Desmona - Blog Posts

Little fit doodles for the Deslotair gang! We got a clothing swap for Sprocket + Alonze, Desmona in some clothes I saw in the store the other day, and Glass wearing a fit I saw someone on the bus in. Feels weird to draw em in clothes, but I think it works!

This is for @glacierruler's OC Bingo! Board below the cut

Currently going down my list of people to ask about OCs because they rbed my OCtober bingo card :3

Tell me of the OCs!

Deslotair gang! Deslotair is a sci-fi western story that follows a group of scavengers through the desert as they fight to survive. If you already know the team, here are my bingo board ideas! If not, read more

For the board!!

Involved in crime is good for Sprocket and Alonze, obviously.

Sign language and multilingual are good too, most of the gang has some knowledge of sign language, and both Glass and Sprocket know several other languages as well.

They all need a Fucking Break. Probably Sprocket the most.

Ghosts could be fun!!

For outfits: i need to draw Sprocket in Alonze's jacket don't ask me WHY i just have that image in my brain.

Fucked up character dynamics for suuure. What do Sprocket and Alonze have going on? Who knows? Canon relationship??? Maybe!

Desmona has a pet! We love Tak! Weird lizard dog!

queer. obviously.

Tragic antagonist DOES fit but we're not getting into all that lol

Outer space was MADE for me <3

Inventor is interesting. Sprocket is a mechanic but he doesn't typically invent things? Him and Glass invented a 'suit' for Desmona though.

Alonze would commit murder, so would Glass! Sprocket tries not to but it's probably happened. Occupational hazard. Desmona would rather die.

Sprocket - he/him, their leader. Used to be a mining bot, where he learned mechanic skills to take care of the other robots down there. He's since made it out of there and has been scavenging the longest. Knows a lot about machines and how to strip things for the highest quality parts. He's a fairly straight-laced guy, and absolute worry-wart trying to keep everyone alive.

Glass - ey/em, primarily a navigator. A glass bot, which are a type of robot naturally created from old scrap that becomes encased in glass. Ey was raised completely around glass bots and worked as a translator between them and humans, but it was a pretty shitty environment to be in. Ey is very curious about humans and is an excellent teacher, specifically of languages.

Desmona - she/her, the outcast. Desmona is a 17 year old girl that came in contact with vitrel, the unstable energy source of Deslotair, which became a part of her. She left home after the accident and met Sprocket and Glass soon after. She's very shy and withdrawn, generally more comfortable around bots or animals than humans. Very crafty, likes sewing and embroidery.

Alonze - he/they/she, the sharpshooter. Used to work with Sprocket in a bandit group, before being caught and arrested after a train robbery gone wrong. Spent his life moving around with his dad, who was a rancher, and deeply loves Deslotair. Very opinionated and hotheaded, but deeply loyal once she's decided she's on your side.

Planet Deslotair is super cool, tell me more about Desmona if you want

-g

I'd love to!!

So Desmona grew up in a vitrel harvesting town called Sagal, where vitrel is pumped from the ground and then shipped off elsewhere so it can be properly processed. Processed vitrel is still pretty toxic, but it isn't nearly as reactive as the raw stuff. Desmona's dad worked for the harvesting company, and when she was 16 she got a job working there as well. Nothing super dangerous, she was just behind a desk helping with paperwork and whatnot, but she was on site a lot. She was actually really fascinated with how vitrel was moved and gathered, and wanted to study material sciences when she got older.

But before she got a chance to do any of that, there was an accident. A vitrel transport truck crashes, and Desmona is right on the scene. Her dad is the one to pull her out of the mess, contaminating himself in the process. He would later succumb to his wounds and die, she would not. She wakes up, and runs.

Desmona spends about a week out in the wilderness mostly by herself. She lives in the plains region, Deslotair’s finest, but it’s still hard to make do, to survive. She drinks from rivers and chews sweet grass into a pulp between her teeth. The pain under her skin settles, but the energy does not. Eventually, she finds a fallen ship, and starts to camp out there. She meets a vitrel dog, names him Tak, and sleeps a little easier. She meets two bots, fails to push them away, and sleeps through the night. The vitrel that lashes out from her skin can't hurt any of them.

Outside of the scavengers group, she's very shy and withdrawn. The armor helps contain the vitrel, but it also acts as a shield from the world. She's very aware that the mask makes her look strange and off-putting, and she leans into that as much as possible when interacting with new people. Once she does warm up to people though, she's really sweet. Has kind of a smart-ass sense of humor with Sprocket, and immediately becomes really close with Glass. They cook together, and ey teaches her sign language while Desmona tries to teach em to sew. It takes a while for the group to find their rhythm, but eventually the three of them (four with Tak) are inseparable.

Just a girl and her weird ass dog

I looove drawing my characters in my outfits, and I think this is absolutely smth Desmona would wear. Big, flowy pants enjoyer forever and always.

Training

Glass teaching Desmona the tricks o' the trade. It means a lot to her to have a way of self defense that she can control, and that is very much designed to be non-lethal. I originally gave her a spear to be more matchy-matchy with Glass, but quickly realized that didn't fit.

So now she gets a staff! Still very much a weapon Glass can help teach her how to use, of course. It's something they can bond over as well- they worked on that staff together, and now they can train together with it.

I feel like there should be some sort of symbolism for the long bandages on the glass bots spears. Practically, they can help with grip for a people with very smooth, slippery hands, but there's not really a reason to leave a tail that long. Could be some kind of status symbol, or maybe vitality? Glass bots can be a little obsessed with age, so maybe you clip it as you get older? Idk, but I need to come up with something so it's not just impractical for no reason haha.

Hold my hand

Ooo baby it's a long way down

To the bottom of the river

Some scattered thoughts about Desmona's mask, why she wears it, and how she got it.

Taglist: @glacierruler

Scavengers art! I imagine this one would be pretty early after Desmona joins them, before she has the armor and all that. None of them really know what they're doing yet, they're just trying to coexist as best as they can. Glass and her do a lot of the cooking around here, but Sprocket likes to help pick the ingredients. She needs her nutrition, goddamnit!

Tags and text transcript below the cut

Sprocket: It's bone broth, from an aurack. It has calcium in it.

Desmona: Oh cool. That's nice.

Sprocket: Did you know calcium is good for your bones?

Desmona: Uh, yeah.

Sprocket: That's good.

Taglist: @glacierruler

"She's a walking fucking warning is what she is. Something you can tell your kids about so they don't go fucking with the transport vehicles, so they stay away from the facilities. I mean, she should have died, but I guess this makes a better story, huh?"

Desmona (she/her), the outcast turning to the desert to survive.

Info:

Was the third to join the group, initially it was just her, Sprocket, and Glass

Used to live in a mining town where they were drilling the liquid, magical energy substance that sits mostly under the surface of the planet

During an accident where one of the vehicles transporting this substance crashed, spilling out its contents, Desmona came in contact with a high amount of it

Instead of killing her, as it most certainly should have, it became a part of her

The energy is wild, impossible to control. It bursts out of her randomly and destructively, and she was driven out of her town as a result

Sprocket and Glass found her not long after

Glass is immune to the magical energy she can't help but wield, and Sprocket is somewhat resistant towards it

She latched onto them quickly because of that, glad to be around people she couldn't hurt

Sprocket and Glass eventually made the armor that can help contain the magic

Desmona is fairly withdrawn, especially around new people

When the group needs to travel into towns, she usually keeps to herself

She knows her mask makes her look somewhat strange and off-putting, and she's VERY happy to lean into that

She's very sweet though, despite all that

She gets along well with both Sprocket and Glass, but she's especially close to Glass

Since Glass is very curious about humans and different cultures and food and languages, Desmona is happy to teach em what she knows. She picks up on sign language pretty fast so they can talk without having to go through Sprocket.

They do a lot of cooking together

She also learns how to wield a spear from Glass

Desmona is very much a pacifist, but she knows it's important to protect herself, and it feels good to be able to do that in a way she can control

She doesn't want to hurt anyone, and hates the fact that now it feels like some kind of default state for her