Or not? Or knot?

Just as the shadowy tendrils found their way up the legs of Zana and Anaz, a banging racked the bathroom door. An annoyed, high pitched voice called from the other side.

"Papa? Would you please stop fornicating with your harlots and come out here? There is important information you require."

What did she just say!?

Carrie's words had utterly killed the mood, sending the shadows sprawling back into me. With a sigh, I motion to Zana and Anaz to grab Oro before Carrie sees the mess; approaching the door as I turn the shadows into a new set of clothes. I creak the door open, spotting my daughter glaring up at me.

"Carrie, sweetheart; who taught you those words?" I asked, peering around to see if a certain fuzzball was around.

"Mama says those words all the time. Why?" She tilts her head, seeming confused. "Those were the correct terms and phrases for your actions. Are they... bad words?"

To be frank, I didn't know how to react to all of this. Firstly; my sweet innocent Dungeon Core had been given "the talk" without my knowledge. Secondly; she was growing at an absurd rate, and that hood she had gotten from the Runacathy seemed to be growing right alongside her. Finally; she had been taught to bad mouth her "aunties." by Prissy...

"No, no; it's fine... just don't say them too loudly." I said, exiting the bathing chamber; making damned sure it was sealed shut behind me. "Anyway, what did you want to tell me?"

"Well, I wanted to inform you of the immense dispersion of power from your metamorphosis."

"The what from my huh?"

She visibly stopped in thought; a familiar vacant look I sometimes saw in the mirror now staring right back at me. "The reason why everyone is stronger; plus some other stuff."

Ah. I had been wondering about that.

I walk with Carrie down the hall. "Sure, telling me what happened after I, uh; turned into an egg... again."

You know, there's a Earth-Joke here that Trixie would be saying, but I'm not sure what it is. I know it involves nickle, for some reason. Odd choice of metal for humor, though.

"Well, uh... first; observe this! My first spell!" She proudly pulled down her hood; her eyes now lighting up with a crackling power.

"Electromagnetic."

"Poetic Aesthetic."

"Athletic Genetic."

"Noetic Synthetic."

Small bug-sized machines began assembling themselves from seemingly nothing; quickly working to run up the wall aside the two of us. The mini-bots began to combine and mix as they formed a complex machine; which then projected a detailed three-dimensional image in front of us.

Carrie beamed with excitement. "Well?"

"That's amazing, sweetie!" I pat the top of her head; happy to see her eyes practically sparkling as she heard my praise. "What's it do?"

Oh no; a new look came across her face. One that I knew all too well from her mother. The unstoppable desire to explain something...

It sounded as though she had been rehearsing this line several times; likely for days. "Oh, well, I just used my innate ability as a Dungeon Core to conjure lesser monsters to create small engineering units with bodies composed of easily re-workable parts; they disassemble then reassemble each other into whatever I can think of. The longer the incantation; the more I can summon. Its not a big deal; really. Baby stuff."

My daughter was alight with pride over her creation; and I felt much the same, patting her on the head again. "Well, I see my little genius whipped up quite the utility spell. How about you tell me about this power dispersion next."

Carrie took a deep breath, both to calm down; and in to prepare for her lengthy barrage of thesaurus-fueled ranting.

"Well, this is just what Mama and Miss Pumpklin said. So, when that nasty lady you beat up told you about Grandpa, it did something that revealed your true name; a thing everyone has, but no one other than Grandpa really knows about. When that happens, usually, people go coo-coo; or, like, explode! But, since you're so strong, Papa, you didn't explode! Instead, you just turned into an egg. Mama said that happened once before; but this time was a little different..."

As she talked, Carrie's display machine was creating a very silly looking, small version of the events she described. I think Trixie would refer to these as "Chibi" versions. They were pretty adorable, I had to admit.

"Instead of the egg containing all of the power of your evolution, this time, a lot of it leaked out. For anyone nearby with a Core, like me or Mama, it caused us to go through an evolution too! For anyone who didn't, their classes got some big boosts in power; Uncle Scott in particular got really, really excited about something. I don't know what, but he did! We had to leave Bludmont sooner than we were supposed too because if it; since Miss Pumpklin didn't want any of the bad-guys that might have been still sneaking around to get any of your power."

On the display, a Chibi Citrinas (which had a pumpkin for a head, for some reason.) quickly shoved a tiny Lambchop out of a miniature Bludmont; sending it down a road towards some tiny mounds of dirt. The mountains, I'm guessing.

"We went to go check that passage to Mister Fawk's homeland, but didn't really find anything. Then, we headed South; cause that's where Auntie Zana wanted to go, and Mama really didn't want to go north. Then, those mean drakes showed up. They just came to find what was shooting out so much power at first, but then they saw me. You kinda know the rest, I think."

The Chibi version of me smacked a bunch of very simple renditions of lizards around with a vaguely scythe-shaped stick. Then all of the party popped out of the small Lambchop, jumping up and down as colorful lights started flashing and loud music started playing. Carrie seemed to be having lots of fun with her retelling; and I wasn't going to stop her. My name might be Monster, but I certainly won't be one around her.

"Oh, and one more thing. Mama wanted to see you!" Carrie said, her magical machine suddenly falling to pieces. "She said, and I quote."

Something audibly "clicked" in Carrie before a recording started to play; with Carrie mouthing along to Cilla's own words.

"Carrie, dearie, can you get your father? I want to talk to him... I swear to the Gods, if he's fornicating with those harlots right now..."