Harry shrugged. "It's a nickname, actually. But it works." Hey, Bob certainly didn't mind. And it did work. So all was well.

Naomi shrugged.

"Hey, as long as it works," she said. "It might be interesting to talk to... Bob." She paused for a second. "...Where do you keep such a thing? Where we're from, air spirits still have physical bodies and all that. Spirits are considered 'demons,' but they never rank very high on the power scale."

"He lives in a skull in the sub-basement." Harry shrugged. "He's bound to the skull, so unless I give him permission to leave he can't. Which is generally a good thing."

Naomi blinked.

"Wait, wait, wait," she said, holding up a hand. "He lives in a skull? That's creepy."

Harry shrugged. "Would it be better if I told you he'd once taken over control of a T-rex skeleton?"

Osanna's eyes widened. Freakin awesome.

Naomi thought about that for a second.

"Yes," she said, nodding. "I agree with Osa there. That's badass."

"Well. THere you go." Harry couldn't help but grin.

"Harry," Bob called. "Harry! Who are you talking to?"

"No one, Bob," Harry called back, rolling his eyes.

"Did you bring me more books?"

"No. Shut up."

Naomi snickered. The voice drifting up from the subbasement wasn't quite the nasally nerd's voice, but it was still kind of amusing to listen to.

"Well, if you wanted to talk to Bob, now would be a good time." Harry looked at them, raising his eyebrows in question.

Osanna shrugged. It was up to Naomi, really.

Naomi thought about it for a moment, before nodding.

"I think it would be fascinating," she replied.

Harry nodded and lifted the trap door, going down to fetch Bob. He put the skull on the table.

Bob looked them over and whistled. "If I knew you had such lovely company I would've come up earlier." The orang eye-lights clearly looked the two over.

Well that's lovely. Osanna made a face.

"Ooooh, sign language. I haven't dealt with that in a few decades." Bob somehow looked pleased.

"That's creepier than I thought it would be," Naomi admitted, speaking in a low voice to Osanna. Still, she couldn't help but lean in a bit to get a closer look. "So... explain this to me," she said to the skull, gesturing vaguely to it.

"You mean me?" Bob asked cheerfully. "I'm an air spirit, a being of intelligence and knowledge. I used to live in Faerie, but, as you can see, I don't anymore. Whoever possesses my skull can get to my knowledge, if they ask nicely." He slanted a look towards Harry, who just snorted.

"Yeah, no," Naomi said, shaking her head at the mention of Faerie. "I've never been anywhere so god-forsakenly cold as that place." Never. Again, she added to Osanna.

Bob chuckled. "I see you didn't like it. Not many do." He looked at them. "Although there are many... unique things in Faerie."

"Don't get me wrong, I like cold," Naomi said. "I'm a half-breed ice demon, I'm perfectly okay in the cold. That was something else entirely."

"Demon, hmm? You don't look like any demon I've ever seen, even a half-breed..." Bob managed to rattle closer to Naomi, taking a closer look at her. "You sure you're half demon?"

Naomi grinned.

"Where Osa and I come from, yes," she replied. "I was explaining to Harry, where we're from, if it's not completely human, it's classified as a demon first, and anything else second. And I'm very sure I'm a half-breed, I've known people who have taken great pains to remind me every chance they got." It was almost something she took pride in, now, rather than being ashamed of it.

Bob caught on to part of that very quickly. "Where you're from? So you're not from here?" He sounded rather delighted, actually.

"Nope," Naomi replied cheerfully. She had been right, this was a fun conversation. "Let's see, including home, Osa and I have been to..." She glanced at her friend. "What is it, three? Four other dimensions? Something like that."

This makes four, Osanna signed back.

"You can't talk?" Bob guessed.

Nope. Never could.

"Well, I'd sign back at you but I don't currently have hands. Unless Harry's willing to let me out for a while..."

"Not on your life, Bob."

Naomi snickered.

"It's alright," she said. She grinned. "At least I don't have to translate this time around. Well," she added after a moment, glancing at Harry, "mostly."

Harry just shrugged. "You can talk about whatever you'd like amongst yourselves. I'm not paying attention."

"But you said no to me!" Bob said, a pout clear in his voice.

"I always say no, Bob."

Naomi bit her lip to smother a full-out cackle. This was just priceless to watch.

It's almost like watching my father and my brother, she said to Osanna. When Orion isn't getting his way, he whines just like that. At least... he did when I was a kid. I don't know if he's changed at all. She hadn't interacted with her half-brother at all for years. He didn't treat her badly when she was little, but he gradually got more and more distant as she got older, so she never got the chance to talk to him again before her half-sisters tormented her that last summer.

Osanna grinned. They are fun. I doubt that you'd want to mess with them, though. She shook her head a little. Remember that old saying about wizards and tempers?