[@crippling-pages (tell me if I'm annoying you)]
So I was sketching and got my usual eye exasperation (how I long for the day in which I can finally draw digitally again) except it was a Tam. and then it turned evil.
So you know Tam's canon insecurity issues, that like Keefe seem to come out of nowhere? Because really, it doesn't make any sense. Yes, he's a Wayward. Yes, he's a twin. How would that make him ugly? Tam would understand undesirable, but not ugly. I know insecurities aren't SUPPOSED to be rational but ugh.
So! An AU in which Tam rebelled against Exillium, got branded "the worst Wayward" and in a mysterious event lost his eye! (Right eye, to be exact.)
This gives him a reason to be insecure (he lost an eye, permanent injuries are rare in the Lost Cities) and worst case scenario he gets no treatment for it because he's (chosen) exile. While if he and Linh went to their parents' house using the stolen home crystal, it's possible that through some fuckery Quan and Mai might not be home and unable to hail a healer, so the AU can really also go the way of Tam not quite being permanently blind. Just. Eye injury.
It'd also hammer home how serious Exillium is-THEY SCARRED HIM FOR GOOD. IT'S ON HIS FACE.
Oh and I solved the "why doesn't their hair fucking grow" issue.
In this AU, Tam doesn't do the "dipping in silver" thing (Linh only does it when he does) until after the scarring. Meaning when they show up at their DNA donors' they don't have the silver tips. Tam only dyes his hair after getting the scar-before that, Linh insists on keeping their registry pendants in their belongings "in case we're no longer exiled" and Tam lets her because to Linh it represents hope. But once he gets that scarring, it's like "there's no turning back-this is our life now" and he melts the registry pendants. And Linh does it too, except now to her the silver doesn't represent control, but rebellion. (let the girl begin her character arc early and show that SPINE)
Anyway, fast forward a few years and their hair grows out. Because Tam's bangs have more of the silver, they grow slower from the weight (or mysterious elvin metal properties) while the rest of his hair grows faster. He usually shifts it to cover the scar more, mainly because silver is HEAVY and blocks his remaining eyesight. He doesn't wear an eyepatch because then he can't pull his bangs aside for shock value. (that and he feels slightly insecure. He denies it but Linh knows.)
The bangs LOOK chunky because of the process. What Tam and Linh did was melt down the registry pendants, and then when they dipped their hair in Linh used her hydrokinesis to supercool it (I know that's encroaching into Froster territory, but Linh isn't your typical Hydrokinetic, even Fintan praised her as such, so to me it's not a stretch.) and Tam (because Linh can't lose focus) uses his telekinesis to separate the strands. They did it one lock of hair at a time for care (probably tried individual strands at first before giving up) They're in actual chunks.
I know the Black Swan monocle doesn't look like that in canon (But I hate the canon version so.) Each necklace of beads represents a year. I'm not sure how far the fourth year was along. Also the beads are purposedly mismatched because you THINK Exillium has the funding to always give the exact same perfectly rounded beads?
The broken piece on the necklace is meant to represent Linh's last hope. Tam and Linh each have a single piece left over from their registry necklaces. When everyone has failed them for the last time, they will melt the pieces down.
"Don't let them break you."-Tam, to himself, in his short story
