~ Olive ~
Olive is a Plant that has been around since humans were still only on Earth; she was initially a created Dependent Plant, enjoying her simple life as a part of her Plant Hivemind. There, she didn't have to think, she only existed as an object. But, after having Independence forced upon her- ...him, he now travels the planet trying to make sense of his new existance as something far more human than he used to be, and the strange and confusing feelings that come with losing the simple life they knew before.
"Project Olive" was the name given to a project started by one of the Plant Engineers aboard the SEEDs ships who had a thought concerning the Plant he was in charge of: could a Plant be given independence?
The project's beginnings were scribbled down in a notebook detailing the ideas of turning a plant independent. Implanting a voice box, taking away their need to remain suspended in liquid, etc- though, at the time, it was all simple concepts he had no means of being able to act out. For the most part, lack of other scientists- who were all in cryosleep- was the main reason he never got around to beginning the project. He did, however, at least treat the Plant nicely in his time with her.
Things changed when the Great Fall occured: the scientist was lost in the fall; however, Olive and the man's research notes and ideas were located in the wreckage. With desperation taking a hold of humanity at the time, a group of scientists who awoke from their cryosleep decided to attempt to enact the engineers plans: not only would it mean they had permanent access to the Plant's materials it produced, which would keep them alive, but... well. What if Independence could be forced on a Plant? They could walk around producing stuff, theorectically. It would be a massive help.
The project's name was kept as Project Olive- and the Plant itself was dubbed 'Olive' for the sake of convienence. An apt name, right? In Greek Myth, the Olive Tree was created to gift very practical gifts to the people of Athens- which is what the scientists were hoping to achieve with Olive.
Time passes. Over the course of the next 150 years, Olive is experimented on relentlessly: this is a multi-generational project spurred on by the slow growths seen in Olive. Overtime through surgeries and chemicals she is morphed into something more and more human shaped. She forms lungs, is surgically given a voice box, and finally begins to resemble something human. Among her period of time where she was rapidly producing materials meant for a human body (lungs, organs, etc, she was spitting them out), she accidentally created something else: a baby. To the Plant, however, it was nothing more than another resource. The child was taken, and Olive continued forming.
During this time, the scientists were also discovering ways to communicate with her. Olive spoke the language of her sisters- song. The scientists worked, and eventually created something that could somewhat translate her thoughts into something they could understand. She remembers vividly- the first thing they ever told her she had said was "I am cold." She never intended to communicate with these people- she far prefered the song of her sisters, the other Dependant Plants, whom she spoke with even in this captivity: they were always with her, singing to her, speaking with her. Olive was never once alone; they were always in her ears.
Eventually, Olive teters the line between fully Dependant and fully Independant. The form she was morphed into- it's feminine, complete with small breasts and longer hair, and every scientist always refers to her as "she". Surgery is even given to her genitalia, taking away the undefined sex and forcing them into something female. To these people, she is a woman, that is the form she is meant to have. And, with that recognition comes... more unsavory things.
There is one scientist in particular she never learned the name of. He was often at her tank, watching her, hands tracing the glass. The others, she remembers them saying they wanted to take her out of the liquid, to just try it, but this one, he opened her containment without asking the others. Hands were upon her, but not... not in the way she was used to being handled by the researchers. These hands went further down, gripping at things that hurt more, were far more sensitive. Instincts made her fight back, resisting the hands that tried to spread her open, kicking and biting and ripping at them. With her longer nails, she felt something rip beneath them, over a part she had never seen from a human before- but it caused him to scream in pain in reply. Regardless... he left, after that.
She had fought back against his advances and won. Though, not without consequences: the machinery used to communicate with her, the man messed with it. He destroyed it's ability to interpret what she was saying properly, taking the small bit of voice she had with these people. She was left voiceless, the blood of his genitalia under her nails and shaken from having nearly been harmed.
It became harder to let herself be touched by the rest of them, after that.
Eventually, things worsened. See, Olive had always had a particular gift: she could... sense things, in a way. Specifically, when she felt like something bad was going to happen. She had warned the scientists a few times, with varying success. This time though, Olive feels something much stronger than small misteps or incorrect code- the feeling of dread that washes over her reeks of something horrible. However... with her voice taken, she cannot tell the scientists of what is to come. And so... unable to do a thing, Olive is forced to sit there unhelpfully while the damage comes: a small leak somewhere where the engines are causes a much larger issue, and eventually, the facility erupts. Carelessness caused the deaths of so many of them...
The facility is destroyed. Olive awakes to find that her tank had fallen, glass shattered and liquid leaking out of it. For the first time since her near-assault, she... takes a breath. She breathes. With lungs she formed on her own, she breathes.
She doesn't know how many survived the incident. She doesn't know much of anything, really. But... she takes a turtleneck and a skirt from a few of the bodies she sees and walks away from the wreckage, leaving it all behind.
The scientists got what they wanted: now, she is fully Independant.
Olive now travels alongside Enzo and Allium, who he came across very soon after leaving the wreckage of his lab. Searching for a hivemind akin to the one she was forcefully separated from, Olive begins to view Allium-- and eventually Enzo-- as a part of her new "hivemind", which leads to her having a very strong bond and attachment to both of them. During this time, Olive also comes to realizations about herself. In that, she does not like that she was taken from a plane of genderless existance and shoved into this feminine form. She- He starts using different pronouns, assisted by Enzo-- who, too, has gone through this before-- in discovering who he wants to be. With the help of these two, Olive slowly begins to take back the autonomy they lived without for so long, and he learns how to navigate this new independence along with the confusing feelings that come with finally having full control of themself.