I have a soft spot for sarcasm. This is probably no surprise to anyone who has been following the Write Practice since the early days, but I often say that the primary love language of my family is sarcasm. It's nothing too cutting; we understand where the line between sarcastic and downright hurtful is. This is probably why I love the word “snark” as much as I do.
Photo by Makelessnoise
Definition of Snark
Fun fact: snark is a portmanteau of “snide remark”, which is one hundred percent the best definition of snark.
Snark is also a writing tool that you should keep in your toolbox, since you never know when a cynical and cutting remark will need to be inserted into your prose. It's often used to maintain a distance between the character who is snarking and their surroundings, whether that distance be physical, mental, or emotional. Its use is often truth in fiction, since we've all been through high school and probably remember using some form of snark to get through the day.
As a literary device, snark is a sarcastic speech marked by wit and cynicism. The speech is often cutting and critical, meant to bring its target down a few pegs. Whether the intent of the snark is to put up a front or to serve as a defense mechanism is for the author to decide.
Snark is very common in modern creations set in high school (see 10 Things I Hate About You or the Daria series for excellent examples), but the device has been around for centuries, popping up in Frost's poems, Shakespeare's plays, and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Lewis Carroll also wrote a poem called The Hunting of the Snark which is a completely different kind of snark altogether.
Do you use snark in your writing?
PRACTICE
Write about a summer gathering where one or more of the characters employs snark heavily in their conversation. How do other characters react? Or is everyone snarking at each other? Is everyone ok with the snark, or is it hitting some people a bit close to home? Post in the comments when you're done.
Here’s today’s practice. Does anyone else type their practices in Word before they post them? How do you avoid having to delete the extra enters? Is there an easier way than just doing it manually?
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“This is supposed to be a party?” I looked around with morbid curiosity at the scene before me. Music blasting from the speakers combined with the loud conversations of the rest of the partygoers made my comment nearly inaudible. I narrowly avoiding drowning between the balloons and the mass of people stuffed into the house.
“Yes, this is a party.” She sounded incredulous that I wasn’t enjoying it. “What’s wrong?”
I shook my head because some people just would never have any sense in their heads. “I’m sorry, I just don’t enjoy cramming myself into a tiny space so I can hear some distorted music and fight my way to get food. I mean, I may as well go to a
buffet or something.” I tried to sound as unpleased as possible.
“Want to go outside?”
I just shrugged and started walking. “Can’t be any worse out there.” She seemed not to
hear me – or at least not to have a response – as we carved through the horde and
I shunted open the door. The darkness of the night was the first thing I noticed; my parents didn’t usually approve of me staying out this late, even in the summer.
I took a few steps away from the house and peeled the sweatshirt from my
sticky skin.
“Why in the world did you wear a sweatshirt?”
I didn’t know how to explain to her that not everyone liked skin-tight clothes that resembled body paint more than anything else. “Modesty,” I stated simply. It always seemed like the fewer words I said, the more she understood.
“Modesty? This is a party, not a church.”
I noticed my chin tipping down and my eyes rolling up to her as I ran my tongue along the back of my teeth and suppressed a smile. “What?” If sarcasm was spit, she would have been drenched. “You could have told me that like an hour ago.”
She crossed her arms in that pathetic way that I knew meant I was overstepping my bounds. Good. “You know what I mean.”
“If you mean that the proper dress code for parties is no longer casual and now nearly
naked, then, yes, I know what you mean.”
She let a breath hiss through her teeth like she couldn’t believe what was happening. Hadn’t she ever had anyone talk sense into her before? “You’re so….”
“So what? I’m listening.”
“So….” She gestured to me in general. “So like that.”
I puffed up my cheeks while I contemplated the response that inevitably jumped to my
mind. “Yes, I know.”
“It’s like you were raised in a barn or something.”
Now that was insulting. It was OK for me to insult her because, well, she deserved it, but she had no right – no privilege – to dare take a stab at me. “Well maybe I was,” I retorted, faking my best country accent. “And I’d be surprised if you even knew what a barn looked like, honey.”
I didn’t have time to read her reaction, although I would have liked to. My psychology teacher would have been just as interested in studying her mental disabilities as I was. It was hard to believe that people like this existed, and that they survived in the real world. She sputtered as she formulated a reply. “Of course I do!”
I just turned and walked away. I knew that any second now the fury would be flying and I didn’t want to deal with someone senselessly angry. I figured I’d just go home early and head to bed so I would have a good excuse to ignore her texts for the next week. Although, she probably would still be trying to get out of that stupid dress on Monday. I snickered and hit the streets.
Some really great lines in this, Laura. Great clash of personalities and ideals. I liked it! 🙂
Thanks for the comment! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
I type my practice into word pad or notepad which leaves out the formatting and seems to cut and paste easier.
I found your piece entertaining, quite snarky, and, as a former jr. high school teacher, I had to laugh. There is one line that is awkward for me that I would suggest revising: “Hadn’t she ever had anyone talk sense into her before?” I would rephrase it something like, “Had no one ever talked sense into her before?”
Good job, you have the beginnings of a great snarky story here.
I will have to try out using WordPad – I would imagine that works better. Also, thanks for the critique; I will keep it in mind.
I really enjoyed this! You’re an amazing writer! I use Google Docs for mine and it keeps the formatting. Really loved this line ‘ If sarcasm was spit, she would have been drenched.’
Thanks! And I will try Google Docs as well. Glad you enjoyed my practice!
Laura, Thanks for the model. When I first saw this post I said–yeah, my character wants to snark–but the posting did not give a how-to. You did. To create snark, are writer can use verbal irony, understatement, exaggeration, and overstated metaphors.
Interesting piece. Your prose is great! The main character’s narration really revealed how she felt. I liked the last comment she made: “she probably would still be trying to get out of that stupid dress on Monday.” Great job and keep up the good work!
This is a little back ground fic on the two main characters of the novel I’m writing. Hope you like it!
—
Kade closed his eyes, covering his face with his forearms, and grimacing when the wave of water splashed over him. He shivered as it settled, shaking the water droplets from his arms as he glared at the girl who was just resurfacing. “Ella, I told you not to.”
“To bad, you were being slow, and the water’s warm,” she said, grinning up at him as she pushed her wet bangs out of her face.
He sat down on the rock and slowly dipped his foot into the water that lapped against the cliff a few feet below the edge. It wasn’t usually this high but the late spring run off and over abundance of thunderstorms had flooded the normally shallow lake.
He pulled back as soon as his toes dipped below the icy surface. “It is not warm,”
“It’s fine to me. You’re just a freaky space heater and give away all your body heat instead of keeping yourself warm.”
“It’s not like I have a choice in the matter,” he glared at her as she slowly swam closer.
“Afraid of getting a little cold?”
“No, I just don’t like water.” he crossed his arms and pouted down at her.
“So you’ve told me, even though you take hour long showers.”
“That’s different,”
“It’s still water,” He glared, but didn’t say any more. They’d had this conversation a million times before. “Come on, I’m supposed to be teaching you how to swim.”
“Couldn’t we have gone to the pool instead.”
“You shot down the pool idea as soon as I mentioned it. Too many people, remember?”
“You could just not bother at all.”
“Kade, you’re almost seventeen and don’t know how to swim. Frankly, it’s pathetic.”
“You said that when I was fifteen, and fourteen, and thirteen when I first told you.”
“Yes, and it’s still pathetic.”
“Then why didn’t you do something about it then.”
“Because you refused to go to the pool and I couldn’t drive. Plus you refused to drive here yourself when you first turned sixteen.”
“Maybe I just don’t want to learn how to swim.”
“And what if you fall in a river, you’ll drown.”
“I just won’t-” he was cut off when she reached up and grabbed his hands, yanking him forward into the water.
He screamed, just managing to close his mouth before he hit the surface in a hurricane of limbs. His eyes were screwed shut and he panicked when he felt the burning of his lungs informing him he needed to breath. He thrashed and pushed against the water, till his head broke the surface and he gulped for air. Expecting to go back under, he held his breath but just sunk untill the water was ringing his face, his legs and arms churning haphazardly on instinct. He felt Ella’s hand grip his own and guide it the the cliff edge, gripping it tight he heaved up till the water was just at his armpits.
“At least you float,” he heard Ella say, and turned to see her treading water easily beside him, “Not surprised with those hollow bones you’ve got. You should really eat more, put on some weight.”
He glared at her, shivering as the water swirled and eddied around him. “I hate you,”
She laughed, “Now kick your legs, like you’re riding a bicycle. You do know how to ride a bicycle, right?”
He scrunched up his face in annoyance at her joke, but started kicking his legs anyway. “I still hate you.”
Funny! I love your descriptions, especially “He scrunched up his face,” because this describes exactly how I imagined the character acting.
Thanks so much for reading it!
I liked this, Katherine! Nice drama and snarkiness (Is that a word? Apparently not…)
One thing that confused me was the beginning. I had a hard time picturing it in my head. Is Kade in the water when the wave comes, and then he gets back out? If so, why would he mention how cold the water is when his toe only touches it? Wouldn’t he be already shivering from head to toe? Just curious. You did a good job on this though. I enjoyed reading it. 🙂
No Kade is not in the water at the beginning, and him already being wet when he dipped his toe in didn’t register when I was writing it so thanks for pointing it out. I’m glad you liked it!
I really enjoyed where he was kicking and splashing to not drown and Ella leads him to the edge and then treads water effortlessly next to him.
Thanks for reading! That’s Ella for you, one of the reasons she wanted to teach him how to swim was to prove how much better she is!
lol that’s funny. Sounds bad for him.
Tali wrinkled her nose. “Is that all you can play?”
I set my guitar back in its case and shrugged my shoulder. “Can you play anything better?”
“Well…No, but after as many months as you’ve been touring those strings, I’d expect something a little nicer than “Yankee Doodle.”
I stared back at her blankly. Some people weren’t worth talking to. Tali was one of them. Why Mom still let her be best friends with my twin sister was beyond my comprehension. It was bad enough that Tali had wedged her way between Sara and me, now she was interrupting my practice. It amazed me that someone so icy didn’t melt in the summer sun.
Tali arched her thin eyebrows. “Do you think you’re some hippy or something sitting out here under a tree?”
“No, I just happen to enjoy being out in nature, unlike certain boring people who live in air-conditioned cages.”
She rolled her eyes, “Boring people who don’t get grass stains on their clothes and smell like manure at the same time.”
A chickadee chirped on the branch overhead. It was a far better companion.
Tali flipped her bangs away from her face. “Sorry for interrupting you, Mozart,” she remarked dryly ,”I better go back to my ‘air conditioned cage.”
“By all means.”
I liked how the two have a sort of back and forth snark exchange. It definitely shows that the feelings are mutual between them. I really enjoyed reading your piece.
Thank you, Laura. I’m not usually a big fan of snarks, but I decided to give this a try. 🙂
Wow. I was drawn in immediately. Your prose is beautiful. I love your sentence structure and how you switch from dialogue to internal dialogue to a character’s action. And Tali’s attitude was clearly shown when she “flipped” her bangs away from her face. I love reading your work. It’s so interesting! Keep up the great work. : )
Thank you. I’m glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
I thought you really captured the essence of the Snark here. It was balanced: fun but it stung just enough and it carried back and forth well. Showing how they both dislike each other.
Thank you, Sandra.
Alright. This is from a book concept – the idea is that all the different mythological pantheons coexist in a world separate from our own, but it CAN cross. In this scene, Mabon, from the Welsh mythos, has gone to college in New England and after hearing some disturbing news, he calls on Loki to talk about it. Not sure how well it turned out…
——
Ugh.
Heat. Heat everywhere, in the water, over the grills, even between a few disgustingly inconsiderate teens all around, who wouldn’t peel their torsos apart for even a few moments. On the beach was a late-night college party, but the lack of sun didn’t really cool things down any. And one particular man, who stood at the edge of it all, wasn’t a fan of this idea. He was only there for a meeting, but that wouldn’t be for another hour or two with the son of an old friend.
He was a tall one, with shoulder-length, dark hair – well groomed – and green eyes. He was not like these others. He was a demi-god of sorts – Loki, blood brother of Odin. Just then as he was surveying the area with particular disdain, he was bumped into by a drunken college kid who nearly fell on his face with the slight blow.
He turned to look at Loki anyway. “Heyyy-” he began sharply, almost with an accusatory tone. “Y’watsh where y’goin’, will yeh? Y’runned intuh me!”
Loki gave him a very wry smile. “I apologize,” he said, leaning against a light post. His voice had a decidedly Swedish sound, but not enough that he stood out unless one listened for it. “But I believe that you may have run into me. Sadly,” he added suddenly, “I am inclined to believe you’re far too out of what few wits you might possess to understand the basic concept of blame. In fact, I could even say you can’t understand the word concept, you’re so drunk. I’ve not even seen my own brother so far gone.” He sneered slightly, thinking back on all the times he had drank with Odin – it was a lie, but still.
“Hey!” Shouted the young man, “Y’wanna start a fight!?”
“You can try to fight me,” Loki offered, sounding distinctly amused. “But I don’t think you can step to me, even.”
The man grew angry at that and attempted to make a swing, which under normal circumstances may have even hit, if not hurt. But with so much alcohol – and possibly other things too – pumped into this frat boy’s body, he simply stumbled at Loki, who stood aside without much effort. “Stumble to me, maybe,” he corrected himself, “But not ‘step.'”
Just as he nudged the young man over, and he stood up with a shout of anger, another young man meandered up, shoulders relaxed, black hair brushed out of his eyes as he brought one hand up. “Evening, Loki,” he said cheerfully. He had a Welsh accent himself, and was rather a handsome young man.
“Mabon, just a moment,” Loki responded suddenly, then the man made a more focused attempt at the Scandinavian’s jaw. He ducked away with a bit more effort, then cuffed him over the head. “Go on, you bag of day-old cologne!” At this, the drunk glanced over at Mabon and appeared to believe that the young man had come to give Loki a tag-team buddy. He hurried away.
“Now,” Loki began, “What did you want to meet me about, Mabon?”
“Loki, I’ve heard more than a few times about a very large dog around.”
“Well, that could be chalked up to whatever else makes party-goers so intolerable.” But what Mabon said next made his blood run cold.
“No, not like that. I think it’s Fenrir.”
What a cliff-hanger ending! I don’t know anything about mythology, but the way you write, I don’t have to. Keep up the great work!
Thank you! I’m glad you feel that way!
Sharon was in the kitchen cleaning up the mess her husband, Mike, had left behind after attempting to prepare a smoothie. Entering the kitchen, Mike headed for the refrigerator.
“Honestly, Mike, you couldn’t have picked up after yourself? A little help from you would really be appreciated!”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“You want the short or the long list?” she glared at him.
At this, he just rolled his eyes and started to walk away.
“I can see that English is not the language understood in this household or maybe it’s your second language?”
“I don’t know why you’re so bitchy, Sharon. Maybe I should just leave and return later after you’ve cooled off.”
“Well, while you’re at it, why don’t you change your name to Mandrake and just disappear—forever! Poof!” she said, waving a ladle over his head.
“You’re a barrel of laughs, Sharon. Let me tickle myself so I can laugh”
“And you’re just a barrel,” she said with a smirk. With this, Mike turned on his heel and headed toward the door.
This piece made me laugh! Great work.
I’m glad you got a kick out of it, Laura. Thanks for your input.
I liked the last thing she said and how she turned his own comment against him. I also liked how you added dimension to the piece by giving the two actions: “at this, he just rolled his eyes and walked away”, “she said, waving a ladle over his head”.
Great job!
Thanks for your comment, 709. I appreciate it.
Shadow stood beneath the broad oak tree and watched Julia and Rouge laugh as they sat on the picnic blanket. A smile tugged at his mouth.
The smile turned to a frown when he noticed Sonic coming toward him. Shadow folded his arms.
“So,” Sonic said, “Where’d you go last night?”
Shadow stared at him. “No where.”
“I woke up and you’d left camp.” Sonic frowned, a rare expression for him.
Shadow gave a slight shrug, but maintained eye contact. “I was scouting.”
Sonic folded his arms. “We have to work as a team. You’re not the only one who wants to protect Julia.” His eyes flicked in her direction.
“Listen up,” Shadow said. “The only reason I agreed to work with you is because you’re a decent fighter, and I could use the extra lookout.”
“What if you ‘went scouting’ without telling us, and you got ambushed? You can’t afford that risk when the investigation’s not—”
“I don’t take orders from you.” Shadow tightened his jaw. Then a smirk pulled his mouth. “And unlike some people, I don’t doubt myself or my ability to take on multiple enemies in the case of an ambush.”
Sonic’s eyes were hard. “You’re not invincible.”
“I’m very close.”
—
I’d love critique on this!
I really enjoyed the underlying tensions you included here; without telling us directly, you implied a lot of backstory and some deep relationships. You did ask for critique, so I just have a few things to comment on. The two “s” names were a little confusing, considering the fact that the reader has nothing to differentiate them (they are both male, the names are about the same length, etc.) Also, maybe you could add in some more description; I love the dialogue, but I feel the scene could be improved with the addition of, for example, a note about how the camp was quiet so early in the morning. You also might want to change up some of your description of the body language, because I noticed you referred to a smile pulling/tugging at someone’s mouth more than once, when you could substitute something like “a smile flashed across his expression,” or “he couldn’t help but smirk,” or could even focus on other parts of the body (fists balling, toes curling, head shaking.)
Is this part of a larger work? It would be great to read more!
Thank you for your support and feedback! I really appreciate it. You’re right; it does need more description, and I’m glad you pointed that out. And yes, it is part of a larger work. I write Shadow the Hedgehog fanfiction, and the one I’m working on has Sonic the Hedgehog in it, too. Julia is the main character but I absolutely LOVE writing from Shadow’s perspective as well. He has an interesting, difficult past, and I love writing about him. Julia was kidnapped and treated as an experiment because of her unique power, and I love writing about her, too.
I totally just talked your ear off! : ) Thank you for your in-depth critique. I’ll try to post more and thanks again!
–709writer
I think this is excellent. The dialogue is snarky, and their body language shows the contention. Great job!
Thank you!
This was a super fun read. At the part where it begins: And unlike some people; I was like, “Oh-ho-oh, Shots fired!” I love Shadow’s confidence, though it will probably get him killed someday. I am very curious about who Julia is and what the rest of the story will be.
Michelle breezed into the room and grabbed her seat at the Mac, hoping that today’s arrival wouldn’t count as her third tardy. Not a chance. Prof Negel examined her, her
lips drawing into straight lines, and her arched brows showing disapproval.
“Miss Brown, you are late. Was it the traffic on the freeway, again, or did your manicure take more time than usual to dry? We would hate to interrupt your pursuit of
beauty.”
Shocked at her instructor’s new level of cynicism and presumption, Michelle’s mouth gaped open with no words coming out. The class tittered at the comment desiring to avoid being a target of the teacher’s acid remarks.
Gaining back her focus, Michelle responded, “I’m sorry for being late, but a snark is hardly appropriate. Demeaning remarks are playground tactics, best left behind by 6th
grade, or sooner.”
“Good to know that you have a little bit of “snark,” too. Don’t be tardy again!”
Beating a snarky person at her own game was not Michelle’s idea of gaining an education. She mused, Maybe it was worth the message, “Don’t mess me.”
I really like how your character showed her disapproval of her teacher’s comments. It gives an interesting twist to what could otherwise have been a classic interaction.
Not sure if I got Snark right or not.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two girls were in the same cabin, well three counting Amy who is supposed to be in the next cabin over. One of the girls had perfectly straight brown hair and a thin layer of mascara, making her eyes look bolder. She wore an over large sweatshirt with a sports team on it and pajama bottoms and she giggled with her friend Amy incessantly while looking at teen magazine. She smiled naturally and she seemingly lacked nothing in self confidence. Another girl in the cabin was shy and kept to herself a lot. And when the first girl, named Michelle reached out to Lisa, Lisa recoiled like she was about to be bit by a venemous snake.
Michelle saw the weakness in poor Lisa’s eyes and thought that camp suddenly wouldn’t be the boring place she expected. She had asked not to go to camp for the third year in a row. It had been more of a vacation for her parents with Michelle gone and all, then for her.
Lisa dressed in the morning, pulling her socks up to her calfs and zipping her flat blue skirt that reached the knee.
Michelle was watching her from the top bunk and was giggling away like a hyeina.
Lisa started to power walk out of the cabin. “Why are you going away? You don’t want to show me your stunning attire?” said Michelle.
Lisa ran into the woods, she’d look back behind her every 20 feet to make sure she wasn’t being followed. Then when she was out of breath she stopped behind a tree. But Michelle did follow her. She had been steathily hiding behind trees and staying far enough back so she wouldn’t be heard.
Lisa was carving letters into the dirt and then scraping her hand over it and starting again. Then she looked up and saw something flying toward her. She screamed. Michelle tackled her and pinned her to the ground. Lisa lay there her eyebrows curved up, her eyes popped wide, and her mouth hanging open. Heaving through her nose and her chest visibly rising and falling.
“Why did you run away? You don’t want to talk to me? I just want to be your friend.”
Lisa shook her head back and forth without saying anything.
“Well you know that is just not nice. Because you know when another girl wants to be friends with you, ignoring them is just as bad as bullying. Did you know that?” Lisa shook her head no slightly.
“Well I don’t take kindly to bullies. I think the world would be better without them. Don’t you? So I am making it my personal mission to stamp out bullies. And you’re gonna help right?” Lisa nodded her head yes.
“Good. I think we are gonna be good friends. Come with me, friend.” She hung out her hand and Lisa looking scared slowly put her hand in the girls and Michelle lifted her up.
Later Michelle taught Lisa the fine art of make up as she gave her a make over that made her look somewhere between a clown and a whore and they walked into the commons together hand in hand to say hi to the other kids and ‘make friends.’
I really enjoyed reading about the conflict of personalities here: Lisa’s quiet demeanor vs. Michelle’s more outgoing one. I think you definitely captured snark in the line “You don’t want to show my your stunning attire?”, which was, in fact, a line I particularly liked from your practice.
Thanks. Yeah that was a clear snarky line.
I really like the contrast you have between these two characters. I also like how Lisa doesn’t understand Michelle’s snark, it’s a new take on peoples reactions to snark and I like it. I am a little confused that Amy didn’t show up again, though. At first it sounded like she was going to be a big part of it but you never mentioned her again. Really enjoyed it!
That’s true, I should have kept Amy in the mix. Thanks for what you said. 🙂
Here is a little dialog that randomly popped into my head. I haven’t written much dialog but here is a small effort at it because i love sarcasm:
“Savannah, I don’t know why you don’t smoke” Michael said as he took a long haul of his cigarette as they waited.
Savannah’s eyes glared at him and he loved pushing her buttons.
“life is too long” he blew smoke. “They kill time now and later, two birds on stone they are. They are perfect for this life rat race”
Michael was as dry as salted slug.
“Life is too long? how do you figure? You know I hate cigarettes” Savannah replied
They were waiting at the bus station to goto a show that night and Michael looked around at the other people waiting, searching for his rebuttal and he found a perfect example.
“look down there” he pointed at a few people on a bench at the end of the bus station.
“they all stare at there phones because they have too much time. What creature with not enough time would ever stare at that little distraction for that long?”
Then he spotted a billboard with a man golfing on the moon in a moon suit.
“and this! If life was really too short how could a man have time to putt on the moon???” he got excited as if he found 2 perfect examples.
“your ridiculous” She shook her head.
“I know you agree” he snarked, reached in his pocket, offered her cigarette and winked.
good twist on the phrase life’s too short. I am a bit liable to agree with that a bit. The first line about the smoking was also funny to me.
Jax slipped out of the party, gasping for air. There was a birthday celebration for her sister’s, Bronwyn’s, 17th birthday and there were far too many people involved in it. Though, the hot summer sun was beating against her, it beat staying inside. Heaving a sigh, she closed her eyes to mentally block out the world and leaned against the nearest wall, allowed herself to slide down it. Once she reached the ground, she dropped her head into her hands, massaging her temples.
“Well that wasn’t dramatic at all.” She snapped her head up, squinting against the sun, to see who was speaking. It was her oldest brother, Kaero. he joined her on the floor.
“I’m not being half as dramatic as you always are,” she said.
Kaero offered her a winning smile and replied,”Its just part of my natural charm.”
Jax rolled her eyes.”You know Kaero, some people cause happiness wherever the go. Others,” she said, giving him a significant look,” whenever they go.”
He looked like he was about to snap back, but at that moment their aunt stolled by. She eyed the both with distaste and said,” You know, I was wondering when I could get a servant to clean that floor, but I suppose that since you two are already, how should I say it, in such a low position, it would only make sense if you did it instead.”
Jax quickly stood to her feet and and gave the polite headbow to those in authority. Though the urge to retaliate had immediately bubbled up, she suppressed it in order to show respect.
Kaero, on the other hand, replied,” Well, that was hurtful. I was going to give you a nasty look, but I see that you already have one.”