Power Puppies
"I can't believe it." Lindy chuckled in madness, "We're alive. By some twisted miracle, we're actually alive."
The four were in the work office on the fifth story of a skyscraper.
The general rationale was that large flying creatures couldn't reach them, nor could large beasts. If the tower collapsed, the lower floors wouldn't collapse immediately.
As for smaller beasts, Leon was confident that nothing reasonably sized could harm his party at that stage in the apocalypse.
"Yuuuuuuup. I thought my survival and combat training would keep me alive longer than most." Leon sighed. "But after watching that, I'd be shocked if anyone survived but us."
"Hah. Yeah. Usually, fuck-boy Able and Tiny-dick Tim would survive death twice and come back pettier than before." Lindy chuckled sardonically. "But they died as unceremoniously as the rest of them."
Leon chuckled breathlessly and looked down at his chest.
Caitlyn's sleeping face was calming to him for some reason.
They were both fully clothed again, thanks to his forward thinking in his [room].
Sarah was sleeping. That's what her appearance told everyone, anyway.
Lindy looked at Caitlyn's sleeping face; the young blonde had the richest smile she had ever seen.
"Caitlyn. She's your stalker, yeah?" Lindy clarified, "Turn's out you're a cold, rational psychopath too. Yet you two seem unreasonably happy together. Is that all because of your power?"
Leon's eyes glided to the left in thought.
"Maybe. My power doesn't affect Caitlyn's emotions aside from letting her show her real self, and I didn't achieve any boost at first." He replied, "This is mostly natural, I think."
Lindy's eyes widened in shock. "So then why?"
"I spent the first 18 years of my life living in a covert facility." He replied calmly, "So if she's been stalking me that long, it means she was a spy or member and is extremely talented if she wasn't caught."
His revelation left Lindy slack-jawed in disbelief.
"Intelligent, fucked-up childhood, psychopathic behavior, unconditionally loyal, and extremely gorgeous. That's Caitlyn Mira.
She loves me for who I am, lets me do whatever I want, protects me with her life, and looks like my dream girl. She even dyes her hair."
Leon combed through Caitlyn's perfectly blonde hair to show the shortest light brown roots imaginable.
"If I didn't enjoy her company, I'd be an idiot."
Lindy's expression crumbled when she processed the meaning behind his hair comment.
"Who knows what would happen if we didn't get bonding perks." Leon continued, "But I don't care. It's the apocalypse, everyone's living in fear, and we're enjoying life somehow."
Lindy pursed her lips and sat silently in the darkness for a time.
"So that power of yours. Are you saying it can make someone happy?" Lindy asked, shattering the silence.
"It can. If the feelings toward me are positive, it's a prepacked solution for a hobby, passion, and reason for living." Leon chuckled, "I'm fairly certain it could cure depression."
Lindy's eyes trembled for a moment before she reigned herself back in.
"That sounds nice, but you're trading it to be a pet dog." She remarked.
"It is. However, puppies are stolen from their moms and bound into involuntary servitude," Leon commented, "but they're loyal and loving to good owners because they're happy. I think many humans would trade their freedom for that joy,"
"That does sound enviable. I'm not sure I wouldn't give up everything for that." She sighed.
"If you're looking for an easy way to be happy, I'm afraid I can't help you." Leon replied immediately.
She turned to him with a perplexed expression. "Not that I actually would, but why?"
Leon raised his gaze toward the ceiling with a pensive expression.
"It doesn't work that way. If you loved me unconditionally, but I neglected you or harmed you, your emotions could reverse in a brutal direction." He explained, "Then you'd think about killing me non-stop and would try assassinating me at the first opportunity."
Lindy took a deep breath in understanding.
"Caitlyn, here is a tragic miracle case. She's so crazed that I could chop off her limbs, and she'd feel satisfied I used her for my purposes." Leon added in a grave voice, "I'm hiding some consensual powers so that she doesn't endanger herself."
The atmosphere in the room darkened, and the atmosphere's pressure multiplied.
"The only real-ish emotion I've ever had is not wanting to manipulate women by their feelings toward me. So this power isn't something I take lightly."
"Then… why did you choose it?" Lindy asked in perplexion.
"We're alive right now; everyone else fifty miles to the east is likely dead." Leon replied bruskly, "That's why."
Lindy chuckled in disbelief. She had finally correlated the absurd potential of his skill. "It's genuinely a practical power to you?"
"Correct." Leon replied resolutely.
"Since it is, are you grooming us to be your power puppies?" Lindy mused.
"Correct." He replied with the same expression.
"You're scum." She replied angrily.
In truth, Caitlyn's panties got extremely wet uncontrollably, and her face contorted in anger to counterbalance her embarrassment.
He sighed genuinely, which stopped the face spasms.
"Relax, I can't force you, and the mutual benefits of my power are nothing to scoff at." Leon reasoned.
"It's the apocalypse. Power is essential, and romantic prospects are few.
Even if you look at it for its practical benefits, it's not a bad deal."
Lindy's legs rubbed together, and she dug her fingernails into her palm to calm down.
"Hah. For the last year, you've been Calvin University's most notorious giga-Chad striking out on campus." Lindy laugh-scoffed, "Now you're miraculously articulate and ruthless."
Leon didn't react in the slightest.
"You know that makes it hard to trust you, right?" She followed up.
"Correct." Leon sighed in annoyance. He didn't like confirming the obvious.
Lindy rubbed her legs together, and her face filled up with frustration.
"He admits it… hah. It's bad enough that psycho queen played us for the last year perfectly." Lindy chuckled with insanity flickering in her eyes.
"Not exactly. She actually likes you too. That's why we picked you up." Leon chuckled.
Lindy shot him a skeptical glance.
"It's true. You're a piece of work, and fake glasses girl has been pretending to sleep since she woke up halfway over Tipplion District." Leon said with a mocking smile.
"She was riding on a rollercoaster, deep into the jaws of hell, and pretended like she was sleeping. Now, that's talent."
"Eeeek!" Sarah cried in embarrassment while turning to face in the other direction.
"H-How did…." Lindy whispered in disbelief.
"They say you can't bullshit a bullshitter. And I assure you, Caitlyn and I are forty levels deeper than anyone you've ever met." Leon chuckled.
"You're not improving the argument to trust you." Lindy chimed.
"I suppose you're right. I think Caitlyn and I should return to how we were so we can lure you into my power, deflower you, and eat your soul." He replied with a mocking smile.
"Sorry to disappoint you, virgin-boy. But unlike you two, there's nothing to deflower. I'm normal and have had plenty of college-years sex." Lindy replied in hyper-relevant frustration.
"And, by the way, pointing out a catch-22 isn't valid when the issue is you being a psychopath."
"Fair enough." Leon replied with a bemused tone, "Well, keep that in the back of your mind."
Lindy turned to him with a piqued expression. "What's that tone for?"
"You have to consent while not under duress to make a contract with me," Leon chuckled, "So if you give in and become my sex-crazed fan girl, and I use you ruthlessly, remember that's a [you problem], not a [me problem]."
"Luckily, that's not happening." Lindy laughed sarcastically, "The way you're using Caitlyn for your ends is disturbing, even in the apocalypse. It proves you're more dangerous than the monsters."
"Is that so?" Leon mused curiously.
"I'm going to sleep, psycho boy. I'll see you in hell tomorrow." Lindy huffed.
Leon chuckled and turned his head.
"Interface." He whispered.
Blinding white light filled his vision.
"Night mode, please." Leon added with a cringe.
To his surprise, a new options menu popped up.
—
Customize:
…
Themes:
Light Theme - Default
Grey Theme - Yagami
Charcoal Theme - Lamperouge
Dark Theme - Gasai
Darkest Theme - Griffith
—
'I suppose I'll go with Gasai…. How are people supposed to read in a strobe light!?' Leon cried internally.
He decided to switch immediately.
'What about Griffith….' Leon hummed, 'Jesus Christ, this is worse! It's too dark to read after I leave the starting point!'
He settled on Lamperouge, which had a weird artsy vibe with strange colors, but at least it was consistent from the start and didn't randomly turn darker. Immediately after, he decided to start wading through the notification hellscape he recieved.
[A/N: I hope you enjoyed the anime references. This novel is already littered with dozens of references to shows, web novels, ln, etc. If dialogue gets random or confusing, chances are there's a reference. :)]