OMG OC TIME :)
i should be asleep because i have my uni induction in literally 7 hours but here i am! my brain yearns for rdr2 so here's a yap about my oc Deidre!
Basic info and life in the gang.
Her full name is Deidre Anne O'Neil. In 1899, Deidre is 32 years old. Her parents were American-born Irishmen, and their parents travelled the Atlantic to escape the Potato Famine that occurred Ireland in the mid-1840's. Like a lot of the Van Der Linde gang, she was picked up off the streets as a child. Hosea and Dutch initially thought she was around ten years old due to malnourishment, but Deidre was fourteen when they took her in in 1881.
The term obviously wouldn't exist in 1899, but Deidre would be considered demiromantic and demisexual. She's referred to as a prude by several people in camp interactions, most often by Karen.
Growing up in the gang, Deidre was initially quite fearful of being surrounded by strange, older men at all times of the day and having to entrust them with her safety. Despite that, she found herself comforted by Arthur's presence since the pair of them were both teenagers and clung to that as a way to relate to him. When John joined four years later, the sibling dynamic between the three of them was very quickly established. Even though he was six years her junior, Deidre could remember many occasions where John's scrappiness got her out of some deep trouble.
Deidre found herself much more inclined toward Hosea than Dutch when she fell in with the gang. He wasn't the one who found her at the very beginning, but she found his love for theatrics amusing - he'd always been good at spinning stories out of thin air. She loved listening to him tell jokes or read the paper. Dutch would be the one to teach her literacy skills, though.
Since she joined so early in, the gang's unspoken rule of women staying home to do menial camp chores hadn't yet been established, and not having enough people to afford leaving one home to keep watch, Deidre was taught the same survival skills as John and Arthur, which she enjoyed. She'd never been the strongest when rough housing with the other little brats in the street, so being taught how to wield weapons was just a bit of a power trip for her. This eagerness to learn concerned the two older men and as a result, she wasn't allowed to use a gun until she was eighteen.
Relationships.
The most important ones, at least.
Arthur Morgan.
As a teenage girl meeting him for the first time, Deidre couldn't help feeling a bit skittish around Arthur. He was the cute older boy next door, so to speak, but those feelings didn't bubble over a simple girly crush until she was a little older. Having watched and heard the hardships of his life as they grew up together, she has a great deal of respect for Arthur's perseverance, even if she knows he's starting to be worn down by the brave face he puts on for everyone else. She considers him her closest confidant and will rely on him for support following Hosea's death.
Hosea and Bessie Matthews.
As previously mentioned, Hosea was her favourite growing up. The voice of reason, the wind in Dutch's sails, the calming voice that soothed her through her first period at the late age of fifteen. Whenever Bessie was around, she loved to pester her with questions and play with her short, curly hair. Memories of Bessie are somewhat blurry due to how rare her presence in camp was, but when Hosea speaks of her, they're clear as day.
Hosea's death signified the end times to her more than anything else. He'd been begging Dutch to find a quiet, peaceful way out of their life for years, a way to ensure their family could all find some kind of safety from the law, and with his passing, there was nobody else in the world that could keep him grounded.
Micah Bell.
Unsurprisingly, Micah is disliked by Deidre greatly. She actively avoids him in camp whenever possible, moving if she can so much as see him in her peripheral. When he does catch up to her, she tries to be civil, though not very hard. He's prone to threatening her due to her short temper and has once pulled a knife on Deidre, but luckily, nothing came of that encounter. In Colter, she asks about his involvement with Jenny Kirk and is quick to defend the late woman's honour when he speaks lowly of her.
Deidre's involvement with Micah in the epilogue is dependent on the player's ending, but I can talk about that another time.
Thank you for reading!
If anyone has any questions or anything about my girl lmk!! I've not written my own characters in depth since I was literally 13 so bear with me if this seems cliche or cringe at all! There's definitely gonna be more about her if there's any interest in it :)
