Player Name: Gail E-mail: cacopheny @ gmail Preferred Contact: cacophony @ plurk, or PM the journal worthallthis Timezone: PST Current Characters in Victory Road: None
Character Name: James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes, currently going by Winter Soldier Series: Marvel Cinematic Universe Timeline: The end of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, before he sees the Smithsonian exhibit Canon Resource Links: MCU Wiki. Content warnings for medical torture, brainwashing, and general abuse, though the wiki skims over the details. Spoilers for various MCU movies, all of which are over a year old.
Personality: James Buchanan Barnes, known around Brooklyn as Bucky, was a friendly young man, ready with a smile and a joke to lighten the mood, good with people to the point of being charming. Of course, the flip side was he was vain, particularly about his hair, and tended towards over-confident when it came to his relationships with other people, particularly ladies. His sense of humor leaned to the sarcastic side, but he was as quick with a compliment as snark, and he had an optimistic view of the future, fascinated with science fiction and new breakthroughs in actual science.
The most important person in his life was Steve Rogers, a boy one year younger with a list of health problems as long as his arm, and a heart and sense of courage far bigger than his small stature. Bucky was protective of Steve, even over-protective, and often wound up rescuing Steve from fights he couldn’t win. They both grew up relatively poor and spent their adolescence and young adulthood in the Great Depression, which certainly left its mark. He hated waste, always needing to mend and re-use and scrounge rather than buy new, and put up with a terrible tenement apartment first with his family and later on with Steve just to save up for things like medicine and the occasional trip to Coney Island. It helped teach him patience. Above all, he was loyal to a fault and felt things deeply, from wonder to anger to love.
Then Bucky was drafted, sent to training, and then into World War II. Sergeant Barnes was a different person than the Bucky from Brooklyn. He was more guarded and less friendly, because everyone in wartime was more guarded and less friendly, but his confidence and patience translated into innate leadership skills and extra training as a designated marksman, which was its own kind of torment as a dedicated killer. After his capture and torture at Azzano, he grew even more withdrawn, using his former cocky, sarcastic demeanor as a shield against anyone seeing just how off he felt. He still felt everything deeply, and after Azzano he was feeling wrong.
He still had Steve-- albeit a Steve who didn’t seem to need him like he used to-- and he was still steadfastly loyal even to this new Steve, turning down an honorable medical discharge in order to watch his friend’s back. His over-protective streak grew from just Steve to include the entirety of the Howling Commandos, as Steve’s second in command and the sharpshooter watching above them all. Even so, Steve was still the most important.
Then Bucky fell from the train and was captured by Hydra yet again. The Winter Soldier, also called the Asset, came from what they did to him, and he was again a different person. Implacable, ruthless, calculating, endlessly patient, highly skilled... and literally stripped of the ability to choose beyond the parameters of his mission. He no longer thought of himself as a person, just a pair of hands attached to triggers, knives, and a set of orders. If left out of cryo too long, or left too long between personality wipes, he was susceptible to flashes of memory, spurts of defiance, and moments of compassion, but even those were severely punished. He learned how to anticipate the moods of his handlers and avoid punishment as much as possible, but he still never entirely believed the lies they fed him about how what HYDRA was doing was right. He was just too afraid, confused, and alone to ever do much about it-- he didn’t remember anything else.
There will be a fourth person, starting to emerge now that the Soldier has escaped captivity and the constant threat of getting his brains scrambled, with memories slowly starting to coming back, but just what that person will be like is hard to say.
Pokémon Information Affiliation: Breeder Starter: Female Absol, who will probably remain nameless for some time Password: Atomic Fireball
Samples RP Sample: Meme thread that’s very long, sorry >.>
Victory Road Sample: Waiting is something the Soldier thought he did well. It was required on missions, even between missions, to be patient for hours on end, to be still and not move, to not attract attention. It was required before the missions, though he doesn’t know how he knows that. (Must be something to do with the Target. Everything before the missions probably has to do with the stupid Target. It’s not like he remembers anything else.)
The point is, waiting for more than a week for eggs to hatch should have been fine, especially when stopping for the night and putting the clutch where he can see them and the Absol can curl around them. But it is not fine. It’s long and upsetting. It is… well, it’s not agony, he knows what agony feels like, and this isn’t it. This is itchy and restless and he finds himself unable to hold still, pacing around the campfire. Getting wordlessly scolded by the Absol for pacing, and then stopping. Fingering the steak knife he... borrowed from a restaurant, safely hidden in his pocket, not because he wants to use it but because it calms him down to remind himself it’s there. Then pacing again.
This whole “breeding” thing is terrible. Clearly.
The Absol whuffs lightly, and he stops, abashed again, but she’s not scolding him this time. She’s nudging one of the eggs with her nose, curling a paw around it. The Soldier comes to crouch at her side, and she nudges it closer to him.
What? What is he supposed to do with it? He’s been carrying the things for her all day, picking one up now isn’t likely to do anything, is it? But he reaches out-- flesh hand, not metal-- and before he can touch, the egg... cracks. Yanking his hand back, terrified maybe he broke something, maybe he damaged it, he winds up falling right back on his ass in his haste. The Absol rumbles, but it’s not a warning sound, not a growl, then mutters her name, the only word he’s ever heard her use. (That’s normal. Everyone says so. It’s very weird. But then, it’s not like he talks much, either.)
Another crack. Another. Then the damn thing is glowing and oh god what is he supposed to be doing, here. This isn’t the itchy waiting, it’s sheer terror, but-- not the terror of the Chair or the missions. It’s kind of like the fear of punishment, but there’s no one here to punish him but the Absol, and she’s clearly not been keen to do that. None of the pokemon have been. It’s fear of doing something wrong, but not because he expects to be hurt because of it, because he doesn’t want to hurt something else because of it.
The glow fades and leaves scattered bits of eggshell, and one small, fluffy, miniature version of the Absol. It uncurls, blinks, yawns, and toddles over to where he’s sitting in the dirt to climb up into his lap... and the Soldier feels his face doing a strange thing. Both relaxing and curling up strangely at the edges, crinkling around the eyes. The Absol croons and nuzzles at his knee, before wrapping herself around the remaining eggs to wait some more. But there’s a cute little baby, that he maybe helped bring into the world, chirping “Absol” on his thigh, nudging his hand until he pets it, and. He’s not afraid.
Okay, fine. Maybe this breeding thing isn’t that bad.
James "Bucky" Barnes/Winter Soldier | MCU | Not Reserved
Name: Gail
E-mail: cacopheny @ gmail
Preferred Contact: cacophony @ plurk, or PM the journal worthallthis
Timezone: PST
Current Characters in Victory Road: None
Character
Name: James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes, currently going by Winter Soldier
Series: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Timeline: The end of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, before he sees the Smithsonian exhibit
Canon Resource Links:
MCU Wiki. Content warnings for medical torture, brainwashing, and general abuse, though the wiki skims over the details. Spoilers for various MCU movies, all of which are over a year old.
Personality:
James Buchanan Barnes, known around Brooklyn as Bucky, was a friendly young man, ready with a smile and a joke to lighten the mood, good with people to the point of being charming. Of course, the flip side was he was vain, particularly about his hair, and tended towards over-confident when it came to his relationships with other people, particularly ladies. His sense of humor leaned to the sarcastic side, but he was as quick with a compliment as snark, and he had an optimistic view of the future, fascinated with science fiction and new breakthroughs in actual science.
The most important person in his life was Steve Rogers, a boy one year younger with a list of health problems as long as his arm, and a heart and sense of courage far bigger than his small stature. Bucky was protective of Steve, even over-protective, and often wound up rescuing Steve from fights he couldn’t win. They both grew up relatively poor and spent their adolescence and young adulthood in the Great Depression, which certainly left its mark. He hated waste, always needing to mend and re-use and scrounge rather than buy new, and put up with a terrible tenement apartment first with his family and later on with Steve just to save up for things like medicine and the occasional trip to Coney Island. It helped teach him patience. Above all, he was loyal to a fault and felt things deeply, from wonder to anger to love.
Then Bucky was drafted, sent to training, and then into World War II. Sergeant Barnes was a different person than the Bucky from Brooklyn. He was more guarded and less friendly, because everyone in wartime was more guarded and less friendly, but his confidence and patience translated into innate leadership skills and extra training as a designated marksman, which was its own kind of torment as a dedicated killer. After his capture and torture at Azzano, he grew even more withdrawn, using his former cocky, sarcastic demeanor as a shield against anyone seeing just how off he felt. He still felt everything deeply, and after Azzano he was feeling wrong.
He still had Steve-- albeit a Steve who didn’t seem to need him like he used to-- and he was still steadfastly loyal even to this new Steve, turning down an honorable medical discharge in order to watch his friend’s back. His over-protective streak grew from just Steve to include the entirety of the Howling Commandos, as Steve’s second in command and the sharpshooter watching above them all. Even so, Steve was still the most important.
Then Bucky fell from the train and was captured by Hydra yet again. The Winter Soldier, also called the Asset, came from what they did to him, and he was again a different person. Implacable, ruthless, calculating, endlessly patient, highly skilled... and literally stripped of the ability to choose beyond the parameters of his mission. He no longer thought of himself as a person, just a pair of hands attached to triggers, knives, and a set of orders. If left out of cryo too long, or left too long between personality wipes, he was susceptible to flashes of memory, spurts of defiance, and moments of compassion, but even those were severely punished. He learned how to anticipate the moods of his handlers and avoid punishment as much as possible, but he still never entirely believed the lies they fed him about how what HYDRA was doing was right. He was just too afraid, confused, and alone to ever do much about it-- he didn’t remember anything else.
There will be a fourth person, starting to emerge now that the Soldier has escaped captivity and the constant threat of getting his brains scrambled, with memories slowly starting to coming back, but just what that person will be like is hard to say.
Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Breeder
Starter: Female Absol, who will probably remain nameless for some time
Password: Atomic Fireball
Samples
RP Sample:
Meme thread that’s very long, sorry >.>
Victory Road Sample:
Waiting is something the Soldier thought he did well. It was required on missions, even between missions, to be patient for hours on end, to be still and not move, to not attract attention. It was required before the missions, though he doesn’t know how he knows that. (Must be something to do with the Target. Everything before the missions probably has to do with the stupid Target. It’s not like he remembers anything else.)
The point is, waiting for more than a week for eggs to hatch should have been fine, especially when stopping for the night and putting the clutch where he can see them and the Absol can curl around them. But it is not fine. It’s long and upsetting. It is… well, it’s not agony, he knows what agony feels like, and this isn’t it. This is itchy and restless and he finds himself unable to hold still, pacing around the campfire. Getting wordlessly scolded by the Absol for pacing, and then stopping. Fingering the steak knife he... borrowed from a restaurant, safely hidden in his pocket, not because he wants to use it but because it calms him down to remind himself it’s there. Then pacing again.
This whole “breeding” thing is terrible. Clearly.
The Absol whuffs lightly, and he stops, abashed again, but she’s not scolding him this time. She’s nudging one of the eggs with her nose, curling a paw around it. The Soldier comes to crouch at her side, and she nudges it closer to him.
What? What is he supposed to do with it? He’s been carrying the things for her all day, picking one up now isn’t likely to do anything, is it? But he reaches out-- flesh hand, not metal-- and before he can touch, the egg... cracks. Yanking his hand back, terrified maybe he broke something, maybe he damaged it, he winds up falling right back on his ass in his haste. The Absol rumbles, but it’s not a warning sound, not a growl, then mutters her name, the only word he’s ever heard her use. (That’s normal. Everyone says so. It’s very weird. But then, it’s not like he talks much, either.)
Another crack. Another. Then the damn thing is glowing and oh god what is he supposed to be doing, here. This isn’t the itchy waiting, it’s sheer terror, but-- not the terror of the Chair or the missions. It’s kind of like the fear of punishment, but there’s no one here to punish him but the Absol, and she’s clearly not been keen to do that. None of the pokemon have been. It’s fear of doing something wrong, but not because he expects to be hurt because of it, because he doesn’t want to hurt something else because of it.
The glow fades and leaves scattered bits of eggshell, and one small, fluffy, miniature version of the Absol. It uncurls, blinks, yawns, and toddles over to where he’s sitting in the dirt to climb up into his lap... and the Soldier feels his face doing a strange thing. Both relaxing and curling up strangely at the edges, crinkling around the eyes. The Absol croons and nuzzles at his knee, before wrapping herself around the remaining eggs to wait some more. But there’s a cute little baby, that he maybe helped bring into the world, chirping “Absol” on his thigh, nudging his hand until he pets it, and. He’s not afraid.
Okay, fine. Maybe this breeding thing isn’t that bad.