Carolina spent a long moment- almost awkwardly long- quiet, turning what he said, and how he said it, over in her mind, before ultimately opting to, for the most part, not press the matter, except to properly turn her gaze back his way, as if appraising him momentarily, before, for the first time this conversation, taking a somewhat heavy seat. If he wanted to talk about it, he would, but she got the impression that he didn't. She might flag it for later, though- She had a feeling he would need to talk about it, eventually. Just maybe not right now.
"I'm pretty sure every single Freelancer also has a story. From before they were folded into the project, that is. I think... People tend to be less likely to question what's going on, when they think where they're at is their second chance, or... Better than they deserve, in some cases." There was a, in retrospect eerily familiar, thought, at least early on- that the project had given them everything. Another chance, a chance to matter, to be impactful... And an escape from the consequences of some specific decision. It hadn't been enough to keep them cohesive- not forever- but it had gone a hell of a long way.
Regardless of how heavily Grif carried his own burden, this gave him an out to not have to talk about it, if he didn't want to. Lina just hadn't really considered before that the same manipulation that worked on several of the freelancers might have been employed against the Sim Troopers, and... She kind of wondered how much of that had been the role of the Counselor, specifically- but that was a preponderance for a different time.
