At The Genuine Thanks, Julius Pauses. He Shrugs, A Tad, Not Sure How To Respond To Those Words, So He

he can feel a headache threatening him, more out of annoyance than any actual sheer anger. julius inhales, running a hand through his hair as if that'll help. what an insistent little- "neither of those colours would suit me." he sees sonic frown, and quickly amends, "but. if i must choose.... ginger. i suppose." sonic smiles then, and julius huffs, "....you'll not stop until i relent, will you."

"yeah, i know you know what wigs are," sonic returns, smirking at the scowl that julius gives him, "i'm thinking blonde. or maybe a ginger." his hand lifts up, 'framing' julius' face through some of his fingers as though imagining it. "we can grab one'a those massive floppy rimmed hats, for the sun."

obviously some of these inspire more than others, but they're all facets i try and keep in mind to some degree whenever i write for julius. if i feel up to it i may elaborate more on why these characters specifically inspire my portrayal of julius. it's hard to get my thoughts together to properly explain stuff like that in depth tho because i always worry i'm not expressing myself well enough.

why are you so damned sensitive⸻

⸻you just marinate⸻

damned sensitive⸻

⸻marinate

⸻

⸻

.....

"we are merely getting to know one another" distant, though through a haze, or muffled from underneath water. he blinks, but doesn't move. simply stands there, gaze looking a tad duller than it even did in his waking day to day. which was saying something, how detached he felt normally. "i.... i M SOROY- unkwo- somet-" he blinked, a hand moving to slam against the side of his own head, as if wanting to jostle himself out of whatever stupor or state he were in⸻ all it served to do was making that pounding in his head worse, but his hearing did come back to him somewhat.

lips. what had stone's lips said. he blinked, focusing on the movement he had just seen a few seconds ago. 'i am sorry' 'didn't mean to upset you'.

julius scoffs. gaze lowering away from stone. he shrugs briefly. "hardly something to get upset over." he could feel it, that churning sensation; like a rolling fire, stoking and trying to vault higher but he was pushing that down. no no no stop stop⸻

stone instinctively took a step back when he saw how quickly the man's demeanor had changed, though he knew ultimately if julius chose to attack him there wasn't really much that he could do. in a way he had been unknowingly provoking the man, it seemed, not that he had any real way of knowing.

whatever feeling of annoyance and boredom stone had previously felt was quickly replaced with dread, like his instincts were telling him to try and run and yet... he didn't. he just stood there, staring aimlessly at the man.

something was wrong, and stone was almost sure the man was currently experiencing some form of PTSD. he'd seen it firsthand during his time with G.U.N, and for a moment stone's expression softens before he hears the words the man uttered next, whatever sympathetic words of his own getting lost entirely.

"we are merely getting to know one another," stone replies as he refrains from moving further away from him, a bit of him on guard regardless if the man chose to suddenly snap. "I... I am sorry, if I unknowingly triggered something with what I was saying. I did not mean to upset you..."

there's a little gasp, he sounds and looks genuinely touched by the gesture. "oh you shouldn't have!" he's lifting the heart out of that box, not caring about the blood staining his gloves, "this brings back memories~," & just like last time, julius makes direct eye contact with imad and chomps into that heart, tearing into it and then chewing a tad before swallowing,

"even better than it was last time."

💌 watch it be a heart, again ;P

send 💌 for a valentine’s day gift from my muse to yours!

indeed it is, only this time the heart is in a decorative box with black wrapping paper and a red bow to complete it. he remembered very well how julius reacted last time to this sort of gift, and was a bit curious to see if that reaction would be the same or differ.

"for you, my sweet."

he's tugged, led really. eyes flicked down, blurred and blackened around the edges. like straws narrowed in and zoomed in on the fact that the hand was still gripped onto his jacket. oh. no one had ever done that before. why was that so...? why was julius so focused in on that? he couldn't look away from that hand on his jacket, to the point where he did bump into him when they stopped abruptly.

julius stumbled back a step, muttering a quickly, flustered and spluttered, "er, s-sorry! i didn't mean to bump into you," finally tears his eyes away in order to look at the place. his eyes widened, a sucked in stuck breath at the sight. glory that had to be the fanciest looking building he's ever seen. "whoa." decent? julius wasn't sure his wallet could afford it from just looking at the building alone.

· 𓂃 ࣪˖🔪 ˖ ࣪𓂂 . "Mhmmm," hummed back before giving Julius' jacket a tug for him to follow. "There's this place just down the block." Assured as he makes his way down pavement, still not letting go of the other's jacket as he lead to the shop. Just to abruptly stop in front of the place so that they intentionally bump into one another. "Here. It's not the best place, but it's decent." They're in the nicer part of Gotham after all, so decent is good really. He's just a bit spoiled.

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."

curious, julius glanced over when he noted movement, and saw sonic rummaging around the grass. what was he doing? then, sonic's picking up a - rock? julius' eyebrow raised. tossing, it skips before going into the water. sonic mentions it not being 'flat' enough. if that's the case.....

he bends down, gloved hand feeling through the grass, until he feels a sizeable rock, flatter than sonic's. smirking, julius lifted it and closed an eye, staring at the pond as if that'd help him aim better.

he tossed that rock, and it skipped about several times before finally submerging. a smile crossed julius' expression at the realization. hmph. how stupid.

at that, sonic gave a soft, understanding smile. he shrugged a little bit, "no problem," then thought about what to talk about. not like he and julius ran with the same circles, or really talked outside of fighting or battle quips. his gaze lowers to the grass, fingers roamed until he felt a small pebble. lifting it up, sonic tossed that rock and watched it skip across the pond about twice before sinking, "drat, not flat enough."

"Robotnik will lead your squadron," their supervisor announced, lowering that page back onto the clipboard. he was about to turn away from them all, but julius stepped forward, clearing his throat,

"Sir, with respect, i-" he motioned over to stone, "erm, shouldn't Stone be leading the squadron. he's far more capable than i-"

"you've got rank and seniority, Robotnik."

"so?" julius said it without thought, and the supervisor seemed almost offended that julius dare question his decisions. "stone's got better experience in the field, and he's-"

"YOU are the leader, Robotnik."

julius' eyebrow twitched, and he exhaled, nodding.

"hey, don't sweat it jules," wolfe grinned, clasping a hand onto julius' arm. julius gave him a small, polite smile, "i trust you."

the others in the squadron all pat julius' shoulder, agreeing in their own ways. clearly trying to blow air under his sails, and he enjoyed their company, but he doubted their opinions. they hadn't seen how abysmal his files were on field work. he could gather samples and scout things, but actual physical missions that required sheer tact, understanding and know-how on leading?

was the room spinning? did he feel warmer? he felt a hand cupped at his face, then, and julius blinked, "julius, look at me," stone's voice. and julius did, glanced over at stone, staring down at him. stone smiled, "you can do this. and even if you think you can't, you can work at it until you improve."

stone always knew how to put things in a way that julius respected. he nodded, expecting stone to pull his hand away. stone's gloved hand lingered against his face, though. julius blinked, head lilting to the side a touch. what-?

stone's hand slipped away, and he gripped at julius' wrist, tugged him so that way julius began to walk alongside stone, "come on, i can run you through some basic potential field scenarios so you can study."

👀

"no." the speed and sharpness with which julius answered that question. he didn't hesitate. an eyebrow rose in criticism, "am I supposed to? why? sentimentality? nostalgia?"

I am the Vampire Lestat. I'm immortal more or less. The light of the sun, the sustained heat of an intense fire-these things might destroy me. But then again, they might not.