Peace and Love, On Planet Earth

[Dawn De La Vega]

Dawn, per usual, had been wandering around camp in search of a good thing to busy herself with. Her siblings may have been busy, but that didn't stop her from having a bit of fun! She had always been fascinated with the Iris cabin. Was it adorned in rainbows? Did all the campers dress colorfully? She had hoped to take a snooping peek through the cabin, see if there was anything good to get her hands on. Surely, they'd have something valuable in there! Well, to her, valuable landed under "brightly colored objects," or "rainbow pastels," so it wasn't too hard to actually fall under her tastes here.

Slowly, the Demeter child opened the window on the backside of the cabin, sliding in and landing in an "oomph!" on the floor. She army crawled and scooted behind an armchair, peeking around to see if anyone was there. Little did she know, someone was, but she didn't even notice, as she carefully looked around the place, giggling to herself. 

"Oh, this is gonna be so much fun!!" @ Petal Price

[Petal Price]

The weather, like nearly every day before it, was lovely outside which is why nearly every camper in the Iris cabin was outside…everyone except Petal. Normally she would have joined her fellow siblings as she didn’t like staying indoors, but today was different. For just outside her window was a nest of baby bird eggs who she knew were moments away from hatching! So she had set up her easel, canvas and paints, ready to capture the moment in a painting. Only, the eggs hadn’t hatched yet! She was sure it would be today too! Disappointed she had settled on painting just the window frame, tree and nest because she had already bothered to set all this up. If only there could have been some movement or some action to paint…but just then the window opened from the outside!

Well this was unexpected, Petal thought to herself, staying quiet to observe what was happening. Sure enough, a girl who looked around her age leapt through…but she didn’t seem to notice Petal. This made her want to laugh so she clasped a hand up to her mouth to calm herself. It was all she could do not to laugh as she watched her army crawl on the floor. Taking the chance she selected some paint and began to quietly run it over the canvas in quick sure strokes. This girl had a lovely shade of brown hair and Petal wanted to capture it perfectly. When the girl spoke Petal answered her, “Oh I agree, it’s been fun so far! Ooooo hold that pose just a second would you?” she stated matter-of-factly as she continued painting, grinning to herself as she knew this girl probably assumed she was alone in the cabin.

[Dawn De La Vega]

"OH GODS!" she called out in surprise, scrambling back, in surprise. Her chest heaved as she took deep breaths, obviously startled. Her pulse rate shot up, and she finally exhaled out of relief noticing that the person wasn't too angry. "Hah, you caught me, alright alright. Welllll, do you promise not to tell anyone I was here if I model for your painting..?" she trailed off as she got back into position, completely still. "...and take a couple of, hehe, let's call them samples, from here?" she winked at the girl. She was cute, but Dawn meant it as a more sign of friendliness. "Your cabin is so nice and colorful, and I reaaaally need fashion inspiration?" she put on the puppy eyes act.

"If not, I can just- pretend I was never here? And leave a nice little flower for you. You look like you like daisies. What's your name?"

[Petal Price]

Any attempts at holding back laughter failed as Petal witnessed the girl’s startled reaction. “Sorry…sorry…” she tried to get out an apology in between laughs. Maybe the boredom of this day would start to turn around? This girl certainly seemed anything but boring and Petal was all about making new friends, the more unusual the better. “Hmmmm you drive a hard bargain but I think we can find an acceptable compromise. Pose for me just a tad longer so I can finish and I’ll let you keep the painting, deal? Oh! And throw in the flower too, I like flowers of all sizes and colors. I’m Petal by the way, Petal Price! Yes, just like a flower petal. My dad says I was originally named Primrose as we had those planned all over our house. But as a toddler I always got into trouble picking off the petals in the gardens. I got the nickname Petal and it’s stuck ever since.”

As she finished explaining she turned the completed canvas around, sure enough there was Dawn in paint form, sneaking like a ninja through the room. “You’re quite pretty” she smiled admiring her work. “By the way, why did you try to sneak in? I would have opened the front door for you and given you the personal tour. It is a lovely colorful cabin. What sort of inspiration are you looking for?” Petal was a curious girl and she wanted to know all about her new found friend.

[Dawn De La Vega]

Dawn kept still so she could pose for the girl. She liked her already; she was cute, understanding of her- kind of. Of course, intrusion wasn't a good thing, but she was glad that she didn't kick her out yet. "Really? I can keep it! Yay!" she said excitedly, as she tried to clap her hands in that pose on the floor. A lovely surprise, for her at least. "Oh? Petal's your name? Ah, that's so pretty! It fits you so well, honestly. I'm Dawn, you know, like the morning phenomenon." as she saw Petal turn the painting around, she got up to look at it and excitedly clapped her hands. "Ooh, that's beautiful! I love it!! I can really keep this, really? Thank you!"

As she looked around, her eyes refocused on the girl and smiled impishly. "Well, I've always liked colorful things," she gestured to her outfit, doing a little fashionable twirl, "and I design most of my clothes, or restyle them. Soooo, I decided to take a peek into the most colorful cabin in camp! Surprise! Well, I should've used the front door...but I'm here now!"

[Petal Price]

“Dawn huh? A pretty name for a pretty face. Well I’m glad you like the painting, it memorializes the beginning of our friendship quite well. First impressions are very important, you know. So from now on you can always look at this painting and be reminded of the time you snuck into the Iris cabin and found your new best friend” she giggled while holding out her hand to the other girl “I’ll take that flower now as payment if you please? A daisy I think you said?”

As Dawn began her explanation Petal admired her outfit. “It IS quite colorful. Wow you design your own clothes? That’s amazing! You must put on a fashion show for the cabin sometime, oh how we love colorful displays and I’m sure we would all chip in and pay you with odd trinkets and such.” Petal laughed again at the silliness her new friend displayed. “Well you must promise next time to knock, our home is always open to you. Just try not to borrow too much from us, ok?” she winked. Taking the girl’s hand she began to lead her out into the main room, “So where would you like our tour to begin?” she asked.

[Dawn De La Vega]

She gave a happy gasp. "A new best friend you say, hm? Well! I'm looking forward to that." Dawn gave a sly grin as she dug in her pockets. She always had some form of flora on her, and it took her a bit to find the little white petaled specimen. "Here you go! One payment of a daisy; don't worry, it's fresh. I hope you're not allergic or anything, nonetheless..." she tapped her chin, making a 'hm' noise. She had a twinkle in her eye, excited at the fact that she was welcome here now. It gave her some relief to know that there would be a cabin willing to accept her eccentricities.

But at the prospect of a fashion show, and at the comment on her outfit, she smiled. "I go thrifting out of camp a bunch for some of my materials, as well as some things I can't exactly make here, so yep! Pretty much all hand crafted. I'd love to whip you up an outfit sometime; you've got great taste in that, mhm!" she hummed happily as she looked around. "How about your room, for starters? You seem like you're a fan of color. I'd love to draw some inspiration from you, if that's alright!" 

[Petal Price]

Grinning, she took her payment from Dawn, admiring the beauty of the daisy as her hand shuffled through one of the many many pockets that lined her painting smock until she pulled out a hair clip, quickly fastening the flower to her hair. “How do I look?” she asked, not waiting for an answer she walked up a mirror and admired it, grinning ear to ear. “Yes, no sneezing, bumps, itchy eyes or rashes. I don’t appear to be allergic. That would have made for an embarrassing first meeting wouldn’t it have?”

Petal’s face then lit up with delight at the thought of getting her own handcrafted outfit. Growing up her summers were filled with meeting all sorts of eccentric people, many of whom often gave her some sort of handmade items be it jewelry, clothes or artwork. She had always preferred things that were made by hand as opposed to those manufactured; it showed off the personality and spirit of the person who made it she believed. “My room it is then!” she shouted to no one in particular as she began to lead Dawn there. As they passed other camper’s rooms she rattled off random facts about them “Jessica always has bad breath in the mornings” or “Oh that’s Thomas’s room he was just caught last night sneaking out to meet their girlfriend in the woods” until they finally reached hers.

Petal’s room was arranged like any other camper’s was, a bed, desk, and dresser. However, the entire room looked like a rainbow had vomited everywhere. Her paintings lined up every inch of free space, colorful dream catchers adorned the windows and many of those hand made items she’d collected as a child were placed all around. How she ever found anything in that room only Petal knew for there was just enough control amidst the chaos that someone could still walk around without stepping on something.