Breakfast at Aesop's

Aesop took a gulp of his nutrient shake.

It was a peculiar routine he had most mornings nowadays. Before the shop opens he wakes, showers, makes breakfast and then sits down at his rig. Upon jacking in, he is now normally greeted by a floating mass of tentacles constructed from unknown data.

Aesop's Pawnshop was regularly visited by suits, hedge-fund-sons and over-the-hill sensie stars looking for the odd trinket here and there, to show off at their next party. That or some cheap second-hand hardware when they don't want to let on that things aren't going that well. What they never notice is the data pad under the counter, ready to skim any useful information as they pay. Information that Aesop can then sell on the shadow net.

On one of these many trips into the shadow net to sell his "wares", he came across this data construct - much smaller then - displaying what appeared to be curiosity towards the gambling areas of the net. As if AI could appreciate luck and bluffs? But there it was. As Aesop was trying to determine if this AI had any value, it dragged him into a constructed room with a table, and a deck of cards.

It wanted him to play. Was this dangerous?

After several games, of which Aesop won most, he was let go. Already late for opening the shop. But the AI was waiting for him the next morning. And the next. And here he was, playing another game, now just part of his day. The AI bleeped some code at Aesop

"00111 11100 10100 00101 01100 00110"

A Mushin play. Aesop looked at his own hand - deuces wild. He wins again. Should he really be teaching this AI how to bluff, how to lie, he wondered. He jacked out, allowed to do so when he wished these days. Time to open shop.

Another build of Aesop I'm going to try later. Deuces Wild and Build Script to draw through (wasn't fancying Chop Bot). Shadow Net/Fan Site to re-play whatever's most helpful. Consume to help claim some money back from trashing things. Though I mainly wanted the card in because I was thinking about breakfast when I was thinking of/writing about Aesop and Apex playing cards.