#jimtho

first part

Jimmy is going. A little mad? Very mad. Very, very mad. Labs is nowhere to be found and people keep bothering Jimmy for information on him! It's not fair at all, Jimmy would like answers just as much as they do. But nobody accepts he doesn't have them.

Until, of course, the vigilante seems to appear out of nowhere on Jimmy's usual route. And this time he's definitely flirting, chatting leisurely with Jimmy as if they're not both several stories high on a roof.

Labs skirts around Jimmy's questions easily, leaving him frustrated and wanting more. Jimmy doesn't find out why Labs is interested in him, why he's appeared now, or how to contact him again. He does find out he can't drink carbonated drinks though - very useful knowledge.

Then Labs just disappears. Again. Oh it's personal now. Jimmy isn't quitting until he at least gets Labs' number.

When people look at Jimmy and Etho, Jimmy's wings are obvious. He takes great pride in them, even if they're a little ruffled most of the time. He's a very active person, some feathers out of place is impossible to avoid.

Etho, though.

Etho had wings a long time ago. Before elytra, before even horses, flight was his transport of choice. He likes to think he was a skilled flier; but it was so long ago who can say?

He's unsure how it happened, but between one update and the next, they were gone. No scar, not even a feather left behind. His code rewritten and his wings gone, like they'd never existed to begin with.

Grief is a hard thing to quantify. Etho didn't talk about his wings - or lack of them - for a very long time.

That changed with Jimmy. Jimmy asked how Etho, one evening, how Etho knew so much about wing care. Etho laughed, a sad little thing. Then he admitted it's something he's never forgotten. It's the first time he's talked about it in years.