Blake sighed and adjusted the collar on his black space suit, before he made his way into the cafeteria. He was surprised to find that nobody was there, as he walked in, but he was glad that he wouldn't have to deal with people. Blake had never exactly been a people person, per say. Some of the crew mates had tried to unleash a kinder, friendlier side to him but it hadn't worked out very well so far. He just tended to be far too independent and pushed people away, which caused many people to avoid him entirely.
Well, most people apart from Ryder, who he did get on with fairly well. Either way, Blake wouldn't consider Ryder a friend. He was rather an acquaintance. In Blake's mind, the only reason why they had become acquaintances was because they had to complete this space journey together.
Of course, it wasn't all that bad. Blake actually enjoyed the space mission for the most part. He had always been passionate about his work. Back on Earth, Blake had always been a physicist with a particular interest in space, so when the opportunity to actually go to the red planet came up, he practically jumped at the opportunity. Blake wouldn't have actually jumped, though. He was far too serious for that.
As much as Blake enjoyed his work, though, he had always thought that something was missing. He supposed deep down he knew what that something was but he wouldn't admit it for the world. The only trouble with his line of work was that he had become fairly lonely and even though he was now miles away from Earth, something he had always thought would distract him from his loneliness, he found that this feeling only got worse. Nevertheless, Blake had decided a long time ago that he couldn't help the fact that he didn't have many friends. He couldn't help the fact that his presence seemed to intimidate people or that his stare was so intense.
That was simply the way that things were.
While Blake brooded over all of this over breakfast, he was soon joined by Ryder.
"Hey," Ryder said.
There was no reply.
Ryder wasn't sure if Blake simply hadn't heard him or whether he was in one of his deep, 'don't talk to me' states again. He decided to go with the former and spoke again.
"Hey, Blake, are you alright?" he asked.
At this question, Blake finally looked up from the plate in front of him and gazed towards Ryder.
"Yeah. Of course, I'm alright. Why wouldn't I be?" he asked nonchalantly.
Ryder gave a shrug of his shoulders in response to that particular question. It would be difficult to know whether Blake was alright or not because he had a tendency to keep his emotions quietly to himself. It wasn't a flaw. It was, again, just the way that things were.
"Just checking. How's breakfast?" Ryder asked.
This was one of the key differences between Ryder and Blake. While Ryder had always occupied an extroverted nature and was happy to talk to most people, Blake tended to be quiet. If there was one thing he disliked, then it was small talk.
Nevertheless, for Ryder, he was willing to make an exception.
"It's good, thank you," he replied simply.
In truth, he hadn't eaten any of the food in front of him, nor did he really plan on it. Blake either wanted to eat everything in sight or nothing at all. He had been that way ever since he was a little kid.
"Well, that's good to hear! I'm sure that we'll be arriving on Mars soon enough so you probably want to get your strength up and..." Ryder trailed off. He wasn't sure if he was saying too much or not but he was filled with subtle relief when he caught a small smile upon Blake's otherwise stony expression. "I'll go and look for the essence when we get there, you know, so the other's can refuel the ship and whatever else it is that we need to do."
"Check the oxygen tanks," Blake said.
"Yeah! Exactly. Like checking the oxygen tanks," Ryder said.
"Well, you know, it tends to be helpful if you can actually breathe," Blake said with a wry smile.
Ryder's eyes widened slightly then. He hadn't expected Blake to find humour in much but he was pleasantly surprised.
"How's your morning been going?" Ryder asked him.
"Are you actually asking me that?" Blake asked.
Ryder smiled at that.
"Well, I thought it was a pretty good question," he said.
"It's been the same as ever single other one," Blake said calmly, "Not much to tell."
Although being in space had seemed like an incredibly awesome concept at first, it had gotten sort of repetitive at some point along the lines. However, that was all about to change. Once they got to Mars, they would have to find the essence. That was going to occupy their time.
"What did you used to do? You know, before we got on this space craft and..." Ryder trailed off.
"Studied physics, read-" Blake began to say.
Ryder soon interjected, "Was brooding on that list?" he asked, with a playful tone.
Blake rolled his eyes.
"I don't brood," he said.
"I'd disagree with that," Ryder replied, "I've seen you brood multiple times in the past."
Blake gave a small shake of his head then, before he replied to that.
"I'd say you have far too much time on your hands, if you notice me doing things like that," he said.
"What? Like brooding?" Ryder teased again.
As he stood up from the table, Blake brushed past Ryder slightly.
"Shut it, Ryder," he said.
Ryder put his hands up in front of him then.
"Hey, I didn't mean it in a bad way. It can be good to be thoughtful. It's just less good to shut people out because you spend so much time over-thinking everything. Consider that for a moment," Ryder said, before he made his way out of the cafeteria and left Blake wondering what he was going to do with that statement.