Chapter Text
Plucking a snapdragon from the lakeside, Barbara hummed a soft tune to herself. Mondstadt’s winter was utterly gorgeous. The sun sparkled on the light dusting of snow on the ground as more snowflakes danced around her. Barbatos had been kind to the city, blessing and protecting it from harsh winter storms.
‘ This weather is so amazing… I could burst into song! ’ She thought to herself as another flower landed in her basket. She didn’t get the chance to though, as her attention was drawn to a very faint voice singing from somewhere to her right. Recognizing the song as a tune Venti was playing the other day in the cathedral plaza, this mystery person had a certain charm to their voice that intrigued her like no other. She stood up straight and turned towards the sound, making up her mind on the spot to ask the person if they would be interested in joining the church’s choir. This was an opportunity she couldn’t pass up. Making her way over the slight hill, she froze as the person came into view.
It was… Bennett . And with no other person in view, it really couldn’t have been anyone else. Still, she had to be sure.
Bennett, having caught sight of his friend, broke into a wide grin and jogged towards her.
“Barbara! What brings you away from the church today?” He glanced at her basket of snapdragons, and cocked his head in curiosity. “Are those for your signature spicy stew? Keep that away from me, you know I can’t handle my spice!” He laughed. However, Barbara stayed uncharacteristically quiet, only nodding in affirmation and studying Bennett’s face. Taking notice, he wiped at his cheek, “What is it? Do I have soot on my face or something? Oh, that’s probably from the hilichurls I was fighting earlier! Actually, funny story-”
“Was that you singing a little while ago?” Barbara blurted, interrupting his sentence. As much as she liked hearing of his adventures and pitied his misfortunes, this was a question that couldn’t wait. She needed to know. “The tune Venti the bard was playing yesterday. Were you singing that just now?”
His face went red. “You- you heard that?” He stammered out. “Ah, I really thought no one could but I guess I wasn’t as quiet as I thought. I’m not really good at it like you though, I just sing to myself sometimes on my adventures.” Barbara had never heard such bullshit in her life. Actually no, she had, but this was definitely up there on that list. Had he even heard himself?
“Bennett. Look me in the eyes and tell me you’re bad at singing again. I dare you.” He looked her in the eyes: “I’m… bad at singing…?”
Oh, this idiot boy. “Barbatos, I wasn’t serious! I said that because you have an absolutely incredible voice! Why don’t you sing more often? Or come join the choir at church! We’d be blessed to have a voice like yours, especially because we don’t have a lot of male volunteers for the citizen’s choir.” Her tone was full of sincerity, genuinely expressing her desire to have him join. Barbara led the citizen’s choir, being the only one with enough musical talent to instruct a bunch of uncoordinated voices to harmonize and improve. Granted, the citizen’s choir had held auditions, so they weren’t all bad, but a majority was made up of her fans who came to see her and managed to pass the auditions. It was hard to get them to focus at first, but eventually, they managed to get down to business to earn the approval of their beloved deaconess. Regardless, she wouldn’t mind seeing a friendly face and hearing a nice voice in that mix.
Bennett scratched the back of his head, starting to ramble. “I’m not too sure… I wouldn’t wanna bring my bad luck to the choir and risk someone getting sick, or maybe even having the stage collapse or something. It can get really unpredictable, you know, and I haven’t really got the best rep around Mondstadt so I’m not sure if people would want me there anyways—”
“ I want you there.” She cut him off, not letting him continue his string of self-deprecating thoughts. Making direct eye contact with him, his eyes widened before he looked away, a blush blooming across his face at her sudden seriousness.
“Oh. Um. Okay. I guess I’ll give it a try. Only for you though,” He sighed out, finally giving in. “If something goes wrong, you can’t say I didn’t try to warn you.”
Barbara perked up, her grin wide. “Yay! Our next practice is next Thursday at noon in the cathedral. If you can’t make it, we have another one the following Sunday after morning mass. Oh, it’ll be so exciting to have you there! I can’t wait to see how you’ll blend with everyone.” Bennett could see her eyes sparkling , and he didn’t have the heart to miss these practices now.
Barbara allowed him to assist in picking more snapdragons, and Bennett started thinking as he walked around the riverbed. Even if other people were opposed to him being there, he’d do it for his friend. After all, she had done so much for him, healing him day after day. It was the least he could do.
~
“You can sing?!”
Fischl almost hit Barbara in the face with her hair with how fast she turned around.
“H-How long have you— I mean— ahem. How long hast thou been invading upon the Prinzessin’s private spaces?” Fischl asked, clearly scandalized.
“I’m sorry Fischl, I just followed the sound of your voice. Also, we’re in a forest,” Barbara pointed out, gesturing vaguely to the trees around them. As Fischl turned pink, Barbara turned to the girl’s familiar. “And Oz, was the deeper voice you ?”
Oz cleared his throat (could birds do that?), unsure how to respond. “Ah yes, I tend to harmonize with the Prinzessin when she sings. However, we are often alone when this happens. We were not expecting… an audience.” Barbara pressed her hands together above her head, expressing her apologies.
“I’m sorry, seriously. I was only here to gather some medicinal herbs. As a singer myself, I was drawn to your voices. I didn’t mean any harm, I promise!” Barbara looked sheepishly at them, offering an apologetic smile. Fischl huffed and let out a sigh, closing her eyes before responding.
“Upon great consideration, I, Fischl, the Prinzessin der Verurteilung, pardon thee from what would have been otherwise a great offense in mine world.” Barbara perked up immediately, clasping the other girl’s hands in hers.
“Oh, thank you so much! You two have got absolutely beautiful voices, by the way. You were singing one of Xinyan’s songs right?” Fischl’s visible eye widened, and even Oz looked surprised. “You know Xinyan?” the purple-clad girl asked, breaking character in her astonishment.
“Have I been living under a rock? And roll, I guess, because her songs are my jam!” Barbara giggled at her own pun. “Do you mind singing it for me again? I’d like to try harmonizing with you if you’re comfortable.” A flush spread across Fischl’s cheeks as she heard the idea. After some seconds of consideration and looking to her familiar, she hesitantly agreed, and began to sing.
Barbara couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face. Fischl had an absolutely gorgeous vocal color. She saw the girl tentatively reach out her hand as she sang, and Barbara took it in her own, giving it a squeeze for confidence. As Fischl’s hand relaxed in hers, the deaconess knew she had found someone else who used music as a form of escape. A few lines in, Barbara joined the electro user, adding a higher harmony to the other girl’s beautiful alto voice. Oz watched, too stunned to speak. The two girls looked at each other, in joyous disbelief at how well they blended. As the verse came to a close, they blinked at each other for about 10 seconds with stupidly large smiles on their faces, Fischl’s hands trembling again (this time in clear excitement) in Barbara’s own.
“Would you- would you mind if we sang like this together a little more often? This was… beyond anything I could’ve imagined. The nuns don’t like to harmonize often, and none of their voices really match mine. Please, consider it?” Barbara pleaded, knowing that Fischl may be a little too introverted to join the citizen’s choir like Bennett, but she was not going to pass up singing with someone whose voice worked so well with hers. The other girl unsuccessfully attempted to rein in her smile before speaking.
“I will gratefully accept your gracious invitation, deaconess.”
~
It was rare to see Razor in the city, but even rarer to see him alone. Normally, he’d be accompanied by Bennett, quickly stopping by the Adventurer’s Guild or Good Hunter before heading off on an adventure. But Razor in the cathedral plaza ? Unheard and unseen of. Why was he here?
Barbara ran as gracefully as she could down the cathedral steps upon spotting the wolf boy, knowing she was still in the public eye. Catching up to him, she tapped him on the shoulder to alert him of her presence. He stiffened, turning slowly before slightly relaxing when seeing her.
“Bar…bara? Hello.” He asked, testing out her name. The two knew each other from Bennett mentioning them to each other, and once in Wolvendom when Barbara had gone to pick red wolfhooks but ended up being saved by Razor pulling her into a cave with him to hide from Albert, who had come out to Wolvendom after hearing that Barbara had headed there. Razor had instructed her to stay in the cave while he and some of his wolf family (his lupical, she recalls) went to scare off the creepy guy. She was eternally grateful to him since, but hadn’t been able to see him much due to her duties.
“Razor! What are you doing here in Mondstadt? It’s not every day I see you here. Not that I’m complaining, I always like seeing you.” Razor took a couple of seconds to process what she had said, a small smile appearing on his face once he did.
“I like seeing you too. I am in Mondstadt for… imitit— imatat— copying sounds,” The wolf boy faltered, not being able to remember the word properly. “Bennett told me to try, but he had to go to Guild. So I am doing it without him.” At his response, Barbara tilted her head in confusion. Imitating sounds? Curious, she asked him to elaborate. Razor thought for a moment before answering.
“One day on adventure, Razor copied the sound of lupical’s footsteps. Bennett looked… surprised? Asked me to repeat, so I repeat. He said it sounded cool,” He paused, pondering his next words before continuing. “I copy—copied? other sounds for him too, like wind in trees or bushes moving. I can do many sounds. Have to, helps with cover in forest when prey accidentally notice us.” Barbara’s smile slowly grew throughout Razor’s explanation, remembering something Bennett said about him only talking a lot to people he was comfortable around.
“That is cool! Do you mind showing me some of the sounds? Anything you’re comfortable doing works.” She asked, Razor’s red eyes examining her own blue before he glanced to the right, bringing her attention there as well. Oh Archons, people were starting to whisper.
Is that Barbara?
What’s the deaconess doing with the Wolvendom boy?
What is he doing in Mondstadt anyways?
He’s so strange, I wonder why Barbara is with him.
Okay, now Barbara was peeved. Unfortunately, she couldn’t speak out in annoyance against the people that looked up to her, she had an image to maintain after all. “Actually Razor, would you mind showing me inside the cathedral? I’ll be able to hear you better, and less people will bother us,” She softened her voice towards the end, not wanting others to listen. Razor glanced once more at the people in the plaza before nodding in affirmation. “Great, let’s go.” She said firmly, grabbing his hand and pulling him along before the whispers could continue, his eyes widening at the sudden action. She hated when people would talk badly about her friends just because they weren’t like every other boring ass— ah. She should probably stop her thoughts before they got too negative (and maybe stop picking up curses from Rosaria). She was grateful for the people’s appreciation of her, she really was, but there were some things she just couldn’t stand.
Once inside, she pulled him into one of the rooms she used for practicing. “This room is soundproof, so no one can hear us. I doubt anyone will bother us, either, I’m pretty much the only one who uses these rooms.” She explained, gesturing vaguely around the area. Razor looked around, familiarizing himself with his surroundings.
“You say I can do anything I am… comfortable with?” He recalled, Barbara confirming with a nod as he thought for a second. He seemed to come to a decision, and Celestia, there was nothing that could’ve prepared Barbara for what she heard next.
Razor perfectly captured the thudding of wolf paws running across the forest floor, akin to soft drumbeats. He transitioned into the wind howling through trees, flawlessly imitating the whistles of the breeze through the leaves. She closed her eyes and could almost feel the wind in her hair. He continued, adding a few scarily accurate bird calls here and there while embodying the natural sounds of the forest with nothing but his voice. Come to think of it, he would make a great beatboxer. Wait. Holy shit. Razor could probably be a beatboxer. As his percussion? came to an end, Barbara clapped enthusiastically, a wide smile on her face.
“Razor, that was incredible! You really do have a gift, being able to echo those sounds so well,” She straightened up, the beatboxing idea suddenly expanding in her head. “You said Bennett asked you to see if you could imitate other sounds as well, right?” Razor nodded. “If I tried some sounds right here, do you think you could try to copy them?” Contemplating for a moment, he nodded again.
Barbara thought for a moment, before resting her hands on the closed piano lid and hitting it gently in a rhythm, creating a drum-like sound. Razor processed the sound, before repeating it back to her perfectly. The deaconess couldn’t hide her smile as she continued, creating different rhythms, slowly getting more complicated but without Razor missing a beat.
Another idea was starting to form in her head, and if her musical intuition was correct, this could very well be the best one she’s ever had.
~
Barbara waited eagerly at the round table of Good Hunter, trying to quell the tremors of her leg that was shaking in anticipation.
Bennett and Fischl showed up first, chatting and walking together from the Adventurer’s Guild. Getting closer to the table, Bennett called out to her. “Hey Barbara! What’s the occasion? Why’d you tell us to meet you here?” They both took a seat, Bennett across from her and Fischl to her left. Oz hopped down from his perch on Fischl’s shoulder to take a seat on the table.
“I’ll explain when Razor gets here, he shouldn’t be long now.” Barbara reached out to stroke along Oz’s back feathers, the familiar preening under her touch as her friends’ faces lit up at the mention of the wolf boy. True to her word, Razor’s fluffy grey hair was soon visible, coming up the steps of the central plaza. He waved in greeting to all of them, taking the last seat to her right.
“You’re probably all wondering why I’ve gathered you here today,” Barbara started, before realizing how serious she sounded. “Okay, truthfully it’s nothing serious, but I’ve had some insane experiences with each of you and your vocal abilities this past week, and now I want to try something. Are you all familiar with the song Walking in a Winter Wonderland?” Bennett nodded eagerly, before turning to Razor and explaining something about it being the song he heard when Lisa had dragged him to church one week before their training.
“I believe I am aware of the musical composition you speak of, although I, the Prinzessin, will admit I am not fully familiar with the piece. Might I inquire why you ask of that song?” Fischl spoke. Oz opened his beak to translate, but Barbara beat him to a response.
“Okay, so long as you’re all aware of it that’s fine. We’re freestyling it. Okay?” Her friends’ eyes went wide before Bennett and Fischl started stumbling over their protests. Only Razor looked directly at her, cocking his head in confusion.
“Barbie, what is freestyling?” Silence suddenly fell upon the table. A wide grin broke out over Barbara’s face.
“Barbie?” She asked. Razor clarified, “Bennett’s nickname is Benny, so Barbara can be Barbie?” He looked over to Fischl. “I do not want to call you Fishy… so Fischl.” The other electro user grimaced at the nickname before nodding in agreement.
“Of course you can call me Barbie, Razor! We’ll have to come up with a nickname for you, if you’d like.” Razor smiled at this, and Barbara took it as a sign to continue her previous point. “Anyways, back to the question. Freestyling is basically where we sing the song on our own, with no instruments or anything. I’ll start, and you guys can add in harmonies or take up the melody, either which one is fine.” She explained, looking mainly over at Bennett and Fischl before turning her attention to Razor. “Razor, don’t worry about harmonizing, do you think you recreate the sounds we tried the other day as we go along? You’ll understand more about what I mean once we start.”
Her friends looked hesitantly at her, then each other. Bennett spoke up first, “Barbara… are you sure this is a good idea? People can hear us here. What if we don’t sound as good as you expect?” Alright, that was a valid concern, but at the same time, she wanted her plan to come to fruition so badly .
“Trust me, my musical intuition has never been wrong. We’ll sound great! And we’re doing it mainly for ourselves, and not the other people. And if not for yourselves, then do it for me! Please?” She pleaded, dragging out the “e” in please while giving them her best puppy eyes. She had to fight the thrilled smile on her face from growing too wide as she watched them visibly give in. “Okay, ready? I’ll count us in.” Her friends watched her, tentative but now excited.
Counting them in, Barbara lightly tapped the table to give them a sense of the beat. She started with a riff, continuing the taps on the table. Oz decided to move things along and added a simple bass line, looking over to his owner. Fischl, spurred on by her familiar, joined in with a rhythmic harmony as Barbara repeated her riff. Barbara looked expectantly over at Bennett, as he knew the song best after her. He took a deep breath and started matching her riffs, the song starting to come together with each addition. As they continued the riffs for the last time, Razor added his drumbeat-like sounds. He surprisingly had a pretty good sense of how to match the beat, despite having never sung together with others before.
Bennett, gaining a burst of confidence, started the melody, closing his eyes and getting lost in the song. He opened his eyes and looked over at Barbara towards the end of a line, nodding towards her. Barbara got the message and took over. They continued on like this, passing the melody back and forth between each other while Fischl, Oz, and Razor continued the background harmonies and beats, Fischl occasionally adding a few adlibs here and there. Their smiles grew wider through the song as they realized how good they sound and how well their voices are working together, and halfway through, they’re fully in the groove, engrossed in the song and not noticing the people looking over at them.
As the song ends they all looked at each other, huge grins on their faces when they heard applause from around them. Ah. They’ve amassed quite the audience, it seems. Cheers come in, as well as an onslaught of questions to the group.
Since when could you all sing?
You guys sounded incredible!
Wow, who knew they had that in them? I mean, Barbara sure, but the others? Didn’t expect that.
Is this a coordinated performance? A new choir maybe?
That last comment gets the gears going in Barbara’s brain.
“Hey guys”, she starts with yet another growing smile on her face, “what if we became an acapella group?”