Le time skip brought to you by a loud and cursing Blaze at a ride customer and a busy Rain.

Once Blaze had all the customers out, she temporarily closed the restaurant so that Foxy could explain more about where she heard of Lamias. Marinette decided to join in on the conversation since she saw Gaster in the spare room by accident when she was on break.

"Okay Foxy. How do you know about these Lamias? You know where they came from and what they are?" By this time the group of five was in a booth seat with Gaster munching on a chocolate chip cookie that Marinette made for Rain to take home.

“I only know about them from stories mi mama used to tell me. She would talk of snake people our ancestors used to protect. Lamias. I don’t know too much, but in the story she would tell of a queen and a civilization unknown to nobody, not even our ancestors. I thought it was just a story..” Her eyes wandered to Gaster.

"So what you're telling me is that there could be a whole CIVILIZATION of them, with a queen no less, somewhere your folks are from?" Marinette asked, shocked.

She nodded, bewildered. “Si.”

"Bien foutu..." Marinette said in bewilderment. "And Rain, you said that there's more of them at this secret store out in the boonies, right?"

Translation: "Well damn"

Rain nodded. “A whole bunch more. With a ghost too, apparently.” 

Gaster snickered. “I truly DO hope that was just her playing a trick on you… I’d truly hate to find out I’ve been denning with a poltergeist that entire time..” 

"Actually little tierno. A Poltergeist in German means "noisy ghost" but is actually a collimation of a person's energy. Like say a soldier that has PTSD and is filled with fear of failures and such, his energy is going to CREATE that entity. It's like a part of that person. Otherwise a ghost is more of a physical being to which you're probably thinking of. In this world there's two types of Ghosts that you should be wary of. One of them, is of course when a person or monster dies, depending on how strong their soul is, turns into a ghost. Like that one famous monster star… Mettaton… I think his name was. Otherwise the other type of ghost that you should be wary of is ones that have a strong soul but have either died unexpectedly or have come back with a wish for vengeance. So… Which is mi tierno?" Blaze thoroughly explained.

June's family was highly religious and believed in the other worlds that surrounded humanity and monsters. Her brother is also a paranormal investigator on a team that likes to travel to multiple supposedly haunted places.

“Likely the second, considering the building's history..” He was writing down all this information in his little note book so he wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

June raised a brow but turned to Rain. "You're volunteering at the place today right?"

Rain nodded. “Yep. I was going to start right after work.”

June got up from the table and went in the back of the main room where a small Christian altar was. It was an old but fancy looking altar that made it look like it was from The Exorcist. She brought out a small box full of multiple rosaries. She took two of them, put them in front of the altar. And started the cleansing and blessing of protection process on them with burning sage and blessed water. After that she came back to a confused group of friends.

"Here." She said as she slid the rosary to Rain. "We're going."

“ALL OF YOU?” She gaped.

“Good business, you are more than welcome to come, shop owner will enjoy your company.”

"No. Just me and Rain. If you all want to get one as well, then do it on your own time. Right now, I can't keep my store closed for long. But I'm going to get one. And then I have to rearrange the business hours. I only blessed two rosaries. Rain, you can keep this one. I'll send a cleansing kit just in case. Zash, man the bar while I'm gone." She said as she made sure Rain put the beaded necklace on and dragged her along with Gaster to the door.

Foxy whined while Zash nodded, going behind the counter.

Rain and Gaster led Blaze to the bus stop. As Blaze looked outside, she wondered which one she would get. They finally made it to their stop and walked the rest of the way there.

Rain And Blaze finally came to the mysterious store. Still creepy and well decorated as ever. They walked in and Rain rang the bell at the front desk. It dawned on her that she didn't know her employer's name. She turned to Gaster for information.

Meanwhile Blaze felt a heavy presence with them. 'There's definitely a ghost here. And they're not happy…'

“Nagatari Scales is her name, I call her Ms. Scales or Lady Nagatari though.” He replied. 

"You called~?" Nagatari showed up like a freaking shadow right next to Blaze. To which she promptly screamed and sang a slew of Spanish curses. And Rain jumped two feet in the air.

"Hehe~ so we have a Latino of Mexican heritage in my store~ Oh! And Rain~ how was your FIRST NIGHT with Gaster~ Quite eventful I might say~" she purred out her innuendo.

“My Lady…” Gaster groaned. “Please don’t.” He cleared his throat, hoping to change the subject. “May I introduce, Lady Blaze, of the La Zona Caliente.”

Blaze blushed fifty shades of red. "M-my legal name is June Heras. Nice to meet you ma'am." She said awkwardly.

She took a moment for the moment to sink in, then she cackled. "Ohohohoho~ my sweet little Gaster~ so formal to the point of awkwardness. You'll be a great father in no time~"

He hid his face in his hands, blushing.

Blaze was highly confused at the situation. Maybe something to ask Rain about later on.

Rain was no better, avoiding eye contact while blushing.

"Ohohohohoho~!!! I'll be a proud grandmother yet~!!! But I assume that this fine young lady came here for a companion, hmmm~?" She hummed. To Blaze, even though the woman was covered in head to toes in robes, she had a sinking feeling that she was anything but old.

"Um yeah. Rain came here because of volunteering and I came here to see if I could get a companion. I'm a bit of a workaholic, so I want to change that if I had some responsibility other than my restaurant to take care of."

“I had mentioned a Firering, I think she would be compatible with.” Gaster commented.

"Hmmm~" she tapped her clawed finger to her chin in thought. "I think you might be right Gaster~ come child. I'll show you the sections where I keep the little hotheads. Rain, there's a feeding chart over there that will show you what to feed and who to feed to. I want you to feed the boa's. But don't let them near any honey until you make sure that they haven't been smoking. It's a bad habit that I've been trying to get them to break. But they're sneaky lazy bones. Always manages to snatch a pack from the tobacco store down the street. Don't know how they do it, but just smell their cages and clothes to make sure. If they have, no honey. If they've been good, then they get a little cup of honey. Understood?"

“Yes, Ms. Scales..” She replied with uncertainty.

“Don’t worry, I’ll help if you forget anything.” Gaster patted her head.

Ms. Scales then led the way to the room of Lamias. She was in shock. She's never seen so many snakes or snake-like creatures in one room. Even in a pet store!

"This way dearie~ they'll be excited to see a new face." As they made their way to the back, June felt restless. Like she was being watched.

"Ohohohoho~ I see you and Rain brought blessed rosaries. I take it Rain told you about the ghost that haunts this place~?" Blaze nodded with uncertainty, not sure if she saw her nod. But she must've if she continued to laugh. "Ohohoho~ don't worry dear, he won't hurt anybody. The only blood he's out for are crooks and impure souls~ he's the guardian of this place. Despite what my dear little bitties might believe, he does indeed exist and he's very protective of this place and us as a whole. The reason he's probably giving you the stink eye is because of the light that you emit along with the protection that you placed on yourself. Rob gets grumpy when he can't interact with the few faces that come here. Oh! Here we are!"

She turned a large safe door that was twice her size with ease. And stepped through. She gestures for her to come through and with a bit of hesitation, she stepped through the door.

"You're probably wondering why I keep them in a remote setting. Well they have a tendency to keep to themselves most of the time. But they're a wonderful companion to have. The dears don't speak. They're mute. So you might want to teach each other sign language if you end up getting one. Here we are!" She stopped at a normal door and knocked a certain pattern on the door. To which she received a tiny knock back. She opened the door and in it was an enormous room that was filled with tiny set up shops that had multiple things for sale. The room had a nice open air feeling to it as the enormous sky light shone down on the room. The room had an air conditioner for those who weren't made of fire. But it was set at a low level.

"Alrighty dearie pick one and see what you think~ Just so you know, their currency is love and adoption. Very cute in my opinion~" Ms. Scales said in a low tone. But they still heard, to which there were facepalming and silent groaning.

"Hehehehehe~ go on dear~"

Grillby's pov

When the Queen had knocked, I told everyone to be on their best behavior before knocking in return. She came in within her usual human disguise, followed by a rather fetching human female, if I ever saw one. She was tall, all humans were tall to us though, with beautifully tanned skin, bright and fiery amber brown eyes, and quite unique red hair that was cut short on the right, and grew out on the left. All in all, not bad looking at all. The rosary around her neck suggested that she was religious, and the air about her spoke authority. She was likely the owner of some business and judging by the scent, I’d say a bar and diner. Not a bad business in my experience. I decided to be the first to greet her, holding a hand out for her to shake. 

"Oh! Hello little one. It's nice to meet you. I know you're mute but maybe we can have you write out your answers for now?" She asked with her thick Latino accent. 

I nodded and led the way to a whiteboard set up specifically for communication reasons. I picked up the marker and wrote down, “The pleasure is all mine.”

"So, from what I heard from Gaster, is that you guys are a bit of workaholics. That true? Judging by the multiple booths, I take that as an affirmative?" She giggled.

I nodded. “I one my own establishment for the other lamia bitties.” Something then occurred to me. “Oh! My deepest apologies, I haven’t introduced myself! I am Grillby.” I set down the marker and reached for her hand.

She took my hand gently. "It's nice to meet you Grillby. So. If someone comes to adopt one of you. Who takes over?"

I “kissed” her knuckles before picking up the marker to reply. “We Firerings have a system of authority. If the leader is adopted, the second becomes the leader and it all shifts up.” I explained. 

She blushed and smiled a warming and teasing smile. "I see. I heard from one of my workers that your kind have been around for quite a long time. How come I'm only now hearing about your species?" To which I looked at our Majesty for permission. She gave a silent nod and I continued.

“We never had a reason to be around others. We were at peace in our empire before humans came to destroy the land for their “progress”. Her majesty had no choice but to bring us out of the comfort of our home and reveal us to the world. That is the point of this shop.” I wrote, hoping it didn’t reveal too much about things I shouldn’t be talking about while also satisfying the human’s curiosity. 

The human seemed to ponder about this. She gave me a look of sympathy. "I'm so sorry for what happened to your kind. Sometimes humanity can be a bit… how do I say this delicately… imbéciles." She said in her native tongue.

I didn’t know the language, but the way it just rolled off her tongue was… beautiful. My flames turned a light pink at the tips and I had a question of my own for her. “May I ask your name, miss?”

"Oh! Silly me! My legal name is June Heras. But my friends call me Blaze. I have this tendency to get a little hot under the collar sometimes. One of my workers would say that if you piss me off that it "will stir the flames of Hera herself" hahahaha~~~..."

“A pleasure, Miss Heras… Who is Hera?” I didn’t know much about mythology.

She giggled. "Hera is the wife of Zeus who is the king of the Greek Gods. Unfortunately for anyone to cross Hera's wrath they either die a terrible death or are cursed to eternity. And the reason why she's mostly angry? Is because her husband was a constant flirt and constantly cheated on her. So when people joke about my name being Heras and how I have a short temper, they make the innuendo if "Hell hath no wrath over a woman scorned." Which in reality is pretty true. And I'm quite proud of that." She giggled. 

My flames rose a little. “No woman should have to be left alone and cheated on like that, if I had a woman, I would be damn sure she knew she’s the only woman for me!” It made me mad just knowing a KING of GODS of all people would do such a thing.

She seemed surprised at my outburst on the marker board. She seemed to scan the board carefully and then focus her steady gaze on me. When I showed no signs of dishonesty, she smiled brightly like a lit flame. "Well aren't you just *un caballero encantador y encantador~"

*a lovely and charming gentleman

I don’t know what she said, but the way she said it had the tips of my flames turning pink again. “Thanks..?”

She giggled at my confusion. "It means..." she whispered it to where I could hear her quietly. Her plump lips dangerously close.

I blushed more at her words, wanting to lean in and steal a kiss. ‘No… not yet.’ I told myself. “You should teach me your language sometime, I may not be able to speak, but it is very interesting.”

She gave me a cunning smile. Already on to what I was assuming. "Ms. Scales?"

"Yes dearie~?" She said already catching on to what was happening.

"I'd like Grillby to be my companion. If he wishes~?" 

I nodded eagerly. “It would be a pleasure to live with you.”

"Ohohohoho~ it seems I might be getting lucky in the department of grandchildren lately~" her majesty quipped and the rest of the Firerings clapped for me.

I rolled my fiery eyes. “That depends on her.”

"Like I have to be a mind-reader to figure it out~ Especially since you have the gift of love making in your genes~." She said the last part quietly to me.

Guess what? I was blushing again. “I won’t force her to do anything she doesn't want to do, is all I’m saying.”