Little Scriven Luminious Square

[MintyMimix]

The village of writers known as Little Scriven was just a tiny town atop a butte, but its inhabitants had big ideas.

On its flat was a blistering square of sandstone buildings. Strategically placed shade spots and an abundance of fans provided much needed cooler heads. Scriven's signature library and post office stood as proudly in the square's center. The winds carried the rustling of paper as they whispered the villagers' grand tales and gossip alike.

Along the beige bridge paths were stairs of terrace farms disrupted by the occasional building. The mechanical whirs of the mills, crank-operated lifts, and a nearby workshop hummed in the distance. Perches for its primarily Flying-type residents dotted the town alongside small dangling lanterns. At its end near the butte's edges sat a cozy café next to a blistering hot spring. Like a small star in distance, Little Scriven was a glimmer of sky-high whimsy in otherwise grim, grounded lands.

 

[MintyMimix]

And the tiny town would have another wild tale to tell: one that was truly out-of-this-world.

Like most days, there was little going on in the Luminious Square outside of the day-to-day farm tasks and literature breaks in between. Even something as mundane as the librarian wearing a green scarf instead of her usual red one was considered newsworthy.

So when the wind stirred and lights flashed inside Spinda's Workshop with a crackle of thunder, the locals had chattered up a storm to match.

Most of them dared not enter the mechanic's keep, for it was a dungeon of capricious contraptions and precarious prototypes, but a few curious Flying-types perched themselves nearby hoping to get a glimpse of what the inventor did this time.

Yet said inventor had nothing to do with the six figures that had suddenly appeared. He stepped in circles — as he always had — before peering down and asking, "Great Goodra's ghost, did anyone teach you how to knock before zapping into someone's home?"

Scattered gears, screws, bits and scrap were strewn about at random. Several metallic abominations hung from the ceiling. A workbench sat at the end of the room with what looked to be a hammock and a blanket just next to it.

Most striking, though, where the hundreds upon hundreds of papers that had once clearly been in neat stacks now having tumbled and scattered about from their entrance. "My perfect little mess, ruined! Ruined, I say! Who are y'all, anyways? And you gonna clean this up, or not?"

 

[canisaries]

Andre looked around, no longer under the ethereal starry sky of the Nexus. This place seemed like it belonged to a mechanic of some kind. And this mechanic seemed to be the spinda in front of him - who was quite upset.

"My perfect little mess, ruined! Ruined, I say! Who are y'all, anyways? And you gonna clean this up, or not?"

Andre noticed the scattered papers. "Oh Gods, we're sorry," he said, growing vines out of his withers and trying to gather papers - but his grasp on moving the new limbs was still loose, resulting in him simply pushing the sheets around.

"We are, um... we are heroes from other worlds, I'm told," he said. "Can you tell us where we are?"

 

[SparklingEspeon]

The place was trashed, covered in papers that flowed everywhere and were still settling around in the background. What had seemingly been a little mess was now a much larger one.

Oops.

The deerling--what was his name again?--was picking up the papers, and it was the polite thing to do, so Espurr bent over and started shoveling them up as well. She didn't know what went where, and she felt awful for whoever would have to sort through these later and figure out where they all went.

"We're sorry," she said, stuffing as many papers she could onto the nearest still-remaining stack with an apologetic look. "We didn't know where we were going to land when we took off."

When they were sent, actually, but maybe she'd keep that part close to her chest until she saw how they were received. Showing up unannounced in someone else's home was startling enough, after all -- and that was sans the "a talking cloud from another plane summoned us here, and your world is likely in danger, and it's definitely bad because there are at least thirty of us" bits.

 

[MintyMimix]

The Spinda proceeded to twirl into one of his contraptions and bumped his head, yet paid no mind. "Y'all sure you're alright in the head? 'Heroes'? 'Another world'? This ain't a live performance of one of them ew-suckies novels the mail guy's been ravin' about, right?"

A certain Misdreavus floated up and tilted his head. "Sorry for bargin' in mister; we just stumbled our way in here all impolite like." He nodded. "Name's Ghaspius. Mind tellin' us where we are?"

The Spinda let out a sigh as he practically started snatching up papers and putting them in a particular order. "Just stack the ones ya get over on my workbench," he gestured. "And you're in Little Scriven. How in the blazes y'all 'stumble' upward here is beyond me, but I've seen stranger strangers in my years."

He shrugged. "If y'all really aren't here to stir up trouble, why don't ya go talk to the mayor, Altaria? She ought to be in the library. Ya can't miss it. Big ol' building with a flag next to it." He cleared his throat. "Oh, and Spinda Gare, nice meetin' y'all."

 

[Hap]

Whatever force had dropped them into this world either didn't have control over where they arrived or just straight-up didn't care, because the person who owned this workshop had clearly not been expecting the sudden appearance of six strangers in his home.

Ridley wasn't sure how much of the mess in here had actually been caused by their arrival and how much was by design, but he suspected that their attempts to tidy up after themselves were only making the situation worse. Either way, he started to gather up the papers the deerling had been ineffectually pushing around, glancing over them as he did so. They were mechanical diagrams, mostly, scribblings and notes, nothing Ridley found particularly interesting. He shuffled them into a loose stack and placed it onto the workbench the spinda - Gare? - had indicated.

He had to reach above his own head in order to do so. Wow, Ridley was not enjoying being this short.

"We really are sorry for dropping in like this," he told Gare. "Thanks for the directions."

 

[Phoenixsong]

How to Horse, Lesson One: Standing Up, Maybe. Actually Leaf was doing a fantastic job at this lesson, thank you very much. Not remotely hindered by the extra legs and the none hands. Any baby stantler–style flailing was due solely to the shifting, sliding mounds of paper that had very rudely materialized under her new hooves, one hundred percent by accident and through no fault of her own. (And that was even true this time! Mostly true. Close enough.)

It was also definitely intentional that all the shuffling was kinda sorta hopefully a little bit moving the fallen sheets in the general direction of the workbench. Paper-pushing was pretty far off from Leaf's idea of "being heroes", mind. It sure looked like it'd take thirty years and a multiverse worth of dauntless warriors to sort through the entire Great Stationery Tsunami here, but...

She managed to sidestep the paper swamp at last, sweeping the last offending sheet away with her tail. (Maybe it was for the best that she hadn't turned into the kind of ponyta she was more familiar with. Gare's "perfect little mess" would be a touch more "perfect little bonfire" otherwise.) "Hope everything'll be okay in here! I'm Leaf, by the way." She held out a hand for a shake, then remembered it was actually a hoof, then shrugged and plowed ahead anyway. "...Everything is okay around here, right? There hasn't been any trouble lately? Present trouble excepted, I mean?" she added with a grin.

Gare didn't much sound like he was in desperate need of a hero, not even with death by a thousand papercuts just waiting to happen. No harm at least asking, though, right? Surely the Voice had sent them to Little Scriven to do something more exciting than being the interns who stuffed the envelopes.

 

[Magyk]

"Oh, this is where we ended up? Oh gosh, I'm so sorry that we made a mess of things!" a little voice chimed in. "I'll help clean up however I can!"

She may have answered the call, but she was not used to being this small again. Grace wasn't even sure if anyone had seen her yet. "I'm Grace!" said the Togepi, trying to find everyone else by waddling around. Everything was so tall. "We don't look like much, but everyone starts small!"

 

[MintyMimix]

Spoiler: Ramblings of an old man

"Gobbledygook, y'all barely know how to walk, let alone stack right! Here, lemme show you," Gare chastized with a tut-tut before snatching the papers out of Leaf's grasp. It appeared to float in his palm rather than be physically gripped. "It's always in fours. Fours! That's how's it always been. I swear, what they teachin' you kids in schools these days?" There was nothing apparently different from the way Leaf was organizing compared to the way the Spinda was.

"I keep tellin' Swellow, 'Publish my works and let 'em learn the right things', but then she's all like, 'Oh, but your sentences run on for too long and your concepts go in circles!'" He leapt up in the air and gripped onto one his contraptations as they both dangled precariously. "Of course they go in circles! Everythin' goes in circles! Ideas, the world, the wind, time; it's all a circle! But she just don't get it! Least y'all know how to listen to an old man, right?"

Ghaspius had already left the building.

Gare let out a sigh and dropped down before finally answered the question. The scarf wrapped around his neck fluttered a bit. "Ain't no trouble stirrin' around these parts, unless you count Gelogg eyein' Amelia's husband again," he dismissively replied as he went off on another tangent about local drama. "I swear, those three need to sort it out or shut it up. Can't stand any of their tip-toeing!"

He himself stood on his toes as he went back to his papers. "Well, if y'all are really 'heroes' like ya say, maybe ya ought to think about not walkin' naked all uncivilized like?" It was hard to tell given the swirls, but he rolled his eyes. "Your parents at least taught ya that much, right?"

 

[canisaries]

He himself stood on his toes as he went back to his papers. "Well, if y'all are really 'heroes' like ya say, maybe ya ought to think about not walkin' naked all uncivilized like?" It was hard to tell given the swirls, but he rolled his eyes. "Your parents at least taught ya that much, right?"

Andre blushed deeply. He turned to the others. "Guys... we're naked!" he whispered.

 

[Hap]

Andre blushed deeply. He turned to the others. "Guys... we're naked!" he whispered.

"Speak for yourself," said Ridley, who wasn't.

It didn't seem like there was much point in lingering in this workshop. When Gare turned back to his papers, Ridley followed the misdreavus' (he'd said his name was - Ghaspius?) lead and sidled outside.

 

[canisaries]

Andre turned to see that two people had already left. He glanced between the remaining three and the door and made his choice.

"Uh, guys!" he said, galloping out the door. "We should stick together, I think?"

 

[MintyMimix]

"...Y'all just now noticed?" Gare deadpanned as he waved them off. Interestingly, he himself was not wearing any pants — just an oversized scarf and a jacket tied around his waist.

---

Luminous Square as the name implied was filled the brim with hanging lanterns dotting every floor of every building.

Verticality was the name of the layout, as the streets below were humbled by the towering wood and sandstone structures all around. Bridges connected each building to one another, and wooden perches extended off of every storey. Bits of cloth hung at the ends to signal wind strength and direction.

They were of course, watched by several of the residents above — some gawking, some giggling, and others gossiping at the naked strangers that strolled into their town. A few even began to scribble something down on the notepads many carried around on their personage.

Yet between its makeshift construction and the warm colors of its floating lights and handmade awnings, the town gave off a more cozy vibe than an imposing one.

The library was clear as daylight: a large, more architecturally sound building with a massive clock on its front.

However, as they approached, a loud squawk sounded from above, and they were suddenly met face-to-face with a Starly flapping her wings in front of them. "W-wilds! Don't come any closer to Mama!" The child said as she held up her talons in a untrained defensive pose. "Don't make use these!"

 

[Phoenixsong]

"So? Aren't m—" Leaf's confused look shifted from the deerling to the spinda, and— huh. Gare was actually wearing something. Not much, really? Apparently Forlas ran on the same rules as those psyduck cartoons. Well, at least it meant How to Horse: Lesson Two didn't have to be How to Get a Full Outfit onto a Horse.

"Must've been a teleportation accident," Leaf said, shrugging. That also happened in the cartoons sometimes, so why not here? "Appreciate you giving us a heads-up before we embarrassed ourselves too bad out there! Where's the best place around here to pick up new clothes? That scarf you've got is pretty neat!"

The others were already heading out, and probably the deerling was right about not splitting the party—not to mention everyone else from the Nexus thingie were probably waiting outside—but she couldn't help asking one last thing before she followed. Kinda weird that the others hadn't, after seeing a spinda with a whole workshop straight out of a steampunk convention?

"Actually, this whole place is neat. What kinda stuff do you work on here?"

Whatever Gare's response, she'd thank him one more time and then hurry after the others. Scrapyard Mecha Paradise was pretty awesome, but if this was just one workshop, imagine what else might be out there!

 

[MintyMimix]

"Must've been a teleportation accident," Leaf said, shrugging. That also happened in the cartoons sometimes, so why not here? "Appreciate you giving us a heads-up before we embarrassed ourselves too bad out there! Where's the best place around here to pick up new clothes? That scarf you've got is pretty neat!"

"Actually, this whole place is neat. What kinda stuff do you work on here?"

Gare shot up, spin around, and faced Leaf. "Teleportal-tation accident? Why in the sun's name didn't you say that in the first place?" He tilted his head up towards the ceiling and pointed up. "Head on upstairs towards Amelia's general store. She'll get ya setup, assumin' you got the coin."

He looked right back down and tilted his body to get a closer look at the lack of any gear whatosever. "Though if I had to guess, ya ain't got none on ya, do ya darling? She ain't much of the charitable type, but maybe you could catch her in a good mood with a little somethin'."

The Spinda dove into one of the in-tact piles of papers and quite literally dug out a small novel titled, 'Cosmic Crusade'. "She's into the sciency kinda fiction. Me personally, I prefer things grounded in actual reality, like my latest little invention."

With his free paw, he gave a pat to one of the only complete looking contraptions: a platform with a small podium at the end and a crank-and-gear system attached. "You just spin the crank around, aaaaand..." The platform began to slowly lift off the ground with a bit of a whirr. "Boom! Now us flightless folk can get around without all the winding ways! But that's nothin' compared to my next prototype!"

The platform slowly fell back down with a light thud as he dropped the novel and leapt up to one of the dangling doohickeys. "This here's gonna be the best one yet: it's a flying machine! You spin it round and round and it'll soar up in the air! 'Cept it don't do that yet. Too much weight. But I'll git it one day without it exploding!"

 

[Phoenixsong]

It was hard for Leaf to tear herself away from Gare's workshop after those demonstrations and the promise of an exploding helicopter, but they really did have to get on with the whole "finding the actual problem to fix" thing. "Thanks again, Mr. Gare!" she called over her shoulder as she went after the others. "You've gotta show me the big flying machine once you've got it working!"

(Wait, wait, what if the big flying machine was what they were gonna use to save Forlas? Oh, man, imagine soaring through the skies on one of those things, staring down a big... a scary... uh, well, the Voice hadn't said what they were supposed to be dealing with, actually. But now Leaf was picturing a massive steampunk fortress with gears and cannons and a clockwork army led by a pokémon wearing a top hat that also had lots of gears, so that's what it was until she was given evidence to the contrary.)

She made her way outside, definitely only a tiny bit tripped up by having to use only three legs because there was a book stuck to the fourth, really. That looked like the big library Gare had described, and—ah, there were the ones who'd already left. Nobody else she recognized from the Nexus, though. All these pokémon were unfamiliar, and also staring, mostly. Well, that was an easy fix now, right?

"Hey guys!" she said, primarily to the deerling since he'd sounded the most bothered by it. "Gare said we could probably swap this book for some clothes at the general store. Oughta make ourselves presentable before getting the rundown from the mayor, yeah?"

 

[SparklingEspeon]

"Hey guys!" she said, primarily to the deerling since he'd sounded the most bothered by it. "Gare said we could probably swap this book for some clothes at the general store. Oughta make ourselves presentable before getting the rundown from the mayor, yeah?"

"Are... we sure books are even a valid currency?" Espurr followed the horse out, only slipping once on some of the papers as she left. "Sorry!"

She definitely wanted to get some clothes, since this world was sane and had them, but that spinda had flipped from confused to relaxed so quickly she figured he must have been at least a bit stoned.

Besides, the guy had written mountains of material he couldn't even get published, apparently. That was a good sign.

 

[Hap]

As Ridley stepped outside he was struck full-force by the effect of Luminous Square. He stared up in admiration at the tall buildings with their webwork of interconnecting bridges. Ridley was used to thinking of height as intimidating in architecture, but here, with every vertical surface cluttered with perches and awnings and long cloth pennants flapping in the breeze, the effect was anything but. Luminous Square was clearly a town which lived in its heights.

Without really thinking about it, he whistled the quick two-note phrase which would usually cue his rotomphone to come zipping over from wherever he'd left the thing last. He only realised afterwards that oh, right, different world. Of course his phone wouldn't be here. Oh well; there were worse things in the world than feeling slightly foolish for a moment or two.

However, as they approached, a loud squawk sounded from above, and they were suddenly met face-to-face with a Starly flapping her wings in front of them. "W-wilds! Don't come any closer to Mama!" The child said as she held up her talons in a untrained defensive pose. "Don't make use these!"

Wilds? Ridley thought, and then: aaah, and Gare had said uncivilized, hadn't he?

Well, it was as good a guess as any. "We're not wild," he told the kid. He almost put his hands up, but the way the kid was awkwardly brandishing her talons at them made him stop just before. A lot of pokemon used their claws to attack, after all; the people here might not take it as the friendly, I-mean-you-no-harm gesture Ridley intended it as. He continued: "My friends and I are just lost and a little confused. We were told Mayor Altaria at the library might be able to help us, so that's where we're heading."

Behind him he heard the clattering of hooves as the ponyta caught up with their party. What had she said her name was? Leaf? They could all probably do with a proper round of introductions at some point.

 

[canisaries]

"Hey guys!" she said, primarily to the deerling since he'd sounded the most bothered by it. "Gare said we could probably swap this book for some clothes at the general store. Oughta make ourselves presentable before getting the rundown from the mayor, yeah?"

Andre turned to the ponyta. "One book? For clothes for all of us?" he asked, but shrugged. "Well, it's worth a try. Everyone!" He turned to the others. "We're gonna go to the general store to... probably get some clothes before seeing the mayor. You should come." He turned back to the ponyta. "Do you know where this general store is?"

 

[MintyMimix]

Well, it was as good a guess as any. "We're not wild," he told the kid. He almost put his hands up, but the way the kid was awkwardly brandishing her talons at them made him stop just before. A lot of pokemon used their claws to attack, after all; the people here might not take it as the friendly, I-mean-you-no-harm gesture Ridley intended it as. He continued: "My friends and I are just lost and a little confused. We were told Mayor Altaria at the library might be able to help us, so that's where we're heading."

Behind him he heard the clattering of hooves as the ponyta caught up with their party. What had she said her name was? Leaf? They could all probably do with a proper round of introductions at some point.

The Starly's eyes darted every which way as the group mostly spoke amongst themselves, but she eventually set her claws back on the ground. "Y'all talk too fancy to be wilds," she said and let out a sigh of relief. "I'm confused why y'all are walking around like that. My mama always said, 'Nothing but trouble come from them bare folk'."

"Are... we sure books are even a valid currency?" Espurr followed the horse out, only slipping once on some of the papers as she left. "Sorry!"

Her brows furrowed. "What? Books ain't money!" She squawked. "Everyone knows Amelia loves hearing stories; she gives out freebies for good ones! Where are y'all even from? They don't teach you these things?"

She placed a wing to her forehead. "Just don't flip out my mama by barging into book club all plain like that. She's got enough stress as it is!"

The Misdreavus — who had seemingly been absent — floated down from above and spoke up. "Sorry, lil' fella. That wasn't very groovy of us," Ghaspius said, shaking his head. "We'll be on our way. I saw the sign for the general store just above that workshop place. We'll try to keep it cool. Could you let the mayor know we'll be coming in soon? Clothed! Just a few visitors that are a bit lost and need some directions."

The Starly's look of confusion was as palpable as pecha. "I-I'll let mama's boss know..." A muttering of 'Weirdos...' whispered beneath her breath before she flew her way inside the library.

Ghaspius looked to the others. "Seeing as most of y'all can't float or fly, we'll take the long way around," he said, gesturing to the long winding stairwells and bridges leading up to the second floor. "Why don't we get ourselves acquainted while we walk? Misdreavus Ghaspius. Nice to meet y'all."