You make me feel alive

I had some posts swimming about in my brain, posts about my favorite stories and movies and what I want to emulate when I'm writing - nothing substantial, just rambling, bumbling words so I can feel like what I'm writing is actually coming from somewhere and I'm exercising what I learn from what I watch and read and listen to. It got to be a little too self-indulgent in my head, though, so all I will say is this:

Punch Drunk Love is one of my favorite films.
Tiffany Aching is my favorite book heroine.
Dos Palabras is one of my favorite short stories.

I bring up "Dos Palabras" (or "Two Words") because I just finished writing ch7 recently, the ending of which felt very familiar, and then I realized it sort of echoed "Dos Palabras." Which is a really lovely short, and I had to find it and share it with those who haven't read it, so here: Dos Palabras, or Two Words by Isabel Allende.

It's even more beautiful in the original Spanish, so if you're fluent, seek that out. Clever people might guess the significance of the title.

For the record, ch7's ending doesn't even compare to Dos Palabras'.

That musing aside, time to get more non-TEF stuff out of my system.

--

The loose gravel beneath Butch's bruised, aching shoulders dig into his skin where his clothing's all torn, and as he reaches a hand for her face he smiles.

Buttercup lets his hand brush against her cheek, leaving a smear of red in its wake. His or hers? Probably his.

"What's that for?" she asks as his grin widens, her fist still digging into his gut.

"It's a good color on you," he sneers, staining her skin red with his blood. "You wear it well."