Operation Blind Vanguard: Target(s) Reaper and Rider [CLOSED]

"Go, go, go." A group of shadowed men rushed through the forest, a lavendar haired woman in their sights. They pursued this woman with one intent: to kill her. Three men held up bows, firing arrows at her back, but her agile form always seemed to be missed by the smallest distances. Two men on horses attempted to flank her, but it was as if she saw them coming. She leaped over both horses and into the trees above, using the higher ground as an advantage over moving through the difficult underbrush. "Hurry, men! Don't let her get away." the leader of this band of shadowed hunters commanded his men, and like loyal subjects they followed his orders. Selena was completely unaware of what was happeningn to her. She could only remember a few instances that she could have gotten in enough trouble to warrent having people sent after her. "ENOUGH!" she yelled. In her right hand, she held the handle to a well-made, custom, thirty-five foot chain. She swung her arm around, manipulating the vibrations within the chain that were caused by the movement to speed them up. The chain swung around rapidly, flying through a few trees and causing them to fall over. As this was done, the men shot three arrows at her, hitting her in the stomach and sending her falling to the floor.

The trees fell over in front of them, the arrows that had been shot just barely making it through to hit her. As she fell to the ground in pain, she 'looked' up to 'see' these shadowed men hop over the fallen trees and land at her side. They raised their bows to her again. "Rider?" one of them spoke, as if to confirm her identity. She didn't move. Her blindfold kept them from understanding any emotion she might of had too. "Are you telling me that you chased me through the forest, shooting arrows at me, and hitting me in the gut because you thought I was someone that you were after?" she said while laying there and ignoring the pain in her stomach. "It's her. She's the blind one." Selena heard one say and smirked. As they pulled back on their bows to fire their arrows, she used that exact moment to counter them. The pulling back of the string caused a vibration throughout the wood of the bows as they were bent, allowing her to snap them with a wave of her left hand. Selena heard the crack as the bows fell apart, startling their wielders. She jumped to her feet, ignoring the three arrows that were already in her gut. She 'saw' a sword coming toward her gut and ducked under it before dagger made it's way into her back. She turned her body and forced the dagger from her body as she turned.

"Bastards!" she yelled and brought up her right hand, still holding the chain. The movement allowed her control over the vibrations once more and she sent the chain slamming into the leaders gut. His body was flung backwards and his subordinates immediately went on the attack again. Selena whipped her chain around once more, wrapping around the remaining few. With a strong flick of her wrist, she sent a strong wave of energy through their bodies, causing every organ within their bodies to vibrate rapidly, making their muscles contract. At this time, the leader regained his composure and went to attack her again. "Die!" he yelled. Selena had no idea how he did it. She only 'saw' him coming as his fist entered her immediate area. She barely had time to shift her head in his direction before his fist collided harshly with the side of her face. Selena's body flew backwards, slid across the forest ground, and slammed into a tree. Upon impact, the collision broke the arrows that had been sticking out of her gut and ripped through her skin. "Ahh!" she screamed at the top of her lungs as she felt the arrowheads tear through her skin. She 'looked' back toward her attacker and could 'see' him charging at her with a raised sword, but the pain had her frozen, trying to catch her breath.

Selena 'saw' the figure approaching rapidly behind this leader of assassins. By this person's movement, she could tell what their intentions were and 'watched'. The left side of her mouth twitched, as if fighting the urge to smile. She lay there still as the man was slain only a few feet from her. She kept her attention on the newcomer, wondering what his new intentions would be after the other was slain. The residual arcana that fluctuated around the many dead bodies helped Selena see a bit better. This man was odd. She could not see him entirely, but only was able to make out the outline of his body. He spoke and sent a shiver down her spine. Selena froze, surprised by the odd sound that resonated so strangely from this man. Hearing the shot he made at her, she turned her head toward him, her pale eyes narrowed. She reached up and pulled down the blindfold that previously would have looked like some sort of odd headband. She scoffed at him a bit and struggled to turn over, feeling her wounds pull as she moved. She winced and curled her knees in a bit. Taking a deep breath, she turned her ear toward this newcomer as if to show she couldn't actually see his location, "What? You learning to fight blind too? Or are you here to kill the blind one, like those bastards over there?"

Selena decided she was going to milk what she could. She was blind, so it's not like she'd be lying. She merely wasn't going to pay attention to her power and act as if she couldn't see a damn thing. She struggled to get onto all fours and began reaching out in random directions, feeling along the ground to find her weapon. She could see where it was each time her hand made contact with the ground, but ignored it to see what this man was going to do. A lot of men she ran into were actually honor bound and felt obligated to help the little blind woman, but something told her the man with the scary voice wasn't the same as them. Moving was obviously a chore for her, even if she was playing pretend with her sight right now. She had a lot of pain in her back from the dagger that had been thrust into her and even more in her gut from the three arrows had been shot at her and then ripped from her body. She had a few bumps and bruises from being thrown a long and she was surprised that her jaw had not been broken when the leader had punched her in the face. "Ow..." she mumbled. She continued reaching out until she found a tree and then crawled up it until she was able to stand. She looked around in random directions, her blindfold keeping her eyes hidden.

"A-Are you still there?" she said, her tone actually quite hopeful.

The moment that he 're-balanced' himself, Selena could hear the slight movement of the chain, but ignored it. With the blindfold blocking him from seeing her eyes, she happily narrowed them at him daring to step on her weapon. She assumed he just didn't know, or didn't want her attacking him. She wasn't exactly in the shape to do so, but obviously he was a paranoid one. Once she stood and begain picking up her chain, she felt her gut turn. She was very protective over her weapon, so she didn't wat him messing with it. "Not necessarily. These bastards were able to sneak up on me." she told him when he answered her. "That's mine..." she said with a hiss on her tone. She stepped forward and reached out toward the chain, missing by at least a foot on purpose. "Don't take it away from me." she said, sounding sort of desperate as she leaned back against the tree. He set his hand on her shoulder and she jumped, as if she were startled. Her body tensed at his touch as he pulled her in to him and pulled her arm over his shoulder. She winced a little at her body stretching, her other arm coming up out of reflex to clench at his shirt. "Ow..." she muttered, her jaw clenched shut as she took in a deep breath to try and relax, "Don't be so rough..."

He was kind enough to help her walk, but it was really silent. She would intentionally almost trip over raised roots or larger rocks to keep up this blind act that she was pulling. After a few minutes, he finally spoke and seemed to demand her name. She tilted her heard a bit, turning her ear toward him and didn't answer. He asked her name again, but still held the tone of being demanding. "Is this an interrogation, or something?" she asked, breathing a little heavy, "You can't... maybe... help me stop this bl-bleeding first?" Selena reached down and rubbed quite a bit of blood off her stomach and held out her hand to show it. "I'm pretty sure my back... Yeah... It hurts." she told him. She knew that she would start feeling light-headed some time soon. The loss of blood, if left unchecked, was not going to make this easier on either of them, especially since he actually was helping her. "And, so you don't drop me..." she said accusingly, "My name is Selena. It's Selena Loret if you need the full thing, though I wouldn't understand why you would." Selena began putting a little more weight on him, her wounds starting her hurt more as the two of them moved along. "Sorry..." she said sincerely, now feeling bad about making him help her, "Where are we going?"

The entire proceedure was a lot more comfortable than Selena thought a traveling doctor would be able to provide. After an entire hour, the bleeding had stopped, the wound was stitched up, and Selena's pain was slowly going away. Once things were done and the final stitch was cut from the needle, Selena smiled. She closed her eyes behind the blindfold and just laid there, listening to the two of them. "Thank you..." she muttered as she tried to calm down. The doctor asked a question about what had done this and the strange-talking male answered first. She stayed silent for a bit, as if she were thinking about how to answer him. "Yeah..." she muttered and tried to sit up. She moved as carefully as possible, making sure not to mess up her stitches. "I know I got stabbed in the back by one of them and three shot me in the stomach. Since they stayed there and were stick-like," she said with a sarcastic tone, "yes, I'm sure that they were arrows." She took in a deep breath and turned her ear back to the Doctor, "Do I owe you anything?" Apparently not. The other decided to speak up and told the Doctor to put it on his tab. She tilted her head a bit, confused at why he'd do that, but then shrugged it off. "Thank you... I think." she said, but knew that she was going to pay for it some how.

"Now..." she stood up off the table she had been laying on, "If you don't mind, I would like having my chain back." Selena took a step toward the strange-voiced man and held out her hand. "I'm not gonna attack you or anything. I just want what belongs to me. It's mine. Give it." Selena brought her other hand up to the blindfold and pushed it up to cover her forehead, but reveal her eyes. Her eyes were always focused downward and to her left; she obviously favored her right ear. She even brushed part of her hair back behind her right ear, "Come on, give it back."

As the two of them walked along, it might come to this man's surprise that Selena was calm. In fact, she felt almost comfortable. Was this confidence or stupidity on her part? Maybe a little bit of both. She found herself laying her head on his back, keeping her arms loosely around his neck as they traveled. She didn't talk until she was suddenly being set down. "Mn..." she moved carefully, trying not to harm herself in the process. As she was sat down, she was looking to the right with her left ear facing him. The moment he spoke, her head turned the opposite direction to have her right ear toward him. She had pretty much perfected this act. "Now, tell me why assassins would be after you." he asked. This caught Selena off guard. Was he serious? She blinked her pale eyes a few times and tilted her head in confusion. "Uh... Hm..." she started, but didn't seem to get the words she wanted. She leaned forward and raised her hands to his face, ignoring (but noting) the fact that he was wearing a mask, and slid her fingers up to the top of his head.

Knock, knock, knock... on his head. "You're silly. The first thing you do is tell me your name, since I told you mine." She brought her knees up and set her elbow on them, placing her chin on her knees. "Why do you care?" she asked curiously, after giving him a moment to give his name. If he didn't, she'd merely move on as if the subject wasn't even that important in teh first place. "I appreciate you saving me, but what does that have to do with you? Are you trying to pull a 'knight in shining armor' routine?" she said semi-jokingly, her tone a little innocent, "If so, it doesn't work on someone who can't see the suit, love." She was being a lot sweeter than one would expect with her previous attitude, but hey? She had to admit that this man interested her, at least a little bit.

"I now am convinced you are blind—you'd know by sight that I am no knight." Selena batted her eyes in surprise. She wasn't sure how to take that. Did he think negatively of himself or did he just feel he was that evil? Either way, she was very curious about this. As he continued speaking, she kept perfectly still. She was listening, but her mind was on two things. One, his lack of being a knight. And two, he was still holding something she was very connected to. "Because it seems that the group which tried to murder you attempted, but failed, at trying the same with me. That is why I care." She caught that and glanced away from him, her right ear still facing him though. He continued asking things, giving off examples, and she just shook her head. She could easily answer him, but why should she if he was just going to keep her things away from her?

"Judging by this odd weapon, I'd assume you're more involved with violent acts, correct?" Selena blinked once and turned her head straight toward him. She batted her eyes again, but her expression was stoic. Tilting her head to the side, she reached out and placed her hands on his mask again. "You speak strengely because of this, don't you?" she asked as she turned her head in different directions the way blind people do when they're using their sense of touch to create an image in their minds. "And yes, I am intentionally avoiding your questions...." she told him honestly, "I am doing this because I'm not sure how to answer. I have done none of the things that you've listed. Some people may call me violent, but those people are usually on the same end as those assassins, attacking me first or taking the lives of innocent people because they have the power to do so..."

While she was speaking to him, Selena began sliding her hands down from his mask, to his neck, down his chest, and to his shirt. Suddenly, using the stump as leverage, she used all of her strength to push him onto his back and hopped into a straddling position. "Now! Before you decide to attack me, because I know you can and likely will, I just want my weapon back. I love that thing. It makes me feel safe." she explained as quickly as possible, "Taking that from me is like me taking your mask off of your face and keeping it from you; it likely makes you feel really uncomfortable... and yes, I am assuming by you tensing earlier, when I tried to touch you, that you don't like taking your mask off. I'm not going to attack you and giving it to me is the easier way of getting your questions answered."

Selena was on the edge of snapping. She was no longer able to tell whether he was just stubborn or not understanding how important that item really was to her. As he turned the tides against her and pushed her off, he rolled on top of her and mimicked her own move. The difference was, he placed his arm against her neck and began to press. She closed her eyes tightly, waiting for him to harm her in some way. Instead, he refused her request once more. "As long as I am here, there is nothing you need to worry about. That is why there is no need for you to have your weapon back." "You idiot." she thought as he talked. "Try that again though and I will reopen your wounds." he threatened.

Selena didn't move for a moment. She had tried to be playful and sweet about it. She tried to explain to him how important that item was to her. She wasn't going to attack him. She wasn't threatening toward him at all, but he still refused to do the one simple thing of handing over what belonged to her. She began to move, sitting up from her position on the floor as he continued. "And don't act like you understand anything about this mask." "Give it back..." she whispered quietly enough that there was no way he would have heard. She sat there with her head fully lowered, her hair falling passed her face to hide any and all expression she may have been showing at the time.

"Now, back to the questions. Do you remember where you were when you were attacked first? Was it within that forest, or were you chased into it? What all did they come at you with? Did some retreat? Did you kill any? Did they say anything?" Selena shook her head no with every single question that he threw at her just then. Was she answering him? No, and that was obvious. She was just shaking her head out of her own irritation. As she raised her head to him, she reached out toward the chain. "Give it back... Give it back, give it back! Please!" she begged as tears came streaming down her cheeks, "Do you have any idea what it's like to lose your sight!? It's terrifying! I have one thing in this world that doesn't make me feel like a helpless idiot and you won't give it back to me! How could you be so cruel?!" Selena brought her hands to her eyes and just cried into them.

The moment he handed her that chain, the tears stopped. Her demeanor changed from that of a helpless young woman to a strong one. She pulled the chain and began wrapping it around herself until she realized that part of it she was unable to move for whatever reason. She slid her hand along it, her face becoming distorted with confusion as she felt some strange rock holding it down. She felt along it for a bit and then turned her ear toward him as he spoke. She rolled her pale eyes and kept tapping a finger on the odd rock that was surrounding the rest of her chain. "You're an idiot." she spoke up, "You don't trust me to hold my own weapon, but you trust me to tell you about the idiots who attacked me?"

"No, no... Let me guess. You don't trust me to tell you the truth, you just want any answers I may give, so you can use them to figure things out on your own, right?" Selena spoke very, very sarcastically and it was obviously out of irritation. She stayed silent for quite a bit, as if she were not going to answer his questions even after he did as she asked. If he decided to move before she was ready, she'd hold up a finger that said 'wait'. A few moments later, she'd begin speaking.

"As you know, my name is Selena and you're too rude to tell me yours. There are a few reasons someone might want me dead, but it's usually their fault in the first place. It's possible I owe money, but can't remember right now. I have not upset a family. I don't remember stealing something that wasn't food. I've never had sex, since I'm assuming 'slept with' wasn't asking about actual sleep... I wouldn't call myself violent, or anything I do. I defend myself when I can. I was attacked while eating an apple on the outskirts of a village near here. The rest of my stuff is still back there too, so they chased me into the forest. I couldn't see to answer that question, but none retreated. They're all back there. I didn't kill any. I don't like killing unless needed and they called me 'The Blind One' at one point. And yes, I will answer them now..." Yes, Selena answered every single question in the order in which they were asked ever since he started asking these damn things.

"Satisfied?" she tilted her head and asked, but shrugged, "Don't know how you could be. You don't know whether anything I said is true... Poor man... don't seem to trust anyone. If a blind woman with a normal chain worries you this much..." she said while tapping on the rock he put on her chain, "I don't know how you can really live. Survive, yes. Live? No." And then she did admit that she pitied him. Who wouldn't? "Now... are you one of those people who only care about what you want and need? Cause if so, we're probably about to have a few more problems than either of us wanted to deal with in one day." her words did hint a bit of a threat, but anything like a fight would be easily avoided if he decided to stop acting like such a paranoid jerk. "Maybe I should try touching your face again... Your reaction was cute." she said, turning her face toward him and pushing up a bright smile.

As Selena listened to his own rantings, she felt he had some sort of point to make with it. He would be able to tell that she really was listening to him and taking everything that he was saying in, as if she actually enjoyed listening to him talk. The moment that last line registered in her mind, Selena felt her heart sink. "No name?" she asked him curiously, "Do you actually have no name or are your implications false to make me feel guilty about the way I've been talking to you?" The expression Selena held at that point was one of guilt. She didn't want to insult him by saying he was rude for not telling her his name if he actually didn't have none. It was actually similar to his "rose colored lenses" comment and her blindness. "If so, you're name is now..." she stopped to think to herself.

"Jarred." she said with a sweet smile, "I like J and D names for men, but J fits you better. It was either that or Darius and that felt a little rough." It might be a little shocking to have someone just tell you what your name is. She doubted he'd go for it, but she could try anyways. A moment later, she sighed and stepped up toward him again. "Do you mind?" she asked as she lifted her hands again, "I actually wouldn't mind knowing what you looked like..." If he didn't allow her to, she'd drop her hands and sigh in disappointment before sort of just standing there, thinking to herself. If he did allow it, she'd step in and start as his face, tracing his mask, up to his eyes, and hair. "What color?" she'd ask once she got to each of them, "I actually used to be able to see, ya know... I wasn't born this way."

"Would it be too much if I asked to take off the mask?"

Selena's attitude did change quite a bit toward him. He often confused her, scared her, and irritated her. It was just because she knew nothing about him and he knew nothing about her. Maybe if neither of them came off to be such hard-headed dip-shits, things would have been a little different. One thing she knew is that she had a reason for being stubborn, which meant he more than likely did too. Instead of being a pain in his side, since he did save her life, it was probably better for the both of them if maybe she did try to get to know him better? At least, this is what she was thinking when she decided to ask if she could touch him. What she didn't expect though, was his help in doing so.

Feeling him grab her hands and guide them closer, she felt a smile tug at the side of her lips. When she asked about his eyes and he answered with an icy blue, she couldn't help but reply with one word, "Beautiful." And she allowed her smile to grow a bit when he answered about his hair too. "You're not as complicated as I first thought... Thank you." she said as he took off his mask, but then her expression became confused. "Disease?" she asked as she started from his upper cheek and gently slide her hands downward. She could tell it was scar tissue and quickly understood why he felt the need to warn her. She continued feeling around his jaw, trying to figure out what could have done this.

"You were hurt..." she told him confidently, "I understand why others may have been wary, but they are merely fearful and ignorant, likely never seeing a wound like this before." Selena set both her hands on the sides of his face and smiled. She removed her left hand from his right cheek, quickly stood on the tips of her toes, and kissed his cheek. "It seems you hide behind a mask for the same reason I do." she tapped the top of her forehead, where her mask still lay, "I got sick of hearing children ask what was wrong with the creepy ladies eyes... or being gasped at over something I couldn't control... My heart goes out to you, though I feel you may once again scold me for talking like I understand." Selena's demeanor once again changed; she was much more womanly, her childishness was gone and she was being a little bit more tolerable. Thank fucking god...

"You know... when a woman kisses your cheek, it's not very polite to ignore." Selena responded once he was done starting to ask her questions again, "You're so stubborn. I'm trying to be nice to you and all you care about are those fools you were easily able to take down. Something tells me that you'll be fine. Why don't you loosen up and try to have a bit of fun?" Selena just sighed and put up both hands as if she had been defeated. "Nevermind, nevermind..." she said with a shake of her head, "I give up. If you don't want to be friends, I understand... I'll stop trying." She was obviously being a little condescending, but she was also telling the truth. She had tried to be friends.

"Anyways..." Selena thought for a moment. She tilted her head in different directions and even tried smelling the air, but in the end it was futile. "No, sorry. If you took me back to the place where you saved me, I could probably figure out the direction I was running from there... Otherwise, I got nothing." She grabbed onto the end of her chain and began pulling at it. She tugged as hard as she could, but the thing didn't budge. "Ugh... This is not giving it back, you know. It's still in your possession by you keeping it stuck to the ground." Selena's face dulled, her irritation beginning to return, "I swear... I've never met a man as paranoid as you... I'm not going to attack you damn it!"

Selena threw her arms in the air and sat down on the ground with a bit of a thud. "I'm not telling you a damn thing more, nor will I show you where they came from, until you actually give me a damn chance. Stop treating me like a suspect and stop keeping me from being in full possession of something that belongs to me. If I wanted to attack you, I would have done it by now... Do you not have anyone you'd just let be? Or are you a super loner?" Yes, Selena had a tendency to talk a lot, but that comes with the territory. She couldn't see, so she got information other ways, mainly talking. It also didn't help that he was suspiciously silent if she wasn't talking to him and it made her nervous.

"Well... I have a new goal in life..." she said as the idea popped into her head, "I'm going to make you want to be my friend."

Ouch... Selena didn't know whether it was something she said or did, but he suddenly got a lot harsher than he had been. His laugh was the first thing that made her realize that. Was the idea of being friends with her that bad? And then he explained, making her heart sink in the process. Selena kept quiet for a bit when suddenly she was able to move her chain. She turned her ear toward him and smiled a bit, but  it was weak. Something he said had bothered her, and it wasn't the threat of breaking her neck twice. She rolled her eyes at that comment and just shook her head. She stood up and tapped on the chain. For a moment, it seemed to move by itself, wrapping around her waist like a belt multiple times. After that, she stucked the handle into the back of it and smiled to him.

"So that's the man you think you are, huh? That's... upsetting." Selena spoke finally, her tone sorrowed, "I doubt you're destined to fall into some dark abyss. You've chosen that route. Right now, if you wanted to, you could do as you said and break my neck, but you won't. You've chosen not to. The same way I could attack you now that I have my weapon back, but I won't. We choose our paths... And though the lives we live are influenced heavily by the choices of others, whether bad or good, we choose what we do with that as well. If you really want to fall into that dark abyss, then you will. If you don't, there is another path that you can take, a much happier path that's laid out in front of you. You just got to take the leap and trust that it won't let you down; that's why I did."

"Now... Since you're not going to get any hostility from me, unless you choose to show some toward me first, I'd like to follow you back to that area." she said, holding her hand out toward him with a genuine smile, hoping he'd take it. His reasons for taking it were going to be different than her offering, but oh well. This was where the two of them were going to start, and he was foolish if he thought she wasn't serious. She's a very curious person naturally. He was an interesting man, though she'd admit he does frighten her a bit, but her curiosity might do that thing it does to the cat so often. As the two would walk back to the area, she'd stay silent for his sake, but the fact that he didn't ask any questions surprised her. About half way there, she leaned forward with her hands behind her back, tilting her ear upward toward him as they walked. "No more questions?" she said with a soft smile, a little condescendingly, "That's a little surprising. You're a bit of a mystery, aren't you?"

"I guess I can ask a few questions..." Selena stood up straight again, crossing her arms along her chest as she thought of something to ask him. "Wh-.. Ah!" Selena felt her foot slide under a raised root that she actually had not even 'seen', causing her to fall forward. Assuming he didn't catch her, she'd suddenly raise her head from her fallen position with a metaphorical light bulb shining over her head. "Ha! Have you ever seen a dragon before?" she asked what would seem like one of the most random questions that could pop out of this woman's mouth. She stood up and dusted herself off, "I ask that because I don't think you'd tell me anything too personal. If I ask about some of the things you've seen or done, over anything about your family, loves, or non-existent friends, maybe you won't get too mad at me and will actually warm up to me a bit, since I know I can be a little overwhelming to people like you... Like you meaning quiet, reserved, secretive, loner, mystery types."