A Strong Woman

I would like to officially welcome Nature Wives into my hoard of Empires SMP brainrot. They'll fit right in next to my Flower Husbands brainrot.

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Third Person's P.O.V.

Shelby placed a spare barrel next to her cauldron and emptied all the potion ingredients in her inventory into it. Stacks upon stacks of nether wart, glistening melon among other things were dumped into the barrel. It almost couldn't close with how full it was but Shelby managed to keep it sealed after setting one of her potion textbooks on the cover. She lifted up her witch's hat to wipe some sweat off her forehead before setting it back in its place. Making a big batch of potions the traditional way was always exhausting business. The gathering ingredients part more so than the brewing itself.

Speaking of brewing, the cauldron needed to be filled before any potions could be made. Shelby huffed and went to get a couple buckets of water. When she returned, she emptied them into the cauldron. Being careful so as to not overfill it like she did the last time. There was still a bright pink stain soaked deep into Shelby's floorboards that not even several rounds of cleaning spells hadn't been able to fully remove. She might as well dig up and replace her floor if a final round of cleaning spells doesn't fix it. But who's to say she won't mess up another batch of potions and ruin the floor again?

Shelby lightly shook her head and returned her focus to the task at hand. She'd worry about the state of her wooden floors another time. For now, she had potions to brew and they weren't going to make themselves. Shelby then fished through her inventory and procured a flint and steel. It took a few tries, but she managed to light the fire beneath her cauldron. The change of temperature in the room was almost immediate. Shelby opened a window before inside got too stuffy.

As she waited for the water to bubble, Shelby bustled about to collect potion bottles. She carried them three at a time to a table easily accessible from the cauldron. The glass bottles clinked against one another as they were placed on the table. One nearly clattered to the floor but Shelby instinctively cast a levitation charm and saved it from shattering. With that container saved, the witch then gathered corks and left them in a neat little pile by the bottles.

A few bubbles rose to the surface of the water and popped. Shelby perked up and ran over to the barrel she filled with potion ingredients earlier. She retrieved some nether wart from her stockpile and tossed it in. The desired effect wasn't instantaneous but the smell was. It reeked of the nether in her brewing room quicker than Shelby could activate the scent neutralizing spell she'd etched into the side of her cauldron.

In the end it didn't matter as the smell dissipated once the nether wart fully infused with the boiling water. Shelby sighed in relief once the odour was gone. After which she went back into the barrel and took out enough glistening melons to match that of the nether wart. The magic fruit was dumped into the cauldron with a light splash. This time, a sweeter smell filled the air. Shelby smiled in delight as she rummaged around for her mash paddle to stir the potion to completion. Once the item was found, Shelby trudged back to her cauldron and began stirring.

As she stirred, Shelby's mind started to wander. Her thoughts drifted further and further away from the task at hand as the liquid began to change colour. Soon enough, the witch was just mindlessly moving her arms in vaguely circular motions as particularly pleasant memories of a certain strong woman replayed before her very eyes. Shelby sighed dreamily as she thought of princess Katherine.

The princess was so pretty that it ought to be a crime. Her black eyes glimmered in the moonlight in a similar manner to the world's finest shungite crystals. Her long, raven hair framed her face perfectly and flowed wondrously behind her. She was incredibly kind and not afraid of anything. The princess' fearlessness had been made clear during the group effort to take down a wither. That adventure also served to accentuate something Shelby found dangerously attractive.

Katherine's strength.

The princess of GlimmerGrove was incredibly strong. She took down mobs with fewer swings of a sword that most warriors could only ever dream of achieving. Even if they had enchanted weapons, none could match Katherine's prowess. Her muscles were gorgeously defined in her slayer attire. During the aforementioned wither escapade, Shelby had stolen more than a few glances at the princess. Marveling at her toned physique as she raged across the battlefield.

Shelby dreamily sighed again. Her pale yellow eyes no doubt being overshadowed by her dilated pupils. Katherine was everything Shelby wanted in a woman. From her physical features to her personality. It was like the universe did this on purpose. Creating the perfect human for Shelby to give every last ounce of her love to. All that was left to do was for the witch to make a move in order to actually be able to share her affections.

How would she even go about asking a princess out?

The question would go unanswered as the smell of something burning hit Shelby's nose. She gasped before breaking into a fit of coughs. Pink smoke was coming from her cauldron signifying that it was over brewed. Shelby waved her wand to open the rest of the windows and extinguished the fire beneath the cauldron wordlessly. She continued casting spell after spell until the smoke was dispelled from the air and she could see clearly again.

The last of Shelby's coughs died down and she surveyed the damage. Her cheeks tinting red as embarrassment coursed through her. She just messed up a batch of healing potions, which was considered an easy potion due to it only having two ingredients, because she was daydreaming about her crush. Shelby's face burned brighter as she buried her head in her hands. Her witch's hat tilting forward with the action. She took a few deep breaths to calm her racing heart and hopefully dim her cheeks. Once she deemed herself calm enough, Shelby began the task of cleaning up her mess and starting over. This time, she tried her hardest not to think about the beautiful strong woman that was Katherine.

She failed.

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I'm with Shelby here. I too think about strong women and get distracted from what I'm doing. 😳

Also, I headcanon that Shelby's a clutz when it comes to brewing potions in a cauldron if that wasn't obvious. She said that her report card at the academy wasn't great so why not show some of the things which resulted in that/contributed to it?

So far I haven't written a oneshot less than 1000 words for Nature Wives. I'm quite surprised by that and idk why. And one last thing, this is the last fic before Whumptober start tomorrow! Get ready for a month long of delicious whump!

Have a good rest of your day/night!