Swordstar

Tossing my hat into the ring (though it's not as cute a hat as Pyon's girl has) "How exactly did I end up here?"

Move to N-9

"Hmm. Apparently you weren't just talking nonsense. Well then. Shall we?" Selia wasted no time, moving out and picking up the tattered tome from the ground. A Lightning... Not my preferred but it will have to do. M-6, grab Lightning

Selia gently touched the tattoo of an eye on her forehead and closed her other eyes. The cards began to glow brighter, flashed brightly, and then went dark. Opening her eyes, she reached out and flipped the first card and raised an eyebrow in surprise. "The upside down Fool. One of the Major cards, representing a major path in your life. Where once you had two paths, you chose to head down one, sealing off the other. No longer can you return to that path and yet you exhibit hesitancy, perhaps even regret. Fear of the unknown and what might have been. But the path that lays in front of you is not that path and you cannot fall into the wonder of what might have been or else you risk falling off the path you have chosen into the wilderness. Reaching out again, she revealed the middle card and chuckled. "The nine of wands, how fitting. You need to remember that you cannot do everything. While it is tempting to uphold the burden of the battle on your own, you need to remember in the midst of your struggles that you have others that you can lean on. Allow them to move to the front while you take a moment to catch your breath. They will not think any less of you for it." When she flipped over the last card, her eye visibly widened in surprise and a small chuckle escaped. "I suppose you will take this as the sign you wanted me to see. The Sun. A card of hope and renewal. The battle you face is not in vain and you will have fulfillment at the end. There is joy and enthusiasm and, shockingly, optimism in your future if you can persist through the current struggles and grab a hold of them. These two together, the nine of Wands and the Sun are special. It is, if you choose to believe it, confirmation that your path is the right one and persisting in it will give your life the meaning you sought when you first stepped out on this path."

Selia grinned and sat down cross legged, shuffling the cards before spreading them out face side out towards Rayne. Thankfully the girl's cell was directly across from hers, allowing an easy view of the cards. "Please, sit down and listen to my words. As you can see, these cards are blank. Nothing on the fronts, only a repeating pattern on the back. She held out the cards to Rayne with a grin. Inspect them if you want. You can see that they are just simple cards, no trickery or anything like that. Once the other girl had had a chance to inspect them, she drew them back and fanned them out. "And yet, I promise you, these will show your future. Now, think long and hard about a question that is dear to you." She placed the deck down in Rayne's reach, the only difference is that there was now a subtle glow to the cards, almost as if they were imbued with magic. "There is no need to tell me the question you are searching for an answer for just yet. The final step is easy. Pick any three cards you want from the deck and place them face down in front of you in any order. Then the answer to your question will be revealed as it relates to your past, your present, and your future."

"While this is all very sweet, it doesn't do much to convince me that you actually have any chance of breaking free. So unless you have something else, I'll stick with my plan of doing not much. Anyone care to have their fortune told? I'm sure it won't have any sort of death and destruction in it."

"Give a girl a chance to answer, geeze. They come in pairs. Every couple of hours, though they came early to toss you lot in. I don't know exact times." The comment about spirits got a strange look but no response. "Typically they're both armed, though one has food. That one puts the food into the cell through the bars while the other keeps a spear on the prisoner to keep you from trying anything crazy. And while Cupcake over there has a point that they might come check on us for that, no way would they send an unarmed and un-escorted healer in here. They're really not that stupid. Which, again, give they've caught you once already, you'd think you'd have realized."

"Ah, you misunderstand. I have no objection to dying on my feet. But I can't even reach that. Your friend there in the armor has been banging away at the cell bars for a good while now. And exactly how much of a difference has that made? And if she's not made any difference with all of her strength, what exactly am I supposed to do? My tome was taken away from me and the only magic I have left is just enough to imbue these cards with a bit of magic for my fortunes. Not enough to form a fully realized offensive spell. Would I take the chance if given? Of course. I would be crazy not to. But why leave my body bruised and bleeding to make no change to my predicament?"

"You're crazy, all of you. Feel free to think what you want, but I'll not chase after false comfort just to be disappointed. Better to just accept reality and do the best you can with it." Pulling the cards back out, she slowly started flipping through them again, this time slowly infusing them with a pale pure white glow. Flipping them around in her hands, those that were paying attention would notice that while the backs had intricate designs on them, the fronts were completely blank.

Selia stared at the blue haired girl for a few long seconds before laughing cynically. "You're cute, really. But from what I heard when those guards brought you in here, you all already got beaten pretty soundly by those guards when you had your weapons. You expect me to believe that you're going to break out of these cells with your bare hands, then beat up all the guards, and escape? You're dreaming." She stuffed the cards back into an inner pocket of her cloak angrily, ignoring the shaking hands, and folded her arms across her chest with a huff. "But you are right. It isn't just. But that's how the world is. Things aren't fair. Some people get everything. Others get nothing. Better get used to it now rather than later."

"Mmm... I suppose I am a tad grim. Mostly because I'm not trying to tell your fortunes and because unlike you all, I do know what's waiting for me after all of this. Hopefully you'll be able to return to your friend and things will be ok. For me though... Well to answer your bathroom seeking friend over there, who by the way should notice that there's a pot in his cell for that sort of thing, I'm in here because I told the truth. Unlike many of the fortune tellers you run into, I see the truth. And strangely, often those who want to know their fortune are not actually looking for the truth. I told our host the truth. A truth he had no interesting in hearing. And so I wait here for my execution, not eventual freedom." The woman was very matter a fact about her impending death, simply continuing to shuffle the cards in her hands with seemingly no care, her true emotions betrayed only by the shaking hands performing the motions.

"Does it really matter?" The woman pulled out a deck of embossed cards and began to idly shuffle them as she spoke. "We're all stuck in here no matter who I am. But I suppose given how upset you are, it would only be polite to answer. My name is Selia Calchas, seer of fortunes and futures, current prisoner of our lovely host host. I assume you met him and were not simply tossed in here for no reason?"

"You really ought not waste your breath. After the fiftieth time you tried that, it seems unlikely the bars will move if you try it for a fifty-first time," a voice that none of them recognized commented. A shape stirred in the shadows of the furthest back cell and moved towards the bars. The light revealed a tattered looking girl with messy hair and a large cloak that seemed almost too big for her. Continuing to speak, she sat down with her legs folded and gestured towards the entrance to the cell. "You have to realize, they don't care. You can scream all you want but unless they're coming to hit you for annoying them, they're not going to pay attention. You're better off just waiting for whatever they plan to do with you. Less painful that way."