Oh she thinks Tayrey subconsciously means something by it, by virtue of how unwilling she was to use the title at all. Or more specifically, his name. Given he never received one at birth before he was stolen away. But Ava had been the one to name him, through a dare, and this simply isn't the audience to share that with.

And she isn't going to interrupt Tayrey either, listening carefully as she outlines the values most important to her. They sound reasonable, even as an Earther. But from her own experience she knows it's the type of idealistic thing that leaders would say in front of public audiences and press conferences so everyone could feel good, and not actually support behind closed doors. Because Ava was part of the things that nobody liked to talk about or admit to. It had made Tayrey seem overly naive, at first. To cling to such ideals that were so obviously broken in her own world full of government overreach and a worldwide arms race in the form of transforming people into weapons. Felt like Tayrey just never had to deal with the reality of how things actually worked.

But now she's willing to believe Tayrey just comes from a better society that's actually capable of carrying through. Where things maybe do actually work that way.

Ava laughs, small and sad. "You'd have hated my work." Then a pause. "Were these values you held strongly before, or adopted because you joined the Tradelines?"