#mudsaw here

“Chance darling~?” The voice of his boss interrupted his thoughts “Let’s pick up the pace dear! It’s almost time for you to go home!” “Yes, sir Mr. Smiley Sir!” Chance answered back. “Ah, and don’t forget today is payday! Besides your money I’ll let you pick out a potion today for free!” Chance quickly perked up after he heard the last part. “Y-Yes, sir!” He quickly scrambled to clean up the remaining smudges all while grinning really hard to himself. “I can’t believe I forgot that today is payday!” He finally stopped and looked around inspecting his work. “Mwah~! Everything is spic and span!” He turned to the sound of beaded curtains opening, it was his boss Smiley. “All right dear, time to finish up~!” Smiley said as he floated to the front of the shop. “HEY! HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT??” Chance pointed at his boss who was floating a couple of inches from the floor. “Hmm?” Smiley looked to where Chance was pointing “Ah that!” He then proceeded to turn off the lights in and around the shop “Well, I didn’t want to walk on the floor that you just cleaned. So I took a little sip of a flight potion! It’ll wear off eventually!” He then flipped the sign on the door, locked the door and drew the curtains all while floating gracefully through the air. The bottoms of his feet left behind little sparkles that disappeared behind him. He looked back at Chance, his mouth hanging open, he smiled “You…seem surprised…for one who can already fly naturally that is…” Chance snapped out of his trance “Huh? Oh well, I just think it’s really cool! And I can’t really fly naturally….it’s all thanks to my broom!” Smiley gave him a thoughtful look “Your broom huh? Are you really certain about that?” Chance cocked his head and look at him questionably “Huh? What do you mean by that? I’ve always been able to fly because of my broom!” Smiley’s turned and looked away “Yes…of course, you have…” Chance stared at his boss unsure of what he was getting at when he noticed he was starting to fall slowly to the ground “Hey boss! The potion! It’s wearing out!” Smiley quickly snapped out of his thoughts and looked down “Ah! Thank you for that!” He quickly floated back to the beaded curtains “A-anyway, finish up in here and make your way to the back room asap dear!” “Oh uh yes sir!” Chance rolled the bucket to the broom closet and drained all the dirty water into the drainage “I wonder what he was thinking about…” he wrung the mop one last time and placed in the empty bucket. He then locked the broom closet and made his way towards the back room.

Chance stepped through the curtains “Hey boss?” he asked as he looked for Smiley “Over here deary~!” He was at his desk writing the check for Chance. “Annnnd…done!” He dotted the last line on the check and handed it to Chance “Here you are love~!” Chance grabbed the check and looked at it, it was a check for $920. “Hehe! Sweet! Thank you so much, sir!” Smiley then stood up from his desk and headed towards the closet “No problem deary~! Now come with me.” Chance obediently followed Smiley. They stopped at the closet’s entrance, Smiley pulled out a key with a little Calavera on it from his pocket, placed it in the lock releasing it and opened the door. He stepped inside the closet and flipped the switch beside the door, the fluorescent lights turned on one by one illuminating the large closet. Smiley looked back at Chance and smiled, his face was full of amazement and wonder~! He had seen the closet plenty of times but it was always so satisfying to see him so amazed. Even his paychecks could never make him smile that hard. Smiley then gestured with his arm “Well, go ahead~!” Chance literally hopped up and down in place “Hehehe~! Thank you thank you~!” He then darted past Smiley and started looking around the area, looking at all the potions on the cabinets and shelves and so on. Smiley shook his head and chuckled “Take your time dear! But not too long!” He then looked at the clock right outside the closet “I don’t want you going home really late dear~!” “I won’t be long~!” Chance answered back. Smiley then grabbed a seat and set it next to the closet door. He sat down and sighed “What a day…it hasn’t been this busy in a long time…”

“Oh gosh~! What should I get? What I should I get?” Chance said to himself as he glanced all over. His eyes stopped on a clear potion “Okay that was an invisibility potion but I already tried that two weeks ago…” His eyes then settled on a baby blue potion “That’s a shrinking potion! but it…was not such a good idea…I didn’t think mice would be so mean!” He then spotted three potions in a row “Okay…those are a love potion, a sleeping potion, and a luck potion…I could just buy those at a discount…” Chance jumped up and down repeatedly “Ugh! I can’t choose!” He quickly stopped when he felt himself bump into a potion, knocking it off the shelf “Oh nonononono~!” He quickly got it before it could fall to it’s shattering doom “Phew~!” Chance sighed as he placed the potion back in its place.“Okay…I need to be more careful and more studious~!” He then turned and eyed a couple potions, he carefully took the labels in his hand and read the description “‘This potion grants you the ability to float’ This must be what my boss used! But I can already fly so I’m good!” He looked at another potion next to it “'This potion turns you INTO A DRAGON??’ Eesh! I think I’ll pass on that one…” He continued on to the next potion “'This potion allows you to glow in the dark’ Hmm…..That’s silly! But…it might be fun? Maybe some other time…” Chance sighed and leaned back “Hmm….none of these potions are really doing it for me…” He then turned and looked at the adjacent cabinet “Maybe there’s something here…” He scanned the bottles, curiously, none of them had any labels on them what so ever.

“I don’t mean to rush you deary, but it’s getting rather late and I don’t want you going home so late~!” Chance jumped startled after hearing Smiley’s voice “Oh! Uh..okay, sir! Sorry, sir!” He turned back to the bottles with no labels. “So weird…why don’t they have labels…” He finally stopped on a bottle that was glowing with a white-blue light, inside were sparkles that glowed even more brilliantly! “Ohh~! This one is pretty! I wonder what it does…” He stared at it for a good long while, it was so beautiful, he couldn’t describe it’s beauty. “I think I’ll take this one~!”

Chance stepped out of the closet and saw his boss passed out on the chair, he gently shook him awake “Psst! Hey, boss~! I’m done picking out my potion~!” Smiley let out a startled snore “Eh? Wha-?” He looked at Chance who had finally stepped out of the closet, he let out a yawn “Ah~! Chance my dear! Are you all set?” “Yeah, I found a potion! But…” he then showed the potion to Smiley “It has no tag or label…” Smiley took the potion and inspected it “Ah yes! There’s actually an entire section of potions and spells that I have not labeled yet because I have yet to test its effects on any living specimens….” Chance tensed up a little “You mean…you don’t even know what that potion does?” Smiley looked up and saw the worried expression on his face “Oh well, this particular potion that you picked; I do know what it does! It’s the other ones that I have no idea what they do…I must’ve just forgotten to label this one….” Chance breathed a sigh of relief “Okay so what does it do?” Smiley got up and started walking towards the cauldron “This is actually not a potion but rather a spell! It’s a protection spell to be precise!” He then handed the bottle back to Chance as he started digging out equipment next to the cauldron. Chance opened the bottle and sniffed it. “Mmm~! It smells really pleasant!” He then leaned his head back and took a sip of the potion. Smiley continued rummaging through the cabinets “Yes it certainly smells nice! Just be sure not drink any, it’s not a consumable!” Chance eye’s widened, he quickly spit the potion back into the bottle. “Ugh….so you can’t drink it?” Chance said with his tongue hanging out. “No, It is a spell, it’s meant to be cast, not consumed.” Chance eyed the bottle questionably “So…it’s a protection spell….it should go on my body right?” Smiley stood up wearing a pair of massive rubber gloves while holding some blacksmith tongs “Actually….this spell is for your clothing…” Chance cocked his head “My clothes? How would that help? Why would I want to protect my clothes?” Smiley handed him a pair of welding goggles “Go fetch your hat and I’ll demonstrate!” Chance took the goggles and placed them on his head “My hat? Uh..okay..”

Chance quickly went back to the front of the shop and picked up his hat hanging from a hat rack, he quickly grabbed his broom while he was at it and made his way back to the back room. Smiley was fixing a welding mask to his head. “Tell me Chance, do you like video games?” Chance smiled “You bet I do!” Smiley chuckled “Well, you know how in some games you can buy and equip your character with various clothing or armor and it will grant the character numerous effects? Like one piece of equipment can increase defense while another piece of equipment can grant fire immunity? And so on and so forth!” Chance nodded at everything “Yeah! yeah! I do that all the time in some games!” “Well, this potion is the same! It goes on your clothing and it will grant you protection!” Smiley reached out with his hand “The bottle please!” Chance handed him the bottle “All right! Goggles on! This is very bright!” Chance quickly placed the goggles over his eyes while Smiley lowered his mask. He then grabbed the bottle with the tongs, he then slowly poured the spell bottle in the cauldron. The cauldron let out an intense white light, the goggles weren’t enough to truly block out the light as he shielded his face. He slowly removed his hands from his face and looked around, everything was whitewashed. There was not a hint of color anywhere. Everything was washed in a white light! Smiley placed the empty bottle down “Chance! Your hat! It’s going in there!” Chance snapped out of his thoughts “Huh? What? Will it be okay?” Chance asked a little worried. “Of course it will! But we have to hurry!” “Uhh..okay…” Chance handed him the hat. Smiley grabbed with the tongs and positioned it over the cauldron “All right, be ready it’s going to flash again!” “Okay!” Smiley then slowly inserted the hat into the cauldron the solution flashed and sparked with a powerful white light. Chance once again had to shield his eyes as the goggles were not enough to stop the blinding light. He slowly opened his eyes and squinted as much as he could past the light. The solution in the cauldron started to go down as it was steadily being absorbed by the hat itself. Finally, the bright light began to diminish “All right you can take off your goggles now!” Chance eagerly took off his goggles and peeked into the cauldron. Smiley then slowly pulled out his hat, it was glowing like a hot iron over fire except it was completely white and glowing brightly! Smiley then placed the hat into a separate cauldron of water. The hat let out steam and smoke and white brilliant sparks. Chance bit his nails a little, worried about his hat. Smiley finally pulled it out of the water and set the glowing hat on a nearby table. Smiley then removed his mask

“Good job Chance~!” Chance wasn’t too sure what he was being complimented on but it didn’t matter. He stared at his glowing hat. Over time the hat ceased glowing and it looked as ordinary as ever like it was never dipped into a magical cauldron. Chance turned to Smiley “Uh..may I?” Smiley nodded “You may!” Chance quickly grabbed the hat and placed it on his head, it felt the same as ever. “It doesn’t feel any different…” Smiley put the tongs and gloves away “Really? Well, why don’t you step outside and see?” Chance looked at Smiley “Outside? Really?” Smiley nodded. Chance opened the back door but quickly stopped when he saw the rain. “Aw man, it’s still raining! Do you have an umbrella?” Smiley shook his head “There is no need! Just step outside and see!” Chance sighed and stepped outside as he closed his eyes and braced himself for the droplets of rain to hit him. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at his arms “Did it stop raining?” He then looked up as he heard little splashes of water hit something invisible on top of him. “Whoa! What? What’s this?” Smiley chuckled from the door “That’s the protection spell working it’s magic!” Chance looked around him in awe. His hat was creating an invisible barrier bubble. The only way you could tell it was there was because of the rain droplets hitting it on the outside. “Whoa! This is so cool!” Chance then grabbed his hat “I wonder…” He then removed his hat and quickly regretted as the barrier disappeared and he was pelted with the cold rain. “Ah!” He quickly placed the hat back on and barrier reappeared “Wow…this is amazing!” Smiley chuckled once again “Well I’m glad you like it!” Chance then turned back to smiley, the barrier turning along with him “So…what else does it protect against?” Smiley placed a hand on his chin “Well….remember how I said that most of those spells in the closet don’t have labels because I don’t know their effects?” Chance nodded “Well it’s the same with the protection spell. It’s a protection spell at face value but I don’t know to what extent it will protect you…I guess you’ll have to test it for me!” Chance frowned at him “So you want me to put myself in danger?” “ I didn’t say that! Just….if you ever feel like you’re in danger….put your hat on! Think of it as… a good luck charm that will protect you wherever you go!” Chance looked down a bit “Yeah I guess…” Smiley then extended his hand “I can always remove the spell if you don’t like it…” Chance then straightened up and grabbed his hat “Uh no! It’s okay! I really do like this! It’s just…I can’t shake the feeling that all of a sudden I am in danger….” Smiley looked up at the sky “I understand…if you want…I can escort you home at least.” Chance perked up again “Is it that late already?? I’m so sorry….” Smiley then handed him his broom and began locking the door behind him. “It’s all right, it’s no trouble.” He then grabbed the small potion bottle from his necklace, popped it open, and drank it whole. He then began to float off the ground. “Are you quite ready?” Chance hopped on his broom “Ready! I’ll race you!” He then took off at high speed into the stormy night sky. “You’re on!” Smiley then took after him hot on his tail.

Chance gently landed on his front door and Smiley landed right behind him. He then turned to Smiley. “Well, thanks for taking me home!” “Not a problem dear~! I’ll see you in two days so have a good weekend!” Smiley said as he turned to leave “Ah wait!” Chance quickly went over to him, gave him a tight hug, and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek! “Thank you so much!” Smiley’s eyes widened, he returned the hug and blushed “You’re welcome…now go on get inside~!” Chance giggled and skipped inside “Bye!” Chance said as he closed the door behind him. Smiley waved, he then turned around and took off flying. He placed his hand over his cheek where Chance had kissed him and blushed. “Good kid! He just needs to ask better questions…”