The morning was not the most pleasant of ones. The fact that Alexander had been woken at such an early hour on one of his few easy days was just the start. The funeral for the boy, Icarus, was simply a slap in the face. If he had been given a choice, he would not have come. It only seemed to emphasize what he felt was a failure on his part to keep the boy from harm's way. Just another way for the Enclave to piss on his morale, whether it was on purpose or not.

Afterwards, he headed directly to the cafeteria. Unfortunately, the room had multiple entrances, and Alexander had not taken the main door, and so intruded upon Leinhart's feast. The two stared at each other for a moment, Alexander's steel gaze and stony face broken into one of bewilderment, before his composure returned and he turned away to get some food to go. The pair said no words to each other as Alexander filled up a tray from what little Leinhart hadn't taken, and left to go visit Dimitri.

The professor was cooped up in his lab, as usual, sparks flying and machinery whirring about. With a loud knock on the open door, Alexander entered, not waiting for an invitation. When you went as far as back as he and Dimitri went, things like privacy meant nothing between them. He could hear the scientist utter something foul before he turned around, though there was no greeting as the cyborg ran over to shut the door. Then he hurried to a different table, and began to mess around over there.

Dimitri had been liquefying a pack of mentats for about an hour now, and it was finally complete. About half of the solution was drained into a plastic tube, which Dimitri then attached a needle to. In one swift motion, the needle was shoved into a vein in the man's neck, and the mentats injected right Ito his bloodstream, heading up towards his brain. The needle was removed and disposed of, and the scientist let out a little grunt as he turned back to face Alexander, who had been quietly munching on a burrito while Dimitri did his thing.

"What brings you here so early?" Dimitri asked, the deep metallic voice sounding skeptical.

"Never took you for the addict type," Alexander responded, ignoring the question.

"I'm not, mentats help me think," he explained, allowing a tinge of annoyance to enter his voice. "if you're here about the arm, it won't be ready until after your next mission, at best. Been up all night on the damn thing, and since I can't detain you to work from the inside out on your arm like I did mine, it will have to be done from scratch, which is a pain."

"Can't a guy just stop by to say hello to an old friend?" Alexander asked innocently, grinning as he brushed some meat from his beard.

"Not when that man is you."

The pair sat and talked for some time, vaguely referencing the past. Neither trusted the Enclave enough to speak freely, especially in the middle of the base. Listening devices could be everywhere, and Dimitri knew there were at least three in his lab alone. However, after a while, it was decided that Alexander should leave so that Dimitri could get back to work.

Setting the tray down by Dimitri's door, figuring someone would pick it up, Alexander headed for the one place he felt he could relax: The training field. He slipped on a large coat and grabbed a knife from the armory, along with a spare plasma defender, and headed out.

The targets proved to easy for him, even at a good range. Even if he was off center, he always managed to hit near enough that he knew it would likely be what he was aiming for in a real situation. His attention turned to the other soldiers on the field. Tossing up his knife and catching it by the blade, he continuously issued challenges to them to spar. Though, they either chickened out or spouted something about not feeling comfortable using real weapons in a pretend fight.

"I'll fight you." Alexander turned to face Aria, the pilot holding her sword in one hand. The man grinned, and jerked his head to the side, leading her a bit away from the other soldiers. They positioned themselves a few yards away from each other. Aria gave him a formal bow, which he then returned, and they readied themselves, Alexander gripping the knife, keeping the blade down by his pinky, while Wraith held her sword before her, both hands on the grip.

Without a word, the two charged each other, the crunching snow the only sound they made. As they neared, Aria swung her sword in a downward arc, while Alexander fell to his knees and ducked forward, the knife slashing at her side as momentum and ice carried him forward past her. They ended up about a yard at from each other, their places switch. The shoulder of Alexander's jacket had been sliced open. The side of Aria's coat had a jagged cut in the side.

He stood and faced her, but she was already upon him. He brought he knife up just in time to block a slash coming from above. If she had been on par with his own strength, she'd had killed him right there. But, as weak as she was, it merely jarred his arm a little. With a mighty heave, he pushed her blade off and sliced at her, the nimble woman leaping back to keep away. But Alexander ran after her, slicing at her stomach as he ran. This time, it was her turn to block, the sword coming up to keep the blade from even coming near her.

The two raised their fists, and slammed them into each other. Alexander's thick fist connected with her shoulder, sending her sprawling to the ground, while her bony knuckles crashed into his forehead, sending the large man reeling back a couple of steps. By the time she was getting up, Alexander was upon her, standing high above with his knife, ready to dive down. But, as he did, her sword was already held up. The point gently poked against Alexander's chest as he halted himself.

The two remained still for a moment, before Alexander straightened up and let out a loud laugh that resounded through the still Canadian air. Aria let out her own little chuckle, standing and sheathing her blade. "Got just a bit too cocky there!" Alexander exclaimed, turning to head back to the main building, Aria next to him. "Should've just stepped on ya!"

The little woman let out an awkward chuckle. "Well, I'm glad you didn't. Probably would've broken my everything," she responded, then the two parted at the entrance of the building, Aria heading off to the barracks while Alexander simply wandered thre halls, becoming lost in his thoughts as his face went back to one of stone cold indifference. And it wasn't even time for lunch yet.