Sharing Dreams

Empath was studying the mating rituals of various species as they are recorded in the books of the Smurf house of archives. Since he had met Laconia and Woody, the two woodelves who were married by the Smurfs with Papa Smurf as the presiding minister, he was fascinated by how beings who don't physically reproduce ever show intimacy with each other. He didn't feel comfortable asking them about the question because he felt it would be invading their privacy. So Empath decided he would do a little studying of his own to figure it out.

What he came across in his studies, though, interested him. In a book written about dreams, there was a section about how married couples appeared in the same dream together and shared things that they themselves only knew about. It got Empath curious about the whole subject.

He went to Papa Smurf's laboratory to talk to him in private. "Yes, Empath, what may I smurf with you?" he asked as he greeted Empath at his door.

"This smurf was rather curious about the mating rituals of beings that don't physically reproduce, Papa Smurf, and this smurf was wondering how it would be in the case of Woody and Laconia," Empath asked.

"Ah, yes, that," Papa Smurf said. "Well, it's something that's rather personal among beings of their own species, Empath. We Smurfs aren't allowed to snoop into the lives of those beings just to satisfy our curiosity."

"This smurf respects their need for privacy, Papa Smurf," Empath said. "However, this smurf is wondering about this phenomenon called 'sharing dreams' where married couples would appear in a dream together."

"Sharing dreams," Papa Smurf pondered, stroking his beard as he tried to recall what he knew about that. "As far as I know, Empath, it's a technique that's most common about beings that don't physically reproduce."

"But how does such a thing happen?" Empath asked.

"The details are a bit sketchy, Empath," Papa Smurf said. "The dreams tend to happen more often at random, but sometimes whenever there's an extreme expression of mutual love for one another. Those type of dreams are very interactive and basically smurf the same effect on the dreamer as it would be if anything that happened in the dreams were smurfed in real life."

"Did you and Mama Smurf ever...shared dreams like that?" Empath asked.

Papa Smurf giggled. "I only wished that we did, Empath. My friends in the forest would smurf that sharing dreams is a better form of intimacy that anything me and your mother had smurfed together."

"It sounds like being in a state of a collective consciousness, Papa Smurf, much like the intimacy that this smurf and Polaris have together...just without the romantic element," Empath said.

"I'm sure that whatever you and Polaris smurf together in your thoughts and dreams are your own smurfness, Empath, so I will not ask you to reveal anything from that," Papa Smurf said.

"It's just that when it comes to Smurfette, this smurf is afraid to enter into her thoughts, Papa Smurf," Empath said. "This smurf fears that she will think of this smurf as being some sort of predator."

"Well, she is the first female adult Smurf you have to deal with when it comes to smurfing control over your abilities, Empath," Papa Smurf said. "It takes a lot of personal strength to smurf such control as to not give in to such temptation."

"But what if this smurf loses that control, Papa Smurf?" Empath asked. "What will she think of this smurf then?"

"I'm sure you'll be able to handle the situation, Empath," Papa Smurf said. "You've smurfed much greater restraint over your abilities than you would smurf yourself credit for."

"Anyway, this smurf is going to wait until this smurf and Smurfette decide to get married before we even attempt to do something like this 'sharing dreams' technique, Papa Smurf," Empath said.

"That's a very sensible idea, Empath, and I'm certain that Smurfette will respect you for it," Papa Smurf said.