Archive of Our Own

But alas, her ore reserves were running low. That was the only part she hadn’t fully automated mostly due to some underlying paranoia that someone would steal one of her creations if she were to allow it outside. You could never tell what kind of shady people wandered about out there. If one of her robots got stolen… well, that was just more metal lost! And she needed every ounce of it that she could find.

That meant a visit to the mines for a much needed restock. She had some equipment she left there because in all honesty, who could operate heavy machinery in these parts? She didn’t have to worry about something like her drill being stolen.

Golf Ball wore her sunhat to keep the light from hitting her eyes. She should have picked a cloudier day to get started, but that ran the risk of it raining. Rain only made the process of extraction harder and messier so she had to bite the bullet until she could reach the underground labyrinth.

She mostly kept her eyes closed and ignored everything. She was sitting on top of Tennis Ball as it’d take her forever to walk there by herself. Plus she didn’t like going by herself either.

But she felt him pause and… collapse? A little thud surprised her and she was blinking down at her partner in confusion. “Why did we stop!?” she asked and took a quick moment to survey their surroundings. There was nothing scary that she could see. It was only green pastures with a couple of mature oak trees dotting the landscape. A small creek full of murky dark blue water bubbled nearby. No predators on the prowl that could harm either of them.

“Shhhh! Shush! You’ll scare it away,” answered Tennis Ball, his gaze focused on a particular tree near them.

Golf Ball felt slightly offended that he told her to shut up (in a nicer fashion, but the sentiment was still there) but she let out a small huff. It took her a bit until it dawned on her that Tennis Ball was staring directly at some kind of butterfly. It was mainly dark brown with what looked like two sets of crescent moon patterns marking its wings. It’s body was uniquely red yet the edges of its wings were a lighter tan color.

“You’re… looking at a butterfly?”

“Er… GB, it’s a moth.”

“Aren’t those the same thing?”

“Yes but no. Moths are stockier and more drab looking,” he’d tell her without breaking his gaze on the moth. “They’re also kind of furrier, but it’s hard to see that since we’re a little too far away.”

Well, it was still early in the day so if her partner needed to do some random bug watching, he could knock himself out. Golf Ball simply rolled off of him and rested on his side, closing her eyes against the strong sunlight.

It was impressive how quiet Tennis Ball could get. If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought she was merely laying besides a boulder rather than her own partner. She sort of wished to have that kind of stillness because after a few minutes, she felt a bit of restlessness from doing nothing.

“Hey,” she said quietly. “What… moth is it?”

“Hyalophora cecropia or the Cecropia moth. One of the largest moths in North America, truly a thing of beauty. It’s been a while since I’ve seen one.” Tennis Ball watched in complete awe as the insect gently fluttered its wings before it folded them again. It remained resting on the bark, firmly attached and hidden safely among the tree’s countless leaves. “By the looks, it looks like it might be a he, but I’m just eyeballing it.”

“How can you even tell that?” Golf Ball asked. She stretched out momentarily and glanced at where the moth was resting at. She focused intently on it, trying to pick out some kind of feature that would make the entire thing obvious to her yet she found nothing. All these bugs looked exactly identical to her that it was slightly frustrating.

“It’s the antennae. Males’ are more feathery and larger. It’s so they can locate a mate over long distances via the use of pheromones.” He thought it was pretty impressive. Imagine being able to find someone no matter how far apart they would be. It was a tad bit reassuring to him, but he was happy enough to know that Golf Ball was around him most of the time. Even the fact that she was listening to him ramble off about this particular moth made him feel welcomed. “Must be neat knowing there’s someone out there for you.”

Mmm… I guess that is a little neat, thought Golf Ball. “It hasn’t moved in a while… Is it dead or something?”

“No. The Cecropia moth is a nocturnal insect so it’s most likely sleeping right now,” he answered back. “I was only worried about waking it up by accident, but it looks like we’re all right.” At this point, the green ball started to stand back up again and shook some blades of grass off of himself. Then, he sheepishly smiled. “…Uh. Sorry… about the side track. I know how much you want to grab some ores, but I did get distracted.”

Golf Ball let out a dismissive sigh. She liked keeping to what she had in mind for her day, but it wasn’t the end of the world that they took a quick pause. Although in actuality, it was the fact that it was Tennis Ball being distracted that didn’t bother her. Had it been absolutely anybody else, Golf Ball wouldn’t hesitate to sharply reprimand them for wasting her time. “It really doesn’t bother me so keep your apologies to yourself,” she spoke.

Tennis Ball knelt down briefly so that Golf Ball could climb back up on him. She said it wasn’t an issue, but he always felt a bit of guilt afterwards. Maybe it was his self consciousness that told him that someone like Golf Ball didn’t need to hear his nonsense on the natural world. Yet he couldn’t help it; when he saw a cool creature, he was going to take the time to observe it. Who knows when the next time he’ll see something similar to it will be?

“Remember when you got so excited about a ferret one time?” asked the grey ball, lightning the mood as she closed her eyes from the sunlight. “You nearly scared me with the way you squealed.”

Tennis Ball had started walking towards the mines yet he looked at the moth one last time before he moved on. He didn’t know when he’ll see another specimen, but he hoped it’d be soon whenever he decided to study moths for a time. “GB, that wasn’t a ferret,” he corrected relatively quickly with a small smile. It was amusing how bad she was with identifying creatures, but he was pretty poor with robotics and math himself. “It was actually a fisher cat. Although technically, they belong into the same family, the Mustelidae. A common trait among that family are their elongated bodies, so I can see why you’d think it was a ferret. But a species like the Black-footed ferret shares more physical traits with weasels and stoats rather than fishers.”

It was still a long walk to get to the mines, about an hour’s time. It was the perfect time to listen to some wildlife trivia.