Mallside

[Halae]

[Shopping Trip]

Skye considers that, "Well, it encourages natural healing, speeding it up. But it's considered a holy rite, so... I suppose it's inappropriate here. Apologies," not much to be done about blatant incompatibility like that, "Where would we go to learn the kind of healing magicks you were referring to?"

[bc56]

Shopping Trip
"An occult bookstore. This mall has everything, there's got to be one here." It's a pity Sekhmet isn't here, books are her thing and she could probably recommend a specific treatise for Mary. But the girls are doing this without adult supervision. "I need a book on infernal healing."

[Halae]

[Shopping Trip]

"We passed by something that purported to be such on the way to Melonie's," Sky says, having been watching her surroundings, "Come on, this way."

[bc56]

Shopping Trip
Mary nods and follows Skye. She wasn't paying as much attention to what they passed because she was busy navigating.

[Halae]

[Shopping Trip]

Skye leads the way back. It's definitely an occult shop, an array of various magical trinkets in the windows at the front. The sign above the door reads "Castor's Boks", a clear typo in the header that has yet to be replaced, with the icon of a tome with eyes and tentacles sprouting out of it is beside it.

The inside of the shop smells like old books, with hardwood flooring and slightly ill-maintained lights. Behind the counter is a gren-haired goth girl who's bored enough to be playing around with her phone instead of dealing with the pair of customers that just walked in.

[bc56]

Shopping Trip
Mary looks around. This sure looks like an occult bookstore.
"Hey," she says to the bored clerk, "Do you have books on infernal healing?" Honestly given the clerk's disinterest, Mary's not expecting a good answer. She'll probably have to go search for it.

[Halae]

[Shopping Trip]

The girl behind the counter sighs, and after a moment of fiddling puts her phone away, though she still looks immensely disinterested in the situation as it stands, "Are you looking to summon a demon that can heal people, or a spell that can heal demons?"

Skye stands back, allowing Mary to handle it for the moment.

[bc56]

Shopping Trip
"A spell that can heal demons," Mary confirms. You'd think that'd be obvious, considering she's a literal demon standing undisguised right there. But who knows what goes on in the mind of a bored clerk? She probably hasn't even noticed the customers' appearance.

[Halae]

[Shopping Trip]

"Uh huh," the clerk says, barely even looking at Mary before she goes back to whatever she was doing on her phone, "Row five, you're looking for Ragast's Treatise on Infernal Essence. I can show you if you've got more tits than brains."

Oh. It's not that she hasn't noticed Mary. It's that she's dismissive of her!

[bc56]

Shopping Trip
Mary glowers at that remark, and, fuming, heads to the aisle indicated, beckoning Skye to come with her.

Once there, however, she doesn't show much interest in finding the book. Now that they're out of eyesight of the clerk, she whispers to Skye.
"Ugh. Hate it when people are like that. What do you think, should we get her back for that comment?" Her expression seems to indicate she already has a plan.

[Halae]

[Shopping Trip]

"I wouldn't accept that kind of dishonor without a return," Skye says, nodding in encouragement to Mary. You do not let insults go in her home culture; you have to meet them head on, "What do you need me to do?"

[bc56]

Shopping Trip
"Nothing. I just wanted to make sure you agreed before triggering the enchantment I laid on her before we walked off," Mary grins in a faux-wicked way and snaps her fingers. "That should give her something to think about by the time we get back to her." Mary turns back to the shelves. "Now let's find that book."

[Halae]

[Shopping Trip]

"Mmm," Skye nods, and turns towards the book shelves, attempting to find the one in question, "What did you do?"

It shouldn't be difficult to find; not many tomes on infernal makeup are present in the bookstore, so it's easy to pare down to the relevant one and head back to the counter after a moment.

[bc56]

Shopping Trip
"I'm giving her a little taste of our side of things," Mary smirks, "Over the next, oh, about five minutes, her chest will grow to close to our size. Then she'll be stuck with it for three days."
After a quick search Mary pulls the book they're seeking off the shelf. "If I wove the enchantment right, she won't even notice until it's pointed out. So let's wait to go back until the five minutes are up or we hear her freaking out about it."

[Halae]

[Shopping Trip]

Skye lets out a light laugh at that, "I'm sure we can find something to occupy our time for that long. Who knows; maybe she'll learn to like it."

For her part, Skye intends to browse the various books on the shelves. Her training as a devil hunter was often occupied by occult studies, so this bookstore is a fascinating little place for her. The five minutes should pass largely without incident; it seems Mary wove the enchantment correctly.

[bc56]

Shopping Trip
With the time elapsed, Mary closes the book (she was skimming it while she waited) and heads back to the counter to see her handiwork.
"Just this for me." Not-so-secretly, she's using this as a chance to inspect how well her spell worked, although it may very well come across as something else to the clerk.

[Halae]

[Shopping Trip]

Skye of course follows along, smiling lightly as she does. The clerk of course went right back to her phone and puts the book through the system with a disinterested flat look on her face. She doesn't seem to realize that her shirt - a punk rock tee for a band neither of them has heard of before - is now barely containing a truly massive pair of breasts, with her bra visible as the bottom of the shirt has been pulled up.

She doesn't even notice Mary's look as she hands back Ragast's Treatise and accepts payment, or even Skye's slightly embarrassed, lustful staring. If she's going to notice, Mary's going to have to be the one to mention it.

[bc56]

Shopping Trip
Mary takes the book, starts to turn away, and then stops, turning back to say, "You might want to do something about your shirt. You're probably pretty close to breaking the dress code." Her smirk betrays her responsibility for the situation.

[Halae]

[Shopping Trip]

"Huh?" the girl looks at her with a confused frown for a moment, before turning to look at her chest. "Whoa!" and there's a bit of panic as she runs towards the back, leaving Mary and Skye to leave in peace, with Skye laughing quietly.

"She should learn not to insult others for the beauty of their bodies," Skye says, a grin on her face, "It's not like you don't carry it well."

[bc56]

Shopping Trip
Mary laughs at the retreating clerk, maybe a little louder than Skye does.
"Yeah. She should learn not to judge someone until she's walked a mile in their... Boobs." It's not a perfect fit.
Then Mary is complimented. "Um, thanks?" It's not like she didn't know it. She's a succubus, it's what they do. She considers. "Yeah, I am beautiful. And you are too. And if people can't recognize that, it's their loss."

[Halae]

[Shopping Trip]

Skye's mouth is left hanging open for a long moment, a red shade coloring her normally light brown skin, before she turns away. Oh boy, it looks like she was not prepared to be called beautiful. And given Skye's attraction to Mary, it's bouncing off of her hormones.

The question, of course, is how Mary deals with this. She could encourage it, shut down Skye's attraction to her, or just ignore it. Or perhaps she'll come up with something else.

[bc56]

Shopping Trip
Apparently Mary thinks nothing of it. "Wanna grab a snack at the food court before we go back?" She's already heading that way.

[Halae]

[Shopping Trip]

"Y-yes," she replies, moving to follow after Mary, "What kinds of food are you interested in?"

The blush is still there, of course, though she's slowly getting it under control.

[bc56]

Shopping Trip
"Just whatever sounds good. I'm not picky." She's not. If Skye's ever seen Mary eat, she'd know the demon princess is a bottomless void into which food enters and vanishes without a trace.
They enter the food court, the scents of myriad foods of dozens of worlds and cultures swirling around them. Mary's eyes are wide with hunger. "Ooh! Deep-fried bacon-wrapped giant crickets!"

[Halae]

[Shopping Trip]

There's a moment as Skye looks out amongst the various food stalls. It's all very interesting!

... And then a worry sets in, "... Ah, Mary? I'm not sure I have enough money left to pay for a meal," even with the discount, those enchantments cost quite a lot.

[bc56]

Shopping Trip
"Don't worry about it. We're not getting a full meal and I have plenty of money anyway." Royalty has its perks. "Just get what you want, I'll cover for you (within reason)." Mary buys a couple of the crickets she was eyeing. That's probably enough calories to count as a full meal and then some for anyone whose digestive system isn't replaced by a raging inferno of hellfire.

[Halae]

[Shopping Trip]

Skye doesn't even appear to question Mary's choice of food. Instead, she deliberates for... probably a lot longer than is normal, paralyzed by indecision, before just settling on some wild rice. That should be fine, right? Right. It'll remind her of her homeland.

It's also a full meal, being a full rice platter, but given Skye is still growing (the entire reason for this trip) perhaps that shouldn't be surprising.

[bc56]

Shopping Trip
In between bites of food, Mary talks.
"So I was thinking," she breaks off another piece, crunches it down, and swallows, "My family's gonna be hosting a big Thanksmas party. You could come! You know where the house is and everything."

[Halae]

[Shopping Trip]

Skye blinks, looking up from where she was gorging herself on rice to Mary's with a blink. After a moment she chokes it down before asking, "Thanksmas? I'm unfamiliar. B-but I'd be happy to come."

[bc56]

Shopping Trip
"Great! I'll see you then!" Mary responds. After that, they'll eat in silence for a while unless Skye has something to say.