Oh, maybe that was a mistake.

Antoine had meant to entertain Ms. Weber with his little speech, and indeed it seemed he had succeeded. Her laughter was a set of chiming bells tolling the hour of merriment, and he was quite glad indeed to set them ringing. It certainly seemed she was over her initial embarrassment and nervousness, which was only a good thing. And he was rather enjoying their conversation so far as well.

Someone who tumbled back into your room without warning tended to leave an impression... And Ms. Weber was the kind of lady to leave an impression even without the help.

[i]But[/i]. Leading the conversation towards his current position aboard the [i]Copernicus[/i] was not something he had wanted to do. Maybe it was a bad thing to try and avoid topics you knew might cause problems. Maybe it was only making things worse to try and hide something like that from a woman who had gone through the things she had. But... well... his concern really wasn't based on right and wrong. What he should do, what he shouldn't do, what would make things better or make things worse. Knowing the answers to those didn't change the reluctance, the pause that kept him from grinning as wide as he should.

And it seemed she had caught on -or maybe noticed from before- her gaze growing harder and locking onto him with no hope of letting go. He next request worked to force a nervous chuckle from Antoine's lips, something he forced down with all the will he could muster.

A hand did raise itself, nevertheless, running a pair of fingers up to rub behind his ear. The motion was... soothing, actually, helping the trapped cryo-tech regain the composure he needed to respond. He continued the motion, holding on to the sensation as he spoke.

"Well I can knock down two birds with one stone, there." His smile didn't fade, it would take far more to do [i]that[/i]. He wasn't guilty of anything, himself, nothing major, nothing connected to her. It was only the concern of how his profession was connected to her pain. "My knack at languages is one reason I was offered to serve as a medical technician in charge of managing the cryo-beds..."

He rubbed those fingers behind his ear again, eyes remaining fixed on hers, as he waited to see how she would react to his words.

"...And that's where I heard your name. The techs of the second shift were tight-lipped, but enough slipped out to spread rumors of what had happened... and to whom."