Unfinished Smurfs

Chapter 9: Snapshot

Most Smurfs had rather simple Mushrooms. They had one big ground floor and an attic, with an outhouse and a small garden outside. The attic was usually separated into a bedroom, a washroom, and a storage space, but some Smurfs liked to switch it up a little. Maybe sleep on the ground floor, and turn the bedroom area into a meditation zone or something.

Smurfs didn't really need all that much room. Most big meals were communal, most jobs were outside or had special buildings where they were done, and most of the popular pastimes weren't indoor activities — they just didn't need more than a simple space to sleep, store their stuff, and maybe retreat to if they really didn't want to be around anysmurf else for a while.

Glasses' family was different; they had three mushrooms, all clustered together. Their regular house was like most; a table and chairs, a small kitchen, bookshelves, and photos along the walls, all on the ground floor. The upper floor had a large storage space, a washroom with a copper tub, and the bedroom.

They all three used to sleep in the bedroom, before Glasses had gotten a bit bigger and started waking up very early on a regular basis, and had moved to a cot downstairs of his own accord. It was a little scary at first, but he got used to it, and it was nice more-or-less having his own room. Then Smurfette moved in, and her cot was next to his, and he had to get used to hearing another Smurf breathing near him all night again.

(He got reused to it rather quickly, actually)

The next Mushroom, which was a bit smaller than normal, was Papa's library. The first floor was filled with books from across the world, on every subject imaginable, some collected in Papa's youth but most passed through their family for generations. The top floor had a skylight and a telescope, with astronomy charts lining the walls, and made for a surprisingly cozy place to read.

The last Mushroom was Papa's lab, the smallest of the three. Mama did her work in The Dojo, with the other fighting Smurfs, but Papa's work needed a special space to do — one that the main village just didn't have, because no other Blossom Smurf needed it. The attic was filled with potion ingredients, books, and supplies. The bottom floor was the actual laboratory, always kept dark and lit by candle flame, where Papa brewed his incredible potions.

His incredible, special potions that were unique and vital to the village's wellbeing. Papa was the only Smurf in Blossom to master potions, and he was the smartest Smurf in Blossom, ergo potions must be one of the things only the most intelligent Smurfs can do.

(Well, intelligent like Papa, not intelligent like Mama. And as much as Glasses loved his Mama, he'd rather be Papa's kind of intelligent)

And if intelligent leaders like Papa were good at potions, then Glasses wanted to be good at potions. It didn't matter that they smelled funny, nor that he didn't like waiting for them to boil, nor that the sharp knives scared him a bit when he was cutting ingredients — he had to master them, because how could he ever be like Papa if he didn't?

Papa, in all his wisdom, had caught onto his love of potion-making early on. As a Baby Smurf, he'd sit in the lab and watch Papa, eventually moving on to helping cut or mix things as he got older. He often researched potions, spending hours at a time curled up with a book or five on the subject.

But it wasn't enough, because he still wasn't allowed to actually brew anything on his own. A few accidents, some misremembered facts, had been enough for Papa to ban him from actual brewing until he was older. As much as he respected his Papa and tried to obey him, Glasses knew that if he just got a chance to try, he could prove himself trustworthy of brewing potions by himself.

Which is what led to him standing outside the lab door on an afternoon when both his parents had ended up having to stay out of the house late due to complex intervillage politics he didn't really understand (but would, someday, since he was going to be a Redcap and Redcaps have to know boring stuff like that), one hand holding tight to his backpack, the other hesitantly resting on the door.

"You aren't allowed to go in there," Smurfette whispered from behind him, as if afraid thei– his parents would hear her if she didn't. "Papa's going to get mad at you."

"Oh Smurfette," he chuckled, trying to instill confidence into his voice but instead coming out a bit more patronizing than he intended, "Papa will only be angry until he smurfs what great work I've done, at which point he will undoubtedly forgive me."

Probably. Maybe. Alright, he was getting grounded for this and he knew it, but it would be worth it. Maybe. Probably. Okay, so getting in trouble gave him a kind of cold fear no kid who's never been hit (by a parent) should ever feel at the prospect, but the thought of the disappointment that would surely light up in Papa's eyes... Still, this was something he had to do.

"Good luck." Smurfette patted his shoulder, then started walking back to the main Mushroom. He blinked after her, knowing she wouldn't help him but wouldn't tattle on him either, unless she thought he was actually in danger. He wasn't entirely sure how to feel about that, something in him saying she should be more loyal to Mama and Papa than that, another part knowing that her ignorance of Smurf family values just made it that much easier to keep her away from Gargamel.

But thinking about those things just wasted precious time, time that he'd need every second of to brew something truly impressive.

//He tries to make a very high-level potion, doesn't realize a ladybug has wandered in, and accidentally poisons it. This is young Brainy's first big experience with guilt and the first time he makes a major mistake that even he can't argue away as not his fault.

//He'd nurse the ladybug back to health as a subplot over many chapters, bonding with it over time and dreading having to release it.

//He'd eventually realize that it's been permanently mutated and actually can't be released, a bittersweet event. He keeps it as a pet, dubbing it Snapshot Bug or Snappybug for short.