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novaviis · 4 years

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Snaibsel Renaissance Fair AU

Read Part One

Part Two

So the next day Artemis arrives at the fair before opening, just as all the other employees are shuffling in for the day. She’s not the only newbie, thank fuck, so she doesn’t feel completely out of place, but she is the only new Knight, so there’s that. There’s a set of tents and temporary structures at the very back of the fairgrounds, shielded off from the main fair, where the employees can change and take breaks and generally be “out of character”. She heads back there to get into her costume for the first time.

There’s a tunic, a pair of tights, and leather boots and belts that she’d given to wear for most of the day. A little heavy but not too bad. They even give her a side bag to hide her radio and a flask for water. These people have thought of everything. She’s already sweating at that point, just standing in the tent and pulling her hair back off her neck – but then she’s given her armour. Actually fucking armour. It’s not a full suit or anything, but it’s chainmail, a gorget, greaves, plated armguards and gloves, and a helmet. By the time she’s helped into it, she can barely move let alone ride a horse, and suddenly she’s thinking twice about this whole thing.

Artemis is given a while to get used to it, try walking around, but not long after she’s been dragged off to the stable with the other Knights to set up. She’s told she’ll be shadowing some asshole called the Grey Knight at first, just until she’s learned how everything works and gets some practice in on the tournaments. She only gets a brief glimpse of the guy, already in full armour and practicing sword work on a straw dummy. No big, she figures. Once she gets used to the armour, she’ll have this in the bag. She didn’t go through years of fencing and martial arts to look like an idiot around a bunch of renaissance nerds.

She spends the morning getting used to riding her horse, a gorgeous paint named Alice. After a bit of practice, she gets a little more comfortable, and no longer feels like one turn on her steed is going to send her toppling off. She even manages to knick the hoops set up on the training course with her lance – though it falls out of her hand every time. That Grey Knight jackass laughs from the sidelines every time, but at least he’s offering advice (most of which Artemis pretends to ignore with a heated glare). Still, by the time she’s finished for the morning and is allowed to take a break from the armour, she’s completely soaked with sweat and every step feels too light, like she’s been wearing weight all day – which, of course, she has.

So, she’s getting use to how things work around here. Great. She’s sent off to explore and get familiar with the grounds. The place is basically set up on an obscenely large plot of land surrounded by forest with a small lake in the middle. Marquis tents, large wooden buildings, and a mildly convincing Castle have all been set up around the perimeter, the other laneways patches of greenery winding through. Artemis hadn’t gotten a very good look at it the day before, but it really did look like a full medieval village. They had a marketplace surrounding a wide square, and the stables and tournament area across a small field where visitors were setting up picnics.

This wasn’t exactly her scene. Artemis hadn’t applied for the job because she loved this kind of thing. She wasn’t a history buff, definitely wasn’t into LARPing, and had no other interest in the renaissance. To be honest, she hadn’t really applied for the job at all. Artemis had been in and out of Juvie as a teenager, and likely would have ended up in Prison by now had it not been for things taking a different course. Her mother won custody of her at 17, and although it hadn’t changed things overnight, she had definitely turned out better than she would have with her father. After a few more brushes with the law, she was given a choice, back to Juvie, where her sentence would have been long enough to transfer her to an adult facility, or she could take a shorter sentence and then be sent to a correction and therapy program. Naturally, she took the latter option.

The facility had been a ranch, where she’d learned some hard truths and got her ass kicked by reality more than a few times. She was all the better for it, though. Artemis still remembered the night she’d left, her mother holding her hands in her lap with tears in her eyes, begging her to give this a chance before she ended up like her older sister. Jade was already in Prison, having left her newborn daughter with her Ex. Artemis had vowed then and there that she was going to put the work in to turn her life around. It hadn’t been easy, and she’d wanted to give up more than a few times, but she was nothing if not stubborn. She made it through the program, took online classes to finish school, and had been working to catch up ever since.

One of the driving influences through all of this, aside from her mother, was oddly enough her Parole Officer. Even once she’d been released from the program, Artemis had been on a strict probation. She couldn’t so much as jay-walk without landing her ass back in jail. Dinah Lance had assigned to her even before Artemis had moved in with her mom, and had been calm and understanding while taking absolutely none of her attitude. She’d been the first woman Artemis had really looked up to.

Dinah and her husband Oliver were actually old school Renaissance Fair veterans themselves. They came every summer as volunteers, as a sort of Robin Hood/Lady Marion duo that was always a hit with the crowd. When Dinah had learned that Artemis was looking for a job for the summer, and with her obvious qualifications in fighting and horseback riding, she’d suggested her to the head of the Fair committee.

So, now here she is. Artemis knows that this isn’t just Dinah trying to keep an eye on her, waiting for her to mess up, but she has enough trust issues that the doubt is a lingering voice in the back of her mind. She’s determined not to fuck it up this time, though. She’s not a stupid teenager anymore, she’s a young woman in her 20’s and she’s got something to prove.

Artemis takes her time, wandering around the fairgrounds before heading to the stalls for lunch. She passes through a shaded lane just off the marketplace, and passes a shack that smells so strongly of herbs and incense that it immediately draws her attention.

The fair’s esteemed Sorceress, as she understood from orientation, runs a little shop during the week where she sells “spells”, herbal teas, and other “magical” novelties. She also does tarot, palm, and tealeaf readings, and entertained with magic tricks. From what Artemis had heard, she’s a pretty popular attraction, but the shop doesn’t look busy and – fuck it, she’s still curious. So, she walks in.

Zatanna is just wrapping up with a customer when Artemis walks in, placing some crystals in a small bag and handing it to a little girl who’s there with her dad. The whole vibe of the place seems to be leaning far into all that new-agey bullshit, but she gets points for having an actual cauldron in the room (holding what appears to be spiced lemonade).

The moment Artemis walks in, Zatanna smiles and points her out to the little girl. “Well, look who’s come to visit! It’s our newest, bravest night, Dame Artemis!”

As the little girl turns around to see Artemis, just in her tunic, tights, and chainmail, she completely lights up. Artemis is a little awkward, but she’s plenty used to being around kids like her niece, so she gives her a wave but doesn’t quite play along as enthusiastically as Artemis. The girl’s dad eventually coaxes her out of the shop, leaving Artemis and Zatanna alone.

Artemis reaches into her side pouch, and hands Zatanna the Queen of Swords card. “Figured you might want this back.”

“Keep it,” Zatanna smiles as she rounds the other side of her little counter. “Consider it payment for me dragging you out into my show last night. I didn’t embarrass you too much, did I?”

“Nah, not at all,” Artemis lies. She pauses for a second, slipping the card back into her pouch before crossing her arms. “So, how’d you do it?”

Zatanna mirrors her and crosses her arm, leaning back against her counter. “Really? You’re gonna go with that question? Have you never heard of a Magician before?”

Artemis narrows her eyes. “You had someone plant it while I was at orientation.”

Zatanna shrugs. “In your sock? Not unless you’re that unobservant, and you don’t strike me as oblivious.”

“Sleight of hand while I was walking on stage.”

“You saw my hands the entire time.”

“So, what was it?”

Zatanna grins and leans in, cupping her hand around Artemis’ ear. “It was real magic.”

Artemis pulls back and rolls her eyes. “Yeah,” she says sarcastically, “okay.”

“How about this,” Zatanna laughs. “I might tell you how I did it if…” she pauses, looking somewhere over Artemis’ shoulder, before her smile widens. “If you defeat the Grey Knight in the tournament by the end of the summer.”

“What,” Artemis scoffs, “that douchebag who never takes off his helmet?”

Zatanna snickers. “No, the douchebag standing right behind you.”

By the time Artemis spins around, nearly knocking over a jar of Mugwort in the process, the Grey Knight himself is clamouring into the shack. Artemis steadies the jar, already glaring at Zatanna for laughing, before turning back to the other Knight. She tries to stammer out an excuse, or to play it off like she hadn’t said anything, but before she can say a word, the Knight cuts in.

“In my defense,” the Knight begins as he reaches up to his helmet. “I was only doing it today to fuck with you.” He takes off the helmet, and standing before her is a model of a man. Anyone despite their preferences, can agree that this guy looks like he was taken straight out of a Vogue cover. Thick, dark hair, stunning blue eyes, chiselled jawline. Artemis isn’t even attracted to him and she’s attracted to him. However, there’s something unmistakably familiar about him that she can’t quite place until he smiles at her…

“Holy shi- Grayson?!”

She went to middle school with this kid. He’s a year younger than her and had been such a little dweeb. Puberty had obviously been kind to him.

Dick bursts into obnoxious laughter, with Zatanna echoing him behind her. He sets his helmet down on a nearby table and slips his gloves off so he can shake his hair out. “Long time no see, Arty.”

“Arty here,” Zatanna places her hands on Artemis’ shoulders from behind, resting her chin on her knuckles, “was just telling me how she’s going to completely obliterate you in the tournaments.”

“That so?” Dick raises a brow.

Now, Artemis could deny it. She could be honest and say she’d never agreed to that – but fuck it. “Please,” she scoffs. “I used to take your lunch money. I could still hand you your ass.”

Dick grins. “Looking forward to it, then. But, since you mentioned it, I think you owe me a Turkey leg.”

“…Fair enough.”

#snaibsel #ren fair au #young justice #young justice outsiders #yjo #artemis crock #zatanna zatara

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