#anyway *cutely implies manon has dreams about dain leaving her behind*

[parfumeuses]

( @enmoni : dainsleif // soft action prompts )

[ CARRIED ] sender notices receiver is starting to get sleepy so they pick them up to carry them to bed.

She makes the most of their time together .

Irregular visits with little notice , chance encounters , and best of all , stretches where their paths intertwine long enough to travel together . Manon squeezes affection out of every second of every minute of every hour they share , like oil from citrus rinds . Perhaps the two of them are in cold enfleurage when they ’ re apart ; jasmine blossoms resting someplace cool , pomade accumulating scent like longing .

Like always when Dain stays for dinner , he lingers , invariably to slip away before she wakes the next morning . She put up a valiant fight , but midnight has long passed . Though her eyes can hardly keep open a sliver , and she can ’ t recall what she said a moment ago , she tries to keep the conversation going even as she drifts off . ( Unlike her waking self , it doesn ’ t occur to her to be nervous about the strain of carrying her . )

He has to ( gently ) pry her fingers loose from his shirt as he lays her down . The blanket is all the warmer for the one pulling it up to her chin , unbraiding her hair , massaging her scalp the way she does for him on the rare occasions he falls asleep before her . Then the hands , his presence , draw away .

Half - awake , half in a familiar dream , she reaches out .

“ No , ” fingers catch a starry hem , “ stay . ” In her right mind , Manon couldn ’ t bear being so … demanding . ( So needy . So selfish . ) But she isn ’ t in her right mind , and Dainsleif is leaving again .

“ Please ? ”