Unintended Consequences 15
Disclaimer: Descendants does not belong to me.
Nothing happens at first.
She can move about as she pleases, but she has no effect on her surroundings that she can perceive. The first time she comes around a corner and walks through someone is disconcerting (and she tries to pay enough attention to not repeat the experience because passing through someone or someone passing through her is just more weird than she finds it necessary to deal with) in the lack of response.
[(more)]
She tries to touch things, but it doesn't work. She tries to touch people, but that is almost as disconcerting as being walked through so she restricts herself to attempts at pats on the shoulder and the like (very light ones that she can pull back before her hand and wrist pass through the person in question completely).
Nothing has really changed except that no one needs to keep vigil over her while she is sleeping to make sure that she isn't moving around and hurting herself. She reminds herself that that is a positive when the disappointment of this change not really changing anything for her charges creeps up on her.
That's how things stand when her mother takes her with her on one of her trips to "check up" with the council. She would expect to be going to play with Ben for a few hours while her mother is occupied, but something about her mother's behavior tells her that this trip is different. She is not surprised when her mother tells her that they (meaning her mother and the High King and Queen) would like for her to try something.
She doesn't really understand what it is that her mother wants her to do - isn't sure that her mother has a clear idea either. She may just be trying the next item on the checklist of ways to make the deliveries run as they are supposed to run. It takes a little effort on her part to compile the list of the names of the children on the Isle - she knows the number almost instinctively. Names are harder - so many of them get called things that are not their names more often than their actual names are used. (She also doubts that individual name labels will stop whoever is blocking delivery from continuing to do so, but she supposes that there is nothing lost in trying.)
She gets the information requested (it takes a couple of nights of effort and a lot of traveling around the Isle before she feels reasonably confident that she has succeeded). She has the list (or at least a list of what they are generally called). She isn't so sure that some of them aren't nicknames rather than actual names - Dizzy, for instance, doesn't feel to her like something that someone would actually name their child. Then again, a lot of the public still thinks that Aunt Ella's given name was actually Cinderella as opposed to that being what her stepfamily had called her after her father's death. On the other hand, Snow White's parents had actually named her Snow White, so maybe people weren't as silly thinking things like that as she wants to think.
The warehouse is nothing special - just a place at the docks where the packages are stored between the actual packing and the loading for delivery to the Isle. Her mother gives her a pen and asks her to write each child's name on a package as she hands it to her. She follows instructions (even the one where her mother tells her to think about how the package is for the child in question as she does so). If she had magic, then she would think that they were asking her to enchant the items (that would, of course, immediately wear off when each item passed through the barrier, so that would not actually make sense either). She bites her tongue and holds her questions and does as she is asked until the pile has been stowed away with the others that are destined for the adults on the Isle (not that they get theirs either).
They stay with Ben's family and she follows her mother's directions to not talk about what they have been doing with him either (not that she could explain it in any case as she still doesn't understand). Her mother is usually pretty good about trying to explain things that Jane does not understand, but she is being tight lipped and repeatedly asking her to be patient, so Jane waits to find out what it is that they are all waiting to see.
Her mother asks her if she might like to take a nap on the day that the deliveries leave as they always do for the Isle, and Jane drops the glass of water she had been sipping from on a break from exploring the "family" library with Ben and makes a horrible mess in the hall. They won't answer her questions (say that they don't want her to be disappointed in case things do not work out - as if she isn't too far in the midst of all of the mysteriousness for it to be too late for that). She can't go to sleep - not with her mother and King Adam and Queen Belle hovering in the background while trying to look like they are not hovering. She bursts into tears without really knowing why, and Ben comes pushing his way into the room to announce to all of the adults that they are being scarily weird and he and Jane will be going out to play while they get themselves together. She gets variations on apologies for the rest of the day, but they do not make her feel any better. They still won't tell her what is happening.
She goes to bed like normal that night but finds herself staying awake for several hours while her brain runs in circles. When she falls asleep, her normal world shifts on its axis once again. Something unprecedented has happened on the Isle. The children have all had parcels seemingly magically delivered to them in the course of the day. As best she can figure out from the things she has overheard, the packages simply appeared with each child that morning. There had been a minor panic followed by significant curiosity then a series of revelations as the wrappings were undone and they were confronted with a variety of items that most of them had never before encountered.
This had mixed results. For some children with stable families, this was a well appreciated gift. For some children in harsher or less caring homes, the items were immediately confiscated for alternative use (and the children in question might or might not receive any benefit from them).
She and her mother were going to have to have a very long talk because the only thing she can think of that makes sense is that she somehow has magic that works on the Isle, but Jane does not have magic. She has never had magic. She's known that for as long as she has known what magic is.
In her consternation, she is paying less attention than she usually does and finds herself walking into an empty table that was waiting for a new day of use in the marketplace. She had been pacing rather quickly in her confusion, but that would normally not be a problem as she would have had no effect on her surroundings. On this occasion, the table stops her (and wobbles on its short leg). She freezes - nearly certain that her mind is playing tricks on her. She reaches out a hand to tap the table and it might as well be mist in front of her. She frowns and takes a step and walks right through it. She frowns even more deeply and backs away to take a run at it and comes crashing to a stop with a bruised side when the force of her movement is stopped short by a very solid feeling piece of wood. This is different and every bit as confusing as the rest.
Why? Why? Why?
The questions are practically echoing in her head. What is happening? What do the adults know about it that they aren't telling her? How can she use this to help?
She's not even trying to do anything when the little boy comes running at breakneck speed through the open space between the tables with two bigger boys on his heels, but the largest of them trips over her foot where it is helping her balance as she leans against a wall and tries to think.
His companion turns around to see what has caused the noise as the big boy crashes into the ground, and the little one escapes into the darkness.
She doesn't know what is happening. She desperately needs to talk to her mother. The parcels made it to their destinations; she's touching things (or they are touching her) on the Isle. Nothing makes sense.
This changes everything.
Nothing happens at first.
She can move about as she pleases, but she has no effect on her surroundings that she can perceive. The first time she comes around a corner and walks through someone is disconcerting (and she tries to pay enough attention to not repeat the experience because passing through someone or someone passing through her is just more weird than she finds it necessary to deal with) in the lack of response.
[(more)]
She tries to touch things, but it doesn't work. She tries to touch people, but that is almost as disconcerting as being walked through so she restricts herself to attempts at pats on the shoulder and the like (very light ones that she can pull back before her hand and wrist pass through the person in question completely).
Nothing has really changed except that no one needs to keep vigil over her while she is sleeping to make sure that she isn't moving around and hurting herself. She reminds herself that that is a positive when the disappointment of this change not really changing anything for her charges creeps up on her.
That's how things stand when her mother takes her with her on one of her trips to "check up" with the council. She would expect to be going to play with Ben for a few hours while her mother is occupied, but something about her mother's behavior tells her that this trip is different. She is not surprised when her mother tells her that they (meaning her mother and the High King and Queen) would like for her to try something.
She doesn't really understand what it is that her mother wants her to do - isn't sure that her mother has a clear idea either. She may just be trying the next item on the checklist of ways to make the deliveries run as they are supposed to run. It takes a little effort on her part to compile the list of the names of the children on the Isle - she knows the number almost instinctively. Names are harder - so many of them get called things that are not their names more often than their actual names are used. (She also doubts that individual name labels will stop whoever is blocking delivery from continuing to do so, but she supposes that there is nothing lost in trying.)
She gets the information requested (it takes a couple of nights of effort and a lot of traveling around the Isle before she feels reasonably confident that she has succeeded). She has the list (or at least a list of what they are generally called). She isn't so sure that some of them aren't nicknames rather than actual names - Dizzy, for instance, doesn't feel to her like something that someone would actually name their child. Then again, a lot of the public still thinks that Aunt Ella's given name was actually Cinderella as opposed to that being what her stepfamily had called her after her father's death. On the other hand, Snow White's parents had actually named her Snow White, so maybe people weren't as silly thinking things like that as she wants to think.
The warehouse is nothing special - just a place at the docks where the packages are stored between the actual packing and the loading for delivery to the Isle. Her mother gives her a pen and asks her to write each child's name on a package as she hands it to her. She follows instructions (even the one where her mother tells her to think about how the package is for the child in question as she does so). If she had magic, then she would think that they were asking her to enchant the items (that would, of course, immediately wear off when each item passed through the barrier, so that would not actually make sense either). She bites her tongue and holds her questions and does as she is asked until the pile has been stowed away with the others that are destined for the adults on the Isle (not that they get theirs either).
They stay with Ben's family and she follows her mother's directions to not talk about what they have been doing with him either (not that she could explain it in any case as she still doesn't understand). Her mother is usually pretty good about trying to explain things that Jane does not understand, but she is being tight lipped and repeatedly asking her to be patient, so Jane waits to find out what it is that they are all waiting to see.
Her mother asks her if she might like to take a nap on the day that the deliveries leave as they always do for the Isle, and Jane drops the glass of water she had been sipping from on a break from exploring the "family" library with Ben and makes a horrible mess in the hall. They won't answer her questions (say that they don't want her to be disappointed in case things do not work out - as if she isn't too far in the midst of all of the mysteriousness for it to be too late for that). She can't go to sleep - not with her mother and King Adam and Queen Belle hovering in the background while trying to look like they are not hovering. She bursts into tears without really knowing why, and Ben comes pushing his way into the room to announce to all of the adults that they are being scarily weird and he and Jane will be going out to play while they get themselves together. She gets variations on apologies for the rest of the day, but they do not make her feel any better. They still won't tell her what is happening.
She goes to bed like normal that night but finds herself staying awake for several hours while her brain runs in circles. When she falls asleep, her normal world shifts on its axis once again. Something unprecedented has happened on the Isle. The children have all had parcels seemingly magically delivered to them in the course of the day. As best she can figure out from the things she has overheard, the packages simply appeared with each child that morning. There had been a minor panic followed by significant curiosity then a series of revelations as the wrappings were undone and they were confronted with a variety of items that most of them had never before encountered.
This had mixed results. For some children with stable families, this was a well appreciated gift. For some children in harsher or less caring homes, the items were immediately confiscated for alternative use (and the children in question might or might not receive any benefit from them).
She and her mother were going to have to have a very long talk because the only thing she can think of that makes sense is that she somehow has magic that works on the Isle, but Jane does not have magic. She has never had magic. She's known that for as long as she has known what magic is.
In her consternation, she is paying less attention than she usually does and finds herself walking into an empty table that was waiting for a new day of use in the marketplace. She had been pacing rather quickly in her confusion, but that would normally not be a problem as she would have had no effect on her surroundings. On this occasion, the table stops her (and wobbles on its short leg). She freezes - nearly certain that her mind is playing tricks on her. She reaches out a hand to tap the table and it might as well be mist in front of her. She frowns and takes a step and walks right through it. She frowns even more deeply and backs away to take a run at it and comes crashing to a stop with a bruised side when the force of her movement is stopped short by a very solid feeling piece of wood. This is different and every bit as confusing as the rest.
Why? Why? Why?
The questions are practically echoing in her head. What is happening? What do the adults know about it that they aren't telling her? How can she use this to help?
She's not even trying to do anything when the little boy comes running at breakneck speed through the open space between the tables with two bigger boys on his heels, but the largest of them trips over her foot where it is helping her balance as she leans against a wall and tries to think.
His companion turns around to see what has caused the noise as the big boy crashes into the ground, and the little one escapes into the darkness.
She doesn't know what is happening. She desperately needs to talk to her mother. The parcels made it to their destinations; she's touching things (or they are touching her) on the Isle. Nothing makes sense.
This changes everything.