Work Text:
Coming to Lost Temple had been a mistake. The wind was suffocatingly hot and blew sand into his face, sand that scratched against the rotting sores on his face and arm. Subspace sighed. He shouldn't have agreed to do this.
His job was to supervise a supply train to Blackrock, and hopefully catch the little bastard who has been stealing from him recently. Subspace had his own reasons for wanting to come to Temple, but considering how packed his schedule was he highly doubted he was going to get to make good on them.
"'Scuse you! Sir!" Subspace turned to find who had been calling for him. A demon was watching him from a market stall.
"Can I help you, sir?" The demon laughed.
"Well ain't you proper." He said with disgust. There was a toothpick in between his teeth, which were mostly gold and silver. In fact Subspace couldn't see a single real tooth in his mouth.
"Can I help you, sir?" Subspace repeated. He would not stand for a mockery of his way of speaking.
"No. But I can help you." The demon smiled dangerously.
Subspace sighed.
"How so?"
"Not a fan of the sand I assume?" Subspace shook his head.
"Well I have just the thing for you." He pulled a small glass vial off his stall. It was filled with a teal blue liquid.
"Now I don't offer this ta just anyone, but you seem special. Fancy. This little vial here is full of an elixir hand made by the finest artisans in the faction. All ya gotta do is shake it up, and take a swallow. It'll cool yer insides, and the sand won't bother ya no more."
"Interesting." Subspace grabbed the vial and inspected it. "So it will make me numb?" He didn't want a numbing drug, but it could be interesting to study when he got back to Blackrock.
"Nope. No numbin ta anything except the heat and the sand."
"Interesting!! Can I try a sip?" The seller snatched the vial back.
"No free samples!" Subspace jumped. "799 bux for the bottle, or you can suffer."
He reached into his wallet. it was an absurd price, but he was willing to pay it.
Only moments after grabbing his bux, there was chaos. Subspace couldn't see who was where or what was happening.
"HEY!!! GIVE IT BACK!!" The seller lunged at him before he was pulled away and shoved in alleyway while the merchant fumed in the distance.
Whoever had grabbed Subspace was surprisingly strong, but they were hidden by the shadows. He straightened and dusted himself off. Not that it mattered. He was covered in sand again immediately.
"Who do you think you are?!" He asked into the darkness. The mystery person laughed.
"You really don't recognize me~?"
"Of course I don't," Subspace replied, pushing down his original shock at hearing Broker's voice, "I couldn't see shit because there was fucking sand in my eyes!" Broker laughed again.
"I suppose that's fair. I'm glad I got you when I did though. I can't believe you fell for that!!"
"For what-"
Broker pulled out the vial that he'd apparently stolen from the merchant.
"At best this is just numbing. At worst it's placebo. And with sales tax that'd be like. 879 bux." Subspace could've kicked himself. He'd fucking fallen for a scam?! He should've fucking known!! He reached to grab the vial so he could throw it down, but Broker danced out of reach.
"Oh c'mon Subby, aren't you curious~?" He bristled at the nickname, but he also knew there was no point trying to fight this.
"Fine." Subspace said with a sigh.
Broker smiled and downed the liquid.
"Ooh chilly!! Seems to just be placebo though. Here. Do what you want with this." He tossed Subspace the bottle. Subspace tried to crush it in his hand but couldn't, so he opted to throw it to the ground instead.
"How did you know?"
"Everything here is a scam Subspace."
Of course. Subspace couldn't believe he'd let his guard down. And in Lost Temple of all places. The sand was still tearing at his skin, and the sun was still beating down on him, but he was more worried about the crushing blow to his pride. Broker would never let him live that down.