So, I'm trying to insult my favorite side character because he and my MC have bad blood at the moment, he said. "One slight breeze comes along and you moan, pretty easy aren't you?" On one hand, his insult isn't good either now that I'm writing it out but hear me out... lol... she's trying to insult him right back because he embarrassed her, obviously, but this is as far as my brain will let me go. "What do you know?" She shot back, "With an attitude like that, I'd say..." And unfortunately, that is where it ends, I need everyone to go to that dark side and bring me back insults that will make my character tremble!!!! (or at least make him shut up for the rest of the night... heh...) Any Ideas?!
Hard to tell without the context. Harder still not knowing anything about the characters. Unless, of course, "Your mother is a whore" is out.
So some context is she just got done With a brutal training session, and for lack of better terms he is a jerk towards her, for no reason, so he made a snarky comment to get under her skin.
Characters act in-character, period. If that's something that your MC would do, then that's what they would do. There's nothing at all wrong with it. Hell, if you look at John Scalzi, he had a character in his latest series that told pretty much everyone, friends, family and everyone, to fuck off. She couldn't a single sentence without saying fuck. It was excessive to be sure, but for her character, it worked.
I found this sick burn on the internet, not sure if it's what you want: "May your balls turn square and fester at the corners." Idk, insulting his mother is probably a good option, just swearing at him if she's really had it would probably get the point across. Usually you don't come up with something really witty in those situations; you want something that really hurts, not something that you can chuckle at. But, as @Cephus said, whatever is in character.
Or maybe something more ancient-y like "Ah, the Plague take you then!" (Why did I write that with an Irish accent?)
Yes, especially for insults. I'm also wondering where I got the notion the setting is ancient. You never said that. And suddenly it hit me—it's because of the title, the Monty Python reference. Took me right back to the Black Knight. Or maybe LOTR, which is also ancient-y.
I automatically read it with one, too I just assumed the training session was for jujitzu because that's apparently how my brain works, but OP never specified now that I'm rereading the post. I guess it could be fantasy, in which case the gamer insults I was thinking of posting would be out of place.
Best insult I've ever come up with: I bet your mother has to think about it before she tells you she loves you.
Could you work @Potvin's direct, in-your-face, Rhode Island insult in in a fantasy kind of way: "One slight breeze comes along and you moan, pretty easy aren't you?" "If you want to talk 'easy', we can talk about your mother."
I'm getting conflicting metaphors here. "One slight breeze" made me think her physical or ethical strength/endurance is being impuned, but "easy" definitely sounds sexual and "moan" is somewhere in-between. Which is it? Yeah, I know it depends upon the culture and history of your fantasy world, but it would be nice (and more imaginative) if an insult from a male to a female didn't automatically run to sex. If it really is in the context of a brutal training session, seems he'd want to insult her mettle. Or find some flaw in something she thought she was doing right. Like "Yeah, that was a good defense--- if you're fighting against . . . " And fill in the blank with the weakest, most despised people/creatures/whatever in that world.
With the comment on moaning and her being easy, definitely comes across as sexual. So, keeping with that tone: MC: you moan like a whore, how easy are you? SC: coming from someone whose only lovers were pay to play, you don't have room to talk about someone else being 'easy'. Version 2: MC: one touch and you go down like a fucking house of cards. You're weak. SC: Sorry, unlike you I'm not steeped in the glory of drunken brawls in strip club parking lots.
That's a very good point, but the reason he says this is because his trying to push her, and he's already found out pushing her on how good she is at something doesn't faze her, hince him moving on from that subject into the new one.
Those always work well although they can tend towards the racist, so let's just stick with gendered insults for now : "Wow, that was really impressive...for a girl." "You've got to be one of the toughest women I've ever met." And the classic from Aliens:
"What do you know?" She shot back, "With an attitude like that, I'd say that everything you know about women comes from the internet. You talk like a neckbeard." Sorry, that's the only thing I could think of at the moment.
