Artemis, exhausted and on her back, looked up at the sky. The surrounding trees had been burned away. All that was left to break up the ever present blackness of the night was the moon and a mass of stars. Both were foreign to her. She idly pondered at the others who looked up at this alien sky. They probably used the moon's rotation to tell time in the absence of the sun. But… if the island sat in eternal night, that either meant the sun was nonexistent (and thus couldn't reflect off the moon to make it visible) or the globe didn't rotate (and the moon would only change its position relative to months, and not days). What of the seasons? Did the world move around the sun, spinning on its axis only enough to keep the island in the shadows? Was there some land mass on the opposite side of the world bathed in eternal sunlight? Maybe the island wasn't cursed at all, and the world's orbit was just so massive and slow compared to what the humans were used to that one global day here seemed like decades to them.

The gryphon beside her had grown bored and plopped its head on the ashen ground with a huff. Artemis' hand drifted over to its head and started scratching at the soft feathers just above its beak, between its eyes. It wouldn't do if the beast got fed up with her and decided to leave her stranded.

A voice cut through her aimless thoughts. Artemis immediately tensed, her hand stilling on the gryphon. It was a man's voice, smiling and distant, but still close enough to be heard clearly. She forced herself to relax, and moved her arms to push herself up into a sitting position. Leaning back on her hands, her eyes found the source of the voice. A man, wiry and dark skinned, sat above a cracking fire. The flames cast dancing, ghoulish shadows across his face.

As far as Artemis could tell, people were either Kith or Pirates on the island. Masks or iron. The few Kith she'd run into hadn't seemed… horrible. They'd all been unpleasant children, but had seemed at least as wary of her as she'd been of them. But her relations with the Pirates weren't much to look at, either. The first one had turned into some bloodcurdling shadow demon and thrown her into a river. The other two were less nightmare inducing, but Artemis had also [i]robbed[/i] them. That likely hadn't bought her any favors with Pirates on the whole.

The man wore no mask. But Artemis wasn't sure she could spy any iron on him, either.

[i]Blood-rats.[/i] Why why [i]why[/i] did everything on this island seem to be some horrid, people-eating abomination. 

Remembering his question, she turned her head to look around and the charred remains of the forest. 

[color=darkturquoise]"Hmm,"[/color] she hummed, pretending to contemplate. [color=darkturquoise]"No, this one wasn't me."[/color] [i]This[/i] one, at least. Artemis wondered if that fire she'd accidentally set with the Lantern had been put out yet. She looked back at the man and sat forward, meeting his eyes. A hand casually fell to the staff in her lap while the other found the gryphon's head again. [color=darkturquoise]"And for the record,"[/color] she said, idly turning her gaze to the gryphon, [color=darkturquoise]"I happen to have an expert rat catcher with me, so I think I'll nap as long as I please."[/color] Artemis was fairly certain she'd never be able to sleep on this island. Not with things like blood-rats and monkey-bats and, heaven forbid, [i]children[/i] running rampant. There was a slight playfulness to her voice, no real edge to her words. Her head cocked to the side a bit. [color=darkturquoise]"What's keeping them off you?"[/color]

Heaven and Hell, she hoped there were no blood-rats around.