Chapter 18 Analytical Eye

Ludwig smiled as Lemmy walked up on stage. He didn't turn his eyes away from the screen, mostly because he had the highest expectations for this event. After all, Lemmy had done a splendid job in the last round. Sure, the general audience might not necessarily agree with that, but in Ludwig's eyes, Lemmy had been absolutely fantastic. What could his brother do to immediately follow up such an act?

Well, they were about to find out. The clapping of the audience died down, and Lemmy stood on center stage. Ludwig noticed him taking a deep breath. And… wait, was he sweating? It was kinda hard to tell.

"Hello, everybody!" Lemmy exclaimed. Ludwig raised an eyebrow at his tone as well as his smile. They came off as odd, really odd. Ludwig couldn't quite put his finger on why; something about it just didn't seem right. It wasn't very… Lemmyish.

"That's right, I advanced to Round Two instead of Patty Oliver! It's like you ordered pancakes at a diner and got waffles instead. In other words, it's the greatest tragedy of our time."

Ludwig blinked. The others didn't seem to find that line as strange as he did, as they laughed their tails off. And honestly, he was kinda weirded out by that fact. Didn't they realize how wrong that line was? Didn't they notice Lemmy's tone, how he was caught between humorous, sad, and very very VERY irritated?

"Well, as your resident misplaced waffles, I'm gonna make sure that I am the best plate of waffles you've ever tasted!" He reached into his hammerspace and pulled out some juggling pins. "And you can think of the props I use as the syrup and the butter!"

"Ah dammit!" Larry said. "All this talk about waffles is making me wish I could have some." He grumbled and leaned over the table. "I hate my life sometimes."

No one said anything in response to this because there wasn't anything to say, so they just turned back to the TV. Ludwig kept his eye on Lemmy as he juggled the pins. Seriously, was he sweating? It really looked like he did, which was weird because that was usually a response to stress. Was Lemmy stressed out? Was there something happening behind the scenes that was stressing him out?

"Oh man, I feel like I could juggle a thousand pins!" Lemmy said with a smile cheesier than pizza. "In fact…" he reached one hand into his hammerspace. "I think I could get some more pins… OWW!" One pin landed on Lemmy's head. "Well, that smarted a little… OH SWEET GRAMBI!" He rubbed his head. "And here I thought you guys would be the only ones getting a headache… OWW MAMA THAT STINGS!"

Okay. Admittedly, that did make Ludwig chuckle a little. The fact that Lemmy was hurting himself was a little eyebrow-raising, sure, but still. That was funny. It had the signature Lemmy energy that the beginning of the act had been missing.

Speaking of the signature Lemmy energy, Lemmy started purposely wobbling about on the stage. "Woah… the concussion I got is affecting my balance… woah woah WOAH!" Ludwig was relieved to hear that the people in the audience at the event were laughing. It wasn't just polite laughter either, they sounded like they were genuinely enjoying this. Of course, when Lemmy tripped and did accidental cartwheels on the stage, making a very deadpan "oww" sound with each time he landed, their laughter turned into an uproar. Honestly, that was the best thing Ludwig could've possibly hoped for in this scenario. It made him feel good, and he was close to one hundred percent certain it made Lemmy feel good.

That is, until Lemmy stopped cartwheeling. He sat in place, rubbing a sore spot on his head. As he did, Ludwig took notice of his face. Now sure, Lemmy had just inflicted physical pain on himself, so his expression wasn't going to be one hundred percent happy. But here's the thing; whenever Lemmy did slapstick in Bowser's Castle, he often did a really good job of making his pain appear cartoonish. He would wear the most animated facial expressions, looking like he was straight out of a rubber hose cartoon from the 1930s. Here? Here, he looked like he was actually, genuinely hurt. There was something about his eyes that didn't appear right. It was like the spark that he was known for and loved to share with other people was completely gone.

This really made Ludwig concerned. Seriously, was Lemmy okay? Or was something happening behind the scenes, because… honestly, Ludwig could easily make the argument that Lemmy was hurting himself on purpose. Not in the "I want to perform a slapstick comedy routine" sense, but rather in the "I'm hurting myself physically to distract from how I feel mentally" sense. And considering Ludwig knew EXACTLY what a mindset like that led to…

Cringing, Ludwig looked at everyone else in the room. He noticed them all laughing their butts off, and like most things that happened this evening, that struck him as really odd. Even Aria and Celia were laughing like never before.

"Oh, Lemmy is on a roll tonight!" Wendy said.

"He's gonna get into the next round for sure!" exclaimed Roy.

Ludwig frowned. Okay, so no one else seemed to notice the warnin signs. So… maybe it was all in his head. Maybe Ludwig was overanalyzing things and creating concern in places where there didn't need to be any. Maybe he was just being overprotective of Lemmy. While he wouldn't admit it to anyone, hearing that Lemmy didn't initially make it into Round Two REALLY upset Ludwig. Like, deeply upset him. Maybe he was just allowing his own frustrations to bubble to the surface and affect how he felt at this performance.

"Oww Mama." Lemmy rubbed his head and finally sprung to his feet, wearing a goofy grin as he did. "I've heard of the phrase 'no pain, no gain,' but this is ridiculous!" The audience laughed at that, and Lemmy laughed with them. "I think my soul started ascending into the Overthere a little bit back there!" He put his hand to his chin. "Or was it the Underwhere?"

Aria chuckled, but Ludwig noticed she sounded a little… apprehensive. "Wow. That's pretty dark."

"Yeah," said Celia. "I didn't take Lemmy for the dark comedy type."

Ludwig leaned forward, his eyes on the screen. "He usually isn't…"

"Oh well!" Lemmy giggled. "I'm still here either way, so you guys are stuck with me for the rest of the night!" He laughed and pulled what looked like a banana cream pie out of his hammerspace. "That's… just… SWELL!"

He threw the pie in his face. As Lemmy pulled the tin and the crust off, the goopy whipped cream and the banana slices made him look absolutely ridiculous. It was charming, Ludwig had to admit, but this display only exacerbated the feelings Ludwig had. He frowned as he looked at the stage, wondering about what was going on in Lemmy's mind.

Those feelings only became more apparent when Lemmy spoke again. Now, one could easily make the argument that Ludwig had been projecting his own worries onto Lemmy before, and Ludwig would've easily accepted that argument. But now? Now, there was no denying that something was up. When Lemmy spoke, with the cream covering his face, the tone of voice was ladened with sadness.

"Yeah. This is the only way that any pies I make get any use. Lord knows that nobody is gonna enjoy eating them, that's for sure."

The others didn't laugh at that, which only further fueled Ludwig's suspicions. Iggy leaned toward the TV with a furrowed brow. "Is he okay?"

"Yeah," Wendy said. "He sounded like he was crying just now."

Ludwig cringed as he looked upon his brother, taking deep breaths as he wiped the banana cream off of his face. He couldn't see any tears, but… maybe that was the purpose behind the cream. Maybe Lemmy had thrown it in his face not for the sake of slapstick, but rather, for the sake of hiding his tears. Ludwig's brow furrowed as he looked upon his brother, trying to see any evidence of crying. It was nearly impossible to see that on the face, but… didn't the way Lemmy's body moved as he took deep breaths come off as strange?

"Oh well," Lemmy said once he had cleaned himself off to a satisfiable degree. "At least getting hit in the face with a pie is a lot less painful than eating it. Or solving for mathematical pi." He chuckled as he licked his fingers. "Both are on the same level of impossible. Even the Gods like King Borealis and Grambi would look upon such challenges with their omnipotent eyes and say 'yeah, I ain't touching that shit.'"

And just like that, Lemmy was back to being funny. Of course, Ludwig didn't know if he was simply laughing because he was feeling good about Lemmy's joke or laughing despite of it. This whole experience was just so weird. He didn't know if he should be proud of his brother, he didn't know if he should be concerned for him; he didn't know anything. He didn't even know if there were any experiences to compare this act to; it was THAT strange.

Which was a word that pretty much encapsulated the rest of the act. Ludwig felt strange as Lemmy filled in the next half hour with joke after joke, slapstick bit after slapstick bit. Objectively, it was probably some of his best work ever. Like, when the others pointed out that Lemmy was on a roll tonight, they weren't kidding. He was putting his best foot forward while he was up on this stage, which made sense considering that he wanted to advance. But even as he did his absolute best, he still carried himself like and spoke with the tone of a clinically depressed person. And no, it wasn't the kind of clinical depression where someone's tone betrays their feelings. Rather, it was like someone with clinical depression was telling jokes to distract from what was going on between their ears.

And… that wasn't Lemmy. Lemmy wouldn't do that, he didn't usually have feelings like that. He was Lemmy! He was the optimist, the little ray of sunshine that could brighten up someone's rainy day! Why would he sound like this? Why would he sound like he was trying to hide some pain? Why was he looking like he was hiding pain too?

Those questions stuck with Ludwig for the rest of the show, and honestly, he wouldn't be surprised if they were sticking with his siblings as well. Their laughter was nowhere near as animated as it was in the beginning. It was still there, of course, just toned down and dampened. The vibe of the room matched this perfectly, going from upbeat and happy to awkward and uncomfortable. It didn't feel like they were watching Lemmy Koopa; it felt like they were watching someone making jokes about a horrible tragedy that was considered taboo by most audiences.

That feeling was the general vibe of the room all the way up until Lemmy finished his act. When Lemmy finally bowed to everyone during the curtain call, waving at them and smiling as brightly as he would allow himself to, Ludwig felt like the depression he detected from the Clown Prince was rubbing off on him. He sat in place, staring at the TV in the most uncomfortable manner possible. He didn't even turn away when Iggy switched it off.

"Well. I would say that was fairly pleasant." He hesitated. "I mean, I think it's safe to say Lemmy is advancing to the next round with that performance."

"Yeah," Morton said, his voice low. "I definitely think so."

Ludwig sighed. This… he wasn't going to be satisfied until he got some answers. He needed to talk to Lemmy, know exactly what was going on. He and Lemmy told each other everything, so there was no way that Ludwig was just going to leave him to fester in his potential sadness.

So, he got up, got his phone out of his hammerspace, and excused himself.