Vitcity

Having just gotten the chance to tell Sam about Mattea before she'd be able to size the president up herself, Aron goes through the rest of the work day without much trouble. By the end of it, he's started to break a sweat, and tells Sam he's gonna dip for just a moment but that he'll be back. He returns with a couple of bottles of water and hands one to Sam.

"Thanks for the help out there today!" He says, using his own bottle to cool his forehead for a second. "I'd say the whole town's done a great job, given the circumstances. Do you need a ride home or anything?"

"Nothing in particular, I guess. Still don't really know the city too well yet." Aron replies. "I was probably gonna ride around and look for a place to shoot some hoops or play some ball hockey, or just go for a walk somewhere different. Since I won't be busy, why don't I just give you my number so you can call me if you do find yourself needing a drive somewhere?"

Nora

"I know," Alice says with a small smile.  "Mom might've mentioned it when I brought up your challenge.  Why do you think I needed to put a bit more pressure on you to give myself an edge?"  She makes her first move... it's not quite what you expected.  "I only need one win..."

Alice is completely reckless the first game, prioritizing attacking over any obvious sense of strategy... and Nora responds with aggression.  She can't find much rhyme or reason behind Alice's moves, and she's surprised that even the head of a club would be this amateurish... then realizes too late that Alice was setting up a fork.  She does realize that saving her queen would give Alice a chance to check in two turns and put her on the defensive, and instead keeps pushing back.  She realizes the trap Alice has been setting up, but manages to set hers off first.  Alice tries to salvage the situation and almost turns it around, but she's two or three pieces short.  You're both low on resources, to be honest...

When you declare checkmate, Alice surveys the board and rocks her king back and forth with one finger, then tips it over.  "Nothing I can do...  First game is yours."  She toys with your queen, flipping it around in her fingers.  "I was hoping for a quick win so we could enjoy giving you a nice, long punishment..."  She holds out your queen.  "But you're not going to back down now just because you realize you might lose, now are you?"

Floyd

"Oh! It wasn't our idea to go, we got roped into another group that was going and we thought about inviting you but I didn't know whether you'd be OK with us telling them you knew about all this Otherworld stuff so I figured I'd just ask you today," Katie explains hurriedly.

"We don't really bring anyone in particularly usually," Fox says. "Maybe Dewey? But he's busy tonight. Um... Let me think. Somnis knows, so maybe her? Or Kiran? Um... Natsumi and Buttons, maybe... um... Freya and Raine are busy... Mattea knows, but she's kinda... scary. Oh, and the fortune teller at the mall probably know about all this, I guess we could ask her? Can you think of anyone else?"

Floyd scratches his head "Oh no like I said don't worry about it Kit-Kat I trust you guys to come to me if it's serious" He replies quickly shifting his attention back to Fox "Uhhh let's see I know everyone who was at the party so that adds Sam and what's his name Tee? Mareena might help but, she seems to want to stay out of it I don't really get what she's after but, last time Sam had to dress up for her to come with us" He says before being hit with a sudden realization.

"Was I not supposed to tell anyone about this stuff I haven't exactly been shouting it from the rooftops but, I did give Ilya the extra key Marenna gave me the day after the Mannequin attacked me & Sam, that's the girl you crashed into at the Ice Rink Katie, we were supposed to begin training today actually Figure Skating not the other stuff but, then this weird storm happened" He explains glancing between the two for any sign of affirmation.

Nora shrugs. "Always finish a game."

She plays the game to the end, then smiles. "Not bad at all for not touching the game in... 5 years? Thereabouts. I stopped playing because no one was ever a challenge. Even other Grandmasters- adults, multiple times my age- were just so damn boring. You're fun to play though. Let's see... If I start seriously getting back into the swing of it, I'd give us about 6 months before you never win a game against me again. But I'd enjoy being proven wrong."

Her smile turns into a grin as she stands up and slips off her shoes. "Now then, a deal is a deal and I'm a girl of my word. Though I hope you aren't too underwhelmed by the reveal. I am incredibly ticklish. But especially on my feet and stomach. Anywhere else, I can recover after a few moments of concentration, but tickling me in those places will send me into fits of giggles for minutes at a time. I'd offer to take the dress off too, but that might be a bit risque for you, hm?"

Gabriel decides to use what's left of his day to look for thrifts stores, pawn shops, outlets, and anywhere else he might be able to find and buy cheap electronics.