A Day Without the Hosts

"Alright, I got to go workout," Felix said, "get my core day done and all that. I'll meet you guys in the library for TV later, I want to wrap up a season before I try writing fanmail to it."

What was left unsaid was why this option was available. The problem that happened this morning meant that neither Vizrokoth or Paisley were in a position to care what they were doing. That could maybe change by lunch, but Felix was willing to bet that wasn't the case. Besides, he needed to catch up on the rest of round three, at least, before he tried sending in fanmail. He knew it was going to be out of date, but he wanted to reduce that issue somewhat if he could help it.

Of course Felix would still go on his date with Castelilise. He considered that it was terrible luck that the day he really needed to have the maximum possible amount of energy available, he had to do more than an hour of core exercises. Still, he knew abs like the ones he had, after the season anyway, were not free, and that he needed to get used to doing the work to maintain them.

However, when he got to the gym, Castelilise was right there waiting for him. "Hey babe."

"Castelilise?" Felix asked. "Why are you here?"

Of course, Felix knew the answer to that question. The nereid made horny teenage boys look positively chaste and restrained by comparison. The term nymphomaniac could not convey the sheer depths of her libido, and how much it controlled her life. She was the person he had in mind when he asked about how to increase his energy, because mere mortal men could not keep up with Castelilise's libido.

"I know a thing or two about working out from my prior life," Castelilise said while walking up to him. "And I remember that a long cardio session is very important to warm up the muscles before weights or other more strenuous forms of exercise."

"Ah, so we'll just fuck instead of running?" Felix asked. "You're very lucky you're this hot, you know that?"

It was true, despite his complaints. The nereid's swimmer build mixed with big breasts, and an ass perfectly sculpted by the water, to make her irresistible. But it was also the case that Felix wasn't in a position yet to control her. Yes, he had learned a lot more about onomancy from the dream he had in Harper's realm, but he still had to test it, and a nereid that knew how to humiliate him in a way he'd enjoy it was not a good test subject.

"Babe, so many men would kill to be in a free use relationship with any woman, much less one as hot as me," Castelilise put her arms around Felix's neck. "But most human women can't take it the way I can. Now, lets get into the canal, and get you warmed up..."

Nox chose to do something, already a major break in her circumstances. That the course of action was to talk to another contestant that wasn't Z was an even larger one. Paisley had given the goblin confidence, and she was going to take advantage of the opportunity. She had the feeling Cammy had plenty of BP, and unlike Noah, had no relationship to her in any of the reality changes, other than hearing about him from Felix. It was that bit of hope Nox clung to as she went to talk to Felix's girlfriend.

"Hey, umm..." Nox trailed off as she tugged at Cammy's shirt like a child does when trying to get the attention of a parent. "... I need your help."

Cammy, who had been walking out of the mess hall with everybody after the incident that morning, was surprised to see the goblin. "Nox? I'm surprised Z gave you this much freedom."

"The new host has given me a little bit more freedom from the oni's grasp," Nox explained. "But I really need your help. I know I wasn't the best to your boyfriend before we got here-"

"And your master," Cammy interrupted to state. "But go on."

"Indeed," Nox looked down like a chastised child. "Indeed. Well, in order for me to apologize to Felix, I need to be free of the oni's grasp, and to do that, I have to accelerate my training. Can you help me?"

Before Cammy could respond, Noah spoke up. "Let me handle this Cammy. This goblin used to be a bit of a brute, and besides, I have a lot more BP than you do right now."

After giving the goblin an awkward smile, Cammy left. Nox thought at that moment everything was over, but the slime girl said something surprising.

"Nox, I am furious at who you were," Noah said, "not who you are now. I crushed the person you were in our current timeline, and whatever was left seems to have demolished by an oni who controls your life. So because of that, I'm willing to help you... within reason."

"Within reason?" Nox gulped. "What... what do you want?"

"You're going to help me with a project involving Felix," Noah said while guiding the goblin to the various kiosks. "Specifically one about teaching him to be a dom. I need you to promise me that you'll make yourself available for that."

"So he can humiliate me for everything I did to him?" Nox asked in a quiet voice. "Although I get the sense the worst I've done has been forgotten. Makes it hard to..."

"... apologize?" Noah completed the goblin's sentence as a question. "True, but this isn't just about humiliation. It's primarily about Felix learning how to pleasure someone in a more active way, and that's something you can do as a goblin. I understand you can orgasm quite easily?"

That caused Nox to blush, something she wasn't even sure she was capable of. "Wait, how do you even know that?"

"Lets just say when the oni **** you to masturbate for a day, there was some... leftover evidence," Noah explained. "Now, lets see about some options for you, because for this plan to work, you do indeed need a bit more freedom from the oni's grasp."

The slime girl pulled up the kiosk listing transformations for Nox first. After they both scrolled through options, it... wasn't looking great. There were some things that could've been interesting to explore with Felix, but made no sense to get Nox until she was liberated from the oni's direct control, which was an extremely long ways off without additional training aids. That was when the goblin suggested they look at the miscellaneous BP purchases, to see if there was something they could get that'd work better for the situation at hand. After all, the thing that had most helped the goblin lately was the explosives yard, which was a separate room, not a transformation that applied to her specifically.

Upon checking the miscellenous kiosk, both Noah and Nox found the option they most wanted.

• Public Dojo: Dramatically increases the speed at which Nox improves in hand-to-hand combat, both unarmed and with melee weapons. In addition, several weapons, both prop based and real, will be available with which to train in the new dojo, which will be expanded in size. However, this will make the dojo more usable by the public, and require a change in its location. 1500 BP.

"Interesting," Noah said upon finding the option with the goblin's help. "Alright, here's the deal."

The slime girl took the goblin aside. "If you want this, you have to make me a promise. And you should know I take my promises very seriously. For instance, I'm still honoring a promise to Felix that I made in part because of an incident that in the current timeline didn't even happen."

After seeing Nox nod, Noah continued. "Promise me that you will seek Felix's forgiveness. Not just for its VP value, but so that he sees you as more than just someone who used to beat him, or a goblin he can take out his stress on once Z has left the scene. Do you think you can do that?"

Swallowing, Nox took a bit to respond, but then said, "Yes. I don't know how yet, especially as I don't even remember what is most important to get forgiveness for, but almost anything is better than being tied to the oni or...."

Both Noah and Nox knew what was left unsaid: Elimination. While the goblin couldn't prove it, she suspected the slime girl was more forgiving in part because of how horrific Austin's elimination had been. It made what happened in high school come off as trivial, especially in light of how much reality alteration had clearly retroactively removed a lot of her crimes against Felix.

"I will get you this, but to hold you to your promise, I have access to many humiliating transformations for you," Noah said while motioning over to the kiosk that gave transformations to other contestants. "Don't make me test what I can get that way. Got it?"

Nox gulped, but nodded frantically. Pleased with that answer, Noah paid for the transformation.

Public Dojo: -1500 BP

"Before you run off, lets go see if we can't catch you up on the HH," Noah said while oozing her way to the library. "I suspect the host we have this week will want you to write fanmail as well..."

When the harem gathered for lunch, they were all anxious. Would Paisley and the demon still be arguing with each other? Would the strange interloper from that morning still be there? But as Jamina entered, leading the group in a way that she hoped would help her build trust with them, she found a note on the main mess hall table.

"The chaos of this morning's technical difficulties, missing contestant, and a disagreement with your demonic host, has lead me to give you the rest of the day to do with as you please. However, the price of this new found freedom is that I expect all of you to write fanmail for another Harem Hotel season called The HH before I get back. In addition, Felix better have interacted with someone besides Cammy, Noah, or his date. Do not disappoint me."

After she showed the note to everybody else, they set about grabbing lunch for the day. Felix continued his new diet, Noah pigged out while hiding the results of it, Z pigged out openly, and so on. Jamina Lightbringer plated up a garden salad with some grilled chicken to act as a protein and then sat with the rest. At first everyone just focused on eating, with some light conversation between Noah, Felix, and Cammy, as they returned to a relationship that the latest reality alteration had given them all. However, the elf was eventually able to cut in at an opportune moment.

"Felix, as someone who isn't Cammy, or Noah," Jamina spoke in a joking formal tone. "I'd like to have some of your attention. After all, I understand even before your date a lot of your morning has been monopolized by a certain nereid."

That caught Felix off guard. Jamina smirked seeing that before she continued. "Let me tell you about the elvish version of me, because we're going to be together for a very long time."

Over the course of lunch, Jamina Lightbringer went through all of it. That her last name referred to her work in life and not her family, that she had been alive for centuries, that she had lead armies in massive battles against a corrupting **** in her realm, how despite all of that she was considered a mere child by the standards of her society, and so on. Felix needed to understand who the elf was, and just as importantly, who she wasn't. While she did remember who Winters was, and could even remember his first name, something that nobody else could, she was not him. That Felix could only remember Kei Winters, and had to strain remember that she wasn't always a physicist turned mega-conglomerate executive, made this much harder.

"Felix, if I could let you remember those other lives, would you want to?" Jamina asked. "Do be warned that-"

"No," Felix interrupted her out of nowhere. "I know enough about what happened earlier to understand that ignorance, in this case, is bliss. I appreciate who you are now, Jamina, but I don't need to know who you were. What I remember us talking about is..."

"Painful?" Jamina asked while staring him in the eyes. "Pain is often the path to virtue Felix. Besides, how will you forgive me, or Castelilise for that matter, if you can't even remember why we're here? Or did you forget that as something that you could do?"

That gave Felix pause. Jamina was well practiced in guiding the damned back to forgiveness, often being just as manipulative as the demons who had corrupted them in the first place. She didn't always use such a confrontational approach, but this situation was just too well setup for it. The elf could tell he felt guilt, and while she had seen guilt destroy many, Jamina had learned well how use the emotion to her own ends. Whether it was convincing those who thought they were damned that military service could redeem them, or those carrying out crushing grief that beating the horrors of her world's darkness was its own reward, the elf had plentiful experience in just what to say to get what she wanted.

"You're not wrong," Noah chose to answer in Felix's stead. "But we can't act on that today. Felix needs to wrap up a show, and then write some letters before his date, or at least try to. However..."

"I'll make sure to remind you of this later," Jamina said while standing up. "And don't worry, Paisley is supportive of what I want to do here."

Jamina was somewhat frustrated, but had made great progress. If she was to be attached to a human for the foreseeable future, especially one so young, then she needed to gain his trust. A key step to doing that for the elf would be purging him of the clouds in his mind. Even if reality had been retroactively altered, her magics could access those prior timelines. Each one left a piece of itself on the souls of those who used to be a part of them, after all. The elf had done such things before in order to convince the cynical that their best interest was not in hording yet more gold, or power, but in parting with such material things so as to beat back the rising tide of horrors that approached them. Doing for these people was child's play.

After leaving the mess hall, she decided to go find out what this other season of Harem Hotel was like. What had caused Felix and the others to have such strong reactions to it? Jamina knew well the value of a well told story, having used many, some true and some myth, to raise armies for her various campaigns against the horrors of her world. Perhaps this would be one like that...?

Felix had a lot to think about as he went with Noah to the library. What would it mean to remember the prior timelines? He would need to do so to make forgiveness meaningful, but he also suspected that it would be horrific to watch. Just the kind of conundrum that could be put off by TV, and then writing a letter based on what they watched. As the slime girl setup the time compression option, Felix relaxed on the couch, and got ready to have his heart ripped apart even more.

The rest of round three lived up to those expectations. Felix saw the **** of Laura in exacting detail, learned more about why Riley was the way she was, and so on. Pain wasn't all there was, as for instance he felt kinship with Erin's perpetual **** nudity. But the rage of Riley turning into grief, and the horror of seeing Andy lose someone in a way he could do nothing about, brought to Felix's mind all of his failures as a master. It wasn't just Hailey almost getting eliminated, but also on one hand the complete inability to control people like Z until very recently, and on the other hand his childish insistence that everything was the fault of Austin and Smith. That defensive crouch, even if it had an element of truth, had him a void of despair in the first round, and he couldn't even remember all the details as to why, only the impact it had on those around him.

"Alright, I think that's enough TV for you today," Noah said as she flicked off the screen. "Go write the fanmail, and then get ready for your date with Castelilise. I'm pretty sure she'll graduate, which is good, because the fewer of us who are exposed to elimination in any meaningful sense..."

"... the better, yeah." Felix said. "Alright, well, catch up everybody else as I'm sure Paisley wants loads of fanmail."

"You should know I showed some to Nox this morning while you fucked the nereid, and then did some kind of weights," Noah said. "The goblin had a rather... severe reaction to Norah. It's something you should talk to her about when you can."

Felix paused near the library's entrance. The way the slime girl had said it to him had the same undertone of a suggestion that was actually an order. He knew why he needed to do it, but his memories of who Nox was before, especially in light of how Z talked about who they were before in the first round, made him hesitant. Still, he didn't want to disappoint Noah, and suspected there was more going on if the slime girl was willing to forgive her.

"Alright," Felix said. "But not tonight. Castelilise I suspect will want all of me for our date..."