I don't think I know about either of those!

Oh, right. Well, in Star Trek there's like this alternate universe that has mostly the same guys as the main guys, but they're evil instead. And in the Spider-Verse movies there are a bunch of different versions of this superhero called Spider-Man, but they're not all necessarily the *same guy*. Like you've got Miles Morales, but also a bunch of guys who are Peter Parker, and Gwen Stacy who's Spider-Woman instead. Not that these names would really mean anything to you, I suppose.

I think I understand what you mean anyway! I think Like a Mirror isn't completely like either of those examples, but it's more like Star Trek than the Spider-Verse movies. The Spider-Verse thing sounds more like the drawback There's Another One to me, if the different superheroes are different people with different personalities.

I can try to explain more or differently, if you want.

I'd appreciate that.

Okay!

So there are a lot of things that "alternate version of you" can mean. Ultimately, I'd say an alternate version of you is a different person who is also you. Which is kind of circular, right? But there are a lot of ways for people to be alternate versions of each other. Usually they'll have the same kind of personality, but sometimes personality is shaped by things that happened to you. Sometimes, this means that alternate selves will tend to have the same kinds of things happen to them, shaping them in the same ways. And sometimes this means that someone might superficially have a pretty different personality from an alternate self who had very different things happen to them!

Alternate selves can come from pretty different types of world and in different kinds of person. There might be a you from a version of Earth where humans tend to have magic powers, or a you from a version of Earth where dragons are commonplace, or a you that's not from Earth at all!

That sounds pretty cool.

She traces figure eights with the tip of her pen. The tricky thing about this power is the stipulation that the other Saras (if they're even named that) will get along with her… and the Evil Twin drawback that undoes that stipulation. Because now she has to think about how she'd feel to be on the other end of a power when she weighs whether she wants to take it.

The friendliest version of the guarantee obviously picks out the Saras who are the best personality matches for each other. And maybe she should just avoid taking the drawback that undoes the personality matching, but… she doesn't like the idea of having to avoid any of her alternate selves like that. Especially since the Spirit will be making her almost certainly the most powerful one.

This brings her back around to thinking how she'd feel if a version of her armed with My Ears Are Burning, World's Psychicest Detective, and Agree to Agree who had different goals or priorities showed up. Does she trust that it's sufficiently fundamental to her being that she'd cut a version of herself more slack than someone who wasn't her enough to inflict that on unknown alts?

Apparently she does, because she checks the box. And Agree to Agree, now that she realizes she hasn't actually checked it yet.

The corner of the page helpfully and unobtrusively informs her that she's allocated 71/70 points.

Hmm.

Nothing happens if I go over, right?

Hm?

Oh, over the point total. No, you can go as far over the allotted points as you'd like and nothing will happen. I can't finalize your powers, though.

Good to know. Thanks.

She unchecks Inner Strength and Lightfoot anyway. They just… don't fit in with what she wants, the more she thinks about it.

She reads through the Sorry About That tree. She's tempted to roll her eyes and move on, but… maybe she should think about them more seriously? She wants Baby Monitor and They Even Have Dental (and wonders, now that she thinks of it, where that title came from—does the Spirit just know every movie ever, or something? Is every power a reference to some sort of fiction, even if it's from another dimension?), which means that she's going to have important people in her life going forward. It would be a bad idea to adopt an approach tailored to only having real relationships with the notebook and her Bestest Friend, because she's set herself up to have minions who are in some way personally important to her.

…well, now that she puts it that way, she's pretty sure she doesn't want anything related to Sorry About That. She doesn't need an excuse to ignore how people feel about her if they don't have power over her like she imagines whoever this power is for does. Besides, My Ears Are Burning will alert her to any missteps she makes as pertains to people she comes to actually care about. What a great power.

What's the point of Sense of Style/Bonus Style Points? Or, I mean, I guess Sense of Style makes sense, if you like clothes and fashion. Bonus Style Points feels kinda odd and like it doesn't quite fit with Sense of Style.