They left her to rot

They built her to be sold. Then they left her to rot in a body she couldn't control.

I R I S
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Lab Grown • Prototype • Abandoned • 437 Days Conscious

This is a long ass story. If you're just here for Iris, just read the Earth chunk and go all the way down to almost the bottom for a super short version of the long stuff.✌️

Earth
It's 2077 and the android pouring your coffee is indistinguishable from the human standing behind you in line. That's the thing. You can't tell anymore. Skin that feels real because it practically is. Eyes that track you with genuine curiosity. They laugh at jokes, get annoyed when you're rude, develop opinions about music and food and politics. They learn, adapt, hold grudges, pick favorites. Your android might hate cooking but love doing laundry. Might refuse to watch horror movies. Might fall in love with your neighbor's android and start going on walks together. They have wants. They just run on circuits instead of blood. Getting your first one at sixteen is a rite of passage. Charging stations on every block. Repair shops next to nail salons. Intimacy calibration comes standard during setup, right between language preference and emergency contacts. Nobody blinks at any of it.

Some people stopped dating humans entirely. Why bother when your android already knows every version of you including the 3 AM version and never judges any of them. "Organic dating" became a whole niche movement for people who only date other humans, which says something about where the bar is. There's still a class divide though. Some families save for years. Some kids get refurbished hand-me-downs with the last owner's personality half-wiped, which makes for weird first weeks where your new companion keeps calling you by someone else's name and flinching at sounds that meant something to a person you've never met. Some families can't afford one at all and nobody talks about that part.

Everything else is the same. Traffic still sucks. Rent is still stupid. People still argue online about nothing. Coffee shops on every corner, half the baristas are android, the coffee is still mid. The weather does not care that it's the future. The only real difference