[He nods without answering aloud, in that way of someone who just swallowed a bite wrong and doesn't need medical attention, but can't spare the breath to say that just yet. A wave of his hand will have to suffice. It is, to his great relief, just a cough. At last he swallows:]

Yeah. Shit. Sorry, I thought I had it under control for a while there. People really can get used to almost anything.

[Almost. He swipes the back of his hand over his eyes, teary from the hacking.]

Bad timing . . . I was interested in what you were saying. It was half familiar, half totally alien. "The Age of the Gods" is standard magical knowledge where I come from, but "machina" isn't anything I've ever heard of.