technicolor dreams • a modern fairy tale

• 015 •

Was she fucking serious right now?

Xenopus heaved a disgruntled breath upon having the door slammed shut in his face.
He staggered back a step as he promptly lost his balance and the world began to spin around him. Queasily, Xenopus closed his eyes and reached forward until he felt the smooth surface of polished wood underneath his fingertips, and then leaned heavily against it for support.

With his back against the wall he tried to blink away the stars that danced before his eyes. He swallowed hard and clenched his hands to fists, willing himself to ignore the low grumble in his stomach that indicated both hunger and nausea.

How long had it been now? Maybe twenty hours since he ate that half-rotten taco he'd found behind a dumpster? And about two days since he last had closed his eyes and actually found some rest? And the remainder of this time he'd spent walking through the city, looking for this damned house and then for a way to get around the security cameras and the high metal fence so he could speak to the little princess directly - and what good had it done for him?

Nothing more than a glimpse of her he had managed to get, and not halfway enough time to explain himself or his situation.

He should have known that she wouldn't even listen. He was such a fool. Why did he keep forgetting not to believe in the good in man? It was always coming to bite him in the arse.
Hell, they'd probably already called the cops on him. And then Xenopus would be hauled away instantly - the gods knew that he had committed enough crimes to be put behind bars for several lifetimes. And he couldn't have that. Not now, at least, not when he was so close.

He was aware that the door had already been slammed shut in his face once, but he was willing to risk it a second time if it meant that he tried. Because after all, they say 'no risk, no reward', right?

Xenopus forced his eyes back open as he'd come to a decision, and then had to blink a couple times before remembered where he was. Without having noticed it, he'd slid down he wall and now sat on the doorstep of this luxury mansion, overlooking their vast and sickeningly green garden.

The efforts he had to make in order to be able to keep his eyes open and not to fall asleep were exhausting, and he still tried to come up with a plan of how he'd manage getting Tiana Persephone Holloway to talk to him.

Taking a ragged breath, Xenopus gathered all of his leftover strength and struggled to push himself off the floor, pathetically clinging onto the doorknob for support in the process.
Eventually, he stood somewhat upright, but had to bend forward after a split second, dry retching and already feeling himself beginning to wish that he'd never had this stupid idea of going cold-turkey to begin with.

But, he also had anticipated that it was going to turn out like this, and he just didn't want to give in to the temptation again. No matter how strong it was and no matter how much everything hurt because he was denying himself what he craved so badly.

When his stomach eventually didn't try to empty out what hadn't even been there to begin with anymore, Xenopus decisively rapped his knuckles against the doorframe.
He hoped to at least get her to listen to him by doing so, before he said, "Tiana Persephone Holloway, can you please come and open the door for me? Remember what you promised me yesterday. You were in time of need and I helped you, now I really need your help. Please, if you'd just come to the door for a moment, so I can explain me to you and maybe we can find some sort of agreement or something..."

The words were so uncharacteristically nice that Xenopus paused for a moment and wondered if it was even him who just spoke. After that moment though, he sighed in exasperation at his thoughts and let his forehead fall against the doorframe, willing his hands to stop shaking, as he listened for any sounds on the other side of the wood.

His effort was rewarded with soft murmurs and eventually a male voice speaking up: "You promised it. Just go on already."

Following that were hesitant footsteps that grew louder, paused for a moment, and then the door opened before him.

A crooked grin adorned Xenopus' face as he weakly turned his head to look up at her; despite his slightly bowed position, as he propped himself up with one arm against the doorframe, it was clear that the little princess was actually taller than him.

The look in her eyes was guarded, and, alternating, barely restrained disgust, curiosity, and pity were displayed on her features.
Xenopus was greatly reminded of the rich chick in the pictures he'd seen in various gossip magazines.

When she lifted an eyebrow in a mixture of challenge and boredom, Xenopus willed himself to think of something to say, something that would convince her to keep her word.

"Look, I... I just really need a place to sleep," he managed eventually. "Hell, I'd even be grateful for a spot on the floor as long as it's warm and somewhat safe. Since, you know, with all the goons going around at night it's not easy to find a place without the danger of being mugged in your sleep. And now that I have pissed off Frank and his cohorts yesterday, they don't really need an excuse to plunge a knife through my chest... Okay, wait, you didn't hear that. I don't want to scare you. Buuut judging from the look on your face it's too late for that. Oh well. Sorry. Anyway, what was I saying? Right. The sleeping-thing. Some fun facts for you: by now I've been awake for two or three days and I can't even remember the last time I've had a warm meal, therefore... I'd be really, really, incredibly grateful if you'd have the decency to keep at least a little fragment of your promise and let me in for some hours..." Xenopus trailed off, mentally slapping himself. Well, that went well.
He shouldn't be allowed to talk whenever his drugs wore off and before withdrawal set in. It always made his brain feel like mush and his filter become non-existent to an extent where it was almost dangerous. That being so because he either would piss off people he really shouldn't piss off or because he'd do other, equally as and even more stupid things that he didn't like recalling at all.

Despite that though, Xenopus could only hope that the princess would consider his plea. He hated being a charity case, but right now he really couldn't help it if he wanted to make it through the next twenty-four hours alive. Right now, he couldn't afford letting his whole personality show because he knew exactly how much it put off most people.

They couldn't understand that, despite his upbringing and past, he wasn't ashamed of himself. Xenopus had always known where he stood in life, even if it was so low he wasn't even on the same ladder anymore.
But that was okay, it had always been like that, and he wasn't used to anything else. Therefore, he had come to accept his fate and it was this fact, that he wasn't even trying anymore to get better, that made most people recoil with disgust - if they had even bothered to learn that much about him before writing him off as street trash.

Xenopus had lost his faith in humanity long ago which was why it was even more surprising that he was actually standing here and allowing himself to dream of a better future. However, this dream only lasted shortly before Xenopus gave up trying to suppress the violent shivers that racked his body, and to ignore the blurs that smudged his vision, and the queasy rumbling of his stomach. His condition was getting worse by the minute.

It took a while until Xenopus became aware of the prolonged silence between them and the fact that she hadn't begun to scream at him yet. She wouldn't have been the first one to so that, after all. But, he took the plunge and looked up at the girl in order to gauge her reaction, and his hand slipped off the doorframe in surprise at seeing her blue eyes sparkling with something akin to interest.
Xenopus' head hit the wood quite painfully when he didn't manage to catch himself in time, and yet he didn't dare to breathe as he waited for her response then.

She eyed him a few seconds longer, face unreadable.

"Alright," she then said. "Come on in."