It doesn’t take long for Faith to come help Colin. He find it embarrassing, especially since he’s nude and she’s the girl he love, but it’s not like he have anyone else to help him, and she already saw him nude as a little boy, back when he first got Aqua. That, and he’s pretty sure she already saw some male god nude in her life, had a relationship with them even. She may look around his age right now, he wouldn’t be surprised to learn she was already around when his great-grandparent were born. (And that it’s still pretty young for a goddess.)
Even more embarrassing is the fact she’s undressing as soon as she enter the bathroom, because any clothing would prevent the holy water of his bath from correctly doing its purification work, even if worn by a helping hand. And yeah, again, Colin already saw her nude back when he got his first angel, but back then she looked like a little girl. Her current appearance was far more developed, not as much as Kamelia, who is quite an extreme case in that domain, but more than enough to make Colin blush at seeing a girl in the nude. (Even more so since, again, it’s the one he love, even if he can never tel her as far as he’s concerned.) "Aw… Look at you blush" the goddess teased, "You do realise I don’t have anything your angels doesn’t, right?" Kamelia was about to point out Faith has legs, while angels don’t, but she then remembered how Aqua can turn her genie-like 'tail' into a pair of human-looking legs.
Still, Colin listen religiously as Faith explain and demonstrate how to clean feathered wings. First, she remind him that he need to use holy water for the bath, true holy water, not the thing sold as such in churches and the like, and that its purifying nature dispense him from using soap. "You’re luck in that regard, Aqua and you having an affinity for the water element, you can turn preexisting water into holy water by yourself. Your sister need someone else help to procure the stuff" she lament.
She then demonstrate how to clean and realign each feather, in which order to do it, along with how to know when one had become loose, needing to be taken out of the wing, telling Colin to take notice of how each felt as she manipulated them, since it help evaluate what to do. After doing it with the wing nearest to her, she then tell him "Your turn now, clean the other wing by yourself while I watch how well you do."
There was a few instance in the beginning where he mishandle some of the feathers, causing both Kamelia and him to wince, (said angel IS part of him, after all) but he rapidly got the hang of it. "Whoah, you seem to be a natural!" noted an impressed Faith. "It took me five bath before I could properly clean one of Hope’s wings without making us wince, 8 for the same with both!"
Temporarily forgetting his embarrassment thanks to that praise, Colin say "Kamelia said having sex with one own angel is considered masturbation… Why haven’t you told me?"
It was Faith’s turn to be embarrassed. "Oh… Well… You were too young to speak of that kind of thing back when I gifted Aqua to you, and I honestly thought you would assume as much and would have done it with her by now, not realising cultural difference between Heaven and Earth would make you do the exact opposite. Sorry…" Colin is about to say she don’t have anything to be sorry about, trying to ignore how seeing a flustered Faith is affecting him, (and as a result, his two angels) when a particular former devil decide to act on it instead. Aqua jump out of Colin’s soul and kiss Faith on the lips, her forked tongue trying to get entrance.
Surprised, Faith jump back a bit, but immediately regret it. If Aqua and Colin were looking in the goddess direction, they would immediately notice she’s mirroring their look of disappointment. But they don’t, and miss it entirely. "I’m sorry" say Colin "I… I’m not sure what went in Aqua’s mind. You’re my best friend, Faith, always will be, but part of me wish you could also be my girlfriend, even knowing there is no way any god would ever want to date a simple mortal over one of their kind, not even if said mortal had angels of his own…"
That declaration made the goddess gain hope for something she never dared to have any. "Are you… Are you saying you would keep being my best friend , even if we started dating?" At Colin’s timid nod, she hungrily kiss him. It doesn’t take him long to reciprocate, their tong wrestling each other.
She finally let him go, the poor boy left panting while she is as fresh as ever but, well, she is a goddess. "I feel the exact same way, Colin, and will be more than happy to be your girlfriend. But before, I must explain how sentimental bonds work for gods, especially since you seem to establish them the way my kind does. Probably a side effect of getting your first angel so young."
"To us, those bonds are something tangible, but situated in planes you’re not aware of being a 4th dimensional being. They can go one way or both, and beside most romantic bonds, they are usually indestructible unless one side of it become a demon or die. Also, those bonds are never mutually exclusive, not even when they seem contradictory."
"One of such bonds I have with you is friendship. The relationship between to divinity who are friend is as you would expect from human, with the added bonus that no god will ever betray a friend, whatever the reason. Then there is the special case of the best friend, one of two bonds that can only exist if it go both ways. You can only have one at a time, and its with someone you trust so much you will share with them things you would share with absolutely nobody else, and can know they will never share those secrets to anyone else without your explicit concent. I never had one before meeting you." At that last phrase, Faith blush lightly.
"Then, there is the familial bonds. Gods naturally have those with their parents, their siblings or their children, for who it goes both way. But we can also have those same links with other peoples, and in those case it can be a one-way thing. For example, I also see you and your sister as some sort of younger siblings, even though none of you see me as an older sister." As she said it, Colin remember instance of Faith acting like a big sister might, be it comforting him when he needed it, helping him with his homework, or teasing him. He must admit that he like the idea, causing the link to turn both way, which Faith felt.
"I could also speak of my bond with Flora, the previous host of Rose and Kamelia. She was a second mother to me, and a bit of a big sister too to be honest, so her loss affect me greatly. I’m glad a part of her get to survive through the both of us" Faith admitted with a sorrowful smile.
Colin is about to comment on it, when she interrupted him by bringing up the final type of bond. "Then there is the 'lover' bond, another bond that can only exist when the feeling associated goes both way. This one can’t be established between gods related by blood, and is more delicate than the others, at least in its early stages. The first one is when the two gods are only dating, which isn’t that different from two mortals dating. The second is the equivalent of being engaged, and isn’t reached that often alas. It happen when things become serious between the two gods, serious enough they might think of having children together, and often will. And the final one, which only a handful of gods reached, is our equivalent of marriage. I’m honestly not sure we have any hope of reaching that one, with you being human and all. We call a lover bond reaching this stage a soulmate bond, because that’s basically what the two become at that point. Peoples that love and understand each other so well they never fight anymore, their love eternal. Disagree on some point, sure, they still are two separate peoples after all, but it never turn into more than that. The problem is, it only work because we, gods, are 12th dimensional beings, and you are a 4th dimensional one."
"We can’t know if we don’t try" comfortingly say Colin, as he tenderly stroke the side of her face. Then, after a pause, he add "And I can’t help but notice you don’t let yourself cry over the loss of someone you cared about." As he said this, Kamelia took Faith in her arms, the exact same way her previous host, Flora, would have when the younger goddess had needed a shoulder to cry on. "You can cry," say Colin, unconsciously mirroring the paroles and tones Flora would have in a similar situation, simultaneously with Kamelia, as he joined the hug. "Let it all out, you’ll feel better. You’ll see."
With such a motherly tone, even coming from her boyfriend, Faith couldn’t help but do just that. (The fact Kamelia, who used to be Flora’s angel, did the same definitely not helping with resisting.) It wasn’t the only thing motherly right now, as she felt a bond she thought definitely broken trying to reform. The mother-daughter bond she had with Flora, except this time on the other end was Colin.