app for sanctums

[barnesandnoble]

OOC INFORMATION
Name: remus
Contact Information: plurk @ ossans ; aim @ harmburgers
Personal Journal: dreamstars
Age: 25
Characters Played: n/a
IN-CHARACTER INFORMATION
Name: James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Age: 26-27
Canon Point: The First Avenger; just before Zola's train and the fall (queue dramatic music)
Original Universe or Alternate Universe? original universe :>
Personality:

Right from the start, Bucky is presented to us as confident, brave, and strong. Someone to be admired, surely, as he pulls a bully off of his friend and kicks his ass (literally). These are far from the unsure movements of a man who's never fought before; rather, he's used to it, knows without a doubt that he can take care of the other guy. His demeanor screams self-assurance as he saunters down the alley, beats the bully up, and dispatches him with ease. It's not hard to imagine, especially in the face of his siblings’ and Steve's smaller stature and frailty, that he's used to being the hero, admired and looked up to as he swoops in to save the day.

It's even less difficult to imagine that he takes some measure of pride in the title, having grown up the eldest of four children and thereby naturally developing a protective streak. Whether or not his siblings were already born by the time he met Steve is unknown, but it's safe to say that Steve himself both inspires and rouses that instinct in him, just as they would have. Gotta help the little guy when he can't help himself, right? Steve might be the one who starts the fights, but Bucky's the one who finishes 'em, more often than not. Hell, it's probably ingrained in him by now to start checking down alleys and the like for him, make sure he's not getting beaten to a pulp.

He wouldn't cop to it if asked, but what kid never dreamt of being a hero? If his damsel in distress happened to be a skinny little twerp, then so be it.

He's also incredibly loyal and courageous. It's a quality awoken in him by Steve, as we learn in the First Vengeance prelude comic; the first time they apparently meet is when Bucky sees Steve standing up to a group of bullies as a kid and jumps in to help him, explaining after that he never would have dreamed of doing such a thing if it weren't for seeing Steve do it first. From that point on, the boys become friends, and Bucky learns to stand up for both himself and for the things that matter. He's not afraid to take a few hits, whether they're for Steve or his country, and after learning about Pearl Harbor, it's with this sort of mindset that he follows Steve to go enlist in the army. The prospect of dying on foreign soil is daunting, to say the least, but it's something he can't let Steve do alone.

(The enlistment number he recites in the movie suggests that he was drafted, but the prelude comic depicts both he and Steve at the enlistment center together, and the Smithsonian says he signed up of his own volition as well. However, I prefer to play him as though he waited until the draft, despite being a fit young man. He's got three younger siblings and Steve to look after; he can't just leave them to fend for themselves. Family takes precedence over country, especially when you've got no one else.)

We see more examples of his loyalty later in the movie: despite being brutalized and experimented on by HYDRA, Bucky doesn’t spill any American secrets, sticking to the tactics he'd been taught and repeating his name, rank, and enlistment number instead of giving in. He's a good soldier, and an even better friend. The "I'm with you to the end of the line, pal" line is overdone to death in fandom, but it's true. We see the truth of it on Zola's train, when Steve's been shot down and Bucky picks up the shield instead. He's always been willing to lay down his life for his friend; there's no better example of his loyalty and courage than taking that hit and "dying" to protect him.

He can also be a sassy little shit, but he's nowhere near as bad as Steve. He knows when to zip it, but doesn't have any qualms being a bit of a snarker otherwise. Still, a good soldier has to be able to take orders without talking back, and Bucky is certainly a good one. Obtaining the rank of Sergeant early on in his military career indicates that he was most likely promoted due to his valor in combat, or for having shown a natural aptitude toward leadership; either way, becoming an NCO so young speaks volumes about his capability as a soldier. Additionally, his memorial in the Smithsonian exhibit states that he was a gifted athlete who also excelled at academics, meaning that he’s intelligent in his own right. Taking all that into account, it’s safe to say that Bucky fit the stereotype of everyone's favorite big brother: smart, kind, and strong, a good-natured jock-type who looks out for others.

Bucky’s also shown to be mindful of the needs of others. When taking Bonnie and Connie out with Steve at the beginning of TFA, he does pay attention to Steve, but also recognizes that he can't just leave the girls hanging and acts accordingly, taking them both dancing when Steve decides to leave the date halfway. He's a charming guy with an easy laugh and a ready smile, and knows just what to say to ensure that everyone has a good time. He doesn't lose much of that charm after coming back from the HYDRA camp, as seen in the scene in the bar, though it's wasted on Peggy, who only has eyes for Steve. It comes a little more forced than it would have had he not been captured, but it's still there. Like Steve, he's got no patience for bullies and jerks, but is quick to flash a grin at anyone else, joke with them as though they've been pals for a long while. For example, as seen in the tie-in comic, Bucky is close enough with the other prisoners in the HYDRA prison camp that they give him a nickname ("Jimmy", pft. "How many times do I gotta tell you? My friends call me Bucky," he insists) before orchestrating the death of his tormentor. He's good with people and makes friends easily, though obviously none so close as that one guy. Y'know. That nerd.

In spite of all that, Bucky changes quite a bit between the scenes in which we see him, from his last night with Steve, Connie, and Bonnie at the Expo to the next time he appears, strapped to an examination table in a HYDRA prison camp. In one of the First Avenger deleted scenes, it cuts back to Bucky and the 107th on the battlefield being devastated by HYDRA's weapons. Gone is the bold, proud look on his face as one of HYDRA's Tesseract-powered tanks decimates his fellow soldiers, replaced by one of horror and fear as he stares down what should be the vehicle of his own death. Instead, he and the other survivors are captured and put to work building HYDRA's weapons, and as a result, Bucky falls ill. He is beaten severely for not being able to work, up until the point when his fellow prisoners engineer an accident to kill the HYDRA officer perpetuating the punishment, as mentioned above. The violence, imprisonment, and eventually torture and experimentation he suffers at HYDRA's hands change Bucky from a confident smooth-talker to a darker, haunted man. And while there are still signs of the old Bucky in him, they're muted, not nearly as vibrant as they used to be.

After his rescue, we get to see a little more of that darker side of Bucky. He's not as quick to offer a smile, and his comments bite just a little more (as seen in the bar when Steve is talking to him about joining the Commandos). In his first appearance, his uniform is clean cut, spotless and wrinkle-free; after being rescued, while in the bar with Steve, his clothes are mussed, wrinkled, and he's kicking back hard liquor while everyone else is drinking beer. He's been through severe physical and mental anguish, and is obviously hardened and changed for it, but the old Bucky still shines through: he ribs Steve for being a knucklehead but is still willing to follow him back into battle.

Part of it might be a desire to get revenge for what had been done to him, but also the fact that his dumb friend is throwing himself headfirst into a fight again. He might have gone through a magical girl transformation, but no one knows just how reckless Steve is better than Bucky; the bonehead still needs someone out there to watch his back when he's too caught up to do it himself. Bucky's been described as "the darkness to Steve's light", and we see the truth of it soon after his rescue. He's quick to pull the trigger if it means protecting Steve and the Howling Commandos (what luck that they happened to be the guys who saved him in the prison camp, huh?) and doesn't think twice about taking a life. HYDRA killed the rest of his unit and did its level best to destroy him. Why the hell should he care if he kills a few of them in return? While Steve flat out tells Dr. Erskine that he doesn’t want to kill anyone, there's not a shred of remorse on Bucky’s face when he snipes a HYDRA gunman before he can take a shot — just grim determination. He isn't afraid to get his hands dirty and kill if it means protecting those important to him.

Something else that bears mentioning is the fact that he might not have been all too pleased with Steve's change. When he went to war, Steve was a 95lb punk who didn't know when to give up and usually ended up face down on the ground. The next time they met, Steve was the one saving him, and he'd become a big, 200lb guy who was so much stronger and better than Bucky could ever be. The one shred of normalcy from back home had been warped into...pretty much utter perfection. Not only that, but it was Steve. The skinny punk who, sure, could take a punch or two, but also got rashes and had asthma and got sick as easy as anything -- who the hell thought it was a good idea to send that guy out onto a battlefield? Bucky's the one who remembers little Steve, knows him better than anyone else, and that urge to protect him remains, despite Steve's transformation. He'd also have been just a little bit bitter towards Steve. Now that he was healthy and the picture of perfection, what use would he have for Bucky? His damsel in distress went out and ate a dragon, so where does that leave him? Instead of acting on that discontent, though, he adapted. Even if Steve didn't need him anymore, he'd still be there for him in whatever capacity he could. If that meant becoming his right-hand man and a gun in the shadows, then so be it. While it was a good thing that Steve was finally healthy, it uprooted Bucky from his normal place just slightly in front of him and left him searching for somewhere else to belong in relation to his friend. He found that place in protecting him from behind rather than in front, and took that duty seriously.

Despite Steve's brand new clean bill of health, Bucky still would also have held a small seed of bitterness against those responsible for letting Steve do something so dangerous and downright stupid as signing up for some crazy, never-before-tested science experiment. It didn't change how he felt about him, and maybe he was grateful for them helping Steve, but it doesn't change the fact that it was messed up of them to try it out on him. The only saving grace is that it benefited Steve, so maybe it was worth it to forgive them that.

Bucky is also incredibly observant while being remarkably blind at the same time. He was one of the few people to see Steve's innate potential (the others being Peggy Carter and Dr. Erskine) even before his transformation into Captain America — but after the fact, it leaves him feeling somewhat resentful. Steve's outsides finally match his insides, and Bucky is forced to face the knowledge that he'll never compare. Instead of feeding that resentment and letting it grow into something worse, though, he wrestles it into a stubborn determination to be able to match his friend and protect him anyway. No matter how he might change, he still knows Steve, and knows that he needs all the help he can get. Thus, somewhat ironically, Bucky is able to see Steve's greatness while completely missing his own strength of character (which is okay, because Steve is the one who sees it for him). Steve might have motivated him to act on them, but the bravery, loyalty, and kindness Bucky displays throughout his life all come from within him in the first place. He just needed a little help to draw them out, something he doesn't give himself nearly enough credit for.

Basically, Bucky is a good guy with a dark shadow. He's brave, ready to follow his best friend back into the war that nearly killed him, and loyal not only to his best friend, but to his country as well. He doesn't exactly approve of the danger Steve keeps shoving himself into, but adjusts accordingly and makes sure he's always there to have his friend's back. He may have a bit of an inferiority complex when it comes to Captain America, but doesn't get buried beneath it, instead picking himself up and pushing himself to match as best he can. He's been through awful trauma and horrible situations, but he doesn't let them drag him down, channeling all that rage and pain into a drive to keep everyone else safe. And he'll do it, no matter the cost.

Is this character immune? I want to say no 8>a
Background: wiki says hi!
Other Notables: Nothing, really! Being a trained soldier means he's an excellent sniper, experienced with weapons (mainly guns), and good at hand-to-hand combat.
Inventory:

✪ his howling commandos uniform!!
✪ a small handgun
✪ some cotton candy from coney island (blue flavor)
✪ his NCO uniform
✪ a sepia-toned photo of the howling commandos grinning in front of a busted hydra tank, with him and steve front and center

FROM MODS:
Note: Bucky's handgun will have been swapped out for one that shoots out a flag that says BANG in capitol comic sans, in addition to his inventory he'll find a cotton candy making machine with flavored sugar packets: spinach delight, apple butter dream, turkey taste, hallelujah haddock, apple pie surprise and blue raspberry, a compact of smudgey eye makeup, a domino mask, a stuffed rocket racoon plushie, and a blue taffeta gown in his size.

SAMPLES
NETWORK SAMPLE: thread in ryslig ( but just in case it's too ridiculous: )

[ he got someone else to show him how the glasses worked, so he's going to turn them on, set them down, and then move so that he's sitting in front of them. ]

Sergeant James Barnes. 32557038. [ to his credit, he doesn't fidget. he's got his uniform back on, but when he turns his head red marks can be seen along the back of his neck. someone was clawing scratching at his ports. ] I'm lookin' for someone. He's a big guy, blond hair and quick to jump into a fight. Backtalks a lot, but he don't mean anything by it. Usually.[ maybe a flash of a grin when he thinks about that, but it's gone just as quickly.

he hesitates here. he doesn't know if he's in enemy territory or not - best not to give out too much personal information. so he goes for the more easily identifiable stuff instead. ]

He carries a big shield and wears the Stars 'n Stripes across his chest, and goes by Captain America sometimes. You tell me where I can find him, and I'll think about helping you guys out. [ it's not very neighborly of him, but he figures you guys started it by kidnapping him. ] Sure seems like you guys could use a hand around here, anyway. I dunno what a- a dysthrope is, but from the sound of things, it ain't good. So I'm proposing a trade: help me find my friend, and I'll do what I can. Not sure what that is exactly; I'd think a doctor or scientist would be more help than a soldier, y'know? But a deal's a deal. I'll hold up my end if you hold up yours.

[ and a look settles over his face. it's not a good one. but he gets up anyway, moves back to pick up the glasses and turn them off. just before it cuts out, he can be heard muttering something: ] This's why I hate scientists.

LOG SAMPLE:

psl with steve c:
log from ryslig