His Gaze Flicks Off To The Side. A Little Breath Leaving Him As His Lips Press Together. Before Julius

“You alright?” From such a sharp edged person as Snively, it’s almost painfully endearing how earnest the question is. “Need anything?” Anything *I* can provide, when you have your creations and your alternate dimensional dopplegangers and assistants-turned-lovers at your service? What can family that’s separated by a whole dimension and told all his life he’s lacking, do? //unlackeyed

⸻ the question stills him. it stills him and stirs a hollow cold rage within his chest. not at colin. never at colin. just, the words. 'you alright'. no.

he had not been 'alright' since he was 8.

"need anything?"

julius simply stares across at colin. uncertain on how to answer in a way that wouldn't concern or frighten him. yes, he needs. that rage in him has no outlet. that violent need has no release. he knows if he voices such thoughts, he'll be told not to act on them. how wrong they are. how misguided. how there's a better way. how one shouldn't give into their darkness, their demons.

what if it wasn't a darkness, or demons. what if it was just HIM? period, all he'd ever be, no matter what he tried.

"....not particularly," he settles on, then adds, "but.... thank you, for your concern."

Interview with the Vampire 1.04

i love taking things too far. best distance to take anything to be honest

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?"

man this guy is my favourite character (throws rocks at him) (throws rocks at him) (throws rocks at him) (throws rocks at him (thr

what day was it; what time. how long had he been here. the seconds blurred into minutes, into hours, into inability to perceive time. julius had thought he'd had bad concept of how long it'd been before, that had been child's play comparatively, to this.

he never moved, not from that spot. & no guards ( he could only surmise he was being held in some sort of G.U.N facility ) ever came to check in on him. supposed it was now more of a curse that he needn't eat, nor really breathe, or drink any liquid in order to survive. could've been kept down here a millennia and it wouldn't have changed anything for julius.

no real danger of dying. just listening to his own haggard, low breaths. he'd screamed until there was nothing left in his lungs to give. now, as it was, staring blankly ahead, all he could do was try. try and grasp for any small semblance of that chaos energy in his body, in the air surrounding him, and hold on. hope that he could push into it, or pull it closer to himself, start to build it. like starting over from scratch after having mastered a technique. a fumbling baby deer unable to walk, or a flightless baby bird. kept slipping, unable to hold on for long enough. or whatever restraints those bastards put on him kept on diluting that energy to the point it wouldn't spark, could barely breathe.

eventually, though he tried to stave it off, he began to sob. it wasn't even sheer sorrow that the sobbing had been inspired by; anger, mostly. that betrayal that kept growing and growing, morphing into disbelief and then hatred and then a numbness, rinse and repeat. that feeling of being abandoned, left alone to rot. forgotten by time. he clenched his hands together so hard beneath those restraints it was a wonder he hadn't shredded his palms to bits.

he kept thinking back to stone ⸻ having only met him the once, for barely maybe 10 minutes at that, an unrequited hug before stone had left ⸻ & wishing he were here. where are you, he kept thinking, not out of blame. not out of rage or anger, not towards stone, but the circumstances. that sheer helplessness of his situation. why aren't you bursting into here and ⸻ and what? why should julius expect to be saved, or needed, quite frankly.

that only caused his sobbing to get worse, that slow realization that, he wasn't necessary. he could die here and no one would turn their head elsewise. doubted anyone even knew he was gone, or if they did, all he could think was why. why was he still here then. why couldn't⸻ just someone, anyone⸻ not not even anyone his mind kept going back to stone, that hug ⸻ unreturned, but julius had hugged sonic too, before THAT BASTARD⸻

ragged inhales, that rage returning and eclipsing the numbness. he wanted sonic dead. he wanted sonic alive, so he could demand an answer out of him. wanted sonic screaming. wanted sonic safe. wanted to just turn back time and never accept that stupid invitation. should've known something wasn't right. sonic never invited julius anywhere. he had been so blinded by disbelief and by the small joy at being included⸻

weak. stupid. useless.

more screaming, not caring if his throat was raw, pushing beyond the limits of his vocal chords. knew they'd heal, even if it took time and at a slower crawl than normal. whatever was restricting his chaos energy usage wasn't affecting his healing. the sick fucks. he'd almost respect it if he wasn't so god damned offended & insulted, ashamed.

alone.

with nothing to do but think, but stew. trying and failing to come up with plans to escape.

eventually, his eyes lulled closed, wishing he could sleep. pass out again. couldn't, body didn't need sleep. another form of torture and using his own abilities against him.

wished he were dead. wanted to live to⸻ he didn't even know. to spite them. wanted to give up. but something in him writhed at the notion: coward. weak bastard. fight. go down screaming and cursing if you must, but don't let them win. never truly.

so he waited. bided his time. it was all he could do.

indie julius ivo robotnik. a villain, well, depending on who you ask. neither games nor movie canon, but a secret third thing (my own). 21+. heavily mature themes inside. studied by wilhelm. carrd.

at the genuine thanks, julius pauses. he shrugs, a tad, not sure how to respond to those words, so he doesn't. not initially, "i wasn't about to let you die," he trails though once stone starts to speak of chaos energy. julius glances over then, finally, gaze narrowing at how stone mentions a quill from a hedgehog. sonic? shadow? their quills - yes, he supposed that made sense. the chaos energy had to gather somewhere when output, and where normally it would discharge off julius' body and his skin naturally, it made sense that the same chaos energy would get 'caught' in the hedgehogs' quills.

stone produces the quill, and julius walks over before snatching it out of stone's fingers before the other can think to blink. he hums, lifting that quill above his head as though to study it under the light from the rays of the sun. it's a beautiful day, white fluffy clouds rolling peacefully along that bright blue sky.

he can see flickers of that chaos energy arcing along the quill, but to julius, these are like dying embers. he scoffs, "these quills hold barely a fraction of actual power in them. you'd be better off using the chaos emeralds. or gathering your own source of chaos energy," disinterested, he tosses the quill back towards stone, "⸻why are you here." as though julius didn't believe what stone had answered previously.

he shifts, hip jutting out slightly, arms crossing over his chest, an eyebrow raised. now that stone can see his eyes, julius gaze looks, darkened almost. not distant, but, almost, vacant? as though julius were living life through a sort of hazed, barely present state.

stone was about to say something else when the man's hold on him gave way, and just as quick as he'd been dropped he had been grabbed again, only this time instead of being held by his arm he was being held in a more proper position.

at least this way his poor arm could have a little break...

stone as well looks away, but not before noting the way the man's face had flushed. once back on the ground stone takes a moment to literally ground himself, before he looks back over to the man and nods.

"thank you, for saving me. I suppose I owe you for that yes? as for the... chaos energy, as you call it. In a way, yes. there is a particular hedgehog where I'm from that exudes the same energy you do."

simple explanation, right?

"I used one of his quills to essentially make my way to you," he says as he picks said quill from the brest pocket of his coat, then holds it up to the man so he could have a better look. "I once watched the doctor harness the energy from another hedgehog to power his machines, and to be as fast as the speed of sound."

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.

warmup based on the latest pic Lee posted