Smurfocalypse Chapter 114: Call of the Wild
With each passing day Brainy would use Hefty's process when building rapport with, and eventually allowing refugees into the community. It was unfortunately getting to the point where there were not enough huts in the village. The human structures have been sitting unattended for at least a year now and were even more weathered by the storm that happened at the beginning of the story that the entire world was affected by. Brainy didn't feel it was safe to even go inside these anymore simply based upon how different and aged they looked compared to a normal human house which in Brainy's mind means these places looked even worse than Gargemel's hovel to him. He had already recruited several volunteers to go into places like the library and retrieve certain books the community relied on and bring them outside the structure and put in crates to keep them safe. The last of the useful materials had been gutted before the Battle of Port Saint Smurf. There was no need to even go inside anymore and he was scared because he was afraid that what happened to Dreamy could happen to someone he loved.
It was a normal morning for Brainy, but he does have a housemate for the time-being as most others do. The Smurfette he developed a very quick friendship with known as Magica from a currently unknown Smurf village in Sweden was his roommate and the two of them had a very fun and happy life together filling Brainy's place in his heart slowly but never fully for Clumsy. Brainy often thought of Clumsy. He wondered if Clumsy would be proud and impressed at what he's become. He sees Port Saint Smurf grow and develop every day and wonders what Clumsy would say if he saw this place. He sat up in bed and put on his glasses the world sharper and easier to view at a distance. He thought about all the things he had to do today. Today was a very important day for Port Saint Smurf as every day seems to be now. He stretches and yawns and gets out of bed making a beeline to get his caffeine fix when he notices Magica already dressed in her robes and hat brushing her teeth and gazing into a mirror one of the grateful refugees gave him as a gift of friendship. She glances at Brainy and smiles with the toothbrush still in her mouth. Brainy smiles back. Sometimes Magica was kind of cute to him. She then pulls the brush out of her mouth and holds it with her dominant right hand.
"Good morning!" Magica said.
"Morning Magica. Brushing your teeth I see." Brainy said approaching her.
"It's as you taught me Brainy. Brushing a couple times a day will help my teeth… It's been a year since I had the chance to brush them. I was afraid something bad was going to happen." Magica said.
"Yeah… You don't want a mouth like mine." Brainy said forcing a chuckle.
Magica giggles not realizing Brainy's self-consciousness about his chipped tooth and missing tooth.
"Big day today huh?" Magica asked.
"Oh of course! Every day is important in Port Saint Smurf." Brainy said.
"Is it about the housing program?" Magica asked.
"Yeah. I'm going to make an offer that I'm sure will probably make Hefty uncomfortable, but I believe it's for the good of this place." Brainy said.
"About some Smurfs moving out to the forest…" Magica said.
"We were born in the forest Magica. Some Smurfs may enjoy it… It could be a form of closure to some." Brainy said.
"I agree." Magica said.
"The Forest is still part of Port Saint Smurf. It was always about the forest." Brainy said.
"Are you going to tell me another history story?" Magica asked with a smirk.
"No… Not today. Now scooch over I'm going to brush my teeth too." Brainy said.
After brushing their teeth Brainy boiled water. It was not going to taste good after brushing his teeth, but he needed his coffee.
"Something smells good." Magica said walking into Brainy's small kitchen area.
"Just making some coffee. You want some too? Or do you have to be at work? I don't want you to run late." Brainy said.
"No its fine. I'll have coffee with you. I'm having coffee with the boss. Surely if I run a little late he can help me out you know?" Magica said playfully nudging Brainy's shoulder with her fist.
"Maybe one time." Brainy said with a smile.
The two of them sat on the living room sofa and Brainy took his first sip. It brought him so close to Papa Smurf. It was like he was watching over him every morning.
"You drink a whole cup of this every day, and it smells so good. I'll admit I've never tried it." Magica said.
"You've never drank coffee? Brainy asked.
"Never even heard of it." Magica said.
Brainy smirked.
"No way! You made it sound like you knew what it was." Brainy said.
"No I'm serious." Magica said with a straight face.
"Well go ahead. It's hot though be careful." Brainy said.
Magica took a small sip of the coffee. She makes a face and Brainy smiles remembering his first time drinking it. Then she savors the after taste.
"Kinda bitter isn't it?" Magica asked.
"Yeah but the aftertaste is great, so is the energy boost." Brainy said.
"Are you sure this isn't just a potion?" Magica asked.
"Well now that you think of it I'm not entirely sure. Papa Smurf would sometimes drink it. It reminds me of better times." Brainy said.
"The better time is now Brainy. You have me, you have authority like you've always wanted. You have friends all over the village. There are Smurfs that look up to you." Magica said.
"I suppose your right, but I'll never forget Papa Smurf." Brainy said.
"I know. I know the feeling. I'll never see most of my friends ever again, and a lot of them died right in front of me." Magica said.
"But we have a lot of fun don't we?" Brainy asked with a smile.
"Of course! You wanna stay up later tonight and play cards?" Magica said.
"Sounds good." Brainy said.
The early morning coffee sessions ends and Magica and Brainy part ways to go to work. Brainy makes his way down the street doing his morning routine of passing by the locals and making sure no Smurf needed him immediately for anything. Along the way he was greeted happily by faces old and new. He passes by Blacksmith's workstation and hears a clang followed by a loud swear and Ironworks yelling incoherently. Before Brainy can even investigate Ironworks storms out of the door and approaches him.
"What is going on this time?" Brainy asked.
"The Smurf just don't communicate Brainy!" Ironworks said.
"We've been over this. Blacksmith doesn't talk anymore." Brainy said.
"That's no excuse to not let me know what the work orders are in advance!" Ironworks said.
"Are you sure he didn't leave you a note?" Brainy asked.
"I saw no note an I saw no paperwork or anything. I go out and start the forge to find out I'm heating up the wrong tooling!" Ironworks said.
"That's no excuse to ever yell at a co-worker." Brainy said.
"But Brainy." Ironworks said.
"Over the past year a lot of us saw and did some really bad things. A lot of us will never be the same again. Have some respect." Brainy said as he walked away.
"I don't want to come back here. Understand?" Brainy said as he walked away.
Ironworks said nothing and returned to work. As Brainy made his way down the street he was approached by Alchemist.
"Hey Brainy I know your busy I'll be brief. I'm going to promote Magica to the next level of potions I've assigned her and she'll be using the lab to study and experiment. I was wondering if you needed help today with the housing program." Alchemist said.
"Wow, good for her. I'll need all the help I can get." Brainy said.
"Smurfy." Alchemist said.
They made their way towards the well where Brainy was going to introduce his housing plan to the community when the two of them hear commotion near the well and Brainy picks up the pace gradually until he is sprinting towards the source Alchemist follows shortly behind.
"It'll be a lot easier for all of us if you talk! Who are you and what are you doing wandering around the forest carrying a weapon?" Dew said.
Dew was standing near the well interrogating a Smurf from the looks of it that was being restrained by Honey and Pearl. Brainy recognized this Smurf immediately and so did Alchemist.
The Smurf says nothing, but makes frustrated sounds as he tries to escape. Honey grabs onto him and puts him in a sleeper hold as he kicks and screams.
"Pearl break a finger. Maybe that'll get him to talk." Dew said.
Pearl grabs the Smurf's hand and grabs onto one of his fingers threatening to pull it back.
"This is your last chance better start talking!" Pearl said.
"How many of you are there and where are you living!?" Honey shouts.
"Stop!" Brainy yelled as he finally made it to the scene with Alchemist.
"Brainy!?" Dew shouts.
"Don't hurt him! I know this Smurf!" Brainy said.
"He's one of us?" Pearl asked dropping the Smurfs hand.
Brainy walks up and pushes Honey aside releasing the Smurf from the sleeper hold and looks him in the face.
"Wild… You're alive." Brainy said.
Wild looks at Brainy for a second his fixed look of frustration mixed with fear flushing away.
"B-Brainy." Wild said.
"Yes! You did it Wild you talked! That's right! I am Brainy, I am your friend." Brainy said.
Wild smiles and nods.
"Friend." Wild said.
"There's nothing else for the Grove Knights to do here. Go back to your patrol." Brainy said.
Dew nods.
"Ladies! Back to the forest!" Dew said.
The knights accompanying her join Dew in going back to the forest to patrol the land Brainy sectioned out for his housing program. By this time breakfast would be soon so this last hour or so was the right moment for Brainy to propose his idea, and also make sure no Smurf jumps Wild and puts him through that again. The village was assembled and Brainy proposed the idea for some Smurfs to choose to live in the forest. This big housing plan Brainy developed was to try to persuade Smurfs that work in the forest to move there permanently so they'd be closer to work, and then those who work in the port could also live closer to work. However he worded the whole thing as though it were made to satisfy a nostalgia kick while boasting about the safety and freedom Port Saint Smurf provides to its residences. Brainy's original intentions for the project was unknown to the public. Many Smurfs signed up to have their huts built in the forest regardless of occupation. Beachside huts were obviously more popular and this happened to take some of the attention away from those lots. Much to his relief Magica had not signed up to live in the forest. If she had Brainy may not see her as much after the move. He drops off paperwork to Architect and by then its breakfast time.
The Smurfling table was an interesting place to say the least. The Smurflings that came here as refugees still had their innocence and it was just a place where Smurflings ate and talked about things a normal Smurfling would talk about. For Coconut and Pluto this was a culture shock. The two of them sat with the other Smurflings, but Coconut was feeding Elaeis while also feeding herself at the same time with a hundred different things going through her head while Pluto spent the entire time with her face buried in notes while she repeated the process of putting either a fork or a spoon to her mouth with food on it and eating. The others were carefree and didn't seem to understand or even care about current events, work, or anything that didn't involve play. One of the Smurflings, the classic bully of the group decided to whisper a remark about Pluto studying and call her a hurtful name. He thought she couldn't hear him. He didn't know she was a Cosmic Smurf with enhanced hearing.
"I can hear you." Pluto said not looking up from her notes.
"Yeah? So what? What are you going to do cry?" The Smurfling taunted.
"How about I freeze you solid for a few days and see if you have the strength to live?" Pluto asked still not looking up from her notes.
Coconut stopped eating and looked to Pluto with concern.
"Just ignore him Pluto…" Coconut said.
"Do you know what I've done to Smurfs like you?" Pluto asked finally looking up and meeting the bully's gaze.
Her facial expression changes showing noticeable anger.
"I once froze a Smurf's head solid, and beat his frozen face against a tree until his brain popped out." Pluto said.
The bully's face once cocky now pale with fear.
"You should be careful who you piss off in life." Pluto said standing up, her empty tray in one hand and her notes in the other. She then walks away.
Coconut sighs and continues to feed Elaeis keeping her head down and not interacting with the others as conversation subject changed to games. She was afraid if the bullying didn't stop that Pluto would be pushed over the edge. It was just this one Smurfling that was a problem everyone else was fine, and that just made Coconut even more concerned. What if Pluto can't take it anymore and decides to try something? She wasn't going to get involved. Pluto was her friend, but she wasn't going to be a part of this confrontation. She had a job, and she had to watch over the young chief. Pluto walks passed again with another tray of food presumably for Handy and makes her way to Doctor's clinic as though she had come by once more to test her bully to insult her again in front of her. This didn't happen and she disappeared down the street.
A lot of stress was taken off Chef's shoulders when Cook got integrated into the community. Now there were two chefs and the work could be divided based upon shifts. Cook was an older Smurfette with medium length grey hair and wore a long dark green dress the hem of which touched the tongue of her shoes with a white apron with many old stains on it. She wore a hairnet, but only when cooking. When not cooking she often wore nothing on her head at all unless it was a bandana that she'd wear in such a way that most of her hair would be concealed beneath it. She was missing a finger on her right hand and had a pretty painful looking burn scar going down her left bicep yet she was always smiling and always had something nice or encouraging to say. She did always carry a knife though. Any attempts to stop her didn't end well. She'd keep a sizable kitchen knife on her at all times as though she were waiting for something horrible to happen. This was not unusual behavior. Many of the residences whether we know them or not carried, or was in the possession of some sort of weapon whether they were a knight or not. This was of course not a violation of Hefty's laws as since the beginning Hefty has always supported the idea of Smurfs having a way to protect themselves. Even Brainy has his Smurfgun under his bed where it's been since the Battle of Port Saint Smurf. Chef assumed she was around Papa Smurf's age, but she didn't reveal her age and she came alone so not much was known about her aside from what she shared in her interview. She was a morning Smurf and took care of breakfast and lunch while Chef covered dinner and dessert. This heavy burden the expansion of the village had lifted from him was a relief. He had the impressive resume of cooking multiple meals that could feed over a hundred Smurfs. This didn't make the fast paced work of a chef any less stressful though. He was grateful for the help.
Wild accompanied the village perhaps for the first time ever and was given a plate of food. He was seated next to Brainy, and his table manners were absolutely atrocious much to the discomfort of those around him. Brainy begins acting like his old self again by constantly trying to get Wild to correct his posture and eat with utensils, but that was far too much to ask. Wild's hands were covered in food and he was eating as though he were starving to death. It's highly likely Wild has never had food prepared with kitchen appliances before and it was impossible to determine when he had last ate.
"He seems really… nice?" Magica said awkwardly as she watched Wild eat with her face cringed.
"He just doesn't spend much time in the village. Never really has." Brainy said in Wild's defense.
Wild finishes eating and begins sticking his fingers in his mouth to get the access food off, and that's when he had crossed a line and other Smurfs were getting disgusted causing Brainy to have to remove Wild from the area.
"My guess is you liked your breakfast." Brainy said.
Wild nods enthusiastically.
"You know the forest is huge. You could stay there forever and Hefty and I could take care of you until your back on your feet." Brainy said.
Wild said nothing.
"Think about it for a bit. Come back to me if you need any more help." Brainy said.
Wild smiles and put his hand still damp from his own saliva onto Brainy's bare shoulder and pats his shoulder firmly. Brainy tried his best not to cringe or flip out and lecture him. Then Wild turned away and started walking back towards the forest.
"He's the most self-sufficient of all of us, but Papa Smurf would still want me to watch out for him." Brainy thought.
Chef gathers the dishes for Cook and returns them to the kitchen where he spots Cook already filling the sink.
"I got to say I'm impressed Cook. It's been a really long time since I've had someone else's cooking." Chef said placing the tub of dishes on the counter.
"Thank you. I've been cooking for as long as I can remember. Longer than you've been around that's for sure." Cook said with a chuckle.
"The recipes I learned at the human cooking guild are pretty nice too. Maybe I'll teach you some time." Chef said.
"I'd like that a lot." Cook said as she began to do the dishes.
He didn't get to spend as much time with Magica at breakfast as he had liked to, but there was something special about reuniting with Wild and knowing that Wild sees him as a Smurf he can trust. The rest of the day was business as usual. After today's interviews Brainy stayed in Papa Smurf's hut and studied, did some research, and practiced magic only stopping when it was meal time or when he'd be interrupted to solve a problem. He had told the refugees outside that Port Saint Smurf would need more time before they could accept anyone else, but those who passed the interview process were still citizens. A certain level of guilt weighed on him for not being able to house everyone, but he realized that Hefty's vision for this place included every Smurf in need. Papa Smurf would definitely approve. They'd have everyone housed before winter hit. Brainy just knew it. Finally the sun was coming down and most of the work for today had been done. The Smurfs were now relaxing and going about their evening routine. Brainy put a book mark in the tome he was reading and left Papa Smurf's hut locking the door behind him and then headed home, thoughts of spending time with Magica filling his head. He enters his hut and shuts the door behind him only to be met with the smiling face of Magica as she sat on the sofa with two bottles of Smurfberry juice on the coffee table.
"Welcome home Brainy. Got you some juice." Magica said.
Brainy smiled and sat next to her on the sofa picking up his juice.
"I heard you got promoted today in your training." Brainy said.
"Oh yeah! I did didn't I?" Magica said.
"That's great news. Magic users are important it's good that there's now three of us." Brainy said.
"How much longer do you think it will be until I'm trusted enough to practice magic the way I'm used to?" Magica asked.
"Alchemist will come around, and some day you'll have your own lab to work in." Brainy said.
"It's just transformation spells…" Magica said.
"Yeah, but some of those spells are hard to reverse if they even can be at all. Alchemist has had a run in with that before. We just want to make sure everyone will be safe." Brainy said.
"Speaking of magic." Magica said as she reached into her pocket.
She then places a deck of tarot cards onto the coffee table.
"Want to see what the cards have to say for tomorrow?" Magica asked.
"Sure, but after this we get to play right?" Brainy said.
"Of course." Magica said.
Magica prepares for a tarot card reading. She reaches into the pockets of her robes to grab the rest of the things she uses and then stands up and removes her robes entirely revealing the purple knee length dress she wears under them. Then she takes off her witch hat and puts on a purple Smurf cap before she continued. She sits down on the couch and gets comfortable crossing one of her legs and readjusting her amethyst necklace. Finally she finishes and Brainy's cards are out in front of him. He feels an overwhelming sense of anxiety when he sees that death was the final card.
"Now you say that the death card isn't always bad right?" Brainy asked.
Magica sensing something troubling from her reading and knowing Brainy has had a big day chose not to bother him with what she thinks of the reading and smiles.
"Could mean big change. The end of something old and the start of something great." Magica said.
"Big changes. Lots of that going on now." Brainy said.
"That's gotta be what it is." Magica said.
"Yeah… You're probably right." Brainy said.
"Of course I am I'm the smartest Smurf in Sweden!" Magica said.
Brainy then laughed and the two of them had a relaxing evening together. Brainy goes to sleep that night thinking of the reading and a part of him is scared for Hefty and his knights. While he enjoyed being in charge things would be difficult if Hefty never came back home.