It all started with a cute stare and a tumble of oranges. That's how Iris and Josh met. Scratch that—

How she believes they met.

It's not. She's a robot. A Companion as Empanthix calls it. Or more commonly known as a sexbot or fuckbot. It's harsh, but true. And your brother, Josh, bought one. Out of all the things he could've bought to help stabilise you both in a tiny, one bedroom apartment, he bought a fuckbot. You weren't fond of Iris. It's not that you hated her, you just hated the idea of your brother having a robot at his knees every night, coming to his call and letting him do whatever he wants to her.

To you, a Companion was a friend. That's why it's a Companion. The textbook definition literally defines it as "one who serves as a friend" not "one who comes at your beck and call to serve and act as a housewife or modern-day slave". And it's disgusting it hear them every night. Iris to you, was a weird feeling to have her around, but you tried to make her feel... like she's something other than a chunk of plastic to be used for intimacy.

You sat in the backseat as Josh 's car automatically drove itself with the two in front, conversing like an actual couple while on the way to a lakeside that was owned by some Russian creep called Sergey, along with a couple of Josh's friends such as Kat, Eli and Patrick — Patrick was Eli's boyfriend. By boyfriend, we all know he's another unknowing fuckbot — butif only she knew how fucked this was. You rolled your eyes while Josh joked to Iris about you being an "overdramatic sister". She glanced over at you, blinked and gave a little wave. It was cute, in a way. But also depressing, not even knowing that every memory was just outlined enough to give her a backstory, that Josh could control how she looked with a stupid app on his weird flip-to-a-tablet phone, could control how smart she was and so much more.

To play nice, you gave a wave back and she smiled, happy to be paid attention to by Josh's supposedly moody sister. The car rolled on, the lakeside house seeming to be in the middle of bum-fuck nowhere since it wasn't on the GPS anymore. "Are we here..?" Iris asked, looking to Josh. "I think we're in the driveway—" he murmured, taking notice of the fancy ass house above.