Originally posted here on 2022-04-21.
More headcanons about Braska, less unremittingly Sad and in fact somewhat tongue-in-cheek featuring just a little bit of angst (because, a. me, b. Braska) – by the time he starts his pilgrimage, he hasn’t had his hair cut by a professional for at least eight years because everyone in Bevelle goes out of their way to snub him, and this for some reason includes the, er, barbers’ guild, all of whom are devout followers of Yevon I guess? Anyway, the reason Braska keeps his hair completely covered up isn’t because of some kind of religious thing, it’s because he’s been cutting it himself for years and he’s terrible at it. (fun fact I say this as someone who has been cutting their own hair for the last three years because going to ladies’ hairdressers as a GNC person is an extremely uncomfortable experience, and … let’s say it’s an adventure)
First night of the pilgrimage, they’re camping in Macalania Forest or somewhere and Braska removes his headdress for the first time, and Auron is absolutely torn between “finally I am sufficiently in my lord’s confidence to witness the splendour of his true hair, what a blessed day Yevon has seen fit to bestow upon me” and “yikes that looks awful.” Jecht doesn’t notice because his own hair is also a mess, much to Auron’s disgust: one has to keep one’s appearance neat in order to pay the appropriate respects to Yevon, and certainly not cultivate anything on the chin other than either a full beard or absolutely nothing (cue future!Auron staring at the camera sphere recorder like he’s on The Office). However, if and when Auron mentions this to Jecht, he does point out the fact that Auron appears to be giving Braska a free pass; Auron insists that’s different, Jecht openly laughs in his face, and Auron refuses to talk to him for the next two hours.
When they get to Luca, Braska gets a proper haircut for the first time in years because his notoriety is mostly confined to Bevelle and he’s pleasantly surprised to see that the establishments in Luca don’t have his picture on the wall with the words “do not serve this man”. They do have to cut it really short, though, to undo the years of “wtf is this”, and he doesn’t really feel like himself without an absolute mess growing out of his head, so the headdress quietly goes back on and he hopes Auron doesn’t make any remarks about it (he doesn’t).