the honest-eyed witch & the glass princess.

Meredith finds herself suited to staying on the outside edge of circles. Growing up with busy and strict parents, she is used to being independent and considers herself to be extra weight if she isn't capable of going about her day on her own. As a result, she unintentionally adheres to a similar set of rules with others as she does with her family members. Most significantly, she refrains from engaging directly with people unless she feels like she's given some form of permission to do so. She defaults to being unwanted, thinking that her presence adds little value. It is more likely for her to remove herself from any given situation instead of asking to participate. Holding her guidelines strictly, she makes very few assumptions on people's boundaries and keeps her distance in order to keep those lines intact.

Although withdrawn, Meredith doesn't actively try to fade into the background — she simply operates on her own accord, so she still displays some personal quirks. Most notably, she is always messing with something in her hands, whether it be holding a soft toy she brings along with her or recording her daily observations. She mainly has a habit of doing the latter and has many notebooks filled with her thoughts. In general, she is also a vocal person when it comes to her thinking process and talks through her ideas in detail, including questions to clarify assumptions that may come as a given to most. This habit is formed out of her candidness in communicating, as well as an individual preference for thorough explanations. However, this is often viewed as an inability for her to understand the obvious. For that reason, her opinions are often dismissed or answered minimally out of politeness, but she sees this as a given and never seems to mind. She's an unjudging person who allows people to freely express themselves while having minimal outward reactions, regardless of her level of consciousness to people's perceptions.

Whenever an opportunity comes up where she feels permitted to take part, she is eager to learn and do new things. Her inexperience holds her back socially but evens out in her enthusiasm when she's confronted by something new. Meredith takes action with an earnest heart — she develops a strong investment for the good of any group or project that she identifies with and makes the effort to do her best at any task. She prioritizes creating positive experiences at the moment, so has a healthy relationship with making mistakes in order to learn and will accept her failures readily.

For better or for worse, her low expectations of herself mean she can find a way to be okay with any result. She limits her asks in life to baseline adequacy. Despite having strong passions, she can't seem to convince herself that she's inherently worthy of attaining genuine happiness or having people in her life who will give time to what she has to say. She puts the needs of other people before her own, content with watching them stride forward without much consideration for her own ambitions. While she has the inner desire to share her words, she would rather keep them locked away than be an inconvenience.

miscellaneous.

• Her favorite story is the Wizard of Oz. She also loves any media with magical witches and can identify with them more than other types of characters.
• Meredith always keeps her writing book and a stuffed mouse named Havarti on her person, usually carrying one in her arms while the other is in her bag. Havarti is just there for her to hold rather than to provide any specific comfort, since she likes how the plush feels in her hands and feels uncomfortable when she's empty handed.
• Meredith has undiagnosed ADHD.
• She has a writing notebook and a separate scrapbook where she pastes in pieces of interesting paper, tape, pressed plants, packaging, or stickers.
• Meredith used to spend the most time with Posie Amador. Since Posie was direct with her words, Meredith would take more initiative in conversations with her than she typically would with other people.
• She met Merpati May in the third grade, where they were classmates.
• She only has five green hair ties and uses a purple one as the sixth.
• When it comes to clothing, she prefers loose and comfortable clothing in dark and/or neutral tones. She especially enjoys capes and cloaks.
• Meredith has an older sister named Fiona, who is eight years older than her.
• Her favorite sweet foods are fried plantains and pain au chocolat. She likes to get her pastries from tout notre amour, owned by Elsie's mothers.
• She relates to Clementine's home life when it comes to the responsibilities at home, since it's often the two of them taking care of the housekeeping while their parents work.
  • She tends to cook meals in relatively large portions so that there are leftovers for herself and her family. Due to this, she also has a preference for making foods that reheat well like soups.
• She works at a busser at a cat café a few days a week and always gets surrounded by the animals when she's cleaning off tables. She's been able to easily attract and befriend cats ever since she was a toddler.
• She used to be more open and encouraging as a young child and slowly became more withdrawn as she's gotten older.