the trick is to keep breathing

"Do you have lips?" she says. Vivi is, as usual, completely taken aback by her forwardness.

"Of ... of course I do, Miss Eiko," he responds, stumbling over his words, trying to think of what a person is supposed to say in such a situation. Is it impolite to talk about your lips in public? Are they a taboo subject? Vivi isn't quite sure, as usual. "How else would I talk? Or eat?"

"Bobby Corwen doesn't have lips," she replies staunchly, swinging her legs over the bridge's edge. Vivi would like to tell her not to do that - it's a long way down and heights scare him - but he can't force the words to come, no matter how hard he tries. "Neither do the Moogles, at least not ones like people. I can't see your mouth, how the heck was I supposed to know?"

Vivi doesn't know how to respond to this sharp reply. He feels a little like crying. Is Eiko angry at him now? Was that the wrong thing to say? He's just about to get up and run away when she plants her lips against his own, almost perfectly on-target.

It's the first kiss Vivi has ever experienced. Eiko's lips are very soft, and she smells, not unpleasantly, of dust and strawberries. When at last she pulls away he is almost disappointed.

"It's ... kinda like kissing feathers," she says, brow furrowed thoughtfully. Vivi isn't sure if this is a good thing or a bad one until she reaches over and takes one of his hands. That makes everything okay again. "We should do it more often."

And with the lips his friend cannot see, Vivi smiles.