from him and setting it down on the coffee table. “It’s not even 7:30 yet. Do you plan on going to bed after this?”

“Who said anything about going to bed?” Derek smirks at her before taking a bite out of his food.

“Well, in that case, I might just put on an episode of something so I have enough time to shower and maybe slip on something a little sexy for you.” Y/N smirks back.

“You know you don’t have to do any of that for me. You’re sexy to me no matter what.”

“Yes, but I’m all gross from helping Steve and Bucky today. Plus, I may or may not have bought a little something to surprise you in the other day. I haven’t had time to wear it since our schedules have been so hectic.” As Y/N finishes her sentence, her phone starts to ring on the coffee table in front of her. It’s face down, but she knows it’s Stiles by the ringtone. She debates sending him to voicemail but decides to pick up her phone and answer. “Didn’t we just see each other?”

“Donovan’s gone,” Stiles’ voice rings through the speaker.

“Gone? What do you mean gone?” Derek sets his plate down on the coffee table as he listens in on the conversation.

“I mean Lydia found the transport van with dead bodies inside, but no Donovan.”

Y/N glances over at Derek, who gets off the couch and moves toward the front door to grab his keys and put his shoes on, “Where are you?” Stiles rambles off the address as Y/N slips on her shoes and follows Derek out of the loft. “We’ll be there in a few minutes.”

---

Pulling up next to Stiles’ jeep, they take in the busy crime scene. Officers are scattered throughout the area around the blocked-off road. In the back, Y/N notices the transport van in the middle of the road with the back doors open. Whether they were like that when Lydia found it or the officers opened them, she doesn’t know. Y/N and Derek run up to where Stiles and the sheriff are talking.

“What happened?” Y/N asks, looking over to the van to see if she can notice anything that will tell her what’s going on. There’s a sense in the back of her mind telling her that someone is watching her.

“Scott is out looking for Donovan. His lawyer is dead, and he also possibly mortally wounded two officers.” Her dad replies. He’s still dressed up for his date, and Y/N wonders if he was even able to make it before getting called in.

“You think Donovan did this?”

“We don’t know,” Stiles says. “I think it was someone else.”

“What’s your theor-” Y/N cuts herself when she sees someone quickly duck out of view on the street above them.

“What?” The sheriff looks over to the place she’s staring at.

“There was someone there watching us. I’m not sure what they looked like since they ducked out real quick.” Y/N stares for a moment longer before focusing back on her dad and brother. Noah motions to an officer passing by to check where Y/N was staring at.

“Anyways, as I was say-,” She’s cut off by Officer Parrish’s radio sparking to life with Scott’s muffled voice.

“Scott, is that you?” Parrish asks into his radio. Y/N, Derek, Stiles, and the sheriff walk over to Parrish and the others. Y/N now notices that Lydia, Malia, and Kira are there as well.

“Yeah, I found Donovan. He seems completely freaked out. He keeps saying the name Tracy.” Scott replies.

The sheriff grabs Parrish’s radio off the officer’s shoulder, “Tracy who?”

“Stewart,” Lydia says, “Tracy Stewart.”

“Who’s that?” Y/N asks. Lydia said the name like it was obvious, but she’s never heard that name before.

“She’s a girl that goes to our school. She said she’s been having night terrors.”

“Parrish, go find Scott, pick up Donovan, and take him back to the station. And take another officer with you.” The officer nods at the sheriff in confirmation before leaving him with the others. “The rest of you should go home. Most of you have school in the morning, and I have a few phone calls to make to some families tonight. We don’t know what happened here, but I will let you know if we do.”

“Shouldn’t we be out looking for Tracy?” Stiles asks. Lydia, Malia, and Kira are already walking back to Lydia’s car, but Stiles isn’t ready to stop for the night.

“We will look for Tracy; you will look for your bed. Go home.”

“Fine,” Stiles huffs, rolling his eyes in frustration as he walks off toward his jeep.

“Both of you too,” Noah says, looking at Y/N and Derek.

“Derek has work tomorrow, but I don’t. Call me if you need help with anything. And I mean supernatural help, not paperwork help.” Y/N says before hugging her dad goodbye.

“Should we stop and pick up some dinner on the way home?” Derek asks as they walk back to the camaro. “We didn’t have time to eat much before Stiles called.”

“Please. I’m so hungry. I only had like one bite before we left.” Y/N smiles at him sweetly while wrapping her arms around him.

“Just tell me where to go.”

---

“Thanks for coming in. We’ll let you know what we decide in a day or two.” Derek shakes the interviewee’s hand before watching the guy leave.

Cora smirks as she watches the interaction. She can tell by Derek’s body language that he doesn’t like the guy. After the guy leaves, she turns to Derek, “So, I’m guessing I shouldn’t expect to see him again?”

“For someone with ten years of experience, Issac knows more than him,” Derek says frustratedly. He was the second person to come in today, and Derek wasn’t impressed with either. The first girl was experienced but said she could only work two days a week due to her other job, and Derek needs someone full-time. The second guy’s resume looked good, but it was obvious he wasn’t as experienced as he claimed to be.

Derek wishes he could be back home with Y/N already, and it’s not even noon yet. He got to the shop early to prepare for the first interview at 8 AM and open at 7AM, but that meant leaving his beautiful girlfriend in bed by herself this morning—something she was not pleased about. He also expects to be home later than usual since four cars were dropped off this morning after their catalytic converters were stolen the night before.

“Should I print out more resumes? There has to be someone in this town who lives up to your standards.” Cora says. Derek put her in charge of going through the online applications and printing out the resumes of the people who looked qualified.

“Print them out and put them on my desk. I’ll go through them at lunch, and then you can set up an interview with the ones I give back to you.” Derek huffs. Y/N frequently tells him that he needs to stop working through lunch and use that time to take a break, which is a bit hypocritical of her as she tends to do the same. “If you see one from Bucky Barnes, make sure to print it out too.”

“Isn’t that one of the Avengers guys?”

“He’s Y/N’s uncle, and I told her I would see if he’s qualified or not. He apparently needs a job, and I was told that he might be a good fit.” He’s glad no one else is in the room with them right now. If the wrong customer were here, it would be all over the internet the next day that Bucky Barnes might work at the garage. Derek doesn’t have social media, but he hears all of the idiotic things people say online about him and the others from Y/N and his pack.

“You’ve gone soft because of her.” Cora teases.

Derek rolls his eyes, “I said I’d see if he was a good fit, not that I would hire him. I doubt he applies anyway. He doesn’t like me.”

“Well, you don’t always make the best first impression with you being all growly and broody and stuff.”

“You’ve been hanging out with Stiles too much.” Derek huffs. He moves to head back to his office when the front door opens, the bells at the top ringing in notification. Looking at the front, Bucky Barnes walks into the Hale Garage front office.

“Hi, welcome to Hale Garage. How can I help you?” Cora smiles sweetly at Bucky before turning to smirk at Derek.

Bucky slowly walks up to the front desk. His eyes are looking at everything but Cora and Derek. Getting closer to the desk, he notices the picture of Y/N he previously took off the corkboard has been replaced with a new one. The old picture is now in a frame in his and Steve’s living room. Bucky clears his throat, “Y/N told me that you’re looking for a mechanic and that I should apply…”

“Did you apply online?”

“No,” Bucky says, digging into his jacket pocket to retrieve his folded resume, “I brought my resume because I thought you might have an application here I could fill out.” Bucky fiddles nervously with the resume while waiting for Cora or Derek to say something. He hates that Steve talked him into this.

Bucky wasn’t going to apply. The more he thought about working with (for) Derek, the more he hated the idea. He decided he would rather work for Hydra than work with Derek; then Steve got into his head. Steve kept telling him how much Y/N would appreciate it if he applied and how she probably visits the shop frequently. He also brought up how Y/N just did a lot for them with their new place.

“Um, I could print one out for you to fill out. You’ll just have to give me a moment.” Cora says, glancing at Derek before moving over to the computer next to her.

Derek watches Bucky for a moment. He’s hoping his face didn’t show his surprise when Bucky said he was here to apply. He assumed Bucky wouldn’t come within 100 feet of this place.

After a few moments of silence, Derek turns his attention to Cora and says, “After he fills it out, bring him back to my office.” He walks back to his office after Cora hums in acknowledgment.

Walking into his office, Derek leaves the door open for when Cora and Bucky are finished. He sits down in the chair behind his desk and pulls out his phone to text Y/N.

Barnes is here to apply.

Really? He didn’t seem interested when I brought it up.

He brought his resume and is filling out the application right now.

I told Cora to bring him to my office when he’s done.

You’re interviewing him now?

How did the interviews go this morning?

Yeah.

They were fine but not what I’m looking for.

Maybe I should apply;)

I think work production would go down if you worked here.

Are you saying I’m a bad worker or a distraction…?

We both know you’re a distraction.

A sexy distraction;)

Derek starts to type out his reply when Cora knocks on his open door, “Hey, you told me to bring him here after he was done.”

“Yes, thank you,” Derek holds out his hand to take Bucky’s resume and application from Cora’s hand while setting his phone face down on his desk. She walks into the office, and Bucky slowly trails behind her.

Derek and Cora whisper quietly to each other as Bucky’s eyes wander around the office. For an office in an auto shop, it was fairly clean. Other than a few messy stacks of papers on the desk, the rest of the office is tidy and organized. Behind Derek was a corkboard similar to the one up front. It has a few photos of his pack members and what appears to be old family photos.

The photos that stick out to Bucky the most is the photo booth strip in the bottom right corner. The top photo is Y/N smiling at the camera while Derek is staring at her with a small smile on his face. The photo below is Y/N and Derek looking at each other with big smiles on their faces. The next photo is them passionately kissing, and the last photo is Y/N laughing while Derek’s face is blocked by the disgusted face of Stiles.

Staring at the strip of photos, Bucky can’t help but think of how happy Y/N looks in them. Her smile is brighter than anything he’s seen since they’ve re-met each other. Even her laugh in the last photo is something he hasn’t witnessed. It looks loud and carefree. He can’t help but wonder if it’s because they aren’t as close as she is to Derek and Stiles or if it’s from her memories of Hydra coming back and the new ones she gained while kidnapped.

“Take a seat,” Derek’s voice breaks Bucky from his thoughts. As he sits down in the chair in front of Derek’s desk, he realizes Cora has left and shut the door behind her.

Derek quietly reads through Bucky’s resume and application. He can tell that Bucky tailored his resume to the job opening, and on his application, he left a note stating that he’s been fixing up the bikes and cars the Avengers use for the past few years.

Bucky clears his throat and breaks the silence, “Do you have any questions?” That’s what Steve told him to ask at interviews. He can’t say it’s helped him since he has yet to be hired anywhere. He also doesn’t care if Derek has any questions. This is already humiliating enough.

“What’s one of your strengths?” Derek asks, still looking over Bucky’s resume and application.

“Um…I work quickly and can do things myself.”

“Weaknesses?”

“I’m not a people person,” Bucky answers bluntly.

“What’s the last thing you worked on?”

“I changed the oil in Steve’s car yesterday.”

“Why do you want this job?”

Bucky pauses, “What?”

“Why do you want this job?” Derek asks again, setting Bucky’s paperwork down on his desk in front of him.

Bucky thinks for a moment. How is he supposed to answer that? He can think of several reasons why he doesn’t want the job like he doesn’t want to work with or for Derek, he knows that reporters and fans like to show up, and he doesn’t want to work with or for Derek.

“Y/N told me about the job.” Bucky answers.

“I know, but why do you want it? I don’t want to hire anyone who doesn’t want to be here.”

Bucky huffs in frustration. Why can’t Derek just accept that he’s here? “I know what to do.”

“That still doesn’t answer my question,” Derek says. He knows he’s pushing Bucky’s buttons, but he wants a real answer from him. Bucky is more than qualified, and his test project will only further prove that, but he doesn’t want to hire him if he doesn’t want to be here. While he knows most people want jobs because they need money to pay their bills and feed themselves, he needs to know that Bucky is here for the job and not here to try and find more reasons to hate him and report his findings back to the others.

Bucky rolls his eyes and grumbles under his breath as he quickly stands up and moves to the door. He grabs the handle to open the door and leave but stops himself before he can open it. He takes a deep breath and takes a moment to calm himself down. Derek is only asking a simple question.

Bucky curses under his breath before letting go of the door handle and sitting back down in the chair he was previously sitting in. Taking another deep breath, he decides to answer the question honestly and bluntly, “I think working here would make Y/N happy. Do I want to work with you? No, I’d rather cut both my arms off with a small dagger, but I’d do anything for her.”

Derek stares at him for a moment, listening to his heartbeat as it stays steady. He’s hoping he doesn’t regret what he’s about to do. “What are you doing for the next hour?”

“Nothing.”

“Great, follow me,” Derek says, standing from his chair and exiting his office.

Bucky quietly follows him into the garage. He can see Derek’s uncle Peter working on a large black SUV in the middle and another kid, Isaac, if he remembers correctly, working on a small blue MINI Cooper next to Peter. He remembers Y/N said something about him finishing school online early when he was living in Paris. Now, he works here and lives in an apartment in the building Derek owns—though Y/N said that Derek doesn’t charge him for rent.

Derek stops in front of a white Kia Forte at the end of the garage. The hood is propped open, and there’s a rolling cart full of tools and more sitting next to it. Derek grabs a notebook and pencil from the cart and hands them to Bucky. “Look over the car and write down everything that’s wrong with it and how’d you fix it. The keys are on the cart. If you drive it, drive it down the block then back. Bring your notes to my office when you’re done.”

Bucky nods in acknowledgment before getting to work. The quicker he works, the quicker he can get this over with. If he gets the job, he gets the job. If he doesn’t, he’s going to kill Steve for convincing him to come here.

Derek watches Bucky for a few moments before walking away. He checks on Isaac as he walks by before walking over to their table with the work orders.

“Y/N got you hiring one of her other family members? What’s next? Is Stiles going to start working here too?” Peter asks, walking over to Derek, who is looking over the work order that’s up next.

“Y/N’s not making me do anything. She told him about the opening, and he came here on his own.” Derek replies, rolling his eyes at his uncle.

“Yeah, but I bet she put in a good word for him. He is family, after all.” Peter loves bringing up the fact that the Avengers are Y/N’s family every chance he gets. He especially loves bringing it up around Stiles. He knows it bothers him, and he loves to get under his skin.

“She told me it was up to me and to not do anything if he’s not qualified or if someone else is a better fit. Right now, he’s the most qualified person that’s applied, and everyone who has interviewed hasn’t proven to me they deserve to work here.”

“I still can’t believe the guy this morning didn’t notice that an entire headlight is missing on that piece of junk.” Peter motions his head over to the car Bucky is inspecting. “Doesn’t he hate you? Why would you want him working here?”

“I hate you, and you work here,” Derek replies.

Peter starts to reply but is cut off by Cora interrupting them, “Derek, you’ve got a phone call.”

“From who?” Derek asks.

“It’s the guy who came in last week and dropped off some old bikes. He says he found some more when clearing out his dad’s barn if you’re interested.”

“Transfer him to my phone, and I’ll talk to him,” Derek says, walking toward his office to speak to the guy in private—though working with other werewolves means there is no such thing as private conversations.

After speaking with the guy on the phone for a few minutes and working through a work order, Derek is sitting in his office eating the lunch Y/N stayed up and prepped for him while filling out paperwork.

A knock on his door has him looking up from the form he’s filling out, “Come in.”

The door slowly opens, and Bucky walks into the office. He sets the notebook and pencil in his hands down on the desk in front of Derek. He doesn’t say anything and watches as Derek picks up the notebook and looks over what he’s written down.

Derek hums in approval after he finishes reading through Bucky’s notes, “You caught everything wrong with it, and your processes are all right.”

“I would’ve finished sooner, but the kid kept asking me questions,” Bucky says. He had to ask Isaac for help so he could check the brake lights, and he ended up being stared at and asked multiple questions about what Y/N was like as a baby. He wanted to tell the kid to fuck off but decided not to in case it got back to Y/N.

“He’s not usually very chatty,” Derek says before rummaging through his bottom desk drawer. He pulls out a few papers and sets them on the desk in front of Bucky, “Fill these out and bring them with you when you start on Monday. We open at seven, but be here at least 15 minutes early for your first day.”

“You’re giving me the job?” Bucky asks incredulously.

“Yes, and you start Monday,” Derek says, picking up and holding up the paperwork for Bucky to take.

Bucky takes the papers from Derek’s hand while trying to think of what to say. There’s a devil on his shoulder telling him to throw the papers at Derek and tell him he doesn’t need the job. Then, there’s a voice in the back of his head that’s telling him to feel excited.

“See you Monday,” Bucky says before walking out of Derek’s office and speed-walking out of the building.

“Should I expect to see him again?” Cora asks with a smirk as she leans against the open door frame to Derek’s office.

“He starts Monday,” Derek replies, refocusing his attention on the paperwork he was filling out before Bucky interrupted him. He hopes that if he ignores Cora she will just go away.

“You really have gone soft. The old you wouldn’t have even given him the interview.”

“I’m not soft. He was just qualified for the job.”

“You keep telling yourself that,” Cora laughs as she walks back to the front desk.

Derek rolls his eyes at her antics before pulling out his phone to text Y/N.

Barnes starts on Monday.

Was he that good or the others that bad?

Both.

He said he applied because of you.

I hope that’s not why he got the job.

No. He’s good and has enough experience. Nothing to do with you.

Though if you wanted to thank me tonight, I wouldn’t object…

Hm…I’m sure I can think of something…

Stiles texted me and said they found the Tracy girl. They are with her at Deaton’s right now.

Are you going over?

No, they can handle it. Unless they call me, I plan on staying on the couch until you get home. Then we can move somewhere else…;)

How about we go out for dinner tonight? Somewhere nice.

Are you trying to wine and dine me? ;)

Ricci’s at 7. After we can stop for dessert wherever you’d like.

I’ll be ready!

Let’s hope nothing ruins our plans like last night.

---

@xxemmarldxx @esposadomd @ladyjenjay @ts1mp0ne @misshale21

@n1ght5h4d3-24 @xoxoloverb @hizzielover @remuslittlesister @oscarissac2099

@captainfrisbee

[abcd-adventures]

Ya'll responding to the mustache post absolutely cracked me up! Thank you! :) The mustache is currently still present...but we have a date tonight for our wedding anniversary, and I'm considering letting him know that if he intends to get lucky after the date, he should probably SHAVE! Lol

My work-life balance has not been great recently. I previously mentioned that my new boss is not really qualified for the position...and she's not...but I have appreciated that she has recognized that the workload on our team is extremely inequitable. In addition to really working hard to try to learn her job, she has been dogged in expecting more accountability from the team. She's only been there a month and she's putting one of my coworkers on a performance improvement plan...something he should have been put on THREE YEARS AGO because he's been performing this way for as long as I've been there. Cautiously optimistic. I would like to do less. I would like to see fewer clients, but I have told every boss the same thing I told this one--I will not transfer anyone unless I have faith that they will receive proper care. I don't doubt they'll receive proper care from this coworker, I KNOW they will not.

I am trying to figure out how to better fit workouts into my life. B used to start preschool at 9, so I woke up at 5:30 to have some alone time. Now, B wakes up at 5:30 and we have to be out the door to leave for school at 7:20. I have TRIED waking up earlier, but it is soooo difficult, and when I do, I definitely don't feel like doing anything more than dragging myself downstairs for coffee so it's not worth it. And, despite me always doing mornings, we alternate bed times, so I have to do that whole routine every other night on top of making dinner/pre-making lunches and snacks, cleaning up, pre-making the coffee, and walking the dog (and sometimes finishing up my notes from the workday). By the time I'm done, it's like 8pm and I don't feel like working out then either...besides, sometimes I want to read for a bit and I have to fit in quality time with my husband. On nights when I don't have to do bedtime, I try to fit in a quick 15-20 minute yoga or weights workout, but that's not always consistent (and that's mostly on me because sometimes I just want a BREAK...). How do ya'll do it!?!?!?! I'm thinking about signing up for a dance subscription and doing a dance workout with B? Like, even if he doesn't do the actual moves and we just make bouncing around fun...? Maybe? Like, if I can incorporate him into it, it would be quality family time AND a workout? Maybe will try it out this weekend.

[theghostavocadoe]

At least one of the Remnants (or multiple your choice) helping Cloud with his delivery service so they can make some money?

(and also because they do worry about their "big brother" but they'd never admit that aloud i think)

Phone calls in the morning were a common occurrence when owning a business. Cloud had gotten used to answering each call with the same barely-there enthusiasm and getting onto business. This morning was one of such occurrences as he scribbled down some notes on where to pick up and drop off today's deliveries.

When he set the phone down and turned around, his heart nearly leapt out through his throat when he came face to face with the tall, imposing shadow that definitely was not there before.

"Good morning," Yazoo greeted.

Cloud was still clutching his racing heart. "Sweet Minerva. Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

Yazoo tilted his head like an owl. "Apologies, that wasn't my intention."

Cloud had to take a deep breath before he continued. He knew Yazoo had a tendency to make little to 0 noise, but he usually wasn't one to approach Cloud first thing in the morning. "Then what was your intention?"

"I heard you over the phone," Yazoo replied. "I want to make an offer."

Suspicious. "An offer?"

"I will help you with 30% of your work today," Yazoo began, "And in return, I get 30% of the pay."

Even more suspicious. The remnants usually had no need for money since they often lie or steal their way into getting what they wanted.

"You're asking for money? That's not like you."

"We're trying to be upstanding citizens." Not him. We. Meaning the other two were planning on helping Cloud at some point as well.

Cloud couldn't help the squint of suspicion that crossed his face.

Yazoo tilted his head in the other direction, lips slightly turning into a frown. "What, you don't believe me? You wound me, Cloud. We're doing our best to--"

"Alright, alright." Cloud waved him off. "You can help."

Yazoo smiled. "Excellent."

-

Yazoo's idea of "helping" turned out to be "looking pretty to borderline seduce their customers into buying their services." Cloud had no idea where they'd learned such business practices, and he wasn't about to ask.

Part of him felt a little bad. But to be fair, he asked the same stuff on his own delivery trips. Here's your package, sign here, consider buying our subscription service for saving on future purchases, blah blah blah. Yazoo just happened to have the advantage of being a tall, slightly imposing, mysterious, beautiful, gender-ambiguous person batting their eyelashes at you to give you the impression that you had a chance with such an individual if you did what they wanted.

It was also quite convenient to have Yazoo around when a difficult customer made a scene and received a sharp glare that immediately shut them up.

Every customer he'd asked before and had been rejected from was suddenly pleasant as a flower and signing papers for their subscriptions. After their fifth customer had closed their door, Cloud turned to Yazoo.

"Are you using your powers?" He asked.

Yazoo shook their head. "No. You'd be able to tell if I did."

Hm.

"I'm just using my natural capabilities to get what I want. Is that a crime?"

Well, legally speaking, no. But morally...

"Okay, fine. I trust you. But lighten up on the flirty glances, alright? Don't give them the wrong impression on what this service actually is."

Yazoo giggled as they sauntered back over to their bike. "As you wish, Cloud~"

-

Despite their teasing, Yazoo did take Cloud's words to heart and held back on the flirting. Their methods still had just as much effect. By the time they were done, Cloud had made twice as much gil as he usually does on a delivery trip.

On the way home from their final delivery, they stopped at the corner store to buy a few goodies with a portion of their spoils. After that, it didn't take long to make it back to Seventh Heaven.

Once the door to the building was pushed in, the two were immediately assaulted by the younger kids. Marlene tugged at Yazoo's coat and asked what he brought, to which the taller crouched down and handed her a bundle of lollipops. Denzel stuck to Cloud while watching the altercation and giggled when Marlene happily sprinted off with her treats in hand.

Cloud portioned out the money he got from the trip and took out what he guessed to be was 30%, and then handed it to them. "Here's your salary."

"My salary? Does that mean I get PTO?" Yazoo joked as they took the money and began counting it.

"No." Cloud blinked. "How do you know what that is?"

"President Shinra once gave me a job offer. I refused, naturally." Yazoo folded the money and slipped it into one of their pockets. "It came with a lot of documents that I ended up throwing out."

"Smart."

"I'm happier with this job anyway. Thank you for letting me help. It was more fun than I thought."

Cloud smiled and gave Yazoo's shoulder a teasing jab. "Don't get used to it. Your siblings might swoop in and steal your spot."

"I'll be sure to wake up earlier then."

And with a grin, Yazoo headed off and up to their room.

[mattscoquette]

what’s your workout routine!! i’ve been going to the gym but i can’t tell if what im doing is affective

my gym routine ! ♡︎☆🎀 ࣪ ˖

i talk a lot about food, diet, exercise, and weight loss under the cut:)

i go to the gym minimum 5 days a week, this is my split:

𝐦𝐨𝐧: full body

𝐭𝐮𝐞𝐬: arms

𝐰𝐞𝐝𝐬: legs

𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐬: chest & back

𝐟𝐫𝐢: cardio & abs

𝐬��𝐭 & 𝐬𝐮𝐧: active rest days

these are the exercises i do in order on the designated days! i also walk on the treadmill for thirty minutes at the end of my workout. pls remember to work to your fullest extent, but do not overdo yourself!!!! it's okay if you cannot do all of these the first time u try, do not compare your day 1 to someone's day 100

(most of these exercises are done on the machines - if there is any uncertainty how to perform these exercises pinterest and tik tok are very useful)

𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲

୨୧ lat pull downs 4x12

୨୧ chest press 3x8

୨୧ bicep curls 3x10

୨୧ tricep curls 3x10

୨୧ leg press 3x12

୨୧ leg extension 2x12

୨୧ leg curls 2x12

୨୧ ab side twists 2x12 each

୨୧ ab crunches 3x10

୨୧ treadmill 30 mins

୨୧ stair master 15 mins

𝐛𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐬 & 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭

୨୧ rope pull down 3 mins

୨୧ bicep cable curls 3x10

୨୧ bicep extensions 3x12

୨୧ hammer curls 4x10

୨୧ bicep curls 3x12

୨୧ chest press 3x12

୨୧ butterfly 3x15

୨୧ hammer smith chest press 3x10

୨୧ dumbell incline dumbbell press 5x10

𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐬

୨୧ leg extensions 2x15

୨୧ leg press 4x12

୨୧ leg curls 2x15

୨୧ leg press weights 3x12

୨୧ calf extension 3x10

୨୧ back extension 3x10

୨୧ hip abduction 3x12

୨୧ glute abduction 3x12

୨୧ glue kick back machine 2x15 each

୨୧ bulgarian split squats 2x10 each

୨୧ hip thrusts 3x12

୨୧ rdls 4x10

୨୧ smith machiene squats 3x10

୨୧ stair master until fail (cover w/ sweatshirt)

𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐩 & 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤

୨୧ tri pull down 3x10

୨୧ straight arm pull down 3x12

୨୧ lat pull down 4x12

୨୧ triceps extensions 3x12

୨୧ lateral raise machine 2x15

୨୧ overhead triceps curls 3x10

୨୧ forward dumbbell raises 2x12

୨୧ seated cable row 3x15

୨୧ one arm dumbbell row 4x15

𝐚𝐛𝐬

୨୧ ab twist 4x12 each side

୨୧ ab crunch machine 3x10

୨୧ ab push 3x10

୨୧ ab pull down 3x10

୨୧ hammer strength crunches 3x12

୨୧ hanging crunches 3x10

repeat second half of this section twice

୨୧ plank until failure 2 each

୨୧ dumbbell side twists 2x15

୨୧ straight leg rises 3x12

୨୧ flutter kicks 30 sec each x2

୨୧ side toe taps 3x12

୨୧ bicycle kick 3x20

୨୧ stair master 15 mins

୨୧ treadmill 30 mins

some important things to take into consideration!!:

losing weight / seeing results takes time!! do NOT get discouraged and give up if you do not see immediate results, because it will not happen. u also need to be very aware of what you are eating throughout the day - u cannot outwork a bad diet. if you are not changing your food habits at all, you will most likely not see any results.

for me, i used weightwatchers for about four months last year while following this workout plan, and i lost about 15 lbs in that time! it is a $25/month subscription, but it really worked for me. another app i used to track what i eat is mynetdiary. it helps me keep track of how many calories i eat each day, and helps me stay in a deficit. this one is free and i really recommend it.

weight loss and exercise is different for everyone! the time will pass anyway, so why not just start. you do not need to be in the gym for 3 hours everyday and eating 500 calories a day. even something as small as taking a walk everyday and being aware of what you eat is a start.

just remember to be kind to urself always!! that is whats most important in all this. you can be disciplined and still practice self love.

[see-arcane]

Happy Friday the 13th!

Time for some updates.

Plushies

I promise I have not forgotten the little guys-in-potentia. I’ve just been going through many circles of Hell trying to find a decent manufacturer that isn’t operating on some secret ‘Sorry, We Only Work with Brands ™ and Influencers ©, Enjoy Sending Half a Dozen Queries to Our Inbox-Void, You Little Nobody~ <3’ rule. So that was fun. But, finally, I think I’ve found a prospective maker. The issue?

The smallest bulk order is a 50-count. $30 each, roughly. Just for one. 30 x 50 = at least $1,500. If I try to do Mina and Jonathan (DO NOT SEPARATE), that’s 100 plushies. $3,000.

And that’s without dealing with the logistics of storing all the dang things, figuring out shipping costs depending on where I’d be mailing them (not including the packaging), and figuring out how to fairly price them without also gutting everyone’s wallets while we’re all broke.

Fundraising options like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and Backerkit all look like the only solid way to go here, but they come with their own caveats.

I need some kind of prototype to have on display, not just the concept. The manufacturer I have in mind does provide a physical prototype prior to going to work on bulk orders, but I’d need to talk with them about the what-ifs involved if a fundraiser fails to drop enough cash to afford the full order.

I still need to figure out what a fair funding target would be that would cover cost of manufacturing/shipping/etc and I do not know that magic number.

Tiers? Do I do tiers with this? If so, how do I portion those out dollar-wise? What goodies can I throw in that would sweeten the deal? At the moment all I have is my writing.

Argh.

Really, 4) kind of sums up the whole thing at the moment. I really, really want to make all my assorted little guys come to cuddly life, but the numbers involved are looking more complicated than pi, especially when I—(frankly, all of us)—have Zero Money to gamble away. If I’m off by one (1) digit that means the difference between ‘Yes, I can pay for manufacturing and shipping and et ceteras no problem!’ and ‘WHOOPS SURPRISE YOU’RE PAYING AN EXTRA FEE OUT OF POCKET NOW BECAUSE YOU DID NUMBER WRONG, HA HA.’ Add that to the fact that I really don’t have anything tangible to pin to hypothetical tiers just now?

I’m afraid the plush Harkers (along with Quinn Morse and his new accessory) have to go on a back shelf for the time being.

But, for a more positive note…

October Scares and Scribbles

I plan to have a Substack in place sometime within October. It will include not just Harker’s current helping of chapters, but…

A new Harker teaser

Backups of some older stuff

[REDACTED] as a little Halloween treat

A generally tidier domain to keep my scattered scrawling in order

As it stands, I don’t feel comfortable turning it into a paid subscription Substack. I won’t be doing clockwork updates and what I will have up won’t be worth a routine fee. I’ll likely have a Ko-Fi link up as a sort of tip jar, but that’ll be that.

Speaking of money…

Maybe Making Merch?

Turns out the options for making less complicated bric-a-brac than stuffed animals are…less complicated. Imagine that. I’ve also been poking around looking at possibilities for stationery, bookmarks, cups, assorted bits and bobs. You know the Dracula Cast(ula) was made for journals and coffee mugs. However, I need to know what kind of designs folks would want to see. So:

The prospects here are much less stressful as far as puzzling out details goes, so I feel a little better about chewing on this. Still need to settle on Official Designs, but I’d wave those around for folks to see first.

All that said?

Argh

Because it bears repeating.

You’ll notice I haven’t laid out exact dates or timeframes for any of this stuff. That’s because I’m still neck-deep in the job hunt, along with grappling with the possibility of having to burn more money on new courses to enter a field I hate, but looks to be one of few career paths that will actually pay me more than pocket change. Said positions not even being guaranteed to still be in the same shape once I’m out of class. Same as my last job.

In four months, I’ll have been applying for a solid year. Every day. All to positions that either send copy-paste rejections, ghost outright, turn out to be thin veils for scams, or, most fun prospect, aren’t even real, because companies keep putting up false job openings to look like they’re expanding. My time has alternated between this and writing and trying not to look at my bank account. Between that and anxiety bordering on nausea concerning the upcoming election, my Halloween vibes are pretty bruised too.

It has. Not been the best time.

But the best part of it is still going on. Because that part is you guys. The people who’ve enjoyed my nonsense. The people who’ve actually dropped some bucks my way on Ko-Fi or bought my book! The people who’ve encouraged me for ages and have turned out to be some of the coolest folks a fellow bookworm could hope for. Thank you.

I hope you’ll cross your fingers for me going forward.

Postscript

I’m also working on the rough draft for this thing. Whether I can get it up on the platform I’d like or not, it will see daylight even if I have to drag it outside myself.

Living’s not cheap, but complaining is free. >:}

[graepix]

Honestly, I'm thinking about it, and the whole trend of people saying you shouldn't buy a Nintendo Switch 2 and that being the item they're drawing the line at because it's expensive is just performative. There has been no follow through in the boycott of other items because of their prices. It's just a hill to die on to look like they're doing something?

What do I mean? Well the Nintendo Switch 2 is $500 by itself, and each game is $80. Nintendo Switch online costs $30 a month. A new IPhone or Samsung costs $1000 and in my area, internet providers cost $50 a month. In our current society, having a smart phone is almost a necessity, and that phone doesn't function very well with out some kind of data plan. I don't need a Nintendo Switch 2, I don't need any new games, and I certainly don't need an NSO subscription. They are luxuries. While, in my opinion, a smart phone with access to the internet is a necessity.

It seems weird to me that we're drawing the line at luxury items, thing we don't actually need, being expensive when the things we actually do need are double that price. Here are some other things that are expensive. The groceries for my household were around $100 this week, so our monthly groceries are around $400, if not bordering on $500. A Nintendo Switch 2 costs as much as a month's worth of food. Rent in my area is $1000, that's two Switch 2's or 1 Switch 2 and several games. I'm going to have countless hours of playtime with that Switch 2, I'm only getting 30 days of life time with that rent.

I understand that people can't avoid paying for necessities, people need food, people need shelter, people may need a phone with internet. But I feel like things people need to survive and thrive in this economy should cost less than things people buy because they're fun. Drawing a line at the Switch 2 makes no sense because a $300 Switch 2 will not make groceries or rent lower. It will not make smart phones cheaper. You're not fighting the system, you're choosing a scapegoat and saying you've saved the world by killing it.

You want the price of the Switch 2 to be lower? Then combat the thing that's making it high because I can guarantee, it's the same thing making your rent and groceries high. Symbolic gestures are worthless when they don't actually change the things that matter.

[herdemimonde]

My Weight Loss & Fitness Strategy:

Just like 2 years ago, I'm going to keep it simple.

Fitness:

Straight cardio no chaser. Not going to focus on strength building or weights at the moment. I'm going to be doing aerobic walking (via my Walk At Home subscription) and I will be doing an average of 3 miles every day (sometimes it may be less, like 2 miles, other times it will be more, like 5 miles. But every day minus rest day I will be doing anywhere from 30 min - 1hr of exercise). I'll also be adding in some 10 minute "warm ups/light walks" throughout the day, not so much as additional exercise but just so that my body can get some movement after it's been sitting in one place for hours.

I also know that I need to incorporate stretching and flexibility workouts into my plan as well. I always do a quick stretch at the end of my workouts but I definitely need to fit in some longer ones as well.

Eating/Diet:

This is where it may get questionable for some people, so let me state my disclaimer again: i'm not encouraging nor recommending anyone to do what i'm about to do. this is simply what worked for me.

So as far as eating goes, I will mostly be eating salads with an iceberg lettuce base with vegetables and protein toppings. I will of course still have some indulgences (I actually think it's important that you do, restrictive dieting is one way to regain your weight back quickly once the diet is over) but for the most part I will be eating salads and having certain veggies and fruits.

If this list seems rather small (especially compared to 2 years ago when i was also having oatmeal, green smoothies, etc. ) it's because I have now been diagnosed with SIBO, candida and chronic constipation (with is closely related to IBS). although I'm not going to focus on healing my digestive issues at this time, I also don't want to eat foods that are going to trigger them or make them worst.

I'm currently researching and looking more into this so my diet will most likely be altered along the way.

And that's all folks. I'll be posting daily updates with pics of my food (sometimes). This blog may get a bit fitblr-y for a while lol.

[goldenstorm0]

Random petpeeve: Laptops aren't as easy to upgrade as your normal tower computer

Like, maybe you can get more ram if they didn't solder them in. But fans/cooling systems are usually custom to the model. And same with literally every other part head to toe, but I usually find I want better cooling because I usually use harder programs for whatever editing I'm doing. Little tiny things like CMOS batteries, keys, screws, whatever can be fucked around with to fit. I literally file down a couple little tabs on CMOS batteries for work because we bought 30 of the wrong model, but the thats the fanciest we get with it

Maybe If you are a giant need you can Frankenstein something together, my BIL specializes in computer science has friends who have done that a few times to fuck around, but it's never more extensive than putting a different model monitor half on the keyboard half. Which is impressive in itself tbh, for some ungodly reason it's a lot harder than it should be.

Like straight up I would be happy with a giant slab of a computer if that ment i could more easily replace parts. Big enough that I could put in whatever motherboard I want, a new graphics card when I need an upgrade, extra fans so maybe it doesn't burn up as much when running aftereffects or indesign or whatever I'm trying to teach myself. But small enough that I can put it in a bag and plug it in at a cute coffee shop and people watch while I work. But noooo everyone wants to have the coolest sleekest design that's less than a pound and can barely maybe run unmodded stardew valley and possible chrome (not at the same time) so you can check your email then watch something (not at the same time) on one of you monthly subscription services and make powerpoints for work (again, not at the same time, unless you like things running at a snails speed, honestly it will do that even if you only run one thing at a time)

idk, I'm awake earlier than usual and I want to go out to a coffee shop and people watch and work on a random project, but I haven't touched my laptop in a couple years since I got a tower. Like, I'm not a computer person, but I do a lot of DIY shit and work has a few laptops rn that we plan on recycling cause they are old and slow, and part of me wants to see if I can take one home to fuck around with to see if I can some art programs running on it. Buuut I know these laptops well enough to know that I'd want to upgrade a lot of parts, and I haven't even started this project and I am already frustrated at this maybe sisyphean task.

[celebrimborium]

Thank you so much for sharing that info on ROP Season 2 questionary.

What are your thoughts on this delay to announce the show renewal for Season 3? What are they waiting for? Or is the show actually at risk of getting canceled? You also mentioned they asked suggestions for S3 (what the viewers would like to see)? This tells me they do take the fans opinions to heart, because they are currently writing Season 3 (according to the showrunners, at least).

Sorry about all the questions, but you got me curious 😊

I don't think the show is at risk of being cancelled at the moment, all the people involved with the show have spoken about S3 with such confidence that I have to believe it's been in preparation for a while and that Amazon has indicated to them that a renewal is just a formality. However, Charlotte Brändström (who is a director and producer of the show) suggested we'd be hearing official news until the end of October, I think. And now mid-November I get that survey. So, there is that. I think Amazon is really looking at all their options going forward.

If we look back at S2, that was renewed early and all the scripts had already been written before S1 aired – in fact, S2 began shooting around the same time S1 ended. And we still had to wait for a long time until S2 could be released. So wouldn't it be smarter to start S3 production earlier or even film S3 and S4 back to back?

Maybe, but Amazon is a business and after S1 probably underperformed relative to their expectations (not necessarily in terms of viewing numbers but in terms of social media engagement and subscription drive), it seems they wanted to wait until after S2 to look at all the data. Over the last couple of months, a new writers' room was assembled (already a reaction to S1?) and presumably drafted S3 scripts. But the scripts aren't finished yet, we know that much. So what's going on? Are the writers being slow? Do they have to do rewrites? Is Amazon not happy with the S3 Payne & McKay are pitching? Or are they just waiting to have all their ducks in a row and location scouting done and shooting scheduled before announcing a renewal? Is it a question of budget negotiations? At this point, the long wait doesn't exactly spell confidence in terms of media/press reporting and publicity, so at the very least Amazon is carefully weighing what to do. Since the show is very much tied up in the plans for Amazon Studios as such (buying up production hubs in the UK etc), this is also very much a strategic decision with wider repercussions. The Hollywood Reporter reported sometime in September or October that Amazon was still planning to stick to the 50-hour plan but plans can change.

One thing I was asked about in the survey was whether the cliffhangers episode-to-episode worked for me this season. I haven't looked at the viewing data in detail but if the show lost viewers over the season, that would be an issue, since you normally want it to increase, even if a lower S2 premiere is expected. We know that the viewership in the US is 30–35 % down compared to S1 which isn't great. But Amazon has access to much more detailed data (and the show had better international pull in S1, so that's important for S2 and we don't know anything about it). The more obscure the feat is that they tout, the more you can be sure the data doesn't look that great though (relative to budget and the branding/IP).

I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to go into the survey and what was asked there but rest assured it was extremely detailed with lists upon lists with characters and storylines and relationships and themes and production aspects and all kinds of things to rate (not on a scale but more in a "this was done well / poorly", "this would make me more / less interested in watching", "I would like to see more / less of this" type of way across a spectrum). They also asked about things like viewing comprehension and social media engagement.

If you don't like storytelling by committee, you might find this type of detailed audience questioning concerning. Certainly I'm a little concerned by the consensus on the show and characters in places like Reddit or other male-dominated spaces and how that might be the outcome we get. But for sure you can't say Amazon isn't trying to gauge audience interest to the very last degree.

And that's why I think we'll get a retooled S3. And beyond that we'll have to see.

[not-poignant]

January 2024 Writing Round-Up

Here's the monthly round-up of everything written and posted in January 2024! How is the first month of this year nearly over already??? But here's the chapters that were released: 

Birthday Spotlight - Dr Gary Konowalous 

Birthday Spotlight - Nathaniel (Nate) Prince 

Underline the Black 76  

Underline the Black 77 

Underline the Blue 09 

Constellations 02 

The Nascent Diplomat 40 

The Nascent Diplomat 41 (Augus+Gwyn Tier+)

Underline the Blue 12 (Augus+Gwyn Tier+)

Constellations 05 (Gary+Efnisien Tier+)

Chapter Commentary - Underline the Black 33 (Mosk+Eran Tier+)

Chapter Commentary - Underline the Black 34 (Mosk+Eran Tier+)

Tradewinds (full e-book) (Gary+Efnisien Tier+)

FANFICTION

A Stain that Won't Dissolve 29 

A Stain that Won't Dissolve 30 

Palmarosa 16 

Palmarosa 17 

*

An extremely quiet month, with only 31,000 words written. That's not bad (my minimum is 25k) but I'm sure y'all know I like to aim higher than that most months!

A reminder that enrolment into the Merch Tier to get the May/June rewards is still valid until mid February!

*

On the writing side, I wrote across multiple stories: Palmarosa, Constellations, The Nascent Diplomat, A Stain that Won't Dissolve, Underline the Black, and Underline the Blue.

*

We adopted a gorgeous puppy called Tobermory but it's been very overwhelming on a PTSD and autism front (we actually decided to rehome at one point, and then decided to stick it out, but it's been rough). And also just on a 'young puppy life' front lol.

In the months ahead I'll be taking a break in the form of not posting one Underline the Black chapter per month to give me one Sunday-to-Sunday stretch of posting no chapters. I will still be active and around! These aren't holidays from writing or interacting with you all, just from the schedule itself. :D 

I also really want to get stuck into editing Game Theory, it feels like a distant dream right now which is more than a little frustrating, just because of time and energy, but please know it's still high up on my list! I'm also going to start designing/planning the next round of merch soon, so stay tuned for that. :D

*

Tradewinds has LAUNCHED!!! This is a Patreon/Ream exclusive, meaning that - at this stage - it can only be read if you join that tier and download it to read. You're welcome to stay in the tier, drop back down to your regular tier, or even just sign up for one month and leave again. Obviously the latter isn't my preference! But I want folks to enjoy themselves and am sensitive to the fact that not everyone can afford regular subscription, or has to be careful how they subscribe <3 

Tradewinds is a completed Fae Tales Verse story with a completely new cast of characters that focuses on merchant fae in the southern hemisphere, and Seelie vs. Unseelie merchant traders.

*

Remember you can reach out to me privately at any time, at my email piafoxhall@gmail.com - if you can't find something, or just want to find out something, let me know. I'll do my best to help :)

I'll see you all in February 2024! We've smashed into a brutal heatwave, with temperatures of 42C, 43C and then 41C coming over the next few days (that's 107F, 109F and 105F for the folks in the USA!) Pray for me, because I am going to have to walk everywhere with a spatula so that I might lever myself off the bitumen (road/asphalt). 

[killingbill]

HELP ME KEEP MY FIANCÉ AFLOAT AFTER HER STROKE! (please signal boost if you can)

paypal link: paypal.me/thamorgue kofi: https://ko-fi.com/thamorgue

Hi, my name is Morgan. I'm a lesbian, 26. My fiancé (she/her, 30) is the strongest person I've ever met. She's a chemist, who worked for a pharmaceutical company. She achieved her dreams, and was supporting me in doing the same for myself. We thought we were just about to get out of our hard-times, and unfortunately, life had other plans for us.

My fiancé suffered a stroke on April 29th, 2024. The stroke impacted the language centre of her brain, and it was a large area of the brain that was impacted. She will be able to work again someday, but her physical and mental deficits are going to require a lot of therapy to correct. Her recovery is projected to be 6 months - 2 years.

She was the main breadwinner in our household and worked so hard to get herself out on her own, and start our life together. She was kind enough to give me leeway to do what I've always wanted to do, and begin freelance work. She's so independent and this is the last thing she ever would have wanted. However, I know that she will have the ability to make it through to the other side.

In the meantime, however, it is not fair that just because she is now disabled - she will seemingly be at risk of losing her apartment, and other such services such as electric or gas, when this event was entirely out of her control. I have vowed to do my best to help, but I do not have regular income (other than a recent approval for welfare) and her immediate family is already stretched thin. We have contacted multiple stroke organizations and have been turned away, and cannot bank on any sort of government assistance for her at this time. Most organizations offer coverage for her therapy or hospital bills, however her insurance already covers this - thank god - but we are left at a loss.

Please, if you're able, please consider helping. She is the kind who would never ask for help, and neither am I. This is the first time I've ever considered crowd funding. However, I would be remiss not to try and help the love of my life not to lose her livelihood for something out of her control. Your money will go towards things like (her) rent, car insurance, electric, gas bills. (no subscription services or other frivolous things). Anything extra will go towards prescriptions, if applicable.

please let me know if I can provide any writing services for your donation/money, as well! my fiverr link is in my pinned. I can also make GIFS/GIFSETS for you, for tips.