When she asked him what he had "been doing", he couldn't help but chuckle slightly. 
"Forgive the laugh. The question isn't crazy, it's just that my work has been very...well, boring, for lack of a better term. I've been working in data management on the top floor. You could practically feel the silence smothering people's dreams up there." A morbid metaphor, but one that felt apt given the circumstances he had been exposed to the past six months. 
"And I think that my 'activities' over the last six months should be in your report already, right? I mean, not to say that my field record would be accessible, seeing as the last time...well, I can talk to you about that as the situation calls for, I suppose." He didn't know this woman nor was he interested in sharing the experiences he endured with a stranger. Igusuki had purposefully bottled those experiences for his own private consumption rather than share it with anyone else. Why bother? They couldn't understand. 

It didn't take long for them to arrive at the training area, the sterilized stench of bleach intermingled with sweat wafting through his nostrils. Still hadn't improved the scent. One would think that living in a massive technological empire would at least enable one to eliminate unpleasant odors or-

Right, she was talking. 
"Exquisite?" He laughed, shaking his head before responding: 
"I doubt that adjective highly and whoever affixed that label obviously hasn't seen me in actual combat. You can do really well against simulators, but the real thing tends to make one's fighting skills look rather poor." He turned his head to face her, catching a glimpse of her eyes moving quickly over his shoulders and arms as she informed him of protocols being sent to his HUD. Was she...was she checking him out? No, no, probably just regular eye movement. Right? Cause that would be weird. Flattering too. 
"Give me a minute here..." He flitted through the protocols, noting the highlights aloud: 
"So Vance wants a report every twenty four hours now....the STS will deny any accountability for our actions if we somehow screw up the time-space continuum(that's nice)...no travel back to the Jurassic period?" He looked over to Adaline with a quizzical expression. 
"Who's going back to the Jurassic period? Can't exactly transport a triceratops to present day." With a slight chuckle, he wrapped up the info packets before telling his new partner:
"Look, I know I'm going to be rusty, but I want to get this over with." He quickly added:
"No offense to you, Adaline, it's just...I didn't want to do this. I was content with leaving the field and to be thrust back in like this is a bit disorienting. Nice to know I'll at least have someone who's way more experienced than I coming with me." There, a little flattery should help ease any tension that might have emerged from his perceived icy behavior(at least he felt like he had been a bit icy). 
"Wouldn't mind a review of firearm mechanics. I assume you've got a lot of experience firing guns." He offered her a teasing glance as he walked towards the firing range. 
"And I want to see your skills in action. Vance wouldn't just send anyone to accompany a lout like me. Target practice, maybe? First to twenty headshots buys the other coffee?"