====Ella's First time at the Tower====
**Date:** 1869.08.22.2130
**Previous Events:** [[EllaArrives Ella Arrives]] [[AfterArrival After Arriival]]

<#kate: Ella is introduced to the Tower by way of invitation from Cal.#>

<#jonah: She heads up to the tower through the window, following Cal, Shawn, Jefferson and Ollie. Celeste and Jefferson follow behind her. When Ella finishes the slightly treacherous climb and gets to the tower, she finds several of the kids waiting for her, expectantly. Celeste and Jefferson finish their clambering, and she can hear some more kids coming out the window after them.

After a short pause, Cal stands and announces, "Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight a new sister has come to join us here in the Kingdom of St. James." He smiles mischievously, looking over the kids before him, and Ella, who finds herself standing in the center of a growing ring of kids.#>

<#kate: Ella looks a little wary being in the middle of the circle but turns her attention to Cal.#>

<#jonah: "Since she has come here to join our family, we shall welcome her in the way which is our tradition." Cal pauses for dramatic effect. "Shawn, the crown, please." Shawn produces a crown, made from newspapers, glue, and multicolored rags. He carries it over to Cal. Cal beckons for Ella to come to him. She notices that Jeanne, Deco, Erin and Valerie have all filed in behind her, leaving only Minnie absent. All eyes are on her, save Deco, who is engrossed updating a full sized mural of all the kids. He is adding a new figure.

Cal is looking gleeful with the ceremony of it all. He proclaims, "I am King Callahan the Wicked, ruler of St. James Castle. And as king, it is my solemn duty to welcome and honor new family as they arrive. And to this end, as is our tradition, for one night and one night only, I shall cede my throne to you, our new sister. So come forward and be crowned." Ella approaches, and Cal motions for her to kneel.#>

<#kate: After cocking a suspicious brow, she does.#>

<#jonah: Cal takes the crown from Shawn, and holds it in the air. "I crown thee Queen Ella!" he declares, slowly placing the crown on her head. The rest of the kids echo his proclamation, "All Hail Queen Ella! All Hail Queen Ella!"

"Now remember," Cal cautions, "you're just queen for tonight; tomorrow you'll be changing dirty linens. But for tonight, live it up. Welcome to our kingdom!"

At that, Cal motions for rise, and says, "Well now, come meet your new family! Let's see," says Cal, "This gentleman is Captain Shawn, my second in command. This is Cole, my Lieutenant. And this is Lady Celeste. Here is Chef Jeff." Jefferson bows.

"Here is my Warrant Officer, Olivier." Ollie salutes and says, "Just Ollie." Cal continues, "And here is Dame Jeanne, his sister. Don't let her title fool you. She is deadly with a spear."

"There's Princess Erin, sister of Captain Shawn, and that's Duchess Valerie. Over there with the paint is Rembrandt Deco, Esquire. You met Minnie at dinner. That's everyone!"

"Now," Cal continues, "Your first duty as Queen of St. James is to lead the telling of the stories. We, your loyal subjects, and your new family, will entertain you with stories about ourselves. That way you'll get to know us a little bit. Your duty is to pick someone, and they'll have to tell you a story. Go on!" #>

<#kate: Ella spins in a slow circle, obviously considering those around her. Backing up, she perches on one of the railings and adjusts the crown. "I think if a King is meant to rule, he ought to be able to lead." She looks pointedly at Cal.#>

----

==Later on...==

<#kate: Cole brings out a harmonica and starts playing songs. Ella asks to play his harmonica and does so carefully, noting his connection with the instrument. She can blow a few cords and so gives it back, adding her voice to songs that she knows. #>

<#ann: If it's going to be a singing/music night, I'll suggest particular songs that I know Cole knows how to play, either singing along to the ones with lyrics or listening to the ones that don't. I think Celeste spends a lot of time singing with Louis and had a decent voice, a little off flat sometimes and sort of breathy, but a nice alto if you're not being picky. #>

<#court: Jeanne joins, and though she is a little guarded with Ella, she no longer seems hostile. If it looks like an enthusiastic music night, Jeanne will sneak down to the laundry room and grab the washboard to bring up and play. The beats are lively, and she either plays a back beat to whatever melody is going on, or plays a song and sings to it herself in French. #>

<#jonah: Ollie will join in. If there's music, he'll hambone a bit, and wiggle along as he listens. #>

----

<#jonah: At some point, there will be some downtime, and (unless someone else does first) Ollie asks Ella, "So where'd you come from anyhow? You got any family who are gonna come get you? Or you stuck here for good like the rest of us?" #>

<#kate: She looks out off into the view and shakes her head. "Nobody's coming for me." She kind of sighs and turns back. "What do you mean stuck here for good? We're not allowed to leave?" #>

<#bill: Cole is sitting on the edge of the towers with his feet dangling. He listening quietly. #>

<#ann: Celeste rushes to assure Ella, "Oh, we're not locked in and prisoners if that's what you mean. But we're still kind of stuck here. Where else would we go?" #>

<#kate: Ella shrugs. "Anywhere we wanted to." She seems rather certain that that is possible. #>

**Erin says, "So where would you go?" She has a soft, sort of dreamy look on her face.**

<#kate: "Everywhere. Those ships go all over the world you know." She points out toward the wharfs where masts and smokestacks are visible. "Have enough money or get the right job and you're off." #>

<#court: Jeanne's eyes follow Ella's hand and she gazes out towards the water for a long moment. "I miss our boat," she says to no one in particular, her voice soft but matter-of-fact. Then she seems to snap out of her reverie and turns to Ella. "But what job could we do?" #>

<#ann: Celeste smiles sympathetically at Jeanne when she talks about the boat, and leans over to to touch shoulders briefly if they are sitting close enough together. If not she just looks. #> <#court: Jeanne gives acknowledges Celeste with a sad smile. #>

<#kate: Ella's mouth twists in thought. "Clean, cook? What does it matter, you'd be going places." She glances at Jeanne. "You had a boat?" #>

<#court: Jeanne glances at Ollie and answers quietly. "Yes, our family did. Not a fancy one like that. It was our home, a simple boat. Have you been on one?" #>
<#jonah: Ollie hears the heartache in Jeanne's voice and comes over and sits next to her, gently leaning against her side. #>

<#kate: "No. What is it like?" #>

<#court: Jeanne considers. It was just... home." #>

<#ann: Celeste looks suddenly very thoughtful, then scootches over closer to Cole and says to him very quietly, "I just realized, I've started to think of the orphanage as 'home'. I don't remember much before I was three or four years old. I've been here for more than half of my remembered life." #>

<#bill: Cole doesn't say anything. He just puts his arm around her and gives her a squeeze.#>

----

Conversations/Thoughts:

<#kate: @Bill: Does Cole play the harmonica here? It would be great in knowing more about when/where/what he plays as Ella would be interested in learning the songs and the instrument if he's willing to teach her.#>

''Kate: the first question may have been for Kel, but I'll put in my two cents. :-) As I recall, Callahan is pretty dares everyone to go. Though, I suspect that by the time you are there the rest of us who go (which is believe is all the PCs and most of the NPC orphans) are going fairly regularly. So I would imagine you either get an invitation (which wouldn't turn into a dare unless you hesitated/turned us down in front of Callahan) or would just follow the crowd.

Re Cole: Yes, he plays in the tower. This came up, perhaps in a chat to which you were not a member. I was afraid that playing in the tower would get them all busted. Kel indicated that it would be fine unless he was blasting his playing out. So, yes. I'd say he plays in the tower and probably plays most nights. I had not deciding on how often he plays outside of that. I think he carries the harmonica around with him a lot. But I wasn't sure how the staff of the hotel orphanage would take his playing and he wouldn't want to risk losing it. I suspect by the time you're there he's pretty clear on when/where he can play and not get in trouble. Perhaps Kelly can provide some guidance on that - but since we're co-creating and all and the push seems to be for a kinder/gentler orphanage - I'd say he's fairly open about the playing as long it's not disturbing guests or obviously taking place when he should be doing chores.

As far as what he plays...he starts out playing soldier songs....I'm not sure if she'd recognize them as such. He's really just playing by ear..so there more than a few that are probably a few notes off (again, I don't know who would notice). I think he probably branches out when he gets older but I haven't decided how. Since it looks like your an audiophile and Celeste and Jeanne are also playing music he's probably influenced pretty heavily by you all.''

**Cal's standard modus operandi is to invite first, hes actually not big on the dares. Im under the impression that it doesn't take too much more than an invite.

@Bill - totally cool with the harmonica.

@Kate - Do you want to put needs for the other PCS? I can also respond with more NPC info if you want.**

<#kate: An invitation would be enough to get Ella going to the Tower.#>

<#kate: @Bill: Ella would be interested in what songs Cole is playing, especially if they happen to have lyrics. I think she likes the songs themselves and would probably get the tune pretty quick. Would he let her try playing his harmonica?#>

<#bill: Kate: The songs do have lyrics. I don't know them...I could look some up from that time period. I know there are "soldier songs" and as I recall from my research previously they do (or at least most) have lyrics. #>

<#kate: Bill: Don't sweat actually finding the lyrics. I'm sure Cole knows then, so if he's cool with sharing then I'm cool with leaving it at that. Not to beat an old question but would he let her play his harmonica?#>

<#bill: Sorry I forgot to answer that. I think so...yes. He would ask her to be real careful with it, but he would let her play.

p.s. I did look up some songs - didn't take much time at all. There's lots, but I think I can confidently say he'd know: When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again; The Battle Cry of Freedom; Tramp Tramp Tramp (The Prisoner's Hope); and The Battle Hymn of The Republic. All the lyrics and music can be found on CivilWarMusic.net Oh, and he'd know "Dixie for the Union" which is set to the tune of "Dixie" because but with lyrics created by the Union. Since he doesn't sing really, but plays, it might not come up. But if you asked him the lyrics he'd give you the Union version. I'm not sure if this creates problems or not in N.O./with the Blacks as Dixie for the Union and The Battle Hymn of the Republic would both be clearly Union songs.#>

<#kate: She's very careful with the harmonica but can play a little, picking up more and more as she listens to Cole. If she knows the songs she also sings along. #>

<#kate: @Kel: Sure I'll add the others. I didn't want to make it too big a deal but if they have additions the more the merrier! #>

**Other things to note at the tower.

Deco has a huge mural of all the kids that he keeps updating, he would add Ella to it.

I think there are various games stored up there, between Callahan and Cole there are several decks of playing cards (though its several decks combined to get a full deck), a set of dice (Callahans), a set of marbles, along with aggies that are really musket balls (Shawns).

Valerie has a small "Shrine" set up in one of the corners, small animal skulls and several strange bottles with colored liquid.

(I think when eventually they get all the pieces and things this is where the chess set lives as well, eventually when the boys get older, their smoking pipes, and some booze lives up there too.)**

NeedsKelly