City Hall's walls were a pale beige, the lighting soft with large windows showing the city outside. A few potted plants lined the lobby they'd walked into, and Twibright had taken the initiative to move right to the front desk and engage in some good old fashioned conversation. The badger at the front desk wore a wide, friendly smile.

Twibright cleared her throat gently into a hoof, leaning up on the counter. "Hello, sir." She put on her best smile. "I was hoping to speak with the mayor about—"

"No can do!" The badger's cheerful voice seemed to come from nowhere in particular, as if it were just being spoken into their heads. "The mayor is busy! He has all the important mayoral work he has to do for you and everyone else!" The badger nodded with finality. "No way he can make time for someone fresh in town. Might I suggest you enjoy the sights?"

Twibright frowned a little. "I'm sorry, but that doesn't seem quite proper for—"

Lulu stepped up next to Twi, waving at the badger. "We're here for something else."

The badger smirked at Lulu. "I can't help you find—"

Lulu clapped the badger's mouth shut, even if his voice didn't seem to be coming from it. "Can it. I swear, males. I'm not looking for that. I am, on the other hand, hoping to talk to someone here who knows about how things work around here. We're new, and we're just trying to fit in."

The badger seemed to be considering that, so she let go. "Well." The badger tapped his chin. "I suppose that's reasonable." He reached under his desk and drew out a thin pamphlet. "Try this! We have a new program just for people lost in their way."

Twibright leaned up to see what it said. "'Helping the helpless'?"

The badger nodded eagerly. "Yes indeedy! You need to go to the fourth floor of the library and turn left three times."

Watcher placed a map in her mind. "Inconveniently placed."

Lulu nodded with a sigh. "But I thought we were in government? Shouldn't that be here?"

Twibright gave Lulu a nudge. "Come on, let's go. A library is the proper place to get information not specific to government function. I'll explain it later."

Watcher took the pamphlet, tucking it away. "Thank you for your assistance." They turned to follow Twibright out.

The badger smiled at them, but looked instead to the next person in line. "Oh, I'm sorry. Missing trunks really should go to the carrier you used."

The elephant with no literal trunk, just scowled.

Outside, the sun was busy beating up everyone they could see on that hot day. It was a bright, sunny day, but there was a storm cloud hanging over Twi.

Lulu frowned at it. "That's not ominous at all." She walked along in her own bright sunshine. "I thought this was your idea? What are you sad about, little Twi?"

Twibright grumbled. "It's one thing to have an idea and another thing to be dismissed for it."

Watcher glanced back. "Is that what happened?" They dug out the pamphlet. "I thought this was your idea, to consult the library."

Lulu gave Twi a nudge. "Yeah. I was the one who asked for help with something else."

Twibright shook her head firmly. "No. I had an idea. It was clear, however, that badger was not interested in speaking to us any longer." She huffed gently. "Let's see if the library has better information to give us."

As they entered the library, Watcher took a moment to look around. All three of them were backlit in the doorway. The inside of the building was much cooler, with the library two stories tall with walkways all the way around.

A human, if animated, old lady worked at the front desk and already has a shooshing finger raised at the ready at the newcomers.

Lulu immediately made an apologetic face. "I know. Quiet."

Watcher shook her head a little, then moved towards the librarian. "Hello there, I was wondering if you could assist me?"

The librarian seemed surprised. "Oh, what can I help you with?" Her voice was a whisper. "Is it books you need? We have some of those! How many would you like?"

Watcher shook their head. "Oh, no, not at all." They held up the pamphlet they'd been given. "We were hoping to learn more about the city and." She trailed off, noticing the funny look. "You recognize this?"

"I do." She threw up a hand. "Told them not to do it, but they went and did it anyway!" She leaned in. "If you want, I can show you the way, but I won't go with you. That's a cursed place if ever I saw one."

Watcher gave the librarian a curious look, then waved the others over. "Kindly do. Thank you."

Lulu nodded along with that. "Appreciate it. Come on." She gently nudged Twibright along with them as they followed the librarian away from her desk.

They headed straight up a flight of stairs and into the stacks, moving past the science and astronomy section, then past a door labeled "Forbidden," and around the corner where the floorboards turned dark and ominous.

"Just keep going until you get to the door." The librarian pointed the way onwards. "If you get back, good I guess. Don't haunt the place."

Lulu gave Twibright an uneasy look. "This is starting to sound like a bad idea. What kind of place did we end up?"

Twibright grumbled something, but Watcher shook their head. "We can't be sure. This world is either very obvious, or very obscure depending." She glanced back at the librarian fleeing. "We won't know until we go there."

They stepped past the last bookshelf, and it was as if the world itself fell away. The library was still around them, but everything had fallen into darkness. They stood before an eldritch archway of stone that had not been there moments before.

Twibright dared to step forward, head held high. "Hello? We've come to learn."

A voice echoed out of the darkness, something ominous and ancient. "I know." It paused. "There were cookies. But I ate them."

Watcher frowned, folding her arms. "No cookies? This is already turning out poorly."

Lulu slapped Watcher's arm. "You're starting to fall into the feel of this place. Forget the cookies! We want information. How do we find the mayor?"

The ominous voice seemed taken aback. "Oh. You're here to learn about the mayor?" Something scratched their head in the darkness. "He's a very good mayor." The sound of a projector starting with film rolling began. "They moved into the town about ten years ago. He was promoted from assistant mayor to full time mayor."

Watcher frowned. "Are you certain there isn't more? What about before they moved in?"

Lulu nodded. "Yeah, what Watcher said!"

"Before they moved in, they lived somewhere else." The voice sounded bored, as if that was just useless information.

Twibright frowned, then waved at the other two. "I'm not sure we'll get anywhere like this." She took another step forward, ears back in determination. "Did the mayor's arrival as mayor coincide with any significantly disruptive laws?"

The sound of papers shuffling echoed out of the darkness, and the slide changed. "Yes." A single dot appeared in the center of a map. "It was during the period of prosperity for the town, that this place, which had been falling into ruin, was revitalized as a tourist destination from people all over the world!"

Watcher frowned, turning to Lulu. "How does a library become a tourist destination?"

Lulu shrugged. "It doesn't. I think they meant the city."

"The city!" An image appeared of an aerial shot of the entire city. "Growing brighter and better by the day! More tourists means more money, which means more buildings to support those tourists, which means more—"

Twibright stepped away from the arch, her eyes narrowed and her brow furrowed. She waved for the others to join her, voice dropped to a whisper. "This is a F&F situation." Both looked at her with nothing but confusion. "Sorry, two brothers I knew from my world. The change is a sharp change towards capitalistic endeavors at the expense of other goals and objectives. I think we've located what doesn't fit."

Lulu gave Twibright a squinty-eyed look. "We need to tell the mayor to knock that stuff off?"

Watcher gave Lulu a nudge. "We can certainly try, but asking nicely rarely is enough." She ruffled Twi's mane. "If you were the problem, asking you might have worked. Something drove the mayor to this, and that something is likely what we really want."

Twibright nodded quickly. "Yes! This place should still be safe. I don't think we need to do anything more here than we've already done. Let's go ask the mayor why they changed!"

Lulu took her turn petting over Twibright's ears. "You are so wonderfully cheerful. Well, if we have a direction, no reason to be here, right?" She glanced back, the archway already gone. "Or there. Back to City Hall?"

Watcher shrugged lightly. "We'll try, at least."

They were almost out when a voice called to them. The librarian was waving them over. "You survived! Good on the whole lot of you. Earned this." She put down a jar of lollipops and dug out one for each of them. "Such lovely little learners."

She waved the three off before going back to her duties.

Twibright blinked, then licked the candy a few times. "Well, this is a nice reward." She popped it into her snout and started for the door. "I should have thought of that for my own library. Let's get moving. We have some information to gather."

Back in City hall, they were forced to deal with the same badger they'd chatted with last time. He flashed them a smile. "Your timing is excellent! You get to be the most special customer of the day."

Watcher perked, floppy ear coming upright for just a moment. "We are? Which customer is that?"

"The one I tell I can't help." He slapped down a little sign. "Lunch time!"

The trio were left staring at the sign with nothing more than the scent of freshly made food from elsewhere in the building. Twibright sighed loudly. "So close." She slumped against the desk, forehead clunking against the wood as if two hollow objects had collided.

Author's Note

This world is a bit zany I think. A nice switch from the last.

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