Some of you have asked about Vellena's spec. Spec is something that makes sense in an in-game context, but not so much out of it, at least not for all character classes. Vellena would probably have learned skills from all specs, and giving the power level I want for her, would be a highly accomplished warrior. I'm most familiar with Blood, because that's what I play, but Vellena isn't necessarily any particular spec.
My fic characters aren't the ones I play, for the record. All my fic characters are created for the stories they are in. I put a lot of time and effort into developing the characters, their emotions and thought processes. I strive to make them realistic, and to make their interactions with canon characters realistic and believable. I don't want to write a mary-sue.
Chapter 13
Grimmjow halted the night elf as she moved towards the exit to her rooms. Extending his senses, he scanned the hallway. Nothing. Maybe it was goofy, but he still didn't know what Aizen would do when he found out he was banging the guest, and he didn't want Aizen's tip-off to come from that brownnoser Ulquiorra. He was momentarily glad that Vellena's uniform was such a high-collared one; he'd gotten a little carried away with the biting. He had a habit of biting during sex. It was the cat in him, he couldn't help it.
He led her through the austere white halls of the enormous palace, forgoing garganta for this trip. As they made their way through the halls, they passed other arrancar. He noted in addition to the usual mixture of fear, awe, respect, contempt and even desire his presence seemed to provoke, that Vellena garnered her share of speculative glances. No one stopped them or spoke to them, though. The Sexto's temper was legendary.
They arrived at the mess hall. Amid the rows of tables and chairs, several arrancar were already using the facility. Most took note of the arrival of the night elf and the Espada and went back to their meals. His fracción were gathered at one table. Good, that meant he wouldn't have to hunt them down before the meeting. It looked like they hadn't gone to get any food yet.
He gestured Vellena to follow him to the table and slid into a seat facing his fracción. The night elf took a seat beside him in silence. Her expressionless mask had returned the moment they left her room.
"Hey Grimmjow, is this the one from the other day? She looks different without her armour," piped D-Roy. No preamble, no greeting, the novelty of the newcomer was too much. Not that he ever stood much on formality with his boys. They knew their places. He was king.
"Yeah, this is Vellena. Vellena, these are my fracción; D-Roy, Shawlong, Nakeem, Yylfordt, and Edrad," he introduced each in turn.
"I am pleased to meet you all," stated Vellena. She faced the curious gazes of his fracción calmly.
"Which one of you wants to go get us something to eat?" Grimmjow asked. At his superior's question, Nakeem rose and bowed briefly before heading over to the food area. Yylfordt rose and followed him, giving one last look back at the assembled group before apparently deciding his curiosity could wait until everyone had food.
"Is it true you came from another world? That's what everyone is saying." Shawlong asked.
"Yes." She replied.
"Was it the living world? I wanted to go there someday and see what it's like. Hueco Mundo is so boring." That was Edrad.
"No. The world I am from is called Azeroth. There are living there, but it is not divided into worlds of dead and living as this realm seems to be. It is… very different." She said. "There are many races and factions. I am affiliated with one called the Knights of the Ebon Blade; our mandate is to bring down the Lich King, the tyrant who 'gifted' us with this unlife." She gave a wolfish smile. "Arthas will fall." There was more than a hint of deadly intent in her steely voice.
Grimmjow had heard her talk about this before, but he was still mildly surprised at the amount of emotion the subject of Arthas evoked in this otherwise stone-cold female. She went back to her normal demeanor as his fracción began quizzing her about her homeworld with rapt attention. He only half listened. What did he care what gnorves and dwomes looked like (or was that dwarves and gnomes? Who cared?), or how many different kinds of elf there was – what did they need so many kinds for anyway? Flavour of the week? Although a land of cow people sounded tasty.
Yylfordt and Nakeem had returned with trays full of food, serving Grimmjow first, and then Vellena before distributing the bento boxes amongst the rest of the fracción. Wordlessly, he began eating, until he noticed Vellena struggling with the chopsticks, clearly attempting to mimic the way everyone around her was using them, and failing.
"Like this," he said, positioning her fingers correctly on the sticks, "this stick doesn't move. This one does. Yeah, you got it." She gave the sticks a few experimental clicks, and then successfully picked up a strip of broiled salmon and ate it. Caught on quick, good for her. "Guess you don't have chopsticks in Azeroth, huh?" he said, turning back to his food.
"Not that I am aware of. Mostly when I eat, I eat rations or preserved food out of my pack – it doesn't require utensils. I spend a lot of time travelling." She replied between bites.
"Travelling? What do you do?" Yylfordt was determined to get his chance to ask questions, Grimmjow noted.
"Mostly I kill things. Sometimes I get paid to do it. Sometimes I do other things, errands, little tasks and the like. I was delivering a routine missive to my superior when I was displaced." She said. "Every now and then I get together with associates and storm enclaves of enemies. That's always interesting."
"Sounds like fun," Edrad commented, clearly meaning the 'kill things' and 'storming enclaves of enemies' portion of her duties.
"I enjoy it, but it occasionally gets expensive. I can only repair my armour and weapons so many times myself before I need professional help, and that's pricey. My gear is constructed from some pretty hard-to-work materials, and heavily enchanted. And I need a proper runeforge for my weapons."
Armour. He didn't like it; it just got in the way. Better to have hierro, which didn't require repair and still permitted free range of movement. Although even Grimmjow had to admit she moved just as well in armour as out of it. He much preferred her out of it.
"Hurry up and eat, Aizen's got that meeting in twenty minutes." He interrupted their cheerful nattering. He really didn't feel up to another lecture about punctuality today, especially not with Vellena in tow.
"It's in the throne room this time, Grimmjow. There was an announcement circulated that fracción should accompany their Espada to this one, something Aizen-sama wishes to show everyone." Shawlong told him. His brightest fracción, Shawlong often served as Grimmjow's informant. Grimmjow never felt threatened by the other's intelligence – Shawlong was weak, if smart. And the tall arrancar had always acknowledged Grimmjow's superiority, even back when they were adjuchas. He gave the other an appreciative nod at the information and went back to eating.
"I hope he makes an exception for Szayel and his oddball corps." Grimmjow snorted. He didn't want to share the room with all those wacky fracción of Szayel's. At least it wasn't going to be a tea party after all.
Several minutes later, everyone was finished, and he was hustling his little posse through the halls to the throne room. They managed to make it before too many others had show up; in time to get a spot on the tier he wanted. He sat down – well, sprawled might be a better word for it. Shawlong stood next to him. Vellena stood nearby, still as a statue, not even blinking. He couldn't even tell if she was breathing, hells, the only time he knew for sure when she was breathing was when he was fucking her. He tried to steer his mind from that subject, he didn't want to have to sit through the meeting with a case of blue balls.
The meeting would be starting soon, he thought. It looked like everyone was here, except for Yammy and Ulquiorra. Just as it occurred to him to wonder where they were, they walked into the throne room.