czarina_kitty

Title: Belphegor’s Sin: Acedia
Characters: Owen
Rating/Warnings: PG-13, swearing (it is Owen after all)
Spoilers: Reset
Summary: Owen feels hopeless.
Disclaimer: I do not own, nor make any money from the use of, these characters.
Notes: Written for the tw_lucky_7 challenge for the sin sloth.
I’m sorry about this. I’m pretty sure that this is a good illustration of why leaving me alone with the internet for any length of time is a bad idea.

It wasn’t that Owen was lazy, not exactly. It was just that, now that he was dead, he wasn’t particularly motivated to do…well, anything. Not that he had been the picture of diligence when he was alive, but now that he was dead he really saw no point.

He couldn’t eat, or drink, or do any of the things that he thought made life worth living. Of course, this really wasn’t living, not exactly. And since most of his adult life had been spent seeking out the pleasures of the flesh, he wasn’t sure what to do without that motivation. What was the point of going out, being around other people when he couldn’t feel? What was the point of working hard for all those things he could never have again? What was the point of moving at all? Which was why Owen was lying in bed in the middle of the morning, wide awake and staring up at the ceiling. For the third day in a row.

“Owen,” Jack’s deep voice echoed in the quiet room. “You can’t hide in here forever.”

“Maybe not, but I’m willing to give it a go,” Owen replied, wondering just when it was that Jack had arrived.

“Isolating yourself like this isn’t healthy,” Jack offered, gently as he sat on the edge of the bed.

“Yeah, well I don’t exactly need to be overly concerned about my health now, do I?” Owen rolled to face away from Jack.

“You have to get out of bed eventually,” Jack said flatly.

“I can’t think of any reason why I would need to. In fact, I’m almost certain that lying around not moving is exactly what dead people typically do.”

“Right,” Jack said as he grabbed Owen’s shoulders and pulled him out of bed. “There’s work to do. We just took delivery of a new alien specimen. You know how much you love new species.”

“Yeah, well, you go right ahead with work,” said Owen as he ineffectually struggled to get out of Jack’s grip. “You don’t need me.”

“Yes, we do,” said Jack soothingly. “You’re the best xenobiologist in Wales.”

“I’m the only xenobiologist in Wales.”

Jack chuckled. “True, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t brilliant.”

“Where did you say this sample was from?” Owen asked as he circled around the creature laid out on the autopsy table.

“Afon Canwy, Patagonia,” Ianto supplied.

“And why am I examining it?” Owen prompted.

“It was found dead by some of the locals and they thought we should have a look,” Ianto explained. “There are legends in the area of a creature called mapinguai. A creature with red fur, feet turned backwards, a foul odor, and very difficult to kill. There have been unsubstantiated reports of sighting going back years. If this is a mapinguai then this is the first actual evidence of its existence.”

“And we think its alien?” Owen asked.

“Seems reasonable when you consider that both Nessie and Sasquatch are,” Jack responded as he came to stand next to Ianto against the railing overlooking the autopsy theatre. “Besides, just look at it.”

“Looks like a giant hamster,” Owen mumbled.

“Oh, come on,” Jack replied. “Really look at it. Its fur is growing backwards, I mean, name one terrestrial animal that’s fur grows away from its extremities. Just look at the thing. It definitely looks alien.”

“And why was it sent here?” Owen asked. “There has to be someone closer than Wales to examine it.”

“No one as qualified as you,” Ianto said. “And I have…contacts, there.”

“In Patagonia?”

“Yes.”

Owen went silent as he examined the creature. He went back and forth between making notes and entering his results in the computer. After 20 minutes he threw down his clipboard and fixed Jack with an icy stare. “Jack Harkness, you are a complete and utter bastard.”

“What did I do?” Jack asked innocently. Next to him Ianto made an odd sound that could have been a cut off laugh.

Owen turned his gaze to stare at Ianto. “And I know you put him up to this. You had to be behind this.”

“Put me up to what?” Jack asked as he looked back and forth between Owen glaring at Ianto and Ianto meeting his gaze, expression blank.

“This is strictly a terrestrial species, Jack,” Owen explained. “It has been presumed extinct since the Pleistocene Era, but there is nothing alien about it.”

“I still don’t get it,” Jack said as Ianto gave up all attempts to keep from laughing.

“Jack, you dragged me out of my flat, out of a perfectly good wallow, to identify a bloody ground sloth.”