Snippet #1902043

When Joss snapped at her, Aquaea only laughed, giving a slight smirk at him. Her previous comments had been perfectly collected and calm, making them all the more biting, and she wasn't about to change that over a little insult. Actually, instead of making her feel bad, it was kind of funny, in a sick way. It gave her a feeling of triumph, for it meant that she had obviously succeeded in isolating herself from them. On top of that, seeing the usually mellow Joss - she wasn't sure how she knew that - snap at her like that was quite satisfying.

"Struck a nerve, did I?" The hero said mockingly, sizing up Joss with confident, icy blue eyes. There was glaring daggers, and then there was Aquaea's usual apathetic glance of distaste, which somehow managed to be both terrifying in its threatening nature and completely composed. "I think you'll find you need to relax more than I do. Actually, it's because we're all dead that I'm hurrying things along so quickly. Are you too lazy to wonder exactly how we're all still here, or are you too stupid to care? Well, it hardly matters either way, because it's as you've said, dear Joss. We're dead. If it's the former, then your slacking isn't likely to have much of an effect on things anyway, and if it's the latter, well, then maybe there's a reason you're here with us instead of alive and doing whatever it is a chain smoking bum like you does to eke out a miserable existence among his fellow bits of trash." Throughout what by all rights should have been called a tirade, Aquaea did not once raise her voice, letting her emphasis on certain words and her cool indifference carry the insulting message she desired to send, rather than getting worked up at all. Coming across as angry would have just been a sign of weakness, and would make her seem impulsive and easily manipulated. On the contrary, she spoke with an insulting condescension that bespoke of great pride and dignity, as though she were queen of all she beheld and those to whom she deigned to speak were nothing more than impudent fools crawling in the mud at her feet. While this might have seemed a bit immature, any fool could see that there was always a reason for pride, and it just might have been a good one. It made her seem dangerous apart from making her unapproachable, thereby killing two birds with one stone. And besides, Aquaea had to admit. There was something so very satisfying about dealing one's damage through wit rather than blind rage and pointless anger. It put one on the intellectual high ground, and allowed them to stomp upon their object's worthless opinions with absolute impunity. And in the hero's opinion, that was much more fulfilling than dealing a blind smack across the face, like a spoiled brat.