I believe reintroductions are in order

Posted on Tue Mar 21st, 2023 @ 11:17 by Valjean Beaumont & Kaylee Ashton BSc

Chapter: Prologue: Dawn of Avalon
Location: Avalon institute
Timeline: After the sentinel attack
1569 words - 3.1 OF Standard Post Measure

"Excuse me, mademoiselle. The teacher's fridge is in the teacher's lounge." Valjean approached whomever was rummaging around in his kitchen fridge now. It was like he was managing an open pantry for anyone on the staff. Sure their fridge was small, and sure people had the propensity to eat each other's yoghurts, and sure most of those yoghurts came from the dining hall kitchen anyway, but it was the principle of the thing. He let the large pan clatter on the stove when he didn't get an immediate response. There was something about the white haired individual that seemed oddly familiar though, and he got that feeling he got when one of his aspects had spent time with someone. Something that he had mockingly called Déjà Val on multiple occasions.

"sorry Valjean, I needed room for a few packets of cheese and the teacher's fridge was full" Kaylee said, her voice muffled by having her head in the fridge. Standing up straight, she turned to look at him, "They are labelled so it shouldn't be a problem for you when cooking. I'd be happy to move them once there's room"

When the woman turned to face him there was a definite moment of recognition but it was at the back of his head and no matter how hard he tried Valjean knew he wouldn't be able to resurface those details. There were a couple of conflicting threads in his head he wanted to address, like how it wasn't his problem that Claire had skimped on the size of the teacher's lounge fridge, or how he should probably ask for her name so he could actually remember it this time. "Well perhaps it is time for you to requisition a larger refrigerator." He decided the name would probably come up at some point, the more pressing matter was the fact that the other faculty of the institute regarded all of his workspace and materials fair play.

Kaylee nodded in response, “you’re not wrong, we probably should ask Claire for a bigger fridge. I’m just not sure what kind of budget we’re dealing with here” she said as she gave him a smile. Just then, she noticed for a moment a subtle sign of confusion run across his face for a moment before being covered up again. “Oh, thanks for your help with the gate the other day. I’m glad someone was left here who knew how things worked”

Valjean frowned a bit at that, that was during the emergency. There had been a couple of him going around, and he'd been getting thanked for a few things he'd done trying to manage the organised chaos that resulted from Claire's emergency protocol. He gave a slow thoughtful nod, trying to gather the context of things. "One thing to know about my ability. I can create a duplicate of myself. Multiple actually. But when I reabsorb them it's difficult for me to access the memories of what they experienced." He indicated towards the fridge. "Can you close that, sil vous plait?" He leaned back against the counter and for the life of him couldn't quite remember her name, it was on the tip of his tongue. The mention of the gate had certainly jostled something. "So, I'm sorry to say I don't remember your name. It's like the worst case of Déjà Vu."

An expression of realisation came to Kaylee’s face as she remembered what Valjean had told her the last time they’d met about possibly having to reintroduce herself at a later point. Quickly closing the fridge door, Kaylee cleared her throat before putting on a smile, “right, sorry. I’m Kaylee, the institutes Physics teacher.” she said as an idea came to her. Holding out her hand with the palm up, Kaylee too a deep breath in before focusing her powers and causing a number of snowflakes to form in her hand. “Does that help at all?”

Another jolt of recognition, but even with the name and the show of ability from the woman Valjean couldn't quite recall the situation they had first met in. Though the context was coming together. He had heard students talk about the ice bridge over the gate and he knew that closing the gate was a two person thing. After all of his duplicates had returned he had gotten all sorts of weird sensations and muscle aches. Closing the gate could at least account for some of them. "Welcome to Avalon. With abilities like that, I'm not sure what you need my fridge for." He commented in jest.

Giving Valjean a smile, Kaylee shrugged, “it’s less exhausting that way, besides I’m sure no one wants to find their lunch frozen over when they go to retrieve it” she said as she altered the way she moved her fingers. As she did, a snow globe started to form in the palm of her hand. Inside was a ballerina posed as if in the middle of a dance, “so you can’t remember anything from your clones? Wait, no, not clones. What did you call them? Duplicates, sorry”

"Pfff." Valjean let out some air through his teeth and then shook his head. "Yeah, no. Once they return... I get all of their fatigue but none of their memories. Though I've found that muscle memory sticks a bit better." While his abilities were definitely more helpful than not, the downsides made him a bit resentful towards some of the things his duplicates did in his name. "It has taken some time to get them in order. When I was younger some of them were, how you say, rebellious."

“Rebellious? Have any of your duplicates ever tried to kill you take over?” Kaylee asked, becoming quite fascinated by Valjean’s powers. Not only could he create multiple duplicates but each one seem capable of independent thought and action in any given situation.

"Oh, non, nothing that severe." Valjean shook his head, "If I die, we all die. That's the theory at least. They can't even go past a certain distance away from me without withering." He acted as if he blew dust from the palm of his hand, "ashes to ashes." He then folded his arms as if he had caught himself and tried to regain his composure. "Anyway. I will let the trespassing slide, for today. As long as you put in a request for a larger fridge in the teacher's lounge. And while you're at it, if you come across Twinkle Toes, tell 'im that he owes me a pound of good bacon."

“Twinkle Toes? Oh you mean Cam. Yea he said something about a grumpy French chef” Kaylee said with a cheeky grin, “I’ll be sure to tell him when I see him next. So is it the fact that he’s taking the food without permission or would you prefer he asks you to cook something for him?”

"I'm not grumpy," Valjean protested, he didn't really mind the characterization though. It kept the kids out of the kitchen and most of the faculty at arms length. He preferred his personal space personal and the kitchen very much felt like his domain. "I've told him again and again that there's no accounting for his savagery. I stand 'ere in the morning wanting to make scrambled eggs for three hundred hungry mouths only to find 2 dozen eggs missing." He fold his arms and felt his temper flare, something he had been able to work on and improve, but something that some of his duplicates hadn't gotten the memo on. "It is dificile to plan meals when half of the ingredient have every chance of disappearing overnight."

"Well then i'll try and talk with him about it. I'm sure he's not doing it out of malice" Kaylee replied, taking a quick look around the kitchen.

Valjean gave a bit of a harrumph in response to that, clearly he wasn't as convinced about Cameron's innocence. "Merci." He rummaged around in one of the nearby cabinets and pulled out a bit of chocolate. "Belgian. The finest in Europe." He offered a piece of it over to the interloper in his kitchen.

Holding up her hands, Kaylee shook her head, “No thank you. I’m not a fan of chocolate to be honest. If I want to go for something sweet, I prefer caramel tarts or hard Candies”

It took a moment to register with Valjean that there would be someone that didn't like chocolate. His face then became a bit sour. "Your loss." and he took the offered bit himself. He then kept looking at the person that invaded his professional, but mostly personal, space and waited for something. When nothing was immediately forthcoming he added; "anything else I can do for you?"

Suddenly realising that she was standing there in silence, Kaylee quickly shook her head, “oh, um, no thank you. I’ll get out of your hair. I’m sorry”

"A la prochaine." Valjean started in the direction of the pantry. He had come in here to make an inventory of what he needed for the tomorrow. With the kitchen not locked properly it was always a guess as to what had disappeared overnight, or during times he wasn't there. He'd leave one of himself there twenty-four seven if it didn't wear him out so much.