The Buzz Bean Incident/Part 1

Empath woke up one morning feeling exhausted, like he didn't get enough sleep. His eyelids were hanging at half-mast as he struggled to get himself out of bed, feeling like he would rather spend the entire day in bed than doing anything else. Finally he got himself on his feet, but now he had to put on some clothes, or else he would end up walking out of his house only in his underwear. He went to his dresser and pulled out a hat, a shirt, and a pair of pants. It felt like his pants wouldn't cooperate with his legs as he struggled to pull them up all the way to his waist and have his tail fit snugly into the tailhole in the back. He took a look at himself in the mirror after he got fully dressed and sighed. "You look really tired today, Empath," he said to himself.

He went downstairs to see if Polaris Psyche was there, but he had already left, having spent less time getting himself dressed and groomed for the day. He yawned as he headed for the door to see what got put into his mail slot by Courier Smurf while he was asleep. There was nothing of importance, just the daily newspaper which seemed to tell of nothing special going on the Smurf Village, as far as what Empath could sense from his touch telepathy.

He headed for the dining commons and found himself being the last in line behind Lazy. "Morning, Empath," Lazy greeted with a yawn. "Did you sleep late today?"

"Apparently this smurf must have, Lazy," Empath replied. "It looks like there isn't going to be much left for this smurf to eat now that everybody has their meals served."

"Well, that's fine by me," Lazy said. "I'm not much of a big eater anyway. I hope that I don't have much to smurf today because I really want to smurf it easy."

"This smurf can only wish the same for myself, Lazy, but this smurf's job as the assistant counselor hardly leaves this smurf much time for any leisure," Empath said. "This smurf hopes there's plenty of acorn brew left to drink."

"Acorn brew," Lazy said, sounding a bit repulsed. "I would rather drink anything in the world but that. That stuff keeps me awake for hours."

"It's an acquired taste, Lazy," Empath said. "It's more the kind of drink that this smurf would have if this smurf needs a good pick-me-up for the day."

"Well, you can have all the acorn brew you want...I'll pass on that," Lazy said as he got his breakfast plate and drink from Greedy and then walked off.

"Another late morning for you, Empath," Greedy said as he greeted Empath at the serving booth. "So what are you going to smurf today?"

"Just the same as everybody else, and a mug of acorn brew, if you have any left, Greedy," Empath requested.

"You're lucky that I'm down to my last smurf of that stuff, Empath," Greedy said as he poured some hot steamy black liquid into a mug and handed it to Empath along with his breakfast plate. "Enjoy your breakfast."

"This smurf appreciates it," Empath said as he walked off. He inhaled the scent of the acorn brew, smiling as he loved the particular aroma of that drink. He stopped at a table to put some creamer and sugar into his acorn brew and then headed off to find a place to sit.

Smurfette, Tapper, and Duncan were sitting together, finishing up their breakfasts when Empath arrived. "So did this smurf miss anything while this smurf was asleep?" Empath asked as he sat down.

"Funny you should ask that question, laddie, since you could smurf into our minds to find that out for yourself," Duncan answered.

"We were just discussing our duties for the day, my dear Empath, how Smurfette was going to smurf some gardening and I was going to smurf up my tavern and Duncan was going to help out Timber with some wood-smurfing in the forest," Tapper added.

"You poor thing," Smurfette said as she looked at Empath. "You looked like you haven't smurfed a wink last night. Are you all right?"

"It's nothing that a good cup of acorn brew couldn't handle, Smurfette," Empath replied, taking a sip from the beverage in question.

"We would like to smurf you company, Empath, but we need to get smurfing on our things as soon as possible," Duncan said as he got up from his seat with his plate, cup, and silverware.

"Alas, Empath, I would have to agree with Duncan there," Tapper said with a disappointed sigh, also rising up with his plate, cup, and silverware. "Perhaps we will smurf with each other while we smurf together for lunch later on."

"I don't have to smurf anywhere right now, Empath," Smurfette said. "If you want to smurf with me when I go smurf my gardening, I would be more than happy."

Duncan smirked when he saw that Smurfette chose to stay with Empath. "Enjoy your morning, laddie and lass," he said as both he and Tapper left the table.

To be expanded on.