Sorry this took so long, the next one should be on its way soon. Enjoy!
"I don't think you know quite as much as you claimed," Herobrine comments, sitting patiently on the stairs. He's watching Steve run around, collecting various items from chests and the gardens outside. He knows what Steve's trying to accomplish, and he also knows it was being done in the least efficient way possible.
"You're crazy, I know exactly what I'm doing," Steve says distractedly, a pile of glass bottles in his arms. He has to be careful while walking lest he trip and ruin all his progress. Despite there being an entire desert behind his house, he rarely makes time to collect sand for bottles. Making them is hardly the worst part of potion making however, and now he's starting to get to the intricate stuff.
"Is that why there's a spider eye in the furnace?" Herobrine asks smugly, eyeing the device. It is turned off at the moment, and has been since Steve had stuffed the eye into it.
Steve sits all the bottles down gently so as to not break any, and turns around. "I thought...Isn't that right?" He asks, frustrated. He walks over to the furnace and yanks the door open. Sure enough, the eye is sitting there, unperturbed, the coal beneath it cold and unused. "What the Nether, how is this wrong?"
"Have you ever actually made a potion before?" Herobrine finally asks, as he should have done in the beginning of this fiasco. Nevertheless, he could help Steve...but he chooses not to, partially because he enjoys the entertainment and also because Steve had assured him he knew exactly what he was doing. While obviously not the case, he stays out of the brewing process. He also might have failed to mention he knows how to brew potions.
"Uhhhhmmm...no."
"That much is clear," Herobrine says, walking over to the furnace and taking the eye out. He gathers a brown mushroom and some sugar from a nearby chest, making sure Steve's watching before combining the ingredients on the crafting table. He then hands the now fermented spider eye to Steve. "Why do you not go to a village? Surely buying a potion would be easier than making one, especially with how little knowledge you have on the subject."
As he holds the squishy eye, Steve's previous joy at having it fades. "Oh, you know," he says offhandedly, returning to the table with the bottles. He sits the eye down and starts filling the bottles with water from the cauldron next to him. He can feel Herobrine staring at him, waiting for an answer he isn't willing to give. "I just think it's more beneficial to learn potion brewing myself, that's all. No need to spend my hard earned emeralds on simple potions, right?"
Herobrine frowns and returns to his seat on the stairs, leaving the conversation at that. He's noticed that every time he brings up the subject of other humans, especially villages, Steve becomes oddly and uncharacteristically withdrawn. He looks like he's uncomfortable with every mention, and always finds ways to shut the conversation down or change the subject quick enough to avoid the original question. It both bothers and frustrates him. He isn't stupid—something happened in Steve's past which has resulted in this behavior, and what bothers him is that Steve isn't willing to share that information.
But, maybe he shouldn't be one to judge. After all, when Steve asks him about his own past, he remains silent, or plainly says he doesn't wish to speak of it.
He sits in silence, watching Steve fill bottles with water, the miner's mood slowly returning to normal the more he checks the notes he's gathered. One benefit of having him as a friend, Steve likes to boast, is that theoretically, anything he could want is at his fingertips. Herobrine has his own personal stash of items he's collected over decades, precious metals and blocks of all kinds sitting wasted in chests deep underground. He collects items he has no use for, taking them simply because he can. Some such items are books from strongholds, their pages filled with knowledge from the ancient humans, whose techniques for building still influence the structure of modern day projects. But it is their potion knowledge which is greatly helping Steve in learning the basics of what he needs to do.
Steve has spent the last few days tirelessly gathering all the supplies he needs, from spider eyes to redstone dust to melons. The book mentions various items he's never even heard of before, however, like glowstone and nether wart. Luckily, Herobrine has intimate knowledge of where to obtain such items, and had retrieved them. It hadn't been hard for Steve to conclude that these items resided in the Nether, a realm he's only ever read about.
Potion making is something he's always wanted to try but never got around to tinkering with. He's always in the need for more diamonds and iron, after all, so mining takes up a vast majority of his time. But lately he's been feeling adventurous, and finally he decides to try his luck at brewing. He's heard the benefits these potions wielded are worth the amount of time it takes to make them.
"Okay," he says. "So I take these," he places three bottles of water on the three slots at the bottom of the stand. "And then I take this," he skims his notes a bit, making sure he understands correctly, "and just touch the rod with it?" He does so, and the moment the nether wart makes contact with the blaze rod it dissolves into dust in his hand, and the rod changes colors from yellow to a dark red. "Wow," Steve says, fascinated. How the ancient humans had figured this out is beyond him.
From his spot on the stairs Herobrine rolls his eyes. Humans are so easily entertained.
Steve watches as the blaze rod slowly returns to normal, a heat emanating from it as the nether wart is drained into the three bottles. His notes say that once the rod becomes yellow again, the potion is ready for the next step.
"Is it done?" He asks. "It looks the same as before."
"Yes, it is done," Herobrine answers, unable to help himself. Maybe a little help will be alright.
"That's weird," Steve mutters. Now he has to decided what potion he wants to make. One in particular catches his attention. A potion of invisibility, which requires a golden carrot and a fermented spider eye. He has one eye at the ready, so he decides to go with that one.
There are three golden carrots in the pile of stuff next to him. He grabs one and, with instructions from his notes, chops the carrot into little bits before putting it into one of the bottles. The liquid inside instantly started bubbling, like it's being heated, and darkens in color just barely. When the bubbling stops he, with some reluctance, squeezes the spider eye over the bottle, making sure to get the juice into the liquid. A sizzling sound accompanies the change this time, the dark blue color lightening to a light gray. According to his notes, he now has one potion of invisibility.
"I must congratulate you for making a successful first potion," Herobrine says, clapping in a way that is, by no means, sarcastic. He is slightly impressed, though; he's been witness to many potion failures, often with disastrous results. And on one or two occasions those fails had been his fault but hey, a guy has to have fun, right?
"So it'll work?" Steve asks. Despite following the instructions, he doesn't know if he wants to test the potion himself, especially since he has to drink it. What if he's done something wrong and the potion ends up poisoning him? That's something that can happen, right? "Would you mind testing it?" Steve asks. He wants to know if the potion works, but he doesn't want to die.
"I suppose there's no harm in that," Herobrine says, utterly failing at keeping himself out of the process. Knowing that the potion will work without a problem, he takes it from Steve and downs its content. A second later he disappears from sight.
"It works!" Steve crows. This opens up a whole new world for him! There are potions of strength, potions of healing—there's even a potion that would let him breath underwater! But wait...
"How long does it last for?" He asks. He jumps, startled, when he hears Herobrine's voice off to the side, not in front of him where he's expecting.
"It depends on the potion. The one you just made should only last a few minutes before wearing off, but its effects can be lengthened to almost ten minutes by using redstone."
"Wow, this is so cool." Steve turns back to the brewing stand. The other two potions are still sitting there, and he decides to try the same potion again, this time with a longer effect. He repeats the carrot and spider eye steps, consulting his notes along the way, just to be safe. According to them and like Herobrine mentioned, redstone adds time to the potion's effects while glowstone increases the potion's power. He picks up a palm full of redstone dust and deposits an equal amount into both potions. They crackle for only a moment before returning to normal.
"Why don't you try making a splash potion?" Herobrine suggests. He smiles a bit in amusement when Steve jumps, as he is still invisible. "All you need is gunpowder." Though they are friends, he doesn't feel bad about what he has planned.
"A splash potion? Hmm," Steve hums as he reads through his notes. A splash potion, according to them, does not need to be drunk, but can instead be thrown and will supply the same effect. Handy if he wants to poison someone, or heal quickly with an instant health or regeneration potion. "Okay, just add gunpowder?" He asks at large, dropping a handful into one of the potions. The bottles starts shaking violently for a few seconds before calming. He lifts it to his face to examine it. It doesn't look any different.
"Do you still wish for me to test it for you?" Herobrine asks from...somewhere. Steve can't be sure where the guy is, not when the invisibility potion's effects are still active.
"I...yeah, I guess." Steve holds out the bottle, fascinated when it seemingly lifts from his hand all on its own. But just as it leaves his grasp it is flung through the air towards his feet. He can't run quick enough to escape of the liquid bursts from the bottle and coats his clothing. It's quickly absorbed into his skin and clothes.
"Ah! What was that for!?" He yells, shocked. He can only hear laughter, however, as Herobrine is still invisible. "And how are you still invisible? Does the potion really last for that long?"
"It will wear off any moment now," Herobrine supplies, and already Steve can see his image slowly fade back to opacity. There's a wicked smile on his face. "Your potion, however, will last for much longer."
"So you can't see me?" Steve smiles, an idea forming in his head. Time for pay back.
"...No."
Steve stifles his laughter as he slowly walks toward Herobrine, who is looking at the door, on the opposite side of the room. He's just about to act when Herobrine suddenly turns and catches his hand, just as it was about to startle him.
"What!" Steve gapes, eyes wide in disbelief and voice laced with disappointment. "How did you do that, you said you couldn't see me!"
Herobrine lets him go. "Just because you are invisible doesn't mean I cannot sense your presence. You give me far too little credit, my friend."
Steve's shoulders slump. "You're no fun."
"On the contrary," Herobrine says, walking over to the brewing stand. Curious, Steve follows behind. "I will show you something that I often did when I was bored."
Herobrine proceeds to make a different potion, this one involving sugar and glowstone, then gunpowder. The resulting potion is light blue, and instead of throwing it, he gathers all three and goes outside. Steve follows, silent but wondering. They walk around the house, were they find a wild cow eating grass.
"Observe," Herobrine says, and throws one of the potions at the cow's feet. Startled, the cow jumps and takes a step to run away...only to be propelled forward at an abnormally fast speed.
"What the Nether!" Steve says, bubbling laughter rocking his frame as the poor cow struggles with its newfound speed. It settles for running in circles until it tires itself out, choosing then to slump to the ground, mooing tiredly. Herobrine watches as Steve laughs and feels a wave of peace wash over him. Is this what having friends is like? How much did he miss in his rage and hate driven past?
"Let's go," Herobrine says, turning back towards the house. "I'll show you how to make some more potions."
Wiping the tears from his eyes and still a little giddy from the cow's unfortunate mishap, Steve follows behind his friend, eager to learn more.