"you're Doing That Wrong," without Saying Anything Else, Julius Snags The Firearm Away From The Other

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."

Cathy Linh Che, from Go Forget your father//Friedrich Nietzsche// Richey Edwards// // Moss Angel, Girldirt Angelfog// Rainer Maria Rilke, Fragment of an Elegy,// Leila Miccolis, till death do us part.

What is Your Hate Language?

VIOLENCE

Physical Violence is a common, yet bold hate language. It’s old as time and is as natural as rain. It’s often one of the first thoughts that come to us when we feel hatred, but you actually have the moxie to go through with it. Fist fights at bars and you think assassination is the best option in politics. You’re an absolute loose canon. Your most likely crime would be murder. The only down side of this hate language is how hard it is to get away with it.

julius stood there, in that ginger wig, a medium aqua-teal short sleeved shirt with tropical patterns, tan loose straight-legged pants, and a beach hat with a ridiculously massive brim. he had on green coloured contact lenses, with full whites in order to hide that black sclera julius naturally had. he felt completely and utterly moronic, and the sounds of all those hundreds of people and distant music and laughter growing closer as he and sonic walked towards the street for the event was causing a discomfort to broil and simmer deep within his chest.

"okay, so, remember: you're a tourist from another continent and can't speak english too well, which is why you'll be quiet," sonic's glancing up at him, and seems to still a second, "hey," julius feels a soft gloved hand grip at his own. his shoulders twitch and he glances over, shadow of that massive brimmed hat eclipsing and shielding sonic from the sun as julius does so. sonic smiles up at him, squeezes at julius' hand, "you'll do great, julius. it's gonna be alright."

how do you know that? how can you say that so assuredly?

"....let's get this over with." he couldn't stand having sonic's hand in his and so julius let go of it before briskly walking on ahead.

🎉

don't stare at his arms, don't stare at his chest, don't stare at his arms, look at his face,

"oh, er, ha, no. no, i've been stationed here for...." how long had it been again? it takes him a second - the days here blur, so easily. day after day, the same exact routine. he liked the consistency of it, the order, but it always felt like he could be doing more. "nearly a year, i believe."

he straightens his posture ( is he wanting to make a good first impression on the shorter, buffer male? ), flashing a little fleeting, awkward smile, "i'm," he was about to say julius but catches himself. G.U.N was a stickler for last names only, never first names. something about 'it sounding better' and 'being the principle of the tradition', or whatever. never liked that, felt too distancing, to julius. he hadn't heard his first name spoken since he'd been recruited.

"robotnik." he holds a hand out, for the other to shake. usually they didn't do this either, but julius' old polite habits died hard. it didn't even register to julius that they were currently stood in the middle of the door into the room, thus blocking anyone from trying to enter or exit the breakroom.

Johnny was not having a good time right now.

When he was first recruited at G.U.N, he had expected it to be more fun than this. Perhaps he would meet some like-minded guys that he could bond with—and hey, chicks dig the military-type guys, right? So he'd thought joining would fulfill him in some way...

That is, until he'd had to get his head buzzed. His beloved hair, his pride and glory, was now gone... All that remained was the sorry excuse of length he'd been left with. He certainly had the army man look now, but at what cost?

The man had been pouting ever since, moping about the break room. He was so miserable that he hadn't even brought himself to talk to anybody yet, aside from the occasional higher-up barking various demands at him. He'd decided he may as well sleep the grief of his lost hair away, and had stood up to walk to the sleep quarters—until he nearly ran straight into somebody, promptly taking a step back.

"Oh! Uh... Yeah. Yeah, sure am." He gave an awkward chuckle. "...You?"

every single thing that stone said seemed to go in through one ear and directly out the other. that frown hadn't left julius' expression, a hand moving to rest on his hip and an eyebrow raised upward ⸻ "i don't care." was his immediate, blunt response to everything that stone had said. & frankly, he didn't. with a slight lean forward of his upper torso, "after all, i'm not your robotnik, right?" the words are sneered. seemed that those specific words had touched a nerve for julius. he moved a hand then, splaying it along stone's chest, "close your eyes and focus on whatever world you came from. once you do that, i can send you back."

he knew the man wasn't too pleased with him not returning the hug, and a small part of him feels a bit of regret at that fact. despite it though stone is quiet for a long moment before he smooths out his coat, fixing the gloves... ivo's gloves, on his hands while he listens to the man speak. his tone was harsh, almost irritated and finally he was reminded of his doctor. stone wanted to explain, so badly in fact that he completely ignores the second thing the man had said.

he had to explain, for as much as this encounter had been odd, this was still an alternate of the doctor.

"yes... I come from a timeline where my doctor sacrificed himself to save the wretched people of earth from certain destruction." he wouldn't dare say it was to save him from being eradicated as well, as the thought alone caused his stomach to churn.

"I had hoped there was a timeline where a robotnik was missing his stone, and would accept my company so we could continue our plans to conquer the world." why he was spinning this story he wasn't entirely sure. perhaps because he wasn't ready to return to his own timeline yet?

or perhaps it was because he quietly hoped the alternate robotnik might allow him to stay at his side...

sonic's doesn't go quite nearly as far as his had, which causes him to puff with silent glee. julius is in the midst of finding an even flatter rock, wanting to skip it the absolute farthest so sonic can't hope to catch up, when sonic mentions station square and a festival, of all things.

he stills, staring down at the grass. knelt on a knee, he glances over at sonic, gaze squinting at him behind those sunglasses. holding that rock, but he doesn't move to try and throw it. thumb roams along that flat top of the rock tucked between his fingers. "....and." his voice is rather flat, weary.

he waits, knowing. julius was always a curious, competitive kinda guy. it doesn't take long before he's in the grass, and sonic watches him with a small smile, before julius is tossing that rock. it does go pretty far, and at that, sonic whistles, impressed,

"hey, not bad." a thumbs up. his hand grabs another errant rock, and tosses it, watches it go about five before sinking. finally, his mind settles on something. knows it's a long shot, but sonic wants to try,

"you know. station square's got some kind of festival coming up. think they're setting up stalls on a cleared out street."

Linkin Park Lyric Starters

IN THE END

"It doesn't even matter how hard you try." "All I know, time is a valuable thing." "Watch the time go right out the window." "I wasted it all just to watch you go." "I kept everything inside and even though I tried, it all fell apart." "It doesn't even matter how hard you try." "I'm surprised it got so far." "Things aren't the way they were before." "You wouldn't even recognize me anymore." "You kept everything inside and even though I tried, it all fell apart." "I've put my trust in you." "For all this, there's only one thing you should know." "I tried so hard and got so far." "I had to fall to lose it all." "But in the end, it doesn't even matter."

NUMB

"I'm tired of being what you want me to be." "I don't know what you're expecting of me." "Can't you see that you're smothering me?" "'Cause everything that you thought I would be has fallen apart, right in front of you" "Every step that I take is another mistake to you." "And I know I may end up failing too." "I'm becoming this, all I want to do is be more like me and be less like you." "I'm tired of being what you want me to be."

DON'T STAY

"Sometimes, I need to remember just to breathe." "Sometimes, I need you to stay away from me." "Somehow, I need you to go." "Forget our memories, forget our possibilities." "What you were changing me into?" "Take all your faithlessness with you." "Sometimes, I feel like I trusted you too well." "Sometimes, I just feel like screaming at myself." "Don't stay."

LOST

"I pretend it isn't there." "This is how I feel." "I'm trapped in yesterday." "I'm lost in these memories." "But I'm tired." "Lost all my dignity.' "I will always be afraid." "I try to keep this pain inside." "But I will never be alright." "I'm lost."