Jacques' coffee shop is their preferred place of meeting. It has a calm atmosphere, but more importantly, it's close to the central castle, where they both spend the large chunks of their waking hours. There has been worried discussion around the kingdom that in a few harvest's time there won't be enough coffee to go around to keep all the shops running, which is news that the roasters are indeed troubled by, but they're mostly happy that they're getting more business because of it. "Last time you'll ever have the drink" is a strong advertisement, after all.

"No sugar okay? They've been charging out the ass for it." Waine says, bringing the two tin cups to their table in the comfortable nook of the store.

"Yeah," Clare responds with a nod, taking her cup from him while still focusing on her notes.

"So what's this big idea of yours?" He asks with a genuinely interested, positive look.

She takes a sly glance around, as if it were secretive in nature. He scoffs at the dramatic sight.

"Come on," he adds with an arched brow. "It can't be that bad can i-"

He stops himself, seeing her unfold one of her copied diagrams of the magi-tech substation blueprints.

"Oh...." He clears his throat. "That isn't the substations, is it?"

"Keep it down," Clare whispers.

"R-right."

"It is," she reveals, flipping the blueprint to make her notes legible to him. She points at different sections of the diagram as she explains her case. "I have not one, but two theses I could use. First one would be about an improved social blueprint that could be simply printed on the autos down there. They're fully anti-social, they don't even recognize humans and living."

Waine's smile starts dying out, steadily losing any humor to his features. "So it's definitely illegal."

She gives him an annoyed glance. "Well, you don't have to he-"

"N-no," he corrects. "I got you."

She smiles. "Thanks, Waine. I'm glad I have a friend li-"

"But you're just going to have the substation chief go and take reports, right?"

"No, I'm going down there."

From his look of concern, a new smile is born; this time it looks positively demented. "Y-... Clare, listen to yourself. Everyone knows what non-social autos do to people."

"So? Why not fix it?"

"Because we don't need to. If they were never given social programming, they won't obey any commands. If they don't obey any commands, they'll just do what is in their programming, and Clare, substation autos have two things in their programming: ensure that the substations are maintained, and remove foreign debris. Do you know what that makes you, Clare?"

"I know, b-"

"You're a way better student than I am, Clare. Everyone knows you're the best, but you can't just overlook the basics. Autos are nothing to mess around with. You remember year one of undergrad?"

She looks away, taking up her bitter coffee for a sip.

"Luis died, in front of everyone in the classroom. You were a sophomore at the time, but you were in the academy when it happened. I was there in the room. The second he turned on his auto it-"

"I know."

"Then why?"

"Are you going to help me or not?"

"I... This is suicide! You could be expelled, imprisoned, killed! Clare, you have no reason to do that. You'll just be throwing yourself away, and I don't want to see another friend, let alone my best friend get her head torn off by some senseless pile of shit." He leans in, just like at the library. "There's a better way to do it. When you set one of those in motion they're impossible to stop if their chassis is closed! You're actually talking about opening a live one up, Clare!"

"Maybe that's necessary."

"Clare. If you're going to be getting an auto, you might as well just design an auto to protect you and hold the other one at bay while you-"

"That's... actually a pretty good idea," she says, looking down and jotting a note.

"Uh... No, but that would then be stealing. You said yourself... Clare, Clare are you listening?!"

"I'm listening," she says, eyes still down at her paper.

"I know you're stressed, but this is no time to ruin your life. You have a father Clare, and friends! Your... damn, you're like one step away from meeting Victor! You're making waves! Don't throw it away."

"I'm going to do this, Waine. My mind's made up."

"Then let me change it! We all love you, Clare... I love you!"

Only now does she glance up from her notes with a raised brow.

"A-as a friend."

"Mmm." She looks back to her notes.

"Look, I... I've had enough friends die for no reason. Wouldn't you rather just not be a class four than die? Are you absolutely crazy?"

"I must be."

"Then why won't you listen?!"

"You said so yourself," she leans up and picks up her cup. "I'm absolutely crazy."

"Wh- you." Waine groans, rubbing his face and throwing a weary, agitated gaze to Clare. "Just... okay, just let me come with you."

"...You'd... you'd do that?"

He clears his throat, a slight blush marking his pronounced cheekbones. "I... yes, of course."

"That's... thank you, Waine, but I need you up here."

His expression bitters. "What do you mean?"

"I need you to be my communication hub, just in case anything happens... I don't want dad to wonder." She says this, of course, but she's not even sure if she means it.

Waine draws back, takes a long, stressed breath, and comes to terms with what's about to happen. "I-... Alright, Clare. I'll do it."

A faint, sad smile crosses her face. "You're a real friend, Waine."

"...Yeah, don't mention it."

She leans back over the diagram. So I'm going to go in and try to-"

"Couldn't you just make a duplicate non-social or somethi-"

"Waine."

"Right, sorry. Go on."

She shakes her head as she leans down once more. "Okay, so I'm going to go in, open an auto, and deactivate it. Change up its—"