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canmom · 1 year

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Hi! Question about the Baru Cormorant series for you! Any chance you could expand on Barhu finally discovering that the blood of Empire of gold? (Or do you do that in your analysis series? Maybe I missed it) It doesn't seem like a realization many other 'dystopic'-ish works address.

hiii! always glad to talk Baru, but I admit I'm a little confused about the question. guessing like, the blood of Empire is gold? implicit in the metaphor of bleeding Falcrest by siphoning its circulating wealth out through Baru's trading concern? but I think it's pretty likely I misunderstood you!

anyway I talked about Baru's grand plan in Butchering an Empire - that's where I went and learned about the history of John Law in France, which was a bold new financial scheme that collapsed on itself when it turned out that colonising Louisiana wasn't as immediately profitable as expected, and the British 'South Sea Bubble', which was an elaborate insider trading scam around slave trading. what I said there was that while those were both financial disasters for their host empires, and may have checked their ambitions to expand and even laid some seeds that affected the later French revolution, they clearly weren't fatal. when the financial system broke, the governments tore it up and made a new one, because the collective fiction of money was no longer serving their interests. call it a blood transfusion if you want.

but Baru aspires to more than that - not merely to pop a speculative bubble but to usurp the actual flow of goods so the Oriati Mbo can cut Falcrest out of the equation by force. in that case the analogy is like uhh... you're a vampire and you drain someone's blood before having a boxing match with them?? anyway would that work? maybe! then I go into a long aside about denazification and its limits as an analogy for what might happen afterwards, because destroying a financial system and political structure doesn't put an end to ideologies and social relations and such.

so I'm not sure how far that answers what you were asking about. i can take some guesses like circulatory system : body :: economy : empire. we could be more specific e.g. money is the universal equivalent which allows the capitalist optimisation process to quickly redirect its efforts, at least in theory. is the circulatory system analogous? it circulates oxygen and glucose, which we could liken to fungible raw materials like yards of linen (;p), and ig you could say like, when part of the body demands oxygen and glucose (a muscle in the leg when you're running), blood flow increases to match, so that's kind of a similar function: directing resources to where they are in demand. and by this analogy disrupting a financial system is like... an artery getting clogged, resulting in getting tired more easily. i can see it being a productive analogy as they go.

i actually don't know how the body directs blood flow too much. i assume something unconscious in the brain controls heart rate? but what about how capillaries open and close to help manage temperature, is that determined more locally? would be interesting to look up.

anyway, as i understand, part of the theme of book 4 is going to be deflating this whole idea of baru's that one sufficiently clever person can have such an outsized influence on historical events. but also it sounds like the redrafting process is pretty brutal even by seth's standards lol, so i don't really know where it's gonna go.

anyway, i agree that the economic angle of Baru and its ability to make that immediately engaging does a lot to help the setting of baru feel solid, and thus its model of colonialism in a bottle feel meaningful. it uses it to greater effect than for example the stories of Daniel Abraham that I've read, which use economics for flavour...

...but at the same time it's still a shell game, like all fantasy. I am certain that Seth didn't work things out in spreadsheets behind the scenes, because it's not about simulation, nor should it be. it's an exciting, dramatic story that dresses itself in the exciting parts of the history of economics. because it's a story about the worldview of someone indoctrinated to view the world in that light, as a huge deterministic machine, that she needs to solve.

no idea if that's a proper to your question, anon. lmk!

#baru cormorant #the tyrant baru cormorant

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lizzy-frizzle · 4 years

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I’m going to start this by saying, I have bias. Everyone does. I do not intend for this to come off as “the thing you like is bad”, but moreso “the corporation that controls the thing you like is manipulative”.

My background; I am a 26 year old trans mom, I have a history with addiction, particularly gambling, and spend most of my time playing video games. I have gone to college for about 3 years for my psychology degree, and while I do not have my degree, I have been studying psychology for roughly 12 years. This is to say, my views will reflect this background. Just because I present this information like I do, does not inherently mean I’m right, though it also doesn’t mean I’m wrong. Try to view things with a critical mind, and know that most topics have nuance.

Ok, so lootboxes, booster packs, gacha games, all of these are gambling. This is not really an argument. You are putting money into a service of sorts, and receiving a randomized result. Be that a fancy new gun, that same boring legendary you have 5 of, or that final hero you’ve been trying to collect. You don’t know the outcome before you give your money. As defined by the merriam-webster dictionary: “Gambling; the practice of risking money or other stakes in a game or bet”

You are risking your money in not getting an item you want. There are ways this is handled acceptably, and ways this is handled poorly. Gambling is also illegal to people under 21 in a lot of places, but places online aren’t quick to tell you why. I don’t have any sources because every source requires a paywall to get any information, but pulling from my own personal experience and what I learned in college, it’s because children are very impressionable. I say “I like pokemon” and suddenly my 2-year old can’t go anywhere without her pikachu. I remember distinctly playing poker with my mom and her friends when I was 12. When you normalize gambling, what it does is lower the risk aversion of gambling. You are less likely to see a threat in playing that card game, because when you are that young you have no concept of money. You don’t know what a dollar is, so why not throw it away so you can have fun. This is...I hesitate to call it fine, but it’s mostly harmless. The issue is with children and their lack of knowledge of money. When I grew up and got a job, it’s a lot harder to tell my brain, “hey, don’t spend that money, you won’t get it back and you won’t get what you want.” Because my brain just acknowledges the potential for what I want. I want to buy the booster pack so I can have the potential to get that masterpiece misty rainforest. I want to buy that diamond pack so I have the chance to get the cute hero. I want to buy that lootbox so I can get the battle rifle that does a cool effect. These are harmless concepts, but very dangerous.

Make no mistake, companies know how psychology works, and will use it to their advantage. MatPat from game theory states that companies have even go so far as to have systems in place that change the odds as you’re losing, and monitor your skill level to put you up against harder opponents, to see the better weapons and go, “Oh I want that!” and entice you to buy more lootboxes. As it turns out I found an article covering what he was talking about, Activision had actually acquired a patent to arrange matchmaking to do just that [x], and the article says it’s not in place, but my trust in companies is not high enough to actually believe them.(honestly, matpat made a 2-part video series about lootboxes, and I’d recommend watching them)

So, companies are trying to manipulate you to buy more gambling products. There’s proof of it. It’s also more blatantly obvious in games like Magic the Gathering, where they release fancier versions of cards at rarer probabilities. To better explain it, from a collector’s standpoint, you want the fancy card cause it has value, it has value because it’s rare, rarer than the other versions, so if you’re on the lower end of the income ladder you buy a pack, or two. After all, you could get lucky and get it. On the higher end of the income ladder, you buy the card outright and hoard it. Maybe sell it off later if you notice the price goes down. From a player perspective, you see a card is being used by tournament players, you want to win more games, so you want those cards, which encourages you to buy products and try to get those cards. That’s predatory behavior. It’s predatory from the company’s perspective because that poor person might not be able to afford the card outright, but $5-$10 isn’t much, plus they always entice you with that Chance. They also further this desire for the cards by making it limited runs, such as the secret lair packs, if there’s a low amount purchased and it’s made to order, or worse, if they limit the order capabilities themselves, that drives up the value, and provides further incentive to buy the cards and packs. This not only creates an impossible barrier between the poor and the rich, but also heavily encourages people buy their gambling pack than people would have in other conditions.

For the record, I love magic the gathering, I’m not saying the game itself is bad, this is just a VERY predatory marketing tactic.

Let’s switch gears. Gacha games. I play AFKArena, because like I said, I have a gambling addiction and cannot stop myself. In AFKArena, you collect heroes, and battle with them in various ways. If you collect more of similar heroes you can rank them up. If I’m to believe what I’ve heard, it sounds like this is pretty common for gacha games. So what makes it bad. In AFKArena you use diamonds to summon heroes, now, you can acquire diamonds by beating specific story chapters, logging in every day, random limited time events, or paying for them with real money. AFKArena hero drops don’t seem that bad compared to the free diamond amount they dish out, which has resulted in me not spending all that much money on it, all things considered ($20 over 2 years). I believe that for a mobile game like this, that’s fair. I get way more enjoyment out of the game than I do most $60 games, so it balances out. However, this isn’t the case for every gacha game, and my trust in companies, as previously stated, is very low. The issue lies in them making the rates for good heroes so low that you HAVE to spend money on the game to really get over a roadblock of sorts. I do think that there is this issue in my game and I just didn’t notice it, someone with a lower tolerance or patience might absolutely have the incentive to drop hundreds of dollars on the game over a month. There are people of all different flavours, and it’s important to keep that in mind when discussing these topics, just because a marketing technique doesn’t work on you, does not mean it doesn’t work on anyone. After all, they have those $100 packs for a reason, you might not be that reason but someone is. That’s predatory.

I feel like I’ve gotten off track, let’s get back on the rails. Where was...gambling...predatory…ah, kids. So my biggest issue, is that Magic the Gathering is marketed towards 13 year olds. Not directly, but the packs say 13+. AFKArena and any mobile game for that matter, can be downloaded by anyone with a phone for free, with minimal mention that there’s microtransactions. AAA title games like Destiny 2, Overwatch, Fortnite, etc. are probably the worst offenders. A kid spent $16,000 of his parents money on fortnite in-game purchases, and that’s not the only time this has happened [x] [x] . More often than not, what happens is, the kid wants to play a video game, like halo on xbox, or destiny, or something, they ask their mom for their credit card, and the system saves it. I mentioned before that kids do not have a concept of money or its value, so giving kids unlimited access to the credit card is going to result in this kind of thing happening. I’m not blaming the parents for not being hypervigilant, sometimes you are really busy, or disabled, or whatever the reason, and you don’t notice the system just saved your card. I’m not blaming the kids cause their brains are literally underdeveloped. I blame the corporations, because they make the process as easy as possible to prey on kids and people with gambling addictions. (as a personal anecdote, I found that if I want a magic card in MtG:O, I’m way less likely to try and buy it if I have to get up and get my card, I’d recommend not saving your card if you suffer from gambling/addiction problems)

So after all of this evidence, how can anyone still view these things as anything but predatory? The answer is simple. You’re told they aren’t. Businesses spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on really good marketing, and public relations. I tried to google why gambling is illegal for people under 21, and got nothing, I got a couple forums asking the question, and a couple religious sites saying it’ll make them degenerates. I try looking up sources to prove the psychology behind these concepts, but they are locked behind paywall after paywall after paywall. Businesses and capitalism has made it so incredibly hard to discover the truth and get information you need, and it’s on purpose. They want you to trust that that booster pack is a good idea. They want you to spend money on lootboxes (look at all the youtubers that shill out for raid shadow legends, or other gambling games to their super young fanbase [x]). They want you to lower your guard and go, “well, it’s a video game, how can it be predatory?” “it’s a card game with cute creatures on it, surely it’s not that bad”

But it is. So why did I make this post? I dunno, my brain really latched onto the topic, I see so many people enjoying gacha games, but I’m worried that it’s going to ruin lives...I just want everyone to be informed and critical of what is going on.

#gambling addiction tw #addiction tw #this is probably a bad idea to post knowing how this site operates #but it matters to me

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gallavictorious · 3 years

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Once again the fandom coming together to daydream about Mickey helping Ian out and seeing him back on track to become an emt again but why is that on Mickey? Why does he always have to do things to make Ian happy when Ian's usually nothing but annoyed by Mickey and does nothing to make Mickey happy? Truly shows which character y'all care about more.

This got absurdly long, because I am who I am and did take the opportunity to go off on a tangent about valid conclusions and what not, so I put it under a cut. Read at your own risk! Oh, and I also do address the actual question about whether or not Ian's career is on Mickey, and whether or not Ian never does anything to make Mickey happy. ;)

For the sake of clarity, I got this ask in response to this post.

And I gotta say, nonnie, getting this ask perplexed me to the point of running off to Trusted Fandom Friends, demanding to know how my undying love and loyalty for Mickey could ever be doubted. Had to laugh at myself a little, actually, and the strenght of my befuddlement. It reminded me of the time I went on a trip with people from the 501st (cosplayers dedicated to the bad guys in Star Wars) and Rebel Legion (cosplayers dedicated to the good guys in Star Wars) and a lot of people assumed I was a Rebel sympathizer simply because I had friends in that group and those were the people who had invited me. Excuse me, I didn't yell, I have like 30 Darth Vaders in my damned home, how dare you question my allegiance? I was so used to always being known as a diehard Vaderkin fangirl that the mer fact of strangers failing to recognize me as such genuinely fucked a little with my sense of identity. My love of Mickey isn't anywhere near as deeply ingrained into my sense of self, since he's only been an occasional presence in my life since 2016 while Darth Vader's been my main man since 1994, but it was still a little jarring to suddenly find myself (mis)identified as an Ian stan.

Being a fangirl is strange.

And I want to make it clear that I do love Ian. He's a fascinating character and, to me, he's a character that's often much harder to understand than Mickey. He rewards careful analysis and discussion, though, so I guess I tend to talk a lot about him? I don't need to spend as much time considering Mickey's feelings and motivations because they are (almost) always pretty obvious; I don't need to tease them out. But at the end of the day, Mickey is my favourite. (Though I'll always love Ian and Mickey together more than I love either of them on their own. It's like fresh cilantro and mint – each perfectly lovely in their own right, but the combination of them creates a flavour that's just out of this world.)

Now, you might argue that you don't follow me and so have no idea who I am and what I like to post about, and that going only by that single post (which, in fairness, was tagged with 'i just want ian to be happy okay?') I give off the general impression of an Ian stan. And that's fair enough; I'm an obscure blog in a decently big fandom and you're not required to keep track of anyone. However, if you want to throw around passive aggressive accusations of caring more about one character than the other, I will ask you to do your research first. Reacting to one single piece of data without considering the context is a common but highly unfortunate practice that needlessly complicates meaningful conversations, and we'd all do well to abstain from it.

Oh, you don't want to spend a lot of time and energy on consdering every single thing a specific Tumblr blog has ever said on a specific topic just so you can draw a valid conclusion about their stance? That's perfectly understandable, nonnie, and easily sorted: refrain from making unsubstantiated claims about what other people think or don't think and you won't have to. Ask them, if you wonder. If you see a tendency in fandom to put the responsibility for Ian's wellbeing and career or Mickey's shoulders and want to discuss that, that's totally cool! I am game (and will address that question below)! But it's very possible to do that without somewhat rudely ascribing perferences and opinions to other people, and you'll get better answers for it (for instance, you won't have to wade through me rambling on about valid conclusions and my memories from other fandoms... ).

It seems to me, though, that this touches upon a long-held frustration of yours. If I interpret your ask correctly, you think the show gives us an Ian who is mostly annoyed with Mickey and doesn't do anything to make him happy, and you think that the fandom responds to this by relegating Mickey to the role of Ian's caretaker, whose sole purpose is to serve Ian's needs without any regard for what might Mickey himself happy. Have I got that right?

If so, it should be noted that I don't agree with either of these takes: I don't think that's the Ian the show gives us (a point I will return to below), and I don't think that fandom at large only cares about Ian's happiness, and I particularly don't think that my post can be used a evidence of the latter.

For instance, when you sent me this ask the post in question had all of 40 notes. As I write this, it has just over 70. ”The fandom coming together” seems to be slightly overstating the case, don't you think? There are certainly fans who care more about Ian and only see Mickey as valuable as long as he contributes to Ian's happiness, just as there are fans who care more about Mickey and only see Ian as valuable as long as he contributes to Mickey's happiness - but this single post with less than a hundred notes does not support that either of these stances would be predominant within the fandom. (And, while on the topic, I'd like to state that I don't actually see a problem with either of those stances; these are fictional characters that exists for our entertainment and we don't have any moral obligations to treat them equally and fairly. Don't ruin other fans' fun by dumping on either of them in the character or shipping tags or on character and shipping posts and this is not a problem. It might be a somewhat unpopular opinion, but I don't think you have to love or even like all characters in a ship to ship it: I refuse to drink plain tea because it's nasty but put a splash of milk in it and its my favourite thing ever. You can love a combination without loving all the seperate pieces on their own. And yeah, I do revert to food metaphors a lot. I like food.)

Secondly, whether or not the post can be said to represent the feeling of the fandom at large (it cannot), I think that reading a post specifically about ”Mickey helping Ian out and seeing him back on track to become an emt again” and then extrapolating from that that Mickey ”always have to do things to make Ian happy” is a little wild. The very first thing I wrote for this fandom was a vision of Ian offering Mickey comfort, goddammit. (Ian giving Mickey a hug is so high on my list of desires, you can't even imagine)

As for your actual question (and, ah, imagine how much shorter this post would be if you had just left it at that) – of course that's not on Mickey. That much, incidentally, I've actually explicitly stated in another post. Ian might have his issues but he's still an adult and responsible for himself. That being said, I don't see it as particularly strange that someone would go out of their way to help their partner when they see them struggling? If I realize that someone I care about is unhappy and there's a way for me to help, I would want to help because I love them and want them to be happy, even if it's – ethically speaking – not my responsibility to do so. Pretty sure Mickey, who is action-oriented and so very protective of the people he loves, feels the same way.

Of course, if it's a one-sided thing – if one partner is always the one to do stuff for the other and never receives any support in return – that's not a healthy relationship, and I assume that this is what you're seeing in the show and taking exception to?

Only... I can't help but wonder who this Ian is, this uncaring, selfish version you see – because I don't quite get how it can be the Ian who emptied his bank account for Mickey, or the Ian who was ready to throw his parole and stay in prison for Mickey even when they were in the middle of a fight specifically because Mickey said it would make him happy, or the one who kept trying to talk to Mickey and win him back after Mickey punched him in the face, accidentally broke his leg, and took off with a new lover (I'm not taking sides in this one, btw – I have a lot of sympathy and understanding for both of them and their actions throughout this whole sorry affair), or the Ian who immediately wanted to marry Mickey protect him from the consequences of a murder Ian thought he had actually comitted, or the Ian who went along with arranging a real wedding even though he initially didn't at all understand why this was important to Mickey and who had someone come serenade him once he did, or the Ian who chose At last for Mickey to walk up to the aisle to, or the Ian who keeps trying to reach out to Mickey and to touch him and discuss their issues in a mature way even when he's (justifiably) upset about Mickey using all their wedding money without telling Ian. (Though Ian deciding for both of them that they're saving the money isn't great either.)

I mean, Ian's absolutely done shitty things, as has Mickey. They're human, and they're the products of a chaotic and often hostile enviroment. They do mess up a lot; they've hurt each other rather badly over the years. Depending on your perspective and preferences, you may think one or the other have behaved worse, but as far as I can see, the claim that Ian never does anything to make Mickey happy is simply not supported.

Ian has seemed unusually annoyed with Mickey this season, I'll give you that, but while that's not always the most fun thing to watch and I strongly sympathize with the wish to just see Ian look at Mickey with that fond look again, I don't find him being frustrated right now all that weird, given the circumstances. I'd argue it has less to do with Mickey and more to do with a general frustration over thwarted ambitions and not being able to hold on even to a really shitty job, though Mickey's attitude doesn’t exactly help (which is not to say that I think that Ian's the one in the right here, becasue Ian's way of handling things hasn't always been been stellar either). However, I do have faith in them sorting this out – because even though they fight and bicker and get annoyed with each other, there's never any indication that they're not both committed to making this marriage thing work. They certainly stumble, they misunderstand each other and lash out, but they calm down and go to sleep in the same bed and compromise and keep trying. Every day, they – both of them – choose each other.

I'd like to finish this off by noting, even though it's not entirely relevant to my argument, that that the number one thing that does make Mickey happy is being together with Ian, and even when Ian is pissed at Mickey and withholding sex (which was very ill-advised but says a lot of interesting things about his character, I think!) no one's sleeping on the couch, there are no nights away from the house and each other, and even in the middle of an argument they sit and stand next to each other. I think that's pretty telling of Ian's dedication, especially given his propensity for running away from his problems.

Phew. Okay, nonnie – though we don't agree and I doubt you'll find this answer satisfactory, I hope you see that I have done my best to understand your point of view and treat your arguments fairly and give you a thoughtful response. If you'd like to get back to me and elaborate on your stance, I'd ask that you show me the same courtesy. :)

#asks #i don't even know what to tag this i spent five hours writing it and my brain is mush #meta #i guess?

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androgynousblackbox · 4 years

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Happy birthday to Anarchymorty!

She asked me a little story about a jello baby adopting a papa, so hopefully this will suffice.

Rick 39-3D, or as he have been recently newly codified as, Baker Rick, opened up his little Baker shop ten years ago with not much ilusion except being able to finally do what he actually wanted, after years of just being a science school teacher back on his dimension. Once his own Morty went to college, he have taken his stuff and move to the Citadel to realice his dreams, creating sweet and delicious desserts that soon became the favourites ones on the block. He was lucky, of course, being the very first Rick that made his products with science and androids capable of preparing everything with exact precisión so no piece was ever less than any other, the quality always the best it could be. There were other shops with similar methods, but Ricks were creatures of habit at the end of the day and once they liked a place, they got stuck on it. That garanteed that he had a thriving business for a long while and even could afford getting a bigger placement, with maybe some plans of becoming a franchise if things went even better. That was, until jello babies came to the Citadel. At first they were a curiosity, something so rare that only very few couples would have it, and it was mostly considered just a little fetish for peculiar Ricks and Mortys when not a squicky way to make money when sold as delicacies. But as they became more and more common, the jellos stopped travelling on the heads of their parents and were walking on their own tentacles, resting on their floating craddles or sucking a tentacle inside a stroller that mommy was pushing. The more common they became, the more products and accomodations were implemented. Ricks made themselves rich creating things specifically for them, to make them a offpring that could take on responsabilities in the house like preparing food with just pressing a button. And there were places with food only for babies and the ones who didn’t cattered to them were gaining less and less costumers, not even because everyone was becoming a new father but rather because even the Ricks without jellos wanted to be around the jellos. It reminded them to the baby Beth they didn’t had anymore or allowed them to imagine her if they never had her. Baby jellos were sociable, adorable little things that were happy to recieve love and didn’t had a single bad intention on their bodies, so they were hard to resist. His fault was coming late to trend. By the time he realized that jellos was a defining factor into the success of a business, other places similar to his had adapted already and had established themselves as a place friendly to jellos and their delicate systems. When he did it, he was just another follower among a dozen or more, no matter what new flavors with baby safe ingredients he attempted. There were some few new costumers, and he could survive still, but wasn’t pulling at all the clientele that he had before. There were days where he could stay still behind the counter for hours and nobody would pass through his door. One of those moments, he was just blowing his blue hair out of his eyes when he saw a single eye looking at him through the window. He saw back at it, waiting for something to happen, but the little baby just waved at him and kept staring. Baker Rick was wondering what was so interesting when he took a good sniff off the air and could percieve the androids had just taken out a new batch of baby safe sweet out of the oven, so that is what must have called his attention. “Shouldn’t you be with your mommy, buddy?” asked, opening the door, but the jello just ran between his legs and now pressed his jello face against the vitrines that contained the sweets. Baker couldn’t help to chuckle a little. Alright, someone was hungry. If the mommy had lost sight of the baby then it was better to keep him on the shop, rather than going around and getting even more lost. If he didn’t appeared on a bit he would inform the guards so they could look. “You smelled that, right?” asked and the jello looked up only to furiously nod, a little drooling coming out his mouth. Obviously he wouldn’t have money to pay, but a little generousity couldn’t hurt. “Look, I am not supose to just give free things to about anyone, but I won’t tell anyone if you don’t tell, alright?” offered, extending his hand as to shake the little tentacle and the baby screeched happily as Baker took him to put him on the counter. “Okay, for today you can be my little tester. I was trying a new flavor and I didn’t had a lot of feedback, so I will need you to be a impartial judge to decide if I should keep serving it or not”, clarified, putting him a little napkin around the… neck? Body? He wasn’t totally sure when his whole body was a ball, but whatever. Then he brought some of the sweets on a plate and was about to let it there so the baby could eat at his own rythm, but he was opening his mouth and looking at him, as if waiting for something until he finally catch on this was a baby waiting to be fed. Feeling like it had been too long since he was a parent, he took a little fork to cut a little piece and offer it to him. The baby ate it making happy squicky noises. “It’s a cheesecake flavoured one with a touch of blueberry. Is it good?” The judge chewed on the sweet that was designed to be very soft on teethless mouth and swallowed, nodding, to then open his mouth again. Baker searched for another dessert, this time strawberry flavoured with a tropical fruit that had a name difficult to pronounce. This was also good! Despite the hunger, though, or precisely because it was being swayed, the baby wasn’t a fan of every flavor, which added to some of the reasons why he wasn’t getting more people anymore. He took a note of it and asked him which ones he would like to see, putting in front a list of options for his little tentacle to point at. He became so concentrated annotating them all and considering how he could turn them into sweet that he didn’t noticed someone else was staring through the window, until he door was opened up and a big, tall mortaion came inside, followed by other smaller mortaions with a bunch of jellos. “Jessie! Baby, sweetie, you had us so worried!” cooed the big mortaion, grabbing the little jello and squishing him against his chest, kissing him all over. The baby, that apparently was called Jessie, screeched happily and licked the green face of the mortaion. Then he screeched some more, talking about all the delicious things he just had and how there were going to be more, but Matron wasn’t having it. “You scared us so much, young man. If you wanted to visit a store, you should have told us in the first place.” “That was kinda my fault” said Baker, checking that has been full two hours since he opened the door for the baby. Jeez, no wonder they were concerned. “I should have called the police a long time ago, I am sorry. I became distracted and lost my sense of time.” The mortaion buffed, looking at him, then at the plate of sweet and then at the napkin still around Jessie. He clearly didn’t liked that had to spend so much time without knowing where the baby was, but could appreciate that he have been taken care of at least. “We well pay for whatever he had” said and one of the smaller mortaions was about to take out his wallet when Baker made a gesture to put it down. “Oh, no, no, don’t worry about it. I invited him because I needed some help deciding the menu. It was all on the house. In fact…” he putt he remaining sweets, that were already cut anyway, into a paper bag and extended to the mortaion as repayment for all the trouble. “Have these, please. Those were the ones he liked the more. And can share it with the other babies.”

Matron wasn’t so sure about that, but when the other babies started scheeching, wanting to taste something yummy too, there was no way he could deny it and took it on his hand. “Very well. Thank you. Now, if you excuse us, some babies had a long day on the mall and need to take a bath” said, cleaning up microscopical crumbles from Jessie’s mouth and kissing his forehead. Jessie giggled happily and then turned to the Baker, waving his little tentacle at him over the shoulder of the mortaion as the entire group was leaving. “Nice to meet you too, little guy” said Baker. On the net he found out what he already suspected: that just have been Matron, administrator of the orphanage of the Citadel, alongside all his mortaion offpring that worked with him. The screening for getting jello babies was so rigorous and exhaustive that there was virtually no way for anyone to just walk out on a baby or turned out abusive enough to have the babies taken away, so it was fairly safe to asume that all those babies that walked on his store had lost their parents, including little Jessie. But all the information he could find about the Orphanage talked about how all the babies were splendidly taken care of, how Matron was a caring, loving mother to all of them and a tough judge when it came to see what kind of people could become parents under his watch so all the babies could only go to good homes. Knowing those poor innocent babies had lost their families was hard, but at least they had landed on a place where they still had a family even if there was no adoption. On the next few days, he implemented the changes to the menu and soon saw a small wave of new jello clients that were delighted with them, as well as their parents. He wasn’t really expecting Jessie to come back but he did, sometimes on the arms of one of the smaller mortaion or Matron himself to check out on the sweets or suggest new one. Matron just made casual conversation on those visits, concentrating on feeding Jessie and making sure he didn’t ate too much each time, but the smaller mortaions were happy to comment on how Jessie was all excited to come back and would pull at their skirts for it with the biggest puppy eye that made it impossible to refuse. At first his shop was only one stop when they were doing other chores, but soon Jessie was bringing his little backpack with toys and other essentials. The baby intended to stay there longer than that, that was much clear, so there was nothing to do but let his jello self do as he pleased to avoid a tragedy like his tears. Baker didn’t completely understood why the baby wanted to be there, but didn’t cared either. More clients were coming each day with their own jellos, who would sometimes hug and lick Jessie’s face as if they have been friend forever even if it was the first time they met each other. Sometimes someone would tell him about his cute son and he had to clarified that no, he wasn’t the father, he was just the provider for sweet the little rascal constantly bribed to get more of. He said it jokingly, but each time Jessie would grab at his hand with a tentacle to call his attention and then climb on his arms for a embrace that never failed to make the client coo, wanting to get some more from his goods. As far he was concerned, the baby could come back in whenever he wanted. On top of all of that, he was also just cute and it was nice to get on the habit of caring for another small creature, even if this one in particular already had plenty of adults taking care of him. But even then, Jessie would put at his apron to show him a new drawing he had made (all happy pictures of him with the babies of the orphanage and the mortaions and some with him on his baker’s hat), a new doll he got or climbing him in order to become his new hat, grabbing to his face to make himself a place on top of his bald spot. In more of one ocassion Jessie would take his bottle, full of milk or juice, depending on his mood, and look at him, waiting. His fatherly instincts would kick in immediately and take the jelly form on his arms, holding the bottle up so there wouldn’t be any air bubble as Jessie drank to his heart’s contempt and then pat his back gently until a resounding but healthy burp filled his shop for a moment. If there were clients present they would always congratulate Jessie on his strong lungs.

That little routine had settled in for a few weeks when suddenly Matron informed him that they were expecting him on the orphanage for a controlled visit. Before he could even ask what he was talking about, the mortaion continued:

“You didn’t expect it would be enough with Jessie visiting here from time to time. All candidates are expected to visit the orphanage at least for a few months before we can settle on if is the better option or not” said Matron, misunderstanding his confusion.

“Candidate for what?”

Matron blinked, surprised.

“For the adoption, of course. You are aware that Jessie has been treating you as his candidate all this time, right? He has been begging me at home about it for weeks.”

“He did?” said Baker, looking up where Jessie was holding to his head, but obviously he couldn’t actually see anything and he could feel the tentacles tightening their grip as if the baby realized he have been caught.

Matron looked almost flustered. For the way both his children and Jessie acted he had assumed this was a decision that have already been taken.

“My apologies, I was under the impression… “

“No, no, it’s okay” said Baker, putting his hand around the jello body and taking him on his arms. Jessie was covering his own eye as if he could still hide that way. “I… I will go. This Saturday is fine?”

Jessie uncovered his eyes, looking up from him to mommy Matron.

“Are you sure? Once the process starts, I will not accept any slacking. My babies deserve better than that.”

Baker looked down at little Jessie as he hold his head, his weight overall lighter than how Beth was but still so comforting.

“Yeah, I can do that. If Jessie wants to accept me…” he was saying, but he was soon interrupted by a loud screeching and Jessie jumping to his face. His hugs and licks was enough to make him laugh. “Alright, alright, take it easy, little buddy” said, patting his side and kissing the side of his head.

If that little baby had chosen him up already he felt like he didn’t had any other option, and didn’t want it either.

#rick sanchez #rick and morty #my fanfic

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pinkvilla · 5 years

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Celebrate all the men in your life this Valentines Season

It’s Valentine’s month, and love is in the air. After all, it is that wonderful time of the year when everyone celebrates the beautiful feeling of love. Girls, let’s face it, every year Valentine's Day comes with a bit of expectation and a lotplanning. Because, gifts are one of the most expressive ways to tell someone how much you love them. While a bunch of red roses or a box of chocolates can make any girl blush, picking up the perfect Valentine's gift for all the special men in your life, who have always been there for you no matter what, can be a little trickier than you thought. Contrary to the popular belief, when it comes to buying a gift, men are in fact more complicated than women.

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Perfumes have always been one of mostpreferred gifts for a loved one, perhaps because beautiful memories are made with memorable fragrances. This season of love makes every moment last forever with Flipkart’s exclusive range of authentic fragrances for him. From luxury brands like Bvlgari, Calvin Klein, Davidoff, Paco Rabanne, Burberry, to Jaguar, Skinn by Titan, Nautica, Tommy Hilfiger, Police. We bet, these fragrances will bring you real close to your special someone.

The FlipHeart days are all about celebrating all kinds of love, so why just gift your husband or your boyfriend, this Valentine’s month let all the special men in your life know how much you care about them including your little brother. Sure, he can be a little annoying but remember the last time you had a heartbreak? It was your little superhero who came to your rescue. This Valentine's return the favour with his favourite superhero figurines available on Flipkart’s widest range of toys and action figures from his favouriteDC Superhero to Star War’s merchandise.

Remember how Chandler was totally addicted to bubble baths after Monica tricked him in to trying it once? Well, they might never agree, but men do love a little self-care and pampering every now and then or maybe more often than not. Besides, it could be a perfect plan for the two of you to enjoy a relaxed evening. Spoil your man with Flipkart’s extensive range of personal care products specifically curated for men who love to look and feel good, right from premium range of personal care brands like Kama Ayurveda, Forest Essentials, Innisfree, The Face Shop, O3+, Kaya Skin Clinic to everyday brands like Park Avenue, Beardo, Brahma Bull, Nivea Men, Garnier Men. And, here is a little trivia. In most likelihood, your shopaholic boyfriend spends equal amount of money and time on his beard as would you do on your hair. Flipkart’s widest beard care range by brands like Ustraa, Beardo, The Man Company, Qraa are a perfect way to show your love for your boyfriend and his precious beard! But if your man is not so much of a beard guy, choose from an impressive range of shaving kits by Gillete, Bombay Shaving Company or L’Occitane. It is a perfect way to let your man know that you care about how he looks.

He has always been your favourite man and you love him the most. Yes, we are talking about every little girl’s first and forever love, her father. If Valentine’s month is about celebrating love, how can you forget the man who’salways been there for you.Why wait for Father’s day when FlipHeartDays have the perfect gift for your Masterchef Dad. For the dads who love to whip up a storm in the kitchen, let them experiment with that Dal Makhani and Chicken Kebabs in style. Flipkart’s stylish range of kitchen essentials make for a perfect gift for the perfect father, a ceramide set by Wonderchef or the Barbecute charcoal grill by Prestige that he always wanted as there is so much to choose from.

His jokes always crack you up, his warm and comforting hug is like sunshine on a gloomy day. The bond between grandparents and grandchildren is one of the most beautiful relationships, filled with innocent love and care. This season of love, celebrate this special bond by letting your sweetest grandpa know that he is and he will always be the most adorable man in your life. For your Grandpa with a sweet-tooth, choose from the most premium range of chocolates and gift packs that will definitely add more sweetness to your beautiful bond. Choose from the exotic and rich flavours of brands like Cadbury , Hersheys and Kitkat.

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You know what goes perfectly with a cosy Valentine's evening and a cup of hot cup of cocoa? A book that you both enjoy. If you are at a loss of words to let your loved one know how much you love him, gift him his favourite book from Flipkart’s extensive collection best of all genres. If you ask us, we would suggest spending the evening reading one of Paulo Coellho’s most romantic stories or dive into the romantic sagas by Nicholas Sparks. Because you know what they say, a book makes for a perfect gift.

So there you have it, a Pinkvilla approved list of gifts and ideas to choose from the widest range of products available on Flipkart during the FlipHeart Days. Let the most special men in your life know, they are special by gifting him what they really love, because for those you love there is something they love on Flipkart. Which by the way, includes yourself too. If the valentines month is about celebrating love, why must we not indulge in a little self love, this Valentines fall in love with yourself all over again by treating yourself to the widest range of products from beauty, books, chocolates, soft toys and home decor available on Flipkart.

Also Read: Avengers: Endgame: New theory explains why Doctor Strange gave up Time Stone to save Tony Stark

#valentinesday #gift

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