#internal decomp

[ask-decomposingko]

...shiny's business is shiny's business... its not something for us to go blabbing about.

[He smacks a pile of notes and pushes it towards them.] No shit.

[tokyoteddywolf]

CONTENT WARNING: Graphic blood, body horror, violent injuries, internal organs, implied offscreen death, parasitism, one really fucked up Pokémon. You have been warned.

Contains lore and worldbuilding content for The Obsidian Mew AU.

(I did say this was a horror au, yanno. Oh and have some Music to go with this, for flavor :D)

In which I take the Shadow Stone parasitism and ramp it up.

There are five stages to Corruption into a Shadow Pokémon; Early Stage, Middle Stage, Late Stage, "Too Late" Stage, and Crystallized Decomp.

This specimen is in the "Too Late" Stage of possession by Shadow Stones. There is no saving it. There is no purifying it. It's simply too far gone, too badly damaged. In this stage, multiple vital organs and bones have been literally replaced by growing Shadow Stones.

Ones like these know only a neverending hunger, but no matter how much they consume, it's not enough. Anything with Gaia Energy, they'll go after, driving even calm herbivores to violent prey hunting methods. Oh they can last a bit longer with food, but death is inevitable. Without Obsidian to do her job, Pokémon like this Wyrdeer have fallen prey to infection from the Shadow Stones.

And Obsidian has not been doing her job.

Before Anne and Mewtwo were even born, there was a time aptly named "The Era of Darkness". Arceus had to beg Obsidian to return to her duties.

I'll let you guess what happened.

[a-very-tired-jew]

Claims of Perfidy

Something I have seen since the Israeli op rescued the four hostages is various activists, influencers, and accounts making claims of perfidy against Israel. While I'm not an expert on international law*, this seems to echo the accusations of genocide that we've seen throughout this war**. From my understanding, perfidy requires intent to betray, kill, injure, and/or capture an adversary through deception. This deception is typically under the guise of peace and/or the perfidious party disguising themselves as members of peace/neutral organizations. Regarding the claims against Israel, the primary one I have seen is that the IDF used an aid truck to enter the area. I've seen this claim across social media with "support" for this claim from Al Jazeera and a specific twitter account being the primary shared image. While this this might fall under the scope of perfidy, it's tough to say as the intent of the operation was to rescue the hostages and not to kill civilians (no matter how much you want this to be true, claiming so does not make it true).

Other activist accounts and sites claim that it was a civilian truck of some sort, with the most common one being a moving or furniture truck. This is not perfidy and more likely closer to the truth due the course of events that we know.

We know that there were undercover agents who pretended that they were moving into apartments in the target buildings. This is the premise of the ruse to find out if the hostages were present and kept in these buildings based upon the intel provided. The usage of a moving or furniture truck to get the team into the area and extract the hostages makes more sense with the story that the undercover agents used than going in with an aid truck. Going in with an aid truck would draw too much attention as people would be going towards it to receive supplies, whereas a moving/furniture truck for people moving into a building would just be dismissed. While I haven't seen the IDF confirm what type of truck was used, they've only said a civilian truck/vehicle from my understanding***, I have seen possible video and it does resemble a moving/furniture truck and not the typical aid one that carries supplies. The other claim is that by dressing up as civilians and deceiving the people in the area for the sake of the rescue op is that IDF/Israel is guilty of perfidy. If this is the case then every rescue and sting operation is guilty of perfidy around the world. Again, the intent has to be there. The intent in this case was to, once again, get back the hostages. Now, I know people are going to point back to assassinations or other operations that might fall under perfidy (illegal) or ruse de guerre (legal). While examples of past actions are valid and give us a pattern of behavior, they are separate incidents that do not mean this operation is perfidious. If something does not meet the requirements to fit a definition, then it does not meet them regardless of separate events. Furthermore, if we're going to accuse the IDF/Israel of perfidy for using undercover agents dressing as civilians...then what does that mean for Hamas? We know that they dress like civilians and integrate themselves into civilian populations. They have a history of using ambulances and other recognized peace organizations/apparatuses to commit violent attacks, which is deception with the intent to betray, injure, and/or kill. We know that they agree to ceasefires under the guise of a hudna that they can break at any moment at their own discretion. All of these do and/or could fall under perfidy.

If you're only holding one of the parties in this war to international law and not the other, then you're a hypocrite.

*If there are any legal experts that can weigh in on this I'd gladly take it. My expertise is from a forensic consultant stand point regarding death and decomp. **If you have not seen my other posts about the genocide claim; it also requires blatant and outright intent.

***I read one Israeli source that says it was a furniture “aid”truck which is meant to help displaced persons move. This further supports the moving into the apartment ruse and likely where the “omg they used an aid truck” outrage comes from. It was a furniture truck, not a food and medical supplies truck as we think when we hear “aid”.

Edit: it wasn’t even a furniture truck. It was a soap truck. That doesn’t fit the aid or furniture aid truck narrative in any capacity.

[driftingvoid-155]

Tell me more about zombie Jeremy :3

He's sort of really fucked up.

(warnings for decomp details and just gross zombie stuff)

Mike had the hole in his stomach sure but Jeremy basically had his entire skull ripped apart. Most the damage is one the right side of his face and he thankfully still can see out of his left eye. Something that worries him a bit as it eventually rots out but to his relief he can still see due to the small glowing dot there in it's place. The right eye socket though is too damaged. The doctors tried to fix him up best they could at the hospital but even they had no clue how he was still up and walking with half his brain exposed and no heart beat. They try do to some stitching and skin grafts but those are some of the first things to rot away and re- expose the brain there leaving him sort of horrifying to look at. (Jeremy sort of does thinks its neat when looking at it in the mirror but gets filled with dread when he reminds himself that it's on his body so least to say he tries to avoid mirrors/ looking in them for too long or just thinking about the zombie thing too long in general).

His body held out for a while but evenutally he starts to throw up black sludge from his internal organs decomposing and his skin starts to look very ashy. He never gets to quite the purple Mike does, instead staying more of a grey tone. Overtime the decomp does slow down a bit but not before a few of his bones are exposed and he had to cut his stomach open himself in order to scrape the organs out as they were causing him to smell horribly. From there, he did some diy taxidermy on himself and basically bleached his insides out and did the best he can to just preserve what he could. The local morgue and taxidermist got quite a few concerning calls in the time he was working to fix himself up.

The most terrified he was though was when rigor mortis set in for a brief amount of time. He was stuck and couldnt move and thought he would have to spend the rest of his days like that, trapped and undying but eventually his muscles relaxed and joints loosened and he was able to move again.

He had to deal with bugs briefly but after scooping out his organs and keeping an outrageous amount of buy spray around him at all time, he's mostly combated that problem. His one blessing is that he got to keep his hair (at least the stuff not ripped out by the mangle) and he keeps very good care of it. Especailly as he gave up with trying to subtlely hide and instead just wears a full mask over his face at all times. It's sort of like Mike's white one in fnaf 6 but instead of a bear it's just a simple smiley face. He uses bandages on the rest of his exposed skin and the people around town have just sort of grown used to seeing him around as he's still super friendly and cheerful most the time.

Mentally, he's doing a lot better than Mike is, especailly as Mike had to deal with the funtimes and the trauma of getting body snatched. There are a few times he starts to panic, espcially when he starts thinking about the future so he tries to just take it a day at a time. It helps a lot when he finds Mike and realizes he isnt alone in this and whatever happens, happens but at least they will have each other.

[bubblingbeebles]

twinstar cyclone runaway volume 1 impressions. spoilers.

the prologue does a lot of heavy lifting for the worldbuilding, by contrast with the present setting. the Insidious is a repurposed battleship now used for fishing and the bridge crew are making it up as they go, using their only reserve of titanium (explicitly called out as such, なけなし) as their hook, which terras nichrome panini press calls back to later. the prologue is completely missing from the manga, meaning we don't get any of the dramatic tension until diode brings it up in the library scene, and even then the reader only knows what she knows.

the scene where diode identifies terras internalized comphet and talks it out of her is absolutely delicious. the two do hide things from each other but when they actually get around to talking about their feelings they're very efficient about it. ogawa-sensei doesn't drag out misunderstandings for drama's sake like you see in serialized manga that are incentivized to do so to keep publishing forever and i find that really refreshing. knowing the series wraps up in 4 volumes, it inspires a lot of reader trust and makes me really motivated to finish it.

in the scene where they meet rock-san (diode's mom) on the Tsunami Search, just prior to the chase and fall, diodes foul mouth that we previously saw in the courtroom scene shows up again, except this time it's used in affection instead of righteous outrage. comparing it to how she's polite and standoffish to terra (let alone how she is in the final scene), this woman is absolutely dripping with gap moe

rock-san calls herself オレ which is like the biggest hint-I'm-a-lesbian first person pronoun ever, also if that wasn't enough says "you managed to bring a girlfriend home, that's my daughter alright"

the entire Tsunami Search scene is omitted in the manga which, apart from just eliding all that really important characterization, just drops the reader right in the middle of the chase/fall scene which, imo, destroys the carefully crafted vibe that these two are unsafe wherever they go

its not entirely clear to me that terra is as nice as diode thinks -- in the apartment scene, she shoots the invaders in the face on purpose, leaving a lot of blood, and then seems surprised and disappointed they got away after that, and in the chase scene diode basically forces the "rescue them" idea upon her

in the fall scene, terra and diode mutually claw away at each other's emotional walls (diode: Admit you want to be rescued!) (terra: I could tell you were into me since we met, I'm not that dumb) before they agree to diode's plan. in the manga, diode comes out with that second parenthetical of her own volition and it completely robs the scene of its intimacy and emotional weight, not to mention robbing terra of her agency in the relationship

i can only describe the manga's choices to change key details like that as "irresponsible". (the otherside picnic manga, while also being not as good as the LN, is at least faithful to the vibe.)

eda doesn't know what happened to magiri!!! she thinks magiri set up the fishing industry(*) and summoned the 大巡鳥 herself and lived out her days up there! she states that she only caught other decompers who fell in the past! omfgggggggg

(*about her eventually "leaving" once all the mass gets fished up, she says マギリもそのつもりで漁を発展させてくれたんだと��うな which is fanlated as "it's not like that's the reason Magiri developed the fishing industry" but i think that's wrong it's actually magiri DID develop fishing with that intention. extra tragic)

alright.

yeah so i read spots of the book here and there in japanese but chiefly used the neocities translation to absorb it quickly, consulting my jp version whenever i saw something linguistically or emotionally interesting. i guess i will be on my own for volumes 2-4 though. if the anonymous translator is reading this, id like to help you!! but either way, thank you.

[thirdrootwriting]

Brother of my Brother (Infinite Crisis - Bad End) pt2

Tim Pov, and Prodigal flashback this chapter, because I love Prodigal Tim and Dick.

Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4.

Dick's body is still, cold and perfect on the autopsy table of the Batcave.

It looks so horribly wrong, like a puzzle piece crammed into the wrong place or an egregious bit of nonsense code in a command string. A blip of the universe.

Tim still remembers how Mary and John Grayson had looked as corpses. It had been a horrific, gory nightmare with hot blood pumping from their shattered bodies and their white bones visible in the air. Their son, warm and kind Dick Grayson, who just an hour or so earlier had pulled Tim into a hug that smelled of stage makeup and chalk dust and promised to do a quadruple somersault just for him, looking down at the sight that would haunt Tim's nightmares for years to come with empty, disbelieving eyes.

The first coherent thought Tim ever remembers having is, 'He was supposed to fall too', and a close second was this, "I won't let him fall too."

Staring at the near perfect corpse on the table, that used to be his- well, there wasn't really a word for it. Brother, hero, idol, and mentor all seemed trite and underwhelming for the person that was Tim's first memory, his reason for becoming a vigilante, his safety net; the person who had taught him how to fold laundry and talked Tim through everything from his teenage relationship drama to his struggles with being Robin.

Staring the corpse of a person who had made up so much of him, Tim feels hollowed out and unable to bear the heavy weight of his failure.

His mother, his father, Stephanie, and now Connor,

 . . . and now Dick.

. . .

. . .

No. No, Tim has to think. He's not a civilian, Dick's not a civilian. He's Nightwing, leader of the Titans and protector of Bludhaven, the prince regent of Gotham's night as the only other person who has done justice to Batman's cowl. He's been fighting crime longer than more than half the JLA, been to different dimensions and space and …

He's Robin. Dick's Robin, he can't be dead for good. What type of world would it be if fucking Jason Todd can come back, but Dick Grayson would stay dead?

Tim bites his tongue and steps closer to the table holding Nightwing's corpse and closer to Batman, still cowled and staring at his first son's cold body. The darkness of the cave and Batman's stillness make him even more inhuman appearing than usual, like he's a natural feature of the dank cave, a demon of shadows only visible out of the corner of your eye.

Neither of them, nor Alfred, have worked themselves up to removing Nightwing's mask.

Tim clears his throat, forces his voice to come out above a whisper, "The Lazarus Pits." He swallows, "I'm sure there are a couple the League of Assassins doesn't have control over that we can search out."

Nightwing in an unthinking rage would be terrifying, but between Crane's fear gas, Joker's venom, Ivy's pollen, and occasionally Bane's stuff they'd all been dosed up and compromised before. Not to mention, Nightwing's always been best out of all of them at staying calm and rational when dosed or altered like that.

A trained acrobat since birth, his fear response is to assess and rationally respond, and luckily his anger response to curl up and only lash out if prodded, it takes lot to get him to really attack.

(Not the heads in a duffel bag and midnight ambushes to write messages in blood type, unlike some people).

Tim looks down, more critically now. Nightwing's suit is torn and dusty and there is some faint visible bruising, but no large gaping wounds or grossly deformed bony structures. He mentally catalogues the damage, reaching out a hand to remove Dick's mask, "We should put him in one of the cryo freezers till then to prevent decomp-"

Batman's hand shoots out, grabbing Tim's wrist with a bruising strength, "The ray Alexander Luthor shot him with was a type of modified sonar. All his hollow internal organs and many of his blood vessels burst when he was hit. Despite the lack of outside damage, he's completely broken inside."

The grip on Tim's wrist gets harder and harder as Batman continues to speak, toneless, his face inhuman and unreadable behind the cowl.

"A Lazarus Pit can only revive someone from death with a near intact corpse, and whether it brings back the soul is still a matter of debate."

Tim feels something in wrist crack slightly, but the pain is secondary to the emptiness he feels as Batman shoots down his plans,

"Rob-, Dick Grayson is dead. He's not coming back. He's gone. We failed."

Batman lets go of him, He takes the hand that probably just cracked Tim's wrist and gently runs it through Dick's hair before carefully peeling the mask off of his son's face. Then with that same hand pulls off his own cowl. The expression on his face is . .

Tim steps back, his right wrist aching and his heart pounding with something, Maybe heartbreak, maybe fear.

He doesn't think Bruce notices. There is nothing in his eyes except the corpse, as if Batman and death are the only things in this cavern, as if Bruce wants nothing more to protectively cradle this dead body and his own grief till the very end of the world. It's the same way he stares at the bloody Robin uniform in the memorial case or his parents' portrait in the Manor, but so much worse.

Normally, Tim would try to stop him, because that's what Robin is. The light to Batman's darkness, the person that reminded him that they did this for the living as well as the dead. Normally, Tim would pull Batman back, and if he failed he'd run to Bludhaven to …

Robin is dead, there is no stopping Batman.

Tim leaves the Cave. All he can do now is search for the answer to his own grief.

---------------------------

Three years ago

Tim knows the situation, with Bruce and Alfred being gone from Gotham, and trust in Batman at an all-time low cause of all the stuff Azrael did in the cowl, is bad but there is still a sort of guilty, giddy excitement he feels in chest when Dick comes back with him to the manor to be his Batman.

Like yeah, the situation is really bad, but Dick Grayson is going to be his Batman, and Tim gets to be his Robin!

It has him near bouncing in place, even though Dick seemed gloomy, especially as he took in the state of the Alfred-less Manor all boarded up and dusty. Still he'd gotten straight to tidying the Manor up, as if Dick was determined to do the work of both Alfred and Bruce while the usual inhabitants were gone. He'd even let Tim help, tossing him a broom, and then later teaching him how to fold sheets.

Tim is concentrating, trying to get the fitted sheet he's pulled out of their latest laundry load into some sort of shape that not just a wrinkly ball when Dick strikes.

Too fast for Tim to see, he steps close and hooks his foot around Tim's right ankle. As Tim falls back, he must duck down because instead of hitting the ground Tim finds himself hoisted across Dick's back in a hold that feels like something between a fireman's carry and a pro-wrestler's move. The whole maneuver is so fast and fluid it barely even jars Tim, like this was something they'd choreographed and practiced a million times instead of an impromptu grab.

"Time for a break." Dick sing-songs, walking towards the door. "To the kitchen we go." His mood improved once they actually started working and there's a smile in his voice now that wasn’t there this morning.

Tim wiggles in the hold. It's not painful, not even uncomfortable like some of the pins he'd been subject to training with Bruce. Honestly, the gentle but firm grip (an acrobat's grip, someone who knew how to catch their flier) was far more reminiscent of the warm, chalk-dust scented hug Dick had given him during their first meeting as children. Tim is acutely aware of the feeling of being held, every spot of gentle pressure, each of his own muscles that want to relax into it.

Tim tries kicking his feet and twisting to break away, "Let me down! I can walk, you know." Both his movement and his words are ineffective, and Dick barely seems to notice as he continues on to the kitchen.

"Mmm, don’t think so. Think of it as training, just like you busting into my apartment to check on the security. I'm letting you know you need more practice guarding against sneak attacks."

From where his head is, Tim can just make out the corner of Dick's smile, a small comfortable curl of his lips, neither showy nor sharp. He looks so much happier than the bitterness and worry of this morning, and Tim fills up with a rush of pride.

He attempts kicking out again, putting more force into it, but Dick just readjusts his hold, "Not letting you go, Tim."

"I'll get you next time." Comes out of Tim's mouth, without him really meaning to say it. The warmth in his chest given vocal form. He's sorta means trying playful sneak attack of his own, but also sorta means he's not letting go in the other way, either. Never has since he was three and never will in a million years.

They finally reach the kitchen, and Dick sets him down with that same grin, "Sure, sure. Catch me if you can, Timmy."

[imagibunny]

more zombie posting!!! because i'm unhinged and a level of stupid not previously seen!!

me and my friend got started talking about decomps, like. feral zombies in mimzie's world? and i dunno they're just. weirdly fun to think about?

the only known way of turning into a decomp zombie (as far as walkers are aware) is going an egregious amount of time without any food, and by "food" i mean. human flesh yknow. regular food doesn't cut it but it's a good way to hide things

anyways in the early stages of decomp progression it can be easily reversed, but it just gets harder as it goes on. if it gets to the point where they can't tell the difference between human and zombie and just go for it? that's when you know there's no hope of bringing em back.

decomps are also harder to kill then walkers. walkers at least are fully intact and mostly look human, so they go down the normal zombie method of a bullet to the brain. decomps however are essentially devoid of anything that makes them human, basically the classic interpretation of zombies of the shambling corpse type. but this also means a lot of their internal organs are just. kinda mush. brain is hangin on by a thread kinda vibes. how to take these fuckers down is a good ol beheading, or just disconnecting whatever nerves is keeping the body moving (mimzie found this out the fun way by snapping the neck of her old teacher who became a decomp after gettin lost out in a swamp)

[ask-beast-o-tonicko]

we can enter mindscapes pretty easily, but we usually like to ask permission first.

"Oh.... Oh, and I'm checking out his blog now, and he looks pretty angry at being called Decomp/Dee..."

[ask-kimerako-therapycarpool]

hard not to be really angry when your trapped in your body watching external Decomp be as... blunt as he is.

Trapped?

[chaos0pikachu]

I haven't seen KP discourse in the tag since that person who said it was bad representation of LGBTQ+ people and had a problem with the way queer men present their sexuality 🙄 but I won't get into that. The only other posts I've seen are people who are complaining that it isn't serious and don't like the comedy of the show while others were complaining during the first episode (on Twitter) that it was too serious, that they didn't like Kinn, etc., ironically.

There's no way to please everyone.

If people read the novel, they would understand that the chaos and Porsche fucking everything up, and the guards not liking him, and Tankhun's character in general, is exactly how it started in the book. Obviously the whole water thing, pantsing Ken, and the mermaid thing weren't there, so some things aren't exactly as in the book, but that's to be expected. It's a TV series and they need to fill in the time whilst also not diving too deep into the plot since its only episode 2 of 14, like, people need to chill.

People not liking the show because its comedic or they don't like (or understand 👀 full shade intended) Porsche's character... the best you can do is block them. I think the reason people are very protective about this show is because people have already been shitting on it since before it even aired. If you were in the tag before March 2nd you know... and on top of that, people have been waiting for this series for 1 or 2 years and then it got dropped, so people have gone through a rollercoaster with this series and to get it to even air on our screens after so much uncertainty has made people a little hostile with any criticism against the show (Apo, Porsche's actor even got depressed, I heard, and left the country to decompress with Mile, Kinn's actor after the show got dropped by the previous production company. So imagine, it been rough for everyone).

That's not to say the hostility is justified, but I think if people are only hate watching the show, then others have the right to tell you to fuck off. Don't dampen the excitement for others. If you're hate watching it either keep it in your blog or tag it #KPcriticism or #antikinnporsche or whatever, people just need to chill with the hate, the show's only just begun.

Firstly, hot DAMN asks got long this isn't a knock on you Anon I'm just surprised b/c the last time I used tumblr asks could only be like 200 words lmao this is WILD I'm impressed damn tumblr y'all finally were annoyed to death by users to give us something

ok on to the ask:

some things aren't exactly as in the book, but that's to be expected. It's a TV series and they need to fill in the time whilst also not diving too deep into the plot since its only episode 2 of 14, like, people need to chill.

so here's a thing folks need to understand, things will change in adaptions because you are changing the medium in which the story is being told.

The Producers is a good example, originally it's a film, then it was adapted into a musical. I recommend Sideways video on the subject (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXjK50kEgvo) but to sum up his thesis: one of the reasons the Mulan live action movie sucked is it didn't replace any of the music with moments of equal emotional weight. In adaptions you also have to account for things like audience expectations.

Kinnporsche's novel is intended for Thai readers, not international readers. Kinnporsche the TV adaption, is clearly intended for both a Thai audience, but also a broader international audience. So adjustments have to be made to take that into account. Also, you tend to have more hands involved with film productions over book ones (speaking from experience on all of this btw).

Novel changes are to be expected simply b/c internal monologues aren't really en vogue anymore in film save for rare cases, so all the internal thoughts of Porsche you'd get in the novel have to be cut.

(Apo, Porsche's actor even got depressed, I heard, and left the country to decompress with Mile, Kinn's actor after the show got dropped by the previous production company. So imagine, it been rough for everyone).

JFC I didn't know that and that's horrible I hope Apo is ok no, depression is no joke.

That's not to say the hostility is justified, but I think if people are only hate watching the show, then others have the right to tell you to fuck off. Don't dampen the excitement for others. If you're hate watching it either keep it in your blog or tag it #KPcriticism or #antikinnporsche or whatever, people just need to chill with the hate, the show's only just begun.

yeah I agree with this. Like, I'm not gonna stop anyone from disliking KP like honestly who fucking cares you don't like a show trust you aren't changing the world by not liking KP nor liking KP. I think folks have all the right in the word to not like KP and talk about why they don't like KP. It's your blog man.

But that's the thing, either keep it on your blog aka tagless, or tag it something outside of the main tags so fans don't have to see it.

Like, ok I don't like the show 1000 Stars, nor To My Star two shows I know are like really popular in BL spaces. I have my reasons for not liking these shows. But even if I did ever get the firey chaotic urge to write an essay on why I don't like these show I wouldn't post it in the fucking main tags.

Why? Why would I? Fans who love the show are in those tags! Why am I coming into their house while they're chilling, having a good time, enjoying their party to bust down the door and say "well actually your chips and dip suck balls and your punch taste like mildew".

Idk about how others grew up but that's a quick ass way to get my ass dog walked lmao it's picking a fight - however unintentional - for no reason. Just invite a new tag! KPcritical or KPNegative or whatever it's all good.

And it's not even like you can't have disagreements in fandom, I didn't agree with a take that Porsche is depressed but the user and I were really cordial about it b/c we're both fans and we just enjoy the show. No big! But folks are posting outright just negative shit or hate watching the show and posting it in the tags like, my dude, keep that snaps on your blog there's no reason to tag it and if you tag it to organize your blog just do so with different tags cause otherwise you're unintentionally bringing the party down. And the rest of us are just trying to jam.

[convexfuss]

Internal Decomp ref? Internal Decomp ref.

Anyway uuhhh I've been wanting to make refs of my KOs for a long time, and while Internal Decomp isn't his own KO (he's literally. just decomp.), I still. really wanted to make a ref for him. so. uh. here

[ask-decomposingko]

Did... did an anon give you these? That's like... against the rules. Unless it's okayed by other forces these pictures... shouldn't be here.

Obviously. I can't give them to myself.

[bewitchingbooktours]

Scattered Legacy by Marlene M. Bell #Mystery #Suspense

Scattered Legacy

Annalisse Series  

Book Three

Marlene M. Bell

Genre: Mystery - Suspense

Publisher: Ewephoric Publishing

Date of Publication: 11-4-2021

ISBN ebook: 978-0-9995394-7-7 

ISBN Print: 978-0-9995394-6-0

ASIN: ‎ B09HRCTBXJ 

Number of pages: Print 352     

Word Count: 84,610

Cover Artist: Isabel Robalo

Tagline: The Truth Has Claws

Book Description: 

To outsiders, the relationship between Manhattan antiquities assessor Annalisse Drury and sports car magnate Alec Zavos must look carefree and glamorous. In reality, it’s a love affair regularly punctuated by treasure hunting, action-packed adventure, and the occasional dead body.

When Alec schedules an overseas trip to show Annalisse his mother's birthplace in Bari, Italy, he squeezes in the high-stakes business of divesting his family’s international corporation. But things go terribly wrong as murder makes its familiar reappearance in their lives – and this time it’s Alec’s disgraced former CFO who’s the main suspect.

Accompanied by friend and detective Bill Drake, Annalisse and Alec find themselves embroiled in a behind-closed-doors conspiracy that threatens the reputation and legacy of Alec’s late father – linking him to embezzlement, extortion, and the dirty business of the Sicilian Mafia. The search for the truth sends the trio straight into riddles, secrets, and an historic set of rosary beads. Annalisse leads Alec toward a discovery that is unthinkable, and events that will change their futures forever.

Scattered Legacy is the third in Marlene M. Bell’s thrilling Annalisse series, which weaves romance, crime, and historical mystery into addictive tales to instantly captivate fans of TV show Bones or Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. 

Book Trailer:  https://youtu.be/dVRdjq2L3_I

Amazon

Excerpt From Chapter Four:

The reception area is completely empty, and there’s a smell like metal in damp dirt circulating overhead. Farther in, the ceiling fan is hovering on high speed, and the windows are open.

A dead body inside a warm office leaves an unmistakable odor behind, as did the body Ethan found inside the stall at Walker Farm. Decomp is one smell that sticks with you forever. Adding to the office creepiness, who chose the interior’s decor? We’re surrounded by limestone walls painted an ugly shade of ochre, slightly more yellow and definitely more unappealing than the building’s exterior. The rooms will need another coat of fresh paint to cover a harsh stench known to stick to the walls like cigarette tar does.

No one is nearby, not even the receptionist.

The office cubicles are silent but for a few flapping papers. Not a single desk phone is ringing.

It’s like the office decided to have a fire drill midday, and the employees left their computers on and didn’t bother to close folders—open to anyone passing by. Frames holding pictures of sweethearts and children stand by as guardians for the people who are absent from their high-back swivel chairs.

Officer Raffa returns and mutters in heavy Italian brogue, “Il signore is waiting for his… avvocato difensore.” He points to the room with a closed door. “Come, Mr. Zavos. Your friends stay here.”

“Josh is in there waiting for his defense attorney. Back soon.” Alec touches my arm and looks aBill, sending him a private message.

Alec’s led to a side office, and the solid door closes behind them.

“Is Alec signing autographs, or should I even worry about what’s going on in that room?

Has Josh been here the entire time messing with evidence?” I ask Bill.

“Alec’s prepared for all contingencies. I’m surprised they haven’t taken Jennings down to the station by now.”

A few minutes later, Alec emerges by himself. “They weren’t going to allow us to talk to Josh, but I persuaded him. It shouldn’t be much longer.” For what feels like an eternity, we sit in ladderback pine chairs with brown cushions while Alec keeps adjusting his watch. I don’t know what Alec had to promise the officer. Autographs are fine with me, but if he had to pay him off, I’d rather not know.

“I hope Brad is parked in the shade somewhere.” Alec looks at his watch for the eighth time in twenty minutes and turns to me. “Now that we’re here, they seem to be in no hurry to get rid of us. I’m sorry, Anna. Hold on a little longer.” His smile is an honest one full of regret.

I’ve heard the sentiment from him so often it doesn’t even register with my brain anymore. We both have a lot of work to do in the I-promise-to-do-better department.

The closed door at the back wall opens, and a guy pokes his head out, surveying the room. He’s fiftyish and, with his reading glasses, reminds me of Gen’s studious accountant.

Alec pivots, and his earlier smile vanishes.

“That’s Jennings,” Bill says quietly.

“Yes.” Alec waves to draw the man’s attention.

A confused Josh looks at us and then the floor as if he’s embarrassed. Eventually he settles his eyes on Alec. “I wasn’t sure you’d come. My attorney should be here soon. Come back to the conference room.”

Bill asks Alec, “Is it okay to go on ahead?”

Alec must have compensated the officer well to allow us entry this close to the crime scene.

“Let’s get this over with.” Alec seems queasy.

The three of us move through the aisle between desks and toward the room with a door left open for us. Josh has already gone inside. For someone who wants Alec’s help, he sure doesn’t appear happy or grateful for his effort. A huge effort. This had better not be Josh’s way of buying himself out of the woman’s death. The disgrace of being fired from Signorile after Pearce’s tragedy has to hurt his pride.

There’s news of a deadly virus moving through Europe, and the typical handshake is no longer being used between business execs.

Bill lifts his arm and catches himself. “Mr. Jennings? My name is Bill Drake, an associate of Mr. Zavos. You’ve asked to see him, and we also have some questions for you on another matter.”

“Wonderful.” The man in a sweaty, slept-in polo isn’t thrilled with us staring him down. There’s frost in the room as testosterone flies between glances. No one wants to be the first to break the sheet of ice forming around the presumed blue-eyed killer. Alec hasn’t made any assumptions yet until we talk to him, but Josh’s cool facade feels calculated to me. A superior to Alec, or something like that. For an innocent, I don’t like his peculiar behavior in the presence of a man who’s here to keep his neck from a noose.

“I asked to see Alec. Who are the rest of you?”

He’s behind a chair, using it as a shield to save himself from a CEO who wants to take his livelihood from him again. Or is it because he’s guilty of ending a woman’s life?

Alec pulls out the chair for me, and we all sit at the long conference table with a fancy letter F embellished in the center.

Josh’s temples bead with sweat, and he’s wringing his hands next to a wool felt fedora hat with a band. They seem to be popular in Italy. The guy’s bloodshot eyes and dark circles are sure signs of insomnia and stressing to the max. Wet ovals hang beneath the armpits of his beige shirt.

Alec’s unshakable gaze lands on Jennings, who abruptly turns away.

This meeting isn’t opening well.

Bill addresses Josh. “We don’t have a lot of time. Authorities aren’t thrilled with us questioning you, but they were… let’s say, swayed. Tell us what happened here?”

“She was tied and tortured in my office after I left night before last. I opened the building in the morning at seven and found her lying on her side, strapped to a chair and wrapped in wire near my desk. Lots of blood.” Josh holds a paper towel over his mouth, then uses it to wipe away perspiration. “When I left the building, she was in the conference room. I have no idea how she ended up in the office. Maybe the cat went in there.” He slides the fedora into his lap.

“Who is she?” Alec asks.

“Benita Alvarez.”

About the Author: 

“Mystery at a killing pace”

Marlene M. Bell is an award-winning writer, artist, and sheep breeder who resides in beautiful East Texas. Her renown sheep photographs grace the covers of many livestock magazines.

The third book in the Annalisse Series releases in 2021. Scattered Legacy is an international mystery with light touches of romance. Stolen Obsession and Spent Identity, books one and two, received numerous awards including the Independent Press Award for Best Mystery in 2020. Her mysteries can be found at marlenembell.com.

Marlene also writes children's books. Her first children's picture book, Mia and Nattie: One Great Team! is based on true events with Natalie from the Bell’s ranch. It's a touching story of compassion and love between a little girl and her lamb. Mia and Nattie is honored to be a Mom's Choice Gold Award winner.

Marlene shares her life with her husband and a few dreadfully spoiled horned Dorset sheep: a large Maremma guard dog named Tia, and cats, Hollywood, Leo, and Squeaks. The cats believe they rule the household—and do.

Newsletter Sign Up: https://www.marlenembell.com/books

Blog: https://www.marlenembell.com/blog

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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marlene.bell.3194/ 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17642396.Marlene_M_Bell

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/marlene-m-bell

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[ask-mutant-ko-n-tko]

Decomp's internal self doesn't like to be called Decomp, just a heads up.

"Oh, then uh..... Which nickname would he prefer?"

[ask-prostheticko]

weird... how?

We went into the neon space thing without touching him or falling asleep. I think Decomp fought him? I dunno, Bushy and Kimera said it was his internal self that was there during that time...

[askedgylonefighterko]

heard internal decomp was there today

oh, is that what happened? that makes sense…