it's a horse idk

knife horse!! that's the gist, below is just a tangent that you don't need to read,, so chainmail directly against skin is, shockingly, not very comfortable! Deirdre wears a couple cloth layers beneath it to make sure that it's protective without bruising, pinching, or cutting her. beneath these cloths, however, she wears a corset - it provides the structure that distributes the weight of her armor evenly, so as to allow her greater freedom of movement and to keep from hurting her. without that structure, the weight would damage her spine and restrict movements, making it very, very difficult to do things such as... fight! or run! or... walk. or stand up. being a guard, Deirdre needs to be able to fight well when the need arises, and otherwise be nimble enough to protect rather than hamper her charge. the linen dresses and skirts she wears are also built around this structure, but they're worn partly for the sake of the aesthetic, and partly to make her appear less threatening. she can easily hide weapons in them, and they hide just how much armor she actually wears c: