Xoverland: Doppelganger Challenge
Jun. 2nd, 2010 10:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
a_qTitle: Casual Call To The Morgue
Fandom/Pairing: Winston (Human Target) / Emerson Cod (Pushing Daisies)
Word count: 500
Notes: doppelganger story from characters played by actor Chi McBride.
Written for the Xoverland ficlet challenge.
Winston hated morgues and yet he seemed to visit them more often than not. Chance got the action side of their business, the hard and dangerous side. What Winston got was the clean-up, the loose ends, the invoicing. It was less glamorous than Chance's part and unfortunately, it often lead to the morgue.
He had slipped a folded note to the morgue attendant, a bored and scrawny young guy that didn't look old enough to buy beer, let alone push the dead bodies through the swiveling doors. Winston was always surprised about the level of security in these places, but sometimes the lack of security was just convenient.
The body in question laid on the slab, covered with thick plastic sheet. Winston didn't really want to touch it, or look under it, so he stalled and checked the information form: John Doe, nothing else. So far so good. Maybe the luck was on their side.
“Excuse me, what are you doing with that body?”
Winston placed the information form back to the table and turned around ready to present a perfectly valid and rational reason for his curiosity about dead bodies (he was sure he would come up with one any minute now). His mind blanked completely when he saw the man standing at the door.
It was like looking into a mirror. A mirror that gave you extra weight, weird floral shirt and brown suit. The man stared back, as if Winston's choice of suits was equally appalling (nice basic black with blue shirt). Winston frowned and the man did the same, then they quickly reverted back to their neutral, professional expressions.
“Who are you?” Winston asked, just as the man opened his mouth and asked exactly the same. They both waited politely for the answer, then said simultaneously: “I'm a private investigator.”
There was a long silence and Winston evaluated the situation. The man was obviously a private investigator, he had just that same annoyed, stressed and sly air that Winston knew too well. The man stepped closer to the slab, craning his neck. Winston stepped to block his view. He had been here first after all and there was such thing as professional courtesy.
“Why do you want to see the body?”
“Why do you want to see the body?”
There was another long silence. Winston wasn't going to tell him why he was here and he was sure that the man wouldn't explain his reasons either. Then again, their reasons were probably just as identical as their questions. Winston stepped aside and turned back to the body.
“Hurry up, before the kids iPod runs out of power and he recalls being at work.”
The man snorted a cynical laughter and walked next to Winston. Together they lifted the plastic and stared at the corpse for a moment.
“Yep. That was that.”
“That was that, sure.”
They nodded politely and without another word left the corpse to its silence.
Fandom/Pairing: Winston (Human Target) / Emerson Cod (Pushing Daisies)
Word count: 500
Notes: doppelganger story from characters played by actor Chi McBride.
Written for the Xoverland ficlet challenge.
Winston hated morgues and yet he seemed to visit them more often than not. Chance got the action side of their business, the hard and dangerous side. What Winston got was the clean-up, the loose ends, the invoicing. It was less glamorous than Chance's part and unfortunately, it often lead to the morgue.
He had slipped a folded note to the morgue attendant, a bored and scrawny young guy that didn't look old enough to buy beer, let alone push the dead bodies through the swiveling doors. Winston was always surprised about the level of security in these places, but sometimes the lack of security was just convenient.
The body in question laid on the slab, covered with thick plastic sheet. Winston didn't really want to touch it, or look under it, so he stalled and checked the information form: John Doe, nothing else. So far so good. Maybe the luck was on their side.
“Excuse me, what are you doing with that body?”
Winston placed the information form back to the table and turned around ready to present a perfectly valid and rational reason for his curiosity about dead bodies (he was sure he would come up with one any minute now). His mind blanked completely when he saw the man standing at the door.
It was like looking into a mirror. A mirror that gave you extra weight, weird floral shirt and brown suit. The man stared back, as if Winston's choice of suits was equally appalling (nice basic black with blue shirt). Winston frowned and the man did the same, then they quickly reverted back to their neutral, professional expressions.
“Who are you?” Winston asked, just as the man opened his mouth and asked exactly the same. They both waited politely for the answer, then said simultaneously: “I'm a private investigator.”
There was a long silence and Winston evaluated the situation. The man was obviously a private investigator, he had just that same annoyed, stressed and sly air that Winston knew too well. The man stepped closer to the slab, craning his neck. Winston stepped to block his view. He had been here first after all and there was such thing as professional courtesy.
“Why do you want to see the body?”
“Why do you want to see the body?”
There was another long silence. Winston wasn't going to tell him why he was here and he was sure that the man wouldn't explain his reasons either. Then again, their reasons were probably just as identical as their questions. Winston stepped aside and turned back to the body.
“Hurry up, before the kids iPod runs out of power and he recalls being at work.”
The man snorted a cynical laughter and walked next to Winston. Together they lifted the plastic and stared at the corpse for a moment.
“Yep. That was that.”
“That was that, sure.”
They nodded politely and without another word left the corpse to its silence.