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[lefthandfree]

WHO? James Buchanan Barnes and YOU! Yes, YOU!! Right there!! Hey! Come back!!!
WHAT? James around BASE + dream stuff catch-all because life punched me and I lost
WHEN? After arrival to BASE through the dream
ANYTHING ELSE? I'll match whatever format you want. Feel free to hit up multiple if you want to since I didn't do a proper tlevel in the BASE log. :c Sorry for any trouble.

Unlike during France mission where it'd be weird af for someone with a metal arm to be going around, he's got his metal arm (it's the left one) showing around BASE. He had to tear off his left sleeves, so he could wear them right, so. Yep. That's a thing to consider for the BASE prompts too. Specifically for boxing/sparring, he’ll be in a tank top. For other BASE prompts, he’s in a plain shirt and BASE jacket like a decent human being. And yes his hair is tied back.

  i. BASE - rec time best time: gym edition
Even if not for the fact that he's already fit, a part of him is more than simply grateful when he realizes there’s a space set aside for exercise. While his preference would be to also have access to some kind of track (God forbid a treadmill, but even in this instance he would likely conceded to using it), he also gets that this isn’t exactly the kind of place that would likely have everything a guy could ever want in terms of exercise. Especially with the clothes they’re offered in the state that they’re already in. The hoop is a nice touch though.

Occasionally he can be found playing eight ball by himself at the table, but most often, he occupies the sparring space, shadow boxing and shadow sparring as his mood sees fit. He’s quite skilled in all three, though more in the boxing and sparring categories rather than in billiards. His preference toward them is likely even obvious given how he’ll always work himself up into a sweat for at least a good hour before calling it quits, regardless of remaining partnerless and fighting a fake person for what would be questionably concerning had he been speaking with the fake person instead, but thankfully he is just trying to punch them. Or kick them. Or gut them with an invisible knife because using his real one would pose a hazard to everyone else in the immediate area.

Since the area is shared, he’s highly conscious of anyone approaching, smiling politely and moving out of the way if he thinks he’s obstructing someone’s path to another part of the room, but should anyone appear to be interested in joining (mostly with the billiards), he’s more than glad to had the company. And probably the practice that comes with it. Assuming he isn’t trying to help someone else improve, but he’s also quite open to offering advice, if anyone wants to ask.


  ii. BASE - shooting range
They say practice makes perfect. In his case, Bucky doesn’t even remember how it came to be. In training, he’d certainly never strived specifically for riflery mastery, yet somehow along the way, he’d become one of the best, even going on to help train others after Steve had nabbed him for the Howlies.

Shot after shot, it’s not difficult to remain on mark, especially since the only compensation he needs to account for is the physical limitations of the weapon he fires. Idly he wonders how crazy it’d be to ask for simulated wind in such an environment, but even then, the range isn’t really long enough to practice distance shots in full. At least not at the level he’s since grown accustomed to after World War 2.

While he doesn’t particularly like thinking about the likelihood or necessity to ever shoot to kill (especially not anymore), the fact comes down to needing to remain on top of his ability to at all, regardless of why he’d learned the skill in the first place. Maybe there can be other reasons he’d be shooting. There’s certainly the likelihood of switching to non-lethal weapons in order to accomplish a task. But his time spent at the range is hardly joyous, grim determination often set on his face as an extension of the gravity with which he considers the matter.

He cycles through a variety of rifles, generally avoiding handguns altogether. Old to new, new to old, scoped, unscoped, occasionally modified, never quite beyond usable. Generally he keeps each session limited to one specific weapon, but occasionally he requests a second as spare. While under all other circumstances, he’s quite open to engaging others about him, he’s much more reserved in this environment, seemingly unable to entirely detach the task of shooting from being personable separately.

If approached, he’ll respond respectfully, but those who have spoken with him before outside of these circumstances will notice that he seems much more withdrawn than usual. Should anyone ask about information or advice pertaining to the weapons or his skill, he’s open to offering tips or even a basic lesson (probably with handguns).


  iii. BASE - mess
Though the library is a fairly cozy place to settle oneself while reading, Bucky’s taken to finding an unoccupied space in the mess instead. Accompanied with a mug of artificial coffee with some artificial creamer and artificial sugar, sometimes he’s actually eating while reading. In fact, he typically takes his meals this way, with one of the book tablets as company (and very often a few birds that he’ll chat with between reading and eating).

Since the mess is where food happens, he knows people will be passing by quite often (it's why he chooses the mess to read in). When they do, he usually offers a smile and a greeting, but sometimes he might be far too engrossed in what he’s reading to notice. Especially when the crows start picking at his food that he’s clearly only in the middle of eating.


  iv. BASE - hallway (outside showers)
Loitering isn’t the most polite thing for people to do, especially in the halls, but despite being fully aware of such things, Bucky finds himself often making conversation with the crows splashing near the showers, before and after he uses them himself.

This is of course (possibly) questionable to many people because why the hell would anyone actually spend so much time lingering outside of a communal shower area? (The answer here is someone who doesn’t like spending time in his room, for you readers at home, but of course, no one really knows this except for Bucky himself.) Regardless of whatever conclusions others may draw, the guy seems to spend an awful lot of time hanging out near the doorway, sometimes standing, sometimes leaning against the wall, sometimes squatting, and all (apparently) only for the sake of making conversation with the crows that like to hang around there.

Implausible as it may be, he finds himself there, sometimes blocking the hallway like an asshole, more often than any other person likely should. While it seems like something that would get tired, it almost becomes something of a routine, especially for Bucky who is actually doing it, but obviously also for others who happen to encounter the scene every Goddamn time they go shower (which is hopefully no one, but Bucky does take one regular shower at least once a day cycle and will do another if he happened to work up a sweat in the gym).

Maybe someone should report this guy. Or even subtly discourage him from being an obvious (not to him) creeper.


  v. DREAM - let's go dancing
New York City, spring of 1940. Raucous cheer and lively conversation fills the open hall littered with adults of all ages as a swing band plays on a platform to the side of a spacious dance floor. Couples and groups are scattered about, dancing and laughing, whatever floats their fancy.

He’s there, of course. Cleaned up. Dressed to the nines. Though he can’t remember the last time he’s been in one, it’s like home away from home away from home away from home...

He remembers how it used to be, how he’d find a gal all by her lonesome, maybe even ignored by her friends, and give her something to smile about, let her go home with better memories than a bad night out with your friends. But here, after all this time, even looking as he had long ago, he can’t help but feel out of place.

Rather than finding a partner, he ends up at the bar, reliving the memory of drinking in a dream where he knows he remembers how to feel drunk, how to have fun, how to have a good time. Even knowing it’s a dream, having realized it quickly enough with when he even is, he doesn’t want to think. And least of all, he doesn’t want to wake.