[Bianca Sabbato]

Panting heavily, I watched humorlessly at the two parts of a broken weapon I held in my callus-ridden hands. Scowling, I bent over to rest for a minute, the bell was about to ring anyway. And I was out of spears for the moment.

As soon as the class had finished, I waited aside for a while, trying to recover my breath as much as I could. And walked towards Valeska once most of the other students had already gone off to their free period.

The class had been fine, with some small sparring on the side. Then focusing on improving our technique in different ways. Mannequins, sandbags (often filled with things way more durable than sand), and different kinds of training implements in general.

I broke two spears and used two grenades to try my form against a reinforced steel doll. But made barely a scratch... I needed to get myself some better weaponry, that was without question. But even trying with my semblance and hand-to-hand combat had not wielded the results I was looking for... And that was not even the main problem, to begin with.

It had been individual combat class. One of the many classes Zaratova was in charge of teaching within Haven. It was normally one of the classes I didn’t have a lot of problems with...

But lately, after the whole deal with the Dust ward Killer. I had been feeling a little stiff during it. A little insecure about a lot of things involving my performance during that ill-fated night, and I was afraid my discontent with myself was becoming noticeable.

Sure, the killer was dead. And I didn’t mind not being the one who finished him off, I wasn’t so petty as to assume the world revolved around me like that... It was just that I would have liked to be able to help a little more.

I had practically done nothing during the whole fight. And that was supposed to be my whole deal. To go in there and risk my life if necessary so the other actors could have more freedom of action. Needless to say, I had failed at almost every level.

Sure, bottom line, we can say I and the rest of the students in the car had at least kept the Geists distracted for a while, but that was beside the point, we shouldn’t even have been delayed by those things in the first place. At least I shouldn’t have.

It was my idea to chase after the killer in the first place. But apparently, I didn’t have what it took to walk the walk. And as a result, I had endangered my fellow students... That wouldn’t stand. It was something that needed to be fixed. And to do so, first I needed to address it with someone who knew their business.

I had thought about Shadecloak at first since she’s been here the longest of them all. But in the end, I figured out that if I had a combat teacher, it would be pretty damn disrespectful for me to go with someone else. Besides, Shadecloak may even have sent me with Zaratova anyway.

-Uh... Excuse me, professor Zaratova. Do you have a minute? I kinda wanted to ask you about a couple problems I’ve been having in regards to my skills... All things you have probably noticed already-

She had been our homeroom teacher for about a month or so. And had picked individual combat shortly after. So I was sure she realized I was not exactly the fastest of students, nor the more flippy. And that I didn’t have a good endurance either... And that I couldn’t aim to save my life...

Yeah, I think the point was clear. I had a lot of areas I was finding myself unable to improve. And I wasn’t satisfied with the thing I supposedly was good at either.

All in all. My skills had been more or less enough up to this point, but I would really need to step up my game from now on if I was going to face what was to come. And I needed someone to push me in the right direction.

On a related note, Chloro and I had finished the dog retrieval mission some weeks ago. But decided against going on more dangerous missions for a while. Valeska had been right back then. We were not ready to work as a team. And I hoped the professor would offer some advice here as well.

-So... Are you free right now?- I asked with a hopeful smile on my face. Fixing a stray lock that had slipped from the ponytail I often used when training or fighting. I didn’t know if it was okay to be taking her time away like this, but I could always come back later if she was busy.

---

812 / 812 Words

[Valeska Zolotova]

This was a lot harder than she thought it would be.

The hard part wasn't so much the students. Her specialty for the last five or so years was defense, so she was used to speaking with people in remote villages and explaining her ideas. She knew how to deal with people stubborn enough to avoid living in the kingdoms despite it being far more dangerous, so particularly stubborn students weren't that irritating and she knew how to direct those feelings towards something more useful. The sheer number of people she had to watch closely to make sure their forms were correct, among other things, was fairly difficult just because of the sheer amount of things she had to keep track of.

But even that didn't compare to the real challenge. Physically keeping up with everyone and demonstrating techniques properly turned out to be far more difficult than she was expecting. Resilience and endurance were her strong points, and likely the only reason she was even able to stand on her own again, let alone walk. Feeling actual fatigue like this was completely foreign to her. It shouldn't have been surprising. After being bedridden for so long, she lost considerably muscle mass and endurance and needed time to build that back up. Further, her body was still healing, which took energy. She knew that she was going to have to pace herself for these classes, but she didn't expect it to be this bad.

By the end of class she was breathing heavily and really needed to sit down. Her leg and arm probably hurt as much as her students' did even though she was doing far less work. Once people started filing out of the training room, she took a seat on a nearby bench to rest and started chugging the water she brought with her. She wasn't sure if someone needed this room for the next period of classes, but she figured she could get out of there by then if necessary. She probably didn't need to sit too long. Fortunately, sitting in such an obvious place like this made her easy to find so students were able to approach her easily.

"Yes, I'm free." She nodded after taking a deep breath because of how much water she was drinking. "What do you want to ask about?"

Without knowing anything about Bianca's skills, it was difficult to tell whether or not she was doing worse than usual, but she could tell that Bianca hadn't been happy with her performance. Rather than trying to make assumptions and guess at what the problem was, she just waited and listened. Hopefully she wouldn't sound too out of breath.

---

447/447

[Bianca Sabbato]

Nodding, I approached the professor once it was clear she was willing to listen for a few. Even if she looked like she had been trying to ride an alpha beowulf for the past hour... It wasn’t hard to guess the reason for this, but if she was feeling alright, I wouldn’t push it.

Now, onto the question of how to address this... I guess it was better if I explained the source of the problem first. Since that had been the catalyst for all of this. Taking a deep breath, I began my recollection.

-Well, boss. You see... A couple nights ago, when the whole deal with the Dust ward killer happened. I wanted to go and help. I had him on sight, but I couldn’t even reach him, he was way too fast. That led me to hitch a ride with Erytheia and Opal... But...-

Pausing for a second, I couldn’t help but look down in shame for a moment. I had really fucked up right then, right? Had it been only me, I wouldn’t mind. I wanted to think I was ready to go and get hurt for a mission if that was necessary. But I probably didn’t have any right to drag other people to my bullshit. It was I who needed to prove my worth, not them.

-That didn’t end up well. And I just put my schoolmates in danger... Later that night, I tried to pursue another criminal that was roaming around. I couldn’t catch her either-

And that had been probably what bothered me the most. I had been completely useless. I didn't arrest the girl to go focus on the killer. Was unable to even touch him, and by the time the horned girl appeared again. She had regained enough strength to give me the slip as well. So in the end I did jackshit because I underestimated everyone’s capabilities.

The council was taking enough risks with merely having me here. I needed to produce results. So I couldn't allow myself to come to these roadblocks without trying my darndest to find a way through.

-There are some other things... But for now, I think that’s the more pressing problem. So I guess my question is... How do you engage an opponent that is way faster than you?-

I finally reached the meat and potatoes of the matter. I was fairly sure I could beat the moon-themed girl had she stayed there to fight. But from the moment she started running away, I was at a disadvantage, and she wasn’t even that fast, to begin with.

Valeska was an experienced huntress. Or at least I figured that out, if not for her wounds, because of the simple fact that she was teaching here at Haven in the first place. I was sure she must at least know of someone who faced a similar problem to mine.

-I’m not fast. I’ve been trying to improve, but I’m unable to. Probably something to do with not eating well when I was younger or something. That, or because my training was so specialized-

I called out preemptively, wanting to discard the obvious solution from the get-go. Yeah. I simply couldn’t run as fast as people like Kishka, Argent, or Rose. I never had a need to do so before. Since they always paired me with relatively fast people when I was in the band. Even that potato girl Russet made a more than decent job at pursuing runners and the like.

So my job had always been a very straightforward one. Go in, take the blows. Strike hard and fast. Rinse and repeat. So training my speed and stamina had never been a concern. Better for everyone to know their place or something like that.

-I can cheat for a while using my semblance to make me faster, or able to run longer. But... My aura is pretty small, so I burn it really quickly if I try to do that-

Of course. Could I go as fast as Kishka? Sure! For about 15 seconds before I find myself devoid of an aura, going way faster than my body could handle and without a wait of stopping my momentum. I knew it very well, I tried. So that could be used in an emergency, but it didn’t go further than that.

-So I’m kinda stuck for now... My first instinct is to keep doing what I’m doing and training aura control until some idea pops up in my mind. But that option it’s maybe... Too reactive? Like, I don’t think depending on an eventual epiphany is a healthy mindset-

Most of the books on aura control in the library had passed through my hands during my year here, even if briefly. They had been of great use thus far. But I felt like I had reached a wall with that. Like there was still something left for me to figure out...

Anyway. Maybe Valeska had any ideas on how to approach this? I didn’t know a lot of her, besides what could be inferred by anyone with half a brain. So I was looking forward to hearing what she had to say.

-Have you ever had something like that happen to you? How do you overcome someone who technically should have skills that counter yours?-

---

890 / 1702 Words

[Valeska Zolotova]

She listened intently as Bianca meandered around her point. That was pretty normal when talking about something difficult, so she just absorbed the context and let Bianca go into whatever details she thought was important. If anything, she got to the point sooner than expected considering how uncomfortable the faunus sounded. Once the important question came, a wide knowing smile spread across her lips, she looked down, and chuckled lightly, quickly stifling it as to avoid interrupting. This was an issue she was very familiar with.

"The short answer is you don't. The long answer makes it sound less hopeless."

She looked back up and smiled, taking another swig of water before continuing. Looking at her, Bianca really was built somewhat similarly to her. It didn't come as a surprise that they had some of the same weaknesses.

"Before I explain, I want to make one thing clear. Your lack of mobility has nothing to do with your training -- or a lack of training. Picture some of the fastest people you know. They probably all have some similar traits. Long legs, at least proportionally if they're not tall, thinner, especially in the upper body, and are often flexible. You don't have a lot of those traits. I don't either, and I've never been very fast myself. Training can improve someone's physical capabilities up to a point. At some point, you'll start running into walls because of genetics or whatever else might cause it. That doesn't mean you should give up entirely, just that you should recognize what your own strengths and weaknesses are, and what your classmates' strengths and weaknesses are. It's also important to remember, that you're training to be a Huntress. Your classmates are some of the best in Mistral. I bet if you raced an auraless person, you'd be able to outrun them with no problem. An auraless sprinter might be able to keep up with you if they were one of the best sprinters. It's important to keep that perspective because constantly comparing yourself to some of the very best and being upset when you can't match them by every standard is not healthy."

That was more long-winded than she intended, but it was important to say. Sometimes people were just better at something. That wasn't a failing, just a reality that everyone has to face. Her throat was a bit dry after talking so much, so she paused and drank the rest of her water before continuing. That was unfortunate because with a topic this complex, she was probably going to need more water.

"If you simply chase someone, the faster person will decide whether or not a fight happens and where it happens. So, the simplest way to catch up to them, is to make them want to come to you," she paused for a moment to let the words settle. "There's several ways you can do this. If you know what your enemy's objective is, you can wait nearby for them to show up, or take it with you if it's something you can carry. If you have some idea of where they're going, it may be possible to take a different route to get there first. All of this depends on how much you know.

"You also don't have to fight alone. It's very common for people to work with others to cover their weaknesses. One example is to have a faster person lure the target towards you, but there's lots of options. If you don't think you can catch up to someone in a chase, then calling for backup is a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

"I doubt any of these ideas are revolutionary. The point is, if you don't think you can be fast, then be aware of that weakness and try to compensate for it. Try to be smart, improve your tactics knowledge, your ability to read where your target is going and what they're trying to do. Failing that, take missions that compliment your skillset. I was very good at defense and holding positions, so I often took missions like that. If I took an offensive mission, it was typically the kind where I could just be airdroped into an area and annihilate everything around me without moving. I was never fast either, but as long as there was a spot I could hold that faster enemies would have to go through, I could fight them effectively.

"So, let's step away from being fast. What are you the best at?"

---

752/1199

[Bianca Sabbato]

I saw Valeska chuckle briefly, and then smile as she assured me that, even though there was not a lot that could be done, not all hope was lost. And I was suddenly much more focused on what the professor had to tell me about it. Even so, I still tried to smile back at her as I calmly kneeled on the floor in front of her.

Once I was comfortable, I set my attention on her words. Resting my chin on my knuckles, I considered Valeska’s words. And considered them hard. Yes, the reason I couldn’t improve in certain areas might have been because of anatomy and the like.

Who were the fastest people I knew? Well, both Argent and Ryan were tall as fuck, Kishka also had the kind of body the professor mentioned. Rose had the aid of her semblance and Powehi... I had honestly no idea about her, as she always wore loose clothing, but it was likely the same.

She was probably on point about how futile was trying to match everyone else in everything. But that wouldn’t be a problem itself if I had a way to offset that. In all honestly, I was probably looking at this from the wrong angle, I didn’t need to be a fast person... I only needed to know how to stop fast people... Nonetheless, I nodded in agreement.

-I guess you are right, I would have no business being here if I couldn’t even stop an auraless person-

In regards to the next topic, it was probably something I needed to be reminded of. I had spent too long fighting people whose only option was to fight back. From people who knew they couldn’t live in hiding forever, to students that absolutely had to duel you per the rules of engagement. And grimm... I was probably pretty good killing grimm since even the ones with ranged capabilities often used them to chase you down or match you if you chose to fight at a distance.

But people were not grimm. And with me being a grown-ass huntress in training, I couldn’t play the surprise factor either. They would know from the get-go if they had a chance of taking me down or not, and if they didn’t, then there was no reason for them to stay.

-I think I get the gist of what you are saying there. Like, I should take the agency off me and pool it all over my target. Make them be the ones that do the job of getting close for me. To try and force the engagement...- I muttered back in agreement. Of course, it was only natural that a normal person would avoid confrontation unless absolutely necessary. So I needed to either give them a reason to fight me or to take away all of their options.

No, they were not revolutionary ideas. But they didn’t even matter, we could spend the whole day discussing possible scenarios. What really mattered was the principle of it, and Valeska seemed to know it like the back of her hand... In regards to calling for backup though...

-About that... I would honestly still prefer to have a way to deal with it by myself whenever possible. I’m not always gonna have a lot of back-ups, to begin with. And even then I have to consider carefully if It’s convenient to call for it... Uh... I wouldn’t want to call for another student or huntsman to pursue something that could be dangerous to them and have them be isolated by it...-

After all, what was the logic of having me out there in the field if all I was going to do was risk other people’s lives because of my shortcomings? No. Backup was all fine and dandy from time to time, but I also needed a way to handle things myself like a big girl. It was the bare minimum I could do.

Her next question took me a little by surprise, so I needed a couple seconds to gather my thoughts about it. What was I good at? Probably not at holding a position, if the attack lasts for too long, I can easily see myself getting burned out in the middle of the fray.

My mind jumped immediately to single target elimination, but saying it like that sounded both weird and pretentious. So I made a gesture for the professor to wait for me for a few seconds before answering the best way I could.

-Uhh... That airdrop thing you mentioned... Yeah... That actually sounds like an apt comparison. Do they still do that? I feel like I would be good at doing that...- Of course, my explanation was also vague as fuck, so I figured out Valeska was probably expecting something a little more elaborate.

-In other words. I guess dishing damage is the best I can do... And I know that is what most people will say if you ask them. But it’s pretty much the truth. It’s not like I think any less of people specialized in other areas. On the contrary, I lack the particular skills to be good at things like rescue operations so...-

Cringing a little, I realized I was probably overexplaining and getting ahead of myself regarding what the professor would think about my answer (Likely achieving the opposite desired effect as well). But I was having a hard time stopping myself, especially in front of authority figures, even the ones that seemed as friendly as Zolotova.

-...Yeah, I guess that is what I got going on for me. Doing a lot of damage in a short time. I handle myself well enough at ranged, but I can truly work my best in close quarters... So there’s that, and I also try to be good enough at avoiding damage so I don’t get nuked as soon as a fight starts-

I finished my explanation, falling silent for a second to see if something else came to mind. But that pretty much summed it up, I knew how to really fuck people/grimm up... And that was about it... Huh. When put like that, it sounds a little sad. And it made me want to add a little something else, at least not to sound like a mindless barbarian. After a brief moment, I got something that I thought was probably good enough to mention.

-I think I’m also decent at multitasking and the like? I mean, I can do many things at the same time, shake things up from a lot of different angles. So I shouldn’t have such a hard time dealing with multiple things at once. Or overwhelming a single opponent-

Apparently, that was a thing both my mom and grandma were also good at, something related to being born with an extra limb building up our coordination better than most people. There was a non-zero chance of it being just bullshit your parents tell you when you are young. But it was worth considering.

-It’s not a lot, but I think I can manage to be useful even with as little as that... It’s just... You know, it’s a very limited area of usefulness. And I even fear I may be approaching a plateau in some aspects of it-

---

1217 / 2919 Words

[Valeska Zolotova]

"Correct. You don't engage them, they engage you. You just have to give them a reason to do so."

She nodded to confirm that Bianca was understanding what she was saying, then listened until the faunus was done talking. That said, she made no effort to hide what she was thinking while Bianca talked. Her eyebrows went up and she frowned when Bianca started talking about backup, she nodded along and looked contemplative when she started talking about her strengths, and she just looked confused at the filler. There was a reason she asked for what Bianca was best at: she was only expecting one thing. Getting more wasn't a surprise, but getting some weird humble bragging was.

In other words, Bianca had a bit of an ego.

It wasn't the same kind of ego Valeska had when she was younger. Hers was more confidence and arrogance, along with the belief that all those rules and teachers were just holding her back. Her aura was absurdly strong, so it was easy to feel like she was invincible when most people couldn't even scratch her. Bianca seemed to have the low self-esteem variant where she constantly felt the need to prove herself instead. That had to be beaten out of her as quickly as possible. She folded her arms and her expression became far more stern as she started speaking again.

"You won't be able to do everything. It is not possible for one person to be able to do everything a Huntress needs to be able to do at high enough level to solve every crisis. That's why we have specialties and teams. You have to be very aware of your strengths and weaknesses to know which missions you will be effective at and which ones you should leave to others. Failing to do so, and attempting to do everything yourself, will only result in judgement errors, failure, and people getting hurt or worse. But this is something you have experience in. You just told me about your experience with the Dust Ward Killer."

Valeska may not have been there, but she did read everything she could about it. Someone being possessed by Grimm and being able to unleash several in the middle of the city was unprecedented, and figuring out what to do was important. And difficult because someone killed the killer before he could be questioned. Even if she couldn't offer her fighting skills anymore, she could still offer her experience and her brain and had put a great deal of effort to understand the situation. Thus, even without Bianca's brief explanation, she already understood a lot about the situation. Bianca's explanation just gave her more context.

"Rather than handle an incapacitated criminal, the same one who later killed the Dust Ward Killer before we could question him if I'm not mistaken, you decided to pursue a criminal who was considerably faster than you. Enough so that you would never be able to catch him. You must have moved past several Grimm on the way too because he was releasing them throughout the city while he moved, and you continued to try to pursue him rather than destroy the Grimm. You had no business trying to chase someone like that with your current skills, but you could have lessened the damage the Grimm in the city did if you had fought them instead. That is why it's important to know what you're capable of, what your enemies are capable of, and what your teammates are capable of. Most importantly, you have to be able to swallow your pride and acknowledge that someone else may be better for a given situation than you are."

That was a harsh way to put it, but this wasn't something that should be sugar-coated. That was a bad call, and it was her job to help Bianca make better ones in the future. Once her lecture was over, her expression softened and she smiled slightly.

"Of course, that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to improve. That mistake has already been made, so all you can do is try to learn from it. Now, let's talk about what you can do now."

She steepled her fingers and rested her nose against them. If Bianca tried to talk back, she'd gesture to try to get her to stop. If that didn't work, she'd shake her head slightly and give a stare that would hopefully discourage the faunus from attempting further. She still had more to say, she just needed a moment to compose her thoughts.

Bianca's skillset was a bit unfortunate. She described her skillset as something like an assassin: someone that goes in, hits hard, then gets out, except that she was tough instead of fast, making her unable to get in or out, but unable to actually stay and fight for long periods of time. There was still a lot Bianca could do with such a skillset, but it would require a bit of expansion for her to be able to get the most out of it. Fortunately, there were several paths she could go down depending on what appealed to her.

"It sounds like you'd be good at fighting Grimm and escort missions. Types of missions where closing will be fairly straightforward, or where there's a target that the enemy would have to capture or destroy. Unlike sieges, escort missions tend to have fairly quick encounters. If you could improve your stamina and staying power, I think you'd be good at defense in general. If you improved your ranged capabilities, you would be excellent at escorting because it would mean you could stop ambushes more quickly. If you improved your ability to conceal yourself, you would likely be very good at ambushes yourself.

"So let's start there. What kind of missions are you hoping to be able to take as a Huntress?"

---

980/2179

[Bianca Sabbato]

I listened attentively as Valeska started her explanation about no one being able to do everything on their own. I knew that she was technically right about that on paper ... But another part of me really wanted to point out the fact that this was not ten years ago when huntsmen were supposedly plentiful.

There were very few huntsmen nowadays. And let’s be real, everybody was kinda winging it at this point. So simply waiting for someone more qualified than yourself to come and solve the problem would simply not cut it. Chances were if you didn’t try it yourself, then no one would come by.

I still accepted it, But I had to arch an eyebrow in disbelief when she talked about swallowing my pride after mentioning how I had chosen to ignore lesser Grimm to try and follow the big one. Like, bitch. I know I made a mistake but saying something like that was stepping way out of line. Professor or not.

-Professor. I know I took really bad decisions, and if you think I also need to work out on my pride, I’ll accept it. but I would really appreciate it if you didn’t suggest I just let people die due to a matter of pride...- A lot of things I could accept, or at least tolerate. Even more, I knew I deserved... That was not one of them. Even if she could say I was proving her point by saying so.

For the same reason, I didn’t think of returning her smile after she dismissed the topic. You wanna talk seriously? You talk seriously. You think it’s something you need to address? You do it, or you don’t drop shit like that just to move on as nothing happened.

Whatever the case, it seemed like Valeska wasn’t done talking, so I let her carry on while I meditated about the whole ordeal.

I mean, it just sounded like the sensible thing to do at the time, kill the spawner so he stops summoning more Grimm. Pretty much what you should do when facing things like Queen Lancers and the like... Yes, we probably passed Grimm along the way. Killing them would have lessened the damage to the city? Of course. But I was fairly sure the same could be said if the killer had run away and I had decided not to try and pursue the bigger threat.

But hindsight has a tendency to be a bitch. Especially with split-second decisions. While that Deraine guy sent an emergency beacon requesting assistance, Kishka and Argent were dealing with a terrorist in the upper district, and I had no idea of where Carmim was. So I did what I considered better with the resources at hand. And even considering all this, my choice still sucked and I would change it if I could go back.

But would I gain something by complaining about things beyond my control? Most likely not. Haven didn’t work as a cohesive unit for some reason or another, that was the advantage groups like the Kozaks had over us, and there was not a lot I could do to change that at the moment. So I was left better focusing on what I could actually do.

I nodded when she mentioned working out ways to improve my current situation. Deciding to shut the hell up and let the woman continue talking. If I had succeeded I would have a better case to make in my favor, but I didn’t. I failed. So I didn’t have that kind of leeway. And hearing it from someone else was probably something I needed. Next time, I would stop and think for a second before pulling shit like that.

Now, onto what missions I was hoping to take. That was an important question and likely one of the main reasons I was here having this conversation with the professor in the first place... And the truth was...

-What kind of missions? Well... I’m not sure anymore. If you asked me a month before. I would have mentioned bounty, or search and destroy a thing I should be able to handle and that was expected of me... But we see how that turned out-

I cupped my chin with my hand, reflecting for a second about what exactly to answer Zolotova, considering the options she brought to the table a minute ago. They were good advice, probably a little push in the right direction for this whole thing.

-And... I don’t think I really care about the mission type. I just wanna go do stuff I can be decent at, to be helpful... I need to prove that I can be useful and get the results to justify that this...- I motioned with my arm to no place in particular, but the area around o me wanting to point out the whole situation without having to use the words. -...Was not a mistake-

Rubbing my temple. I frowned as I considered the implications of keeping failing like this. Deals in general were pretty straightforward. You did your part, and you got your reward. If you were not useful, you got nothing. If you committed a mistake, you fixed it or you paid back for it. With this in mind, I was bent on not being a waste of oxygen because I didn't like where that could lead me.

However, things were not always so black and white. Especially when other people besides you were involved. -But still, I know that is no one else’s problem but mine. So I don’t want results at the expense of others, or else what is the fucking point?-

I said with a noticeable degree of dejectedness in my tone. So I shut up immediately once I realized, bowing my head slightly as an apology. Sighing heavily, I shook my head and decided to stop with the weird tangents and to return to the relevant topic.

-...You mentioned escort missions... I don’t think I have considered those. At least not seriously. But if you think I could be well suited for that, I’d like to give it a shot with some simple ones at first. But before that I should work on improving my ranged capabilities, right? I guess that goes hand in hand with improving my semblance in my case...-

Escort sounded good, with a clear objective and clear instructions I could follow quite easily. It sounded nice, to be honest. I was even getting a little excited to try it out, which was probably a first for me. It may stunt my growth quite a bit... But at the end of the day, I could just offset that with more training, since my body would likely be more rested from doing those missions.

Stealth also sounded interesting, but it was better to take things one at a time for now. In case I decided to try that approach, I knew an expert like Shadecloack who could help me go through that. And if she was busy, then maybe... Maybe Chloro could give me a couple pointers, depending on what the hell she decided to do after all.

---

1197 / 4116 Words

[Valeska Zolotova]

"I suggested no such thing," she shook her head. Despite how direct and curt her words were, her tone was gentle. "I have no doubt that you did what you thought was best with the information you had at the time. If I thought otherwise, I'd be pushing that point far harder. What I'm worried about was exactly what you described: feeling like you have to prove that you're worth something. Feeling like you're letting down everyone around you or making their lives harder can really hurt. Don't doubt how much those feelings can affect you and cloud your judgement. It's okay that you can't do everything. That doesn't make you a failure, it makes you human."

That was why she felt like starting with Bianca's strengths was the right way to go. Build her confidence, help her find her niche where she can feel good about her accomplishments, show her how to use her existing skills to create situations she would excel in, and then let her focus on rounding out her weaknesses a bit. Bianca probably would have to work on some of her weaknesses eventually, but figuring out the best way to use her strengths would make her a more effective fighter in the long run anyway. Bianca's mobility problems may not even be fixable. Her own weren't. It came with carrying a weapon ten times her size and a semblance that required precise control. And short legs. Those probably didn't help.

Valeska stood up and stretched. It looked like she was probably going to be pushing her body pretty hard today, but that was expected on combat training days. It was why her doctors said she shouldn't teach those classes or do private lessons that required heavy exertion two days in a row. Fortunately, that meant she could still go all out today as long as she rested tomorrow.

"Escort missions are one of those types where your enemies will have to attack one point and you know exactly where that point is. They'll probably be setting up ambushes and attacking at range at first -- charging straight into armed guards tends to be a terrible idea after all. Your defensive skills should be useful in making it difficult for people to pick at the target or your allies. If you could learn how to detect traps, which areas you're likely to be ambushed from, and how to prevent your opponents from retreating or repositioning, then I think you'd be feared by bandits everywhere. And if your opponents are Grimm, I think you'd have an even easier time since they don't tend to run away."

Learning about the first two in her list would also help Bianca with setting up her own ambushes, something she would probably also be very good at if she could learn how to hide effectively. As Bianca already knew, stealth was not her forte, so she wouldn't be talking about that too much. Someone like Shadecloak would be far more effective. Instead, she would focus on what she knew best: how to defend points and make it difficult for people to approach.

"How familiar are you with the concept of controlling space?"

---

530/2709

[Bianca Sabbato]

Uhh... It seemed like I overreacted to things... As usual, just one mistake after the... No, Fuck! That was exactly what Valeska was talking about, I kept going back to that shitty line of thought! Damnit, why did I have to be like this? It was not the end of the world just because I misread some conversation cues!

I mean. Of course, I was ashamed about it and lowered my head accordingly. But that was life, misunderstandings happened. And I, for once, was glad that this had been one of those. She was right, if she truly believed that, then she would have committed more to the point. So I took a deep breath and analyzed the situation.

Somehow I managed to get myself into a really weird spot. So It would do me good if I lowered my fucking defenses already, considering I was apparently in heat-seeking mode when the woman was just trying to help me. So I tried to speak sincerely for a while.

-I understand what you are saying, but... How I’m not supposed to think I have to prove myself somewhat? That’s the whole point of probation, after all...-

Especially with so many students going rogue one after the other. It just felt like a sword was danging over my head, like that famous fable we all know.

Sure, I got the commodities of Haven, food, shelter, education, and much, much more. But it could all be cut short just as easily as it was granted, it may never happen, but it also might happen within the week. And that kind of got me on edge.

Besides. Actions have consecuences. And I had to own up to mine however I could, therefore I didn't want to catch myself doing anything less than my best... That was just the right thing to do, probably...

That being said, I could easily see how I could fuck up if I obsessed over it. So I needed to learn how to take a loss better, to use it as a chance to learn.

-But you are still right, though. No one can be expected to do everything. And thinking like that will only hurt my capacities in the end...- Sighing, I looked at Valeska getting up from her seat, and took it as a cue to do the same before continuing -... Every tool has a use, I just need to find mine and don’t let that cloud my judgment... So thank you, for that-

As the woman started stretching, it seemed like she was preparing herself to continue her lecture about missions. This was a nice change of topic, but before she could start, I still felt like I needed to say one last thing about the whole previous exchange.

-By the way, sorry for jumping to the worst conclusion... It’s something I tend to do, apparently. At least that’s what the therapy guy said, but I don’t think you deserved that... And I’m talking too much again, sorry for that as well- I said in the most awkward way imaginable... But at least that was already done, so I could fully focus on what came next.

I would pay close attention to the professor's lessons, she was older and more experienced, if she believed I was best suited to a specific task then it must mean something. So I would carefully consider her advice. I needed to acquire every advantage I could get to make the cut...

I managed to wing it thus far into my education, but that wouldn’t cut it anymore. Haven was filled to the brim with plenty of resources I could use, it was time for me to start seriously taking advantage of them.

I hummed in contemplation as she began explaining the generalities of escort missions. It sounded interesting, preparation seemed really important, so if I was going to be taking those, I probably needed to start investing time in learning how to read maps better, and geography in general. Along with books in military strategy so I could foresee where an attack was more likely and how to outsmart them.

Plus, I already knew people who could help me with that. Kishka was good at strategy, Fable was good at tracking, Chloro was good at stealth. And there was the rest of the Haven staff as well... It would be just a matter of going to the right people.

I was mulling over those things when Valeska’s question took me out of my groove. I tried to formulate a good answer, but in the end, I wasn’t really sure of what she meant by that, maybe we had the same idea with different names, or maybe she was talking about something entirely different.

-Controlling space? Huh... Depends on what you mean by that. You mean like footwork? Or maybe something on a bigger scale like tactics and similar?-

Whatever the case, I was really interested to see what Zolotova was trying to bring to the table.

---

836 / 4952 Words

[Valeska Zolotova]

She paused, stopping in place mid-stretch, staying that way for just long enough to be noticeable. While she intended to jump straight into tactics after introducing the idea, should she after hearing something like that? It was far from the first time she heard someone describe themselves as a tool, but it still made her skin crawl. It probably always would. That was such a terrible way for anyone to think of themselves, but it was especially terrible for people that were constantly throwing themselves into dangerous situations. Part of her wanted to sit back down and talk that out.

Would that accomplish anything though? Having an authority figure berate her for her self-image didn't seem helpful. That seemed like the kind of thing that Bianca needed to figure out for herself. It was a little bit painful, but she didn't comment on it. Words were weak. Results were likely the only thing that would help. So, she finished loosening up her muscles and put her hands on her hips.

"It's no trouble at all, there was no harm done. I promise I looked like this long before you were slightly rude to me," she chuckled lightly. "So let's get started shall we? Hm, I wouldn't call this a tactic, but it's a basis for several."

She held out her arm directly in front of her, leaving it perfectly straight. Then, she moved it to her side, not bending it at all, then moved it back. She moved it back and forth in a quarter circle a few times making it clear the distance that arm could reach.

"This is how long my arm is. Anyone that enters that range," she continued moving her arm from her front to her side, "Will have to worry about it. You could say that I'm threatening that entire space in front of me. Anyone that wants to move through that space can't ignore that my arm is there and can hit them. This is probably the simplest way for slowpokes like us to fight against people that are much faster than us. If we know where they need to go, then we just have to make it difficult to go through that space."

Some golden sparks started moving between the plates on her weapon coiled around that arm. Gradually, it started expanding, each plate shifting into place to form a shield more than twice her size. She didn't bother fully fanning it out, something this size should make her point clear enough.

"I did this with long-range artillery and my semblance. My semblance is fairly slow, but it's thorough. It makes me difficult to approach." More sparks started moving between the numerous metal plates that made up her weapon and it started coiling back around her arm. "So let's think about your current tools. You fight with a spear, a longer range melee weapon. That kind of weapon is good for something like this as it lets you strike enemies from a distance, and is very effective against enemies on vehicles or other mounts, and large Grimm. As long as you're outdoors, your semblance will allow you to strike quickly in unexpected directions." She took several large steps backwards. "With that in mind, how would you go about closing enough distance to strike at me with your spear, and how would you do the reverse? Stop me from getting close enough to you where I could strike you with my fist?"

---

578/3287

[Bianca Sabbato]

I didn’t fail to notice the professor turning as still as a statue in the middle of her stretching. I didn’t pay it any mind at first, but as the seconds passed it was starting to become noticeable. Whatever the case, she seemed to recover as suddenly as she had stopped, so it didn’t go beyond a raised eyebrow.

After the fact she looked much less tense, so I focused on listening to her explanation, nodding every now and then to let her know I was following her.

If I was getting things right, in this scenario the enemy absolutely had to deal with her to advance their plans. So they could either retreat and it was their loss, or be funneled towards the zone Valeska was threatening.

I saw her display her weapon, it looked like some sort of shield made of multiple interconnected pieces. The thing was probably top-grade material so I felt confident assuming it was something really tough to break, especially when empowered by Valeska’s aura.

She kept explaining a couple concepts, before posing the question of how would I approach her if I was trying to get close enough to hit her.

-You have a blind spot on the right side of your field of view. And you are likely weaker on that side as well. So I can circle and approach from there to keep you on your toes. This means it’s in your best interest to keep me in a straight line in front of you, and I have to avoid that at all costs-

I said immediately and matter of factly. Was I a little direct? Yes, but it was also true and very obvious from the get-go, so I believed it more respectful to avoid beating around the bush on that.

Every little factor counted in a fight. Just as Valeska had her particularities, every enemy would have something I could exploit, even if it wouldn't be so evident. Beyond that, there were a couple generalizations you could de about someone going by the weapons they used.

-You have another blind spot, the fact that you fight with a shield. That also covers a substantial part of your field of vision... I’m not overly familiar with your semblance, but I want to keep you guessing where to attack anyway. Better risk an attack targeting me at random that with your awareness-

Of course, the enemy having a sturdy shield was absolute shit for my particular weapon. So this was pretty much the worst-case scenario already, meaning I would take whatever I could get out of it.

-The fact that you use a shield... It means your legs are the weaker spot in your defense, comparatively. So I could feint a blow to the head, and strike to the legs once you cover yourself. Preferentially from the right side of your body... Or I could even try and sweep your legs with my tail, that’s something most don’t account for in my experience-

Humans, in particular, were easy to surprise like this. As they tend to overlook that animal traits don’t need to be merely aesthetic. Plus, bring a human into the darkness and you have half the fight done.

-That sounds like something I would try to do. But it would be extremely unlikely that you’d fall for something like that two times in a row... If I have access to my semblance, I could try to prepare a big hit from one of your weak spots to ger myself an opening. Or even two different ones, one flashy and noticeable to get your attention and another more subtle but packing the real punch-

I said as I cupped my chin in contemplation. I began circling around Valeska’s in a clockwise motion unless she asked me to stop. Trying to insert me into the imaginary scenario as deeply as I could to see if I was missing something.

-And if I can, I need to force you to move. If you chose that place to make your stand it must be for a reason... Now regarding how to prevent you from getting here...-

I gave a couple steps back like Valeska had done before, taking the time to think some basic considerations about how to prevent her from getting close.

-If I have access to my semblance, I would use it to try and limit your lateral movement or pin you down somewhat, that way my spear will have an advantage against most enemies. Against you in particular, who have admitted to being heavy and not very fast yourself, I would try to fuck with the terrain under your feet to give you a harder time moving and to buy more angles for me to counter-attack-

That sounded in line with her lesson thus far. If she was fast, I didn’t want her zooming, if she was a juggernaut, then I wanted to keep her at arm's length... Figuratively, in reality, I wanted her a lot further away if possible.

-In case you manage to get inside. I need a second line of defense, so I would step back, get the spear close to my body and be prepared to strike with both the blade and the butt of the weapon like a quarterstaff. Or I could try to retreat and lay a trap or some shit-

As I explained my reasoning, I began to understand better exactly why we had fucked up so badly when in pursuit of the killer. Getting in the car made us fast, but paradoxically messed up any semblance of lateral movement we could have. It also limited our freedom of movement, so the Gheist had it easy time pinning us down inside the car.

No joke it had been easy to trap us. We bundled together in a neat package for him to take down. The realization was bitter, but probably a needed one. Next time we might not be so lucky.

-So... Yeah, I think I would do something like that, focus on trying to limit your options to what best suits me to engage you on my terms-

---

1025 / 5977 Words

[Valeska Zolotova]

Valeska grinned, an especially toothy grin given the state of her face. Bianca's analysis wasn't perfect, but it was pretty solid assuming the faunus hadn't looked at anything in her public record and thus knew nothing about how she fought. Her style was unconventional enough that she didn't blame Bianca for not knowing that she normally fought near blind even before her eyesight was destroyed unless the situation called for some serious precision. Blasting everything around her probably seemed weird for someone that specialized in defense to people that didn't know how she operated.

"Excellent. Your analytical skills will serve you well," she folded her arms and nodded. "Now, all of those ideas have one thing in common: they're all making me weaker and yourself stronger. They're not about getting in my face and beating down my aura, they're about limiting what I can do to you and what I can do to stop you from doing something to me. That's the funny thing about defense. You don't have to win, you just have to not lose."

She smiled again -- this one considerably less toothy -- and paused to let Bianca think about her words before continuing. The distinction was subtle, but important. Letting Bianca talk things out seemed to help her, so she was content to let Bianca do that before elaborating if she was so inclined.

"If your goal is to protect some cargo, then it doesn't matter if the people trying to steal it get away. It might be nice to capture them so they can't raid any more, but it's not strictly necessary. As long as the cargo is still there, you have achieved your goal. It's exactly what you talked about on a larger scale: understanding what your enemy wants versus what you want and then doing your best to limit their options while increasing your own.

"Let's talk about how to deal with fast people again. What can they do, and what can they not do?"

---

331/3681

[Bianca Sabbato]

I took the Valeska’s grin as a sign that I wasn’t too off the mark there, that was always nice to hear. Cupping my chin, I paid close attention to the professor's following words, finding myself particularly fixated in her last comment.

It sounded important. Made me wonder what was even a win in that situation... If I stopped a bandit group attacking a caravan and took them out, but five minutes later another tribe came and sacked the cargo, then that was a defeat even if I stopped the first group...

-It’s... Not about decisive victories, but about consistently not losing? Since beating you is not the only way for me to stay in the game. I would win even if you never came and that would actually be the ideal situation-

I replied tentatively, trying my best to put abstract ideas into words and hoping I was getting it right. And I was beginning to see why the professor suggested I tried escort missions. Especially considering why I came to speak to her in the first place.

-It’s about having a clear idea of what I want to do and working on achieving that... Because you never truly win, right? There is always some other person or cargo to safeguard, you just have to make sure to not lose for as long as you can-

Isn’t that what a huntress does after all? The Grimm are endless so people will always need protection, there is no real way to save the world and make it so everything is better forever after...

There will always be more bandits wanting to raid a caravan, always some unexpected circumstance that someone needed to address. That's the reason the academies were created in the first place, to provide the world with people who could take care of extreme situations like that.

Like any other, it was a job you could keep for life if you wanted. That’s the reason why most huntsmen died on the field even before the Fall increased the mortality rate tenfold.

It was... actually pretty shitty, not something I would have ever wanted to do myself before. But someone had to do it? Right? If not me then someone else.

Not for the first time, I wondered what would happen when I graduated. If someone asked me when I just got into Haven I would probably say to retire immediately and pursue something else... But nowadays I wasn’t so sure anymore, maybe I could keep working as a huntress for a couple years or so... Although that was not a definitive answer.

And that kinda made me feel like a piece of shit, in all honestly. But I knew that merely wanting to avoid those feelings was not a good reason for staying in the job either.

As Valeska began asking about fast opponents, I tried my best to remain as focused as I had been moments prior, but there was this thing bugging me in the back of my head that I couldn’t shake away so easily.

Time flew by, and soon enough it seemed like the lesson had ended. It was a damn good one, I took many things away from it both on a general and technical level. And I would even follow Valeska’s advice and try for escort missions, see if that was my niche after all.

But there was still something that I wanted to ask, even though I wasn’t sure how appropriate it would be. It was nothing bad, just... I don’t know, I guess it was a little hard to address.

-Hey, professor. Regarding what we spoke about before, about having a clear goal in mind... Do you mind if I ask you something completely unrelated? If that’s alright with you-

I had a feeling she would accept anyway, considering how open she seemed to be most of the time. But it didn’t hurt asking, and of course, it also gave me a couple extra seconds to gather courage and figure out how I was going to go about it.

-Why did you choose to become a huntress? Was there any particular reason or...- I began once I got her positive, it was close, really close, but it wasn’t what I really wanted to ask her, was it?

-What would you consider a good reason for becoming one?- I asked away, a part of me already dreading the response, whatever it may be.

---

742 / 6719 Words

[Valeska Zolotova]

"Yes. Our duty is to protect and help people, not to fight and kill people."

The former often involved the latter, which was why Huntresses were trained in combat, but it was important to never lose sight of the ultimate goal. When someone was fighting that often and focusing their training on fighting more effectively, it was easy to do.

If she was tired before their impromptu training session began, then she was exhausted now. It was such a strange feeling, especially since she wasn't pushing her body nearly as hard as she used to. In fact, she was making a point not to move around too much, certainly not more than necessary. That was going to take some getting used to. Before answering, she let Bianca know that she needed a second to get some water and then sat down to get comfortable again. After taking a good swig of water, she set down her water bottle, and steepled her hands under her chin in thought.

"Why I decided to become a Huntress," she smiled softly and let out a light chuckle as she recalled it. "The initial reason -- what got me interested in the first place -- was actually pretty silly. I was about eight I believe, and I was learning how to ski. Between the cold and a few tumbles, my aura unlocked and suddenly, everything was different. I was very young, and it happened so out of the blue that it felt almost magical," she chuckled again. "I swear I didn't even hit my head that hard.

"However, what really got me interested was that I was able to help my older sister. She twisted her ankle while showing me some techniques, and because I didn't have to worry about the cold and because I was suddenly noticeably stronger, I was able to take off my coat to use as a makeshift sled and pull her the rest of the way down the mountain so she could get it treated." She paused for a moment. "I should back up. I said I was eight, but I am the youngest of six. My sister was 21 at the time. She was -- and still is -- a gifted oil painter and seamstress, and was an adult while I was still a small child. Many of my siblings ended up being talented artists while I had no artistic talent myself. Even though I was considerably younger than many of them, I still compared what I could do to what they could do and often felt like I would never measure up. Being able to genuinely help them and to be able to do something that none of them could -- well, it meant something to my young self. So I learned how to use this power and how to fight. I ended up staying because I was good at it, and I found the work meaningful."

Saying all that out loud still made her feel a little silly. Her reasons weren't grand, and the realization that made her realize she could do something like this was mundane. It wasn't even combat practice that awakened her aura; just being eight, cold, and clumsy in heavy boots. She didn't think people needed a grand reason to become a Huntress. Despite that, she found the second part of Bianca's question harder to answer. Once again, she steepled her fingers under her chin and had to think, this time for a couple of minutes.

"I struggle to think of a bad reason to become a Huntress. About the only bad reason I can think of is becoming a Huntress to gain authority to lord over people. Even reasons that some people might find 'selfish' are fine in my opinion. Take money for example. Everyone needs to do something to earn a living right? If they have aura and combat skills, then I'd say becoming a Huntress is a better use of those skills than most anything else they could do with them. At least they made a conscious decision to make a difference instead of becoming a bandit or one of the other less savory options someone could choose with such a skill set."

She smiled wide again and turned to Bianca.

"I think a lot of people feel the need to have some nice sounding answer that'll impress people, but I think if a lot of people were being honest it'd be because it sounded really cool, or they knew or saw a Huntress they thought was really cool, or it made them feel really cool. I'm sure there are some people out there that have these grand reasons, but I doubt they're the majority. Teenagers don't tend to think like that, and until recently, that's when they had to make the decision to enter a combat school to have a good chance of getting into one of the big four academies."

---

817/4498

[Bianca Sabbato]

After a brief pause to let Valeska recover from our small training session, I could only smile as I heard the recollection of her first time discovering aura.

-That sounds adorable...- I said with a snort, unable to shake off the mental image of a chibi Valeska playing in the snow, marveling at her own semblance.

It was a pretty nice story, and quite impressive as well, especially when she clarified that her sister was 21 at the time. It was pretty rare for someone who just unlocked her aura to be such a natural with it.

I couldn’t relate to the bit about comparing yourself to your siblings since... Well, I was an only child. But it made sense, knowing how kids are, that one wouldn’t consider the age difference before thinking they had to be up to par.

It was silly, but kids are often silly like that. And she even found a way to do some good with those feelings, so nothing wrong with that.

All in all, it wasn’t a magnanimous or noble reason, but it wasn’t a bad one either. And Valeska didn’t seem to have any regrets about it... I pondered on it for a second, about doing something because you were good and found it fulfilling...

I still had to contrast it with what popular culture made you believe about it, either that the Huntsman are tyrants only out for their own gain, as some people in the lower districts justifiably believe (And this being nothing new, but born of a long-standing problem of corruption in the past) Or with the almost cartoonish idea of exaggerated self-sacrifice and noble causes that I was raised with by my parents.

I wasn’t crazy about them when I was little. I mean, yeah, they were cool, I think I saw vital on the tv once or twice, but it didn’t go beyond that... Still, they were heroes, paragons of virtue and morality against the evils of the world... Well, I guess kids cannot be blamed for being naive.

Maybe I liked Valeska’s point of view more. Sure, even if some huntsmen were scum, some others were probably really heroic, but most of them were likely just normal folks that just happened to pick the job for whatever reason... Maybe that didn’t mean they were less than the ones purely on it for selfless reasons.

I nodded at her answer, at least until she mentioned some of the other paths people with that set of skills often got themselves involved with. Subconsciously, I averted my gaze from Valeska as I let her finish talking. A little fidgety, a little noticeably uncomfortable despite my best efforts.

The professor gave her response, smiling and as positive as she always seemed to be. I wanted to copy her, to answer back with a smile on my own, but I couldn’t dispel the seriousness in my face.

Seconds of silence passed, as I drank up and turned Valeska’s ideas around in my head. I felt like I needed to say something, to ask something in particular, but I was still afraid to do so...

Despite that, the professor had been nothing but great to me. Even although I feared I would make her uncomfortable with my next question, it only felt respectful towards her to do so once and for all.

-And what would happen if someone... Turned to that kind of options...- I asked aloud, still averting my gaze, but more serene than what I would have expected me to be.

-But later down the line... They decided to take a chance to... Try and make up for it- Words still felt like sludge coming out of my mouth, having to force myself to reach really deep to dig them out into the light.

-Do you think that it would be right for them to do so? For them to become... A huntress?- I finished, finally deigning myself to turn and face Valeska, I waited for her answer with an expression of curiosity in my face, not of the childish wonderment kind, but a sort of focused curiosity.

I didn’t know if I was expecting her to encourage, or chastize the idea... I wasn’t even sure my thoughts would change much depending on what did she pick... But I just needed to know, if not an objective truth, at least someone else’s opinion on the matter. As I wasn’t sure what I thought about it myself.

Neither did I know what kind of answer I dreaded the most.

---

758 / 7477 Words.