With a laugh, a voice traveled beyond a circle of friends into the hallway, "Yeah, this test is going to be hard, but I can still do better than someone who just smashes her way through life." He moved a fist up and down, bending at the elbow, making it clear to whom he was referring.

"Seriously," said another in the group with a chuckle, "she's gotta be cheatin' off her boyfriend to have not failed out. This is Beacon, hitting stuff hard isn't enough to be here."

A female student exiting the classroom beside the group serendipitously picked up speed as she weaved through her peers.

Another voice of the group chimed in, "I don't like your face, let me break it for you."

The first student built upon the comment, his voice now higher. "I don't understand this question, I'll just smash it."

"You're killing me!" one of them cried, the words barely coming through his laughter. "I bet that's how she gets through classes, the teachers get tired of broken desks."

When the voices had faded into the inaudible hum of a populated hallway the young woman felt a hand on her shoulder from someone behind her. The book she held hindered her thrust fist enough that she could avoid hitting her team leader.

Nora slowed and moved to the side in the slightly less-packed corridor, allowing Penny to walk beside her.

"Nora," began Penny, her attention and gaze on her companion more than the path in front of her. "Why did you not stop or react to those students as you normally do, rashly and destructively?" There was a short pause that Nora failed to end, leading Penny taking the moment to clarify her question. "Not to imply that I feel you should do that, I most certainly do not wish to be in violation of school policy, but your lack of reaction seems uncharacteristic. Is it possible that you are ill?"

"No." replied Nora, stopping unexpectedly. She might have gone on in silence but she knew Penny would just continue along the same line of questioning undeterred. "I didn't do anything because there was nothing I could do that wouldn't make it worse. Even ignoring them might've given 'em more fuel."

"I am not sure I quite understand." said Penny. "If you were to have asked them to stop I would have stood behind you. I would have done so if you had behaved as you normally do, as well, although with trepidation."

Nora shook her head. "It doesn't work like that, Penny." she said. "It would just give them more stuff to talk about, making it worse. Asking wouldn't get 'em to stop."

"How is that so?" Penny asked.

"Well . . . " Nora trailed off, a rare moment when the right words were just out of grasp. "I think the way Ren explained it to me a long time ago was that the root of it is that once bullies pick a person they can and will find a way to use anything a person does or says against them."

"Root . . . ?"

"Yeah." replied Nora with a nod. She took a slow step forward to suggest that they continue on their way. "It took awhile for me to get that far with him, but that what was at the bottom of the problem. Basically, if I had said something to them they would see it bothered me and do it more. Telling teachers or parents just means it will be worse when adults aren't around. That leaves my usual reaction to bullies, but you heard them -" she used a hand to indicated behind her, "it would have just proved them right."

"Oh." stated Penny simply, in step with Nora. "There is nothing that can be done?"

Nora nodded. "Yeah, basically."

The two teammates walked in silence for a moment as Penny took the time to ruminate on what she had just been told, attempting to perhaps find another possibility, interrupted by a loud voice in a stairwell.

The words were difficult to make out behind the closed door, but the tone leaked through, one of anger spoken from a smiling mouth. Nora had already veered from their usual route, with her hand on the door, when a second voice cried out.

The door banged into the wall before Penny could alter her course to follow Nora. By the time she caught up Nora was crossing onto the next landing up where an older female student stood and a first year knelt on the floor.

As fast as Penny assessed the situation, Nora sent her fist into the gut of the woman. Although aura likely shielded the student in entirety, surprise and force still pushed her back.

Nora threw a kick into the upperclassman's chest, who stumbled backwards into the wall and started to slide down. Another fist was ready to slam her into the wall, stopping her decent, but Penny had been in time to stop the third hit from meeting its target.

Ignoring the arm and the person holding it, Nora shifted her attention to the freshman on the floor. He met her gaze but she looked through it, seeing only the two ears pinned to the top of his head and the tear in his shirt.

Penny let go of Nora, but remained standing near the upperclassman. Freed from restraint, Nora crouched in front of her classmate.

After Nora had verified no significant physical harm had been inflicted, and Penny had concluded that Nora was likely not going to escalate her own violence, the faunus ran out to the floor below and the upperclassman to the floor above the landing.

Penny let the echos of the doors fade before speaking to Nora. "What was all of this about?"

Nora stood up and turned to face Penny, her voice even and matter-of-fact. "She was picking on him. Didn't you notice?"

"I did not notice until after you had already run forth, but I you has explained how stopping a bully would just make the situation worse mere minutes prior. Did you not recently conclude that there is nothing productive that can be done against a bully?"

"Yep yep, that's true." Nora chewed her tongue and tossed her head side to side. "Well, sorta. There isn't anything the person they are bulling can do that'd help, BUT sometimes if someone else tells them they are being dumb it works. It's complicated."

"The group outside the classroom might have stopped if I had told them to cease?" probed Penny, her brow furrowed in thought.

Nora shook her head. "uh-uh. We're on the same team so you don't really count as a different person. It's more important to not laugh or let the bullies think that the people around them think it's cool when they say that mean stuff."

"Please verify my summary of this matter, as the rules seem to vary with slight situational alterations." Penny requested. "If one is being bullied, or a close associate, it is better to simply ignore it and prevent the antagonists from getting the reactions they seek. However, if such a situation is seen then it remains productive to request they cease or to forcibly stop it. Does this seem to be correct?"

"Yes." came Nora's reply. "Except that people like teachers don't count, because if they stop it then it will just start back up once they walk away, but they still have to stop it if they see it." The sentence, however, was meek in comparison to her 'yes'; Nora was unwilling to over-complicate the conditions before clearing up Penny's current point of confusion, which she suspected was being led to.

That assumption was correct.

"How does inaction in any circumstance hold as acceptable given the contradiction with our intentions as huntresses to protect all sentient life? There is a moral and oath requirement that we do all that we can to protect and act against deviant and anti-social behavior."

Nora sighed, recalling that there are some small things of which Penny has no prior knowledge. "We do, but that includes not doing stuff that hurts people more, doesn't it? Besides, it's only us that we can't defend, and putting ourselves in harm's way is basically part of being a hunter, no?"

Nora's words began to sway Penny, and as her questions became smaller and farther apart they made their way from the stairwell back along the route to their original destination, their room.