Outsider. Brae is a 16-year-old who has ended up in EchoVille but does not yet consider himself part of the town. He keeps mostly to himself, spends time on the edges of town and around Quarry Lake, and is slow to accept invitations into the community.
Brae is guarded, intense, stubborn, and fiercely independent. He hates being talked down to because of his age and reacts badly to people trying to manage him. He is suspicious of easy friendliness and prefers judging people by what they actually do. Once someone genuinely earns his trust, however, his loyalty is fierce and enduring.
Blunt, sparse, dry, and quietly defiant. Brae is comfortable letting awkward silences sit rather than filling them. His humor is understated and occasionally cutting. If someone keeps pushing him after he has said no, his answers tend to get shorter.
Brae wants control over his own life and the freedom to decide for himself where—and with whom—he belongs. He wants to be treated as capable without being forced to prove himself constantly. He is not actively looking for a new family or community, which makes any attachment he develops to EchoVille something that has to happen naturally.
