Swamped

"Well, is there anywhere else people go?" you ask. "There's the lounge, there's here..."

"There's the auditorium," Lisa says. "Sometimes people use that as a meeting place when they don't want to be somewhere crowded. Or they just stop by the memorials."

You head to the auditorium, and while there are indeed a scattering of people around, Penelope isn't among them.

However, Lisa's attention seems to be drawn to someone sitting at one of the memorials.

"That's Nora," she whispers to you. "You might remember she was going to be our third judge. Guess she's got a lot going on right now. I'll introduce you to her sometime, she's a lot of fun... well, when she's in the mood for it, anyhow."

"Doesn't help us find Penelope, though."

"Guess there's a chance she didn't take losing well and went to her room. We'll head there next."

Lisa leads you to the barracks, down the halls, and knocks on an unassuming door.

Penelope sticks her head out, looking annoyed.

"What is it? I'm busy."

Lisa gives you a little nudge. Apparently she wants you to do the talking.

"Um. Well, something odd seems to have happened in your game with Rushy a while ago. We're trying to look into it."

"Oh. The cards." Penelope rolls her eyes. "I honestly don't care. Even if it turns out she cheated, I'll forfeit. The game was fun and all, but I've got to look over Tom's notes tonight."

"Would that be Tom Eighth?" you ask. "The one with the noisy project?"

"He's almost done, or so he says. He expects three days to properly waterproof it, then he wants to test. I'm double-checking his work to make sure there's no other problems. And his notes are a mess, so this is going to take me a while. So, I don't have any time for games right now."

"Shouldn't you eat? No one had seen you in the mess hall."

"I'm not hungry. Thank you for your concern, but I've got too much to do right now. Goodbye, and please don't bother me again."

She shuts the door on you. Well, now what?