thecapitol | There's a humming in the restless summer air (open)

Who| MCU!Bucky Barnes and OTA
What| Bucky's having issues, he deals with them by punching things
Where| The training level
When| Couple days prior to the jailbreak
Warnings/Notes| Violence, trauma stuff

Bucky is here under two objectives.

Practically, he needs to practice his familiarity with his body's limitations in this place, he must keep himself sharp and ready because there is a mission soon that will require him to be in top form. However there is a personal need beneath it, something new for a man like him. He needs distraction and rather than allow it to be given to him by others he has made another of his growing list of choices and come here of his volition.

They made him act to stop him thinking, then put him away into storage when those actions were done after a fresh wipe to ensure he remained in pristine condition, like a child's toy lovingly sealed into its wrapping. Though Bucky is done with wipes and cryo tanks he holds that first part to heart; if he acts he will have no time to think and there is a lot he would rather not think about. The things that are disturbing his sleep at night.

So Bucky takes to the training level of the Tribute Centre, making use of the many and varied options it offers. The training dummy's are mercilessly pummelled; various weaponry is put through its paces in expert hands; the holographic targeting practice is something he warms to quickly, throwing knives with deadly precision at multiple light-constructed opponents. If someone asks him, maybe he'll even agree to spar.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Bucky's not the only one who recently feels the need to get his frustrations out through violence. Albert's been down in the training center for an hour already practicing various hand to hand moves with military precision and trying not too be too incredibly frustrated that making his engagement with Jet a pubic farce didn't save the two a drowning death in the arena. He'd never been afraid of that before, drowning, but now there's a new thing to add to the list. Moreover, snatching victor privileges away from those who actually won, especially someone as young as Clementine (who he's never formally met, but feels protective towards by virtue of age regardless), makes him hate the Capitol all the more.

Needless to say, the punching bag isn't a satisfying opponent for all that pent up rage.

He takes a break, wiping the sweat from his neck with a towel and moving away from the bag to watch Bucky for a moment. It's a little harder to tell them apart what with the haircut, but he thinks this is the one that was oscillating around Steve at Kevin's crowning. Not that he's terribly close with either Bucky, but at least he considers Steve a friend and that means he's a little more inclined to be somewhat sociable to those he knows are also in the American's confidence.

He waits until the round cycles through on the projector before approaching. "Want to try against something more challenging than holograms?"

Every knife he throws hits a vital point. He might be slower right now but he is no less accurate. In the confined space of the range blades strikes through hearts, throats and eyes even when he ramps up the challenge to what would be insane difficulty for anyone else.

It's almost as satisfying as real combat and certainly beyond anything he's worked with before and it assures him that at the very least his skill in this area remains.

But... he turns his head as the range disengages, the glass door sliding open as the round ends. "Albert."

Bucky recognises this man from when shortly after he awoke in the Capitol, one of the time he went up to the roof and Albert mistook him for the other James Barnes. He leaves the knives for someone else to collect, exiting the range and approaching Albert instead. "What do you mean?"

Translation for yes, he would like to.

At the mention of his name, Albert inclines his head to indicate that Bucky got his name right and that he takes it as a greeting.

"I mean would you like to spar?" He smiles a little, trying to be welcoming and treat it as more exercise rather than keeping themselves sharp for the next arena. Especially considering he intends to be better in this one, to not allow the gamemakers such easy sway over his mind through food or anything else and drive him to animal instinct. He won't be killing without provocation; he'd rather die first, but... self defense is something different entirely and if he can keep Jet alive long enough to win, he'll be sated.

"Hand to hand? Since you've already worked with the knives." Which Albert's still not particularly strong with. He can do alright, but none of those fancy tricks he saw Bucky pulling.

"I am proficient." Bucky informs him. He says it matter as factly, without boast or bravado, it simply is what it is.

To the offer of sparring he is a little hesitant, uncertain of his own ability to hold back, to not go in for the final blow or to cause vicious injury. He needs... he cannot do this without boundaries being set. "What are the parameters?"

Treat it like a mission, he decides, learn what he has to do and follow it.

"Pinning ends the match? Try for no serious injuries, but I understand that can be difficult," he motions to Bucky's left arm. "We can get patched up easily enough though. As I understand it, Capitol medicine is fairly advanced."

The fever pills had worked almost immediately on Jet in the arena, and the salve for burns and bruises takes nearly no time at all. He's not worried, and in fact moves to square off with Bucky, standing across the floor mat from him and rolling his shoulders to loosen up a bit. "Let me know when you're ready."

"Understood." he flexes the metal fingers. His opponent has consented and that is all he needs to know.

Bucky shifts position just a little, "Ready." and then launches himself forward instantly after the word left his mouth. His right arm draws back for a punch aimed right at Albert's face.

The other man goes 0 to 60 in less than half a second and Albert doesn't even have time to swear before reacting. Logically, he should duck out of the way, and he sort of does, juking his head to the side just in case, but in tandem his own right arm comes up to block, slanted to sent the punch's energy dispersing instead of reverberating through his arm.

Blow averted, though smarting, Albert turns in towards Bucky a little, sending his left elbow towards the other man's ribs under the arm with which he'd thrown the punch.

His arm is knocked sideways and Bucky makes a note of Albert's reflexes when it is. His opponent is quick.

The elbow strikes in an expected counterblow and he let's it hit, snatching with his left arm through the pain for Albert's arm. Metal fingers will close tight as, with his right withdrawing, he tries to kick the other man's legs out from under him.

Not as quick as he used to be, not quick enough to twist away from Bucky's grip, though he does manage to keep his footing and pull the other man into him along with his momentum. It has the added effect of wrenching Albert's arm painfully as he can't twist it out of Bucky's grip. It's surprising he would even try, given that he's already expressed wariness of the metal arm.

Albert gasps sharply at the pain that goes shooting through his forearm, but to his credit he follows through with the throw, purposely dropping back to try and send Bucky sprawling.

As soon as they start to tilt towards the ground with each other Bucky releases Albert completely, letting himself fall into the momentum with an added push from his feet as soon as he realises he cannot recover any other way. He rolls forwards over the top of Albert, across the mat and back up onto his feet, rounding back towards his opponent in seconds.

He stills to see what position Albert had ended up in from his actions. If he's still on the floor Bucky will go in for a pin, knee to Albert's chest and grabbing his wrists.

The fall is controlled but Bucky gets away from him regardless, which Albert attributes to the sharp pains still running through his arm and loosening his grip. It takes him a moment to recover, certain something much be at least sprained, but he's in a crouch across from Bucky nonetheless when the man turns around. It's a curious pose, one knee up and directly parallel to his opponent with the other leg out and bracing. His hands rest on either side of his knee, almost like aiming a mortar.

The odd stance lasts all of a few seconds and Albert pushes to his feet instead, or at least tries to. It's an awkward position and it takes him that extra precious moment to adjust and rise. An extra moment that involves Bucky baring down on him and so the rise turns into a grapple, Albert still trapped under the other man's knee as intended but his wrists at least are free and he makes a bid to throw Bucky off even from his limited position.

There's a humming in the restless summer air (open)

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