Hollian Tannis

Hollian Tannis joined the PPC in March 2004. She is written by Cassie Cameron-Young.

Backstory
It is unknown where exactly Hollian comes from - even she is not exactly sure, only that “it certainly resembles World One, from the descriptions”. It can be theorised, then, that she is from some version of World One, whether the world itself or an alternate version.

As of yet, almost nothing is known of her life before she joined the PPC. What is known is how she ended up in HQ. In her own words, she “went out camping with some friends, thought I heard a noise in the middle of the night, torch battery died on me while I was looking around, and I wandered through a plothole into the Cafeteria. In my pyjamas.” The memory of this less than elegant arrival is still guaranteed to make her embarrassed if brought up.

She got off to a bad start with the Marquis de Sod, who assigned her to Despatch on the basis that she looked too incompetent to be anywhere with too much risk of actually having to kill things. This rather rankled, understandably, but she accepted the assignation without protest. For nearly two years she worked in Despatch, before her sincerity, commitment and devotion to duty, coupled with a record of being able to subdue characters with a minimum of actual killing, caught the Tiger Lily’s notice. In December 2005, Hollian was transferred to the Department of Internal Affairs.

At first, she was mentored by Basilico Andretti, and this association led to her developing a strong, though strictly platonic, affection for him despite his serious, almost emotionless approach to their work. She was eventually assigned to the patrol section of the DIA, the officers who spent their time out in the corridors to keep an eye on things.

She was in DIA Central during Crashing Down, but managed to escape the massacre and followed the Tiger Lily out of HQ, though not without injury. Despite this, she remained in the DIA after the crisis, and is still working there to this day.

Appearance
Hollian would be the first to say she has no particularly remarkable features. She stands at 5’6”, with long brown hair and bluish-green eyes. Her build is about average, but a combination of PPC work and physical workouts in her free time have made her fairly muscular. She is usually in uniform or at least wearing black, and generally has a serious expression on her face. On her left arm, a long, jagged scar runs from her shoulder almost to her wrist, a legacy of the Black Cats’ invasion.

Personality
While on duty, Hollian is very serious, sometimes to the point of absolute emotional detachment if taking on a particularly onerous job, such as arresting somebody she knows. This tactic is one she learned from her mentor, who was concerned about the likelihood of sentimentality getting in the way of carrying out her tasks.

Off-duty, however, her demeanour is much friendlier; she’ll talk to anybody who’s willing to talk to her, and enjoys a good laugh, though part of her is always ready to snap back into work mode at the sound of trouble.

Despite this, Hollian is rather insecure; not far beneath the level-headed exterior lies a young woman very much afraid that she’s about to embarrass herself, or has just done so. This inner self is suppressed quite easily while she’s working, but when off-duty Hollian often apologises for any perceived mistakes or blunders, particularly around people she doesn’t know very well.

Other
Hollian has always been committed to the PPC as a whole. However, since having been selected to join the DIA, and especially after Crashing Down, she has developed a fierce, wholly unshakable loyalty to the Tiger Lily in particular, regarding her Department Head as one of the best Flowers in the entire Organisation. This, however, doesn't stop her from being willing to complain about other members of Upstairs, particularly the Marquis.