Raven ducked down to dampen his hair, and finished another chapter in his book before moving around to gather shampoo, conditioner, and various skin-cleaning scrubs that would make him feel wonderfully light and pure again. Scrubbing the scent of smoke and singed clothing out and rinsing it away, and slid honey-scented conditioner through his hair, letting it set while he used a fine-bristle brush and thick soap to scrub the initial feeling of clammy, oily buildup off his skin and out of him. A clover-burbane mix was next, erasing the scent off him entirely.

Ducking down under the water, something felt odd, and when he came back up Raven sat up and looked around. "Salem?" The cat came when called, much like a dog, but this time he didn't. The feeling of being watched was there, though, and he scanned the area carefully. "Someone here? Zap...?" He knew the Fae could shrink, though he hadn't expected him to follow along.

Zap blushed when he heard his name called, but didn't reveal himself. He hoped Raven would shrug the feeling of being watched off to just paranoia. He suddenly felt guilty for watching the man while he bathed, even though his body had fuzzy warm tingles coursing up and down it. Raven was just so beautiful and attractive, even for a human. Zap wanted to watch him naked all night, even though he knew it was wrong to spy on someone while they thought they were having a private time.

He looked behind him and found a small vent, something that let the steam out of the room and replaced the air with cool, fresh air from outside. He climbed inside the vent, feeling secure that he wouldn't be spotted by Raven if the human went looking about the shelves. He peered through the metal bars, watching Raven get out of the bath and cover himself with a towel. Zap wished the man would change in front of him, so he could drink in more of the sight of his naked body. And those fascinating tattoos. Written in a language that all magical creatures could understand, even if Zap couldn't quite read the markings. It made Zap want to know more about Raven, more about the magical blood that ran through his veins.

From time to time he felt as though his home were alive, and he were being watched by it. Rare though it was to feel as if he were being watched in the bathroom, Raven let it go and ducked under the water again, washing his face and shaking his head, releasing the plug for the water to go out and standing.

Out of the hot water, Raven's most curious tattoo began to burn a little, and he grimaced, unwrapping the towel from around himself and looking backward at his reflection. The curious letters never changed, never lit up, but sometimes felt as if they were simply on fire, especially after a warm bath. He flexed a little, moving side to side a little, but they moved with his skin as they would under any other circumstances. With a sigh, Raven turned to look at himself. His curious eye color, the yellow making him out to be stared at from time to time, even as an adult. Turning away, he went to the door and peered out, finding not even Salem was around. He quickly closed the door, then went to his wardrobe to find evening clothing. A sleeveless black shirt and oversized pants the same color, and before he went downstairs, Raven went back to grab his book.

Zap nearly forgot to breathe as Raven dressed in front of him, and even standing in front of the mirror to look at himself for what felt like a long time. He giggled as Raven left the room, turning off the light and heading downstairs with his book. It had been an amazing experience, even though Zap barely knew Raven. It made him want to know the human more.

He followed the vent downwards, happily finding a way out and into the den. He flew towards the bookshelf and sat on one of the shelves with his legs crossed, watching Raven as he entered the room. He was too tiny for his voice to be heard by the human, so he flew over to him and sat on his shoulder, stroking a stray strand of wet, black hair.

When he got downstairs Raven was surprised---and he almost raised a hand to swat the strange thing that came at him until he recognized the glow surrounding it. "Zap...!" He covered his mouth. No doubt in a small form his normal voice resembled a roar. "Hey... you were down here the whole time I was off, right?" He asked quietly, going around to sit on the piano bench. "Because I could have sworn I felt someone watching me upstairs..." He grimaced. Raven felt that simple question sounded more like an accusation than anything, and seemed like he didn't trust the Fae to be alone for a while without snooping in private areas.

Zap blushed brighter, knowing the colour of his glow would be pink and therefore suspicious to the human. But he couldn't admit it. He still felt bad for spying, and knew that Raven might be angry with him. So he remained quiet, fluttering down from the man's shoulder to sit on top of the piano. It was a fancier design to what he was used to, but he still remembered how to play. He danced on the keys, using his magic to help him play a symphony to entertain his new human friend.

He transformed, playing the piano still and sitting on the chair of the piano, starting to sing a traditional Fae folk song. It was in another language, one that Zap knew but he doubted Raven would understand.

Raven studied him rather carefully before he returned to normal, feeling the silence was rather out of place. And the color he gave off in the glow that mostly surrounded Zap's wings now. Moving over for Zap to sit, he smiled and listened to what the Fae sang and how he played. He knitted his brows, somehow understanding what Zap sang though the melodic language was otherwise unheard of. 'Silver petal moonlight floating 'long the river shore, dance in it before it fades away---glittering wings light the night, silver Fae shows the way---'

"Hey..." Raven shook his head. "I... can understand what you're saying. Is that a song you sing often?" It was curious, how the ordinarily dead language came to him in a way no known dead language did. And he'd never even seen it written down before.

Zap stopped playing and singing, tilting his head as he looked over at Raven. How would the human know the Fae language? He did know that several healing spells adopted rudimentary Fae tongue, but that wouldn't be enough to understand what he was singing about. He smiled slightly. "I haven't sung in over 500 years, but yes, when I was free, I often sung that song. It was a favourite of the King and Queen's."

He turned to face Raven entirely and rested his head in his hand. "I understand your tattoos too. Do you?" he asked, hoping Raven wouldn't wonder how Zap had seen the marks in the first place.

Raven gaped, looking or a reply. He didn't know what to say---the tattoos on his arms he understood perfectly, they were other languages and he specifically drew them down so he wouldn't look like a fool with stupid translations. But the only one he didn't understand was on his back. "Um... No... I've never seen the text before. I don't even know where I got the things... I think for as long as I could remember, I've had the thing scrawled all over my back. What's it say...?" Suddenly he didn't care how Zap knew about it, or what it said---he knew, and that was all Raven cared about. He wanted to know what it said.

Zap frowned and slowly shook his head slightly. Raven seemed so excited at the prospect at knowing the meaning to the tattoo on his back. "I'm sorry..." he started, hoping he wasn't letting the man down too much. "I don't understand the meaning, I just know the words... And that they mean something... They seemed to have been branded onto you using some sort of fire magic."

Zap crossed his legs and stared at Raven, his large blue eyes seeing something the human couldn't. He thought back to his teachings. He had seen that text somewhere before, but just couldn't remember where. Maybe Raven had something to do with the Fae? How could that be possible? Zap giggled and blinked, turning back to the piano. He lightly played a random tune, thinking about the moon that was currently hiding.

Raven sighed and closed his eyes, feeling rather deflated. He'd been branded for so long that he couldn't remember when he even got them---when he was an infant? A child? Whenever it happened, it was wiped from his mind entirely. And when he tried to think back to that day---or night?---it gave him a terrible headache and subsequent nightmares of fire consuming random young men. Sighing shakily, he looked up to Zap. "It's okay. Was a long shot..." He shook his negativity away, playing a small tune with Zap.

"Now tell me..." He added after a moment. "How is it you saw the tattoo that's on my back?"

Zap's glowing wings brightened as he blushed, not able to look at the man in the face. He watched his fingers instead, gliding over the piano's white keys. "I... May have been watching you in the bathtub..." he finally admitted, covering his face and half-sobbing, half-giggling. "I couldn't help it! I've never seen a human so close before... And never a naked one..."

He removed the hands from his face and peered into raven's amazing yellow eyes. "I really liked what I saw... Have you got a girlfriend?" He went quiet, realising that he may have been a bit too forward. He laughed and stared away, looking at the clock. It was getting late. "I'm pretty tired all of a sudden... I should try to go to sleep..." He got to his feet and stretched.

It felt like the room were ringing somehow, and he tried to speak, but not much more than a small yelp made it out of his mouth. "Uh..." He wasn't sure whether he should feel violated, intrigued, forgiving, or angry, so he went with a combination. "Um... Thanks...? I think...? That's just..." Creepy. He didn't say it, though. Raven wasn't sure what the Fae did when there were plenty of them, but maybe bathroom audiences wasn't unusual. He remembered reading something about communal bathhouses that resembled ancient Roman types in larger cities, and couldn't help but be intrigued. Some Fae liked to remain as large as humans, and therefore built their cities as large as humans.

"Um, right..." He stood when Zap did. "I guess you're right... And there's a lot to do tomorrow, too." He looked down at Salem, who had come out from under the piano, and he scooped the cat up. "If you need some new clothes, I have some smaller stuff if you want to try it out." It felt odd to simply change the subject, but Raven was glad to forget about the peeping situation.