Wardrobe and Anger headcanons for Combeferre and your thoughts on Combeferre and Prouvaire (either as friends or in a relationship? up to you) :D
Ooh cool!
Combeferre would Like It To Be Known that he doesn't *get* angry. Really, anger is such an inefficient way to get anything done, it clouds one’s judgement and leaves one open to manipulation by being distracted from what is really important.
..Except, of course, he totally does get angry! But his anger is quiet simmering thing that manifests itself in clever cutting words of breathtaking condemnation. Basically the angrier he is, the more caustic he gets: his remark about some men observing the rules of honour the same way they observe the stars? Peak Combeferre Fury right there. It's similar enough to his more amiable sarcasms – say, when commenting on Courfeyrac's charter antics – that I'd say most people, even his friends, have hard time recognising his anger for what it is. Like, clearly he wasn't angry with Courfeyrac in that scene. Was he angry with Marius when he shut him down? Some might say no; I'd say yes. Someone with Combeferre's convictions, with his particular brand of gentleness would get angry with someone glorifying a despot. This is also exactly the kind of anger I'd think Combeferre himself would like to deny having, and consider actively unhelpful – but also, I think part of his personal character journey might have included learning to accept the value and validity and of righteous anger both in himself and others. Even if he's always going to side more with Enjolras 'cold-burning' rather Bahorel's cheerful destructive abandon.
Clothes! Combeferre in my head is more of a boring dresser. He might, on occasion, get curious about a particular trend or a new innovation or a social experiment (i'm not saying he owns a Saint-Simonian back-laced waistcoat but I'm not saying he doesn't) but in general, this is not where he puts his time and attention. Also, he does possess a certain sense of personal dignity that puts him off some more outrageous sartorial experimentation in a way that is not an issue for say, Joly (who is generally more dapper and fashionable than Combeferre, but would also, were he a real person in 21st century, totally wear toe shoes if he thought they were helpful for circulation of blood in the feet) or god forbid, Prouvaire.
Okay, speaking of Prouvaire. I just remembered I did discuss the kind of relationship the two of them might have, once. Rereading this, I stand by most of what I said: I think the two of them would be pretty close: they speak, well, not quite the same language, but they both have enough of an emotional polyglot in them (or tendency to hyperempathise, if you will) to understand each other very well. They both have this gentleness and curiousity about them, they have so many interests that are bound to sometimes overlap and I think Many A Night have been spent in exploring something wonderful and weird, possibly in a cloud of hashish smoke. And maybe sometimes what they were exploring was each other. But for these very same reasons, I think their relationship would be defined by periods of intensity and distance, as dictated by their current areas of hyperfocus. Not emotional distance, exactly – clearly, they are dear friends who love each other very much – but, you know, sometimes your squee takes you into different places? Those two would understand that very well, I think, regardless of whether they were ever romantically involved or not.
