Golf Ball was hard at work. Whatever it was, the details don't matter; she'd probably say that anyone asking was too dumb to understand, anyhow.
Ever since the Battle for Dream Island *finally* came to an end, since they all settled down in Yoyle City and started pondering the great question of 'what now', GB had more free time to do whatever she wanted than she even knew what to do with. She'd always planned for it in some way or another; no matter how unlikely it seemed, she always had a bucket list of everything she ever wanted to do if fate suddenly gave her a chance and gave her free rein to do whatever she wished. All the science she could do if left unimpeded, by contestant or by competition; the experiments she could perform without the prying eyes of some speaker box; the projects she would organize, orchestrate, and some other word starting with the letter O to ensure her legacy not as some bozo-brain bossy-bot, but as someone that actually knew sense. Someone that actually knew *anything*.
But one can be confident about what they're gonna do in life so long as they aren't actually confronted with the possibility of doing it.
She was right in the middle of doing something or other when the monotony and tedium *really* set in; working hard at her Factory, chipping away at this great, monolithic project she now had all the time in the world to tackle. It was all just so... boring. So horrific. *This* was the big thing that she'd been so excited over all this day? Spending sunrise to sunset taking notes, calibrating things ever so slightly, and painfully recording each and every single failure? The constant cycle of conversation in her little dimpled head would repeatedly play out, particularly in the longer experiments where things *really* took their sweet time to mature and blossom. Maybe the others were right, she'd reckon. Maybe some things just *aren't* meant to be answered, or maybe the process of answering them was just too dull. Life's too short to be dealing with that all the time, no? Then her more aggressive, more typical side would fight back; no, of course not. That's just ridiculous. *Someone* has to do it, someone has to set things straight. But does it *really* have to be done in such a dull manner, huh? Why not make it a bit more fun? A bit more interesting? And completely throw off and skew the findings? Outrageous!
It went on and on; seconds blurred into each other, and then minutes, then hours. Eventually, the continuing monologue would cause her to drift away into sleep, like a lullaby to a child or Tennis Ball explaining complex processes to her. She swears it's not intentional, she says it's unprofessional to sleep on the job. And yet she always finds herself dozing off.
And then she finds herself getting violently shaken awake by her... *associate*.
"GB! GB! Wake UP!" Golf Ball would be quick to snap out of her stupor, a skill honed in over years of accidentally falling asleep and missing some all-important event. She'd shake her head. "I'm up! I'm up!" She'd shout. "Who said I was-" The smaller ball then quickly realized it was just TB and settled down; she'd sigh. "What happened? Another failure?" Tennis Ball frowned, feeling uneasy. "...In some sense, I guess..." Golf Ball raised an eyebrow. "...What?" TB grumbled. "Well... I mean, if you look at it in *some* ways..." "Just get to the point!" Golf Ball shouted, ordered, demanded. Tennis Ball sighed. "You had another episode, GB." He'd answer. Golf Ball remained silent for a moment, seemingly genuinely confused; it was a feeling she didn't like to express, but given the company... It was excusable.
"...What episode?" She'd ask. Tennis Ball sighed yet again. "Don't play dumb with me." He'd reply. "I know you're *definitely* smarter than this." "Well..." Golf Ball grew flustered. "Well, of course I do. I was just testing you; I wanted to make sure *you* knew what you were talking about, like I did. Totally." She'd sigh. "Now, tell me." Tennis Ball raised an eyebrow, but quickly moved on. "You looked like you dozed off again." He'd explain. "And in the middle of doing something, too; I saw you like that while I was doing my own thing, so I quickly dropped it and ran over to make sure you were alright." "Of course I'm alright." Golf Ball interjected. "Why wouldn't I be? I was just..." She'd hastily come up with a lie on the spot. "Experimenting to see how long I could withstand seeing a job not being done; that's important to keep track of, you know?" Tennis Ball nodded. "Uhuh. And I heard you mumbling too. You were repeating something over and over again; I think it was... what was it... bassoon? I don't recall you ever being interested in music, but I figured it was just dreams being weird like that. So I-"
Golf Ball blinked. "I was..." A bit of a tougher one this time, especially given... "Distracting myself. Intentionally. As another experiment. Yeah." She'd nod. "Worst-case scenario kind of deal; I'm not saying it'll ever come to that, but just in case..." Tennis Ball just blankly stared at her as well, unsure of what to make of this. "...You sure you're alright, Golfie?" He'd ask. "I mean, if you wanna hide it, that's fine; but since I'm the closest you have to-" "Don't..." Golf Ball seethed. "I'm fine. Really. There's nothing to worry about." She'd say that with the most reassuring voice she could muster; something which was *immensely* difficult given her shrill voice. "Thanks for the concern, but I'm good; go back to... whatever it was you're doing." Tennis Ball frowned. "...Alright. If you say so." With that, he'd walk off.
She wasn't fine, of course.
-
The two balls were off to the Science Museum again.
Golf Ball found that their little excursions into Yoyle City were mostly wastes of time; anything that had any actual value of them was taken long ago, and so the only things worth grabbing (especially given their lack of hands) was whatever scrap metal or adhesive could be used to bandage some antiquated mechanism together. The museum was the only real exception to that. Most of the exhibits weren't bolted down, sure, but what remained was so bulky, or so niche, that time, tide, and thieves just didn't bother with taking it away. Many of the halls were now empty, and the building was seemingly one bad day away from collapsing outright, but it was still quite a sight to behold, no? The two of them just couldn't help but marvel and awe at all those collective years of scientific and technological prowess on display. All those pioneering inventions, great discoveries, the cumulative efforts of people and groups and organizations and nations, all still neatly tucked away here, just *begging* to be
Golf Ball blinked.
Tennis Ball was currently in the process of gawking over some device when she suddenly found herself frozen and confused, unable to remember who she was, where she was, what she was doing, and how it all came to this. She just stared right ahead, towards that big clumsy ball that had absolutely no idea what was coming to him
She was helpless. Helpless and alone. Her one and only partner sat just a few feet away from her, and yet he might as well have been 2,763 miles away. She was rendered numb to all senses, unable to hear, unable to feel, unable to even think. She was no ground-breaking scientist aiming to uncover the mysteries of the universe, she was just some... ball. A little ball used for sport. Created for purposes that were completely beyond her, given life as some cruel practical joke, then tortured repeatedly with the pain of existence. She knew nothing. She amounted to nothing. She *was* nothing. She prided herself in her towering intellect compared to everyone else, but in reality she knew the crushing, overbearing truth. She was dumb. She was naive. She was a... well, *bozo*.
"GB! *GB*!" Once again Golf Ball awoke to Tennis Ball giving her a good jolt, nothing but panic and fear in his eyes. "W-What?" Golf Ball tried her hardest to stay calm, to act like absolutely nothing was amiss; how foolish was that, pretending like all was well in a world where nothing is? "It happened again!" TB exclaimed. "...Wha..." GB shook her head. "...What happened again?" Tennis Ball was growing more upset. "Golf Ball..." He'd stomp his foot once or twice. "You just completely zoned out again." He'd explain. "One moment you were going on and on about how you already had so many ideas on what to do, then all of a sudden you went silent in the middle of something and just... didn't explain anything." Golf Ball remained silent for a bit. "...Well, I was just testing *you*, for a change." She'd respond. "Huh?" Tennis Ball raised an eyebrow. "I wanted to see how you'd react to exactly that." GB continued. "You can't just rely on me all the time; there's gonna come a time where I'll be off somewhere, doing something that requires my full attention, and I won't be there to help you out. That's fine. Natural, even. You gotta learn to be fine with just that."
Tennis Ball sighed. "Golfie..." He'd look around. "You know better than anyone that I'm not gonna buy that." Golf Ball frowned. "Well, you seem to eat it all up before." She'd remark in a brief moment of thinking out loud. "I only believed you then because I didn't wanna stir up trouble." TB went on. "I know when you wanna keep to yourself, when you wanna be left alone. But now, *here*..." He'd sigh. "*Something's* happening to you; it started when we no longer had to worry about BFDI, and *especially* picked up after we started coming here." He'd look into her eyes, searching for any hint of emotion that could betray what's going on in her head. "Please know that I *can* and *will* help you, just as long as you actually *tell* me what's up. Please."
Golf Ball didn't buy it; she shook her head. "I don't get why you're panicking so much." She'd try to maintain her composure. "I understand all this free time can be a *lot* to take in - I had my troubles with it too - but you'll eventually know what to do with it. You don't have to be concerned about every single little thing that you now come across; you and I both know how that's not gonna end well." She'd look down on the ground. "We should go; clearly this wasn't worth it, and-" "Golfie, I'm not going." Tennis Ball interrupted. "*We're* not going until we get to the bottom of this. A real scientist doesn't just give up the moment a question seems to be too hard for them; they keep pushing on with greater strength." "A real scientist knows *when* to give up." Golf Ball interrupted. "When it's clear that a line of thinking is headed nowhere. C'mon, TB." "I know where *this* is headed, GB." Tennis Ball responded. "And I can clearly see that it's nowhere good. *Please*!" "Of course it's nowhere good!" Golf Ball fired back. "You're *clearly* just wasting your time! Now-"
Tennis Ball then suddenly hugged her.
Well, not exactly 'hug' in the strictest sense; again, they don't have arms. TB just... leaned forward and made contact with GB, keeping it that way for far, *far* longer than she was comfortable with. Well, *any* amount of contact was too much for her.
As was natural for any self-respecting scientist, Golf Ball immediately backed away (almost stumbling and tripping in the process) the moment she fully registered what was going on; for a moment, the two were frozen, awkwardly staring at each other, their faces more red than they were willing to admit.
Golf Ball shook her head. "Are you *sure* that it's not *you* that something's up with?" She'd rhetorically ask. "You should double-check that." Without another word, she'd start making her way out of the building.
Out of the horror known as socialization.
