A warm scent suddenly shot up in the town's market district, wafting past Siofra's nose and giving her reason to pause and search for the source. Her stomach let out an intense roar, letting her know it was time to stop patrolling the city streets and grab some lunch. It takes quite a bit of energy to be her and to sleep around as much as she did, so the smell of something, anything, cooking nearby was as inviting as the scent of any lass that wandered by, if not more. She carefully traced it back to its source, stopping by a small house near the blacksmith's workshop, figuring whatever they were making had to be wonderful if it could cover up the smell of hot steel and ashes.
At first, the knight's eyes were focused solely on a display case carefully arranged up front, giving anyone who passed an eyeful of their wares. Fat pastries covered in frosting thick and sticky, fruits dipped in chocolates dark and rich, and bread loaves long and soft filled her eyes, each one looking better than the last. Small sandwiches and confectioneries lined the top row, eager for customers to stop and have a taste of that. Surely, she should pay over a few well earned coin to this place so she could sit down and devour those sweet, innocent little nibbles in public, not caring who saw her slobber on them and nip at them.
Wait, that's right, lunch. Siofra's brain had crossed wires with her other favorite activity, telling her just how much she really did need the break. She took out a few coins from the pouch on her belt and went to hand them over to the person tending the shop.
"I'll take the third sandwich from the right and-" Siofra stopped mid sentence, staring the shopkeeper in the eye. She found herself face to face with eyes of golden slit and black sclera. A quick look over of whom they belonged to revealed a body toned dark red, with long matching hair, two curled horns on the side of her head, and a small, white bandanna covering her skull. As the two locked gazes, the shopkeeper smiled at her.
"And? Can I help you, miss?" she asked in a cheery tone.
"--Please tell me you're on the menu because I could just eat you up." Siofra blurted out, not even thinking on it. It was reflex and habit by now, sounding as cheesy as she could while giving the biggest grin she could muster.
The shopkeeper just grinned. "I'm afraid not. Though I can serve you anything else."
"The sandwich then. And that pastry over here. And coffee, nothing in it." Siofra sighed, trying her best not to sound too dejected over this, handing her money over and continuing to look at the girl anyways. It had been a while since she saw a succubus working around the city and remembered the great times she's had with others. Though a no is no and she sat at a table nearby and waited.
After a minute, the girl appeared with Siofra's order and set it down, bowing to her, keeping her wings and tail stretched out as she pet her own stomach. "Ah, sorry for the wait, I've been a bit slower ever since this bun got shoved into my oven."
Siofra stared at the demon's belly, having noticed it was quite large and sticking out, and turned bright red herself, stuttering in panic. "Ah...Ah. Y-You're pregnant. I...Forgive me for hitting on you. Bad habit, nothing more, I swear! Don't tell your husband or whatever on me, I'll behave around here from now on, miss, I promise!" The poor knight looked like she wished she could just hide and disappear from public sight right now.
"Hm? Oh, don't worry about it, miss! The asshole who left me like this ditched me quite some time ago. Said he wouldn't play dad to some demon sprog and skipped town. Old stigmas and such. If I catch that bastard near my shop again, he's getting the worst, so don't mind me!" said the girl, taking a seat next to Siofra to take a break. "Sorry, I hope you don't mind me resting here."
"N-no, do what you need to." Siofra mumbled, slowly eating her meal and sitting in awkward silence. "Though why do you insist on working and keeping it if he skipped on you like that? Don't you feel thankless or unloved?"
"Think of it this way; if he does have half the balls he claims to have and makes his way back to town, seeing that brat of his working alongside me and happy ought to scare him more than anything my demon heritage could have done." the girl grinned wide and toothy. "Besides, it ekes out a few more pity tips around here so I can have enough to live on."
"Heh, vicious. I like that." said Siofra, taking a sip of her drink and trying her best to stay behaved. Hard not to admit out loud that she liked that attitude in a lady. "You're doing the right thing then. And hey, if he does come back, you can tell me and I'll do whatever you wish with him. Nobody leaves a woman hurt like that in my presence."
She then extended her hand to the shopkeeper's and shook. "I'm Siofra Whelan. Please, call me for any reason."
"Esra." the keeper replied, shaking hands firmly and warmly, her spaded tail wagging a bit. "And any reason? Even if it's just to keep this poor knocked up demon whore company? You seem like a charitable enough young lady, perhaps you could be of some work."
Siofra turned red again at those words, doing her best to keep face while others were nearby shopping and could hear her. "Now, I wouldn't go calling you that, and nobody should. But yeah, I suppose if I've nothing better to do nor any other jobs going, I could help you play shop for a bit."
"Oh, you may not call me that now, but your eyes were saying it. Not like it's a bad thing, though. But good, you can start now. Come in and I'll close up for lunch hour and you can play therapist for me." Esra snorted a few dark embers towards Siofra's direction and grinned, her wings flapping a bit as she put a sign up saying she'd be out a bit and inviting the knight to the back and into a small room in the corner. "Come on, this way, my feet are tired and need a rubbing. You're a holy lady, ain't ya? I can smell it on ya. Come use those glowy hands on me and make me less tense, oh chivalrous flirt."
"...That's what that snort was for. You could sniff the glow on me, you horny devil! I forget your kind can do that." Siofra rolled her eyes a bit and followed, standing dutifully at attention next to Esra, who was now at the edge of her bed and wiggling her toes around. "So, a foot rub, right? Don't keep me too long with this as I do need to patrol again, miss."
Esra grinned and laid back on her bed, putting her feet against Siofra's face and playing a bit, spreading her legs and stretching her tail out to prod at the knight as well, her spade tickling where it could find. "Make sure I'm good enough to work and you can go back to your job, little lady~" she grinned, her tongue flicking in and out a bit. "Though take a load off. Work can't be fun in all that armor. Make yourself comfortable first then we can play doctor."