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[bent_the_world]

[Korra is on the beach, just down from her tiny little island house. She's clearly dressed for some sort of physical activity, in athletic shorts and a loose tank top and her hair pulled back into a very small tail. She's also grinning into the 'gear with barely contained excitement.]

I've got somebody I'd like you all to meet!

[She shifts the gear to show a little more of the beach and there...is a Lapras! Inspecting one of Korra's pudgy Pikachu.]

This is Pana! He's pretty newly hatched. I named him after a spirit who ferries souls across the sea to his island, where he takes care of them while they wait to be reincarnated.

Look at him! Isn't he great?

Comments

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[plasticasshole]

[Connor can't help replying, because apparently he's a sucker for these baby pokemon.]

He's very cute. What kind of pokemon is he?

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[bent_the_world]

He's a lapras! They're kind of hard to catch wild, they're rare. I bought an egg, though. Finally!

They go really fast.

[plasticasshole]

And he'll carry you across the water? That sounds useful. And what is the pokemon he's playing with?

[Because that one is also adorable.]

[bent_the_world]

Yup! I've got a couple I can ride, either on land or in water.

Seriously? That's a pikachu! They're like the most popular Pokemon, they're on everything. I've got a pair of them.

[plasticasshole]

Which ones can you ride on land? Those sound useful.

[It would save his feet from aching. Hank's, too.]

I've seen their likeness on various things here. I just never thought to ask what they were before. I think I'd like to catch one of them someday.

[It's cute and it's an electric type, what's not to love?]

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[schachmeister]

Oh, he looks very sweet.

Do you mind me asking where you got the egg from? There aren't a lot of people who breed Lapras.

[And, you know, if there is anyone breeding them that Armin is unfamiliar with, he gotta correct that.]

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[bent_the_world]

He really is! I've wanted a Lapras for a long, long time.

I got the egg from Cecil! And yeah, tell me about it. This is the first time I was able to grab an egg!

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[schachmeister]

Cecil?

[Armin's eyes widen a bit and he leans in curiously.]

When did you get this egg? Could it be around the start of last month?

[Because Armin might be able to arrange a family reunion.]

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[bent_the_world]

Yeah, from that batch!

What's up?

[Because clearly some mental gears are turning over there.]

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[schachmeister]

Well, if that's the case, I think I have someone Pana should meet.

You see, I also got a Lapras egg from Cecil from that batch. It hatched just a little while ago.

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[badluckbabe]

Positively adorable.

That's a pretty weighty name to put on a kid don'tcha think? What if they turn out to be into violence and mayhem more then healing and reincarnation?

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[bent_the_world]

Well, he's a Lapras, so that's preeeetttty unlikely.

That's kind of why I picked the name. It really suits a Lapras.

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[badluckbabe]

See now, stereotyping is an ugly thing.

But I guess I can't say I've ever seen a hyper aggressive lapris so you're probably right.

Honestly I'm terrible at names half the time. I named my Stufful Strawbeary. I don't know what was wrong with me that day because I'm not normally a pun girl.

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[bent_the_world]

See, it's not stereotyping, it's just using experience to make an informed guess!

Ha, yeah, I know what you mean. Half of mine are just named with words from my people's old language.

[badluckbabe]

Have you noticed like...a lot of the locals don't actually name their pokemon?

That's weird right? I mean just naming your pokemon after their species seems lazy. Even lazier then my naming scheme. But they never seem to have a problem with it.

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[isleavepossible]

[Alex looks interested. Though probably about the wrong thing.]

That's neat. ....

Sorry, strange question. Peoples spirits go to an island to wait to reincarnate, where you're from. How long does that take, generally?

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[bent_the_world]

Uh....oh.

Well, it's less 'what happens' and more 'what my people believe happens in legends and stories'. I mean there are spirits, and who knows, there could be a Reincarnation Island in the Spirit World. But from what I understand, reincarnation is...kind of a special deal.

And also it happens pretty much...immediately.

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[isleavepossible]

Oh.

[Drats. Well it was worth asking about. Even if her own world probably wasn't that nice anyway. Spirits, island, death. She had to ask at least.]

Yeah, there's a few religions that believe in reincarnation where I'm from too. So in your legends and stories, is reincarnation something special that happens immediately?

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[bent_the_world]

Oh boy, so...there's a lot of cultural and world context for all of this, I'm gonna try and keep this as simple as possible.

Thousands of years ago, before humans lived all over the world, before they had any power over the elements, there were spirits. There had always been spirits. The two most powerful spirits were the spirits of light and of darkness - this isn't legend, this really happened. Every so often, they fight for the future of the world. If the dark spirit wins, the world is literally plunged into darkness and chaos for thousands of years, if the light spirit wins, everything's fine.

There was a human who got all in spirit business, and got between this battle, and loooong story short, this human's soul and the spirit of light - Raava - merged, and Raava promised that when he died, she and his soul together would be reborn, each time, to keep the world safe from darkness and maintain the balance between humans and spirits. That person is called The Avatar, and whenever the old Avatar dies, that spirit is reborn in a new person.

I really don't know about regular reincarnation, I...fell asleep a lot when it came to Air Monk philosophy....

[Comparatively speaking, it was sort of sad and boring. And she'd been a teenager with dreams of much more excitement.]

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[isleavepossible]

[Give her a moment.]

Wow, that's... intense. And really neat.

How do they figure out who the new Avatar is, though?

[styxiedust]

He ferries souls, huh? What a notion, I wonder where that came from.

[She's teasing, of course, Pana is the best boy.]

[bent_the_world]

That's how the story goes! I'll have to tell you the whole legend sometime.

I have a sneaky suspicion you'll like it.

[styxiedust]

And I'll tell you about the toddler ruler of the Spirit World that's also my boss.

[All right so technically Koenma isn't really a toddler, but that's the first thing humans see anyway and it's funny.]

[bent_the_world]

Sounds like a deal! I really like hearing about your Spirit World.

[styxiedust]

Do you? I dunno, I like your Spirit World better. It sounds like a nice place to be even if you're not, you know, dead.