no longer a human trampoline

I broke my streak of writing only at Yuletide to pick up a pinch hit for Fandom 5K, because I could not resist lapsedpacifist's prompt "some form of Travis Tate interact[ing] with either Varl or Aloy (or both of them), either right after the events of Zero Dawn or during Forbidden West. Maybe an AI emulation of his personality or his uploaded mind?"

Definitely Not a Goddess (7053 words) by Isis
Fandom: Horizon (Video Games)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Aloy & Travis Tate
Characters: Aloy (Horizon), Varl (Horizon), Zo (Horizon), Travis Tate (Horizon)
Additional Tags: Mentioned Erend (Horizon), The tiniest hint of Varl/Zo, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ted Faro sucks, The GAIA Gang (Horizon), Except they're the Travis Tate Gang, Game: Horizon Forbidden West, Quest: The Eye of the Earth, Some dialogue lifted from canon
Summary: “Turns out that wasn’t a GAIA kernel,” Aloy said to Varl. “That, apparently, is Travis Tate.”

This story probably requires knowledge of the games (both Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West) to make sense (and to be entertaining)! But basically, I've AU'ed the quest in which Aloy activates the main terraforming program GAIA, who appears as a hologram Aloy's people consider the Goddess, such that it's not GAIA's kernel she slots into the computer, but an uploaded copy of the most annoying computer whiz of the Old World. And if you think I was heavily inspired by Dennis E. Taylor's Bobiverse, you are absolutely right.

In reading news, sort of: back in June I had to stop by the library to renew my card, and while I was there I got talked into signing up for their Summer Reading Challenge, which involved entering what I'd read into their app - the selling point was that they did prize draws, separate for adults and children, and according to the librarian, "There aren't many adults signed up, and the prizes are really good, so you'd have a good chance of winning!"



Yep, I won a big tote bag filled with Stuff: a Constellation Mug (the constellations appear when it's filled with hot liquid), a scented candle, a tea towel, a notepad, several pens, a beer koozie, a t-shirt, a cloth reusable bag, a book (I got to pick from a small selection, and chose The Wide Wide Sea because it seemed up my alley), and a "Book Trove" consisting of a copy of City of Brass with post-its marking where to open each of 7 packages - okay, I've already read it, but it will be fun to read again!

What I've recently finished reading:

Blitz by Daniel O'Malley, which is the 3rd book in the Checquy Files series about the organization of people with weird powers who keep Britain safe from the supernatural. This one has an interesting parallel narrative, alternating a story about the modern-day operatives we know from the previous book (well, sort of; each book so far has centered on new characters, so the familiar characters are only in minor roles here) with a story about, as you might guess from the title, World War II. The stories are really only very tenuously connected, by a reveal nearly at the end, but both are interesting tales. The present day story is about Lyn, a librarian (married, with a child) who abruptly manifests powers and is swiftly taken into the secrecy of the Checquy, which in a way parallels the first book's brilliant amnesia narrative. The historical story is about three young women who are (like all Checquy operatives) chafing at the restriction against involvement in the war (because they don't want their enemies to know that Britain has people with weird powers), and then oops, they accidentally get involved.

I did laugh out loud at this marvelous easter egg, in which Lyn is learning about historical people with powers, who of course concealed them...

The librarian part of Lyn's mind perked up and cleared its throat. "Gaul was ruled by the Romans then, right?" she asked.

"Well, not entirely," said Arndt. "There was some village in Brittany that they never managed to conquer. But apart from that, yes, Gaul was occupied by the Romans."

What I recently finished watching:

Outlander, the last season, which is roughly the book Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone. Mostly I was pleased that it felt much more compact than the rambling doorstopper it was based on, but it was interesting to note the changes from the book (and also to figure out why they made those changes).