Remember when, still remember- Bobbin chapter 7

"Crack the world sweet, and I would live to see the sun rise... but I would do it alone.  I have grown very fond of you... In fact I'd say you've outright spoiled me to any thought of losing you."  He kissed her shoulder, gently.   "So you are my conscience, Lorna.  Because," another kiss, "I intend to keep you."

It made her shiver, a phantom caress where he tenderly pressed lips to flesh.  Warm with magic, and feather-light.

"And I think I see what you intend to do with me."  She observed, not truly adverse to said intentions.  "How utterly against your character, making love to your wife at any excuse."

"No, no... Not at any excuse," He chided, gently stern, his teeth lightly nipping the sensitive place below her throat. "At each and every available opportunity. There's a difference, you see."  He bent her increasingly willing frame to his whim now, and she happily encouraged each caress with her own, while his words deepened to a hungry whisper.  "I don't abide by a man who make excuses for himself..."

"But opportunities?" Another nip, bringing another shiver of desire from his lover.  His fingers fanned against the soft flesh of her stomach, with a tingle of magic that tempted and teased.  "Now that man I'm far more likely to respect."

"And as it is still our anniversary- and as we seem to still be alive-  That is a marvelous opportunity, don't you think?"

This was true.

...It was.

How could she let herself relax her guard again so soon, when life itself had hung in the balance only moments before?  ...Or, however far in the future they actually... had...

Um...

She hesitated, increasingly unwilling to dismiss her very real worries.  "I think you make your own opportunities, as you just said."  She agreed, reluctantly deciding against the play he teased at.  "...And of course I doubt there's even one situation where you don't see one.  But..."

She caught his hands, her lover seemingly inclined not to notice the direction this was going... Though after all, direct her frustration at him, and she'd have less chance to tear herself apart with worry.  It was something of a standby ploy for the man, as far be it from the trickster to simply try and reassure her.  No, not him, he'd rather serve as irritation, confident she would never stay angry for long.

It did irk her at times, the endless dances he insisted on presenting to the world, herself no exception.  Nothing simple, always intrigue, veil, layer and ploy...  Admittedly, it had always been that way.  His playmate, his wife, and even she was privilege to only fleeting glimpses of the trickster's inner workings.  His thoughts were his own, his secrets stayed secret...

And how could she expect any differently?  Their centuries of marriage, her entire length of existence.  It was a brief span beside the rogue's untold millennia.  She couldn't even imagine living that sort of lifespan.

As for the dances he wove about everything?  ...It was true that he'd been that way as long as she'd known him.  How could it annoy her, when it had been a very big part of what had once so enthralled her?

Actually it still enthralled her.  How dull and mundane it would be if he just up and did away with that part of himself  because it became occasionally frustrating? She did need to remind herself of this from time to time...

"Listen, lover, it is our anniversary..." She whispered affectionately, a small smile playing about her lips.  "And you did just undo time for me.  I appreciate that.  I really, really appreciate that."  Though she couldn't help but add, a trifle dryly, "Even if you did risk my soul and sanity in the process..."

The magicker offered a small sound of scorn, looking vaguely insulted that the very real risk had even been suggested as possible.  As he had been the one binding the spell after all...

Still his efforts to undress her had ceased, at least for the moment.  "-and, yet?"  He sighed, in a much put upon tone.  "Because you know that's what's coming.  The big, ' and yet?'"

Lorna rolled over the words in her mind, unsure how to convey how overwhelmed she was feeling.  This was a man who flirted shamelessly, grinning, while his father-in-law combed the woods with intentions of, most likely, nothing short of dismembering them both.

And yet?  ...and yet she didn't know when they were, what ramifications they might be facing... Would her father know what theyd done?  That much expenditure of magic would have to be noticed by the self-proclaimed God of the stuff... How forbidden exactly was forbidden this time?  We're they just exchanging one awful fate for another?

...Of course they were.  That's what they did after all, escape by the skin of their teeth, survive via luck, or bargain, or trivial oversight on some other's poor sod's part... Cheat the game for one more day.  And one more.  And one more. ...Eventually, it would catch up to them.

Just minutes ago, or however long it might be now, she'd really thought it finally had.  Now, once again, they had a little longer.

Existence is uncertainty. ...Bobbin and I, we delay the inevitable every day. ...Because sooner or later,  life is always fatal.  No magic can change that.
I won't be here forever.

...changing time like this, maybe someday I won't have existed at all.

"The hell with it."  She whispered, balling her fists into the wispy fabric against his skin.  This moment was all they'd ever had, and she was going to enjoy it.  Her mouth found his with a sense of hunger and desperation, surprising the immortal enough to knock him backwards at the 'assault.'

Mind, he did not object, instead his hands grabbing hold of her hips with equal fervor, and pulling her hard against him.  Her breath caught.  He grinned.  "Hell, huh?  Been there, done that..." He teased, tracing a light caress up the back of her neck.  "Honestly, overblown."

"So if heaven's oversold, and hell's overblown," She grinned as she asked the question, already pretty sure of his answer, "Then what's the point of eternity, trickster?"

"Mm..." A bit distracted, she felt his lips part against her skin, a soft laugh.  "I'd say... dance with your demons, defy your limits, piss off someone important- otherwise you're not doing it right... and make love to your wife at every opportunity."

"Now," Bobbin nipped her throat, a sharp tenderness, as his touch begin to devour her willing form with a greater sense of urgency,  "Allow me to demonstrate..."