Is suffering truly suffering without happiness to compare it to? How do you define pain, without knowing what the absence of pain is? If everything that surrounds you is misery, fear, horror, isolation - it starts becoming normal. It's just...what's that turn of phrase used, "being lost in the fog."

[and she speaks from experience, a knowledge they both have about her. a sheer routine of death and fear and anguish, pains she can call to by name. she could speak of the practicalities of it being better for the fuel, but that's not what she means. to be able to have something to laugh at, even when this lies before them...]

There will be pain. But there will be joy. Everyone needs both, to lead a full life. You included, Captain.

[he needs the sweet with the bitter, fresh air instead of pacing the same room. it's good for anyone, to have that interjection in their existence.]

...Even if there are darker, colder times ahead, the sun still shines, to warm us during and after. It always does.