…nope, not a clue
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Sasha Explains It All
Adaptability
So today, I want to talk about how people adapt to different alternate realities. And by “people”, I mean my immediate family and friends, including some who are no longer living. By “alternate realities, I mean the “prime schisms”, as we transdimensional experts refer to them.
Roughly, the main schisms we’ll discuss are worlds that are…
Fantasy Without Magic (elves & stuff, but no or extremely weak magic)
Fantasy Magic (D&D, Tolkien, etc, etc.)
Modern Magic (The Magicians, Harry Potter, etc)
Steampunk Magic (Castle Falkenstein. etc)
Ultra-tech, Non-Space (sci-fi movies & books set on Earth)
Ultra-tech, Space (Star Trek, etc, but also Space fantasy like Star Wars)
Superhero (comic books, MCU, DCU)
Non-Human Earths (Earths where either humans did not arise or where humans are not the dominant species)
Extreme Breakpoint Earths (Earths where the history breakpoints were very extreme, like aliens invaded in 500 BC or most of the men died out in 1300, etc)
Okay, so here’s how the fam does in these worlds. But first let me say that for just fitting in (not doing magic or tech), none of us could ever beat Luke & Misty. They could just put on the clothes and 5 minutes later you’d swear they were born on whatever world we were on. Because, you know, actors.
Silky also fit in very well under different circumstances, because, you know, nine different lives on every continent and over 79 years.
Fantasy Without Magic: We all do pretty well on these worlds. I tend to get a bit frustrated by no technology, but I do okay. Mom, Cupcake and Dad do just fine. Auntie Avis does well. Brownie tends to be a bit boggled, but he manages.
I should note that my late sister, Daisy, and her husband Max did extremely well in any world that connected with geek culture.
Fantasy Magic: Mom fits into magical worlds like a hand in a glove, but she is not what you’d call at her best in a typical D&D world. She is not about the sword swinging. Auntie Avis, Uncle Peter, Auntie Holly, and most of the other aunties & uncles do better than okay with magic or swords. Cupcake does fine, but is too gentle of a soul for hack & slash reality. Daddy and I are not cut out for using magic and although Brownie is not as bad as us, you probably don’t want to be too close to him if he casts Fireball.
Where Daddy, Brownie & I do well is swinging swords or doing roguish things. In fact, I’d go so far as to say Daddy & Brownie were born to be fighter/rogues.
Modern Magic: As far as I’m concerned, these sorts of worlds, especially the Potterverses, are my mother’s first, best, destiny. Mom thrives in these places and learns magic the way I learn science. Indeed, all of the various aunties, some of the uncles and Cupcake do well. Uncle Spike does pretty well, but not great. Daddy & Brownie do very poorly. I am a magical disaster. The first time I picked up a wand, it burst into flames.
Steampunk Magic: These worlds let one do tech, magic or a little bit of both. I do well with the straight up tech and surprisingly okay with the tech+magic. Daddy & Uncle Peter do surprisingly well on these worlds, as do my kids. Mom & most of the Aunties do okay, but the Victorian sexism/racism/etc, really chaps their asses, as it should.
Ultra-tech, Non-Space: Since many, if not most, of these worlds have sinister shit going on either behind the scene or right out front, my whole extended family does very well fighting the good fight. Again, some of us were made for this stuff, but even Mom does well.
Ultra-tech, Space: On the Trek worlds, we all do very well, having lived with the tv shows, movies & books all or most of our lives.
In the Star Wars realities, most of us do well, but some, like Mom & Auntie Holly, pick up on using the Force really quickly. Others of us, like Daddy, Brownie and I, don’t even try using the Force, because we’d probably get angry at some point and then it would be “Hello, Dark Side!”. On the other paw, all three of us can fly the shit out of various spacecraft.
In other realities of this nature, our adaptations really depend upon the given reality. We all do very poorly in the military ‘verses, and when we went to Ringworld, we were pretty much slack jawed tourists.
Superhero: We don’t gain superpowers when we go to these worlds, but with our ultra-tech and assorted android bodies, we can go toe to toe with non-powered heroes like Iron Man, Green Arrow/Hawkeye, Black Widow and Batman. In fact, given the right armor, we can give the Hulk a good fight.
Now, this is the point where somebody always asks about picking up Mjolnir, so here’s the breakdown by those of us who where there:
Daddy: Nary a budge.
Me: See above.
Luke: Nada.
Misty: Nope.
Max: Very slight wiggle.
Daisy: A bit more than Max.
Auntie Avis: About as much as Daisy. (DocNote from 2025: She was faking.)
Mom: Raised it about a quarter of an inch.
Silky: Picked it right up, tossed it from tentacle to tentacle, then handed it to Thor, who stared a moment and then burst out laughing.
In the Pulp Hero realities, most of us adapt okay, but Daddy, Brownie and Uncle Peter do the best by far. I keep drifting toward Evil Mastermind, so I mostly stay on the bus.
Non-Human Earths: As you might expect, we all do very well on these worlds, which include all the DogEarths, CatEarths, etc. The various DinosaurEarths are often dicey affairs, since they are either terrified of intelligent mammals or they eat them.
Post Apocalypse world’s inhabited by upgraded NHT or robots are not too bad. On the BotEarths, we just send out Jeeves for a few hours and pretty soon, the entire bot populace is civilized, mild mannered and can bartend like a boss.
Extreme Breakpoint Earths: These vary wildly, as do our adapting to them. I will say that regardless of the world, we are some Nazi/Communist/Confederate/Holy Army killing motherfuckers.
One last thing: We all adapt 100% to the various Tooniverses. You would, too. They are hella fun.
Until my next rant,
Sasha Jane Cross
The Dociverse Blog 