Hello! Yes, I know, I suck at updating. But in the time I was putting off my story, I was doing a bit of reading and realizing that my story sounded a bit like other peoples'. So I'm gonna do this from now on:
ALERT- This story had been plotted out in June of 2012. Every similarity is coincidental and I guarantee that I copied off of no one.
Also, I've seen this as an issue. Just to be clear, everything with the exception of Gutsy is based after the cartoons.
Thoughtful: Ok! Now that THAT'S over with, on to the reviews!
Callister the Great- Don't worry. Brainy will warm up to Thoughtful sometime, even if the other smurfs have to force him into it!
*Smurfs grin evilly at Brainy* Brainy: Um... I'm just going to be leaving now...
Chloe- Girl, you need to get a fanfiction account! Your plot ideas sound like something I would want to favorite! And going around the world SOUNDS like fun!
Thoughtful: *shyly* And thank you for calling me smart and saying I have a nice heart.
Poet: HEY! That rhymes! I shall call it, "An Ode to Thoughtful Smurf".
Right. And Chloe's right, Brainy. You need to be nicer.
Brainy: I like me just the way I am.
Whatever. frostforge44- Thank you for reviewing. Yes, Brainy is very rude. *Glares at him*
Brainy:*Crosses his arms and looks away, nose stuck in the air*
And yes, Thoughtful and Fringe will have a relationship like a cowboy does with his mount.
Smurfs: What's a Cowboy?
Never mind.
EmmiBrook- Thank you for reviewing. Sorry the update took so long.
Anyway. Handy? Would you please?
Handy: Smurftainly. Us Smurfs belong to Peyo.
Thoughtful: Fringe and I belong to Reubenizadorables625, aka Benny.
Enjoy the (long awaited) chapter!
Thoughtful was very confused. All morning so far, there had been three words floating around the village that she couldn't make any sense of. "Gutsy", "Smurflings", and "camping". Even though this was only her second day in the village, Thoughtful was very sure that she hadn't met anyone named Gutsy. And smurflings sounded to her like child smurfs.
Is that even possible? I know there's Baby, but he's just a… well, baby! I haven't seen any kids.
She was walking down a path in the village. She wasn't even sure which one. Or where she was going.
Glancing around, Thoughtful realized that she was right near Brainy's mushroom. She could tell because of the books piled up around the door. Doing a little fall cleaning, hmm? Perhaps I'll smurf him a visit.
Brainy put down his quill pen, having finished writing another addition to his book of quotations. Pretty smurfy, if I do say so mysmurf .He'd had a brief moment of inspiration. Sighing, he cast an annoyed gaze to the mess around his mushroom. But now, back to work.
He was performing his monthly inspection of all his books to make sure they were still in tip-top shape. Sometimes, the pages got loose or the binding wrecked, and having scattered papers flying around was an extreme nuisance. Even though it was a lot of work, Brainy had found that one check monthly was better than constant touch-ups all around the year. Plus, he liked to be efficient.
He took another thick book off the shelf and a couple papers fluttered down. Smurfy, he thought, exhaling heavily out of his nose. And I left my glue upstairs. Putting the book and its loose pages onto his wooden table, Brainy climbed up the stairs to the tiny second floor.
He started rooting around under more clutter, looking for his glue bottle. He reached under his bed so far that he was under until his mid back. I knew I smurfed it here somewhere…
"Brainy?"
"Thoughtful?" The painfully familiar voice made Brainy jerk up, banging his head on the bottom of his bed. "Ouch!"
"Is everything ok up there?" She sounded genuinely concerned about him. After how I passed her off yesterday? Not a chance. She's faking it.
"Smurfy…" He called back with a roll of his eyes, groping around for the glasses that had been knocked from his nose.
"Do you mind if I come in?"
He didn't answer to that. He did NOT want this suspicious smurfette tattling to Papa about how he shoved her away… TWICE! He placed his glasses back on his face and merely directed his attention back to finding the glue bottle.
There was no more speaking from downstairs. I hope she left. I have enough troubles without her around. Brainy pushed himself out from under the bed and rubbed his sore spot under his hat. It was quickly becoming as big as a goose egg.
Well, maybe not that big.
But maybe the bump knocked some sense into his head. Smurf. NOW I remember where I put it. He got up and retrieved the bottle from his night table. "Troublesmurfer…"
A little bit discombobulated, Brainy stumbled down the stairs only to see Thoughtful sitting at HIS table, her eyes scanning the pages of HIS book of quotations!
"What are you doing?" The intellect's voice was a mixture of astonishment, confusion, and anger. Thoughtful didn't jump up or even ACT guilty. She just glanced at him and smiled.
"I was reading! I love to read and since this book was open I just couldn't help mysmurf." The bespectacled smurfette glanced down shyly, a blush running across her cheeks. "You don't mind, do you? I think they're very smurfy. Did you think of all these yourself?"
Brainy drew back, eyebrows lifting in complete surprise. Someone actually was willing to read his quotations and LIKED them? That was almost unthinkable! Most smurfs, if not all, HATED listening to his quotes! Against his will, his little blue tail started to wag.
No, no stop it. He twisted around and silently commanded it to quit moving. It obeyed, but reluctantly. "Look, Thoughtful, I'm very busy here. I, Brainy Smurf, have a lot of important things to smurf. So maybe you could go bother someone else." That last part hadn't meant to be so harsh, but it was too late to take it back now. After all, Brainy Smurf NEVER apologized unless he was in danger of getting booted out of the village.
But the hurt only showed in her eyes. And after a second, the hurt was gone. She grinned at him, a genuine smile, not just a smile-because-I-have-to smile or a tolerating smile. "Ok, Brainy. If you say so." Thoughtful started to walk away and the intellect had a strong urge to ask her to come back.
She stopped at the door. "If you want to talk or smurfthing, call on me, alright?" With one final wave, she left.
Brainy found himself glancing out the window to follow her with his eyes. Why is she being so nice to me? The kindness made him feel good, almost warm.
Stop it, Brainy Smurf. You must be hallucismurfing. That bump did something to your head. She's going to tell Papa about me kicking her out. Brainy's eyes narrowed and he slammed the shutters closed.
Thoughtful glanced over her shoulder as she heard Brainy slam the shutters. Aw, smurf. That could've gone better. Her eyes found the ground. He probably hates me now. I should've left while I had the chance…
Suddenly, Thoughtful was on the ground, a heavy weight on top of her. "Ouch…"
"Gosh! Sorry, Thoughtful!"
Oh boy. The feathered smurfette craned her neck back as far as she could. "Morning, Clumsy."
He scrambled off of her as quick as he could, then reached down to help her up. "Golly, I didn't mean to knock you down. Are you alright?"
Thoughtful took his hand, surprised at the gentleness she found in the grip. "With the exception of swallowing about a handful of dirt, I'm smurfy." She brushed dust off her poncho and pants. "But thanks for waking me up."
Clumsy put a finger against his chin, mouth slightly open. "You were asleep?"
Thoughtful decided not to slap a hand to her forehead. Remembering the strange words going around today, and that she had not asked Brainy, Thoughtful said, "I have a question, Clumsy."
"Well, if you want a good answer, you might need to smurf someone else." He replied with a shrug.
"Oh, I think you'll do fine." Thoughtful wiped her glasses lenses on her poncho, clearing the dirt from them. "Who's Gutsy?"
For the second time in three minutes, Thoughtful was knocked to the earth, this time on her back. Another smurf was holding her shoulders down. He had a blue plaid kilt on with a matching sash slung across one shoulder. Brown sideburns traveled down his face in front of his ears and his white smurf hat had a blue pom-pom on it. His eyes were narrowed in hostility as they bored into Thoughtful's own.
"I be Gutsy. Who are ye?" His accent could only be described as Scottish and had a slight snarl to it. But he was a fellow smurf and Thoughtful felt no fear. He simply didn't know her and Clumsy could explain to him what she was doing in the village.
"Oh, hello. I'm Thoughtful Smurfette. So nice to meet you, Gutsy." Her words had only the most inconspicuous hint of sarcasm. Her eyes sought Clumsy. "Would you please smurf him?"
"Gutsy!" A voice cut through the air that made Thoughtful let out a relieved breath. Tracker stormed up and pushed the astonished smurf away from her. "What the smurf are you doing?" He leaned down to help Thoughtful up, but she refused the outstretched hand, getting to her feet perfectly fine on her own. She'd been helped once today and didn't want to seem like she was a hopeless wimp. Especially not in front of this new smurf.
"Are you ok, Thoughtful?" Tracker sounded concerned, eyes filled with worry. "Did he hurt you?"
The feathered smurfette simply smiled reassuringly. "Hurt me? No, I'm just a bit messy." She gestured to her again dirt-covered clothes. "But they'll wash. Other than that, I'm smurfy, thank you."
"That's Gutsy," Tracker nodded tightly in the Scottish smurf's direction. "He can be a bit… suspicious."
Thoughtful nodded, black bangs falling into her eyes. "So I've seen."
"Will someone please tell me what's smurfin' on here?" Gutsy yelled, obviously completely baffled at his fellow smurfs' familiarity towards the new smurfette.
From somewhere behind a mushroom came the cries, "Yeah! Who's she? What's she smurfing here?"
Thoughtful, along with the other smurfs present, spun around to four young blue faces. These smurfs were a good deal shorter than the others in the village. They looked like…
Kids.
"Are you the Smurflings?" Thoughtful asked with a cock of her head.
They stopped in their tracks, confused. As they glanced at one another, their eyes clearly said, "How does she know us?"
Tracker rolled his eyes skyward. "Gutsy, Smurflings, this is Thoughtful. She came yesterday. Thoughtful, this is Gutsy," the feathered smurf pointed to the Scottish one with a blue finger. Gutsy tipped his hat to her. "And these are the smurflings. Slouchy, Nat, Sassette, and Snappy." He swung his finger around to the four younger smurfs. "They were on a camping trip and left the day before you came."
Thoughtful scanned them with interest. Sassette was defiantly the other girl in the village. She had on pink overalls and her red hair was in braids. Slouchy looked very relaxed, leaning up against a mushroom with his hands shoved in his pockets. His clothes were baggy and his hat flopped to one side. Nat looked like a nature kid. His blue toes were visible from lack of shoes and only one strap held up his overalls. The other seemed to be missing.
But when her eyes landed on Snappy, the only thing she saw was his bright yellow shirt. In half a second, the yellow engulfed the smurfling, turning his whole body the overly-cheery color. Thoughtful tensed. The yellow traveled out onto the surrounding areas, turning her whole vision bright. Glancing at her own hands, Thoughtful could see that they'd turned the dreadful color as well.
The smurfette clutched her head, eyes wild with fear. Tracker asked, "Thoughtful? Are you ok?" But she didn't make any indication that she'd heard him. To her, there was only yellow and it was slowly eating away at her flesh. Her breathing came shallow and fast, eventually getting enough air in her lungs that she could let out a blood-curdling scream.
Before Thoughtful dropped to her knees, she vaguely felt arms holding her up. Lifting her eyes, she realized that she was staring into the face of Brainy Smurf.
Brainy held Thoughtful's shoulders, supporting her, but the raven-haired smurfette struggled against his touch. She's going to hurt herself. Brainy thought anxiously. He didn't know why he even gave a smurf about the new smurfette, but there he was, restraining her as she flailed around, trying to break his desperate grasp. She's having a vision of some sort. I need to get her back to reality. Brainy did the only thing that came to mind.
Letting go of Thoughtful with one hand, the intellect drew back and slapped her across the face.
There was a dumbfounded gasp from the assembled smurfs. The craziness in Thoughtful's eyes died and one hand gently caressed the spot on her cheek where Brainy had hit her. It was already turning a purplish-green.
All eyes turned to the spectacled smurf, mixtures of rage, confusion, and pure shock. He merely shrugged. "She was in danger of smurfing herself. I brought her back to her senses."
Suddenly, he was flying through the air, headed towards the forest. But Hefty's not here. Thoughtful's brow knit. So who could've…
Standing behind the place where Brainy had been was a very angry looking Tracker. He was glaring off in the general direction that the intellect had fallen. "Smurfs him right," the normally mild-mannered smurf grumbled.
Gutsy turned Thoughtful's face to his, staring intently into her now completely calm eyes. "Wha' happened just now, lass?"
Thoughtful wasn't even sure herself. If she looked at Snappy's shirt now, the yellow that had overcome her in her vision wasn't there. It was just a shirt. A one-time thing, perhaps. In response to the Scott's question, she shrugged.
"Maybe we should take her to Papa," Tracker fretted.
Right away, Thoughtful protested, "No need. I'm smurfy. We don't need to trouble Papa because of a daydream."
Sassette spoke up. "You sure? Looked more like a bad dream to me." The other smurflings nodded and murmured their agreement.
"Positive." The way Thoughtful said that one word made it clear that the discussion was over.
"Thoughtful!" The smurfs and smurflings assembled turned to see Jokey running up to them, a present in his blue hands. He skid to a stop in front of the raven-haired smurfette. "I made this for you!" He half panted, half snickered. "It's a surprise!"
The smurfs just watched, frozen, as Thoughtful took the gift and pulled on the ribbon. Too late, all four smurflings at once yelled, "NO!"
A huge explosion made the smurfs flinch. Ash and soot flew into the air and when it cleared, Thoughtful's face had turned almost as black as her hair and had a vacant expression on it. Jokey fell over laughing.
"Surprise!"
Even as he chortled, Jokey kept one eye open, ready to run when his victim started to chase him, but Thoughtful didn't stir. She stood, unmoving, eyes looking at nothing.
Jokey stopped laughing. "Um… hello? Thoughtful?"
No response.
Now the practical joker was puzzled. Normally, his victims got mad, or sometimes even booted him out of the village, much like they did with Brainy. But this new smurfette wasn't even acknowledging his presence. He stepped cautiously up to her and waved a hand in front of her empty face. "Thoughtful?"
Nothing. Worry started to claw at Jokey's heart. "Oh, smurf! I hurt her!" Hurting boy smurfs wasn't an issue for Jokey, but Thoughtful was a smurfette! He began to panic, running in a circle and clutching his head. "I gotta take her to Papa!"
Tracker and Gutsy each took one of Thoughtful's arms and gently led her to Papa's mushroom, Jokey and the Smurflings trailing behind. This scene attracted the eyes of other smurfs as well, but only Handy, Clumsy, and the bruised Brainy made a move to follow them.
Papa was outside his mushroom when the smurfs arrived. "Great smurfs! What happened?"
Tracker shot Jokey a glare. "Jokey pulled a prank on Thoughtful. She hasn't responded."
"I-I think I hurt her, Papa," Jokey mumbled.
Papa opened the door to his mushroom. "Bring her inside. I'll see what I can smurf."
Soon, Thoughtful was sitting on a bed, eyes trained on her clasped hands. Papa had shooed away the smurflings, Gutsy, and Clumsy, so only Jokey, Brainy, Handy, and Tracker were by the bed.
Papa knelt in front of the smurfette and studied her face "How'd she get that bruise?" He asked, fingering the discolored skin. Thoughtful didn't flinch, even though it must have hurt.
Tracker turned his narrowed eyes on Brainy. The intellect pretended not to notice, but Papa sure did. His voice turned stern. "Brainy? Did you hit Thoughtful?"
If this were any other smurf, Brainy would consider lying. But this was PAPA asking him. The bespectacled smurf sighed deeply. "Yes, Papa Smurf. I hit her."
"Why?"
"Something happened to her, Papa," Tracker offered. "She saw something and went smurfed. Brainy slapped her and she came out of it." Brainy gave Tracker a relieved glance, but the feathered smurf just glared and turned the other way. It was obvious that Tracker hadn't been defending Brainy.
"Maybe hitting would work again," Papa murmured. This earned an astonished gasp from Jokey, Tracker, and Handy.
"You're going to HIT her?" All three said at once.
Papa didn't reply, but only gently slapped Thoughtful's face. The three smurfs let out a breath.
Life returned to the raven-haired smurfette's eyes. "Wha-what happened?"
"Maybe you can tell us," Papa said.
Thoughtful explained that when the smoke from Jokey's present had cleared, the Smurf Village had been transformed into a rocky crevice. Shapes that looked like the mushrooms the smurfs lived in were everywhere and blurred things roughly the same size as a smurf were moving around.
Papa nodded, thinking hard. "This could very well be one of your memories."
Thoughtful cocked her head in question. "Memories?"
"Yes. Things you see may trigger your past memories, maybe giving you visions."
Handy cut in. "So Thoughtful may have actually come from a different Smurf Village?"
"Maybe." Papa put a hand on Thoughtful's shoulder. "Perhaps if we wait, your memory will come smurf to you bit by bit until you can remember everything." His eyes swung to the four other smurfs in the room. "But until that happens, this discussion needs to be kept secret. I don't want any of the other smurfs worrying or pressuring Thoughtful."
"We understand, Papa."
Meanwhile, Thoughtful was trying to stand up. She put her feet on the ground and heaved her body upwards, but her knees buckled and she collapsed on the ground.
Handy and Tracker rushed to help her, asking if she was alright. "I'm fine," she insisted.
Brainy took on his 'lecture' tone. "Clearly, these 'visions' of hers have sapped her of her strength. According to my calculations~" He cut off, seeing the other smurfs' disapproving looks.
"Brainy's right," Papa agreed, earning astonished gazes from the three others. "And when she has these memories, she'll need to smurf her energy for the next one." He gave the bespectacled smurfette a firm look. "Go to sleep."
"What? I just woke up!" She protested, trying to get off the bed again. Handy and Tracker held her down.
"You have to recharge. I'm not smurfily sure, but it's possible that too many visions at once could kill you."
Silence fell over the room at Papa's words. "So if I don't sleep for 18 hours a day, I could die." Thoughtful's voice held slight sarcasm, but her eyes turned fearful when she saw Papa's concerned face. "For smurf? I could die?"
"Not if you rest," the bearded smurf started ushering the others out the door. "I'll be back to check on you later."
The door shut, plunging the mushroom into suffocating quietness. Thoughtful watched the door for a minute, almost wishing they hadn't gone so fast. She flopped back on the pillow with a sigh.
If I don't sleep, I will die. But that wasn't exactly what Papa said, was it? He said she only needed to recharge after a vision. Now, she was stuck between wanting her memories back with the danger of death, and feeling safer with no recollection of where she came from or who she really was.
Troubling. A fine word. This whole situation could be described with the word 'troubling'.
