[attr="class","sinbody2"]It was a quiet morning. If Jaron closed his eyes and just listened, he could almost pretend he was back home, in Israel, in that little patch of woods he'd escape to when his mother was being particularly aggressive about him practicing for the next talent show. The birds' songs here were much different than on Earth, but if he let his mind go they were calming all the same.

He'd woken before Sol rose - probably because if he stayed asleep for another second he was going to lose his mind. He didn't think he'd be able to sleep all "night" here ever. Were they kidding? Seventy-two hours of night? Just because it was dark didn't mean anyone was going to be able to sleep that long. No thank you. So here he sat, on the lowest branch of the tree he frequented for both workouts and warm-ups (why this tree specifically? there were so many... But no, only this one would do), strumming absently on the strings of his makeshift guitar. It had fallen out of tune, probably because the vines were losing their vitality and it had been pretty humid over the past day or two, and he was scared to fix them for fear of breaking them.... But, ugh, he had to. Wincing in fear of the inevitable, he twisted one of the nails holding the "strings" tight, and carefully plucked until he got something that resembled an actual instrument. Nothing broke... Yet.

Trying them out, he strummed with more fervor - and they held. Smirking with satisfaction, he started humming along... And then sang. His feet swung to the beat, and he swayed side to side. His voice was soft to begin with, but as the song continued he grew louder. Several birds rustled from their hiding spots among the leaves and flitted away, but he continued on.

It wasn't until he heard the snapping of dried timber and the thud of heavy footfalls that he slapped a hand over the strings to halt their vibrations. His teeth clacked shut, and he watched with surprised eyes as a deer-like something rushed past, none too gracefully. It skidded over fallen leaves, but made its escape before a second, lighter set of steps came closer. Oops. He hadn't meant to wake an entire herd of... whatever they were.

But it wasn't an animal. What came through next, cursing things that would put a sailor to shame, was a girl. Jaron's brows went up in shock, but for the first time in forever he didn't immediately have something witty to shoot at her. He'd probably just scared away her breakfast..... Not to mention her whole colony's. Bigger oops.

Oh shit, she saw him. Looking swiftly side to side, Jaron cracked a half-assed, apologetic smirk. "Uh... hi," he said lamely, tossing a hand up in meek greeting.