The increasingly longer flight back towards his new home besides the core came as no surprise to Gerald, for he now attributed it to Silky’s rapid expansion.

His recent sour mood that has been fermenting away into a thick molasse of self-disgust already quickly forgotten and replaced with the joyous thirst for the copious amount of drink he would soon be imbibing.

The old fairy couldn’t be less bothered with the few minute’s worth of extra flight time when all he wanted at the moment was to wash away all the sticky… substances he could still feel on his skin. Then a drink or ten to forget the surprise Spline-mating orgy he participated in and what was essentially the abuse of the monster he had started to come to see as his own personal pet.

But once he did finally reach the clearing at the end of the cave that contained his bush and his new bed which the sight of would normally give him great joy, Gerald felt a slow sense of trepidation upon seeing the chipper green floating Dungeon.

She’s probla seen me beat’in ta shite out of the Flenemon… shite’s gone be’aye hard one ta talk ma way out ta. Maybe I won’t even have ta even explain myself if she does’na bring it up!

Feigning nonchalance with a hand on his hip and the other busily pretending to excavate a phantom bogey, Gerald landed down softly right beside his bed and Silky with the dying flutter of his wings.

Hello Mister! Silky immediately shouted telepathically, causing Gerald to slightly flinch at the wholesome greeting.

“Fucking’ell kiddo! Nobody tell yous no’ta go shouting at people like tha?! Don’t go about ambush’in folks wi your hellos and hellahs like that!” he retorted with a wagging gnarly finger that sported a green blob that turned out to be a very real bogey.

But as soon as he said it, Gerald himself knew that the kid had always greeted him in the same tone and volume and that it was only him in this instance that was reacting weirdly.

But he found that when your old and wrong, it was sometimes best to just bluff your way through and double down.

Silky is sorry Mister Gerald… Silky didn’t mean to amm-boosh you… Silky replied coyly as the core dimmed before sulking away from the dirty brown fairy.

“It’s ok kiddo, I forgive yous,” quickly replied Gerald feeling glad that his nonsensical stubborn behaviour got him out of wrongfully chastising the baby dungeon.

“Now be a deary and whip yar good old grandfairy here a pond to bath in will you? And a couple more of em fancy drinks whist you’re at it,” he quickly asked whilst whipping the bogey on his naked posterior before waving dismissingly at the young dungeon.

Yes Silky can make a pond, but Silky don’t see why Mister would need anymore drinks. Silky already gave Mister lots of drinks, replied Silky before she slowly started to thrum whilst turning into a vibrant shade of green.

Feeling stupid for having forget that he had all of his own alcohol at his literal fingertip, Gerald quickly summoned himself a jar from his Ring. Quickly uncorking the lid using only the thumb of the same hand that held the lid, he then crouched down to observe Silky’s use of her Delmaforming powers.

Besides Gerald the dirt ground quickly hollowed itself out into a rectangular hole that uncomfortably reminded Gerald of a open grave. Then as if the Delmar itself was sweating, beads of water formed on the walls of the hole before quickly developing into thick streams that rapidly filled the primitive bath. Gerald gingerly checked the temperature with a probing toe even as he continued to slurp away at his jar of wonderful cider. Finding the waters to be just slightly chillier than the warm air of the dungeon, the elderly fairy decided it would be perfect to bath in.

What is amm-boosh? Silky asked just as he lowered himself into the clear water and slightly spilled his precious cider. The same bathing water that was fast becoming slightly cloudy as unmentionable substances washed off Gerald’s body.

“It’s ah.. it’s when yous jump out and fuck some’hin up,” Gerald replied absentmindedly as he concentrated on carefully steadying his jar to prevent spilling anymore of his drink into the bath.

Like when Mister Gerald.. amm-booshed Timothy? She asked innocently with a hint of sad confusion.

Fuck. Gerald thought as he was caught brown-handed.

“Now look here kiddo, what happened there.. was’na a good thing see?” Gerald begun as he fully lowered his lower half into the bath with only his toes, distended belly and two horrid and wrinkled jewels floating above the milky waters.

“What happened.. was a bad thing see, because I did’na mean ta beat on the wee Flyne- I mean wee Timonthy. I was just nah feeling good wi’myself and I let it out on ta poor thing,” he finally admitted with a sigh. Then realising that he could hide his own bad behaviour behind the guise of turning it into some form of lesson, Gerald pressed on into the territory of educative bullshit.

“Well ya see kid, I did it all because of you! Kiddo I just wanted YOU, ta see what was right and what was wrong. And tha’ there was an example of being wrong and being bad see. So don’t be a bad kid aight?!” he pushed through with his tirade as he sloshed his cider about in his excitement.

Realising that mister Gerald was teaching her an important lesson, the green little core listened with rapt attention and diverted her focus away from her own dungeon. For whenever the Queen mother had ever taught her anything, it had always been very important. But it was not before she safely relocated the new monster eggs and the plant samples the Mister Gerald brought that were left at the entrance.

“Now be a good kid and fill up this wee bath with some new water will you?” asked a now relieved Gerald who was starting to frown at the disturbing milky-coloured bath waters that he was soaking himself in.

With a slight thrumming of her powers, Gerald’s face crinkled into a smile as he watched the dirty waters receding back into the Delmar to be quickly diluted with fresh new waters that sweated from the dirt walls of his personal tub.

“Now that’s a good kid. Why don’t yous tell your lovely old Gerald here what yous have been up too?” he asked with a wide smile in his beard before taking another sip.