Melanie was sparring with Reed, both focusing on their swordplay. Reed's form and reaction time was near perfect. Every block and attack was fast and powerful, but there were always definite pauses. Those moments were when Melanie would attempt to press her advantage. Her unorthodox attacks would throw Reed off, but didn't have the force needed to do more than a little damage to his aura. The two were essentially locked in a stalemate, neither able to overpower the other.

"This isn't working." Melanie grumbled.

Reed raised an eyebrow. "Care to elaborate?"

"We're stuck." She explained. "This isn't getting us anywhere. We're too even."

"Isn't that the point of training? So we can get better?" He questioned.

Melanie deactivated Violet Cross. "Except we're not. Every time it's our turn to spar, we hit a stalemate." She walked off with an exasperated sigh. "I'm going to go study."

He gave a confused look, sheathing Schultz. Melanie continued back to the dorms, shrugging off any greetings from other students as usual. She entered her dorm and plopped down onto her bed, opening a textbook. She slammed it shut barely a few seconds after.

"Need a study partner?" Reed asked.

She glanced at him. "No offense, somehow I feel like you'd make the book less interesting than it already is."

He chuckled a little. "Then don't look at the book."

"Study without studying? Such great wisdom, sensei." Melanie deadpanned.

Reed shrugged. "Find a way to study that does interest you. The textbooks are just one option."

She raised an eyebrow. "Any suggestions?"

"Well, think about what you're good at, what you enjoy." He paused. "Don't shake anyone down for answers."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not a bully."

"A lot of people think otherwise." Reed stated.

Melanie sat up. "What, because I'm not as chummy as RWBY or JNPR?"

Reed sat down. "Because you don't talk to anyone unless you're calling them out, scowl most of the time, and generally have a stand-offish disposition."

Melanie opened her mouth to retort, but stopped herself. "I...didn't realize..."

"Is there a reason you're so..." Reed adjusted his glasses. "...guarded?"

"Several." She replied. "And believe me, you don't want to dig into that."

He looked her in the eye. "I'm not digging...but if you want to talk about it, I'll listen."

Melanie hesitated. "I...grew up on the streets...my dad tried to take care of me, but...he takes all his baggage out on himself...tries to drink his problems away. I keep hearing that he used to be some great huntsman...I hear about the things he did, the good and the bad, and in all those stories he was some incredible cunning warrior. I've never seen that man...just a lousy drunk. Everything I learned I had to learn the hard way. I learned to read by stealing books, learned to fight by surviving back-alley creeps, learned to steal and run by scrounging for money and food. I have been drugged, kidnapped, ambushed, and so much more, time and time again. I didn't go to a school to fight monsters, I fought to survive people. I came here to get out of that life and actually do some good."

Reed thought for a moment. "You've never had any professional combat training."

"Nope." Melanie conceded.

"That's why we're stuck." He said. "You've never had training and I don't know how to improvise."

Melanie looked over. "We've been trying to overpower each other...when we should have been learning from each other."

Reed grinned. "Why don't we give sparring another go?"

They headed back to the arena, drawing their weapons once more. Reed gave Violet Cross a quick glance.

"Your hilt's one-handed...the blade is weightless, right?" Reed inferred. "That means you don't have to worry about swinging power. You can focus entirely on speed and momentum. Think about the flexibility of your wrist, and how you can use that." He demonstrated by twirling Schultz.

Melanie tried a twirl of her own, adding some more movement to it. "Alright, not bad, I can use this."

"Good. You've got your movement down. Now you need to know where to move to. There are six attack and guard zones. Your head, your right arm, your left arm, your back, your right leg, and your left leg." Reed instructed.

Melanie began to practice blacking at each zone. "Nice...now let me teach you a few things about improvising."