He Could Feel Himself Starting To Clam Up Again. Julius Hadn't Been Finished, He'd Just Paused To Try

he was healing, of course, quicker than it'd scar. it'd need extended prolonged contact to do any actual lasting damage. julius is trying and failing to breathe properly, but stone's voice causes him to lift his head, hands still lifted up close to his face but no longer clasping or hiding. "talk to me, please."

how? HOW? he didn't know HOW to⸻ what to say⸻ how to explain⸻ if he should⸻ what if he fucked it all up⸻ what if⸻

"i'm here to listen to you and help." a hand on his shoulder. gaze flicks down to stone's hand. stares. julius focuses. exhales unevenly, focusing on his left hand, that feeling of warmth leaving his palm. his fingers twitch, but he moves to lay his palm overtop of stone's on top of his shoulder, eyes closing. inhales, exhales.

"....i can't lose you," the words are weighted: an ache and a sorrow and yet a guilt and regret and self-anger causing them to sound like even the very air from julius' lungs are burning, "i⸻ i can't, control.... s-sometimes, the energy," he falters, shamed, gaze now on the ground between himself and stone. unable to look at stone. not trusting himself to be able to handle whatever expression stone was making or whatever look stone was lobbing his way.

"it goes, haywire, a-and then my mind," fingers twitch slightly against stone's hand, pressing into his hand a tad more. as though needing to grip tightly to stone and never let go, "i start, having these⸻ thoughts."

stone doesn't flinch when julius suddenly grabs his wrist, though he does briefly knit his eyebrows together as he tries to figure out just why the man had done that. perhaps to ground himself? that was likely it, until...

he felt like his wrist was on fire, and just as quick as he had looked down julius had rescinded his grip and quickly backed away. what was more odd was the fact stone could have sworn he smelt burning flesh, the scent unmistakable to the former agent.

julius was... burning? mumbling to himself as well. stone doesn't move towards him however, simply choosing to remain where he was and just observe the other for a minute or so before finally speaking.

"hey... what's happening? talk to me, please. I'm here to listen to you and help," he says softly as he kneels down in front of him, reaching out a hand to rest on the man's shoulder in an act of comfort.

@blckfckinmsk [!!]

· 𓂃 ࣪˖🔪 ˖ ࣪𓂂 . "Why punish someone without reason?"

it was a terribly naive and oddly sentimental statement. one that julius could scarcely comprehend - let alone agree with. he has to bite back the scoff that catches behind teeth. instead, julius flashes a practiced & eased smile.

"if only the world agreed with you, roro. we might be in a better off place." as it stood - being fired from his job, pending acceptance into G.U.N - julius felt a tad, bitter. maybe that was why he had brought up the topic to begin with. of course roman knew none of this: julius saw no point in sharing such developments with roman.

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..."

"I want to see what you can do."

not sure how they ended up in this little.... situation. aside sonic, julius had never truly FOUGHT with anyone before that didn't feel like it should end in life or death. yet here the mobian echidna was, not only indulging julius in his baser need to fight: that SHEER DESIRE FOR BLOODSHED, PAIN, that coursed through his veins. like it screamed at him. pumped so harshly through his blood that it felt like a heat pounding between his eyes with no ceiling, no zenith.

"I want to see what you can do."

but goading him on? a laugh barks out of him at the realization: sudden, sharp, rolled from deep within his chest. a shuddered exhale punches out of him from that sheer euphoria at the battle, and they hadn't even truly started. a few hits, but julius had been holding back - always did, to some degree. only ever went all out with sonic, yet even then julius had to temper those desires. would lose himself otherwise, become beastial. can feel that shaking in his chest already from all that chaos energy bubbling and heating in his veins. fight, rip, tear, destroy, kill; DO IT, STOP HOLDING BACK, HE'S TELLING YOU NOT TO--

the words clatter out of him, as though he is trying to hold that building need at bay, "trust me, you do not want me to do that." not out of any sense of care for the echidna. more-so at the slight worry over how upset sonic would be knowing what julius might do to knuckles.

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

🕯️

send me 🕯️to hear my character's inner thoughts about your character.

how could you. i trusted you. i hate you. i love you. you're nothing. you're everything. i'll kill you. get away from me.

'doctor'

julius stared down at him. hm. curious.

'how are you here?'

"wrong question. it isn't how, but when, when am i here," he's stood not too far from the crater that shadow had created. no doubt from warping here via an errant chaos control. nasty things, those. julius at points had encountered them himself. "or rather: when you are." seeing how he wasn't getting anywhere with his metaphors & here julius thought he was being funny, he clarified,

"this isn't your universe. this is a different universe. things didn't play out quite the same here, as they did there."

@drrobctnik Liked for a starter

Ringing was all the hedgehog heard. Eyesight blurry as he tries to open ruby colored eyes. Everything spinning as he lays in the crater of where he landed. Pain rearing through his body as he raises a hand to his head. Easing it against the throbbing in his head he felt as he simply lays there. Letting air enter his lungs he tries to recall the events of what happened.

Where was he even ?

Shadow hadn't the slightest idea but he knew he needed to get up. He couldn't lay here. Summoning what strength he had to roll onto his stomach. Tucking his arms under him to push himself upwards. Pain flaring as he cries out to himself. ❝ Damn ... ❞ He swears under his breath. Something was definitely broken.

He had to keep going as he feels around. His fingertips brushing against something cold as he glances at the item. The familiar golden sheen of his inhibitor hitting the little light he could see. Grabbing it he sits on his knees a moment. Slowly reattaching it to his wrist as he rubs the back of his head. He didn't see any of the other inhibitors. That was going to be a problem in the long run.

Slowly eases himself back up to his feet. Wobbling as he found his footing as he climbs out of the crater. Oh how everything ached as he hisses through his teeth as he takes a deeper breath. Finally he takes in his surroundings. Seeing a form familiar yet so different he thought was imagining it ...

❝ Doctor ? ❞ He questions. But how was that possible ? The Doctor was inside of the Eclipse Canon as it exploded. What was going on ? ❝ How are you here ? ❞

Julius has appeared! What to do?

Brush off Ask to leave Punish Leave them

weakling. that word ALONE is enough to cause his irises to explode in a brilliant glow of red, visible even beyond those obscuring sunglasses like headlights on a dark lonely forest road. weakling weakling weakling WEAK-

breathes through it. can feel his composure threatening to fray and snap, but he stubbornly snags those fraying strands and tightens them together. good he keeps that composure because if he hadn't, perhaps the spindash towards him may have taken him out⸻

as it is, julius deftly leaps backwards, but instead of landing on the ground, he's flying. zipped up above the ground that the echidna goes dashing below him. only for julius to aim where the echidna is going to be, and firing a chaos sphere from his right palm, which will no doubt explode upon impact. either injuring the echidna or causing him to veer off course.

regardless, julius is swiftly teleporting next to the echidna and following up with a kick towards him, intent on sending knuckles into the ground.

@drrobctnik xxx

It was not his idea nor desire to tolerate one with a known tendency for betrayal, but the unfortunate aligning of temporary goals had led to an alliance just as temporary. Such is a concept he has a much harder time adhering to than his companions. But they aren't exactly around at the moment to share in his conflicted shift as a guard at the home of bases. Although, considering the agenda of tonight's activities thus far, this was more of a boon than actually unfortunate. Scraps weren't 'kosher' to some.

He's never considered the man a warrior. That 'work smarter not harder' attitude he exudes at times is one the echidna sees as an admittance to weakness if anything. After all, why not work harder if it makes one stronger in the end? Then the next task would be less hard, and less hard, and lesser still. Until every obstacle that dug in became little more than the weight of a dandelion seed stuck between the quills. It's why he's in such a punchy mood when this belief is belittled. He might not have the sharpest grasp on earth customs or most snide remarks made on his behalf, but he understands when he's being dishonored enough to retaliate. They'll explain to the fox and the hedgehog that they're having a training session. Any dispute could be seen as so - especially the minor ones.

The quickest exchange of blows merely leads to the shock of chaos energy meeting as magnetic fields opposite of each other does, knocking him back a ways with just the skin of his needled fists to slow the blow back, though the floorboards are irreparably shredded in the process. A growl garnered by stumbling back up onto twos leads the echidna's self serving power-bumps as his joined fists spark up bolts of molten amaranth around the exterior of his gloves.

I want to see what you can do.

How those words lived as long as the echidna tribe's long-carried legacy in his mind. His own father had spoken them to him not long in the days before he would fall in battle. The tribe was all too aware of the last born to their people and how a terrible power had been bestowed upon him before he'd even emerged from his egg as prophecy would demand he would bring the ultimate power back to the home of the echidnas. Even as a child he would make a formidable opponent to any adult, and yet...

The man's remark is met with a scoff, quilled dreads tossed one way and then another as the same shade of the chaos crawling through his knuckles slowly staining each pixel of a narrowed gaze. "You think you can say that to me? Weakling!"

He hadn't wanted to harm his father. Had refused. Held back. Maybe if he hadn't, then his 'time' to honor the tribe would have been during the battle in which they all perished. Maybe then, he wouldn't be the last of the echidnas- whether they survived the assault, or he did not.

"Show. Me. Your-" Each word excites more shocks of rosy electricity before the final exclamation of "POWER!" has him bolting a few clunky steps forward before he's seamlessly snapping into a ball of nuclear charged quills and bowling towards the pins of the other's legs.