Bucky Barnes ☆ 32557038 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tookthewheel) wrote2014-06-13 03:12 pm
tookthewheel) wrote2014-06-13 03:12 pm
Entry tags:
(no subject)
OUT of CHARACTER
Name: Manda
Other characters: Clementine
IN CHARACTER
Name: James 'Bucky' Buchanan Barnes
Fandom: MCU
Canon point/AU: Post-credits scene of Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Journal:tookthewheel
PB: Sebastian Stan
History: http://marvel-movies.wikia.com/wiki/James_Barnes
Presentation: Intimidating. This word will encapsulate the presence of Bucky for some time in the Capitol and arena. He's a tall man and powerfully built, quiet and inexpressive and though he has a conventionally handsome look -- brown haired and blue eyed -- these traits will be very off-putting to those he meets in person because of his lack of obvious expression. Add to that he is an extremely brutal and efficient fighter who at his worst has little consideration for mercy and you have quite the recipe for scary.
But to the observant there are numerous tells of a man who is not taking very good care of himself, his jaw covered in perpetual stubble and his hair long and uncared for (except for when the stylists manage to get their hands on him) but not even make-up could hide the dark circles under his eyes that suggest he isn't sleeping much. For several decades Bucky has had no real control over his life, everything about his existence was decided and maintained by Hydra. As their human weapon his mind was wiped and rewritten as many times as his masters needed it to be and since escaping their control Bucky is in essence having to learn how to be human again and it is an uphill battle. But despite their best efforts he is not a complete robot and is still susceptible to very real human emotions such as fear and anger except he has lost much of what was instinctual before. Only those who are observant or who have past experience of who Bucky was before will be able to pick up on much of his emotional state.
The Capitol stylists will be seeking to play off this appearance of the 'emotionless killer' as long as they can, continuing to dress Bucky in the blacks and leathers of the Winter Soldier -- something that will work against his own recovery. The breakdown of his programming is inevitable though and with it will come more erratic behaviour and displays of emotion as the man he is now works to contend with both who he once was and the things he has done since.
You can bet the Capitol will play with that to the crowd as well, frank televised discussions of what happened to Bucky will disturb him incredibly. He's used to being a covert operative, working from the shadows, he's used to not being even thought of as a person by those surrounding him and to suddenly have the attention of thousands? He'll be very uncomfortable with this and do his absolute best to avoid the limelight. The only time Bucky will be seen at Capitol functions and in interviews are those where he has been forced in the matter (or rarely, where someone he knows has convinced him). It's lucky that in the arena he'll be able to put out of mind the fact his every action is being recorded on camera in favour of the immediate concern for survival.
Unfortunately he won't realise until it's too late that a mystery (especially a tall, dark and brooding mystery) can be incredibly intriguing to people and will probably earn him even more interest. It's practically the only way he currently knows how to deal with the attention though.
Motivations: Identity, choice and freedom. These were the themes at the core of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Bucky embodies them. He is a man who lost all and is striving to regain these parts of himself. His primary motivation right now is to understand his past and what was done to him to make him the man he is now. From the moment Steve Rogers gave Bucky his name these goals are at the forefront of everything Bucky does. He made a choice to save Steve's life and a choice to defy his masters in Hydra by doing so. With Hydra's fall he has found himself without mission or master with the ability to decide for himself what to do next.
At the moment Bucky's understanding of his past self is running almost purely on outside information, rather than his own memory. Indeed he is still in the process of coming to accept the name as his own once more, hesitating to think of himself as 'Bucky' for all his desire to know who that man was. The closest he has is an instinctual knowledge of knowing Steve which is why he was unable to bring himself to kill the man or to let him die after hearing his insistence of their friendship. Bucky is seeking out the truth of Steve's words, first by visiting the Smithsonian museum where he began to discover the man he used to be. There is the implication through the scene that Bucky's reaction to this reveal is one of anger and he is going to seek out whatever remains of Hydra for further answers and revenge for what they did to him -- except that now the Capitol has made this goal impossible so long as he is their tribute.
Being in Panem will not stop Bucky trying to remember his past and understand his relationship with Steve so he can merge thar past with the present. As James Barnes was a fundamentally good man this process will be a particularly painful one as he comprehends the full horror of what he has become. Guilt is one of the primary issues Bucky is going to have to work through. He was also protective of his loved ones in his past life (the primary example being Steve) and this will translate to anyone he becomes close with in Panem. He will also have to deal with the remaining vestiges of the strict and cruel programming Hydra installed in him inhibiting his decision making and actions.
In short, Bucky arrives as an almost empty shell and his motivation is to find his missing pieces and hold onto them as tight as he can, no matter how much pain and death is thrown his way. Where this will take him is unclear but you can be damn sure he'll claw back every inch possible, if there's one aspect of his past self that will shine through it's James Barnes stubborn nature.
Setting: From his canon point Bucky has just regained his agency and to have it suddenly taken away from him again will go down just about as well as you'd expect. It's not quite the suffocating control of Hydra -- and lacking the constant memory wipes -- but he's still being used to kill for others ends and he will not be happy with that. You can bet that outside and in the arena he will be looking for a way out and possibly later on bring down the Capitol. He will not be a passive puppet for anyone anymore.
SAMPLES
First Person Thread:
[Mission Report. Standard protocol.
But the Soldier -- or asset -- or Bucky... whichever name they call him, he's not feeling particularly cooperative towards doing what the Capitol wants right now. Never mind that he woke up with the feeling of icy coldness on his cheek and the horrible sensation of falling, just the fact that he's here and having to deal with this has him clenching his jaw and sitting in silence.
He doesn't like this or know quite how to cope with the influx of emotion assaulting his battered mind. There's a queasiness in his stomach and he wishes suddenly to be cold again, to be mindlessly accepting of everything, even pain. A second later and he is angry at himself for even thinking that. He doesn't want to go back to what he was even if he's a uncertain of what he's becoming, he doesn't want to do this.
However his wants are nothing, inconsequential. There is only what they want of him. He hates it and inwardly rejoices at that knowledge because it's his, but in the end his stubborn contest with the recorder has to come to a close and it's him who loses though not without taking an impressively long time to give in.]
It never takes.
[Three short words, it's all he intends for them to get but then, maybe out of habit, maybe out of programmed response he continues.]
Mission failure.
Prose: The Soldier does not respond well to his new predicament.
After so soon defying Hydra and tasting the sweetness of what it was to have free will again the last thing he ever planned on doing was taking up killing and fighting on behalf of anyone but himself. He'd had a plan, he'd had a task he had chosen for himself and now once again he was finding his agency stripped away, turned back into a weapon to cavort for a willing audience. All that had changed was the name, HYDRA supplanted by 'Capitol' and it's so easy to switch the anger he had discovered he possessed from one to the other.
He could use every weapon in this room and all he chooses to take is a long and strong knife, grasped in his right hand. His feet pound the open floor, charging for the wall ahead and eyes murderously on the balcony above. The Soldier leaps and clamps the metal fingers of his left arm into the wall, with the right he attempts to stab the knife in and create a crude method of climbing upwards. It doesn't work as easily as it should, the cybernetic arm is just fine but he finds his flesh suddenly weaker, struggling to drive the knife deep enough to support his weight for the split second needed to lunge upwards again with the left.
In the split seconds he takes to mull over this there are cries ranging from alarm to thrilled laughter; it does not help his mood. The anger surges stronger, he forces himself upwards another few feet, seeking to end the lives of those whose who presume to take control of him once more. The rage is so much and so overwhelming after years of barely feeling anything that he notices nothing else until the impact of the blast hits him in the back.
Current shoots through his body and breaks his grip -- sending the metal arm on the fritz -- and the Soldier falls back down from the wall, hitting the ground heavily and wheezing as his limbs judder against the effect of the paralysing blast. His brief freedom is vanishing before his eyes once again, proven by the white helmeted figure who appears seconds later to knock him out.
One master for another.
What is your character scored: 10 or 11. If he was fully in the persona of the Winter Soldier it would be an undoubted 12.
In his own world the Winter Soldier is the ghost story of those in the espionage business, a legend spanning several decades who never once failed in killing his target. There are over two-dozen assassinations credited to him and the true number is likely far higher. So combat-wise Bucky is extremely well suited to the arena. He is a master of many different fighting styles from close quarters unarmed hand-to-hand to long-range and stealth tactics. From his time with Hydra he is capable of picking up a wide variety of weapons and objects and using them to kill quickly and effectively, anything from knives, explosives, garrot wires to varying models of gun and sniper rifles. As an assassin he is adept at tracking, locating and planning the take down of his given target in any numbers of ways.
Bucky was also the subject of experimentation (both before and after his apparent death) by Arnim Zola and Hydra to ape the super soldier serum that gave Captain America his powers. While it's unclear exactly how far these abilities extend they both gave him the ability to go toe-to-toe with Captain America and also in 1944 survive an extremely high fall from a moving train in the mountains that would certainly have killed a normal person. This suggests that his strength, speed, stamina, resilience and regenerative abilities are well above normal human levels. A summary of all his abilities is here.
This is not even mentioning the cybernetic arm for which the best measure of strength is that he was able to use it to carve through the side of a metal van with a knife. The metal the arm is constructed of is also strong enough to stand up to landing a direct hit on Captain America's vibranium shield as well as deflecting bullets. It is shown to be vulnerable to electrical attacks such as Black Widow's stinger discs which were able to paralyse the arms functions until removed.
Additionally in-between what could be a strength and a weakness is Bucky's current mentality. The programming still has something of a hold on him meaning that for at least his first arena he will likely seek to actively participate and aim to win as directed in the interest of getting out, however that programming is already cracked and beginning to fail, meaning he may find himself being assaulted by growing feelings of empathy and guilt as time goes on.
Name: Manda
Other characters: Clementine
IN CHARACTER
Name: James 'Bucky' Buchanan Barnes
Fandom: MCU
Canon point/AU: Post-credits scene of Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Journal:
tookthewheelPB: Sebastian Stan
History: http://marvel-movies.wikia.com/wiki/James_Barnes
Presentation: Intimidating. This word will encapsulate the presence of Bucky for some time in the Capitol and arena. He's a tall man and powerfully built, quiet and inexpressive and though he has a conventionally handsome look -- brown haired and blue eyed -- these traits will be very off-putting to those he meets in person because of his lack of obvious expression. Add to that he is an extremely brutal and efficient fighter who at his worst has little consideration for mercy and you have quite the recipe for scary.
But to the observant there are numerous tells of a man who is not taking very good care of himself, his jaw covered in perpetual stubble and his hair long and uncared for (except for when the stylists manage to get their hands on him) but not even make-up could hide the dark circles under his eyes that suggest he isn't sleeping much. For several decades Bucky has had no real control over his life, everything about his existence was decided and maintained by Hydra. As their human weapon his mind was wiped and rewritten as many times as his masters needed it to be and since escaping their control Bucky is in essence having to learn how to be human again and it is an uphill battle. But despite their best efforts he is not a complete robot and is still susceptible to very real human emotions such as fear and anger except he has lost much of what was instinctual before. Only those who are observant or who have past experience of who Bucky was before will be able to pick up on much of his emotional state.
The Capitol stylists will be seeking to play off this appearance of the 'emotionless killer' as long as they can, continuing to dress Bucky in the blacks and leathers of the Winter Soldier -- something that will work against his own recovery. The breakdown of his programming is inevitable though and with it will come more erratic behaviour and displays of emotion as the man he is now works to contend with both who he once was and the things he has done since.
You can bet the Capitol will play with that to the crowd as well, frank televised discussions of what happened to Bucky will disturb him incredibly. He's used to being a covert operative, working from the shadows, he's used to not being even thought of as a person by those surrounding him and to suddenly have the attention of thousands? He'll be very uncomfortable with this and do his absolute best to avoid the limelight. The only time Bucky will be seen at Capitol functions and in interviews are those where he has been forced in the matter (or rarely, where someone he knows has convinced him). It's lucky that in the arena he'll be able to put out of mind the fact his every action is being recorded on camera in favour of the immediate concern for survival.
Unfortunately he won't realise until it's too late that a mystery (especially a tall, dark and brooding mystery) can be incredibly intriguing to people and will probably earn him even more interest. It's practically the only way he currently knows how to deal with the attention though.
Motivations: Identity, choice and freedom. These were the themes at the core of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Bucky embodies them. He is a man who lost all and is striving to regain these parts of himself. His primary motivation right now is to understand his past and what was done to him to make him the man he is now. From the moment Steve Rogers gave Bucky his name these goals are at the forefront of everything Bucky does. He made a choice to save Steve's life and a choice to defy his masters in Hydra by doing so. With Hydra's fall he has found himself without mission or master with the ability to decide for himself what to do next.
At the moment Bucky's understanding of his past self is running almost purely on outside information, rather than his own memory. Indeed he is still in the process of coming to accept the name as his own once more, hesitating to think of himself as 'Bucky' for all his desire to know who that man was. The closest he has is an instinctual knowledge of knowing Steve which is why he was unable to bring himself to kill the man or to let him die after hearing his insistence of their friendship. Bucky is seeking out the truth of Steve's words, first by visiting the Smithsonian museum where he began to discover the man he used to be. There is the implication through the scene that Bucky's reaction to this reveal is one of anger and he is going to seek out whatever remains of Hydra for further answers and revenge for what they did to him -- except that now the Capitol has made this goal impossible so long as he is their tribute.
Being in Panem will not stop Bucky trying to remember his past and understand his relationship with Steve so he can merge thar past with the present. As James Barnes was a fundamentally good man this process will be a particularly painful one as he comprehends the full horror of what he has become. Guilt is one of the primary issues Bucky is going to have to work through. He was also protective of his loved ones in his past life (the primary example being Steve) and this will translate to anyone he becomes close with in Panem. He will also have to deal with the remaining vestiges of the strict and cruel programming Hydra installed in him inhibiting his decision making and actions.
In short, Bucky arrives as an almost empty shell and his motivation is to find his missing pieces and hold onto them as tight as he can, no matter how much pain and death is thrown his way. Where this will take him is unclear but you can be damn sure he'll claw back every inch possible, if there's one aspect of his past self that will shine through it's James Barnes stubborn nature.
Setting: From his canon point Bucky has just regained his agency and to have it suddenly taken away from him again will go down just about as well as you'd expect. It's not quite the suffocating control of Hydra -- and lacking the constant memory wipes -- but he's still being used to kill for others ends and he will not be happy with that. You can bet that outside and in the arena he will be looking for a way out and possibly later on bring down the Capitol. He will not be a passive puppet for anyone anymore.
SAMPLES
First Person Thread:
[Mission Report. Standard protocol.
But the Soldier -- or asset -- or Bucky... whichever name they call him, he's not feeling particularly cooperative towards doing what the Capitol wants right now. Never mind that he woke up with the feeling of icy coldness on his cheek and the horrible sensation of falling, just the fact that he's here and having to deal with this has him clenching his jaw and sitting in silence.
He doesn't like this or know quite how to cope with the influx of emotion assaulting his battered mind. There's a queasiness in his stomach and he wishes suddenly to be cold again, to be mindlessly accepting of everything, even pain. A second later and he is angry at himself for even thinking that. He doesn't want to go back to what he was even if he's a uncertain of what he's becoming, he doesn't want to do this.
However his wants are nothing, inconsequential. There is only what they want of him. He hates it and inwardly rejoices at that knowledge because it's his, but in the end his stubborn contest with the recorder has to come to a close and it's him who loses though not without taking an impressively long time to give in.]
It never takes.
[Three short words, it's all he intends for them to get but then, maybe out of habit, maybe out of programmed response he continues.]
Mission failure.
Prose: The Soldier does not respond well to his new predicament.
After so soon defying Hydra and tasting the sweetness of what it was to have free will again the last thing he ever planned on doing was taking up killing and fighting on behalf of anyone but himself. He'd had a plan, he'd had a task he had chosen for himself and now once again he was finding his agency stripped away, turned back into a weapon to cavort for a willing audience. All that had changed was the name, HYDRA supplanted by 'Capitol' and it's so easy to switch the anger he had discovered he possessed from one to the other.
He could use every weapon in this room and all he chooses to take is a long and strong knife, grasped in his right hand. His feet pound the open floor, charging for the wall ahead and eyes murderously on the balcony above. The Soldier leaps and clamps the metal fingers of his left arm into the wall, with the right he attempts to stab the knife in and create a crude method of climbing upwards. It doesn't work as easily as it should, the cybernetic arm is just fine but he finds his flesh suddenly weaker, struggling to drive the knife deep enough to support his weight for the split second needed to lunge upwards again with the left.
In the split seconds he takes to mull over this there are cries ranging from alarm to thrilled laughter; it does not help his mood. The anger surges stronger, he forces himself upwards another few feet, seeking to end the lives of those whose who presume to take control of him once more. The rage is so much and so overwhelming after years of barely feeling anything that he notices nothing else until the impact of the blast hits him in the back.
Current shoots through his body and breaks his grip -- sending the metal arm on the fritz -- and the Soldier falls back down from the wall, hitting the ground heavily and wheezing as his limbs judder against the effect of the paralysing blast. His brief freedom is vanishing before his eyes once again, proven by the white helmeted figure who appears seconds later to knock him out.
One master for another.
What is your character scored: 10 or 11. If he was fully in the persona of the Winter Soldier it would be an undoubted 12.
In his own world the Winter Soldier is the ghost story of those in the espionage business, a legend spanning several decades who never once failed in killing his target. There are over two-dozen assassinations credited to him and the true number is likely far higher. So combat-wise Bucky is extremely well suited to the arena. He is a master of many different fighting styles from close quarters unarmed hand-to-hand to long-range and stealth tactics. From his time with Hydra he is capable of picking up a wide variety of weapons and objects and using them to kill quickly and effectively, anything from knives, explosives, garrot wires to varying models of gun and sniper rifles. As an assassin he is adept at tracking, locating and planning the take down of his given target in any numbers of ways.
Bucky was also the subject of experimentation (both before and after his apparent death) by Arnim Zola and Hydra to ape the super soldier serum that gave Captain America his powers. While it's unclear exactly how far these abilities extend they both gave him the ability to go toe-to-toe with Captain America and also in 1944 survive an extremely high fall from a moving train in the mountains that would certainly have killed a normal person. This suggests that his strength, speed, stamina, resilience and regenerative abilities are well above normal human levels. A summary of all his abilities is here.
This is not even mentioning the cybernetic arm for which the best measure of strength is that he was able to use it to carve through the side of a metal van with a knife. The metal the arm is constructed of is also strong enough to stand up to landing a direct hit on Captain America's vibranium shield as well as deflecting bullets. It is shown to be vulnerable to electrical attacks such as Black Widow's stinger discs which were able to paralyse the arms functions until removed.
Additionally in-between what could be a strength and a weakness is Bucky's current mentality. The programming still has something of a hold on him meaning that for at least his first arena he will likely seek to actively participate and aim to win as directed in the interest of getting out, however that programming is already cracked and beginning to fail, meaning he may find himself being assaulted by growing feelings of empathy and guilt as time goes on.