"unrepentant" is one of my favorite things to be. "don't you feel bad about what you did" no lol
he hadn't heard the name julius uttered in, so long. nowadays it was Robotnik, or Doctor, or Monster, Villain ⸻ but julius? he hadn't thought he'd ever enjoy hearing his name again. nor how much he'd missed being called that, in that absence. maybe he hadn't let himself think on that for too long to really register the depth.
at being told he had a nice name, a blush crossed his expression, and that sincere, awkward smile was back. & as imad said that julius was the first, oh. oh his heart.
he wanted that. more; more, selfishly, greedily, wanted to be the first for imad. a need coiled in his body and he did his best to stifle that, not wanting to get too overwhelmed. might make his chaos energy go out of control again.
a little chuckle leaves him, the noise soft and an airy sort of breath to the sound. "i'm glad." is this what that feeling was? he wouldn't know, hadn't had anything to feel glad about in quite some time. if he had ever. couldn't put a name to most emotions, at points ⸻ but he'd said that without thinking. so it was probably true. maybe that had come from his heart.
"i," a slight hesitation here, but julius pushes through that, "is there anything you might want to do? now that you're here."
julius... what an interesting name.
he doesn't mind that the handshake went on for longer than was considered polite, figuring julius just might not be used to doing such things and perhaps didn't know the unspoken rules of it. then again maybe he just liked having physical contact, given julius' stone was no longer in the picture.
despite it though stone keeps his smile, feeling a bit happy that the man was willing to open up a bit more, even if it was brief.
"it is nice to properly meet you as well, julius. you have a rather nice name yourself. I do not think I've ever met someone named that before, so you'll be the first."
that frown doesn't leave him, head lilting to the side just a fraction. "and you're bald, how quaint." his arms cross, an eyebrow jutting upwards as his other demands to know who he is. a fit of laughter threatens him, but julius quells that urge. for now. "i'm you. well, an alternate version of you. we've led different lives, no doubt." am i going to go bald? he certainly HOPED not. & there was no chance in hell julius would ever grow such a horrendous looking moustache.
@drrobctnik (julius) sent : he stares, then frowns, a low scoff leaves him, "why on earth do you have that god forsaken moustache." what a lovely way to greet your alternate self, julius. insults.
"you mean my utterly handsome moustache?" ivo replies as he twists the ends of said moustache to further emphasize the word, then tilts his head as he observes the man before him. "who the hell are you?"
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."
of all the things sonic could have said, julius didn't expect to be invited. his eyes widened, lips parting briefly as though too stunned to process it. which he was. catches himself, and steels his expression, a frown etched into features. sonic's telling him no one would recognize him, there'll be so many there. five minutes.
"you know as well as i do that i would be 'recognized'. immediately." his height, his appearance, not to mention his eyes. "i've never eaten and would never eat a candied apple. i'm also not fond of inhaling food grease." he feels strange still kneeling, and hesitates a fraction before just sitting down in the grass. a sigh leaves him, and julius throws that rock, too hard, awkward angle. it sinks immediately.
sonic glanced over at julius then, not breaking his gaze, "and you should come to the festival." he sees the flit of, stunned shock and confusion that crosses julius' expression, although he tries to hide it. sonic keeps on, "there'll be hundreds of people in the streets you know, no one'd notice you. 5 minutes, you can pop in, get a candied apple or something, smell the gross greasy food air, pop out."
instantly, julius steps forward and clasps a hand onto colin's shoulders, both of them, in order to turn the shorter male's gaze up to look at him. & his voice is eclipsed by emotion, quivering in that held back rage - not at colin but at the moronic notion of what had just been told to julius. "if you are going to listen to me, once. if you are going to hear me clearly, then hear:
your mother's death WAS NOT your fault. do you understand. you were a baby for fuck's sake. you had zero control over what transpired that day."
there's a beat, as if julius needs a moment to compose himself. he releases colin's shoulders, takes a small step back from him. "you are worthy of much more than you give yourself credit for. your existence holds meaning. it always has." if to no one else, then at the very least, to me.
“I won’t judge you.”
My uncle said that too.
"I killed my mother. Just by existing. She died giving birth to me. No one has thought my life a worthwhile exchange for hers since."
The acceptance of his own dead mentor's doppleganger is a hot blade to the gut, over and over.
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.
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.
can feel the tensing of his muscles, the way stone's body goes rigid from the close proximity. equal parts irritation and confusion broil up inside of julius' chest. can feel the way that stone inhales deeply. hug back. hug back WHY AREN'T YOU HUGGING BACK⸻
"please. i am not used to this at all..."
his gaze opened, though only halfway. eyes lidded, very briefly, before he clears his throat with a small grunt and steps away from stone. stares down at him, then frowns. "well ⸻ what the hell are you doing here." is he irritated at stone for not hugging back? of course, julius doesn't give stone a chance to respond. is he afraid of the reply, or had that question been rhetorical?
a click of his tongue. "i take it you're from another universe." he says this as though bothered by the very concept, an exhale, he moves a gloved hand to run through his hair, eyebrows pinching together somewhat, "i can send you back. you merely need to think of the place and i can teleport you there."
of all the things he had expected from this first encounter being hugged was not one of them, and stone froze up immediately upon feeling the man's arms wrap around him. he stands there for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts as he found his brain almost short-circuit at the unexpected act of affection. his doctor would never do this, and it only further solidified how different this version of robotnik was.
stone takes a deep breath, feeling how tightly the man's fingers were digging into his back, and how they seemed to be shaking. did this alternate lose his stone?
yes, that had to be it.
it was the only logical explanation the man could currently come up with, but despite it a sense of unease began to fill him as the hug carried on for far longer than stone was comfortable with.
"please. I am not used to this at all..." his voice came out almost strained, as if he were fighting with himself as to whether he should just endure or physically remove the man from his personal space.
This is an updated version of my original post since I've found some more useful websites since then.
roleplay formatter: Made by the awesome @rpclefairy. I honestly can't recommend this one enough. Great for adding color, changing the font size, and the whole shebang with bold + italics + underline + strikethrough. 10 out of 10 always use.
word html: I actually just stumbled upon this and am absolutely in love with it. It works a lot like roleplay formatter and has WYSIWYG, HTML, and SOURCE CODE options. 10 out of 10 awesome alternative.
fsymbols + emojipedia: These are both great for making your tags fancy and whatnot.
alt codes: This is genuinely great for teaching you how to make the symbols with your keyboard for everyday use so there's that. It's especially useful if you and/or your muses speak a second language so that's a bonus.
text color fader: *marge vc* I just think gradient effects on text is neat. *end marge vc*
list of colors (wikipedia): Has a list of an infinite number of colors and their hex codes. Very useful if I do say so, myself. But that's just me.
rgb color code: Just stumbled upon this one like I did with word html and is nothing short of interesting! Might not be one I'd use on the regular but it's definitely worth looking into IMHO.
And, as per usual, feel free to reblog and add more! <333