Jaw Flexes Minutely Upon Realizing Who Julius Is Face To Face With. Instantly, His Crimson Red Irises

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."

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.

it'd be fun, the thought floats through julius' mind when stone wonders what the point in slaughtering those that'd be working for him, and because it's chaotic. his expression twitches, a fraction, but julius stifled that. breathed through it, refocusing, through the slight tinny ringing of his ears as stone wonders what would be a challenge to julius, then.

"...." he shrugs, not sure how to answer that initially. no one had ever asked him that, before. not earnestly. it takes him barely a fraction of a second to think of a response, "fighting sonic." though even as he says this, there's an odd, fondness to julius' voice ⸻ as though sonic weren't an enemy of his, but an old friend? perhaps a rival?, "sonic's one of the few creatures that can match my power," maybe even exceed it, if the little hedgehog bothered to try, "so fighting him is thrilling. it's exciting because it's new and i don't know what to expect, i can't predict him."

"you deflect my questions and it only serves to further my curiosity towards all of this," stone says as he rests his hands behind his back, nodding along to what the man was saying.

however when it came down to him mentioning 'needlessly slaughtering' stone's expression changed. now becoming one of confusion.

"what? no, why would I do that? what sense would there be in slaughtering the people I'd want to work for me? I don't want them dead at all." well... not all of them, of course. "what would be a challenge to you, then?"

the silence was strangling. felt like it had a vice grip on his throat, threatening to close up his windpipe. great job being quiet, julius, you stupid piece of shit⸻ say something. SAY SOMETHING, FUCKING TALK⸻

"......i'm," his fingers shift, and he moves to rub a hand along the side of his own neck, not looking at stone as he says this, "i'm sorry you never got to tell ivo," that felt strange to say, "the things you wanted to." he felt jealousy nip in his chest and knew that was irrational and stupid. he barely knew stone after all. & clearly they were both lonely from, everything either of them had gone through. but julius wanted to throw caution to the wind and let himself feel jealous, want stone, want, want⸻ he always wanted but never knew how or if he should sate that wanting. if he had the right to.

what had stone called it? marinating? just marinating, coasting through life, he supposed. doing what he felt he had to. a death without dying.

he exhaled, not sure he had it in him to explain more. there was so much more he felt he wanted to say, it was conflicting. he was scared that if he didn't now, the opportunity might never present itself again. he wondered if that itself was irrational, or maybe stupid, or naive. too emotional, too sensitive. he also couldn't stand the silence. wanted to speak with stone, but didn't know how. was he afraid of judgment? rejection? stone recoiling?

was he scared more, maybe, of stone stepping forward to meet him, and accepting it? what would that mean? to be seen, accepted, wanted not in spite of his ugliness or his horrors or his darkness but because of it.

"...i want," he swallowed, inhaled shortly, exhaled, and finally looked at stone again, "i want to tell you. i do. i just... i don't know how. no one's, ever bothered to ask, before. to want to know," he isn't sure how to express that, so he, he just lays a palm against his own chest. as if to silently say 'to know me', all of him.

stone knew by the silence that seemingly yet again he'd said the wrong thing, and a small part of him was starting to grow irritated at that fact. he tries to do his best to listen and be reassuring but it's perceived as anything but, and he practically has to stop himself from letting out a frustrated sigh at the entire scenario.

he knew very well when to pick and choose his battles, and right now his annoyance was not needed nor welcomed.

so instead of speaking and potentially further souring things between them he just stands there, arms resting loosely over his chest as he watches julius stand up. there really wasn't much in the way of anything that he could say to the man, it seemed.

how rude. he stares across at her, but doesn't have it in him to be snide. much as her comment stings. julius never could be mean, not to her. least of all because of what she represented, in his mind. "i'll take that as a compliment," & with an overexaggerated flourish of his left hand, julius bows, smirking somewhat.

"it seems like no matter the name he goes by- my cousin is always odd."

he was impatient, head lilting upwards to stare up at the very obvious security camera zooming in on julius standing there in front of the door. julius focuses, can feel colin's energy signature, and simply teleports into that office room with him, now standing directly behind colin.

hands gently clasp colin's shoulders, and julius leans forward to speak lowly beside colin's face, "why, is that relief i hear in your voice~?" his fingers squeeze so carefully, but julius doesn't move to let go of colin's shoulders. then, julius remembers and does let go, because he doesn't want to make colin feel uncomfortable or trapped,

"now don't i feel special." very suddenly, julius has teleported to across colin's office desk, standing on the opposite side of it before sitting on the edge of the front of the desk, careful not to muss any of the paperwork. his left leg crosses over his right leg, eyebrow raised. julius isn't wearing his sunglasses, so those bright crimson red irises and black sclera are on full display for colin to see.

& despite the otherworldly hues, julius gaze looks warm as he looks across at colin. he even smiles, fleetingly.

@drrobctnik

"Knew all along you weren't dead."

The protracted, nasal drawl in Snively's voice is especially evident in this moment, as he leans back in the office chair and smirks at the image of Julius Ivo Robotnik filling his tablet screen.

Relief, tacit approval, even a touch of admiration, belie his cockiness.

"Motber fucker."

PSA: WHAT IS BLOCKING?

Blocking is;

A way to not see a particular user & their posts

A way to cultivate your space

A way to avoid conflict

Blocking ISN'T;

Inherently selfish & immature

Something you need an explanation for

'An awful thing to do to someone'

There's this odd movement of people trying to de-normalize blocking users. Trying to hide behind excuses such as "you need to communicate with your partners, it's immature to block someone out of the blue" and... No??? No. More likely than not, people who tend to get blocked the most by users are strangers they don't vibe with or rp partners they didn't even interact with that they no longer see themselves interacting with for any reason. More people need to see it as a red flag when people get super genuinely upset when one of the billions of people on the internet block them "out of the blue". If you cannot handle being blocked online, whether it's someone you apparently know, or some random who might've just fat fingered the block button and doesn't even know you exist, you shouldn't be online. Are there freak scenarios where someone shouldn't block someone? Maybe, but people should prioritize their mental health and simply block someone instead of engaging with someone out of obligation. This is a hobby, I can click what button I please. Not to say people will block their mutuals willy-nilly or you should be walking on eggshells, but it's time to stop viewing blocking someone as a "bad thing" or a "last resort".

he blinks, noting the firmness of johnny's grasp, but also the quickened enthuse with which he shook julius' hand. at that, his gaze narrowed, a soft smile crossing his expression. especially at how casually johnny spoke with him. "actually, it's customary to only give your last name when speaking to others. part of G.U.N's protocols. wouldn't want you getting in trouble with the higher ups if they overhear you." or having another soldier ratting johnny out.

then, though, johnny calls him roberto and julius can't hide the skewed expression of light surprise and confusion at that- wait, roberto? not to mention, johnny was speaking far too informally, it'd get him in plenty of trouble. julius chews at the tip of his tongue as he considers how in the heck he's supposed to respond to all of that.

...the way that johnny's speaking, talking, going on, it's so bizarre it's oddly refreshing, in it's own right.

"i'm.... sorry about your hair. it's required and mandatory, a lot of things are around this place. but uhm, if it's any relief, i think the style you have now looks fine enough." he trails, thinking about the things johnny asked about how julius kept any sanity here.

"....well," he, didn't know how to answer that, "i just do as i'm told. and i try to keep my head down. i'd be perfectly fine as a rank-and-file soldier, boots on the ground," so then why was he so desperate in trying to gain more ranking here? his father. julius keeps any bitterness deep within, not letting that flint of possible fire any air to grow, "but... it would be nice to have a bit more, ah, leeway?"

"i'm sure you'll adjust in time, bravo." he clears his throat, and steps back, giving a small smile, "did you want to walk around the base? i can give you a mini tour of sorts. i know it took me a few weeks to really remember where every hallway led to, or where to rush to when an alarm went off."

Sheesh. Even just one year in this place sounded so overwhelming at the moment, it was hard to believe anyone would want to stick around for that long. But Johnny supposed that he'd already signed himself up for this, so there was no backing out now...

Johnny looked down at the other man's hand for a brief moment, then took it in his own to give him a shake—Robotnik would notice that he had a rather firm grip, and shook with a hasty enthusiasm.

"Well, I'm Johnny! Johnny Bravo!" Alas, he wasn't quite as familiar with the last-name basis around here yet, so he didn't give much thought to it. Then, he grew serious for a moment. "Alright, Roberto, so you've been here for a lil' while, right? So, lemme ask ya... How do ya do it? I've barely been here a day, n' I feel like I'm already losin' my marbles, man. They took my hair from me! My precious 'do! That's like... like a cat without claws! An angel without wings! How's a guy supposed to stay sane 'round here?"

"unrepentant" is one of my favorite things to be. "don't you feel bad about what you did" no lol