[Alec switches to Russian. He's pretty good, though there's a hint of an American accent. He spent some time, relatively recently, in a world where he was the son of Russian immigrants to the United States before the second World War and still has a passing fondness for that world. Even if things later went and sunk quickly.]

Probably because they're so cold they're making hacking noises from all the phlegm in their throats and it crept into the language.

[He grins. Though at the stasis question Alec does get an honestly thoughtful look on his face.]

Stasis and accelerated growth... because something would have to compensate for the fact that we still look the same age.

[They've lived some very strange lives... because Alec honestly is entertaining the possibilities of that.]