Story 97: "Malus Genius" by Maybe Amanda and Plausible Deniability

[wendelah1]

Yes. I know, I am bypassing the queue again. I need humor, friends, and there is no humor to be found in the queue, just depressing and even more depressing story recs. It has been a long time since I've read this, but I remember it as being a very clever x-file, written by two premier writers from our fandom. And, if memory serves, it is quite funny, too.

Title: "Malus Genius, vel Hoc Lemma Nequiquam Latine Scribitur" (The Evil Spirit, or This Title Is Written In Latin for No Reason)
Category: X, R, A, H
Rating: mostly R (sexual situations, mature language, and implied violence), but there are a couple of NC-17 sections.
Spoilers: Brief episode references late in the story; no major spoilers. This is a stand-alone, with the typical stand-alone disregard for the mytharc.
Keywords: Mulder/Scully romance
Summary: What's *your* evil spirit?

Malus Genius

As usual, give love to the writers, let us know what you think and leave suggestions for next time. I swear, I will get back to them, eventually.

Comments

[sixpences.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you decided to skip over the angsty recs too! I had never quite got round to this story before but it was a really fun read. Sometimes you just need something a bit silly. I liked the characteristic banter and miscommunication between Mulder and Scully (even if the subject of such was not one we'd have seen on the show...), and the townspeople, if rather stereotypical, were quite fun for being so. I'm also glad that this was the kind of NC-17 casefile where the Mulder/Scully relationship is already established somewhere- I have yet to read a casefile which also resolved the UST in which one or the other plotline didn't feel a bit rushed or contrived.

This did fall into the specialist knowledge pothole for me in that a) Classical Latin and Ecclesiastical Latin are not the same and b) I have a really hard time imagining that a vaguely-Abrahamic-religions demon would speak Latin at all, or indeed manifest as some sort of small vicious critter (SPOILER) capable of being crushed by a car. Also I found it somewhat surprising that a school in a small town could get a permanent replacement for a murdered teacher that quickly, but I suppose they were aided by the power of plot ;)

[estella-c.livejournal.com]

I haven't yet reread, but I must express appreciation for bravenewcentury's term "the power of plot." It kind of correlates with what my husband says when, during a bad tv movie, I wonder why a character does something dumb. "He read the script."

"the power of plot"

[wendelah1]

It kind of correlates with what my husband says when, during a bad tv movie, I wonder why a character does something dumb. "He read the script."

Another one bites the dust. I love you guys.

[wendelah1]

This did fall into the specialist knowledge pothole for me in that a) Classical Latin and Ecclesiastical Latin are not the same and b) I have a really hard time imagining that a vaguely-Abrahamic-religions demon would speak Latin at all.

When I read this, I laughed so hard it made me snort tea through my nose. I love you so much!

or indeed manifest as some sort of small vicious critter (SPOILER) capable of being crushed by a car.

Maybe the vehicle in question was a holy roller?

The power of plot? Yes, the series writers used that to great effect, on a near-weekly basis, as I recall. (;

[sixpences.livejournal.com]

When I read this, I laughed so hard it made me snort tea through my nose. I love you so much!

*g* Well, I think my specialist knowledge pothole is a lot weirder than yours. And I'm glad I wasn't drinking anything myself when I read that comment about the car being a holy roller!