a backstory for my oc-ish?? (genshin ofc)
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@parksoyan박소얀 @Dejunjun
I. deaconess of the wind
windblume. the time to celebrate barbatos and all the things he’d done for mondstadt. a time to celebrate. a time for happiness, for all but one.
dakota had grown up disliking windblume for one main reason, and it was that they were celebrating a good for nothing, lazy, alcoholic god that she’d never seen. heck, she wasn’t even sure the many legends she’d heard were true, seeing how many variations there were of each. it seemed that by now anyone could write a story, claim it was about “barbatos,” publish it, and make millions upon millions of mora for it. ridiculous, truly. utterly, inconcievably ridiculous.
what was also utter nonsense was the fact that she was a deaconess. not a good one, but a deaconess nonetheless. a servant worshipping a god she harbored nothing but disdain for. what rotten luck. and it’s not like she could just leave. her younger sister, barbara, was head deaconess, and her older sister jean the honorary captain of the knights of favonius. she’d wanted to be a knight, but jean had refused, under the guise of ‘you’re not ready for that yet, go see the world first’ (which was stupid, she’d never even left mondstadt before!) and barbara, sweet little lovely idol barbara that everyone worshipped like they did barbatos here in this accursed nation, dearest barbara who was named after the god she so loathed, had asked her to join the church with her. because ‘what if nobody likes me? i don’t wanna be all alone!’ and if jean hadn’t been busy serving as acting grand master of the knights of favonius (archons, that was a mouthful and a half) she would’ve told barbara to buzz off and ask jean, but with jean doing, well, you know, she couldn’t really say no or she’d never hear the end of it from her parents.
so here they were, however long later. dakota was now nineteen, and had gone from glorified errandgirl to a full deaconess. people called her “sister dakota” and she just had to smile at all those who entered this accursed church, tell them “may barbatos bless you” and act like a
good, proper nun. but archons, it was the worst form of torture. maybe this was barbatos punishing her for disliking him, but so what, right? barbatos could go get shot up by one of those fatui agents supposedly lurking around dragonspine (information she’d learned while hanging around jean, who often overworked herself, and the rest of the knights) for all she cared.
as of now, though, she had bigger fish to fry. with windblume coming, the church was planning a performance of sorts. they would have different adventurers spar, talented bards and musicians would play, and barbara would be the shining star. she even heard news that a musician from liyue would be coming. xinyan, she believed the name was. dakota was stuck helping barbara choose an outfit for her ‘big show,’ watching the blonde girl frantically toss dresses upon dresses aside as she muttered under her breath, turning to dakota with watery eyes.
“nothing is good enough for windblume! oh, i’m gonna fail, big sis! i’m gonna ruin windblume ‘cus i can’t dress well!” she wailed dramatically, hugging dakota and blabbering into her shoulder, to which dakota inwardly cringed and peeled the girl off of her.
“archons, barb, chill. you have plenty of dresses, surely one of them is good enough for the festival.” she refrained from adding the word ‘useless’ to her sentence, knowing barbara would just become even more wound up. barbara had a faint idea of how dakota felt about barbatos, but she just ignored it. the girl was head deaconess after all. even if dakota was an asshole about most things barbatos-related, the one thing she’d never do is hurt her sisters or berate the gods they believed in (however stupid they may be).
maybe that was part of the reason dakota wouldn’t leave the church, she feared hurting barbara. the girl was sweet, as kind and forgiving as the hydro energy that flowed through her vision. she’d healed nearly every knick and cut dakota had gotten ever since she’d recieved her vision, had been there to comfort her when she and jean got a vision and dakota felt left out, not special enough for a vision, heck, she’d even been there when dakota was promoted to deaconess, throwing her a grand celebration at good hunter and inviting all of dakota’s friends. it’d been nice to see razor, a silverhaired boy from wolfdom, bennett, a loveably unlucky boy, and fischl, the most dramatic girl you’d ever meet. they were younger than dakota by a few years, but she treated the three of them like she did barbara: with utmost kindness and compassion, because to her, they were her siblings, even if not by blood.
blinking herself back to present, having gone extremely off-track in a matter of moments, dakota nudged barbara off of her, gently so as to not hurt her, and examined the closet. she had a wide variety of outfits, most in her signature color scheme of dark blues, pure white, and hints of gold. her personal favorite was barbara’s summer outfit. it was one she wore for all the summer concerts she hosted. it was like a uniform a sailor would wear to sea, but cropped into shorts and a short-sleeved shirt with gold accents. it came with a yellow duck purse, navy blue sailor cap, and a floatie (though barbara never wore it). she skipped past that one, flipping through until she found one. it was similar to her everyday deaconess dress, but it had short sleeves instead of long ones, the end faded from white into barbatos’s representitive teal, a cluster of cecilias on the left arm, and a thin gold chain meant to wrap around the wearer’s waist. there was an added belt and bag for barbara’s catalyst and vision in case she needed it. the shoes were black flats that were mostly round, but pointed slightly at the top, and decorated with two small, but intricate cecilias. it just screamed windblume.
“see, barb, this one is perfect. i’ve never seen you wear it, though, when did you get it?’ she showed the dress to barbara who just shrugged.
“oddly enough i can’t remember. maybe it was something jean got me! you know how she loves giving us gifts for windblume! she always wants us to look our best~” barbara smiles and grabs the dress from dakota’s hands, examining it with a hum.
“it’s perfect, i’ll wear it!” she flashes an angelic grin at dakota before skipping off, presumably to try it on, so dakota sat on her sister’s large canopy bed, gazing at the room. there were photos, taken with a new invetion from fontaine, a Kamera. it showed her and the citizens of mondstadt. barbara and klee playing with dodoco. barbara assisting diona with mixing drinks for The Cat’s Tail despite the fact neither of them could legally drink (how that logic worked was a mystery to her), you name it, she had it. and one picture sat on her nighstand, away from the others, obviously more special than the others. it was a photo of barbara, jean, and dakota, when jean had first become a Knight. the three of them looked so happy, hugging each other and giving the widest, cheesiest grins they could muster. those were better days. back when the only thing dakota and barbara cared about was how awesome their sister was, and if mom and dad would take them to Good Hunter tomorrow because they really, really, wanted sticky honey roast. they didn’t have time to wonder about things like why dakota had an accent and nobody else did, why dakota’s hair was blue, not blonde, why barbatos never gave her a vision like her sisters because only jean had one at the time, their days were just too full of being kids and doing what kids did.
it made dakota sigh, touching her hair with a frown. she’d bleached her hair to blend in with the rest of her family, her hair made her feel so out of place, like a goat mixed in with a pack of sheep, or something, but no matter how many times she’d bleach it, no matter what mixtures she used from the Knight’s Chief Alchemist, Albedo, it always turned an almost purple-ish blue, and it sucked. at least she’d gotten rid of her accent over time. doctors had just assumed it was a recessive gene, or some sort of vocal deformity, but when it’d faded after she turned 16, there’d been no concern anymore. everyone just.. forgot about it. forgot about it like how they forgot about dakota in favor of her two sisters…
no, don’t think that way. you’re just as capable as barbara and jean, even if you don’t have a vision, she mentally rallied her thoughts, pressing her fingers into her temples, quickly sitting up straight and placing her hands in her lap when she heard the bedroom door open. she hadn’t
even realized she’d been so slouched over.
she looked up and saw barbara in all her windblume glory, smiling sheepishly, a dusty pink fanning across her cheeks as she stepped into the light so dakota could see the dress better. it looked.. amazing on her. the cecilias twinkled in the light, and dakota could pick out small music notes on the edges of the dress now. she stood, walking over to her sister, and grinning, placing her hands on the girl’s shoulders.
“archons, barbara, you look amazing. you’ve grown so fast, i’m so proud of you. i mean, not only are you head deaconess at the church, you’re an idol beloved by the entire nation of mondstadt! and you were gifted a vision by the hydro archon themselves. you truly are becoming a fine young woman, dork.” dakota lovingly pats barbara’s head, her hair down instead of in the usual pigtails, and watches as barbara’s eyes fill with tears again before hugging her.
“you’re the best, thank you big sis!” dakota smiled for the nth time and nodded, chuckling softly. as much as she acted jealous of barbara, picked on her, or hated the god she believed in, she meant every word she said. barbara was such a good kid, she would protect her with her life.
