Haven't you ever heard that curiosity killed the cat?

Yeah, but satisfaction brought it back.

Suit yourself, I guess.

She nods. "The Headmaster knows so much it's kind of scary sometimes. Ooh I'm so excited to figure out what sorts of weapons you like it's so cool!" She bounces some more.

"It really is so cool. A mechashift weapon! With Dust! I always wanted to work with Dust. Maybe not as ammunition but I'm still happy about it."

She nods and smiles and bounces. "Dust is really cool too! I know enough about it but Weiss knows nearly everything there is to know about Dust."

"My partner is so coooooool!"

She maybe looks a bit besotted.

"I'd love to learn!" 

And awwww, she's cute.

"Oooh okay! So the first thing you need to know is that there are two big categories of Dust: primary and derived. Primary Dust types can only be mined, you can't make them by combining other types. Derived, or combination, Dust types can be made by blending other types together. They can also occur naturally in the ground, either through natural combination processes or sometimes through natural formation. There are five primary types of Dust: fire, water, rock, lightning, wind. There are lots and lots of combinations of Dust, and sometimes people even invent new ones! There are two basic ways to combine Dust: just mixing up powders which can sometimes get you a decent result, or actually combining them using a chemical bath which is always better and for some types is totally required."

December nods and leans in with a smile. "Cool! Go on?"

"So the chemical combination process is basically a form of Dustcasting too, not just chemical, because you have to make the elemental energies dissolve too. You can do it without a Dustcaster if you have a seed crystal though. And the result is all the derived Dusts we see today! Gravity is fire and lightning. Magnetic is gravity and lightning. Hardlight is a difficult mixture of all the primaries except rock. Lava is fire and rock. Combustion — used mostly as fuel — is fire and wind.

"The really interesting part is that there are times when you actually need the blend rather than real combination. Huntress ammo that's been formulated for mobility has a powder mix of fire and gravity Dust. It's tricky to use, though. You have to nudge it with your Aura, like Dustcasting, to pick whether it hits you with the extra kick of recoil you need for mobility or not."

"Sounds terrifically dangerous and deeply fun."

"It really is! I can fling myself around the battlefield and not even use my Semblance for it! We're gonna teach you how to do very basic Dustcasting before we give you mobility ammo though. And none of that's until after we actually make your weapon. Well the Dustcasting practice can happen before that. But yeah!"

"Alright, then let's get this show on the road!"

December grins, stretching her arms above her head.

Conveniently, while Ruby was infodumping, they were still making tracks toward their destination, because now Sable taps her scroll against a door and lets them into a training room. The room is large, with a central padded area and some chairs around the edges, and racks of various weapons against one wall.

Stretching and chatting with Maya in the center is Pyrrha, wearing a light tank top with her emblem. This one looks professionally done, however, lacking the hints of homemade screenprinting Ruby's shirt has. She's also wearing athletic shorts.

Maya is wearing something similar, a crop-top in burnt umber on black and shorts.

"So here's how this works," Sable starts as she steps over to the weapons. "There are a few very basic categories of melee motions, and we're going to show them to you. All three of you need to be paying close attention to how the motion feels in your body and whether it sparks and excitement in your souls, first while you watch and then while you try it yourselves."

She picks up a rapier, flips it over in her hand to grip the end, and passes it hilt-first to December before grabbing another for herself. "Once we narrow to a subset of categories, we'll try more variations within them to narrow further. Each category will have three phases: demonstration, walk-through, and short practice. Follow all that?"

"Yes, I think so."

She takes the unfamiliar weapon in her hand, feeling the balance and weight of it. It's strange to hold such a thing.

"This is the lunging/piercing class of motions. Demonstration:"

She lunges forward in a thrust at an imaginary opponent, then follows with a series of rapidfire jabs and a few parries.

"This lends itself well to styles built on speed and precision and evasion. Now, match my stance."

She assumes a ready stance, body turned sideways to present a narrower target, rapier outstretched at an upward angle.

She copies the stance, a bit sloppily.

"Alright," she says.

Pyrrha steps around December and makes a few corrections with light touches here and there — sword hand a little lower, tip of the blade a little higher, knee bent a bit and foot a bit straighter, then she nods at Sable and steps back.

She slips into the form as best she can. Something about this one makes Lilian come forward.

Sable demonstrates a basic lunge in slow-motion. "Try to copy that, please?"

She makes a stab at it. 

It's not awful, but neither is it great.