Title: Greenies
Author: S J Smith
Rating: K+
Summary: They're investigating green men.
Disclaimer: Chris Carter owns all. I just play around with his characters.
"If you notice," Mulder was saying, and using his pen to point at the painting on the wall, "this is just one example of a Green Man."
The image was of a vaguely humanoid face, though the features were all overlaid with leaves. His eyes glowed gold, and his expression was vaguely disapproving, at least to Scully. She shook it off. "So, would you say that he's a precursor of your little green men?"
Mulder's expression flickered with a hint of annoyance. "No," he said, drawing out the syllable, "Green Men traditionally represent the rebirth of spring."
"How is this an X-File, Mulder?" Scully stepped closer to the image, peering up at it. The artwork was very good, though the paint was faded. If he'd been up in D.C., Scully wondered if he'd be augmented by graffiti.
"Would you believe there have been sightings of Green Men and Horned Men in this area for the past two hundred years?" Mulder spread his hands when Scully turned to him. "They usually appear around the solstices, but recently, they've been making almost regular appearances."
"How recently?"
"The past six months. There's a report of a man being run off the road by the sight of," Mulder flipped through his notepad, "'a horned man, charging out of the trees.'"
"Horned man," Scully repeated it, making 'horned' have two syllables, like Mulder had.
He gave her a hopeful grin.
"All right," she sighed, "but there better be something other than just weird appearances, Mulder, or you're explaining the trip expenses to Skinner by yourself." She ignored his delighted grin as she walked by Mulder, heading for the rental car. Green men, horned men, little green men…whatever it was, she hoped they'd figure it out soon and get back to D.C. She wouldn't admit it, but she kind of hated leaving Queequeg at the kennel, and he sometimes made better sense than Mulder did.