Orbit

Once the Others got infected with something that turned them rabid, it was Game Over, man. The civil world humans once clung to fell apart within a year and the land was broken up into territories where several different kinds of creatures held dominion. Humans tried to establish their own encampments, but they were just another food source to most of the monsters. Despite their best technological efforts, they were often set upon without discernment or mercy. People survived best in small migrating clans, reverting back to hunter and gatherer as they protected their kin and anyone they could manage to trust. Which happened to be in the exact opposite amounts of high supply.

This human's task wasn't complex but it was difficult. Jade traveled ahead of their clan as a scout, and worked their best to clear a path from destination to destination. As long as their group stayed away from the more pack-oriented creatures, they'd likely be fine. Most of the Others were strong foes, but animal-wild and untamed. There wasn't much finesse to their fighting or hunting. They were easily outsmarted and overpowered with the right tools.

However, certain species were quickly rising to power due to how they outmatched humans more than 10 to 1. Werewolves, Shapeshifters, Vampires, Fae... There was no shortage of powerful, smart, and competent enemies humanity made itself over the many years of persecution and genocide. Some folklore was true where the Other's individual weaknesses were concerned, but a lot was not. Stakes and sunlight wouldn't kill vampires, but a beheading would do the trick --  something that was both messy and difficult. Nothing but silver could penetrate a werewolf's skin, but it didn't burn or poison them. They were still abnormally strong, just bleeding and pissed off. They were completely different from shapeshifters, a species with strengths and weaknesses that varied wildly depending solely on region.

Jade's clan had been particularly vexed by a swarm of local Gargoyles, run by Chandra. The hardest thing to fathom other than all of her general majesty, was her impressive physicality. Chandra was about eight feet tall with four huge arms, and two legs, about as thick as tree trunks, and just as huggable. Jet black skin covered every inch of her muscular body, and faded, slate purple markings graced her, like wisps of clouds tantalizing the night sky. The Gargoyle queen had three eyes, all a pale and otherworldly lavender that seemed to glow with an unbearable heat and brilliance. Full lips, the kind that smiled during a battle, were a deep plum and hid fangs the size of Jade's pinky finger. Her hair was long, lanky, and looked wine dark, like it was always soaked with blood. She was a vision and a terror all at once. She was Jade's favorite nightmare.

Gargoyles varied greatly in their morphology, but they were generally big, some surpassing even ten feet tall. They were strong as most Fae, could wrestle a demon, and out-fly dragons with their enormous bat-like wings. They were unique looking, but still vaguely humanoid. The most arms Jade had seen on a ten-footer was six. The most legs they'd witnessed was eight. Eyes varied from 2 to 4, as depth perception was pretty necessary for flying. Most of them had horns or face protrusions like they might have inspired the Zabrak of Dathomir. Every single one of them had wicked fucking tails. Muscular, thick, and prehensile as fuck, the 5th limb was multifunction for flying, balance, locomotion, and defense. It was strong as an elephant and had the mobility of a python. It was almost more dangerous than the Gargoyle's fangs and their massive claws. Regardless of all the impressive extremes and averages, Chandra was the baddest of them all.

Both of their families had almost hunted each other into extinction with the sort of dedication reserved for eons long family feuds. Their tale of sad destruction really only lasted about a decade, even before the world went all wrong a while back and the Others stopped hiding. Chandra's father had killed Jade's mother. Their mother had killed her brother. Several relatives and tangential family friends had all been hurt in this way. It felt inevitable that it would come to this point between the two of them.

It felt like Chandra and Jade had been destined to destroy each other since birth. There'd been countless attempts on each other's lives already. Jade had their scars with Chandra's signature on them, and a permanent limp from a close to shattered knee. They'd left her a few presents too, like the explosive device of dubious design that had taken the gargoyle queen's left foot. Next time she'd been sighted, it was with a mechanized foot that looked more than deadly. Jade would never admit it to anybody else, but they were impressed and envious of wicked looking prosthetic. Their father wouldn't even let them use a cane.

Gargoyles were in fact pretty impervious compared to most of the weaknesses the Others had. Their collective species were evidently fae-adjacent and not demon-adjacent like originally thought. They were rather resistant to most magic. The "rock during the day" rumors might have been exaggerated, as it was likely more about the species being nocturnal, their unfairly tough skin, and universally muscular facade. They were incredibly smart, worked well in packs or on their own, and were generally the strongest when it came to corporeal beings and physical ability. They were carnivores, but didn't feed solely on humans or gorge on blood and drama like some vampires and fae. Gargoyles were a type of warrior class. They took no shit, but could do a lot of harm. Being the tough fuckers they were, gargoyles really weren't all that concerned with their surroundings. The beasts only seemed easy to sneak up on because they were literally always ready for a fight.

Jade spent a few hours traversing the woods, looking for tell-tale signs of the nocturnal monsters. Their clan wasn't really planning on moving anywhere yet so it was the perfect chance for Jade to sneak out for a bit of experimentation. It wasn't long before the scout stumbled upon a solitary beast in the shadows. The gargoyle clearly just finished up a midnight hunt. It was tying the cleaned and gutted carcass of a giant wild boar to a branch, likely to transport it back to the gargoyle nest. The shadows made it difficult to see, so Jade couldn't tell the exact form they were watching. Deciding not to run the risk of missing their chance, Jade refused to hesitate and let their arrow fly. Any minute now, the scout would get to see if their hypothesis would supply any effect in the real world.

Thunk.

The arrow struck true and sunk right into the night beast's chest, right where one of the hearts should be. Jade fought every urge in their body not to leap into the sky to fist pump for their accuracy. This arrow was their arsenal's newest possible VIP -- a Very Important Projectile. Jade had to be careful whilst testing it against their most vicious foe. Maybe they should have done some dedicated assessments on a few more lower level monsters first, but the scout was just too excited test its efficacy.

"Ouch!" A grating whisper shot through the night and a sudden chill went up Jade's spine. "Damn this! Wha-what is this? I-is that peaches? It - Oh! It stinks!"

There was a loud sound like a cat hacking up a hairball and that was about the time Jade realized they might have been too hasty in forming an hypothesis based on rumors that were now, clearly, completely bunk.

"Oh shit..." Jade turned on their heel, and went to run.

"Oh shit is right." The snarl came from the darkness directly in front of them right before they were snatched up like a fly in a frog's maw.

Jade couldn't see the force, but they sure felt it as the creature ripped them away with inhuman speed and drove their spine into the wide and unrelenting trunk of a Redwood several feet away from where they took their shot. Their bow fell from their hands on that first whiplash of wind and burst of speed from flapping wings. Jade was just about defenseless. Worthless! Completely worthless.

"I wouldn't go that far..." The beast growled in a vaguely taunting tone that haunted Jade's dreams.

Without realizing, Jade had managed to stalk none other than the Queen of the Gargoyles herself, Chandra. Drawn to one another, cataclysmically, disastrously, like they were two galaxies on intersecting orbits. An errant thought passed Jade's mind, wondering why the queen of the gargoyles would be out so late without any protection. Jade had to swallow a sudden burst of rage and disgust at her guards' abilities.

"Hmmm... chivalry was not expected..."

Scowling, they decided they weren't going to decipher whatever extra meaning might lay in Chandra's statement. Death may be imminent, but it didn't mean they had to make it easy for the queen. They might be considered the runt of their litter (their mother's words, not theirs), simultaneously sickly and soft, but they were scrappy and violent in a way most healthy and loved people couldn't fathom.

Since Gargoyles were abnormally strong, going at it hand to hand was essentially fruitless. However, Jade's lack of self preservation and field experience was made up for by research. They'd discovered a lot of things about these creatures, even if they were paltry facts. For example, peaches, or at least expired hand sanitizer scented with peach extract, was not adequate enough a dosage to fell the beasts. Whatever that last traveling troupe had meant when they said the monsters got ill after they had peaches must have been unfounded tripe.

"Hand sanitizer?! No wonder it stings! You might have poisoned me!"

Jade's eyes went wide in shock and their mouth dropped open, and flapped soundlessly for a few beats. "I didn't -- I didn't say any of that out loud." Jade gulped back breathe after breath as several horrifying realizations came tumbling along with the words coming out of their mouth. "Can you read minds!?"

The Gargoyle queen stared at them menacingly for a beat. Jade was completely guileless and Chandra almost felt guilty for wanting to lie straight to their face. "Damn it all, you weren't supposed to figure that out quite so fast."

"You were almost repeating my words back to me verboten."

Chandra sighs and rolls all three of her ultraviolet eyes. "You know I'll have to make you regret this," she said with her deep, thrumming voice. There was a sub-quality to the tone that Jade couldn't quite place. Something regretful. "You're the only human that's been a thorn in my side -- for actual centuries. Even the damned Abenas aren't as worrisome as you."

Jade scowled back at Chandra, but didn't quite know how to respond to that. It almost felt complimentary. The Redwood at their back was unrelenting, but so was Chandra's stare, though the claw spanning their entire chest really held them pinned. Their stomach did a little flip with how close Chandra leans in. She had to bend practically in half to get her face on Jade's level. Jade can taste the spice on her breath, it's so tantalizing their own mouth watered and their legs started to shake. They must be afraid.

"You're a curious one." Chandra inhales deeply and though her eyes focus on Jade, she hasn't worked her magic and sent them into a trance. "Your family treats you as negligible, but you're the only one that's unpredictable and innovative. I like that." Her smiles shows off her long fangs and Jade gulps back a very distraught feeling that makes their stomach burn and their bones feel hollow.

"I don't happen to care what you think," Jade shot back through grit teeth.

Chandra smiled wickedly. "You might like it though..."

"Huh??" Jade felt that smile like a punch in their gut and deflated. It was only panic at the sensations much deeper than their belly that had them getting defensive. "What are you doing to me? Why am I sweating?"

"Hot and bothered are we?" Chandra's grin sharpened, "We could take off our clothes."

Jade did a double take at that lascivious smile of hers. Her tongue snuck out to moisten her bottom lip and Jade's eyes crossed. "We could... what?"

Chandra laughed. "I forgot, your family is a bunch of puritans! They haven't learned what fun we can all have together. Such unimaginative bores. I wager they were immeasurably cruel when you came out sickly."

Sirens sounded off inside Jade's head as shame and rage spiked. They lashed out wildly, managing to head-butt Chandra right in the third eye on her forehead, which was annoying enough to be like a poke for a human that she dropped Jade like a hot potato.

Jade was slow to realize they were free. It took a blink, but they got right to it, scrambling away on all fours, leaving the groaning and cursing Chandra behind them.

After a tirade in her own language, Chandra roared loud enough Jade felt it in their tailbone and the entire forest went silent. The only thing that could be heard after the fact, was Jade's thundering escape attempts through the brush, like an asthmatic family of screaming weasels. The gargoyle backflipped into the air and swooped after the crawling human. As her thick and strong tail wrapped around Jade, they screamed. They screamed and screamed as she made her ascent. At one point, the human suddenly went quiet, but with how fast Chandra flew, the wind could easily drown out the sound. Chandra, was much more accustomed to other hunters stabbing at her, screaming at her, and hurling frightening curses and slurs in their language at her. It was almost disappointing this human's fight went right out of them. After making sure the skies were clear, Chandra looked over her shoulder and spied on the small human in her grasp. Their arms and legs flapped in the wind as if they were made of ribbons instead of muscle and bone. That was when Chandra realized that Jade was no longer conscious.

She cussed in her own language and dropped to the nearest rooftop that she knew was secure. The way Jade uncoiled from her tail, bodily flopping out like a dead fish, was somehow endearing. While she waited, Chandra took a closer look at Jade for the first official time. They'd attacked each other in person of course, fought several times, but Chandra had never seen them quite this close. Never looking so relaxed, not even resembling something close to this serene and unguarded. She got to enjoy herself, as it took a minute for Jade to finally gasp themselves awake.

Once those grey eyes settled on Chandra's there was almost a moment of relief that made the human's shoulders droop. Then they seemed to remember themselves and had the sense to scream. They scrambled away from Chandra and hit the brick wall at their back, never taking their eyes off of her. Chandra stood there, amusedly waiting while Jade got to their feet. They clung to the waist high wall and glared back at her.

"This building is secure, but I would still caution you to be careful of the edge." Chandra tried to sound uninterested but stern. She took perch safety very seriously, and she couldn't help the way her tail twitched to wrap around Jade's slim ankle -- to secure them yes, but also yank them back to her side. They were so frail and hadn't any wings or protuberances to armor their descent. From experience, Chandra knew exactly what to expect to happen to the little human if they did fall from such a height.

Jade, still scowling, finally glanced at what they were clinging to and noticed the waist high wall had an 80 story drop on the other side. "FUCK ME!!" They screeched and flailed in the opposite direction, back towards Chandra, and wrapped their arms around the thick waist of the gargoyle towering above her.

"Uhm..." Chandra starts, arms up and out of Jade's way.

"THAT'S SO FUCKING HIGH!" They screeched again.

Chandra opened her mouth to respond with a jest. She thought of the young gargoyles who used these sorts of buildings as their training perches. That's how negligible a height it was to a fully grown gargoyle. It was rumored her kind could even soar among the stars, though no one had tried in close to a thousand years.

But gargoyles were not made of leaf like skin and soggy bones like humans were. What a strange creature to seek out and cling to someone who had wounded them, maimed them, been violent beyond sense and had delighted in it... Yet this little human held on so tight it -- Chandra wasn't sure anyone had trusted her so surely in her entire life.

She recalled how the poor human lost consciousness mid flight and a surge of protectiveness burned anew in her chest. She wrapped her arms and tail around the human in a heart beat and held them snugly to her side. Poor Jade hadn't stopped shaking and their breathing was starting to become uneven. Though gargoyles had four lungs that helped them breathe in just about any atmosphere, including underwater, Chandra knew what hyperventilation looked like. She dropped to her knees and at once was eye to eye with the human scout, awkwardly clinging to her tail as they jostled together.

Chandra was a little surprised by the look of Jade finally fully de-cloaked. They were olive skinned with night-black hair and dark grey eyes. Their elfin features were more than dainty when juxtaposed with Chandra's warrior won hands. She cradled the beautiful face in a grasp that only possessed the recent memory of violence, and hummed softly. "You're safe little one, I won't let any harm befall you." She surprised herself by meaning it.

Jade's eyes flicked all around the space, not really focusing on anything. Chandra didn't want to stun the poor creature, as they were already so distressed and disoriented, adding another round of moving and unconsciousness might even make them ill.

"You're too worthy an opponent to let something like heights hinder you." Chandra scowled, a larger than expected part of her actually did want them healthy and strong. How else could they engage in their fair and dastardly battle of sanity and strategy? She looks up and down Jade and sees her efforts are fruitless. Their breathing is becoming more unstable.

"Breathe, Jade before I must make you," Chandra delivers in her most aggressive snarl and it finally brings Jade's attention to Chandra, as tears shined on their cheeks.

The urge that overcomes her surprises them both, but not until well after they pull apart from the kiss. Chandra has her hands in Jade's hair and they straddled her thigh to get closer. There's definitely no space left between them.

"Holy shit..." Jade whispered, lips centimeters away from Chandra's.

The look on their face is one of pure shock and terror. Chandra feels a sense of shame and rage brewing in her soured gut. Of course something as delicate and soft as Jade could never see the appeal of a monster like her. Even most of her own kind feared her. She wasn't even the biggest, meanest, or ugliest. Maybe she was the strongest, in the sense that she knew how to fight and had bested every adversary she'd ever met.

Except this one...The one that always got back up again. The one that came back with a fight ten fold fiercer than before. This little human had cut her the deepest and took root, making themself a home beneath her skin. She fought the urge to bare her fangs and roar in the little flower's face out of shame and need. The only thing that cut through the deluge of defensiveness was a tiny whimper. Her eyes met Jade's. They are wide, welling with tears, and they stared right through Chandra like they could see down to her soul. Chandra shifts her balance and with the way the human perches on her thigh, this shifts them too. They whimper again.

Beautiful.

They hadn't taken their eyes off of each other, silent and in shock. Chandra took the biggest risk of her life and let her hands drop from the human's hair. The long elegant fingers her mother once claimed would make the most beautiful music, wrapped around their hips. Though they are softer than many of her other human adversaries, Chandra has never held a finer treasure in her hands.