Outside the school, Xander and the pack came walking up the stairs from below the administrative offices to the quad. Several students stared at them as they walked by.
"I'm sure this rain won't last / I'm sure its time is up / Though it's pouring down"
Lance walked by and just stopped in front of them. They looked at hom and Xander sniffed him, but they kept walking right by.
"I'm sure this rain won't last / And it falls on Job's eyes / This water of doubt / And I'm wading in lies / It's wearing me out / But if you want it, alright / I'll buy it / I'll buy it / I'll buy it / I'll buy it / I'll buy it / I'll..."
Xander noticed Buffy and Willow sitting and talking on the balcony above. His hearing had become sensitive and he overheard.
"I've known him my whole life, Buffy," Willow told her. She had tears in her eyes. "Well, we haven't always been close, but he's never..." She let out a slow breath.
"I think something's wrong with him."
"Or maybe there's something wrong with me."
"What are you talking about?"
"C'mon. He's not picking on you. He's just sniffing you a lot. I don't know, maybe three isn't company anymore."
"You think this has something to do with me?"
"Of course."
"No. That still doesn't explain why he's hanging out with the dode patrol." Buffy hopped off the railing. "Something's going on. Something weird." She started to go.
"What're you gonna do?"
"Talk to the expert on weird. One of - or perhaps both."
In the library, Giles was going about his work. Buffy followed him as they talked. Ms. Calendar was busying herself with scanning in the returned books.
"Xander's taken to teasing the less fortunate?" Giles asked.
"Uh-huh."
"And, there's been a noticeable change in both clothing and demeanor?"
"Yes."
"And, well, otherwise all his spare time is spent lounging about with imbeciles."
"It's bad, isn't it?"
"It's devastating. He's turned into a sixteen-year-old boy. Course, you'll have to kill him."
"Giles, I'm serious."
"So am I. Except for the part about killing him. Testosterone is a great equalizer. It turns all men into morons. He will, however, get over it."
Buffy was exasperated. "I cannot believe that you, of all people, are trying to Scully me. There is something supernatural at work here." She grabbed some books. "Get your books! Look stuff up!"
Giles took the books. "Look under what?"
"I don't know." She sighed sharply. "That's your department." She marched over to the checkout counter. "Ms. Calendar, please slap him for me. I would, but I can't get kicked out."
Ms. Calendar smirked. "Yeah, well, I can't get fired."
"Ugh!" Buffy threw her arms up in the air. She returned to Giles.
"The evidence that you've presented me with is sketchy at best," Giles told her.
"He scared the pig," Buffy told him.
Giles gave her a look.
"Well, he did..."
"Buffy, boys can be cruel. They tease, they, they, they prey on the weak. I-i-it's natural teen behavior pattern."
Ms. Calendar looked over at them. She couldn't picture Mr. Prim-And-Proper doing any of those things.
"What did you just say?" Buffy asked.
"Um, they tease."
"They prey on the weak. I've heard that somewhere bef..." It clicked in her mind. "Xander has been acting totally wiggy ever since we went to the zoo. Him and Kyle and all those guys, they went into the hyena cage. Oh, God, that laugh..."
Ms. Calendar wandered over. "She may be onto something, Rupert."
"You're saying that, uh, Xander's becoming a hyena." He lifted his eyebrow at Ms. Calendar as he said it.
"I don't know. Or been possessed by one? Not just Xander, all of them."
"Well, I-I-I've cer-certainly never heard of, uh..." Now he couldn't hold an argument.
Willow came into the library. "Herbert! They found him."
"The pig?" Ms. Calendar asked.
"Dead. And also eaten. Principal Flutie's freaking out."
"Testosterone, huh?" Buffy asked Giles.
Giles headed towards his office.
"What're you gonna do?" Willow asked.
"Get my books. Look stuff up."
"And, I'll...I'll see what the world of technology says about this." Ms. Calendar left the library to retrieve her laptop.
Outside, Mr. Flutie was walking angrily. He saw Kyle and the others, Xander wasn't with them. He approached them. "You four!" He was angry.
"What?" Kyle asked.
"Oh, don't think I don't know. Three kids saw you outside Herbert's room. You're busted! Yeah! You're goin' down."
"How is Herbert?" Rhonda asked.
"Crunchy!" Heidi answered.
The kids laughed. Mr. Flutie was incensed.
"That's it! My office, right now."
The kids laughed more.
"Now!" He demanded.
They stopped laughing. Kyle got off of the table and indicated for the others to follow.
"You're gonna have so much detention, your grandchildren'll be staying after school," Mr. Flutie threatened.
In the library, Willow and Ms. Calendar were researching - Willow with a book, Ms. Calendar with her laptop. Buffy was on the stairs behind them with a book.
"Wow! Apparently Noah rejected the hyenas from the Ark because he thought they were an evil impure mixture of dogs and cats," Buffy stated.
"Hyenas aren't well liked," Willow replied.
"They do seem to be the schmoes of the animal kingdom," Ms. Calendar said.
Buffy walked over to them.
"Why couldn't Xander be possessed by a puppy or, or some ducks?" Willow asked.
"That's assuming 'possession' is the right word," Buffy said.
Giles came over from the cage. "Oh, I'll say it is. The Masai of the Serengeti have spoken of animal possession for, for generations. I... I should have remembered that."
Ms. Calendar buried her face in her hands. "College paper out the window. I should have remembered, too."
"So, how does it work?" Buffy asked.
"Well, apparently there's a, a sect of animal worshipers known as Primals. They believe that humanity, uh, consciousness, uh, the soul, is a, is a perversion, a dilution of spirit. Uh, to them the animal state
is holy. They are able, through trans-possession, to, to, um, draw the spirit of certain animals into themselves."
"And then they started acting like hyenas." It was coming back to Ms. Calendar. She connected it to the current situation.
"Well, only the most predatory of animals are, are of interest to the Primals, so, uh, yes, yes, that would fit, yes," Giles replied.
"So, what happens to the person once the spirit's in them?" Buffy asked.
"If it goes unchecked..." Giles handed Buffy a book that was opened to a certain page. She took one look, slammed the book shut, and quickly got up to go.
"I gotta find Xander."
Ms. Calendar swallowed. "What page?" She was curious.
"Uh, five hundred-seventy-six," Giles answered.
Ms. Calendar reopened the book and found the page. "Yikes!" She closed it again. There was a drawing of people with limbs bitten off, heads missing and other massive injuries.
Willow shook her head. "I'm not gonna look."
In the faculty room, Herbert's cage had been mangled. Buffy came in and looked around. She inspected the cage and sighed. "They are strong." She stepped on something that crunched and crouched down to the floor. She found parts of Herbert, some vertebrae, and other bones. She picked up a rib. Xander came in and stood behind her. Buffy got back up and turned around, only to be startled by him. "Xander." She tried to evade him, but he was quick to match her movement. Buffy exhaled. "This is ridiculous. We need to talk." She faked him out and jumped on him, knocking him down with her op top holding down his arms.
Xander smiled. "Been waitin' for you to jump my bones."
In Mr. Flutie's office, he stood in front of his desk and lectured Kyle and his friends. "I have seen some sick things in my life! Believe me! But this is beyond the pale! What is it with you people?"
The pack started to whine and stalk him.
"Is it drugs? How could you? A poor defenseless pig?" He noticed their behavior. "What are you doing?"
In the faculty room, Xander growled and rolled Buffy over onto her back so he was op top and had her arms pinned down.
"Get off of me."
"Is that what you really want?" Xander asked.
Buffy struggled a bit.
"We both know what you really want. You want danger, don't cha? You like your men dangerous."
"You're in trouble, Xander. You are infected with some hyena thing, it's like a demonic possession!"
"Dangerous and mean, right? Like Angel. Your Mystery Guy. Well, guess who just got mean."
In Mr. Flutie's office, he went around behind his desk to get away from the pack. They slowly approached.
"Now, stop that! You're only gonna make things worse for yourselves. I tell you how this is gonna work: I am gonna call your parents, and they are gonna take you all home." He reached for his phone, but Tor got his hands on it first and tried to stare him down. Mr. Flutie looked at him a moment and then gestured to be given the phone. Tor gave it to him.
"Thank you." He started to pull the phone toward himself to dial, but Rhonda tore it away from him and threw it off of the desk.
"I'm sorry..." she lied.
Mr. Flutie was furious, "That is it!" He tried to get past them, but Kyle growled at him and he fell back into his chair.
In the faculty room, Xander was still on top of Buffy.
"Do you know how long... I've waited... until you'd stop pretending that we aren't attracted..."
Buffy threw him off of her and quickly got up to face him. He got up too, and began to approach her as she backed away.
"Until Willow... stops kidding herself... that I could settle with anyone but you?"
"Look, Xander, I don't wanna hurt you..." Buffy said.
Xander grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her against the vending machiene. "Now do you wanna hurt me?"
Buffy struggled, but the possessed Xander was too strong.
"Come on, Slayer. I like it when you're scared."
She struggled a bit more.
"The more I scare you -" He sniffed her. "The better you smell." He moved in and kissed her roughly on the neck.
In Mr. Flutie's office, the pack continued to taunt and sniff him.
"You're about this close to expulsion, people!" Mr. Flutie got up. "I'm willing to talk to the school counselor, and we can discuss options..." He tried to go again, but Heidi stopped him. Tor climbed onto his desk and growled at him. "Get down from there this instant!" He was angry again.
Rhonda got in his face and scratched his cheek with her nails. He fell back into his chair with his hand covering his face. He took his hand away and saw the blood. He was terrified. "Are you insane?"
Tor jumped on him from the desk, and the rest of the pack descended on him and began feeding.
The picture of Mr. Flutie that was on his desk would soon be all there was of him.
AN: Background music at the beginning is 'Job's Eyes' by Far.