"Hey look! It the almighty 'shaman'! Ha!"
"Bet she doesn't even know where she is"
"Doesn't she need an aide by her side or something?"
The kids. They were cruel and uncaring about their words. They cared little about status and position and threw words like stones against anything or anyone they don't understand or like.
Torvi was only five since she started hearing the voices. She remember that after it was discovered, her life was filled with training and praise from almost everyone around her. The kids didn't care though. They only saw a crazy girl who would sometimes talk to herself or the voices in her head. They only saw a girl being loved for no good reason than being crazy and so, ostracized her from them.
Whenever she had free time from training, she would automatically go to the kids to play but would be kicked out immediately. "Go away!" they said. "You're not wanted here" they said. "We don't play with freaks" they said. She did not go to the adults because she didn't want to be seen as weak and dependent on others so she stayed silent. The words hurt but that wasn't the worst.
It was about when she was seven did things become physical. Along with their words, the kids would sometimes throw rocks at her, hitting her back, chest and sometimes her head. Whenever she wanted to play with them, she would be pushed down and berated even more. They even tormented her during training but that was for the more daring kids and happened very rarely.
At age nine, there was a ritual. One the entire village was to see. It was meant to test future shamans and their resolve, to see if they are willing to kill. It would also be the first time they would be spilling human blood. Sometimes they would use slaves, sometimes criminals, sometimes captives from the Myre or Ashfeld, or, in rare cases, they would use a volunteer from the village.
Torvi's trial by blood was different though. Instead of enemies or slaves. Torvi wanted to pick her own victim. Or victims, to be more precise. And who were they to deny their great shaman's wish? Besides, it was a great honor to be her sacrifices.
The bullies did not see it that way though. As they lay on separate tables, all stripped of their clothes and painted with sacrificial runes all other them, they squirmed, trying to break free from their restraints. They were gagged but their eyes were unhindered and saw everything around them. The people, the stage, and the crazy girl grinning madly at them. They felt many emotions: anger, embarrassment, but most of all, fear.
Torvi bent her heads down on each their heads until their foreheads met and she looked them dead in the eyes. No words were said but the look in Torvi's eyes were saying "this is what you deserve". They cried and cried but Torvi bared them no mind as she readied her first ever kukri knife.
One of them were able to free themselves from their gags and spoke her piece.
"WE'RE SORRY! PLEASE! PLEASE OH GREAT SHAMAN OF OUR VILLAGE! PLEASE FORGIVE FOR OUR INSOLENCE! PLEASE!" one of the girls pleaded.
It was at that moment the villagers realized that this wasn't just a ritual, it was vendetta. They feared her from that point onward.
Torvi bent her head down at her and she stilled and silence herself. She was shaking underneath the girl whom she and her friends had tormented for so long. Her friends looked to her and waited with terrified anticipation.
Torvi, instead of plunging the knife into her, stroked her hair soothingly, whispering soft nothings into her ear.
"...its okay... no... afraid"
Slowly the knife was pointed in the middle of her chest. She struggled violently to get away but to no avail. Torvi teased her with death, lightly poking her, threatening to break skin but pulled away last second. The girl was a struggling, crying mess and Torvi relished it but decided that the time has come. She place the tip of the blade on the middle of her chest and pushed it in but slowly. Her strength and steady hand were unseen as she pushed through skin, then bone into the girl's body. The girl herself was screaming, pleading but Torvi only laughed as the blade continued to sink deeper and depper until the blade disappeared in her.
Then, violently, Torvi pulled the knife out and drove it back in. Out, in, out, in. She repeated the movement until a hole appeared in the girl. A large, bloody hole.
She was dead. Now for the rest.
They screamed in their gags as Torvi walked to them and killed them. She did the same thing to them all until all laid dead, their eyes still holding fear in them.
The village stood in awe and fear at the girl.
Torvi bathed in their fear and awe while licking at her bloody knife. She looked at the bodies and her stomach grumbled.
That was also that same day she found a appreciation for human flesh.
RING! RING! RING!
Torvi awakes from a sudden ringing by the side of her bed. She jumps ups and stands on the bed in a battle position. She looks around but finds no attackers. She looks down at the source of the ringing. There she finds a white device with a sideways orange diamond in the middle. She gets off the bed and grabs it, thinking that it looked harmless enough to touch. She examines it, flipping it around growing confused about how it rang. She then pushes the orange diamond and it extends.
Startled, she drops it to the ground. She looks at it, sees that it didn't break, and lets out a sigh of relief. She picks it back up and sees folders on a clear, see through screen. She presses one of them and looks at the top to see the word "Contacts" above a couple names with pictures next to them. One was the blonde woman with the bun , Glynda, and the guy with the cane, Ozpin. She clicks on Ozpin.
A ringing noise emits from the device, confusing the young shaman. Not knowing what else to do, she just waits for it to end. It did but a voice comes through.
"Hello?". It was Ozpin!
"AHHHH!" Torvi screams. The man is trapped in the device! How? Why?
Understanding the nature of the scream Torvi let out, Ozpin chuckles amusingly. "Ms. Birgerdottir, I can assure you I am alright. I am currently in my office. Remember my office?"
There is silence which Ozpin takes as Torvi nodding. "I see you found the gifts I gave you"
Gifts? I like gifts
I wanted a new dagger and ax!
Don't bite the hand that feeds!
Torvi looks back at the drawer where she found the device. There laid a uniform obviously meant for women. There was a plaid red skirt, a brown button up vest, a white dress shirt, a red ribbon, and a darker brown jacket.
"See it? good" Ozpin says. Torvi could only be impressed at his timing.
"Put it on and meet with team RWBY, the girls you met last night. There you will go to your classes for the day. You have the same schedule as them"
Classes?! all the voices screamed in her head. She too screamed in there as well.
"What?!... Classes?!" Torvi yells confused.
"You didn't expect to stay here without attending did you?"
"...Yes" Torvi answers honestly.
"Think of it this way: you will become a stronger and smarter warrior if you attend Beacon. How does that sound?"
The prospects of becoming stronger do interest her but how does going to a big school make her stronger? It seemed like a complete waste of time to Torvi who - thought honestly - was smart enough and doesn't need further schooling.
But what if she said no? She would probably be thrown out into an advanced world with no idea on what to do. She didn't want to depend on others for her survival. She was a survivalist herself and the thought of being dependent on others didn't sit well with her but... she had no choice.
"...Okay..." she reluctantly agreed. Maybe this will make her stronger but she highly doubted that claim.
Ozpin hung up the phone and Torvi changed. After some difficulty, she successfully put the uniform on with the exception of the red ribbon which she hanged around her neck, not bothering to tie it.
She looked over herself in the mirror and she had to admit, she looked good. She looked posh and elegant. She laughed at the thought.
Us? Elegant? Ha!
She shook her head smiling as she exited her room in the direction of team RWBY.
She got there and pounded the door with her fist. Like the night before, Weiss opened the door and got bopped hard again.
"AH! Come on!" she said as she rubbed her sore forehead.
Weiss looks up in anger at the shaman. "What is wro-"
She stopped as soon as she noticed the uniform. Torvi swore she became paler than usual.
Ruby join the two and also notices the change in appearance. "Oh! Torvi! You're going here? I didn't know!" She suddenly gasps. "Wait, were you on your way here when you were hit by that space rock but survive because you're super strong?" she said wide eyed.
Her eyes... such innocence
Should we tell her the truth?
"No" Torvi suddenly says. She bites her tongue realizing she said that out loud.
"Wait... then what DID happen?" Ruby asks again.
"No... that's true"
I WAS going to say we shouldn't but you beat me to it... I'm impressed actually.
Seconded
Torvi smiles at the praise from her voices while smiling at Ruby. She and the others aren't ready for that sort of news just yet. Who knows how they would react Plus, she doesn't even know them fully. Why would she reveal a secrets to strangers?
Ruby accepts the answer while Blake and Weiss doubt her. Yang was in the middle. She accepts the answer but something tells her that there's more to the story than Torvi is letting on.
"Anyway, what brings you here? Shouldn't you be heading to class?" asks Ruby.
Torvi then takes out her device, her scroll, though it couldn't be more different to a scroll even if it tried. As she was heading to team RWBY's dorm, she fiddled with the thing getting a little acquainted with it. She finds her schedule and shows it to the girls. They go wide eyed as Weiss snatches her scroll and looks at it closer.
"How!? This is the EXACT same schedule as ours!" she exclaimed at the shaman. The shaman though just straighten her lips to form a line and shrugs her shoulders.
The gesture incites laughs from the sisters of the team.
"Doesn't matter right now Weiss. Let's just go" Blake said expressionless.
"Awww... cat lady... why hide ears?" Torvi said taking Blake's ribbon off, surprising her and stroking her ears lovingly. It did not last long as Blake shoved her off her, making her collide with team JNPR's door. Fortunately they were already off to class.
"Do not touch me! And don't ever touch my ribbon got it!?" Blake said as she stood over her with her back of JNPR's door. Her outburst surprised her teammates having never seen Blake like this.
Torvi REALLY did not like being talked down to. Even if she was in the wrong here, she did not like that this girl was making her seem small and ordering her to do something. Who does she think she is, trying to look down on Torvi Birgerdottir?!
She gritted her and her eyes burned red like last night when she went against the Ursa major. Blake immediately backs off as a murderous aura surrounds her and beastly growling can be heard from her.
Yang went in front of Blake to protect while Weiss and Ruby hold Torvi back.
"Stop this you dunce!" Weiss orders.
"Weiss! Insulting her is NOT going to help!" Ruby tells the white heiress. "Listen Torvi, Just apologize to Blake. You have to admit, it was rude of you to get up in her personal space and start stroking her. How would you feel if someone did that to you?" Ruby reasoned with her.
Torvi, through the fury, listened and started to breathe in and out, calming herself. When she puts it like that it was... kinda rude. But damn did she not like to say sorry. Sorry meant you felt guilty and regret. Torvi was and probably will never feel regret ever in her life. That she promised herself.
She walks up to Blake and mutters a small 'sorry' under her breath but Blake heard it regardless. She scowled at the girl but said and did nothing else just wanting to head to class already.
Sensing the tension, Ruby decided to speak. "Well then! Lets go girls" and they were off but Torvi and Blake at different ends of the group, away from the other.
