TITLE: Eyes Completely Open

AUTHOR: Odie The Memory Keeper

From: "Odie The Memory Keeper" lifeless@scifispace.com

Archive fic coming through! Thanks to Omega h for giving me the idea.

DISCLAIMER: I am mine, but Ozzie and Xand are Joss's. The title is from a Bowie song Absolute Beginners.

DISTRIBUTION: If you actually want this, by all means! Just let me know. Not entirely on topic, perhaps, but a start to something more. And apologies for possible errors Oz-wise.

EYES COMPLETERLY OPEN

By Odie, the Memory Keeper

It was a dark but not so stormy night, and Odie The Memory Keeper was very nervous. The moon was full, she was on a walk in a forest and cursing herself to the lowest circle of Hell. She could not stop thinking what had made her to go outside on a night like this. She should have understood better that she was constantly in grave danger nowadays. And it really was full moon and - she glanced at her watch - the clock was almost twelve at midnight. She looked around nervously, eyes completely open. Oz could be anywhere. She knew that Xander was on wolf watch tonight and he had an unfortunate tendency to doze off.

She heard a branch crack and she froze. She squinted to see better in the dark, but could not make out anything unusual. Just wishful thinking, though. She had time to take barely two steps when a wolf leapt from the forest in front of her.

She jumped at the surprise, her heart pounding. He - it - had escaped after all. "Oz?" she whispered. The wolf growled. Odie did not dare to even breathe out loud. The animal bared its teeth and took a step forward, forcing her to back up.

"Nice wolfie. easy now," she said, more to herself. But even in the dark, she could make out the few familiar white hairs on its back. "Ozzie. Oz, I know it's you, and I know that you can hear me." She inhaled deep between her teeth and tried to calm down. The wolf growled again, but more tamely this time.

"You've talked to the list mom again, haven't you?" She got a low grunt in response.

"I take that as a yes. And you know that I haven't been writing fic?"

A deep growl from the back of its throat.

"Look, I'm sorry. It's just that I've been preoccupied with my other stories lately."

An angry groan interrupted her explanation. Wolf approached her for a few centimetres more. She would better think fast or end up with a ripped throat.

"Um. If I write a slashfic of you and Xander, would you let me go?"

It lifted its upper lip, baring the sharp fangs and made a threatening sound.

"A big fic? A happy fic? An NC-17 fic?"

The wolf was silent for a moment, and then it bobbed its head in a wolfie equivalent of agreement. But it glanced Odie fiercely.

"I'll be fast, I promise!"

This satisfied the wolf and it leapt back to the forest.

Odie sighed deeply. Impatient list moms were easy compared to this. She turned on her heels and headed back home. <I'D again. him face to want don?t I away. right fic the start betterShe hopped to home and sat at her computer, ready to finish Oz's and Xander's first encounter. Which would hopefully end up a lot more gentle than her own Oz-wolfie encounter. , she thought.

The End. for now.