[ this is the second hint of amusement she gets, and it somehow feels like a victory? usually she's on guard when people laugh at her - but he's not really laughing at her in that sense. ]

[ and in annabeth's defense, sometimes trouble finds her first. ] You know what they say about assumptions.

[ she hums. ] They seem very pro-Singularity here. Does that mean the other places feel differently?

[ two years. she can't imagine being here that long. does time pass back home? will she age and go back, if she even does, as an adult? she wants to ask, but she already knows alyx won't have the answers. she frowns more deeply anyway. ]

So it's... the long haul, in some capacity. Thanks for being the bearer of bad news. [ she does try to say it more sympathetically than sarcastically. ]