Peter Meets Starfire update

As Peter led Kory through the lobby, she looked around, her wide all-green eyes having plenty to take in. Every inch of the massive room was decorated with furnishings from the golden age of space travel. A satellite orbited around the high ceiling, its searchlights shining down on the patrons below. Silvery spacesuits gleamed on the walls where they were hung, while scantily-clad waitresses who looked like extras on the original Star Trek carried smoking drinks to the gamblers. 

Kory was delighted. She knew the reality of space travel had little to do with this fantastical nostalgia, but the passion of the people behind it for exploration and experimentation were charming nonetheless. This was space travel adorned with passion, artistry, duty, and ingenuity. It fascinated her. The more off-base it was, the better.

Peter was a bit more interested in the waitresses the casino offered. Not sexually, but academically. They could’ve been models, as far as he could tell. As he passed one, he idly wondered how much surgery, exercise, and make-up went into making her look like Princess Leia as a porn star. And all of it was eclipsed by how Kory simply looked. He had to imagine that whatever ‘professional’ expertise these women might have, it was dwarfed by Kory’s unabashed enthusiasm.

“Peter, where’s the roulette wheel? I want to see how it works!”

How it works? Peter thought. It’s a wheel. How do you think it works?

But he led Kory along, scouring the bustling casino floor for a game of roulette—he imagined it was possibly the only earthling game of chance she was really familiar with.

They passed the craps table and Kory boggled at stacks of hundred dollar bills being traded about like business cards at a convention. Peter was taken aback himself. Who’d’ve thought that such a kitschy looking place would have so many big spenders?

They went through rows and rows of slot machines, Kory predictably distracted by the flashing lights and blitzing audio, before coming to a roulette game. Kory stared at the stacks of chips being won and lost. Peter could see her doing the math, her lips slowly parting as she realized just how much money those chips added up to.

“Can we try it, Peter? Just once? Please?” Kory sounded so excited by the possibility, almost awestruck, that Peter had to go along with it.

“Sure thing, Star. Anything you want. Wait here.” He patted her on the shoulder and left, thinking of how feverish her skin felt. And now, how normal that struck him. Of course Kory should feel like she just got done sunbathing. Why shouldn’t she? He wondered how used Kory was to him and what was normal to her now in him that she never would’ve encountered back on Tamaran.

He came back with ten dollars of chips. Kory seemed hypnotized by the whirling red and black blur that the roulette wheel became in motion, the spinning silver bar like some elusive clue to deciphering it.

Peter flipped the first chip up in the air with a flick of his thumb. “Let’s play this, then go dancing. How’s that sound?”

“Out of this world,” Kory answered wryly. “But what do we bet on?”

“Always bet on black,” Peter said and rolled the chip down the board. 

Kory watched the others betting and then, nervously, but with decisive boldness, she moved the chip across the green baize from black 26 to black 15. 

The ball landed in a red notch. The croupier cleared her chip away.

“X’Hal!” Kory cursed, clearly not using it in a complimentary fashion. Peter held out his hand with the other nine chips and she took two, imperiously putting one on red and one on black. “I won’t lose now!”

Peter shook his head. There was no stopping Kory when she got like this, but he trusted her not to escalate things too far. She might lose her temper, but never her royal bearing. At least, not by Tamaranian standards…

“Double zero!” the croupier declared, taking all the chips from the board, like a game of checkers that had ended in pyrrhic victory. 

Kory was at least more dumbfounded than angered. “That can’t be right… I had a chip on both colors, how can it come up green?”

“That’s why they say the house always wins,” Peter told her consolingly.

Kory had taken another chip from Peter, as if to examine it for some trickery, but now her expression curdled. “This is stupid!” she asserted, and threw the chip down on the table. Peter restrained himself from pointing out the rudeness of the gesture. The chip had landed on red thirteen and he thought that was bad luck enough.

Kory was turning to storm away from the space age altogether when the croupier cried, “Thirteen red wins!”

Kory spun around, her voluptuous hair flying about her like a fur stole, and she stared in astonishment at the seventy dollars that had now been awarded her. She threw her arms around Peter and hugged him hard enough to lift him off his feet.

“I won!” she cried, and all was apparently forgiven between Kory and the concept of gambling.

“I told you,” Peter said. “Always bet on red.”

***

The dance floor had the same cosmic theme as the casino. The walls were black-paneled, the floors were lit by neon tubes lining the tiles, and glowing stars covered the walls and ceiling to give the impression of floating out in space. As the music played, dry ice sifted through the air and lasers shone above the crowd.

Kory danced wildly as soon as she’d dragged Peter out into the open, her short pink minidress flapping up to reveal she wore matching panties underneath. Peter couldn’t join in, only watch her, but Kory didn’t seem to mind. Her body was flying in every direction, her feet moving one way while her hips moved in the other. Her long red hair roiled about her head like smoke. 

Kory kept an eye on Peter throughout her dance, whether she was facing him, looking over her shoulder, or keeping him in the corner of her eye as she showed him her profile. Peter always felt her gaze on him, letting him know that Kory wasn’t just dancing. This performance was meant for him.

Her interest was returned in kind. Peter was mesmerized by the movement of her body, the never-ending voluptuousness of her flesh, the supple muscle that flexed perfectly under her tanned skin. Kory twisted and writhed as if desperate to please him, throwing her entire body into the music. Peter’s eyes followed her bounding breasts and whipping hips as she performed gyrations that an Olympic athlete would be hard-pressed to duplicate, her expression wild, animalistic, yet also joyful. She was thinking of him, of what she felt when she was with him, and for all her careless motion, there was sharp concentration in her eyes.

Peter saw it when he glanced at her face. It was so easy to get lost in Kory’s purity, her innocence, that he’d almost forgotten she was sensuous woman as much as she was the gleeful, curious ingénue who’d parked herself on his arm for days on end. The idea intimidated Peter a little—proof that there was nothing he couldn’t be neurotic about. What would a relationship with Kory be like, when everything on Earth was so new and thrilling to her? What would happen when it lost its luster? Could they have any kind of long-term commitment when her awareness of life on Earth seemed so… fraught?

But he wanted her. He wanted her to stay in love with Earth as much as he knew she couldn’t. 

Kory kept dancing, watching new expressions roll over Peter’s face with his thoughts, pretending to be so caught up in her dancing that she didn’t notice. But she knew when Peter’s eyes returned to her thighs, gazing at the firm, golden flesh that led up to her rounded hips, practically drooling over her plump ass, staring so hard Kory could almost feel him cupping them in his hands. 

Then the music stopped, switching to a slower ballad, and Kory went over to Peter before another girl could claim him. “Didn’t you want to join in?”

“I just would’ve slowed you down,” he said demurely.

“Aren’t you happy?” Kory asked. “When I’m happy, I like to dance.”

Tugging Peter along, Kory sat down in a booth against the wall. She pulled her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around them. Peter’s eyes flicked to her panties, but he didn’t let himself look long, instead sitting down next to her. Even so, he wiped his mouth with a fist. Kory smiled as she realized he’d been drooling.

“So, uhh… you like dancing?” Peter asked.

“When the music’s good,” she told him. “Or when I have someone nice to dance with. Or when I’m just really happy.”

“Well, if you want… I could help you find a nice stereo,” Peter suggested. “You could play whatever music you wanted.”

“At home? Alone?” Kory smiled. “You’re sweet, but I prefer dancing with other people. Don’t you?”

“I’ve never really thought about it. I’m a bit too awkward for dancing.”

“Really?” Kory exclaimed. “You’re the most graceful man I’ve ever met. The way you swing around, running and jumping, without even being able to fly…” She rested her elbow on the table and her chin on her hand. “I might like watching you as much as you like watching me.”

“I don’t… like watching you…” 

“Why not?” Kory asked, pouting dramatically. “Aren’t I pretty?”

“You’re very pretty—“

“Thank you,” Kory said, demure now. She slapped his chest. “So are you.”

Peter let out a relieved cough/laugh, grateful that it was all Kory’s Tamaranian sense of humor. At least he could chalk up his awkwardness with Kory to her being an alien. He had no excuse for girls who were his own species.

A waitress passed by with a tray of martinis in her hand. For lack of anything better to do, Peter swiped two and handed one to Kory. She sipped it, giggling and wondering what the gin and vermouth would do to her taste buds. If she kissed Peter, would his tongue taste as delicious as always, or would the martini dull her appreciation? And what about other things? Would the martini complement the taste or ruin her appetite? She decided to find out, kissing Peter and ending up especially enjoying having the martini still bubbling in her mouth as she shared his tongue. Then she pulled away.

“Now you drink,” she told him. “I want to know how you like my mouth after you’ve had a martini.”

“It can’t be nearly as good,” Peter predicted. He took a swig of the martini and then a much bigger helping of Kory.