The Colours of Merida.

old faces and new beginnings

It wasn't long until the last of the trio arrived. Ashley was breathing hard as she entered the studio and when she reached their collection of tables she dropped her stuff down and doubled over, bracing her hands on her knees as she heaved for breath.

"Morning," she wheezed through a cough.

Merida smiled at her as she caught her breath, thankful she needn't have to talk yet.

"How have you -- shit, I hate stairs." She said, rightening. She took another couple of deep breaths before she slid into one of the desks. "How have you been?"

Merida shrugged. Over the years, she had grown to hate this question as she never knew what, exactly, the person asking her wanted to know. It was the same now as Ashley looked on expectantly. Was she asking how she was feeling right now this very moment, or did she expect a chart of her emotions over the past several months? Some times she wondered if the question really meant, 'how has your life been recently?' but that was equally just as confusing -- life just happened, it wasn't a thing that could be defined in chapters or sections to transcribe to people.

Recently, she had adopted to give back answers just as vague, if not more so, as somehow, bizarrely, this seemed to work best.

"I'm breathing," she forced herself to say. Talking felt like a great effort at the moment, and she decided she would rather stay silent for a while, enjoying the company.

"Well, yeah, thats always good." Ashley chuckled, seeming to accept the response.

"Helloo!" Ebony sang, spinning around in her chair.

"Hello." Ashley greeted. "How are you my dear?" she asked.

"I'm okay," she sighed dramatically, but then a cheeky grin broke out across her face and she quickly added, "I got the gig!"

"Wow! Congratulation." Ashley said nodding, and clapped her hand a few times.

Merida smiled, she couldn't help but proud of her friend, even if she was slightly annoyed with her.

"It's on Wednesday, but you work Wednesday's, right?" Ebody said, pouting.

"Dam, yeah." Ashley muttered, then glanced at Merida, grinning. "Record it for me?"

Merida nodded, still smiling, but it dropped as Ebony continued talking.

"No, Ri can't record it!" Ebony whined. "She's got a date."

"Woah, woah, woah." Ashley said holding up her hands, her eyes wide. "A date? Merida? With who?"

Merida rolled her eyes, and decided to look flatly at Ebony instead for her to explain.

"Percy set it up with one of his football friends." She said winking at them.

"Ooh, is he cute?" Ashely asked, wriggling her eyebrows.

"Very."

Merida wondered why she wasn't allowed not to care -- why was it expected of her to go on this date? She understood that it was normal for young adults at their age to be on what was called 'The Dating Scene' but Merida had never really been bothered about it. She struggled to react the same way that her friends would, and it wasn't something she could easily mimic, either.

"Aw man," Ashley shook her head, grinning. "Now im even more annoyed I cant go!"

"I can get Percy to record it." Ebony said cheerily.

But Ashley smirked, wriggling her eyebrows. "What? The singing or the date?"

Merida could feel her skin heating up and buried her head under her arms, groaning as her friends laughed. She wasn't so sure if they were laughing at her, or with her, and so hiding seemed like the best option.