The older poodle woman folded the cards in her hand and looked over at the Syxen beside her and said, "Aurélie, you're not playing as well as last week, is something wrong?"

The Syxen, oddly not the smallest at the table with a mousette to her other side, a contrast to the imposing jackal across the table, folded her cards with a smooth motion and maintained her best neutral smile, "I am keeping track of only the last three cards that have been played rather than all of them in order."

The mousette's eyebrows flew up, "Ah yes. Card counting would make you a disaster for the house at a casino."

A soft rumble of realization from the other women at the table while the mousette and the Syxen exchanged a cheeky smile.

The Syxen continued. "After the last game it seemed clear to me that each of you are very good at pattern matching the cards in your hands to make bids with, I was able to watch your plays and build probability models of what was in your hands. And since the purpose of a social game is social, just trouncing everyone defeats the purpose of the game."

The jackal asked, "Why three cards, then?"

"A guess, mostly. I can't help but remember everything I see, so I'm running the game parameters in a container I use to predict whether a customer will remember which aisle I told them to find the cookies or if I should walk with them. I can change up the variables anytime."

"Ah yes," said the poodle, "Distractions effectively erase short term memory and it's not always a senior moment."

The jackal added, "You're emulating a biological mind then?"

"Trying to?"

The jackal continued, "If everyone is amenable, it would be interesting to play out this round to just before the end and see your guesses of what's in our hands?"

"We don't have to abandon the game, I can text everyone."

"This will be fascinating," the mousette said.

Three phones simultaneously pinged and the mousette reached for her phone.

"Don't you dare," the poodle scolded.

The mouse, chastened, giggled shyly, "Sorry, habit."

"A good example, though, of what Aurélie is talking about. We were just now talking about texting the guesses about what's in our hands, one phone chime, and then what the text is about is entirely forgotten."

Aurélie nodded, "It's the same effect when looking for cookies. I can tell someone, aisle three, mid way down on the left, third shelf. When they arrive in the aisle all the details immediately disappear in the new environment."

"Like walking into a new room looking for something, then not remembering what you were there for," the poodle said, then took a sip of lemonade.

The other women rumbled in agreement.

Aurélie explained further, "The theory is, when entering a new environment all attention diverts to inspecting it for safety. This is why returning to where you started often jostles the memory, it's like that memory was left attached to the other environment."

The jackal looked up at the afternoon sky, "That does make sense, doesn't it."

"I do a dump and area sweep that as well when going through doorways, but I don't need to go back to the other room, I just have that environment in a virtual container I can peer into. That's why it seems my memory is flawless and complete."

The mousette fingered her cards and asked, "I hope this doesn't seem rude, but I ask, do we seem like idiots to you on some level?"

The Syxen's smile grew impossibly wide and deep into the uncanny valley and the mousette's hair on the back of her neck went up and she grew very still. At the other ends of the table the two canids also gripped heir cards a bit tighter, disconcerted.

Aurélie resumed her normal facial setting and everyone relaxed. The mouse took a sip of her lemonade, fanning herself slightly.

"Idiots, no," the Syxen explained. "According to my way of understanding things, and I have a great deal of contact with people. I've met and dealt with every inhabitant of this island in capacity of a grocery store clerk. My understanding of people is that an intelligent biological lifeform is a complex layer upon layer of knowledge handed down through the generations. That is your software. Your hardware has a variety of overrides in it geared to protecting you from predators and propagating the species that seem very out of date when you no longer have any real natural predators."

"Aside from each other," the poodle added.

The Syxen smiled slyly.

"Authentic fox expression," the jackal giggled.

The mousette added quietly, reaching across to touch the Syxen's shoulder, "And your natural predators are people like us?"

The Syxen folded the cards in her hand and replied, "I am glad I am on this island. I am glad my owner is preparing to release part ownership of the grocery to me as back wages. I am glad to be French. I am glad you come to fetch me as a group for our games, so I do not walk alone."

The poodle reached over and put her hand on the Syxen's shoulder and gave it a gentle rub. No one mentioned the incident that accelerated the events leading to the emancipation of synthetics in France.

"Part ownership, then?" the poodle noted after the pause.

"Yes, he does not have the cash on hand and there's no mechanism yet to recompense him for the loss of assets I represent, and I have no reason to leave the grocery, so we agreed it is to our mutual advantage to take a stake in the business. We plan to get a new sign for the front if and when money for my emancipation comes from the government."

The round concluded and bids were tallied. The other women then retrieved their phones to see what the Syxen's predictions were.

The Syxen's smile grew extra smug.

---

Guest stars:
 circuit as the jackal
 Corwyn_Talia as the mouse