"Yeah, it's kind of a saturated market. I'll look forward to seeing you there!"

"Likewise!" She has so many ideas for things to sell now! She probably won't be able to get them all done and still have her new chassis in time for combat finals, but she can make a large subset.

Time continues to progress. It's not so long until Tessa's AI is done.

Upload has been working on the AI in parallel with other stuff, both because she likes having multiple irons in the fire and partly to buy some time to think about Ariel's warning. Eventually she decides she'll be better off the more she knows, such that it's worth the awkwardness of asking. 

"Hey Tessa," she says when the latter arrives in the Workshop. "I finished your suit automation."

"Excellent. You made good time, too; I know my suit's a bit... advanced."

"Thanks. I can send you the executable as an email, or if you'd rather loan me a flash drive that works too." She spins her screwdriver like a pen a couple times. ". . . Did you know there are some rumors going around about you?"

"Oh, I'm shocked." Tessa hands her a flash drive, the connector of which is a transparent hologram. "That'll hook into anything, it's nanotech. What are they saying this time around?"

Margaret pulls the copy off her laptop; she does development direct in her brain but once something isn't being actively worked on it goes to the storage she doesn't use for memories. "I heard you tried to mind-control Sally."

“Oh my god, how many times do I have to apologize for that? Okay, quick magic lesson: the Artificer? Not supposed to be sentient. They’re born Hollow, without a soul, and then when exposed to the right kind of magic they turn into a golem, and then when someone tattoos them they become the Artificer and belong to whoever made the ink. Now, between stages 2 and 3, the Artificer is a walking chaos magic Tesla coil. As in, she literally cannot move without warping magic around her and transmuting her surroundings. So, from my perspective, Stormhammer brings her pet-slash-toy golem with her to school, fails to properly ward it, and then lords the shiny magic toys it made over everyone around her. So I decided to steal it. Admittedly uncool, but you have no idea how insufferable that girl was. I brewed up some ink, stole the golem, and was about to start the tattoos when she woke up and started screaming! Obviously I stopped, and I was about to apologize and let her go when Stormhammer literally breaks through my wall like the Goddamn Kool-Aid Man and tries to fucking murder me! I declined to press charges, because I'm nice like that, but she apparently still thinks I'm the Antichrist. More power to her, I guess."

"That sounds like a total mess that could have been avoided if everyone had picked 'explain themselves' over 'take drastic action' a few times, but I'm told that happens in high schools even without a dozen kinds of dangerous weirdness going on."

Also, she isn't going to harp on it, but how do you get that far into a plot without realizing the entity you're plotting against is a person? Sure, you can't always tell just by looking, but that just means you have to do certain amount of due diligence.

"Yeah, fifteen-year-olds think everything's life and death. Anyway, thanks for the AI! Depending on how well it works I may end up giving you a bonus, only seems fair."

"You're welcome, and thanks!" And she'll get an email if its code changes quickly in any of several ways that indicate it might be waking or being woken up. Upload takes not having kids while still in high school very seriously.

The next day, in Workshop, Josh drops by to ask Margaret for advice on pathfinding for a hypothetical nuclear-powered Roomba.

"Thanks," he says when the advice has been dispensed. "Anything I can help you with?"

Pathfinding is fun! "No problem! Do you know the time and date for the Weapons Fair? And any other logistics I should know for my first one?"

Josh looks around furtively to make sure no teachers overheard. There being no nearby teachers, he whispers, “It’s November second, eight PM in room 1024-Z, in the tunnels by Kane. I can get you a booth, but you have to be careful about it, okay? Don’t tell Security, don't tell anyone who might tell Security. They really do not like the Weapons Fair."

"Got it. I won't tell a soul." She whispers back. "And I just show up at 8 with my stuff?"

"7:30, probably, you don't want to have to set up while shoppers are coming through, but yeah. It's gonna be great having you there!"

"Okay, I wasn't sure if eight was vendor set-up time or the main opening. And thanks; it's going to be great being there." If he seems to have nothing else to say, she turns back to her bench.