#I'm calling em 'war of the roses' as a hatename

[butterfrogmantis]

Explorer Magellan was born in Sydney, Australia, to two travel-agent parents. At four years old, his maternal grandmother fell ill and so the family relocated to care for her back in Lancashire, England. This is where Explorer was raised.

Explorer had a .. fairly normal childhood all things considered. Loving parents, popularity - oh and a hefty inheritance left to him by his ailing grandmother. Flipping through his parent's travel-agency booklets gave Explorer little insights into the wonders of the world, and he longed to see them. And, in learning about treasures, coveted them. As a young man, Explorer enrols in an archaeology degree in Yorkshire where he ironically ends up in the same class as Archie Baines. But they don't really interact during their time at university. Both were good enough students, just hung out with different crowds. Archie was here with a genuine interest in history and what could be learnt from it. Explorer was here to find what he could take from it, as he feels the degree would be useful (and perhaps grew up with unrealistic expectations handed to him from the Indiana Jones movies)

Post-Uni, Archie, his brother and Archie's then boyfriend Miner all move to Belgium for an assignment, whilst Explorer takes his degree to a different market. The black one, if you will. This was no coincidence. You see; behind the scenes Explorer had had some tip offs from some buddies about certain … items certain people wanted retrieving. And with his grandmother's inheritance giving him easy leverage on bribing security and officials, Explorer began to develop quite a knack for retrieving artefacts. After all his archaeology degree helped him with background knowledge of ancient buildings and whether artefacts were worth anything at all, stuff the average person would overlook. And I mean if this ancient ruby is just sitting right there in the ancient pyramid of the pharaoh why SHOULDN'T Explorer keep it? It's only gathering dust.

It wasn't until a few years down the line that Explorer and Archie met again. Explorer was on his way across Europe when he needed to stop and rest for a while, and ended up in a little village in the woods run by a Mr.Smurf. Here, he runs into Archie Baines again. A little surprised, but cordial at first, they exchange polite convo and catch up on some old memories. Explorer even asks Archie to join him on his next expedition - that way he can take double the treasure, but he doesn't tell Archie that. Archie thinks 'hey ive met a fellow archaeology nerd this will surely be an insightful trip'.

So they go, and it's successful! They find the stuff Explorer theorised was there. Awesome, Archie can't wait to hand this into the local authorities and get some archaeological recognition. Maybe write a paper on the finds.

Local authorities? says Explorer. No way. He's taking this stuff back with him and finding the highest bidder.

Archie is appalled at the clear difference in their attitudes. Thus begins a lifelong rivalry. Of course, Smurfverse Explorer has no use for money but he's still adamant about keeping stuff, and maybe trading for high bidders from other species like fairies, goblins etc after stealing artefacts from other races. Archie continues to try and be noble about preserving history. Papa just kinda .. well its all going on behind his back, see? Explorer puts up a cute front and so Papa keeps sending him on these missions and thinks he and Archie are buddy buddy even when they're fighting behind his back.

Anyway their day to day rivalry can get kind of boring so we're gonna skip ahead to something exciting!

One of the many marvellous misadventures leads them to an ancient temple where, surprise surprise, Archie warns Explorer not to tamper with the stuff because this particular temple belonged to ancient goblins and BELIEVE him you do not want to mess with ancient goblins, they were rather particular about their treasure, even after death.

So of course Explorer ignores this bcuz he wants to wind Archie up and grabs a random bracelet and slips it on to tease him. But uh oh spaghettio thats how you get yourself a nice little goblin possession curse!

Thus begins a thrilling chase. Explorer thinks Archie is boring and pretentious as all hell but a Smurf is a Smurf, he'd never actively try and KILL Archie until now. Goblin curse overrides that. Pick up a sword. Aim between the ribs. He's got Archie backed up against a wall now, this might be the end of Archaeologist Smurf.

Except of course it isn't because this is Butterverse.

And quite frankly Skelly hasn't been too fond of Explorer either since he insinuated Skelly could be sold to a high bidder for a private museum so recently Skelly has been tagging along after ol' buddy Archie to keep an eye on him. And it's just as well because Archie is on the verge of being killed in an … unsettlingly familar way. Luckily Skelly has an advantage this time- no organs!

Explorer's sword raises, Archie's life flashes before his eyes, Skelly jumps … and the sword hits ribs. Giving Archie just enough time to snap out of it, and beat the shit out of Explorer. Don't worry, it was for a good cause, he was able to break the goblin bracelet that was possessing Explorer. He'll be fine once he wakes up.

Skelly on the other hand has a couple broken ribs and some scratches. Luckily his bones restore themselves so for now all Archie has to do is wrap them and thank him for saving his life. Alls well that ends well.

Explorer hasn't necessarily learnt his lesson. Learnt not to slip cursed bracelets on, yes, but that just makes him more careful about how he handles stuff. He and Archie are still bitter rivals, but neither has tries to actively kill the other again yet so there's that.

Other Explorer info:

Doesn't really have AS big of a rivalry with Pal. Pal thinks he's a jerk yes but Pal's not super confrontational and doesn't end up on dig sites or in temples the same way Archie and Explorer do so most of it is just Pal getting tea later on.

Verdict is still out on his sexuality I haven't decided if he's got any exes going for him or if he has some current, messed up relationship or if he couldn't care less about romance and is legit only after treasure so for now it's ?? This is not an enemy to lovers thing, even if Explorer were to repress stuff about Archie deep down Archie still finds him despicable. So the occasional joke is fine .. i guess? But very much not going to be endgame here anymore than Smooth and Jokey would be and Smooth has a positive view of Jokey unlike Explorer who finds Archie self-righteous

Smurfverse Explorer obviously just grows up in the village and he and Archie are on OK terms as kids but then he gets involved with some black market fae behind Papa's back and the story progresses the same.

If Explorer isn't doing his whole 'stealing' thing he's actually … considered fairly charismatic by other people. His whole morally bankrupt thing is tied into his work, he's not actively jerkish to anyone apart from Archie and co to the point a lot of Smurfs consider him quite friendly, and really he does have a genuine passion for exploration and discovery, it's just overshadowed by the greedy side of his personality.

Also the accent thing … inside joke mostly

Explorer and Archie (c) The Smurfs

Skelly is mine

Oh PS - I've been thinking about it, and even if Skelly doesn't remember his death and wouldn't know up till coming to the village, that's kind of Archie's whole job. From the rip in his cloak and some original damage to the ribs I think it would make more sense for Archie to have a good theory about his death than to not. It's also why that spot is a little more fragile than the rest of his bones. They'll still magi-heal but only to how they were before.