[Phil had already begun to tense up when he spotted the other guest making their way towards him, undoubtedly with the desire to make conversation with a wizard. Unfortunately, this wizard is tired and burned out on smalltalk and looks not unlike a deer in the headlights until Ithaqua's very timely interruption, which is apparently enough to send the guest turning on his heel to go find someone else who isn't occupied.]

Huh? Oh... thank you very much.

[Both for the pudding, and for saving him from the awkwardness of more conversation that he still feels ill-equipped to truly navigate, as this isn't his own world where he knows the ins and outs of politics and the world situation in general.

He takes a spoon and scoops himself a small bite of the pudding, heaving a quiet sigh of relief.]

I suppose it was too much to hope for that I wouldn't be obligated to do this sort of thing here...