The Hosts and Family Argue

"Look, do you want anger and screaming, or do you want anger and screaming with orgasms?" Vizrokoth asked. "One of those is annoying, the other adds some amusement to proceedings."

"She has a point," The Voice said to them. "The contestant probably won't be on our season soon, and if she was, you know the audience would want to eliminate her, or at least give her the kind of TFs that rewrite her personality. Amping up a transformation on a contestant like that is harmless in the scheme of things, or could even be beneficial if it makes the audience hate her less. You should know all about that from your own line of work."

Paisley hated to admit it, but both Vizrokoth and her producer were making good points. The Voice especially knew all about how Paisley used tools like breast expansion or libido increases to make an otherwise irritating contestant more tolerable to the audience so they weren't eliminated outright. Something that made a contestant orgasm all the time fit the bill, and if it humiliated her, all the better given how much the audience was unhappy with her. All of this was the tail end of a longer argument that had unfolded after the two hosts had dealt with the interloper from that morning.

"Be that as it may, I still lost an entire day to Vizrokoth's antics," Paisley stared at the demon, and also looked at the space the Voice would've occupied if they still had a corporeal body. "Do you know how-"

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have to vacate this meeting," Vizrokoth stated while leaving the office. "Nox needs my presence to help with something involving her ancestor. I'll leave you to resolve the rest of this matter with my producer."

The demon then teleported away, leaving Paisley even more frustrated. She had used the responsibilities of being a host to avoid a difficult discussion, even when she wasn't the acting host. That wasn't a combination she was supposed to be able to get away with, and yet, Vizrokoth had done so once again.

"Do you see what she gets away with?" Paisley asked, gesturing to what looked like an empty room. "She isn't even the host technically but because it involves a transformation, she gets to be out of this conversation. Why are you letting her get away with this?"

"For one, it's interesting to see what the contestants do without the presence of either you or the demon," The Voice said, their voice coming from all around them. "For another, you have a project work on, don't you?"

"Right, a way to call back memories from the timelines Vizrokoth ended," Paisley said. "I know what room it will go in, and the contestant that will help me make it work, but... what does it solve? How does it get Felix to everyone outside of Cammy and Noah as something other than an obligation, a fuckbuddy, or someone he's irritated with for reasons he..."

Paisley trailed off. She then continued for The Voice's benefit, to assure the Producer that she was on the right track. "I'm sure the demon had her reasons for not providing Felix and the others with the memories of what happened to them before but that needs to end. And Vizrokoth must have realized that given she gave a contestant the ability to undo those changes. I do need to get it setup."

That realization set off a flurry of motion as Paisley teleported to her office, and gathered various tools together. While some of the objects looked like what one would expect for a construction project, many didn't, such as various kinds of chalk. The Voice followed her, not that anyone but her could tell when a disembodied voice traveled with her to another location. "Do you have what you need?"

"I have to wait for Jamina Lightbringer to wake up to assist but she'll be easy to bribe," Paisley finished gathering everything she needed into the tool bag. "In the meantime, I can alter the room to my specifications. I think I can get it done by the time she wakes up, and then, show everyone, most of all Felix, important details about why they are here..."

Nox and her ancestor had beaten each other to a standstill. She had blown him up with grenades, blown him up with C4, and had killed him so many times with landmines that he gave up trying to charge at her. Heck, she had even blown him up with with a rocket launcher once just to demonstrate that she could do it. He in turn had sliced her apart multiple times, but the goblin always made him pay for it. One of the times she killed him with a grenade was at point blank range, and another time, she planted explosives that went off the second he stabbed her. The best he ever got was a draw, never a genuine victory.

While they were both currently resting on the floating platform, Nox's ancestor had tried for a time to best her by dragging the goblin to a traditional Japanese castle. All that got her ancestor was seeing his home destroyed, over and over again, by various types of explosives. Everything from Claymore mines to plastique was used to kill him, and destroy his favorite residence at the same time.

"Why do you treat me like this?" The ancestor asked, sitting across from Nox on the floating platform. "I'm your flesh and-"

"Fuck right off with that," Nox cut him off. "I've been caring too much what my flesh and blood thinks about me while receiving nothing in return but **** for it. You could've told the demon I was fine and let me go, but you refused to. At any point since then you could've been reasonable, but you refused to, because I apparently can't live up to the expectations of a warmongering, selfish asshole like you. Besides, you aren't alive, so aren't made of flesh anymore anyway."

"I should-"

"Hit me?" Nox cut her ancestor off again. "Go on, try it, see if it turns out better than every other time that you stepped on a landmine or that I blew your head off when you made yourself such an easy target."

To demonstrate, the goblin pulled out a magnum revolver and cocked it in full view of her ancestor. Nox's accuracy had been steadily climbing over the course of the dream, to the point where if she hadn't been able to fulfill the ancestor's requirement that she knew how to fight, she could do it by that point. Bitter experience over the course of the night had taught her, over and over again, how to shoot a man charging at her, both in drawing the weapon fast enough, along with landing a shot fast enough that'd make him suffer.

"What do you want then?" The ancestor asked. "Did you just invite me to this dream to take your frustrations? Because if so-"

"For you to respect me," Nox said. "You don't have to like me, because I definitely don't like you, but are going to respect me. I am not just a canvas you can project your hopes and dreams onto, but an equal who is tired of your bullshit. I will cut you off if I want to, both in conversation and in reality, unless you treat me as an equal."

"And if I refuse?" The ancestor asked. "You can't just-"

"Your bloodline ends tomorrow morning," Nox cut him off again. "It would be trivial for me to get eliminated for real, and in a way that ensures you never get another heir worthy of the name. So, are you going to get your head out of your own ass or not?"

The ancestor was seething. "If those are your terms, why do what you have done to me tonight? All you have demonstrated is your ability to use modern weapons, and-"

"Because by killing you over and over again, even if its in a dream, I demonstrate to you that I can fight," Nox said. "Besides, I knew there was a significant possibility you weren't going to accept, so decided to have one last night of fun before turning myself into a brainless bimbo or something."

Before Nox's ancestor could respond, the demon showed up. And for once, she took Nox's side.

"Nox isn't wrong you know," The demon said. "She could get eliminated quite easily, and while she might have a lot of kids doing that, I wouldn't bet on it."

"The oni would prevent that," The ancestor continued to seeth. "Besides, our agreement-"

"The oni has her own needs, separate from yours," The demon continued. "She will not endlessly wait in the bunker for you to be happy with the training she is providing, without compensation I will add, for your heir, and I'm sure would be more than happy to help the goblin get eliminated. I meanwhile am here in this dream because Z requests that the goblin's leadership training happen in a separate location so as to better facilitate it."

Nox's ancestor was about to blow a gasket. "What about our agreement? You promised me an heir worthy of my legacy. How is this disobedient goblin worthy?"

"She beat you in combat," The demon pointed out. "And before you say it was in a dream, she never did anything that was outside of her real physical capabilities. You were the one who changed the location, not her, and the initial location was a platform floating in an empty void. All of her weapons fit on her person, and were ones she selected before the start of a round. She followed every rule you did, and you broke rules she did not."

"Besides," Nox said. "What makes you worthy as my ancestor? You said you had to do great labors to make up for your crimes, but you haven't seem to learn anything from those labors. You can't even avoid making the same mistake, over and over again, when you attack me."

That touched a nerve, but not the one Nox expected. Her ancestor took off his armor, and the shirt he wore under it, to reveal that most of his body was gone. Not torn, not injured, outright gone. "My victims in life got to rip away a piece of me, each, until there was nothing left. Those I earned forgiveness from gave me the piece they tore away back, but as you can see, most have not. So you may be correct that there is much I haven't learned. But what gives you the right to judge me?"

"Because I am your victim too," Nox stared him in the eyes. "You had the power to take me out of this demon's grasp, but you chose not to use it. And I now believe the demon isn't just punishing me now."

It was then that Nox looked at the demon. She was happy with the goblin, and just stared at her before responding.

"I'm not from his afterlife," The demon stated. "But I know beings from it, and they know all about his deal."

The demon then turned back to Nox's ancestor. "She is indeed one of your victims. I'd say she has the right to take a piece of you, except she already has your future."

It took awhile for Nox's ancestor to respond, but when he did, it had gotten through to him how precarious his position was. "I will grant the oni's request to allow leadership training in a location outside of the bunker. I'll also grant that Nox has learned how to fight if she meets with me in the future in our dreams."

"Why?" Nox asked. "You didn't seem to be having a good time."

"Because you need to learn how to fight hand to hand," Nox's ancestor left the platform. "And because it's clear you need a better father than the one you have on Earth."

Before she could get a word in, her ancestor left. "I don't even know the bastard's name, and he wants us to hang out? Unbelievable."

"Believe it or not, killing him over and over again I think built up a sense of affection," The demon said. "Besides, you underestimate yourself Nox. You were willing to risk elimination to make him respect you, despite knowing full well the cost, and that was not a bluff. He wants to know the person willing to do that."

"I think you know quite well why I was willing to do that," Nox shifted her stare to the demon. "A person can only take so much before they don't care."

"I do know that very well Nox," The demon met her stare with ease. "But do not forgot that I am the one who put you here, not him."

"And here I thought you got-" Nox was cutoff.

"The point?" The demon asked. "I am not boasting of my ability to make you suffer Nox, but rather, am only asking you to forgive your ancestor a little. He wasn't the one who brought you to my bunker, or made you subservient to an oni, I did. Nor was he the one who made you a goblin, or gave you breasts that lactated regularly, I did. It would be a mistake for you to blame your ancestor for everything Nox..."