Avatars and Spirits

Lucien was like any middle class kid born in America. At least to start. He went to school, he had his group of friends and they bonded over what all young boys did.

Sports and comics.

Fifty odd years later and he found himself killing Green-Lantern and taking his ring.

He wasn't without a concious. Or morality. But he was more than tired of how those two things left his old life.

He did what he did.

He was vindicated— justified. But it didn't stop him from feeling a little more under the weather than usual.

For the rest of the day, he sat at a bar in downtown dc trying to get drunk.

He'd never failed at something so horribly. His tab was well over four hundred dollars but the bartender was too afraid to stop serving him. Probably because of the way his claws scraped the glass. Or how he licked the beer fizz off his fangs. Either way, he didn't mind. The act of drinking alone was….. cathartic.

A few men and women came over through the day trying to figure him out but he wasn't in the mood with the sun still high.

But that was hours ago.

And as night came, his impulses and urges changed shape.

Not in the claws and fangs kind of way, but the way that had him in the midst of a staring contest with a white haired woman across the room.

She was nothing short of enchanting as she sat under the hanging industrial lights of the bar— alone, at a table for two. She made the crappy fluorescents look like a halo. She looked angelic with her high cheekbones and porcelain skin. But her figure was demonic in the way he tugged at his lower impulses.

He felt like a teenager in the midst of puberty again. Hot flashes rode his skin. Sweat pooled in his pits. His mouth went dry at points.

But he never let it show.

Courting women was a game of appearances all the way down to the shape of your nails.

And he had claws— visible claws, and still she stared sweetly.

He turned to the bartender, "Get me a sex on the beach with cranberry juice."

"Y-yes sir."

"How do you know that's what the lady wants?" Jason asked as he sat next to him.

"I can smell it on her breath." Lucien replied, "Now occupy yourself with the girl that keeps staring at you over by the exit. Unless you don't swing that way. Narratively that would be kind of ignorant but comics have done worse."

"What are you talking about?"

"Nothing. Leave me, Jason." Lucien said. Maybe he was a bit drunk.

Jason got up and headed over to the woman who'd been staring holes into him all day.

With him gone, Lucien turned back to the white haired women and beckoned her over with a finger.

She smiled and got up.

It was always easy to tell who was an athlete. It started with the walk. Fighters shelled up. Football players walked like they were dribbling downfield. Basketball players did crossovers around corners and dunked on doorframes. Muscle memory sometimes had a mind of its own.

Whatever the woman did for sport, she'd done well. Her toned legs pushed against the fabrics of her blue jeans. Not with muscle but with ample feminine shape. She was soft in all the right places— and she knew it based on the low cut of her white v-neck. Her cup had runneth over a full size ago.

She took a seat beside him. "You're quite a sight, Mr…?"

"Lamb."

She smiled, "How ironic."

"How do you mean?" Lucien asked.

"Well, you looked quite beastly."

"Then it's fitting for you to be over here, beauty." He slid her the drink he ordered.

"Smooth." She took a sip, "How many has that worked on before me?"

"You don't want that answer." Lucien downed his beer.

The woman faked offense, "How dare you?"

"I am daring. I'm also knowledgeable." Lucien mused as he read the ingrediants on his beer. More so because looking at her was distracting. He wasn't used to his powers yet.

"Oh really? How so?" She asked.

"Because, I know what you do want." Lucien said.

"And what would that be, mind reader?"

Lucien side eyed her.

They both smiled, sharing a thought better left unsaid.

She awkwardly laughed away the tension and leaned inward. Her chest bounced from the sudden movement, sending waves of the smell of sweat and perfume concentrated there. "So, what brings you here?"

"How do you know I'm new?" Lucien asked.

"I would've seen someone like you before. Plus….. you feel.. new. I— I don't know."

Lucien ignored the oddity of the statement and worked up a lie, "Just passing through. Wanted to visit someone I looked up to once. Never meet your heroes."

"I'd say meet as many as you can." The woman mused, "Then, adjust your definition of the term."

"How positive. What brings you here?" Lucien asked.

"Lost an old friend. So, I needed a drink and some stress relief."

"I'm sorry for your loss— by the way, I never got your name." Lucien replied.

"Yea— you were too busy making my heart stutter. But it's nice to meet you, Mr. Lamb. My name is Dawn. Dawn Granger."

Lucien almost spit out his drink. His mind rambled, "Dawn Granger….. also known as Dove— a part time Titans member powered by the magical avatars of order. She can manipulate light, fly and transform into a avian goddess that human eyes can't comprehend. She's kind of like Raven….. if Raven was more a pacifist and less demon queen. She's here because she lost a friend…..What are the fucking chances?"

"You look like you've seen a ghost.." Dawn said.

"No, no ghosts."

"Good, I'd hate to be interrupted. But I know I will be. She can never let me have peace. Or anything to myself."

"Who?" Lucien asked.

"My sister, Holly— oh, here she comes."

Lucien turned around to face the doors into the dark and quiet bar.

In came something he didn't expect.

A switch from the norm.

In all the comics he'd read, Dove was in an often times partnership and sometimes predatory relationship with her older brothers friend, Hank Hall. Also known as Hawk, empowered by the magical avatars of chaos. He had a tendency towards aggression and extreme violence so Dove needed to be around to stop him from transforming into his evil counterpart known as Extant.

Hank was not who made a b-line for him across the bar.

Like Dawn said. It was her sister— and by the gods could he not tell.

Dawn was all soft and smooth and feminine and pale.

Her sister occupied the opposite end of the spectrum.

She was tall. At least six feet tall and broad. Feminine still, but broad. Her hips were as wide as two barnyard doors. She wore black leggings and they did nothing to hide the massive shape of her backside. To go with the tight and athletically exposing look, she wore a black sports bra with red lace straps and trimming. Her toned midsection flexed with the switch in her step. He could smell outside air on her and see beads of sweat around her freckled tanned face.

She came up and leaned over the counter at Lucien's right.

"Well hello, handsome."

"Hey."

"You look….. exotic."

"And you look more fertile than a cat in heat." Lucien thought before Dawn stepped in.

"Holly, this is Mr. Lamb. He's quite charming when you aren't trying to jump his bones right after a run." Dawn said.

"Who was running? I just went three rounds with the middleweight champion at the gym down on monument ave." She leaned in closer to Lucien, "He was a lightweight." She whispered.

"I bet you run into a lot of those."

Holly looked him up and down, "I bet you do too."

Lucien let the silence speak for itself.

"In the mood for a change of pace, Mr. Lamb?"

"Holly.." Dawn cooed.

"What!!?" Holly replied.

"I was here first."

"Yea because you ditched me in training today!"

"Because Hal is dead!" Dawn snapped.

"So that's the perfect time to let out some aggression." Holly threw her hands up.

"You always have aggression."

"And you're always kind and willing to share." Holly replied, "Right, sis?" She pleaded.

Dawn looked to Lucien. She twirled a lock of her white hair as she eyed him.

Lucien turned to Holly, "Have a seat."

She did. The chair strained under her weight.

Lucien looked to the bartender. He didn't even have to say anything, more drinks came.

"So, why are you so willing to share, Dawn?" Lucien asked.

Dawn smiled, regaining her composure immediately, "Because, I love my sister. We compliment eachother."

Holly leaned in from behind him, "In everything."

Lucien grinned inwardly.

Sure the day started off horribly, but at least for the moment, it was looking up.

Lucien turned to Holly.

"Let's test that."