feathers of a pear

chapter 1 zeph sucks at self care.

Xinø let out a frustrated huff. He has been working on the interior for most of the week now but something always looks off to him. How dare his home still didn't look like how it's supposed to look like?
Standing Infront of his kitchen he tried to think of ways to get his mental image to the real world if it weren't for the sing-song voice coming from the tunnel.
"Xiiiiiiiiiinoooo~" Zeph called out as they came through the tunnel that connected their bases.
Defeated, Xinø let his shoulder slouch a little. If Zeph was around there was no point in continuing anyways.
giving her a quick hug as a greeting he could smell the sleep oil he made on her.

Zeph had trouble sleeping, that wasn't a secret on the server.
So one-day Xinø took some lavender and Valerian root and put them in a jar with some vodka, crushing the flower and root for the oil. As it was done he gifted it to her to apply to her skin, surpassingly it worked well.

"Hey, something up?" Xinø asked, knowing full well that Zeph always had a reason to visit, even when that reason was just to scare him.

"Yes actually, I was wondering if you could check on my wing real quick?" Pointing at their right-wing. "It's been itching back there bad and I might have this annoying infection again I get from time to time."
"Infection??" Xinø almost yelled in shock.
How can someone be so casual about it?? Quickly Xinø got behind Zeph, pulling the wing up to stretch it. Though he couldn't find anything that would lead to an infection, all he saw were some loose feathers and some down feathers.
Maybe it's on the skin? He thought, moving a careful finger under the feathers to pull them up.
The skin was slightly reddened and had some scratches which could lead to Zeph's claws itching there.

"Well... I don't see anything you are just molting"
"MOLD?" Zeph panicked and turned her neck to look, though she couldn't see the spot and hit Xinø with their wings in the process a few times as Zeph turned to look at the spot.
"Ow ow ow, Zeph wait!" Xinø called out, shielding his face with his hands.
"I'll get you a mirror"
As Xinø held the mirror Zeph looked confused "there is no mold?"
Rolling his eyes Xinø reached out and itched the spot again, the reaction was instant as Zeph spread his wing to give Xinø more access to the itching spot.
Xinø, the bad person that he is, pulled his claw away making Zeph whine at the loss.
"So, explain then" they demand.
"Molting is the shed of old feathers to make way for new feathers. So to keep itself in healthy feathers, we need to molt each year to get rid of old or damaged feathers. Molting is required to renew our plumage and keep it in top condition." Xinø rants as he starts suddenly going through zeph's feathers, taking out some broken and old ones.
Startled Zeph pulled his wing away at the strange feeling of someone going through his feathers.

Both shared a look as silence fell. Xinø expected Zeph not to know basic flock behavior but not knowing basic feather care was where he drew the line.
"It's nothing bad, don't worry" Xinø looked anywhere but at Zeph as he thought about ways to get Zeph's wings clean without touching them.
Then he remembers something, without saying anything he takes Zephs hand and leads her to a secret place.

"oh wow..." was all Zeph was able to say as they took in the view, never had he thought about just climbing the mountains that stand high around the village. well not higher than his house of course.
"up here Zeph" following the voice Zeph was led to a natural hot spring, snugly at the opening of a cave. Zeph reached a hand in to test the water's heat and was pleasantly surprised that it was a nice hot temperature, just the right amount of hot that wouldn't burn.
"This is amazing! how did you find this- OH MY GOSH Xinø!" Zeph shields their eyes as they catch a glimpse of Xinø's bareback.
"Why did you take your clothes off?"
"This is a hot spring Zeph, you bathe here, come join me." Xinø said as he walked over to the water stepping in.
"you are naked!"
"and you are clothed"
"smartarse" Zeph turned around so she didn't have to see Xinø butt ass naked in the water.
" Why are you so weird?" Zeph asks tho not Xinø in specific.
"you are just not used to how your culture is and I don't know how to show it to you really... It was always like this for me and there is no shame to this either. I want to show you how to take care of your wings and what is normal for us to do as avains... even if it's weird for human culture."
Zeph thought about it, Xinø was right she doesn't know anything about the Avian culture and anything around it. All she knows is how to survive, nothing more.
"ok" was all They said as Zeph started to slowly remove their clothing. " but if you dare to peek or even touch I will give you a black eye."

In the end, Zeph didn't remove their undergarments and found out Xinø also didn't take off their underwear either.
totally not cuz she took a peak wdym?????
Xinø was behind Zeph slowly letting water dribble on the feathers, washing away the dirt, soot and other kinds of grime on their wings and removing some old feathers too.
it was new and strange to Zeph it felt... intimate.
Xinø seemed happy to do it so she didn't say anything.

"so... what is a typical avian behavior?" Zeph asked, swishing his hand in the water. The stone beneath was a little hotter than the water, letting Zeph believe a natural heat source is beneath that is heating the thing up, good thing the cold of the mountain was cooling it down enough so the water didn't start boiling.

"well... What we are currently doing is 'preening' which is cleaning our feathers. you can preen yourself or with a close friend or family member. Back home we had a bathhouse where we would go for this if you didn't want to do it alone or couldn't of an injury"
Zeph thought about what had been said. "Are you all naked at the bathhouse? because this already feels intimate..."
A light laugh sounded behind her. " no no no, I know it feels intimate but we are not naked there, I know it's called 'a bath house' but it's only for cleaning your wings so you are not naked there and also... you're done!" Xinø smiled as he took his hands away from Zephyr's wings.

Zeph moved her wings to test the new feeling and in a strange way, they felt amazing. as if she could go for a long fly now, the new energy buzzing under the feathers.
"I want to do yours too," Zeph said without thinking about it too much. As they turned around to look at Xinø they saw the blush:
"you good?"
A nod.
"yea, just... watch your claws"

They both switched positions and the first thing Zeph noticed about Xinø's wings was that the Primary and secondary feathers were way too short for him to actually fly with. Though both wings looked healthy and recently preened, what was new to Zeph was that Xinøs wings were waterproof, the dirt still was washed away but there was a difference between their feathers.
"Are your wings waterproof?" Zeph asked.
"yea yours are supposed to be too but I didn't want to just randomly touch your glands" Zeph expanded her wing to look for something that would be considered a 'gland'.
"where are they?" Xinø turned around and carefully went through Zephs feathers, searching.
when he found it felt like a bolt of electricity went through her wing, making Zeph pull away.
"yea.. that nub there is where some of your feather oil is" Xinø explained, expanding his wing too to show it on his wing.
"you Xinøa massage it a little and wipe the oil over your feathers to make them waterproof." Xinø demonstrated, explaining every step to Zeph.

By the time both were done the sun had set long and the tiredness from the day washed over both.
"Well I should get to bed now, I have a long day before me tomorrow" Xinø yawned and stepped out of the water. the cold air of the ice mountains hitting his warm skin, shivering he grabbed his clothes and put them on to stay warm for the way down.
"thank you for showing me how to take care of my wings..." Zeph said as they also got out and dressed.

"Any time Zeph." Xinø smiled as he walked down the mountain.