#[ i've decided to just collectively bring together all my headcanons on a subject and then post them together to be consistent ]

[idolbound]

Meredith’s Appearance

BODY TYPE & PRESENCE

Regarding Meredith’s body type, she stands at a tall 5′11″ (180cm) in height, maintaining a fit, lean figure through her adult life.As an adolescent girl, she was quite tall, thin, and lanky, eventually growing into her armor as a young initiate in the Templar Order. 

Meredith’s muscular frame gradually developed from the years of hard work and training that followed her initiation. She learned under Ser Wentworth Kell’s watchful eye, day in and day out, first as his personal page, and then as a young knight. She wanted to prove herself better than her ‘templar brothers’ and often pushed herself to keep up with the young men of her age cohort, sculpting her body into the epitome of a templar warrior.

Later wielding Ser Wentworth’s inherited great sword, Meredith maintains a certain finesse and agility in the way that she swings the blade, perfected in her decades’ worth of training. Her lean figure and long legs give her speed in battle, even while wearing a full kit of armor. Her broad shoulders hold the weight of her pauldrons with ease; her core strength is her center of balance; and her legs do not quiver under the weight of her blows. 

While Meredith is no longer a young woman, she maintains a regular and active training routine, consisting of both prayer and exercise before dawn. 

Along with this, Meredith utilizes her dominating presence and stature to intimidate and coerce people into agreeing with her orders or demands. Her taller-than-average height often gives her an advantage over those who are smaller (and those she considers weaker) than she is to force them into agreement. The way she presents herself with her shoulders back, chest forward, and her chin tilted upwards is a way that also makes her physically look down upon other people; it’s another assertion of her self-perceived dominance. 

There are times that a few people stand taller than she does (mainly men, with a  few exceptions), but she doesn’t allow them to stare down at her if she can best help it, be it by standing on a taller surface to level the height difference. It isn’t an obvious tell, but if one pays attention, actions like this are all a part of how Meredith presents herself very carefully to the public. 

Meredith’s presence radiates power among other people. She is, at her core, a charismatic leader who upholds all that the Chantry teaches. She is a figurehead to Kirkwall’s Chantry and believes she must set herself as the perfect example for her templar knights to follow. This comes by way of her body language, and the way she speaks to other people.

Meredith speaks in a methodical manner. There is a certain drawl to her dialogue that is slow and purposeful, allowing those listening to her to take in what she is saying. Her charisma enables her to promote the confidence of her knights with speeches before heading into battle.  People listen to her without questioning her authority (in the early years, at least). She inspires as she leads. 

The notion that Meredith “glitters like the sun” suggests that she is a beacon, a white knight in shining armor to protect the people and the city as a whole. She makes it a point to be seen as outstanding, as well as a woman to be respected (read: feared) and doesn’t accept anything less. And that, all starts from first sight.

FACE & SKIN 

The years have been somewhat kind to the Knight-Commander; many do not anticipate that she is under the age of 50. The crow’s feet at the sides of her eyes and the wrinkles around her mouth are truly the only initial indicators of her age as the rest of her body is still in great physical condition for her position as Knight-Commander. However, the stress that comes from maintaining the Gallows to her standards and foiling the plots of apostates and blood mages has brought other signs of stress to her body. Primarily, some nights she cannot sleep (in part, because of her PTSD-related hyper-vigilance or due to nightmares) and thus, she often wakes up exhausted, with dark circles beneath her eyes, giving her a particularly haggard appearance.

She has a square-oval shape face with prominent cheekbones and cheeks that narrow towards her mouth. Her chin is square, but comes to a slight point. Her nose is the most forward feature, sloping in a slight concave fashion, with a slight flare to her nostrils. She has thin lips, often pursed together, surrounded by deep nasolabial folds and wrinkles from the corners of her mouth. Her ears are big, hidden by her hood, but are round and stick out to the sides, usually also hidden by her hair when it is not tied back.

Her eyes are the shade of aquamarine, bright and brilliant in all reflections of light and times of day. They are her mother’s eyes, though not quite as vivid. Some would argue that lyrium consumption has made her eyes more vivid over time, but that is simply speculation. Her eyes are round and do not sit too far apart in her skull, set in an average distance apart. Her eyes are fairly expressive, and because of how bright they are, they are one of her most notable features. She is always alert (again, due to hyper-vigilance and paranoia). 

Meredith is pale, and the circles under her eyes are rather pronounced, as with any veins or marks upon her skin. She runs an average temperature that is neither cold nor hot.  Age has taken its hold, wrinkles are sporadic throughout parts of her body, most notably on her face, back, and hands. She does not blush often, but when she does it is very noticeable given her complexion. Her skin is not too soft, but she has callouses upon her hands and feet; her skin is taut across well earned muscle. 

Meredith also has freckles. They are faint across the middle of her face, and were far more prominent when she was a child. As an adult, they appear only in the dead of summer when it is incredibly warm outside, and she spends time out of her office and actually outdoors. She does not tan, but after being in the sun, the freckles upon her face, and shoulders become visible. Even then, they do not generally last into the fall when autumn rains and overcast days replace the sunshine.

Meredith does not often wear cosmetics, finding that she has little to no interest in spending the time to apply them when she has so much to do as it is. While cosmetics in of themselves are not considered ‘terrible’, Meredith simply does not believe they have a place among her duties. Perhaps should she attend a formal event, she may indulge, but it is extremely rare to see anything more than eye colour and a painted lip.

As Meredith is of a relatively wealthy status in the Templar Order, she has access to the means to maintain decent dental hygiene. While she is not obsessive over it, brushing her teeth is included in her daily routine. Given her enjoyment of indulging in wine, Meredith’s teeth are far  from perfectly white. She has never had a dental-related injury.

HAIR

Meredith’s hair is soft, thick, and grows in waves that can curl if her hair is braided whilst wet. Her hair is easily manageable, which is why she allows it to remain down, tucked partly beneath her red hood. If she is to wear an actual helm, however, she will tie it back into a low bun to be out of the way.

Another reason many mistake her age is because her hair has yet to turn grey, much like that of First Enchanter Orsino. However, in the later years of Act III, some slivers of grey hair begin to grow out, stemming from Meredith’s temples. It is hard to see the contrast of grey within blonde, but they are most certainly there.

In the summer, with Kirkwall being a port town alongside the Waking Sea, the humidity often makes her hair frizzy. When Meredith was younger, she attempted to cut her hair short, but found it would get too ‘poufy’ beneath her helmet. She has not properly cut her hair in decades; she has simply trimmed every few months to maintain the proper desired length. 

As for Meredith’s body hair, her eyebrows (and pubic hair) are of a light brown variety and are thus visible against her pale skin. Like other women of a medieval era, the concept of ‘shaving’ body hair is entirely unknown and foreign, and as such, is covered in natural body hair. Hers is not as thick as some, but it is certainly present. 

MISCELLANEOUS 

Meredith has a number of scars, earned throughout her years as a templar. Primarily, they range from blades and arrows to burns from magic in the gaps of her armour or leather. There are too many to count, but none are overly severe and noticeable. 

Meredith also has “Dimples of Venus” on her back (also know colloquially as ‘butt dimples.’)

Meredith walks with a slight turn of the toe outward, but nothing substantial. She has arched soles and is long and narrow footed. She has one knee that is weaker than the other and subject to arthritis (often triggered by changes in the weather) but it does not bother her enough on most days to keep her weight off of it. 

[vivalamusaine]

I've always had this headcanon where Maruis and Cosette are each other's first love, and it's as sickening cute as it is in the book and everyone thinks they'll be together forever. Then they both realize they're bi and not actually in love anymore (two separate discoveries). They break up, stay BFFs and fall in love with other people. (namely Courf and Ep)

Hey, this speaks to me on a veeeery personal level, friend. This post will be long and have feelings and stuff.

June.

Cosette had been thinking about things for months. Unpleasant things, things that made her mood change and her mouth curve downwards in an uncharacteristic mope.

She could deny and try to pretend for as long as she wanted. But when it really came down to the quiet moments like these, she knew in her heart that her relationship with Marius had run its course. They felt much more like friends than lovers, more like roommates than cohabiting partners.

The worst thing about it was that everybody perceived them as perfect. She’d lost count at the amount of times somebody had aww’d in their general direction, described them as goals or told them they were perfect for each other.

But they weren’t, and it hurt- but Cosette was sick of pretending. She was also sick of fantasising about dates with other, pretend people. 

It was an awful call of judgement, to make such a sudden decision to break things off over a petty squabble over dinner. But it wasn’t the little thing that broke her, it was the collection of little things that became a mountain of one big unspoken thing. She was unhappy, and they had stopped bringing out the best in each other a long time ago.

There was crying and frustrated arguments and desperate attempts for each of the other to understand what they were saying, but by 9:00PM that night, they were done.

Marius & Cosette the perfect couple were no more.

Marius and Cosette the individuals were just beginning. 

When Marius came to Courfeyrac’s door, eyes red and slightly swollen, an overnight bag clutched tightly in his arms and a broken look upon his face, Courfeyrac didn’t need to ask him what had happened. Instead, like any good friend, he offered him a place on his couch and a kind ear to ramble to.

“I’m never going to find anybody else as perfect as her.” He said in between sobs. Courfeyrac’s heart broke for him, and he lent a comforting touch to Marius’ shoulder.

“Marius,” Courfeyrac said with his patented ‘everything will be okay’ smile. “You’re perfect, you have nothing to worry about. You’ll find your perfect match.”

As Marius moved onto another insecurity, Courfeyrac’s smile faded only slightly.

He thought sadly how unfortunate it was, that Marius would never know those words were not of empty comfort from a friend who just wanted to make their other friend happy. Instead they were words spoken genuinely, from a man who’d been hiding an unrequited crush for his dear friend.

July.

The last month had been incredibly difficult for Cosette. People always expected the person who initiated the break up to be more okay than the breakee, but for Cosette it was as though she’d lost a large part of herself.

It had taken almost all of her energy and self restraint to not reach out to Marius and break their mutual agreement of no contact. It was hard to adjust to the change. She had invested almost every day for the past 5 years into him, into them. To suddenly not have Marius to talk to was the biggest challenge of them all. Sometimes she just wanted to reach out to him, and tell him about the silly dog she’d seen on the street. Only to pause and remember, she had no right to do that anymore. 

White noise was all that was left, and all she was owed.

It had been a month now, and it wasn’t as hard anymore. There were nights where it would get lonely, but ultimately she didn’t regret her decision, and she found herself quite enjoying her time alone. 

She had finally decided it was time to come out of her homebody cocoon she’d built for herself by taking a trip to the nearest thrift shop for more knitting supplies. She was absentmindedly wasting time rifling through old vinyl records when her attention was caught.

“Eponine?” She said before thinking, and Eponine turned around to face, clearly she had not intended to see anybody she knew here.

“Oh, hey.” she replied, walking over to her.

“I haven’t seen you around in ages.” Cosette said, filling in the awkward silence. “You stopped going to meetings.”

Eponine rubbed the back of her head with a sheepish look. “Yeah, I um. I was busy. It was never on when I could go.”

The truth of the matter was that it was getting far too painful for Eponine to keep coming back and seeing Marius and Cosette so perfectly in love. She admittingly didn’t know why it had bothered her so much- she’d gotten over her crush on Marius a long time ago. But for some reason seeing them both together brought out something incredibly ugly in her. An untameable monster of petty envy and jealousy.

Cosette nodded. “I actually haven’t been lately either.” she admitted. It had been precisely a month since she’d last attended. She shot Eponine a grin. “Poor Musichetta must be sick of being stuck to deal with all those boys alone.”

Eponine laughed at this, a sound Cosette was fond to hear more of. She found herself grinning from ear to ear- the first time another person had made her genuinely smile in a month. 

“So, how’s Marius?” Eponine asked politely, and Cosette felt herself outwardly flinch. This was the conversation she had been dreading to have. A conversation that would possibly follow her for months on end, considering the amount of people they’d woved their lives into over the course of their relationship.

“We’ve actually broken up.” Cosette said looking down at the old unamed vinyl in her hands. The uneasiness in her stomach swelling slightly.

“Oh,” Eponine said sounding genuinely shocked. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Cosette said, forcing herself to look at Eponine’s eyes- her wonderfully gorgeous eyes- and smile despite the overpowering feeling of wanting to flee and hide in her bedroom for another month. “It’s for the better.”

They continued to talk, even after making their small amount of purchases and leaving the thrift shop, when they rounded the corner of the street where they needed to go their separate ways, neither of them seemed enthused to be leaving the others presence.

“You know,” Eponine said, a little uncertainly. “Enjolras still sends me those meeting invites like clockwork. There’s one on tonight if you wanted to go.”

Cosette thought about seeing Marius again, in a room with their mutual friends. She couldn’t do it. Not yet anyway.

Eponine seemed to know the answer before Cosette had a chance to think of an excuse. “Or if you’d prefer, I’ve got a cheap bottle of wine and a boxset of trashy TV at my apartment.”

Cosette smiled at Eponine. “I’d like that a lot.” She replied. 

August.

Marius hated moving. With the exception of the time he moved in with Cosette, every time he had moved his life had been a personal tragedy. He had been crashing on Courfeyrac’s couch for a month now, and regrettably it was time he moved on.

Especially because he felt that he had crossed an unspoken boundary, and cursed his hopeless romantic heart, for making him fall so quickly and so easily in love.

“You’re going?” Courfeyrac asked when he broke the news. “But why?”

“I just... Think it’s time I stop bothering you.”

“You’re not bothering me!” Courfeyrac said letting out a sort of desperate sounding laugh. “I told you that you can stay as long as you want and I meant it.”

“It’s not-” Marius sighed, he didn’t want to explain it to Courfeyrac whilst he was still under his roof. 

“Did I do something?” Courfeyrac asked uncertainly. Marius looked at him sadly. Took in his overgrown and luscious hair, the cute freckles clustered at the end of his nose and the pout that was threatening to form on his face.

“You haven’t done anything.” Marius replied dejectedly. “I just- I think I have feelings for you and I don’t want to make things weird by staying here. I need our friendship too much for that.”

When Marius finally found the courage to look up at his soon to be ex-roommate.

“Wait- so you’re not straight?” Courfeyrac asked.

“I- I don’t think so? I like you, so-”

“You’re not straight and you like me?!” Courfeyrac asked, his voice becoming high pitched.

“Yes?” 

Courfeyrac was laughing in relief as Marius frowned at him. This was a conversation he would rather be having when he’d secured another place to stay and wouldn’t have to be subjected to an awkward night in his company.

“Marius?” Courfeyrac said after a while. “You’re more than welcome to stay here with me, as long as you are comfortable with the fact, that I have feelings for you too.”

“Then why were you laughing?” Marius asked with relief.

“Because Bossuet owes me 20 euros.”

September.

It was a rare day of warmth and sunniness- Courfeyrac’s favourite weather, and a well needed break from the pre-Autumn chill. Marius couldn’t help the smile he found upon his face as the took what was supposed to be a leisurely stroll through the park. Nothing was ever leisurely with Courfeyrac though, he was getting excited at every little thing and taking Marius by the hand and dragging him over to join him in excitement.

Marius couldn’t even pretend to be annoyed by this. This last month had been the happiest he had been in a long time. He had never felt more like himself in Courfeyrac’s company.

“Marius!” A voice called out to him, he turned to see for the first time since their breakup, Cosette, waving to him from a picnic blanket. Eponine was sat comfortably beside her in sunglasses and shorts.

He approached her whilst Courfeyrac busied himself at the ice cream stand, and was surprised and oddly glad to find that it didn’t hurt to see her happy, and from the way she was leaning against Eponine, with somebody else.

“Hi.” He said, and as awkward and uncomfortable as it was, it was also liberating.

“Hi.” She said back. Eponine muttered an excuse about ice cream, and left to join Courfeyrac on the other end of the park.

The small talk that followed was short and to the point. By the time Courfeyrac and Eponine had made their way back over, Marius and Cosette were laughing with each other.

When it was time for Marius and Courfeyrac to depart, Cosette gave Marius a tight hug.

“I’m glad you’re happy.” Marius said to her, and meant it.

“Me too.” Cosette said with a grin. “Friends?”

Marius smiled back at her. “Friends.”