Artemis raised an eyebrow at Oseely as he threw an arm around her shoulders and plucked the staff from her hands. Her lips pursed a bit when he explained the basic rules of rune-making; no writing anyone else's, any attempts to use someone else's would be subpar, don't even try shit with the lords'. So many rules. Artemis was never very good with rules. No, her specialty always laid in [i]breaking[/i] them.

Reaching out, she took the staff back from him, long fingers curling around it. She gazed down at the intricate runes carved into the metal lining the wood. Artemis gave the staff an idle spin as she thought. Nura immediately perked up, beak snapping at the staff, eager to play. Artemis snatched it back, barely missing the beak's razor edge. Nura shuffled a bit where she sat, eager to play but trying valiantly to sit still. Artemis huffed out something that might've been a laugh and scratched at Nura's head for her troubles. Then she turned her attention back to the staff. The runes. 

She glanced over her shoulder at Oseely, unsure. Then she snapped her gaze back.

Nope. The so-called 'lord' was already smug and self-important enough without her looking back to him for approval like a child every two seconds. So instead she turned her back to him and… looked up to Nura for approval. The gryphon didn't understand enough to give any. With a quiet sigh, Artemis looked back to the staff. Then she bent down and plucked a slender, sharp-edged stone from the cave floor. Straightening back up, she considered her options. The iron would be too tough to carve into with the little stone. She'd just end up hacking little ugly chips into it here or there. So she brought the stone against the wood at the center of the staff and pressed in. Her mind began to wander as she carved.

How was it possible that runes could work for just… anyone? Was it something about the island that made it work? Or were people just magical here in a way they weren't in other worlds? Did you have to be born here to be able to use magic? Clearly not if Oseely was encouraging her to try ([color=darkturquoise][i]Patron of Liars and Thieves,[/i][/color] she reminded herself). [i]Would[/i] it even work for her? As far as Artemis knew, there was nothing inherently magical about her. She'd seen the sun, which was apparently exceptional here, but that likely wasn't a factor. Oseely had seen the sun. The Witch hadn't. They could both use runes.

A memory rang unbidden in her mind, then. [i]The Kith couldn't use runes[/i]. Her hand paused and her eyes looked at her carving, unseeing. Why couldn't they use runes? By all accounts they'd been on the island the longest. If the island itself made rune magic possible then shouldn't the Kith, the original inhabitants, be the most proficient at it? But there was some sort of tradeoff – The Pirates had runes and iron. The Kith had masks and protection in the forest.

And what the hell did [i]she[/i] have? A stick, a mutant bird, and a smiling guy telling her to draw magic pictures. Fantastic. 

Somewhere in Artemis' self-deprecation her eyes had refocused on the staff in her hand. A small carving was etched into the wood, a little more angular than she'd intended, a little rough-edged and ugly, but… 

Artemis let her carving stone drop to the cave floor. She looked up at Nura for a moment. The gryphon tilted her head to the side. And then Artemis took a breath and brought her palm down to press on her rune.

At first nothing happened. Artemis raised an eyebrow, thoroughly unimpressed with herself.

Then a light flashed under her palm. Branching out from her hand, the Witch's runes jolted to life along the staff, white light pouring from them. And then the most ferocious crack of lightning Artemis had ever seen erupted from the staff. It arced through the air, crackling and tearing the night apart, branches oh solid light finding opposite ends of the cave. 

Artemis screamed. She let go of the staff, heat blossoming in her hand where she'd touched her rune. She didn't know if the tingling in her hands was from the electricity or the magic or the sheer [i]thrill[/i] of holding lightning in her hand. The lightning disappeared the moment she let go, but she could still feel the crackle and pop of electricity in the air, brushing against her skin. She felt her hair puffing up from the static, no doubt making her look like some terrified, filthy cat. Nura looked like a huge, terrified fluff ball. 

Artemis looked down at the staff, the Witch's runes still glowing with lightning. With [i]magic[/i]. Her own, smaller rune shined brightest of all.

[color=darkturquoise]"Oh, well [i]done[/i]!"[/color] she shouted at Nura with a laugh, as though it was the gryphon's doing. Artemis rushed forward, hands fervently scratching at the feathers, simultaneously smoothing them down and ruffling them up. Nura didn't seem to know what to make of this development.

The staff rested on the ground below them, runes slowly losing their glow.