Hey guys, long post incoming:

While watching through Volume 6, I initially believed Cinder is behaving the same as she did before her near-death experience at the bottom of the chasm at the hands of Raven, and her initial actions, murdering the woman and stealing her clothes, suggests this; that she was the same person she was in Volume 5 - still evil, still loyal to Salem, still out for revenge against Ruby, and still arrogant and overconfident in herself and her abilities.

However, while her desire for vengeance against Ruby remains true, I've realized that Cinder IS having subtle, yet noticeable character development.

For starters, let's observe how she behaved in Volume 5:

- In her first appearance in Chapter 2, we see that Cinder is beginning to question Salem and her plans for working with Raven and her bandits. Cinder doesn't hesitate to express her distaste in Salem's plan, but is overall still loyal to her Master's word, and obeys Salem's orders not to kill Ruby.

- The next we see of her, Cinder has been sent by Salem to intimdate Raven into handing over the Spring Maiden, and working with her. Cinder doesn't hesitate to command Mercury to 'make them' co-operate when Shay D. Mann refuses, and makes multiple (but failed) attempts at intimidating Raven.

Much like when she intimdated Roman and Adam, and forced them both to do her bidding, this time she fails to spook Raven, even if she does eventually agree into helping her.

- In the More the Merrier, Cinder is smug, arrogant and mockful toward others. Her over-confidence, however, results in Jaune almost killing her, and her reacting with great anger at being sleighted.This enraged reaction to being humbled by her own over-confidence happens again down in the vault once Raven says "you turned yourself into a monster just for power", when Cinder retorts with a cold and disdainful "LOOK who's TALKING".

- Of course, this leads to Cinder being defeated, and almost killed, by Raven in a near-death experience, and unlike being caught off-guard by Ruby in Volume 3, it was all her own fault this time.\

Now, with that out of the way, let's compare and contrast how her actions and attitude differ in Volume 6.

Let's go by each appearance:

Appearance #1:

What's noticable about her screentime in Volume 6 so far, is that Cinder is doing very similar things to what she had done in the past, but her methods, and attitude, have changed.

For example, after escaping from the vault, killing a woman and stealing her clothes, Cinder lies low for an entire month before going to see Lil Miss Malachite.

Lil Miss Malachite is the head of a powerful criminal organization in Mistral, and yet, Cinder chooses not to intimidate or threaten Lil Miss at all.

Despite being a powerful maiden, Cinder doesn't co-erce Lil Miss into working for her to uncover information regarding Team RWBY/JNR more quickly, but instead pays her dues with the innocent woman she killed's Lien and waiting patiently for her to respond.

Not only this, but, aside from Cinder's initial arrogant comment, "YOU'RE little miss malachite?", she is civil with the criminal leader.

From intimdating Roman and Neo to working for her in Volume 1, to intimidating Emerald and Adam in the V3 flashback, to her failed attempts at intimidating Raven in Volume 5, to what she is doing now - co-operation.

I fully expected her to be smug and strut her stuff like she would have in the past. Instead? She's behaving less reckless and arrogantly, and more humble and civil.

Which brings me to her next appearance:

Appearance #2:

Cinder is now more focused on her objective than ever.

Her goal? To have vengeance on Ruby.

No more is she posturing or taunting toward people such as Lil Miss or Neo.

Instead, she is focused and determined, wants to get the information she needs, and be out of there.

She is attacked by Neo, and instead of simply activating her maiden powers right away to encourage Neo to surrender, she is patient at first and tries to get through to her.

Once again, compare Volume 3 or Volume 5 Cinder to what she would have done, if someone like Roman, Adam, or Raven would've attempted to fight her the first time she tried to make them join her.

And now look at her.

Trying to be persuasive, and co-operative, rather than aggressive, and intimidating.

Appearance #3, aka the most recent episode:

- Cinder calmly and persuasively explains who Salem is, what Salem's intentions for Ruby are, and what Cinder's own personal goal is.

Afterwards, she convinces Neo to help her kill Ruby.

While Cinder would still technically be following Salem's orders not to kill Ruby, it is clear that Cinder is purposely exploiting a loophole Salem hadn't counted on to exact her revenge.

Neo seems eager to agree, at least for now, but it's possible Neo will try and betray her down the line.

Cinder, on the other hand, seems to be planning to turn on Neo after she kills Ruby, so that Salem won't know the full story and believe Ruby's death wasn't Cinder's fault.

Of course, Ruby most likely won't be killed at Neo's hand, but what's interesting to note is that Cinder's loyalty in Salem is waning.

She is clearly starting to express deep frustrations at being denied the opportunity to have her vengeance, and Cinder appears to be slowly realising that Salem is doing nothing more than holding her back.

Of course, if all goes to plan for Cinder, she may yet still return to Salem with the relic.

That was IF, however, everything went according to plan - which they won't.

However, all of these actions of hers, along with the emotions she is expressing, all show signs that Cinder isn't quite the same person she was going into the Vault, as when she came out.

No longer does is she smug or arrogant - the smirk on her face is gone, so is the mockful tone, as she speaks serious and calmly to every fellow criminal she comes across, including Neo and Lil Miss.

No longer is she behaving fearlessly or acting as if she were invincible. She nearly drowns in the chasm underneath the vault, shows frustration and pain, and, while speaking to Lil Miss, is scared and anxious from the gang member loudly bursting into the room.

No longer is she aggressive and petty - she is patient at first with Neo, before growing frustrated when Neo doesn't listen to her.

She's trying her best now to play it safe, play her cards right, and co-operate with others, rather than behave over-confident and arrogant again when past mistakes have proven it hasn't worked.

She doesn't try and intimidate Lil Miss or Neo, like she did with Emerald, Roman, past Neo, Adam, and Raven, but work with them civilly. 

She is, of course, still over-confident in believing she has Neo's full loyalties, and everything will go smoothly once they reach Atlas, but she is also being much more focused and serious rather than toying with others like before.

Finally, she is disobeying Salem's direct orders, and trying to manipulate Neo into killing Ruby for her until Cinder intends on turning on her.

She is showing more frustration with Salem's orders then ever, to the point she is exploiting them, and by the end of the Volume may, one way or another, finally have her ties with Salem severed, and develop some independence and agency of her own, because as it stands now, she gradually, is.

TL;DR: Cinder’s actions and behaviour in Volume 6 show a drastic change in her approach to things, as her near-death experience has humbled her, and made her start to question Salem more strongly, to the point she no longer shows absolute loyalty to Salem and her word.

She is less smug and aggressive, and behaving more serious, focused, civil and co-operative, a sign of further growth and change for Cinder now, and down the line in the future.