While we are on the subject of the foster dads AU, imagine: Zanger going to a renaissance faire.
Going to the ren faire started as a tradition when Gary and Ev’s only kids were Ali and Raetha: it was the venn diagram overlap of their nerdy interests. Ali loves all things costuming and cosplay, and she loves the ren faire as an excuse to create a look and dress up; she could take or leave the “renaissance” aspect. Ali made her own corset (much to Ev’s chagrin–should she really be going out in public dressed like that?), and made Ev’s fancy black and deep blue doublet, and this year, she and Gary finished a set of foam full plate for Gary that they’ve been working on together. It’s bronze, because that’s the color they had laying around from a previous cosplay project, and Gary boasts about Ali’s skills to every single person who compliments him on it.
Meanwhile, Raetha is the one who is actually a member of the SCA, is SCA combat trained, and goes to events regularly. She was a little too late to apply this year, but next year, she is applying to be on staff (she’ll probably get the job, too; their family is well-known and well-liked at this faire). She watches the jousts and competitions religiously–she has a favorite female knight, Breyah the Bear, that she swoons over, and who last year gave her a token at the start of the competition (not that Breyah is trying to make moves, she’s just a queer woman in her late twenties giving a nod to a queer woman in her early twenties). Raetha wears her SCA tunic-and-trousers costume, and breaks out an anachronistic Indiana Jones type outback hat midway through the day, because she’s not about to get sunburned for the sake of sartorial authenticity.
Zakki started going too when they joined the family, and they LOVE it. They have bought basically every overpriced accessory it is possible to buy at a ren faire–hand-painted velvet cloak, leather mug frog and steel tankard, jewelry–and wear all of them at once. They have made friends with every vendor, and they are best friends with all the food vendors (who remember them, because who can forget the kid that ate three turkey legs in one day). They know the call-and-response bits of several shows by heart, and often have their hand first in the air when someone needs a volunteer. They are especially stoked this year, because this year is Nemei’s first ren faire, and Zakki wants to show them EVERYTHING.
Nemei was placed with this family recently. They aren’t in costume–Ali offered to whip something up, but Nemei declined–but they do allow Ali to put a set of horns on them, because Ali is wearing some and Nemei kind of idolizes Ali already. But besides that, they are dressed as an awkward fourteen year old trying hard to disappear in dark clothes. This changes after staff members start interacting with them in character. Though Nemei is never great at risking embarrassment, or making themself socially vulnerable, they are good at code switching; and the rules of this place are built around everyone openly acting like pseudomedieval weirdos, so–
The first time a vendor tries to entice Nemei to buy something via flirtation, Nemei’s whole bearing changes. They draw themself up tall, poised; they look down their nose at the vendor with an indulgent little smirk, and deign to offer a hand, allowing the vendor to lead them over to the displays. By the end of the day they have developed the beginnings of their familiar, disdainful sorcerer persona, much to the delight of Gary and Ev, who were worried about them having a nice time.
Mostly the kids run between the vending stalls, and dip in and out of the food court, where Gary and Ev are enjoying cold beverages and occasionally keeping an eye from afar. They meet up for particular shows that they like to watch together, and Ev makes a nuisance of himself heckling and throwing puns back at the performers. They attend the joust together, and Ali and Zakki gang up to tease Raetha about her obvious crush. They try archery (Ali is surprisingly good at it), and axe throwing (Gary is surprisingly good at that). Zakki gets everyone to pool their remaining food and drink tokens for an optimal shared spread, and then they all take one more pass through the vending stalls before heading out.
They duck into a stall that has been too crowded with smaller kids to enter for most of the day, and find the place is full of incredibly intricate puppets–little bird and griffin and dragon muppets whose heads can turn and tilt and talk with the subtle manipulation of cables and poles. The vendor has a little red dragon in his arms that he’s puppeting, and it’s the dragon, rather than the vendor, who addresses them first. It speaks in simple, little kid English, and flutters its wings every so often in a show of emotion.
Everyone is pretty impressed–the puppet maker clearly has a ton of skill both from a crafting and performing perspective–but Nemei is entranced. Gary and Ev make eye contact behind their back; the puppets are not cheap, but they are in total agreement that Nemei is going to bring one home if they want to.
The vendor, meanwhile, is showing Nemei how to manipulate various cables for movement, settling the little red dragon into their arms and helping them bring it to increasingly expressive life. Nemei doesn’t look at any of the other puppets.
“What’s your dragon’s name, Nemei?” Zakki asks them when they leave the stall.
“Noachi,” the puppet answers in a small voice. Nemei’s lips move only a little–it’s a different voice than any of them has ever heard from Nemei, very young and tentative. Nemei pets the dragon, and speaks in their sorcerer-Nemei voice back to it. “That means ‘little treasure’ in dragon language, doesn’t it? Very good choice, my dear.”
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