i think another thing people don't really think about Braham is like, i think the fact he is like 18-19 dealing with his mom being violently murdered in front of him that i think almost any Norn would've crashed out at the Jormag news.
"Hey, Braham- you know how Jormag is the ancestral archenemy of your entire race that has inflicted a form of generational trauma onto every single living Norn by breaking your entire race's pride like Bane did to Batman's back? And how you're prophesized to destroy Jormag and we've killed two Elder Dragons? How we have the capability to do this? Well, we've actually decided we're not going to kill Jormag."
like it's not enough Braham is like 18-20 during LWS3 dealing with a traumatic death he also had to kinda process that. i think anyone would crash the fuck out even without their mom's death at that one. if the dialogue wasn't written to be neutral across all races i'm sure a Norn Commander even though accepting it probably would have a LOT of thoughts about it. that alone honestly justified his LWS3 crashout even without Eir's death but WITH it too? the death of his mother and also the Norn's collective trauma and essentially being told "there is absolutely nothing you can do about either. we will lull Jormag to sleep indefinitely and never allow the Norn to claim victory over their archenemy and you will never be able to prove you are worthy of fighting dragons like your mother was." raven's fucking beak.
❛ it’s hard to sit here and be close to you and not kiss you. ❜ and ❜ you left like i was never a reason to stay. ❜ would be perfect for terra & braham! gimme that angst to fluff with my favorites <3
[Oh ouch why you gotta do this to meeeeee ♥ lmao. a little change in scene from what happened in TP, cause I can ;P So Post-POF, Early Season 4 ]
The room is silent, save for the whistling of the desert winds outside the shuttered blinds. Taimi is next door, resting and recovering from her encounter with Joko - the others are spread throughout the top floor of the inn, sharing rooms as needed.
Terra sits at the head of her rented bed, staring straight ahead at the wall opposite. Trying to keep her head high, to seem like she's not about to lose it.
Braham is a beacon of warmth at the end of the bed, one leg propped up, green eyes boring into the same wall that she's focusing so determinedly on.
There's maybe two feet of space between them, and yet it still feels like he's gone, like he's back in the Shiverpeaks and she's falling to Balthazar's flames, alone.
That's not fair.
It's not, but it still hurts.
They've been talking - it hasn't been all silence, since they'd returned to the inn - but they are awkward, trying to explain themselves, to defend themselves.
It's been... difficult. And it will take time. And Terra doesn't blame him, she doesn't, for leaving when he did - for mourning and needing the space, to go after what he believed to be the right path after Eir's passing.
But...
"You left like I was never a reason to stay." she whispers, hating herself even as she says it, eyes closing to stay the tears that threaten to fall.
Braham sucks in a breath, and she feels him shift on the bed - to look at her, probably, but she doesn't dare open her eyes.
"I'm not sorry I left... but I am sorry I didn't tell you where I was going." he pauses, voice breaking a little, "Ter - Spirits, don't cry, I can't-"
"Sorry, sorry, I'm not-" she sniffles a little, wiping away the few tears that have escaped, still refusing to open her eyes, "-I'm not mad, not anymore. I know you had to go, and... I'm just. So happy you're back, but I wish-"
"If there had been any chance that you'd have come with me, I'd have asked you." he cuts her off, gruff but sincere, "But you're the Commander, and you always will be. You have duties. We both do."
Terra laughs - a bitter sound, halfway between a chuckle and a croak - eyes opening to watch him, turned towards her as he is.
He has grown, in their time apart. He is taller, and broader, and so damn handsome it makes her heart hurt. And she will forgive him, always, because he is hers, just as she is his.
"Sometimes I hate it." she admits, quietly, "I wish we could just be ourselves and run away."
Braham stares at her, green eyes aglow in the dark of the room - and she realizes he is closer, suddenly, so close that she could easily touch him, if she wished.
"It's hard, you know." he mutters, gaze shifting away a moment.
"What is?"
"It's hard to sit here and be close to you, and not kiss you." his eyes flick back to her, the green even brighter then before, "It's hard."
Terra licks her lips, swallows. Feels the bloom of warmth in her belly that hasn't existed since he'd left. And makes a decision.
"Then kiss me."
Braham's eyes widen a moment, searching hers - and when all he finds is a mirror of his own desire, he shifts even closer, bending as she leans up.
Terra can't remember many perfect moments in her life, but the moment his lips seal gently over hers is one she never wants to forget.
I’m honestly fascinated by the interactions between Joko and Braham in Be My Guest.
Joko is infatuated with the commander in his creepaticular way, but the specific way he chooses to antagonize Braham suggest both the expecting belittling of him but also some ... jealousy? Perhaps not on Joko’s part, but specifically the way that Joko delivers the line, “Admit it, the norn is never this fun.” is veeery “Choose me over him.”
That Joko would choose to get under Braham’s skin by insinuating that they’re rivals, by using the term “your norn” as if he knows Braham’s secret (with the extra jab of implied ownership), and by that specific word use with “besotted”.
