'Thank you for playing and providing that wonderful feedback. You can go back to having freewill. This will pop up again in the future. You won't know when though. Hahaha. Enjoy your date.' Alias says to me.

'I'll try, thank you." I tell him. It was unnerving and disturbing but also a little fun. I am a sucker for a good game after all.

"Sounds good. Let's get started indeed. What is the first thing we do?" Alex asks me, clearly excited.

"First we find the recipe I wrote. Wait here for a moment." I tell him.

"Will do!" he responds.

I leave him in my crafting room and go fetch my recipe book. I flip through the pages as I walk back to the room. When I enter the room I see him looking around at my different ingredients.

"Pretty neat, right?" I ask him.

"Very neat indeed. I haven't even heard of some of these things. Essence of sweet dreams, distilled nightmares, powdered evernight flowers. How do you even distill some of these things?" he asks me.

"That is a very good question, and one I don't know the answer to. I purchase the ingredients, I don't make them myself. Though it might be nice to have my own little ingredient garden someday." I tell him. I don't know why I don't have one right now. I am guessing that it has something to do with Irick and my bad reputation. I wish I didn't care about my bad reputation.

"Well here is hoping that you are eventually able to get the garden that you want. It might mean moving your store to an area with a lot of space around it though." he comments.

"Maybe eventually." I tell him. I almost added that it might be possible after marrying, but it didn't feel like the appropriate thing to say right now. "Shall we take a look at the recipe?" I ask him, laying the book down on a clear space at my potion brewing station.

"Yes. Let's." he says and moves to look over my shoulder.

"Let's go!" Blizzie says, hopping up onto the counter and looking down at the book as well. "This is a very good recipe. I can tell."

"Okay we need:

4 Dew Drops of Probability Distortion

8 Dried and Ground up 4 Leaf Clovers

4 drops of Hopes and dreams. (Aged, but probably still good)

A dash of Skill and Talent (no more than that of it wouldn't be luck now would it)

1 Scoop of Powdered Fluff of Rabbit Born on a New Moon

13 drops of Waters of Success

2 scoops of fate (finely ground up to remove any pesky hold it has on you)

7 Ground Petals of Peonies

7 Ground petals of Hydrangea

3 scoops of Powdered Spider's Web from a Spider of Choices (all that is right for all that was left was removed)

3 vials of Water of water to make it a liquid

"What flavoring would you like to add to it? I like adding flavoring to my potions so that they don't taste atrocious. They usually smell pleasant but they really don't taste very good." I warn him.

"Well since there a few different flowers how about we add lemon and honey flavoring like you would to a tea?" he asks.

"Let me see if that would change anything." I tell him.

I flip through the book to see if I had anything in here about flavoring potions.

Flavors and Effects:

Dark Chocolate - A touch of romance

Orange - A touch of energy

Lemon - A touch of focus

Crystalized Honey - A touch of happiness

Cherry - Medicinal Properties

Grape - A touch of sleepiness

**There will be notes at the bottom of the recipes to show if they change the potion into a different potion

"Yes, we can add lemon and honey flavoring" I tell him. I don't think either of those added effects will hurt. And they won't change it from being a luck potion.

"Sounds good. I am glad to hear that." he tells me. "What do we do first?"

"Most people would say put in your powders first so that it doesn't splash, but what is the fun in that. Go right down the list so that you don't miss anything." I tell him.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"That makes sense." he tells me.

I pull out all of the ingredients and set them, in order, on my potion prepping station. I also get all of the different measuring tools that we will need. It seems I have scoopers and droppers for everything. Labeled. I set those out in front of each of the ingredients. Next I grab myself a clean mortar and pestle. I have an area to clean and sanitize everything as well. Convenient.

"First take the dropper and get a single drop at a time for the Dew Drops of Probability Distortion." I tell him. "Let me show you how."

I demonstrated for him how to make sure you only get one drop at a time. Lucky for me these droppers only let you let one drop at a time. I don't tell him this as I want him to have a stronger feeling of accomplishment at the end.

Next I show him how to measure a scoop appropriately. He adds the 4 Leaf Clovers and Drops of Hopes and Dreams.

"I hope you don't mind if I add in the dash of Skills and Talent. The dash isn't measured, it is a perfected skill that takes time and practice. I want you to have a working potion in the end." I tell him.

"Okay. That makes sense." he says, giving me a smile. "You adding something also helps it feel like a potion that we made together, and not just one you taught me to make." he says. He is really clever with his lines when he wants to be now isn't he. What a charmer.

I grab the Powdered Skill and Talent and give it a small tap into the cauldron. This feels a bit like baking. I feel that when you know what you are doing you can be a little less rigid, and a bit more creative with what you are doing.

We go along with the recipe, me watching to make sure that he is putting in the exact numbers needed. I take his hand in mine and guide him in grinding the flower petals. There is an exact art to this. Also this is an event so I have to do something cliché like that. It is a must!

"I am not sure if it is you or the flowers that smell so nice." he says as I am guiding him in grinding up the petals. I have never been in a situation like this before. I want to let go of his hand, jump back and shout that it's the flowers. I don't though. Somehow.

"Why thank you. I hope it is both me and the flower." I let go of his hand and take a step back. "And those are good to be added now."

Alex adds the flowers and the Powdered Spider's Web from a Spider of Choices. Once he is done I ask, "Do you mind if I add in the flavoring?"

"Not at all. Please go ahead." he says. We are both blushing now. I almost want to lie to myself and say that it is just warm in this room, but that is not totally it.

I take the lemon flavoring and honey crystals and add them until you could just barely smell a hint of each. Somehow it didn't take much.

"Now that everything is added we put it over the fire and heat until it is a sparkling silver color." I tell him, glad that it isn't gold. That would would feel too much like I am stealing from another story.

"Sounds like it's going to be pretty." Alex says.

"It will be, yes." I tell him.

I watch the potion as it simmers, enjoying the sight of it. I have a feeling of accomplishment myself. I can't wait until I try making my own potion. However, that isn't going to be tonight. Tonight will be doing research which is much less fun. Although it does mean seeing the cute librarian again.

"What got you interested in making potions?" Alex asks me.

"It's something that I have always enjoyed. My mother at one time was a washerwoman. I would help her make soaps. I loved the different effects that my soaps made on the clothes. The way that they smelled fresh, seeing a hard stain removed, seeing dingy clothes look white again. It was something so simple, but also something that I could take pride in." I tell him. I hope that he doesn't dig in too much.

"That sounds like fun. But how did it move from soaps to potions?"

"Our situation changed and I was introduced to the thought of crafting potions. I have a talent for math and science so someone suggested that I try my hand at making potions." I tell him. I guess tomorrow I can tell him more. I will tell him that I am the Princess. Tomorrow.

"The potions make sense, but what about the other things that you make, like charms?" he asks.

"I guess it just made sense to me. The two really seem to go together well. Once I became good and making potions I dug into books about how to make charms. I had a lot of fun making them, and decided to see how many different kinds of charms I could make. I also decided to make curse dolls. Again I didn't really think about the consequences." I tell him. I hope he doesn't think too poorly of me.

"Do people actually buy those?" he asks, a mixture of horror and fascination.

"No." I tell him, shrugging my shoulders. Even if they don't buy them I can have them in my shop to scare customers into not bullying me while in my shop. Desperate times I suppose.

"Well that's good. Sorry for your sales though." he says.

"Don't worry too much about my sales. People really like charms and potions." I tell him. Even if they don't like me.

"Potions fun! Charms pretty!" Blizzie adds. I love that he likes to add to the conversation on occasion. My sweet little guy.

"If you had a familiar, what kind of animal would you want it to be?" I ask him. It might seem like it is out of the blue, but I had been thinking about Blizzie, my familiar.

"A bird." he tells me. He didn't even have to think about it. "Birds and wind magic seem to go hand in hand. Also they seem so free."

"Wouldn't you be afraid that it would fly away before it bonds with you?" I ask him. He doesn't seem like the type that would keep a bird caged.

"That is a problem." he tells me and shrugs his shoulders. "I could just let it fly around the upstairs of my apartment. It isn't as good as the sky, but it isn't being trapped in a small metal cage either." he tells me. Seems like he has put a lot of thought into it.

"That would give him some space, and you two would be able to get to know one another." I tell him. "Oh look at that! The potion has turned silver!" I tell him.

"Wow you're right. What a pretty color!" he says.

"Let's let it cool down a bit before we pour it into a vial for you to take with you." I recommend to him. I go over and put the fire out. A magic fire pit sure is useful. Easy to start a fire, and easy to put out that fire.

"Do you think it would hurt anything if I cool it down with my wind magic?" he asks me.

"I have never tried doing that, but I don't think it will hurt. I don't recommend touching the potion with your magic however. I don't know the outcome of that, but I have a feeling that it would change something about the property of the potion." I warn him.

Taking my warning to heart he carefully moves the air around the cauldron, cooling it down from the outside. He doesn't talk as he concentrates on his task. I am glad that he is being so careful. I don't want to give him a potion with untested properties.

After a while I tell him, "It should be cool enough now."

I take a small potion bottle and carefully scoop the liquid into it. The vials seem to be enchanted to suck the potion into them, making it easy for me to not miss a single drop. I stopper the bottle and hand it over to Alex.

"Do you mind if I walk you home?" I ask him. "I have a feeling that you want to get started on working the glass. Also, my potions are the most potent right after I make them. The potency slowly goes down the longer they sit. They never become fully ineffectual though, so no worries about that!" I tell him. I don't want him to think that my magic becomes worthless.

"I would love it if you would walk me home." he tells me.

We walk rather closely back to him shop, talking about what potions would be the most ridiculous. We toss back and forth ones such as: Potion of Hand Walking, Potion of Boosting Creepiness Factor, Potion of Enhanced Stalking Prowess, Potion of Oversleeping. Maybe not the most clever, but it makes us laugh. I don't know why some of my contributions ended up being a bit dark, but I guess that is just a part of my personality.

"I had a lot of fun today." I tell him when we are standing outside of his shop.

"I did too." he says. For a moment it looks like he is about to lean in, but chooses not to at the last moment. Maybe he doesn't want to make me uncomfortable. We hardly know each other after all.

"Do you believe in love at first sight?" he asks me.

I have to be honest with him. I don't want a relationship build only on lies. "I don't know. It might be possible." he asks me.

"Hmm." he says and walks into his shop.

I wonder if he was trying to not so subtly let me know that he is into me. Why did he phrase it that way though? Do I believe in love at first sight? Did he ask me that because this is basically a dating sim, or is that a part of his personality. Is that the world influencing him, or just a part of who he is? I wish there was a way for me to know for sure.

I think about the effects this world has on people as I walk to the library. Alias said that everyone's personality has been corrupted. I can't tell with Alex though. He seems so joyful. Jasper also didn't kill me. Does this world have different effects depending on the person? With my mind so caught up in my thoughts I am standing in front of the library before I know it.