A random preview of my upcoming comic, Lifeline :D







“--Sorrow, sang deep inside my blood
all the ones around me
I care for and loved--”

“Fuck,” Skoll spat, smacking his radio alarm clock off the nightstand.

He rolled over tiredly, his bare body getting even more tangled in the sheets, a groan emitting his throat. He didn’t want to wake up. He didn’t want to move, didn’t want to breathe, didn’t want to see. He was immensly beaten from their last assignment, which was an understatement due to what had happened. His muscles ached, his bones grinded against each other like a metal cog just beginning to turn again, his skin burned and stung, and his head...oh God, his head. His normal headaches were nothing like the one he had right now.

Seeming to get into a comfortable position, the Yautran was about to fall right back asleep, until he felt a strong tugging of the covers that were tightly wrapped around his lower body like a coccoon.

“I ain’t gettin’ up.” He uttered loudly, hoping that whoever it was could hear him clearly.

No response.

Another tug.

Skoll growled. “I’m worn out, dammit, let me rest a little bef--”

“Scarrr!!”

Another moment of silence. Skoll sighed a long and heavy breath. It was the infant that he and Io had found. What’d they name the kid, again? He’d already forgotton. Maybe if he hadn’t been smashed on the head six times with a bladeless chainsaw, he would be able to remember this shit.

“Scryyye...” Skoll then groaned, sounding way more childish than he intended to. “Get offa my sheets, kid. Go...find Finra or something.”

The little lizard-child tilted his head at the bigger Yautran on the bed above him. Of course, he couldn’t understand most of the words Skoll spoke since he was just three years old. “Dahh?” Was all he could manage.

Skoll groaned heavily again, this time, rolling over so that he could face the infant down on the floor. He carefully made sure that the little bugger didn’t yank the sheets off completely. “Finra. Finny. The really tall, pretty lady.” He said, gesturing with his hand to try and get Scrye to understand the meaning of height.

“Mah!” Scrye jumped and clapped happily, a big smile forming on his face.

The larger Yautran visibly flinched at that. How the hell could the kid get Io out of ‘tall’? He imagined Scrye heard the word ‘pretty’ and thought up Io to be attractive. Hell, he already thought of her as his mother. She certainly wasn’t that attractive to him. “No, not ‘ma’,” He replied, looking around the room for something until he found a marker lying on the floor halfway underneath the nightstand. He reached down and grabbed it, opening it, and scribbled a large blue streak on his palm to show it to Scrye. “the blue lady. Finny.”

Scrye seemed a little confused for a moment, until he saw Skoll point to the blue marking on his palm and then smiled and nodded. “Finny!” Skoll nodded, grinning slightly at how fast the child learned. Then, the young Yautran leaped to his feet and began unsuccessfully tugging on the sheets that were pinned beneath Skoll’s body, pointing out the door as if something urgent had happened. “Finny! Finny! Eyeoh...eh...Mah! Mah!”

Skoll’s brows furrowed at this. “What, something’s wrong with Io?” He asked. Just hearing his own voice ask such a question gave him goosebumps.

“Niii!!” Scrye uttered out, seeming upset now. “Mah!”

Now Skoll was worried. Scrye’s behavior had changed instantly once Skoll mentioned Finra, which led to something about Io as well. Almost immediately, Skoll scrambled across his bed and shuffled down to the floor to find his pants before waving off Scrye. “Outta the room, kid! I’ll be in there in a minute!”

Scrye obeyed without complaint and bolted from the room, his clawless feet thumping against the smooth rock floor. Skoll managed to find his pants (as well as his boxers) and yanked them both on before scrambling over the mess of clothes and even more sheets that had been shuffled off of his bed in his sleep, not even bothering to grab a shirt or his shoes.

He stopped outside the door to find Scrye waiting on him, and he nodded and gestured for the infant to lead the way. Scrye obliged and took off running with the larger Yautran following him. Thankfully, it seemed, that he didn’t have to go outside.

Scrye came to a stop in front of a small staircase that lead downward, as he turned to Skoll and pointed in the same direction. The child made a small sound before putting both hands on his eyes and then opening them abruptly. “Mah!”

“...She’s awake?” Oh, damn... was Skoll’s first thought. Io had been out cold for nearly two days, which was undoubtedly a surprise to them all since they had the grave thought that she might die in her sleep. Just thinking about it made Skoll’s spines quietly clack and shudder.

The two of them proceeded down the steps and through the doors, seeing everyone gathered inside the main med-lab; Finra, Zekiya, Trigger, Yalie, and Helix. Thankfully, none of them had a bad expression on. No, they all looked happy, and that was a rare sight these days.

“Well, look who dragged their two-hundred pound ass out of bed.” Is how Finra greeted him with a smirk. Scrye scurried over towards the Siren and jumped up and down with grabby hands, as she leaned down and scooped him into her arms. “You’re a smart little trooper; managing to get him out of bed is something not just anyone can do.” She smiled, earning one in return from the infant.

“Skoll,” His attention was turned over to Helix, who was holding a clipboard in his hands. “Io’s condition is still just under critical; there are parts of her skin that were burned badly and deep gashes had to be stitched. She’ll be having a lot of scars on her shoulders and legs.” He said, folding his arms then. “But she’s woken up a lot sooner than I’d expected. Aside from all of her wounds...she seems to be doing...fine.” The Frinner said, surprised a bit.

“She’ll be alright, then?” Skoll asked.

Helix nodded and smiled. “Yes. She’s a bit drowsy but she’s awake. She’s doing surprisingly well after having such critical wounds.” He then nodded over towards the medical pod behind him, where a frail Io lay healing. He never did understand the purpose of all the white in medical labs.

Approaching the pod, seeing as its lid was already removed, he took a seat next to the side of it and looked down at Io, who was completely nude save for the small white sheets that covered up the private areas of her body. Skoll wasn’t sure if she was sleeping right then or if she was, as Helix said, drowsy and out of it.

For now, he’d take a chance: Skoll took his hand and very gently placed his palm around the side of Io’s neck, cupping her jawline. He was amazed at the fact that her skin, even after being stabbed, burned, and clawed at, was still flawlessly smooth and soft. Just feeling that gave him enough satisfaction, and with that, he pulled his hand away.

“...Skoll?”

The Yautran shifted closer surprisidly, hearing the human female speak his name in such a groggy tone. “Io?”

“You...” She breathed, her eyes fluttering sleepily before she managed to center them on his face and let a small sneer roll onto her lips. “You...fucking...cataclysmic...lifeform...”

Silence struck the room. For a moment, Skoll found that incredibly humorous, and let out a few smirks that turned into chuckles that turned into laughs. Io seemed to gain a grin, herself, on her face, at hearing him. She hadn’t heard him laugh before.