Tres Escobas (Teddy)

[ALEXANDER TYLER DOUGLAS]

Alex sighed as he wandered down the streets of Hogsmeade. There was nothing he had really planned to do other than get out of the castle and check prices on potion supplies, and he had uncharacteristically forgotten a book to read. Not enough money to actually get a potions book (as he'd read and mastered most of the cheap ones), Alex was pretty much stuck between a rock and a hard place coming up with something to occupy his mind.

He took a seat at the Three Broomsticks, ordering a few butterbeers and taking a seat at a booth. It wasn't much crowded here today. Alex sat back, and stared at the ceiling, trying to imagine things like creating some super potion to completely cure lycanthropy or something.

Alex had a terrible imagination for a person who was usually creative. At least, he was when he was brewing a potion or something he was interested, like runes and such. When it came to imagining things on his own, without pressure or a drive to, it was all he could do to think about something specific.

[THEODORE REMUS LUPIN]

there were only two reasons that teddy lupin ever woke up before nine on a weekend. either it was the night after a full moon and he was stuck trying to drag himself from the shrieking shack back to hogwarts, or there was an early morning quidditch practice. luckily, today was the latter.

teddy had woken up with five minutes before he was supposed to be on the pitch, so he had rushed getting ready. therefore, he was wearing jeans and a tshirt, rather than the normal wizard robes. he had rushed down to the pitch, the last one to arrive, and apologized to the team. naturally, he earned quite a few complaints, as he was the team captain. he had set the practice for nine o'clock on a saturday, so he should at least arrive on time. he had grinned sheepishly, before ordering them to get in the formation for the beginning of the game. the team was split in half, playing each other. their seeker was acting as a keeper for the opposite team that the real keeper was placed on.

practice had gone well. his team had won, and he was in a good mood. so, obviously he had to celebrate. it didn't even matter that none of his teammates wanted to come with him. he would have his own fun in hogsmeade, maybe he would run into someone he knew. or, he could meet someone new. either way, someone was going to be talking to a very happy teddy today.

teddy entered the three broomsticks with a huge grin on his face, and made his way straight to the counter. "a butterbeer, my good sir." he said to the waiter, who just shook his head and laughed. they were used to him here, although most of the time he was trying to get a firewhiskey off them. or he was loudly partying with the quidditch team. needless to say, it was probably a relief for the poor waiter that he was alone, and only asking for butterbeer. the man slide the glass over to teddy, who grinned, nodded and handed over a few coins before spinning around to see who was in the place today. there weren't very many people there, probably due to the fact that the year had just begun and everyone was still settling into their lives at hogwarts.

there was a hogwarts student sitting in a booth by himself, so teddy figured he would go there. who wanted to be by themselves at the three broomsticks? people came to the pub to party, not to sit alone in there thoughts. "hey there! would you like some company?" he said, and then slid into the booth, not waiting for a response.

[/blockquote]

[ALEXANDER TYLER DOUGLAS]

Alex's eyes bulged out of his head as he was forcibly dragged out of his stupor, and he jumped accordingly. As he got his wits back to him, he say another young man around his age sitting in the booth in front of him. The Ravenclaw student stared at the other boy, and then shrugged.

"Sure. It wasn't taken. I left my book back at the school. I'm Alex Douglas. You don't look very familiar, but I think I've seen your face somewhere around the castle. I'm in Ravenclaw, 6th year," Alex said, still getting his mind back into the real world.

The potioneer smiled as he brought him the three butterbeers he had ordered, bringing him a mug with three bottles of the drink. He gave the man a few galleons and nodded, an unspoken sign to keep the change.

"You seem happy," Alex quipped, his attention back on the other young man. Cocky smile, and from what he could see, an athletic build. Quidditch player? Probably. Alex racked his brain for a name and a face to go with it.

"You're.... Gryffindor's Quidditch captain, right?" He usually rooted for Gryffindor's team when it wasn't against Ravenclaw. He liked the uniforms (having a strong liking to the color red) and the team was usually really good.

"Lupin, right? I'm afraid I don't know your first name."

[THEODORE REMUS LUPIN]

teddy couldn't help laughing when the boy jumped. a lot of people told him that he tended to just bounce at people when they weren't expecting it, and it usually surprised them. apparently, his partner wasn't any different. teddy took a large gulp of butterbeer, downing about half the glass in one large sip. in winter, when it was cold, teddy would savour the warm drink, sipping on it to keep him warm. but it was still very early autumn, and the temperature hadn't begun to drop yet, so it was still rather summery outdoors.

While the other boy stared at him, teddy simply grinned, a large, lop-sided, rather goofy grin. he was in such a good mood, who cared if he was freaking out this random kid? "Books, shmooks." he said, with a wave of the hand. anyone who knew teddy knew that he very rarely bothered picking up a book. grades meant nothing to him. he was going to be a professional quidditch player, and if that didn't work out, then he'd live off the money his family had until he could find a job. no big deal. "who needs reading material when you've got me? i'm much more interesting. and of course i'm familiar, i'm the wonderful metamorpho! appearance changing magician!"

teddy let his hair flash quickly through a range of colours, pausing on his personal favourite, turquoise. "nice to meet you, alex douglas, sixth year, ravenclaw" he replied, snorting. when he was in a good mood, everything seemed absolutely hilarious to him. the waiter came around just then, giving alex his drinks. "ah, waiter! i request two more butterbeers and a firewhiskey!" he said, in a fake accent. he wasn't positive of where he was supposed to sound like he was from though. 'lupin, are you sure you aren't the son of sirius black? you seem a lot more like that guy than your father..." the waiter murmured, before leaving. "I'd be a product of incest if sirius was my father!" he called after the man, earning many looks from other customers in the pub.

teddy just smiled once again at the observation alex had. "oh, you could tell?" he said sarcastically, refering to his mood. he gave the ravenclaw a thumbs up to both his guesses, although he was irked that the other male didn't know his first name. he was famous around hogwarts! how was it that his name wasn't known. "Theodore Remus Lupin, but don't call me that unless you want to be hexed into next week. Teddy'll be fine."

[/blockquote]

[ALEXANDER TYLER DOUGLAS]

"Meta....morpho? "

He was about to ask about the shape changing thing when Teddy began to shift hair colors.

"Oh. Metamorpho. You're a metamorphmagus. That explains it. Neat ability. I do potions."

The Ravenclaw shrunk down in embarrassment as the entire pub seemed to have eyes on his companion after his shout about incest.. This kid was loud. Definitely a member of the Gryffindor house. He could have guessed it if he didn't admit he was the Quidditch captain of his house. Now that he knew the other young man's name, he nodded.

"Well, I'm Alexander Tyler Douglas. Don't call me that unless you want to know what synthesized Acromantula venom tastes like. Alex'll be fine," the young man replied in the same tone, a friendly smile on his lip to show that he was just playing.

"So what are you up to?"

[THEODORE REMUS LUPIN]

teddy groaned. why did no one ever understand the metamorpho thing? it was his screen name on the hogwarts instant messaging system, and he always got questions about it. it was simple. he was a metamorphmagus, and so he made it sound like he was from x-men. even the muggleborns asked him about it. did no one like quality muggle movies anymore? he had watched the x-men series with his grandmother growing up, they had apparently been a favourite of his grandfather. at first, teddy had complained about not wanting to watch a dumb movie for old people. now, he understood why she wanted him to see them. they were fabulous.

"ah, potions. my least favourite subject" he said, thinking off all the detentions the potions master had given him. it wasn't his fault he was awful at brewing, he just couldn't concentrate which results in plenty of lovely explosions. he thought they were pretty awesome, especially that one that had scorched the eyebrows off of his slytherin partner. apparently, people didn't share his love of blowing things up though. just like they didn't understand x-men. jeez, people these days were lame.

a waiter, different than the one before, returned with his butterbeer, no firewhiskey of course, and teddy handed him a few galleons. "keep it down, would you kid? our customers don't want to hear your inappropriate comments about incest. i think you scared a couple of third years." the man said before walking away, and teddy just grinned like an angel as the man walked away. "HELP! Someone! That old man perv waiter just came on to me! Disugsting, gross, ugh!" he shrieked, earning more glances. the waiter shot him an angry look, but he didn't care. he could see the other waiter, their first server, behind the counter, laughing. so teddy had guessed right, that guy was a huge douchebag. good. maybe one of the customers here would think teddy was actually serious and report the waiter. that would be hilarious.

teddy let his hair fade back to his usual brown shade, before pondering over alex's question. what was he up to? everything and anything, of course. but that wouldn't exactly answer his question. "celebrating a quidditch win in practice." he replied, with another sip of butterbeer. "and trying to make the staff here kick me out, apparently."

[/blockquote]

[ALEXANDER TYLER DOUGLAS]

"Its my niche. I've even supplemented my potions studies with Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures. My dad is a Muggle chef, so I've had it drilled into me from childhood that using your own ingredients is best, especially if they're fresh. I don't suppose the thing with the metamorpho is some kind of superhero reference, is it? I guess you can't go with Mystique because you're neither female nor blue. Makes sense," Alex said. He had read muggle comic books for years as a child, and they had fueled his imagination for years.

In fact, one of the reasons for his interest in potions was to create his own formula for superheroes, something he was mostly sure was impossible without overdosing on potions, and that was always a dangerous prospect.

Another waiter came by, and Alex was left debating whether to bust out laughin and whether or not it'd be doable to murder the metamorph for drawing so much attention. He decided instead to ignore it and wait for the attention to fade of him.

"Congrats on the win," the Ravenclaw said, before looking at the first waiter and the second one, "and you're doing a wonderful job getting them to like you. I think that second one wants to start up owling you. You'll be great friends, I'm sure. Though you might want to switch your hair back to turquoise again. He seemed to like the exotic types much more than just plain old brunette."

[THEODORE REMUS LUPIN]

teddy listened to alex speak, wishing he was talented enough to actually do something helpful to the world. sure, he could play quidditch. but unless he got offered to be on a professional team, that wasn't going to get him anywhere. being good at potions could take him a lot of places. he could get some very good, very well paying jobs. if only teddy was good at something aside from pranks and quidditch. damn.

teddy brightened up completely when the ravenclaw brought up mystique. so he did know x-men! finally, someone with good taste. of course, alex did say that his father was a muggle chef, so it made sense that he knew x-men. it was huge in the muggle world, a giant franchise. "well yes it is! but i bet i could pull off mystique." he replied, and then he was already focused on making his skin go blue. this was surely going to get them more looks, and it already seemed like the entire pub was staring at them. his face tingled, and he grinned, glancing down at his arms. blue. he was blue. awesome.

teddy noticed the waiters watching him carefully, and he slowly raised his arm, doing an awkward wave moving his fingers, rather than his entire hand. he winked at the second waiter, who looked like he was going to explode with anger, his face was so red. "oh, what a happy person i would be if i got owled love letters!" he said, raising his voice to a ridiculous parody of a girls. "maybe he'll write me poetry!" with the comment about his hair, teddy changed it back to turquoise. blue skin, turquoise hair. yep, people were staring at him.

"give me a second." he said to alex, after taking one last swig of butterbeer. he slid out of the booth, winking at the ravenclaw before standing up, his arms outstretched to the people in the pub. "THE WONDEROUS METAMORPHO EVERYONE! Appearance changing extrordinaire!"

[/blockquote]

[ALEXANDER TYLER DOUGLAS]

Alex watched as the other young man turned his skin to a dark blue that would match his school robes if he was wearing them. A sigh left his lips as Teddy drew even more attention to them.

Oh well. As the old saying went, if you can't beat em, join em.

Seeing the second waited turn a red that outdid any tomato, he found the perfect joke.

"Stop it, man, you're making him blush! You can't just call someone out on their feelings like that! It'll be detrimental to your relationship," and sure enough, the man somehow turned even redder, a feat that shouldn't have been possible.

But hey, this was a very magical world, so he was open to things that would normally be impossible. Giving his companion the second he asked for, he began a sarcastic, slow clap as the Gryffindor postured.

"You done, "Metamorpho?"

He had a vague feeling that if he spent a little longer with the other male, he'd likely have a bit more fun. As he had nothing else to do today, it seemed like the best idea he could muster up right now. Besides, there weren't too many people that really read comic books in Ravenclaw, especially not Muggle ones. And, he's never had the chance to study a metamorphmagus in the flesh, so this was a great opportunity to learn more. Maybe he could learn more about the power and see if he could recreate it in an improved polyjuice potion? Probably not. But either way, it seemed like his day was more interesting now.

[THEODORE REMUS LUPIN]

on a normal day, teddy only used his ability maybe once or twice. but today, he was having too much fun making himself look awesome. plus, even though they seemed confused by his antics, the people in the pub were interested. children were staring at him with big eyes. adults had an expression of surprise pasted on their faces. the few other hogwarts students were simply grinning, because they knew him. everyone knew teddy lupin. why? because of stunts like this. he was known for causing chaos wherever he went. one of the reasons that he had more detentions that any hogwarts student since fred and george weasley were in school. that was a hard thing to do, there were some people that were just awful and got detentions. everytime he felt like his position was threatened, he would play another crazy prank and get another two weeks of detention, just to stay on top of it. he hadn't gone a year without detention since his first year.

teddy laughed when alex joined in in his feat to making the second waiter explode. he glanced at the first one, who gave him a thumbs up, attempting to serve customers without laughing. he was standing here, in front of all these people. he had their attention. now he had to do something big. but what? what could humiliate this guy more than anything else he had already done? he glanced at alex, thinking. what could possibly work?

teddy gave a bow when alex clapped slowly, and then he held up a hand, the signal for silence. he was going to say something to this crowd. he wasn't sure what yet, but he wanted it to be completely silent. he let the blue colour of his skin fade back to his usual shade, and his hair went back to brown once more. "you see everyone, this man-" he pointed to the second waiter, "blatantly flirted with me as i sat drinking my butterbeer like a normal hogwarts student. i'm pretty sure that's illegal, and it's sick and wrong."

he walked towards the waiter, placing a hand on the man's shoulder. "you see, i don't like you that way. in fact, i was here for a very special reason. one that i will not let pervert waiters destroy." he walked away from the waiter who raced to the back of the store, completely humiliated. he could hear an argument through the thin walls, and was sure that he was attempting to get him thrown out of the pub. but they wouldn't do that, their customers were thoroughly entertained with teddy's antics.

the gryffindor pulled out his wand, performing a spell without saying a word. he stood for a moment, waiting. then, a quill came flying towards teddy. he grabbed it from the air and approached the booth where alex was still seated. "ladies and gentleman, i'm sure you don't see this everyday" he said, before kneeling on one knee in front of where alex was seated. there were a few gasps through the crowd, a snicker from people who knew teddy, and one young child said 'mama, is he going to ask that boy to marry him?' teddy took a deep breath, offering the quill to alex. "alexander douglas will you-" he paused, for dramatic effect. the pub was silent. "be my potions tutor?" he finished. the crowd was quiet for a moment, and then the laughter started from the hogwarts students. exclaimations of 'they ACTUALLY believed he was going to propose?!" were in the air.

but it wasn't over until alex answered.

[/blockquote]

[ALEXANDER TYLER DOUGLAS]

The crowd seemed to love Ted's antics, though Alex was more concerned with the argument going on where he couldn't see. He strained his ears to listen as best he could, and was thoroughly surprised when he tuned back into Teddy was suddenly on bent knee, a quill in his hand. The Ravenclaw blushed very lightly as he was startled and somewhat embarrassed by the sudden closeness of the other boy, and being totally unsure as to where this joke was going.

Alex took the quill, and you could almost see the sarcasm just trying to be unleashed. The sarcasm was suppressed by the fact that he seemed somewhat sincere about it.

He'd never actually had anyone ask for his help with something. Alex usually offered his help when he could, but for the most part, he was largely left alone. Seeing as he was playing along with this game, he looked it over, and then gasped like he'd actually been asked to marry someone.

"Oh my gosh. I'm so surprised. You're the sweetest. Yes. Oh yes," the Ravenclaw said, deadpan. His tone was largely sarcastic.

"But no, seriously, I'll tutor ya. I hope the waiter doesn't mind though. I'd hate to steal his time away from you."

[THEODORE REMUS LUPIN]

teddy waited, trying to keep his balance. staying on one knee was difficult, and alex was taking a long time to answer. his knee was actually starting to get sore. damn, proposing sucked. he would have to remember that for when he was actually ready to get married. propose somewhere with a soft ground. not that teddy would ever consider proposing in the three broomsticks for real. that would be an awful proposal. teddy would go for a more romantic setting, picnic under the stars maybe. of course, it would depend on the lucky girl, what they liked. he would want to make it special for her. especially if that girl happened to be victoire.

the argument in the back was getting ugly. the yelling could be heard more clearly, and teddy was sure he heard something smash a moment ago. had the waiter actually thrown a plate in his anger? teddy glanced over to the first waiter, and saw him hurrying to the back, most likely to end the fight. it was a shame he wouldn't get to see the end of teddy's act.

alex's gasp was actually fairly realistic sounding, even though his words were laced with sarcasm. obviously, the ravenclaw felt like he had been pulled into teddy's antics without warning, which was true. if only jayson had been there, then teddy could keep up the act. jay was used to teddy's crazy stunts, and even helped him out when he was needed. teddy stood up, his knee aching from the hard floor and launched himself at alex, pulling the other male into a huge. awkward? yes. but it was necessary to keep up the act. he wanted the crowd to be entertained to no end. he could hear them laughing now. he wanted them to have tears in their eyes because it hurt to laugh.

after a moment, teddy stood back up. he stood up, bowed once more and gestured towards alex, obviously demanding some applause for the other young man as well. his hair was wildly changing colours, as was his eyes, and he had created cat ears on the top of his head. "thank you, thank you. metamorpho is the name, don't wear it out. i'll be here next week, and i do kids parties!" the end of his show. he couldn't keep this up forever. he slid back into the booth, sipping his butterbeer which he had left sitting there for quite some time. "you don't actually have to tutor me in potions. i just wanted some drama for the crowd."

[/blockquote]

[ALEXANDER TYLER DOUGLAS]

Alex actually took a bit of satisfaction in his obvious discomfort on the floor. He rather hoped that Ted would propose to a girl in much classier joint than the Three Broomsticks. The only way that would be okay if it was their first date spot or something. Alex then realized his train of thought was losing masculinity by the millisecond and he quickly halted it. He'd read way too many books that had a strong romance subplot. Never a romance novel though. He had better things to do that read books about the very hilarious Muggle interpretations of vampires. Seriously. Sparkly vampires? No thanks. What drugs did one take to come up with such lucid fantasies, and where could he find them?

A shattering noise broke his mental process, and Alex was a bit nervous. Surely the fighting hadn't escalated to throwing things. He hoped that the insulted waiter hadn't hurt anyone. He'd feel very guilty due to his own participince in Ted's little act. He was only slightly relieved when the first waiter started walking towards the back in a great hurry, and Alex silently prayed everything was okay. He turned his attention back to Teddy, only find himself, and with lack of a better word, glomped by the other male. Alex sat speechless for a moment, before awkwardly patting the other young man on the back.

"I call no homo," he mumbled in a voice only loud enough for the other boy to hear.

Thankfully, any chance of a person hearing them was less than none, as the entire crowd laughed uproariously at their antics. "Metamorpho" stood and bowed, and when he gestured to Alex, the young man held up a hand in a small wave, making sure to show off the quill like an engaged woman would show off her ring.

"I'm so happy, a dream come true," the young man snarked when the crowd brought its attention to him.

after a moment, teddy stood back up. he stood up, bowed once more and gestured towards alex, obviously demanding some applause for the other young man as well. his hair was wildly changing colours, as was his eyes, and he had created cat ears on the top of his head. "thank you, thank you. metamorpho is the name, don't wear it out. i'll be here next week, and i do kids parties!" the end of his show. he couldn't keep this up forever. he slid back into the booth, sipping his butterbeer which he had left sitting there for quite some time. "you don't actually have to tutor me in potions. i just wanted some drama for the crowd."

As the attention died down, and his partner (in crime?) sat back down, Alex made a lighthearted attempt at clapping for the young man.

"Erm... Thank you for the... laugh. It was great. I needed that."

He felt a bit dejected as Teddy seemed to not really want a potions tutor, but he was okay with being a part in the act. It was rather funny.

"I wouldn't mind giving you a few tips if you needed them. I've already gotten close to finishing my first read of the potions book for the year, so I know a lot of the 6th year theory. And if you have a 7th year NEWT potions, I could read through that really quick and help you with it. Ya know?"

[THEODORE REMUS LUPIN]

teddy had been a bit worried that alex wouldn't play along with his scheme. so it was nice when the ravenclaw did, adding his own funny little twist to the story. it had turned out to be a lot funnier than teddy had originally planned it to be. the crowd watched him and alex for a moment longer after they fat down, waiting for another show, or something else that was interesting. but teddy was done with his wacky show, maybe he would do another one another time. he wanted to relax and drink his butterbeer now, all his energy was used up and he wasn't as hyper as before. "hey, no problem. pretty much everyone in hogwarts knows to owl me if they need a laugh. i'm here to serve."

teddy actually probably needed a potions tutor. he already had one for history of magic, and his marks in potions were horrid. until he met alex, he hadn't even thought of the idea. and he hadn't expected the ravenclaw to actually want to try and teach him. "well...that'd be great. i'm not an awesome student though. i have trouble focusing. my history of magic tutor gave up teaching me after two weeks. so it'll be a challenge. you up for it?"

the yelling in the back had stopped, and teddy was wondering what had happened. the first waiter had returned to the bar counter, serving customers and avoiding teddy's attempts to get his attention. he had customers swarming him, asking if the three broomsticks had hired teddy as an act or performance and how they could get the schedule for when these things were going on. teddy was watching in amusement, so focused on listening into the conversations going on around the pub that he didn't notice the fuming man walking towards their booth until the man had already grabbed him by the shirt collar.

"HEY!" he shouted, more in surprise than trying to get someone's attention. who was this guy anyway? teddy studied him, and it took a moment to dawn on him. it was the second waiter. teddy hadn't recognized him because he wasn't in uniform. "you. little. punk!" the man practically spit his words in teddy's face, and he tried to get out of the tight grip, failing. he shot a glance at alex, asking him for help silently. "i got fired because of your little stunt. i'm going to fuck you up."

[/blockquote]

[ALEXANDER TYLER DOUGLAS]

"Your tutor wasn't me though. I'll beat the potions into you if I have to. I'm pretty much the best in my year in the subject, if not the actual best. I don't know. I'm confident in my skills, and the O on my Potion's OWL says I can back it up. I don't mean to sound arrogant, but I'm really good at potions. That, and look at it this way: you can find at least a few potions that could possibly help your pranks. I mean, Polyjuice potion is just one I can think of, but you're already a metamorphmagus, so I guess you don't really need that. But anyways, I will do my best to make the lessons more exciting than a typical potions lesson, and I can't assign you detention, so you're good!" Alex did his best to throw on a reassuring smile, rather pleased with the thought of teaching someone.

He briefly daydreamed of himself and Teddy in a random lab somewhere, as a Muggle mad scientist. Teddy fulfilled the Igor role. The mental picture actually gave him a strong urge to laugh maniacally. But he'd save that for an actual lesson. Yeah. Too many people were staring at them enough.

The yelling in the back had finally stopped, and Alex was rather relieved. He hoped things had been resolved peacefully. The first waiter had returned to the bar counter and to his job, and to his credit, was totally avoiding and ignoring all of Teddy's attempts to get his attention. Alex let his mind drift a bit, as Teddy seemed more intent to listening to the conversations around him at the moment. He barely noticed the second waiter- now in plainsclothes- come up to their table. He reacted accordingly by stealthily preparing for a fight. His hands casually reached for his wand and knife.

The man's words were angry and very threatening.

Alex glared at the man, ocean blue eyes now narrowed as he sent daggers at the man who had suddenly accosted Ted. While he wasn't a friend, Ted was a nice guy, funny, and he couldn't sit and let him get hurt. Cold fury soaked into his words, which were barely loud enough for the man to hear.

"Sir, I can assure you that if you do not let go of my friend, I'll shrink your testicles so far that you'll be applying to be a waitress at your next job. It was a joke. You lost your cool, when you could have just moved along, or stepped outside away from it. Throwing an angry, childish fit was probably what lost you your job, sir, not two teenagers, one a notorious prankster such as my friend here."

To make good on his threat to shrink the man's genitals, Alex grabbed his wand out of the holster he kept on his belt and pointed it at the former waiter. Even if he probably would fail at shrinking, he had much more subtly reached for his silver knife in his pocket which he kept concealed with his left hand. If it turned into an actual scrap, Alex, though nerdy, was good for it. He'd taken several Muggle defense classes before, so he knew how to fight, worse case scenario.

"Besides. You touch one hair on his or my own head, and I will make SURE that attention will be drawn to you before you get the chance to think. Granted, you are a pub waiter. Thinking isn't really your forte, is it? You have three seconds to comply. Three....two..."