SHTDN Week

Day 1 - Wings

So many patrols, yet nowhere closer to finding Agape's main body. But Goyou was determined to keep going and search through all of the files to fulfill his 'job'. The virus behind him was nothing short of amused at his routine, despite the fact that his shortcuts continued to get killed.

Today, they went into the specimens room again. Faced with all of those dead butterflies in cases, Goyou noticed a shiver run through Agape. He guessed that the angel must be imagining the humans hanging up his dead shortcuts, like he spoke of last time. To be fair, Goyou didn't care much for displaying them anyway.

The antivirus stopped in front of one of the glass cases, admiring the metallic shine on one of the butterfly's wings. One time, he asked Agape what made the wings so shiny even if they were dead, since he asked about rot once. He had been told that the wings were covered in some kind of chemical that preserved them.

Now that he thought about it, Agape also mentioned that the wings he had were a different kind, being bird's wings. "Hey, Agape. Are there more kinds of wings that can be displayed like this?" he asked. "Can bird's wings be displayed?"

"As a specimen, they can't. Displayed specimens are usually insects, as far as I know. If you tried to cover every feather on these wings in preservative, it would take a long time, right?" Agape stretched out his wings in order to demonstrate his point.

Always full of curiosity, Goyou looked over the feathers on Agape's wings. He frowned as he imagined the humans brushing a chemical over each and every feather. "That would be really difficult, wouldn't it?"

"With animals and birds, there's a different method to preserve them instead. They're usually stuffed in a process called 'taxidermy'. I'm not sure if they leave feathers alone though," the virus added.

Goyou continued to look at his wings though. "Now that I think about it, you said before that you had the 'bird' kind of wings. Was that how your developer made you? Why not butterfly wings?" he asked.

Agape went quiet for a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter. "Na ha ha ha! Goyou seriously doesn't know even that?! Na ha ha!"

"...You're not answering my question?" the antivirus asked, a dissatisfied look on his face.

Agape finally pulled himself together after a few moments. "It's not just because my developer made me like this, it's because I was designed to look like an angel! Those usually have bird wings, not butterfly wings. Even my name's meaning, 'God's love', I was definitely made with an angel theme in mind."

"And angels stay in the sky like birds, right? That does explain why you fly all the time," Goyou finished, slowly beginning to understand.

As he turned to find the exit from the picture, Agape flew closer behind him with a mischievous smile. "I'm guessing your next question is about how it's like to fly, right?"

"What?"

"I told you this before, but a human's Z-value is fixed, and they don't have wings. So, some of them like going into high places, probably to simulate the feeling of flying," the virus explained. "If you want, I can show you what it's like! Just not in a file with a roof in it."

"...Hm. I guess it wouldn't hurt to find out..." Goyou decided with a small nod. He continued his walk to leave the specimen room, with Agape flying behind him.

Soon enough, they ended up in the file showing the sun sinking behind the ocean. There was no roof, nor anything around to stop their 'experiment'. "Alright, I'll pick you up and fly you up," Agape told the other, and he wrapped his arms around Goyou's torso from behind.

The antivirus barely had any time to wonder why he was being 'hugged' before he was suddenly lifted off the ground. Agape flew a bit forward as he continued upwards, tightening his grip on the antivirus in his arms.

"Okay, Goyou! Try looking down!" he encouraged. Goyou looked all around them and then down, seeing the ocean far beneath his feet and the ground a little ways away. The sunset made the waves look purple as the light eternally warmed everything in its reach.

"This is... It feels really nice," Goyou murmured, beginning to smile as he kept looking around. "Is this why humans like being up so high sometimes? It's not that bad."

Agape's face couldn't be seen by Goyou like this, but the angel had a small smile on his face as he listened to the other talk. To have this much curiosity, to always learn about new things, it made him jealous. Agape had forgotten the ability to ask questions about new things long ago.

But there was always something endearing about hearing Goyou voice his wonder about every file they've seen. He was the Virus Buster and prided himself with his 'job', but he barely knew anything about the files on the PC he protected. Maybe this situation of wandering endlessly wasn't so bad, as long as their harmony could continue.

Of course, the wonder in Goyou's eyes wouldn't last long. To stop him from getting bored too soon - and just for kicks as well - Agape suddenly dropped Goyou out of his arms. "Whoops!" he joked.

Goyou didn't realize what was happening until he hit the water, and he surfaced to hear the angel laughing hysterically. With a small huff, the antivirus began to go to the path on land, where Agape was flying over to greet him.

Seeing Goyou come out of the water in a bedraggled state send Agape into another fit of hysterics. "Na ha ha ha ha! You should see your face-! Hey, wait a second- OWWWW!"

With yet another shortcut killed, Goyou began wringing out his clothes as he was shown in the laundromat file. Another shortcut suddenly popped up out of nowhere, its face full of grumpiness. "I guess I deserved that one."