We got a few requests for the cut argument between Bowman and Dean (who would have expected those two to go in more circles than the earth around the sun?), and after a journey into the depths of google past (good thing they have old versions of docs!) we present the unedited argument between the hunter and the sprite, and what the world missed out on.
After a time, Dean decided that Bowman had had enough time to stew in the vase. He pushed aside the remains of their meal, focusing down on the small sprite. “So. Small fry. Up for round two?”
Instead of waiting for a reply, Dean wrapped his hand around the vase and, giving Bowman just enough time to stand, pulled it closer to where he was sitting. Sam backed away from Dean, giving his sweeping arms plenty of space to move. He ended up going over to where Jacob was sitting, since the second human had a tendency to move far slower than Dean.
Bowman stumbled a little, trying to move along with the vase quickly enough without the glass walls knocking into him. He scowled at the giant, though his wings twitched a little with nerves. The hand around the glass looked like it could close on him completely at any second. Bowman remembered well enough what that felt like. He remained standing towards the far side of the vase from Dean, a wary glare fixed on the face above.
Dean cocked an eyebrow down at Bowman. “Well?” he asked gamely. “How about it. What exactly are you, if you aren’t a fairy?”
Off to the side, Sam saw the hand Jacob had stretched out on the table. He sent a smile up over his shoulder to catch the human’s eye. “Mind if I sit with you?” he asked with a slightly red expression. His shirt and cushioning was on the other side of Dean and Bowman, and Sam was in no hurry to interrupt his brother for something so small.
Jacob sent Sam an encouraging smile. He nodded and shifted his hand slightly to make it easier to sit down. He didn’t want to interrupt Dean any more than Sam, however, so he didn’t say anything either.
Bowman crossed his arms. Why did that matter so much to them? He didn’t know what they were and no one was volunteering that. “I’m not a fairy, but I am getting tired of the questioning already. Must be an off day for you.”
Sam grinned as the hand slid a little closer. It still awed him that he had two humans that didn’t mind having him around, to the extent of him being welcome to hang out on a shoulder or a hand whenever he wanted. He climbed onto the huge hand, sitting cross-legged on top. His injured wrist he kept cradled in his lap, watching Dean work.
Dean shrugged. “Well, if you don’t tell me what you are, I’ll just call you a fairy. Might as well, right? Got the wings, got the attitude of Tinkerbell, you’ll fit right in.”
Bowman looked exasperated. “Fairies don’t even have wings, you sunhated idiot,” he shot back. Why were they stuck on that?! Fairy lights didn’t even really have a look!
Jacob tilted his head a little at that. If Bowman was serious, then there were fairies out there in addition to whatever he was. He found himself asking once again, as he often did around the Winchesters, what didn’t exist.
That made Dean’s eyebrow go right up. “Yeah? All the fairies I’ve ever heard of have wings. Butterfly, dragonfly, that kind of thing. I’ll admit, they don’t look like your wings… those are closer to bats or dragons from what I’ve seen. So if you’re not a fairy, what are you?”
Bowman sighed in frustration and tucked his wings even closer, the equivalent of clenching his fists. He wished they weren’t so easy for the giant to observe. He wished he wasn’t so easy to observe. “How much of a difference will knowing make for you?” he evaded.
“It helps in the future, especially if you’ve got nothin’ to do with this wolf thing goin’ on. That way we don’t go hunting the wrong people again.” He nodded at Sam. “I mean, there’s still people who try and hunt down people like my brother, just because they’re different.”
Bowman frowned and took a chance taking his eyes off Dean to look over at Sam. So the ‘brother’ really wasn’t the same species as the giants? He must be some kind of well trained captive after all.
Bowman looked skeptically back to Dean, wondering what exactly he was implying about hunting ‘the wrong people’. Well, they’d caught Bowman, so clearly sprites were perfectly valid targets. “The only thing I know about right now is there were some giants in the woods today. And I’m regretting that fact a little more every second.”
Dean frowned at that. “Were we the only humans you saw, or were there more before we got there?” he asked, equating ‘giants’ to him and Jacob.
Bowman sighed and rolled his eyes. But at least now he had a name for the giants. Humans. Something to be avoided if he ever got home again. He shook his head. “You had to go and ruin a perfectly good day and a perfectly good record, Spirit scorn you.”
Dean folded his arms, resting his head so he was a little closer to Bowman’s level. It usually made Sam more comfortable, so there was a small chance it would work on Bowman.
“What record did I ruin?” he asked, curious despite himself.
Bowman inched back as the human leaned closer. He was still surprised that he was glad for the glass walls separating them. He narrowed his eyes at the gigantic face. “Until you came along giants were just a myth.”
Bowman frowned again. He didn’t want to continue this line of conversation. Doing so would undoubtedly reveal more about ‘his people’. As it was it sounded like he’d already let them guess anyway. Best to quit while he was ahead. He scoffed and rolled his eyes, then leaned his back against the side of the glass that let him keep both humans in his sight.
“Hey,” Dean tapped the glass next to where Bowman was sitting. “We’re not done yet.” He cocked his head at Bowman. “How ’bout this. One answer, and I’ll leave you alone for a bit. All you gotta do is tell me what you are.”
At this point it almost felt like a personal challenge, withholding the information. Bowman glared at Dean, leaning away from the glass again. He doubted the giant even realized how much the impact translated in to Bowman. His wings flicked with annoyance. It was intimidating to try to have a staredown with someone whose eyes were the size of his head.
But Bowman managed. “Does the fact that I don’t want to tell you mean anything to you?”
Dean shrugged, belatedly realizing he shook the table when he did it, making Sam shift his position further back on Jacob’s hand. Dean sent a grimace of apology his way before answering. “Sure. You don’t have to tell me anything. That just means you’ll have to put up with me a bit longer though.”
Bowman glanced at the table beneath him as it shook, and his wings flexed open briefly. But he rolled his eyes and leaned against the glass again, his arms crossed. He wasn’t at all convinced they’d let him go after taking him so far already. So “a bit longer” had no meaning. “I’m not telling you anything, so you can Pray to a rock for all I care.”
Dean frowned, thinking things over. “Do you want these wolves to stay in your forest?” he asked. “Because if you want to give us a hand getting rid of them, this’ll all be over sooner. No more wolves, no more us. We’re only interested in getting rid of an unnatural threat to everyone.” From what he’d seen from Bowman, the guy shouldn’t have any reason to want these nasty skulkers lurking around, especially not if he lived in the forest.
“The wolves are always there!” Bowman answered, frustrated and no less confused than before. Wolves were predators. They killed and ate things. It was sad but it was just life. Why these giants should care so much when they were clearly better equipped to deal with the beasts was baffling to Bowman. Wolves were far more threatening to the sprites than to the giants who could conceal Bowman completely in one hand.
“The wolves and the owls and foxes and snakes are always around. I Pray to the Spirit that your kind isn’t moving into the woods too.”
Sam decided it might be a good time to step in and see if he could help. He hopped down from Jacob’s hand, patting it to show his thanks before he came over, stepping up right in front of Dean by a few inches.
“These aren’t regular wolves, Bowman,” he explained patiently. “Regular wolves wouldn’t do something like this.” He started to pace, right in front of Dean’s crossed arms. “There’s been too many attacks, and they don’t eat the bodies like wild animals do. There are missing organs, but they look like they’ve been sucked dry. All the police have to go on is the makings on the bodies, and those look like wolf bites.”
Bowman listened to Sam, tracking his pacing back and forth. A look of increasing discomfort and disgust came to his face. He didn’t much like hearing about such gruesome deaths. It was bad enough considering what would become of a sprite if they got caught in such horrid jaws. Only one sprite in the village was brave enough to even get close to a wolf.
Scar would have stuck his sword in Dean’s hand without hesitation and flown off. He probably would have managed to taunt the giants before escaping. Bowman’s shoulders fell as he thought about how unequipped and underwhelming he was to these people.
“And you think I had something to do with it?” He asked bitterly, glaring past Sam at Dean. “You really think I’d want anything to do with something that’d eat me no matter if it’s a regular wolf or a weird wolf? I’m not stupid! ”
Sam crossed his arms, frowning. “No, I don’t think you had anything to do with it. Honestly, if you were the cause, I don’t you’d have been caught so easy. Plus, you haven’t exactly made any great escape attempts.” He walked closer to the vase, putting a hand on the thick glass he’d never be able to budge on his own. “We have to be sure, though. That’s why they took you. We couldn’t risk missing our chance if you were the cause.”
Oddly enough, Sam was trying to excuse events he’d had nothing to do with. He’d been knocked out during Bowman’s kidnapping. He wondered if things would be the same if he’d been up.
Bowman’s hands tightened into fists for a second, his frustration still very much there. The cause of what? Wolves doing something weird? If anything, it was probably these giants moving onto their territory too much. And even if they managed to stop them from acting weird, the regular wolves would remain. They’d be stalking around the woods perfectly happy to hunt a sprite.
Bowman sighed sullenly and cast his gaze away from the normal sized hand on the other side of the glass. Much larger hands were still near and could still go back on their assurances anytime. “Well, good work. You caught me so easy,” he snipped. He shifted his wings so they weren’t folded so tightly as he leaned against the glass wall. He pretended to settle in his spot, as if simply dropping out of the conversation. He didn’t want to talk any more than before.
Dean sat up, deciding to call it a night for the questioning. It had turned into a waste of energy. “Maybe you should try some regular research,” he suggested to Sam, nodding at the laptop. “We might find something on what Bowman is on there,” he finished, thinking how much he hated that defeated look on Sam’s face.
Sam glanced up, mulling it over. “Yeah, you’re right,” he admitted. At least the laptop didn’t talk back.
