Hei

➣Y O U T H ▪ Born to a pair of chinese farmers, Hēi does not remember much. They had wanted a son, someone to take over the farm. But instead they got her. Usually she was just called Nǚhái. She was not particularly cared for, and was often neglected as an example. When she was four years old, her mother gave birth to another child. Bolin. While she was lucky to be called 'Girl' her brother got a name. Not too long after that, the family went to the city. They traveled through the market, only stopping once to tell Hēi to wait outside a booth for them. Being a dutiful daughter, she did without expecting anything to happen. Her family was gone for quite some time, but still she stood. Time went on, and eventually she sagged into a sitting position, her legs hurting. Day turned to evening, and evening to night. It was only when the shopkeep was closing his store that she noticed she had been left there.

Still, she intended to wait there for her parents, thinking maybe they just got distracted. But the shopkeep did not take kindly to a child waiting outside his shop. Instead he chased her off. Followed by the sounds of the shopkeep's yelling, Hēi darted into an alleyway and ran down it, following the twisting and turning alleys until she herself was more than lost. Collapsing against a wall, she started to cry. How could they have left her there? How could they abandon her?

She stayed there huddled against the wall for another day and night until she was found. Sadly, it wasn't by her parents. It was, instead, by an old homeless woman. She was the one who dubbed the mutt 'Hēi'. But she was no kindly caretaker. Instead she grabbed the girl by the arm and dragged her to a dirty grouping of tents. Most of the people who lived there were children like her. But there was something almost feral about all of them. The woman, who called herself 'Nǎinai' was the 'caretaker' for all these children. Or that's how she put it.

➣C H I L D H O O D ▪Hēi was shoved into a tent with several other girls. Instantly they fought over who got the baubles in her hair and tore her clothes in a fight, trying to steal the nicer clothing even though it was too small for them. Hēi quickly learned that the group was not like a family. But more like a pack. Nǎinai would have them shuffle out to panhandle every morning, and they were to bring all their earnings to her. At night, if they didn't bring enough, Nǎinai would hit them and scream at them, kicking those who didn't earn enough out into the alleyways to sleep with the rats. Many times, this was what happened to Hēi. Eventually, she came to expect the abuse. Their earnings never went to them. If they were lucky, they all got to fight over a loaf of bread and dirty water. If they were unlucky? Nǎinai would spend all their money on opium and smoke herself into a daze.

This went on for years, until one day, the girls snuck into Nǎinai's tent. Seeing as she was already laid out by opium, there was no worry of waking her. One by one, the girls started to smoke the leftover opium. Hēi was forced to be the watchdog, checking out for the group of boys. This was a common practice. Most of Nǎinai's children were just as addicted as she was. She always beat them when she found out they had smoked the last of her stash, but the old woman's fists were a better punishment than withdraws. Except today, things were different. Today the pipe was thrust into Hēi's hands after a while. At first she just stared, until one of the older girls encouraged her to take a hit. Her first hit burned like fire in her lungs, and she was reduced to a coughing, drooling mess on the floor. The oldest girl hit her, hissing at her not to waste it before the pipe was shoved into her mouth again. The second hit went barely a little better, but eventually she started to feel a soft cloudy feeling in her head. Addictions form in the smallest of habits.

➣T E E N A G E D Y E A R S ▪ Eventually Hēi learned how to sneak money past Nǎinai. She was the most proficient of this of the girls, and often times they would pool what they made together to buy themselves opium. Many nights would be spent in opium dens, smoking and carousing as children do. Eventually though, there was a problem. She was getting less money as she got older and Hēi was forced to borrow opium, under the promise she would pay for it. This went on for a while until eventually she was grabbed when panhandling and was knocked out.

She woke up in the opium den, in an unused room, tied to a chair. Long hair hung in her face, shielding her from who was there with her, but eventually once they noticed she was awake, the men approached. The first thing they did was demand payment for the opium. As she had no money at the time, she pleaded with them to give her more time. She thought, maybe, they were just trying to scare her. This thought came to an abrupt halt soon enough. She felt a pressure around her hands, and she tried to pull away but the rope around her wrists held her tight. She felt pressure as one of her fingers was grabbed and bent back. Hēi protested, making promises to pay them back as her finger was bent further and further back. She felt the joints grind as they were pushed to their maximum. There was a moment of tension and then a loud pop as the finger was broken. A scream ripped its way through her throat as another finger was grabbed. They demanded payment in full, but Hēi couldn't do anything about it. Once again the digit was pulled back and twisted until it too broke.

This continued until Hēi's fingers on both hands were twisted at weird and improper angles. Hair was grabbed and her head was forced back. One of the men grabbed a knife and advanced on her. His approach was slow, and Hēi stared at him wide eyed and in horror. Just what were they going to do now? Knife was brought to her face and cut along her cheek. It wasn't deep, but it stung. What scared her was the press of the knife against her cheek. She could feel the cold metal, and it was so close to her eye the form of it was blurry.

The last thing she expected was for the knife to plunge into her eye. Screams echoed in the room as strong hands gripped her face. The knife dug in deep, as if scraping up all of the tissue available. Eventually she felt metal grate on bone. Nausea rolled over her as she threw up bile, though the knife didn't stop digging. She felt wetness stain her fur and move down her cheek. Pain radiated through her as knife was pulled out with a sickening sound, blood and ocular fluids seeping down her cheek. Her screams continued, even though she was slapped and told to shut up. Eventually, shock got her, and she passed out.

Some point during her black out, Hēi was untied from the chair and thrown out into the alleyway. This was how some of the other girls found her. They rushed her to a doctor, but none of them had the funds to pay for it. The best he did was clean up and bandage her eye. Her fingers were left to the girls, who tried to splint them.

She wavered in and out of consciousness for a week, waking up screaming in pain until the girls drugged her up enough for her to drift into a dreamless sleep once more. Most of the older girls, by this time, had become prostitutes, and when visiting the younger ones, they came upon Hēi. The girl was barely coherent, babbling and sobbing about pain when one of them picked her up. She was brought to a ship, where the ships doctor took her under his care.

➣B E L L Y O F T H E B E A S T ▪ The ship's doctor was not working for free. Oh no. As he mended Hēi, there was someone else looking out for her as well. The Angry Bitch was not the largest or most important pirate ship out there. Her crew was lackluster and her treasures few. But she was ruled with an iron fist. Lady Wolvar, or Captain Wolvar as most called her, was a demon of a woman. She was large, tall and built from stone. A direwolf, her kind should have died out eons ago. Yet here she was, plundering ships twice their size. She was a cold and cruel woman, and when Hēi was brought to her, she only demanded one thing in return for fixing her. Hēi's life. Knowing Hēi would die without this, the girls agreed, even if Hēi herself did not. The mutt was in no state to agree or disagree with anything, as fever and infection ravaged her body.

It took weeks for Hēi to heal enough to where she could wander about. Much of the time she was left under the doctor's care, just bedridden and forced to watch him dodder around his quarters. She didn't even know the ship had left port. Her fingers, sadly, would never be the same. They healed crooked and wrong. Her eye, however, was doing good enough. Often kept packed, the doctor asked her if she wanted it sewn shut. But Hēi denied him.

It was only once she was able to move around that Captain Wolvar came down to see her. The woman at first appeared kind, and sweet, offering Hēi a place to stay in her quarters, away from the 'salty rabble of men' that made up her crew. Hēi thought she finally had found some peace. But that would be untrue. After her first night in the Captain's quarters, she woke up to a thick collar around her neck, attaching her to the bed. She could move, able to go as far as the chamber pot and wander most of the room. But there was no leaving. Hēi protested this with the woman, begging her to let her go, Lady Wolvar merely smiled a vicious smile at her and told her that no, toys belong in the room. It wouldn't do to have her toy wandering the decks where just anyone could play with her.

This was the start of a torturous relationship. Lady Wolvar had no issues leaving Hēi to starve, or worse. She didn't even view Hēi as a person, instead something to be toyed with and broken. Hēi would learn quickly how cruel she could be. Hēi was often left hungry, in a state of near madness as Lady Wolvar ate in front of her. On days she was fed, she had to do painful and humiliating tasks to earn her food. The woman beat her often, leaving her bloody and bruised, and used her for all assortments of mind games. She teased Hēi with opium whenever she could, knowing the little mutts withdraws were terrible. She would occasionally smoke it in front of her, blowing the smoke into the chained mutt's face and cackling as she clawed and whimpered for just one hit.

Hēi grew timid and scared. It wasn't rare for the young mutt to piss herself when she heard Lady Wolvar coming to her room, which only got her hurt more. Each day was like a living hell, as Lady Wolvar used her for her amusements. Be it physical or mental abuse, Hēi could not escape it.

Until she did. Eventually, Lady Wolvar grew tired of her cringing pet. She wanted something feistier. So one a trip to Guildereim, she left the pup there. Lady Wolvar sold her to the Tether, proclaiming how obedient and trustworthy Hēi was. As soon as she was paid, she resupplied and left the Isle in search of someone new to play with. And Hēi? Hēi was collared and thrown into the pens.