The last time Olivia set foot in the states she had been seven years old, and the Detroit she encountered eighteen years later was a different place altogether. Androids weren't a thing North of the border, and Olivia was okay with that. The whole idea behind them was unnerving to her; a fully functioning pseudo-human designed to obey your every word. She recalled once reading that the fear of dolls was most logically explained as people being unsettled by something that looks human, but ultimately isn't. Perhaps that was the reason the entire idea of androids made her nervous?

Though androids were everywhere she looked, she hadn't yet been in a situation where she had to interact with one. It wasn't that she was avoiding it, she had just come in late and checked straight into her less than amazing room. A human ran the front desk, and the entire place was quite old-fashioned. Not that she was complaining; the little run-down motel was cheap and familiar. Yeah, so the sheets had a rather strong smell of dust that made her throat feel a bit swollen, and the people staying around her all seemed like they could be up to some shady activities, but all in all the place was in pretty decent shape.

She slept well enough, at least, and for that she was thankful. The first thing on her morning agenda was a visit with her Great Aunt Lillian, and old Aunt Lilly could be a bit overwhelming. Olivia hadn't seen her in person for nearly two decades, but it didn't stop the old broad from calling her multiple times a week to pry into her personal life with an almost unbelievable bluntness only the elderly seemed to be able to achieve. Work, school, diet, love; no part of her life was safe from the prying. Honestly, it came as no surprise to Liv when seconds after being greeted, the first thing out of her aunt's mouth was, "You didn't bring a date for the wedding?"

Of course, that was only the beginning, but Olivia couldn't bring herself to be that annoyed. Everyone was gathered for her cousin Jenny's wedding, as she was the first of their generation to take that big step into adulthood, and it was certainly strange to be able to see all of her family in person. All she had for so long were social media posts and Aunt Lilly's gossip to keep her up to date on them all. Around twenty people were currently bustling around the old house for brunch, and that wasn't even half of them. Yes, the Palamer family was large indeed. The Palamer's also knew how to party, and it was barely eleven by the time Olivia had been handed her first drink.

By five, Olivia was what you would call hammered. The amount of people had gradually decreased as the day went on, and she and about seven other Palamer's sat comfortably around the warm living room, sharing old family stories and catching up. The inharmoniously modern TV droned on in the background, some sort of evening news program, but it was mostly ignored. Well, that is until the word 'android' pierced the pleasant conversation. Her father's brother, Uncle Ron, shook his head and frowned, sitting forward and harshly setting his beer aside. It was clear he was preparing for a rant.

"Oh no, Ron. Don't you even start that," Aunt Lilly warned her nephew, wagging a wrinkled and knotted finger at him. "Nobody came here to listen to your bitching!"

Obviously, that was the beginning of a heated debate.

Olivia chose to watch the chaos rather than jump in the middle of it. There was a reason the unspoken rule of 'Never bring up politics at a family gathering' existed. It always turned into something much more personal. Liv sipped her drink to conceal her smirk at certain jabs like, "Of course you hate change, you miserable old bastard!" Her American family seemed to be most invested in the discussion, which made sense seeing as the subject really only affected them.

"They steal our fucking jobs and watch every move we make! You know the government does whatever they want with that information! It isn't right! Those fucking robots should have never been made!" Several voices spoke up at that, but were immediately silenced by the crack of Aunt Lilly's cane against the wooden floor.

"That is enough! Now, we didn't all come together after all this time to argue! I will not have it!"

The room fell silent, a few people looked at the floor sheepishly while others huffed and rolled their eyes. Olivia just raised her brows and took another hearty sip. Her cousin beside her clapped her on the back, causing her to nearly choke to death on the already hard to swallow drink.

"Yeah, see! Livy knows what's up!"

And with that, the conversation was dropped.

Even with a fire ignited in her belly by the alcohol, Olivia was freezing her ass off. It wasn't cold enough to snow, but a heavy rain had her soaked as she made the journey back to the motel. The plan had never been to stay over at Aunt Lilly's long, but it was nearly ten by the time she said her goodbyes. Androids hadn't been brought up again, thankfully, and the rest of the night had gone on without a problem. It was pleasant, and the only reason she had left was the ever increasing difficulty of keeping her eyes open. That was no longer a problem. As soon as the icy rain hit her, Olivia was wide awake.

Luckily, the walk wasn't so bad. The motel was around a mile away, and if she walked fast she could make it in just over fifteen minutes. Music played in her ears, a tinny quality that could only come from the cheapest of headphones, but it was good enough for her. The upbeat poppy tracks kept her pace up, and made the walk itself go by faster, but not being able to hear the world around her had her a bit on edge. Olivia kept the volume low, and settled on keeping her eyes peeled. Surely, she would be fine. Tucked safely in her bag was a small canister of pepper spray, and knowing she had something by the way of self defense made her feel a little safer.

She had been so close, maybe three minutes away. Her guard had already been lowered and relief flooding when someone crashed into her. Hard. Hard enough to send the both of them on their asses and skidding. Her phone hit the ground and skidded away, dragging her still thumping headphones away with it. It felt like a bucket of ice water had been splashed on her, with the sound of the rain hitting her ears and the burning pain from the asphalt scraping up her shoulder. The flimsy cotton jacket was ripped, displaying the bloody skin beneath it.

"What the he-" she started, ready to tear the dumbass apart, but the sight of the person on the ground before her cut Olivia short.

No. Not a person.

An android started back at her with wide, fearful eyes. Had it not been for the LED on it's temple, flashing yellow and red, and the tattered uniform it wore, Olivia would have been certain it was human. Were androids supposed to look that scared? Surely not? Fear was an emotion, and androids weren't supposed to experience those, right? A furious shout came from the distance, and both Olivia and the android snapped their heads in the direction it had come from.

"Please, you have to help me!" The android begged, sounding just as much like the scared young woman it appeared to be.

Wide eyed and open mouthed, Olivia nodded.