Plum could hear the gentle exhale of Vivi’s breath. The slight quickening of her pulse. Even now, she was nervous - just a little. It was reflexive, more than conscious. Like the last moments before a fall you’ve taken a hundred times.
She didn’t reply but for the faintest, content trill from somewhere inside of her chest. She reached out, laying a small hand against Vivi’s arm. It was a remarkably slow and gentle process. Almost like absorbing but--
She felt her hand unwind into a million tiny strands, so small as to slip through Vivi’s pores. It was painless, she’d made exceptionally sure of that the first time they’d done this. She didn’t want to hurt her mother. She was most dear thing to her in existence. The centre of her entire being.
And this? This was something not even Fuu had with her. It was special. It was all hers - theirs.
Her fingers gradually unwound into nothing, as did her arm. She pressed more of herself against Vivi’s exposed skin, unwinding, unravelling as she felt herself work through into the inside of her, stretching out, running through and coursing through her almost imperceptibly. She wound through her veins, wrapped around her ribs and felt the wonderful rhythm of her heartbeat as it thundered against her smallest tendrils.
It was almost enough to put her to sleep. It was all hers - theirs. She felt, dimly, the last of herself be pulled inside. She reached up, pressed where she needed to be, flowing through Vivi with all the grace of a water dancer. She knew everything there was to know about the bright, burning star that eclipsed everything.
Just for a moment, she waited.
You ready, Momma?
She felt Vivi’s lips curl into the faintest of smiles as though it was her own. The permission was silent - she felt the thought race down from the wonderful bright organ in her skull.
Plum pushed out now, sliding over Vivi’s skin and almost replacing it. She pressed up and out, covering them, linking them, enjoying these brief moment where there was no us but only them-
They opened their eyes. Plumvi. They always liked that name.