Is That A Threat?
Cooper Howard x Fem!Reader, word count: 500
episode 4 really did something to me!! no spoilers for the show, just cooper and reader out in the wasteland together being filthy and flirty🤎
request info • prompt list • send me a request • kofi • masterlist
minors DNI!! 🔞 cw: teasing, rope restraints, just some tension loaded flirting
"Boy, you just aren't afraid of me at all, are ya?"
Cooper flicked the brim of his hat with a gloved finger, his deep set eyes meeting yours, squinting slightly as the unbearable glint of the sun obstructed his vision. Despite the jovial undertone of his words you could tell that he was, even slightly, put out by this fact. Fear was one of his strongest tools. It gave him his power, and he wanted to be able to exert that over you, even just a little bit. So you shuffled your feet in a false display of naiviety, kicking up the dry dust.
"Should I be? I mean... are you going to shoot me, Mister Howard?"
"I was more thinking that maybe you should be afraid of my demeanor, or at least my looks, little lady. But you should always be afraid of me shooting you..."
He raised the shotgun, pointing the barrell at your chest, winking as he aimed, his finger far away from the trigger.
"...That is a permanent source of danger."
With an eyebrow raised, you took a delicate step forward, everything else about the wasteland blurring around you as your attention focused on the ghoul who stood before you, casting a still and steady shadow on the wall behind him. It only moved when he shifted back a step, keeping the distance between you both.
"Is that a threat, Coop?"
"You’re getting’ to be awful Informal, missy."
"I think we're past formalities, don't you?"
You raised your hands, ready to grip the lapels of the tattered, leather duster coat he wore, but Cooper was quicker than you. In what felt like the length of time it took you to blink, albeit a slow and sultry one, you could feel the ropes of his lasso around your wrists, tightening, sharp on your sensitive, sun damaged skin.
"We ain't past nothin' yet, darlin'... not till I know you can behave the way I expect you to. Now can you do that?"
Sinking to your knees before him, you rested your fingers against the buckle of his belt, leaning towards him, mouth slightly open. But your attention was pulled from the tenting at the front of his dusty, worn pants as his gloved finger settled under your chin, tilting your gaze up to meet his, deep set eyes surrounded by wrinkled, leathery skin, worn with the sun and his deceptive age.
Knowing what he expected, how he liked it, you pulled what little saliva you had left in your mouth, sucking it from your cheeks and letting it spill out in a pathetic drop over your lips.
"That's a good girl right there. Won't have to punish you at all if you keep that up."
"That a threat, Coop?"
His thumb tapped the barrell of the gun on his hip.
"It is indeed, darlin'. It is indeed."
504 notes
·
View notes
I think fans want Jason to be a good person or be becoming one. To have a character that is well meaning and compassionate but decided murder is ok and to stand against main heroes who’s beliefs and actions go against the people he cares about and wants in his life. It’s confusing for people. People want their fav characters to be happy. But Jason can’t have his family’s support and follow his moral code. He’s cares about people and Gotham, and he’s an asshole who kills. It’s messy. It’s not black and white. I don’t even think Jason cares about being a good person or in the right anymore. I think he cares about what will save the most people instead.
Oh my goodness gracious I’ve been bamboozled
Batman’s definition of Good is not synonymous with absolute good/right no matter how much dc insists it is. Torture, battery/assault, surveillance, those are all condemnable actions too. I won’t get into the exhausting and frankly dumb debate of comic book morality wrt killing because I’ve already reblogged plenty of posts from other people who explained my thoughts on the matter far better than I ever have the patience to sit down and articulate. I also just think the notion that there’s something to be done about fictional characters who kill nazis and senseless murderers is stupid. Jason’s point is that the “main” heroes’ sanitized definition of right has its unaddressed holes and flaws which ultimately result in more preventable fatalities, and that he’ll work to correct those missing spots.
He doesn’t not care about doing what’s right. What he doesn’t care about (at least during his Winick characterization) is whether Batman thinks he’s right or wrong, because he sees the flaws in Batman’s methodology (and since he has a mind of his own). Batman’s methods alone cannot address Arkham’s revolving door and the rogues that come and go through those doors who have no intention (or capability from the doylist pov) of ever changing or undergoing redemption. Jason knows that he’s minimizing the number of preventable deaths by killing his targets, typically Characters Who Simply Do Fucked Up Shit Just Because, Why The Fuck Not?
Secondly, Jason is compassionate … to a fault. That was his fatal flaw. If he wasn’t so hell-bent on saving his potential birth mother he just met from that bomb despite everything she did to him prior, he could have protected himself instead, however slim his odds of survival were. What about his relationship with his other parents? He was a caregiver during his early childhood years for Catherine, until her death. Even mature adults who are financially stable find being a caregiver to a dying parent to be extremely burdensome on their bodies and minds, but he never complained about it or resented Catherine for being unable to care for him. Despite how none of his parents have really been what he needed them to be, he doesn’t blame them for their failings, and even continues to think highly of them (Bruce included).
And post-death? Enter Lost Days. Despite being dead set on plotting his revenge on Bruce, he constantly sidelines this in order to save other victims who are helpless like he once was. His own anger, trauma, and mission don’t remain his priority. (Sound familiar? Something something my own trauma above my son’s, mission above all else, etc.). Why would he waste precious time and risk his own life to do this if he wasn’t empathetic towards these victims or didn’t care about doing the right thing. He is simultaneously horribly traumatized and full of rage, and also incapable of ignoring what’s happening to victims around him (even as he claims that it’s indeed not his priority). And in that same vein, the entire premise of his rebirth outlaws run was that he doesn’t care if the public views him as a villain, an outlaw, so long as he can protect Gotham. And anyway where is this portrayal of him not caring about being in the right anymore. Almost every modern Jason story is about him grappling with where he stands with Bruce/Batman. During the early 2000s was probably the last time he did not care (hello, tentatodd??).
Jason has very evidently been portrayed as a kind and compassionate character. He is also simultaneously a calculated killer who doesn’t hesitate to kill when he deems necessary, and does so without remorse. It’s called being a Complex Character With An Edge™ that as you said, people so often claim to love. However when he fulfills that latter part, that seems to upset people because “killing bad”, and they then try to shave off and round out all his edges and claim he shouldn’t be that angry. In that case I guess you should just stick to liking traditional one-dimensional characters instead of claiming to like Jason but then encouraging his character assassination attempt by dc. Lol.
Lastly, who said anything about the batfam making Jason happy? Just because he’s written nowadays to want acceptance from Bruce (a shoddy attempt at forcing a non-existent nuclear batfamily), doesn’t mean that it’s a sound decision or that it does his character justice. I certainly don’t empathize with the idea that Jason needs the family’s approval or acceptance to be happy. (And anyway he has enough outlets for angst and pain aside from the batfam hello explore his other sources of trauma and do more deep dives into how he thinks when he’s alone). I don’t want them to magically make up and become one big happy family. This is not disney Lol. Besides, there are plenty of stories from dc that have that type of “wholesome” (hate that word utilization) characterization for Jason (Li’l Gotham, Tiny Titans, wfa, and even new stuff like the brave and the bold mini) and that is sufficient imo. Jason fans who are invested in the character deserve accurate, nuanced characterization and well-written stories, whether they be from his robin days (e.g., Batman: The Cult) or as red hood.
164 notes
·
View notes
Prophet WIP
Hundreds of years after the six gods' potential death, a single prophet is born. When his twin brother is possessed by a holy sickness, a race begins to preserve or destroy the last relics of dead divinity, and refuse or give forgiveness for errors of the past.
Starring!
Theodore Novak (Theo): the prophet. Desperately does not want to be a prophet. A nervous wreck most of the time, becomes a little strange when he grows comfortable around you. Has not seen his brother for almost a year, and eager to apologise for previous cruelties.
Cain Kavon: The brother, and vessel to the Blight. Controlled by his anger, and by having his mind changed around him. Schizophrenic, and suffered from his brother unknowingly encouraging a delusion to dangerous levels in the past. Prideful and headstrong and terrified thrilled to now belong to the Blight.
The Blight: The divine sickness. Sourced from human anger and frustration at the gods. Recently escaped the trap the final god put it in, weakened and needing something to reside in as it gains power again. Exploits others anger and frustration to get what it wants.
Raya Glick: The student. Provided a place for Theo to go to when he was asked to leave home, and uses him as an assistant to her history PhD on exactly what happened to the gods. From an orthodox temple background. Drives around the country in a van, investigating the gods current forms. Straightforward and non-nonsense.
Featuring the complexities of brotherhood, the thin line between “prophet” and “schizophrenic”, a divine and glorious anger and a desperate attempt to reach someone who may already be lost to you.
Tagged under #prophet wip. Comic sans PowerPoint.
13 notes
·
View notes