Heading out with Starfire

“Again sorry for forgetting y’all, enjoy the meal,” you hurriedly called into the villa before quickly closing the front door behind you. Sighing a moment, you turned your head slightly to ogle at Starfire. Her hair was freshly brushed and silky smooth and shone in the late morning light. Today, she had picked out a loose purple top with detached sleeves and with a green jewel sewn into the front and slightly ripped jean shorts. Her arms had identical gold arm cuffs and intricately designed arm bracers. Her wedding ring sparkled.

“Mwah!” Starfire kissed your cheek, leaving behind a light purple kiss mark.

“Now I can’t take one without giving one in return,” you say before peppering her with several kisses on her cheeks and forehead. She returned fire until the two of you were laughing on the sidewalk, your face covered in kisses.

“Where shall we adventure today, beloved husband?” Starfire asked as she helped you clean off some of the lipstick.

“Well, something I love about Federation planets is the surprising efficiency.” You say as you hold up your phone.

“You have not done tagora with me recently,” Starfire said with a shadow of a smirk on her loveable lips. You frown and look at your phone. Clear as day, you had a picture of you and Alex in a twisted ball of limbs and ropes and sheets that only Alex’s natural flexibility allowed.

“Wrong photo,” you say unnecessarily before locating what you had wanted to show her.

“‘In the wake of the recent Borg attack and subsequent reconstruction efforts, the Risa Hedony invites all to a celebration of the successful defense of Risa at the Carnival of Vibrance for three days of games, food, and live events’,” Starfire read off the screenshot. You give her a smile and her eyes brighten, thankfully not releasing laser beams. “It would be like our first courtship date!”

Your eyes flick up to her twitching cat ears. “Maybe we’ll win another cat mod so we match.”

“You think so?” Starfire beamed excitedly. You stammer a little before Starfire laughed and patted your face a little. “Jay of K. Let us go, we are burning the sunlight.” Starfire picked you up and started flying away.

“Wait! What about–” As the two of you flew away, Diana and Fubuki looked on from where they were waiting for the public shuttle. Diana pinched her brow before Fubuki started glowing and she started flying after you and Starfire. Diana kicked up a cloud of dust as she took off after them.

“Trick shot!” You threw the ring with a haphazard throw. It flew out of your hands and bounced off one wall and shot off at an odd angle to hit the roof of the stall and got hooked on a bottle. You and Starfire were at a ring toss stall that had several dozen rows of bottles at varying sizes, distance, and shapes. Several bottles were even floating around on little platforms and moving erratically.

Starfire bounced happily and clapped, “You got a medium prize!” Unfortunately the stall worker disagreed.

“Sorry but bouncing the rings off the walls is against the rules,” the Risian shook their head and shrugged their shoulders as if to say ‘what can you do?’. Their accent reminded you of what you imagine an old fashioned sideshow carnie would sound like. They used a long hook to remove the ring. “And before you complain, I don’t make the rules, I just live with them.”

“You literally just wrote those rules,” you say pointing at the chalkboard as he finished writing ‘no complaining’. He just propped up the chalkboard and gave you a challenging look.

You picked up three rings, “Fine.” You reached inside for your Sarasalandian instincts and threw the rings one after another in quick succession. The carnie gaped as the rings flew at a moving bottle at the top of the wall and all three successfully got hooked.

“Glorious triumph!” Starfire tackled you into a hug; your face stuffed in her bust. Around the stand, the carnival goers spectating clapped while a few wolf whistled.

“Well that was really something,” the carnie said, taking off their striped hat. “Enjoy your prizes.” He set down three plushies and gave a welcoming smile, seemingly dropping his act. One plushie was of a cartoonish dog like creature, a plushie of Worf, and a sort of sandworm thing. Immediately the carnie activated a replicator and created three more prizes that he then hung up.

Starfire immediately picked up the worm doll and hugged it.“This is the most adorable! I will name you Silkie 2!”

“Glad you like him,” you said, gathering the remaining dolls and putting them in the levitating basket with the other prizes the two of you had won in other games. You waved at the carnie as you and Starfire walked off in search of more games to play.

As the two of you eased your way through the crowds of people (including a sizable amount of Nintendo characters and a few liberated Borg), you admired the decorations. There were lights in stained glass jars criss crossing the streets of the multi block carnival/festival with streamers and interesting looking flashing devices interspersed throughout. Limited holograms of animals and bizarre shapes flew through the air and occasionally dropped down to surprise people. They definitely took the name “Carnival of Vibrance” seriously as nearly everything was either bright or sparkly or both.

“What do you wanna do next?” You asked, looking away from the decor.

“Hmm,” Starfire thought, looking around for anything that looked interesting. She spots a Strongman Game, a shooting gallery that uses low power phasers, a Ferris Wheel, and a hot dog eating contest.