Lemrio was curious. Very, very curious. He had just realized a few interesting things, and the only way to understand fully was to test them. To his bugs and insects, the sugariest things were always the best things. Sure, protein also played a part in how much his critters liked them, but he had no clue what to do. Remembering the odd thing he made as an experiment, Lemrio decided to ask the donut rat.

He nearly forgot he had it in the first place, since the thing mostly just rolls around and occasionally nibbles on the floor. Feeling sympathy for making the thing a chonky critter, Lemrio evened it out a bit so the poor rat could move without rolling like a bowling ball. After that quick fix, Lemrio tried to convey his question to the rat.

The rat did not respond with anything Lemrio could really understand. Maybe it was because it wasn’t an insect, or maybe it was something else, but the only part that Lemrio could understand from the rat was an emotion he didn’t recognize. It was like wanting something that someone else had, while not liking the other person much. Lemrio didn’t quite understand and couldn’t make sense of it.

Plus, it didn’t have much relation to the question Lemrio had tried to ask. He tried to ask why the rat enjoyed mixing up some of the fluffy things or why the rat liked a less sugary thing than the others, but it came out as something similar to ‘how are you’ instead.

Feeling a bit bad that he couldn’t understand the rat as well as he could understand his insects, Lemrio made another rat so the first one could have a friend. He watched the two interact for a while before eventually snuggling together at the end of the day.

Lemrio felt like he was missing something important. He could see. He could listen. That’s all there was, right? But then, why bake at all? If seeing and listening was everything, then baking wouldn’t make sense. Fizz baked for a reason, right? For it to ‘taste good’ and to ‘have fun.’

Lemrio continued thinking, feeling like he was onto something. What is taste? Is it something the rats had? He knew that the insects could sense something he couldn’t when they ate something for nutrients, but it was confusing. The other night he heard Fizz humming a tune to himself and muttering that the tune reminded him of his mother, but Lemrio didn’t get it. What was the link between a little hum and someone else? That seemed like two entirely different things; Seeing and hearing.

Lemrio realized that there was some kind of gap between his perception of everything and everyone else’s perceptions of everything. At any given moment, Lemrio knew exactly what was happening in his dungeon. Sure, he often opted to stop paying attention to some parts of it when something particularly interesting happened, but deep down he knew exactly what was going on at any moment.

Although he was a bit startled by the two adventurers when Fizz was baking, some part of him was aware that they were here. Some part of him had already logged them as a non-threat. That little part of him was the same part that had opted to focus on murdering, held back immensely by the rest of him.

That was an interesting discovery. Lemrio stopped his musing upon figuring that out. He never wanted to kill, not truly, but a part of him wanted to for misguided efficiency. It didn’t make sense. It was illogical. Feeling puzzled by his actions before that fateful day, Lemrio dug deeper. Why did he pick insects? He assumed they were the most efficient, so he did.

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Why did he build the dungeon around himself to protect himself from adventurers when the optimal idea was to huddle down in the dirt like a hidden gem, moving as deep as possible? He didn’t know. It just felt right to build an elaborate monument surrounding himself instead of just hiding away from the threat he thought he was protecting from.

Deciding that this was a problem that could wait another day, Lemrio shelved the whole idea. It was confusing, a bit disorienting, and made him feel bad in an odd way, but that was the past. He could just try and ask Fizz! Er- he didn’t really know how he’d do that, actually.

Lemrio felt like he found himself in a pickle. All these questions, and he had no way to ask them! So many new things he didn’t understand about himself! Lemrio found himself sulking a bit, in all honesty. Plus, what was the difference between one frosting and another? Lemrio knew that one tended to get more attention than the other, but he didn’t get it much. It looked the same to him.

And that train of thought gave him even more questions… Lemrio decided to stop thinking about that and instead improve the two floors he already had. He did have enough power for a third floor, sure, but he had plans for that power. Getting to work, he carefully perfected small details while sulking over how confusing life could be.

Meanwhile, Fizz was restocking his bakery in legal ways that had never been questioned whatsoever. John was helping out a bit, since he had some rare free time but couldn’t get himself to actually stop working. John curiously noticed that Fizz had bought himself a new pan.

“Fizz, why does this pan have hexagons in the pattern?”

John asked, seeing that the pan had an interesting pattern to it. It was like the metal was clicked together like that for decoration, but he knew that Fizz usually made all the decorations in the shop himself. That’s part of why he had a statue of a muffin carved out of a bone from unknown origin right next to his menu.

“Oh, it helps spread the heat more evenly! Cost a pretty penny, though.”

Fizz responded absentmindedly. John nodded and finished up sorting things, the two taking a moment to have a drink together. Fizz was drinking out of a flask filled with some kind of purple, sugary goop. John didn’t want to ask what it was as he drank a cup of lemonade.

“Can’t believe it’ll only be another week before I open the dungeon up again. Do you think it- Er, do you think that ‘Lemrio’ will be alright?”

John asked. Fizz shrugged.

“Dunno, really. Anything could ‘appen, I ‘spose. But he was ‘aight before, and he’ll be ‘aight now. If anything, it’s you we ‘otta worry about! You’re gonna be drowning in work before ya’ know it.”

“Don’t remind me, Fizz.”

John said with a quiet chuckle, holding his glass up. Fizz noticed what he was doing and joined in happily.

“Cheers.”

“Skål!”

Fizz said, far less calmly than John as they started chatting about all sorts of other things. Today was a nice day, and John preferred to take things easy before the big event happened. Time seemed to be flying faster for him, that’s for sure.