Non-canon (probably) short story connected to my novel whoop whoop
"Where could you have possibly found this?" Promince muttered. He spun a thin vial between his battered fingers. Spade watched emerald liquid lap inside of its confines like an out-of-control storm.
"My village," Spade answered, grinning. "I thought I'd bring it here cause you're the second most knowledgeable on this sort of stuff."
"Who's the first?" Promince asked, lips twitching upwards.
"I think I'd rather get publicly executed then speak to him again."
Promince pressed his lips into a thin line. He nodded at such a slow and unconcerned pace that Spade could practically hear the thoughts taking form inside of his skull.
They both sat across from each other at Spade's dinner table, with no food to accompany them—only the steady ticking of her guardians grandfather clock.
"This," Promince began, carelessly waving the vial back and fourth. "Is poison. And I have a strange feeling that you had a little taste before you brought it here."
"What? No, no. What makes you think-" Spade broke off with a sharp cough into her elbow.
"I can hear you wheezing."
Promince sighed with what felt like his entire body. "I told you to stop doing this."
"I...didn't think it'd be deadly." Spade drummed her fingers atop the chipped wooden table. Sunlight seared the back of her neck where she sat in front of a window.
Promince's eyes widened. His gaze was trained on the base of Spade's neck, which was beginning to get uncomfortably sore.
She had actually gotten poisoned once when she was a teen, on accident, but it definitely did not feel this extreme.
"What the hell did you think was in there?" Promince demanded. He rose abruptly and approached a cabinet, rifling through it before throwing the vial out of an open window. Spade heard it hit a tree branch, along with the satisfying sound of shattering glass.
"Anything...but poison." Spade's eyelids drooped, and the tavern—that once felt warm with scents of smoky firewood and distant memories—hazed around her in a smear of dull colors.
Light exploded into blazing spurts within the corners of Spade’s vision. She slumped back against the chair with breathing that grew more labored by the minute.
"Stay awake, idiot," he grumbled. "Fuck—where is it? LUNA!"
"WHAT?!" Luna called from her bedroom.
"Your friend over here drank poison."
"I didn't drink it," Spade corrected, slurring her words as if her mouth was full of tar. "I just took a lil sip..."
Spade could hear Luna's footsteps, but barely acknowledged her friend as she kneeled next to Spade. On her other side, something punctured her arm, and Spade's senses snapped back into place so violently that she nearly vomited.
"A warning would have been nice," Spade gasped.
"You were dying," Promince said flatly. "I thought that'd be the least of your concerns."
"Where could you have possibly found that?" Luna asked under her breath.
"That's exactly what I asked!" Promince said, throwing his hands up in exasperation.
"A lab. In my village," Spade admitted, ignoring Promince. He glared at her as if she had just beheaded his mother.
"You didn't tell me that you found it in a lab," he said sharply. Spade grimaced.
"I didn't think it was important."
"I'm starting to assume that you don't think at all."
