#//oh my god jiwon's so CUTE i can't wait for juli to come in and be mean

[interxstitial]

jiwon takes a mental log of every word, every syllable, every pause (or lack thereof) in five's answer. there are slight variations in the cadence of his voice—not so far off his baseline to be considered statistically significant, but jiwon does deem them clinically significant. little details like that matter on a mission as expensive as theirs. even the little bit of professional distance that five drives between them by delineating their responsibilities is important. five words it much more eloquently, but jiwon has received similar messages from the rest of the crew. aside from basic first aid and standard space travel training, he isn't nearly as equipped for the search and retrieval aspect of the journey than the others. as much effort as he's dedicated to establishing rapport with everyone during these sessions, he'll always be an outsider.

well, to everyone but julien. and speaking of whom—

"i believe my skills are best put to use where they're needed," jiwon answers, short and sweet. when patients try to deflect with questions, the best way to redirect the tactic is to respond with only the essentials. he's studied the human (and non-human) brain long enough to know how it works when overwhelmed by stress. five may not acknowledge it, but floating through a perpetually expanding abyss for six months takes a toll on even the strongest minds. short and sweet is what's right, but jiwon wants to do what's good.

"my brother and i are very close. we take care of each other." with a fond smile, jiwon glances down at the empty journal in his hands, then looks back up at five. "it seems like you and i have very similar duties. i make sure everyone's minds stay on track; you ensure the luminous zenith holds steady on its course. we're both pilots, in a way, don't you think?"

His mind was his mind, often times it was a restless, perfection-driven place, with maddening thoughts of everything that could go wrong and everything that would go right because he was here. it isn't a place to be probed or questioned and months of these required sessions still haven't made it easy on him but Jiwon is competent and that keeps Five a little saner, at least, that's what he tells himself.

" there is always room for error, every time you do a calculation, there are variants that pop sometimes foreseen and sometimes out of the blue... it's a flaw in venturing into portions of the universe never explored. " Space was something he could talk but relativity, physics, the OUTCOME of time, made his skin bounce, made his heart race and that was where Five bloomed - finding control in the uncontrollable. his eyes flicker to Jiwon, catching that comfortable smile and he can't help but wonder what sort of confidence drives it. here you are, on a ship in the middle of nothing, making sure no one goes insane and he makes it look easy. " you're here to make sure our minds don't get off track, I'm here to make sure our objective stays on the fastest trajectory, which means i have to constantly be seeking different paths for the incase, calculating distance against fuel... " He looks back down to his journal, filled with scribbles. He'll run out of space soon but in the meantime he uses each corner. " I'll be the last one to go insane you know, part of my training was isolation for months, to learn how to cope and remain sane in total darkness and barely any rations... i've been preparing for this mission since i was six years old. " there was nothing else for Five till he returned accomplished, that's why there was no room for failure.

" why'd you agree to come along? is it because of your brother?"