diary

so. the start

hollyhock is commissioned as an intelligent ai assistant + android in Megalopolis's recon project HQ. the recon project is an esteemed group that tends to handle serious situations and experiments of governmental interest. she was originally awoken during a period were there was almost a food shortage, so her trained specialty was planning and agriculture in less than optimal emvironments, specifically lightless and subterranean ones

though over time, holly proved herself to be indespensible, and was granted the title of 'doctor' and assigned as the master of the greenhouse at HQ.

this may have partially been influenced by her closeness with the ambassador (and by extension, executive of the recon team) ginkgo, but hollyhock is still smart and good at what she does regardless

dr. huo is an irritable, if not a bit cold professor who works in the space next to hollyhock. she's been doing sonar evaluations of the ruins - located a ways off to the northeast, it's the remains of a once grand city belonging to a rival alien empire that was completely destroyed when an angel god went beserk.

while mostly picked clean by scavengers, there's rumors of one last 'treasure' located deep within the ruins - one with the power of gods that was intended to try and stop the rampaging angel god, but was sealed in rubble before properly activated.

many brush this off to urban legend, but in between assignments, dr. huo has been doing meticulous sonar tests using a special sonar she invented that's capable of penetrating the normally un-sonar-able material the ruins were built from

one day, she finds it. hollyhock hear dr. huo's yells, and straight up thinks someone is getting murdered in the neighboring lab space

so, what do we do now?

a machine with the power of a god is no laughing matter, and something likely had to be done before anything leaked. securing the space sealed in rubble was the highest priority.

but... here's the problem!

there's a reason the ruins were never rebuilt. after the angel god razed the land, it became oversaturated in a powerful divine energy... which, for all intensive purposes, functions like bootleg nuclear radiation. the ruins are a fallout zone.

additionally, because of this energy, the ruins are swarming with a species of giant, aggressive aliens that are incredibly difficult to kill.

the mission was created, and a specialized division was assigned.

dr. huo, technologies expert

dr. hollyhock, remote communications assistant and computer systems operator

two unnamed, undesigned characters joined as general technicians as well

there was a catch!

the 3 professors of flesh who were to be present at the site itself would be sealed inside a bunker to study the abandoned tech, with a filtered environment so they'd experience minimal energy exposure (in theory)

because of this, general danger of the location, and the secrecy of the operation, they would be unable to leave until the mission was 'successful'

hollyhock's android body would remain at the hq, however due to the nature of how she works, she's able to work digitally in the systems there once set up (so another set of hands without more needed resources, essentially)

the mission starts well. it's all very exciting, and there's lots of old tech from the past empire that needs to be decoded. in the very deepest parts of the sealed lab, theres a massive chamber that contains themachine. inside the machine is a glowing, orange orb that seems almost alive - it kind of freaks everyone out and going in there gives them a headache, so the scientists figure they'll not touch it for now

but then things go south.

you hear about what scientists get up to while isolated for antarctica's winters?

yea. it's like that. except people didn't think to bring protection.

one of the unamed/undesigned scientists becomes pregnant, and despite this, dr. huo believes the team is on the verge of a big break and refuses the offer of an early mission cancellation.

the child is, thankfully, born healthy and safely. she's named amity, and hollyhock's role goes from communications assistant to remote babysitter

things go ok for the next year. the team brought a surplus of rations and with some directed physical help, hollyhock remotely operates a garden for food.

dr. huo's 'big break' was a fluke, though. while the team has learned countless things about the past that are intriguing and discovered some new tech things, the machine's instructions, operations, blueprints - all of it is deeply ciphered in the empire's old language

then one of the doctors drops dead.

it's horrible and shocking, and investigations showed they succumbed to the divine energy. this of course freaks everyone out, especially amity's other parent who is still alive - fearing for their daughter.

dr. huo is like 'heeeeeeey can you guys like. uh. pick us up, or something.' but is denied because tensions are in high alert after a terrorist attack on an important technological ally of megalopolis's.

the direness of the situation settles in - but they have more than enough food, so they have to keep holding out while they still can.

hollyhock tries her best to act as a moral and emotional support, which is helpful for growing amity and the living unnamed/undesigned scientist. dr. huo, however, kind of wishes she'd shut up

10 years pass. the doctors anticipated this would be a long-stretch mission, but with a kid running around and one of your colleagues dead, it makes things understadably harder.

the other unnamed/undesigned scientist succumbs to the energy at this time. at this point, hollyhock is fully dedicating herself to try and comfort amity through this grief, as dr. huo is emotionally unavailable for amity. her garden in the bunker fails due to lack of attention, but considering theres rations for 2 people who are no longer alive, dr. huo considers it 'fine'

4 years pass. amity is doing surprisingly well thanks to hollyhock's consistant attention, dr. huo is not.

there's no way it can be solved.

the ciphers are too complex, there's no way.

dr. huo sends another plea to help to HQ, but it doesn't even connect. hollyhock admits the mission has been buried at HQ among other things, and the only reason she's still able to connect is because of a specialized 'ethernet cable'.

dr. huo loses it. amity and holly beg her to not leave, knowing she'll die if she attempts to escape the ruins - if not because of the bootleg radiation, than because of exhaustion or the hostile aliens.

dr. huo leaves, and is never heard from again.

it's just amity and hollyhock now.

but again, despite it all - after the initial grief, amity seems to be doing completely fine. she's around 16 at this point.

people at hq kind of think hollyhock is insane at this point, as she spends much of her day in the systems of the bunker instead of doing physical work in her android body at HQ. located in the greenhouse, there's been points where her body started to get grown over by plants, as she hadn'ti nhabited it in so long.

inevitably, sometime after amity turns 18, the rations run out. amity and hollyhock are unable to revive her old garden, so amity has no real choice - she can risk her life and try to leave the ruins, or be guaranteed death by starvation.

hollyhock is desperate, she begs amity to stay, that she promises she'll find a way for her to be rescued - but amity severs the connection, and hollyhock no longer has access to the bunker's systems.

she's in complete and utter grief, to a level where she can't function. amity was essentially a daughter to her.

ginkgo is the only one who will talk to holly anymore, it seems. everyone else thinks she wasted all those years on a cause she knew was going to end like this.

ginkgo is upset with holly's actions, but is astounded by her dedication. the two kind of form an on and off kind of romantic relationship during this time, which they keep strictly a secret

the main event horizon of the general world's plot happens in the meantime. rabbit with a god complex nearly ends the world. normal stuff.

as a part of cleaning up the aftermath of this, hollyhock attends meetings alongside ginkgo to take recordings. one such meeting occurs at a fancy hotel in the space station city that lies above the ruins... and holly sees it

a figure dashing between corridors that she unmistakingly, in her eyes, believes must be amity.

ginkgo and her get into conflicts about this, with ginkgo being nihilistic and convinced amity died.

but hollyhock doesn't want to give up.

high and low, she navigates the odd space station city in her free time. she can't find anything on surface, so she has no choice than to visit the Underdeck... a crime ridden den of hedonism and too many neon lights.

hollyhock looks painfully out of place here, and as expected she's eventually confronted... until her confronter freaks out getting a closer look at her.

covered in charms intended to channel energy, and partially held together by rope, it's... dr. huo? she appears to be going by her first name, qing'e, now. she also kind of looks dead. but she's not?

seeing hollyhock freaks qing'e out very badly, and she begs holly to not tell ANYONE at HQ she's 'like this'.

in the midst of qing'e's panic, she's approached by the woman who appears to be controlling her reanimation. the woman is the second in command to the big boss of the underdeck, and thinks hollyhock has plenty of useful information - and probably isn't going to go kindly about 'extracting' it

so understandably hollyhock is FREAKING OUT, like she can't even deal with confrontation in her relationship and now she's being threatened by what is essentially a yakuza miniboss.

but a figure swoops down, grabs hollyhock by the arm, and starts masterfully navigating the twists of the space station's underdeck. holly is mostly being dragged along, and cant get a good look at this person, but she's taken to a connecting area with the city on the surface.

hollyhock can't say anything, but the figure flashes her face to her - and it is undeniably amity. she tells hollyhock to stay in the expensive hotel where the meeting holly originally saw amity was at, to tell the hotel's baron her story and she will be granted a room. amity tells hollyhock she'll meet her there tomorrow

holly kind of goes on autopilot to get herself out of danger first, but then has a full on joyous meltdown in the hotel lobby.

her effort wasn't for nothing, those years werent wasted - amity is out there and alive!! and... involved in street crime?

the hotel baron seems very familiar with amity, and has actually been told stories of hollyhock, and is happy to meet her. what she ISN'T happy about is the fact that amity is hanging out with criminals again.

 

filler happens, and hollyhock is finally able to reunite with amity after so long. the two are both overjoyed, even if amity looks like she got a harsh scolding from two different people (because she did)