Just looking at Alex, you wouldn't be able to tell. You would not detect a change. Neil, however, has sacrificed all else--feeling, physiological reactions, and the ebb and flow of time--to absorb what is in his sights, and he catches sight of that fire. That heat caused by the intensity of anger.

Even as he cannot fully understand the why.

But that's not so important. Not right now, at least. Neil thinks back, contemplating on when Alex would have made the assessment. It doesn't take long to figure out.

"Is that why you stopped?" Then shifted in favor of something anomalous to nature? This time, Neil smiles quietly, remembering. Recalling the splintered pain he had dismissed as being appropriate for his situation at the time.