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A Very Special Announcement!

[The video feed opens on a Combeferre who is grinning slightly idiotically. It’s a different look for in public spaces, honestly. Jehan and Courfeyrac may recognize it, but they are the only ones from home who do . Clearing his throat, he begins to speak after a bit more of setting up.]

I have rather an important bit of news to share with everyone, particularly those of you who were so good as to help me see the way out of tiptoeing around the truth.

So good to help! [That would be another voice, low in pitch and gravely.] Michel! To whom are you addressing? Tell me it was Jean and Reynaud, and no other. [By now, a rather small girl, a few years younger than Combeferre has made her presence known, frowning at the screen. Say hello to Eponine, everyone.]

[Well, here’s something of an awkward moment, and Combeferre does wonder how to approach this, but then, the truth is probably best just now. That said, the actual truth is not SO bad as all of that.]

Well, I did ask a great many people, but in the most general sense of asking, when I found myself doubting whether I knew what to do or say to court a lady. And I must say that the suggestions to be just myself and speak, which many of you shared with me have actually worked for the best. Only they, and Bahorel, knew to whom I was referring, of course.

[Eponine raises an eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest.] Did any of them say anything about assaulting a woman with a chair? Remember, Michel, I am far from a lady. [She places a hand on his shoulder warmly, unsure how else to relationship.] I am glad that some advice was useful. Such a strange man, boyfriend. [She likes calling him that. It’s a silly title, something they never had back in France. The result is a new nickname for the man that has declared his love for her. Quite passionately, as well.]

Ah, not exactly, no. [Considering that one of those advice givers in the general sense had been Gavroche, that Gavroche in GENERAL, is now hearing about the chair incident (the chairinning?), he’s looking maybe a bit nervous as he scoots a bit closer to Eponine as it is.]
In name and fortune, no, you are not. But there are those ways that every woman deserves consideration and respect, still, though I must admit chair attacks do seem very unconventional. [He’s returning the smile, reaching a hand up to take hers where it is placed there.]
Ah, but not too strange to have won the respect and esteem of a girlfriend such as you, it seems.

You speak prettily. I shall be silent for now, and let you speak to them. [She gestures with the hand Combeferre was not holding, towards the camera. Then, she leans down and with a careful glance at the camera, places a kiss on his cheek.]

[Combeferre is taking a moment to just grin at her, and then return the gesture before he’s giving the camera another wild, sort of carefree grin that looks incredibly different, but somehow sort of endearing on his face.] Well, I suppose that what I really mean to say is thank you to everyone who helped, and that this is Eponine and she is my girlfriend. And I am her boyfriend.[The words are so much easier to say now that he knows that his sentiments are returned, that is for certain.]

[Eponine glances down, blushing slightly.]
You did not say you were to make an announcement about us! Oh, you are terrible! But she laughs all the same, leaning over partially into his lap as she reaches to the device in order to turn off the feed.]

[ooc: replies to one or both of them are encouraged! Heck, do both! Just be sure to specify who you wish to talk to, if there is one. Eponine speaks in green, and Combeferre in blue.]

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[Bahorel wondered, he really did. And if the company that he provided, all obscenely ghastly things in his apartment aside, was any indicator of the sort of company he attracted... A terrifying prospect, indeed.]

Inappropriate to mention?

[He leaned into the video feed a little closer, expectant, as though the proximity would allow for a more secretive audience. A pregnant pause while he waited. When Combeferre made no motion to move, likely because he didn't understand what Bahorel was expecting him to do, he gesticulated for the bespectacled man to proceed, then.]

... Well? There is surely a way to make this feed private, if that's how you would prefer to explain, then, non?

[Really. This is why Combeferre could never manage, in Paris, to have a normal relationship with a normal person. The extremely intellectual mistress he had for a time paled at the sight of his collections, the artist grew tired of finding his paints used to tint moth photos, the actress frowned at the projects he brought home from the dissecting tables to keep them from being stolen...

Really, the polytechniciens and other medical students were the only people who he associated with who understood what he was doing, though he was not fond of most of them in that fashion, and...it takes someone with a rather strong stomach and tolerance for the odd things he does. Good luck, Eponine. No, really.

For now, Combeferre was flushing a bit as he made the message private and cleared his throat, looking for a place to begin.]

Well. Do you know how some men say that their mistresses allow them to get away with too much? There are some people out there who take the idea of that a little further, and grant control of everything to a mistress or a master. In more of the, ah, classical sense. You know of the Marquis de Sade?

[Fascinating, in their own right, and worth every laugh, at the very least, but surely, if Bahorel was at all aware of these anachronisms of the man, he would have had a talking to -- not of the scolding sort, mind, but of the man-to-man sort, wherein Things Were Explained and ~~Fashion~~ Life Choices Were Questioned.

Again, after listening to every single story raptly, as he does to this explanation now. He was perhaps enjoying watching Combeferre's reactions far more than he was enjoying the explanation, itself.]

I am acquainted. [A pause.] Though it has me wonder that that is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of ways the term "mistress" has come to change.

[That's a pointed (if amused) look thar, Combeferre.]

[Many of Combeferre's Life Choices do need to be closely examined, even now. Just because one has had success does not, after all, mean that he can keep it, particularly in these early days. ~~Fashion choices should, really, be left to the individual eye. As long as he is not indecent, really, why should anyone care?~~ As far as Explaining Things, it is Combeferre explaining certain of them now, now isn't he? The fact that he is explaining These Types of things is mostly because BAHOREL asked him after all.

Though he cannot quite shake the feeling that Bahorel has asked, largely, to see his reaction. As it is, he's sniffing at his friend's statement and look.]

The first context that I explained was that of the married man who keeps a mistress outside of his wife. It was you who asked about the second, if you will recall.

[So THERE.]

[Such thinking is to be done away with when one is courting a lady; didn't you know? Though, admittedly, it seemed that Éponine was not much to complain of such things, so he would be a lucky fiend, at that! And Bahorel would have Combeferre explain them further, that he finds amusement in his discomfort, that the doctor was not so easily flustered by things of a less than scientific nature.

An action to induce a reaction; the man is a terror when his energies are directed toward a person rather than an idea, after all.]

Mentioning the second at all, unprompted to start, would have you be the deviant here, mon ami!

[But a grin that shifted into a more apologetically friendly sort, that he'd raise a brow and inquire a little more seriously,]

Though it brings to question the plausibility that you might take Éponine on to be your wife? Or not at all, as would be the custom of our days? To say that "mistress" might then still be appropriate, in the latter case, non?

[~~Is it indeed? What if said lady does not mind it? Combeferre IS lucky when it comes to that, of course.~~ And it IS rather amusing when Combeferre of all people is having trouble finding words. But someday, he will get you back, Bahorel. Just wait.]

I merely explain what I've read...Oh God, that's quite the opening.

And Eponine... It is early days to know anything for certain as to how this will work, but I would like that first, someday in the future, should it come to be. We are planning to room together, now. It is as good as any other way to get to know someone and how one feels about them, is it not?

I believe the term is mostly used in the context of a married man seeking a bit of extra fun on the side, as terrible as that is. Evolution of language is quite strange at times.

[Oh, Bahorel awaits that day with bated breath~ Or, as they say in more modern times, bring it. >D]

Oho! Then it is serious enough, to take to one another's chambers more permanently... You are quite enamoured by this lady, I see.

[A bit of a more serious look to him, though, that he would be concerned. Considering that their channel is as yet private, Bahorel would lean forward a little again, brow gently furrowed as he probed cautiously.]

A marriage must not always be so formal, as to have required a ceremony or some legal document which bears the seal of the notarist...

[Awaiting that day, and being prepared for it are two different things, dear friend. Keep that in mind if you do nothing else. Combeferre is content to wait for many things, after all.]

I am, indeed, rather enamored, at that. She is quite special.

[Here, Combeferre is raising an eyebrow at the statement, well, until he's thougt that through a bit.]

And I suppose it does not matter here, does it? At home, legally, it might have been a different thing for someone, but I do not think those sorts of laws would be all that important, here.

[Alas, Bahorel is not; you may not have too much trouble surprising him after all, especially as he smiles warmly at that admission.]

And she makes you happy?

[Frowning a little, that that was not so much what he'd meant, but turning that frown into an understanding sort of nod; he would back down from this, then, to speak not of those who had only just left them, when Michel was in such a grand mood.]

So long as she makes you happy, mon ami, I am happy, too, and congratulate you. We shall have to make a toast of it together soon! A party for all, to celebrate the happy couple!

She does, indeed.

[His own smile is rather warmer then it has been since losing Enjolras as well. Eponine has been good for him in that respect. Finding someone with whom to share the future, to discuss ideas, and the books that they both enjoy (when Combeferre sneaks away to read novels, at least), and to laugh with has made the world, and the ship itself, seem less oppressive, quieted the anger that has been a part of him for several months now, and generally has helped to keep things better here. He welcomes that, as he has realized it.]

Ah, thank you for that. And yes, perhaps we should all try it again soon. Though hopefully with far less unicorn related tails from me.

[The pun, which won't even be heard, is not really Combeferre's job, considering the time he spoke of ducks, and how terribly that went over. Still, it's somewhat amusing to him at least.]

[Bahorel snorted a little and inclined his head. Even if Combeferre didn't mean it, Bahorel certainly could! He's got'chu, bro.]

I would say there's nothing wrong with unicorns or their tails, though you may want to keep it down on the horns around the lady -- unless she is of such predilections, in which case, all the better for proving yet again that our medical friends are the luckiest of bastards among us!

[With a bold wink.]

[Combeferre could not help grinning at Bahorel's incline there, even as he looked a little smug. Most of his attempts, a certain duck story came to mind, did not really have that effect. He WAS fairly proud of himself, anyway.]

I should certainly hope not to be horned around her, yes. For me to put on horns, there would be another little bird, along the way. I luckily have seen no evidence of other birds, or nests she might have visited beside our own, so I am not yet cuccault, as they used to say.

[He's matching that wink head on.]

[Bahorel laughed aloud at that one, pulling back from the camera and letting loose a good, long array of guffaws. He had to wipe a tear or two from his eyes before he could properly speak.]

Combeferre, I am done with you! Be gone, and take your birds and horns off elsewhere, that I may breathe again!

[Shaking his head slightly, still chuckling a little under his breath.]

[Combeferre can't help smirking at the reaction. It's rare he tends to get the full out, reducing someone to tears of laughter response. and he must admit to a certain amount of pride in it being Bahorel of all people.]

Fair enough, we shall enjoy ourselves, and I need not share all of those salacious details!

Oh, no; please, feel free to share at your leisure! I don't know how many you are able to express such "salacious details" to without them promptly hanging up on you, so it would be barbarous for me to rob you of such a viable outlet!

[With another chuckle and wink.]

But for now, I shall take my leave, and speak with you again in the future. To happy times with your new lady, my dear, dear friend!

[A salute and a cheeky grin.]

[There's one last moment where Combeferre, laughing, makes a rude gesture at his monitor before signing off himself. He loves you, really.]

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A Very Special Announcement!

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