Gold's eye contact dropped. It was a familiar tic, when he was being polite. To hide a smile or anything more. Humble, in his own way.

He'd never really known how to take a genuine compliment head-on, even if at least part of him agreed wholeheartedly.

Because otherwise you look overproud.

Or you start to see things that aren't there.

"...When it works, the mystical part is not so different, either. Not really."

He had become so accustomed over the years to channeling it this way. You start with the method that comes most naturally then branch out to other forms afterward.