Ella Penta

—Ella, on the subject of her past and morals

**Ella Penta** is one of the co-founders and co-owners of The Cobra Club, which she runs with Vett Hannah.  Being the more friendly of the two, she has been unofficially assigned the role of public relations.  As such, she's become the face of the club, and is fairly well-known amongst Vale's shadier folks for her work.

## Personality

At first, Ella seems to be rather kind--especially compared to her other half.  She's extremely social, and will engage in a conversation with just about any of the club's patrons should they want one.  Her natural charm and quick wit have made her quite the popular bar tender, and it's not unusual to see her doing more talking than serving.  Not that she's actually there to serve drinks and food anyway--they have other employees for that.  No, Ella's task is to make sure her patrons feel welcome and are having a good time, and the bar is the best place to check in on them.  After all, a happy customer is a customer that's going to come back, which in turn means more money for Ella.  Her cheerful, talkative persona is nothing more than a façade born from the need to drag in as many customers as possible.

To be fair, the real Ella isn't too far off from the one that the club's patrons see.  She's still just as talkative and quick-witted, but she's also less kind.  Ella's tongue is as sharp as her mind, and she's not afraid to say... Well, anything really.  She doesn't have a filter, and if she's thinking something, she's going to say it--especially if she's talking to Vett or one of her employees.  She is by no means a gentle person, and quite frankly, she doesn't really care.  Ella is in this business for the money and nothing else.  She doesn't care much for people or their feelings, and certainly isn't the type to go out of her way to help anyone.  She believes that she's done more than her fair share of suffering, and isn't about to add onto that baggage in order to save some poor soul.  She toughed it out, and so can they.

She does, of course, treat her employees fairly well... Even if it's not out of the kindness of her (nonexistent) heart.  In order to persuade them to *not* tell the cops about some of the more illegal activities that occur at the club, Ella pays her employees more than she needs to, and has also gone to great lengths to ensure that they're safe in their work environment.  There are strict rules put in place to protect the employees' wellbeing--especially the dancers'--and should any customer break those rules, they're likely to be thrown out.  Between the safety, high pay, and other benefits, Ella has succesfully managed to keep her staff fairly stable, as there aren't too many better job opportunities (in their line of work, anyway).

## History

Ella was born and raised in the city of Vale.  She was the only child of the Penta family, which was an unremarkable family as a whole.  Both her parents held standard office jobs until she was born, at which point her father--who had the smaller paycheque--quit and stayed home to look after her.  Both of her parents were very affectionate, and Ella grew up a happy and gentle child.  Her school years were relatively calm, and she made a fair number of friends.  Many of her peers--even from a young age--wanted to go off to Signal and Beacon, and many of them did, but Ella wasn't particularly interested in spending her life fighting.  Instead, she wanted to be the CEO of some big company.  The thought of having so much power and money was rather alluring, and Ella desperately wanted that.

While she worked hard in school, Ella worked hard in her social life too.  Marks meant nothing if one didn't have connections, after all.  While no one in her high school years (or below) was particularly important, she found interacting with them a great way to hone her social skills.

Skills that *did* indeed help her during university.  Ella wound up making several connections to some fairly important people--professors, classmates, and any other important who walked through the university's doors really.  These enabled her to secure a nice job some time before she graduated--a job that she would keep for only a few years.

Ella had a bit of an issue in that she wanted to advance quickly in the workplace--something that wasn't quite working out for her.  She was alright with starting at the bottom, but she didn't enjoy getting stuck there.  She was quick to become discontent with her situation, as there was little she could do to change it.

...Except, of course, strike out on her own.  Doing what, exactly, she didn't care--Ella just wanted money.  As she thought about what she could do, Ella began saving money for this new venture, and also started to look for people who she could make use of.  It was during this time that she met Vett Hannah, who introduced her to the... less-than-savoury side of Vale.  After seeing how some of the shadier clubs operated, Ella decided to take that route, though she would certainly need some help.  While she wasn't necessarily "sheltered", Ella hadn't spent much time in any kind of club.  Vett, on the other hand, had extensive working knowledge of how the clubs operated... And how their clientelle operated too.  Enticing him with offers of money, Ella managed to drag him on-board, and between the two of them, they were able to start up The Cobra Club.

It took several years, a lot of luck, and some solid connections, but the club has now become fairly popular.  Part of it is also due to the fact that Ella and Vett just didn't care about what their patrons were doing, so long as they were spending money.  This drew in the city's shadier characters, establishing a "safe haven" of sorts for them.