Eli looked puzzled, then slightly annoyed. Friendly fire was no joking matter; in fact he'd lost a few friends that way. Still, he resisted the urge to give the poor boy a tongue-lashing for it, since the expression on his seemed to imply that didn't mean any harm. Besides, Eli was quickly distracted by the sight of the wheels that were clearly turning in the young man's head. "A mechanic among other things," Eli replied. "There are a quite a few people on this island with some type of science in their background. Ask 'em. Science is the thread that binds this whole damn place together." Eli had to tread carefully, but if he was ever questioned he could plead that it had really been part of the question. Or, at least, it had been implicated in the question. The really hard part was keeping the bitterness out of his voice as he spoke, and although he did manage that, the repression of anger had other effects - a few of the apple slices on the platter were beginning to hover a little, catching Eli's highly-trained eyes and prompting him to take a deep breath to calm himself down.
"Eh. You don't need too much of it. I was all over Europe before you were born and even then most of 'em spoke some level of English, at least in the populated areas. And use those traveler's phrasebook things. They're useful." Eli took another sip of tea. "Is there anything else you want to know, young man? I've got plenty of knowledge." He leaned back in his chair, his posture open, inviting.