It is mostly sheer stubbornness, however the stubbornness was born from a long life of being trained and expected to stamp everything down. So of course he has no real mechanisms for knowing how to deal with these situations. That would be showing weakness, and weakness wasn't tolerated. Especially not by Seifer.
The tale she proceeded to tell was indeed eye-opening, one Seifer was beginning to understand and feel more a kinship with Vanille over their crimes against their friends. And their world. He still felt that hers were solidly under the influence of the fal'Cie, though her choice to keep her silence was entirely her own. So... complicated, and he got it. It was always easier to forgive someone that wasn't yourself.
"So... why did a defender still turn into a crystal? I don't understand what the fal'Cie accomplish by doing this." Can they not defend themselves, per the rules of their existence? Why a child? It all seemed so insane to him. With her so clearly on the verge of tears he reached out to lay a comforting hand on her shoulder. He's not very good at the comfort thing but he's trying.
When she finished, casting on him such a look of determination he sighed in resignation, eyes moving up to the ceiling of the shrine. "I suppose... I should start with who that woman I was protecting was, and what." He's explained Sorceresses in a very detached manner before. Never his own involvement.
"Her name was Edea. Once she ran an orphanage alongside her husband, taking in the children orphaned by my world's constant wars and monsters. She was also a Sorceress. Something feared and reviled by most in my world, as they're the only humans you could really consider naturally capable of magic. If you can call it that."
It's a start, he has to think very hard about how best to approach the topic. How to frame it so it wasn't all just a jumble of nonsense.
"She raised us. All of us. I don't remember much from back then, Nida and Rinoa have filled in a few gaps. We were young, and using GF eats your memories." He offers a faint shrug.
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The tale she proceeded to tell was indeed eye-opening, one Seifer was beginning to understand and feel more a kinship with Vanille over their crimes against their friends. And their world. He still felt that hers were solidly under the influence of the fal'Cie, though her choice to keep her silence was entirely her own. So... complicated, and he got it. It was always easier to forgive someone that wasn't yourself.
"So... why did a defender still turn into a crystal? I don't understand what the fal'Cie accomplish by doing this." Can they not defend themselves, per the rules of their existence? Why a child? It all seemed so insane to him. With her so clearly on the verge of tears he reached out to lay a comforting hand on her shoulder. He's not very good at the comfort thing but he's trying.
When she finished, casting on him such a look of determination he sighed in resignation, eyes moving up to the ceiling of the shrine. "I suppose... I should start with who that woman I was protecting was, and what." He's explained Sorceresses in a very detached manner before. Never his own involvement.
"Her name was Edea. Once she ran an orphanage alongside her husband, taking in the children orphaned by my world's constant wars and monsters. She was also a Sorceress. Something feared and reviled by most in my world, as they're the only humans you could really consider naturally capable of magic. If you can call it that."
It's a start, he has to think very hard about how best to approach the topic. How to frame it so it wasn't all just a jumble of nonsense.
"She raised us. All of us. I don't remember much from back then, Nida and Rinoa have filled in a few gaps. We were young, and using GF eats your memories." He offers a faint shrug.