Time Was An Odd Concept To Julius: Never Aging, He Hadn't Really Needed To Think About How Long It'd

mother and father issues are so valid like yeah i do take issue with the way you two behaved. Actually

sonic's doesn't go quite nearly as far as his had, which causes him to puff with silent glee. julius is in the midst of finding an even flatter rock, wanting to skip it the absolute farthest so sonic can't hope to catch up, when sonic mentions station square and a festival, of all things.

he stills, staring down at the grass. knelt on a knee, he glances over at sonic, gaze squinting at him behind those sunglasses. holding that rock, but he doesn't move to try and throw it. thumb roams along that flat top of the rock tucked between his fingers. "....and." his voice is rather flat, weary.

he waits, knowing. julius was always a curious, competitive kinda guy. it doesn't take long before he's in the grass, and sonic watches him with a small smile, before julius is tossing that rock. it does go pretty far, and at that, sonic whistles, impressed,

"hey, not bad." a thumbs up. his hand grabs another errant rock, and tosses it, watches it go about five before sinking. finally, his mind settles on something. knows it's a long shot, but sonic wants to try,

"you know. station square's got some kind of festival coming up. think they're setting up stalls on a cleared out street."

his gaze flicks off to the side. a little breath leaving him as his lips press together. before julius looks back toward roman, and then very swiftly and without warning SLAMS his fist across roman's face. only to grab his skull with his other hand and stop roman from going flying as he probably would've from the force of the impact. & then, still holding roman by said skull, julius floats off the ground, roman uselessly dangling. his grip on roman's hair is tightening, and his voice is still calm, a slight ice to the tone, "you needn't be so rude, roman. we're merely talking." at this height, if julius dropped him, roman would no doubt break a leg or an arm. maybe both.

· 𓂃 ࣪˖🔪 ˖ ࣪𓂂 . There's a clear shift in the room as he's approached. But it just makes Roman mimic standing a straighter back, even if he was shorter in comparison to Julius but that never intimidated him before. He's too stubborn after all.

Which is why when change to adjust response is given he just tilts head in a scoff. And he stares back into dark sunglasses that contrasted the pink tint of his own. "Why? You obviously heard me."

jaw flexes minutely upon realizing who julius is face to face with. instantly, his crimson red irises began to glow, piercing through even the darker tint of his sunglasses. chaos energy licked along his fingers and arms in the form of a darker red electricity,

"COMMANDER," there's no affection to his tone. in fact, one could only call the words that spill from julius' mouth mocking, "how nice to see you again. i expect the cavalry will be arriving shortly to try and take me in. again."

@towerfcllen

⸻ ft. imad stone x julius robotnik ⸻

( "i can't lose you." )

crafted by iggy & marker.

he sensed it behind him, head lilting and shifting up a fraction as that sensation of another world's chaos energy washed over his back. tingled at his skin, thrummed along his own chaos energy like a disorganized harmony losing it's foot and placement. he inhaled, tasting that sensation of chaos energy that he hadn't felt nearby in years⸻

he turned, to face him. knowing without needing look, who it was. stone. & yet, different: older, clearly, a different emotion or perhaps lack thereof clouded his once bright eyes. julius could tell at a glance that this stone had been through quite the life.

& then stone spoke, or began to, "you're not my...." catches himself, redirects, "you are not the man i had hoped to find here."

no contractions. interesting. to denote distance? or were it a sign of silent strength and formality on stone's end? were it anyone else that had said such a thing, the words would have ghosted through julius. he would've barely bat an eye. but, hear those words, coming from that face? with his voice (even if the cadence and grit were different, sharper)? these words SPEARED HIM, felt like his heart was being torn into. at most, julius' lip twitched along the corners. his gaze narrowed behind obscuring sunglasses. but he didn't look away from stone.

he stepped forward. & then he walked forward with purpose and almost hurried nature to his steps. not a word, before he's grabbing stone by the arm and pulling him forward, leaning down and hugging him. his gloved hands are shaking somewhat as his palms press into and his fingers dig into the back of stone's jacket. julius' eyes closed behind those sunglasses, head shifting and lilting inward, towards stone's.

closed starter with @drrobctnik.

how long had it been since he last saw the doctor? he had lost count as the weeks slowly turned to months, and months to years. the last he had seen of the man was the transmission he sent out before choosing to save the earth from its demise.

why had he done that? because of him?

had the doctor just taken him with him to the ark the earth wouldn't have mattered! instead he chose to be a savior at the end of it, and though the transmission was meant to bring closure it did anything but for the sycofriend.

if anything it drove stone mad, and the man soon was toiling away in one of robotnik's hidden lairs. grief stricken and feeling a whirlwind of emotion he works on failed experiments from the man for longer than he could remember. then he got to thinking about the multiverse, and how if it were true then the doctor was still alive. there was a timeline where he lived, and stone was still with him. the thought floored him, and if he could find said timeline he could easily eliminate that stone and take his place, and have the doctor back right where he belonged.

years he spent researching, years he spent studying those stupid rings and seeing if they were capable of multiversal travel. in the end he was right, and as a portal opened up he could see robotnik on the other side. not wasting a moment he quickly steps through, but it was only when the man looked utterly baffled at what just happened that he knew something wasn't right.

he did not look like the doctor, save for them having the same face, no. something was definitely wrong. the realization however happened slowly, as by the time it had struck the portal had closed and the ring outright disappeared. then he focuses his attention back on the man, taking a moment to gather his thoughts before finally speaking.

"you are not my..." he pauses again, feeling a lump form in his throat before he swallows it down and continues. "you are not the man I had hoped to find here."

at the question, a laugh bubbles out of him, the sound equal parts disbelief that stone is genuinely asking, and maybe some shock that someone wants to hear. mostly, a sort of bitterness, at everything and everyone else⸻

"....h," voice catches, stuttered breaths, gasped exhale. feeling that squeezing on his shoulder, julius grips at stone's hand so tightly. & yet it's conscious enough at least to ensure he isn't hurting stone while doing so. if julius weren't careful he was more than capable of shattering stone's hand without much thought. "horrible thoughts, or at least i've been told they're horrible. directly, indirectly."

his fingers twitch but still upon feeling stone's skin on the top of his hand. his gaze is darting along the ground as he tries to piece together what it is he wants to say, how to say it. whether or not it'll make sense. whether or not he means it. whether he should. can he?

finally, julius glances upward, meeting stone's face. he pauses, gaze locked with stone's. though that self-conscious, anxiety spiked pit of himself wanted to look away, afraid, he didn't. wouldn't. h-he had to, face this, even if it meant being vulnerable. only with stone,

"i wanted, to give you everything. i thought you deserved a throne. if you'd wanted to kill everyone, then i'd help you with that. not because i get any real joy out of it ⸻ well, maybe a little ⸻ but it'd mostly be by proxy of you. knowing that's what you wanted. ....so long as you're, fulfilled, then i'd be content just to be there."

he trails off, gaze dropping again.

there's more, of course there is. that barely scratches the surface, and julius isn't even certain that he's explained that properly. he's never trusted his own words. he could barely make sense of his own emotions mentally, how was he supposed to vocalize his wants and desires in a way that anyone else would understand, or listen to, let alone ever accept or view as 'healthy' or 'good'?

whatever brief smile stone had on his face was wiped away instantly when he heard what julius said, which caused stone's blood to run cold. 'I can't lose you', words that paralleled the ones he had said to ivo in desperate attempt to get him to stop what he and his grandfather had planned. he clears his throat at that as he buries the memory, planning to revisit it at another point in time.

at least he seemed to have an idea on what happened to this robotnik's stone...

he listens to him, his grip on julius' shoulder never faltering. if anything, he gives it a gentle squeeze, a silent affirmation that stone would not judge him for anything he was saying or would say.

"what thoughts do you have?" he asks, voice soft as he waits for julius to answer.

my beautiful manic princess

"How can you like these very toxic and horrible characters that have done despicable and unforgivable things?" oh it's quite simple actually, this is fiction and I think with my dick.

grateful it were just he and sonic again. truthfully, he had only really come to this event because it was sonic that had asked him to. he never would've set foot at one of these shindigs, otherwise.

at sonic's laugh, julius scoffs a breath, "for someone panicked, you certainly kept your cool." naturally, julius thought, and based on sonic's little smirk he seemed to agree.

"yea, well, y'made it pretty easy. nice italian by the way."

"mmn," he hummed, not sure how to respond to that genuine compliment. his scalp itched but he couldn't do anything about that due to this damned wig. "why were you so insistent on dragging me here." he can't help the bluntness to his tone, all of that stimuli from the sounds, smells, let alone the massive crowd, was beginning to irk him more and more as the seconds passed.

amy's eyes were practically sparkling as she listened to ian & sonic's exchange, her attentions rapt on sonic in particular, "wow sonic, you sounded so good!" at that, sonic grinned over at her and flashed a thumbs up, "oh gosh, let's see if i remember any words..." turning to face ian, she smiled up at him and spoke, her cadence slowing down and sounding a tad broken up. "il tuo cappello è bello."

"Oh, grazie."

"that in mind, i'm gonna take ian to grab some grub." sonic didn't want make julius feel more pressured, and that meant getting him away from the trio. especially tails, if anyone of them might start pulling the ruse apart it'd be his little buddy. planning to meet up later, sonic 'ian' and the others all went their separate ways.

it wasn't until they were fully out of earshot and eyesight that sonic started speaking to julius normally again, "whew, i panicked there for a second!" he lets out a softer laugh, "i was torn between italian or russian, but i thought that italian would be the safer bet!"