Wesker could remember the very first time he'd seen a human corpse. For a child, life and death was fascinating, from an innocent perspective. Albert had been different. He had always wanted to understand the biology of living things, how something may have died, and how something may overcome a deadly plague. But seeing some helpless animal hit by a car was very different to the sight of a human body. After a while, though... they all blended into one. A body was a body. One was simply breathing while the other was not.
No doubt Grace had seen death before, but hostage situations were a different sort of heaviness that people felt. Guilt. She blamed herself that there was something she didn't do that could have prevented the hostage from dying. Chris did the same. He could have shot earlier.
Wesker had been firm in his orders. Take the shot only if the hostage was not at risk. Chris was a damn good shot, but some situations merely prevented a positive outcome. This had been one. An unstable man in an unstable situation. There had been no controlled environment, just chaos, and finding the right shot in chaos was impossible, even for the best.
His lips were pressed together as he watched and listened to Grace. These things happened, and Wesker had half a mind to tell any of his team to suck it up, but he also understood that saying that came off as harsh and not very Captain-like. People expected him to be firm, yes, but also supportive.
"Does it ever get easier?" he asked, leaning back against the bench and putting his hands into his lap. He was not the person to ask that question. It had been easy for him for a long, long time.
"You are only human, Grace, and each person you work with is a different experience. A different perpetrator, a different civilian, and a different outcome," he informed. "Not every mission is a success, even if we strive for perfection." There were simply too many variables. "We handled the situation to the best of our abilities, and that is what matters."
He looked back down at her. "You will think on this moment for months to come. It is normal. You will strive to be better, to perfect past mishaps. The R.P.D offer counselling for these sorts of things for a reason, because they are expected. I do not expect you to feel nothing over this. In fact, if you didn't, then perhaps that would be the true concern."
Wesker didn't cry, it just wasn't something he did, so he couldn't offer her a handkerchief because he didn't carry one.
