You wrote something you were pleased with. It came back as "lol". Then it happened again. Nothing is hostile and nothing is over, but every exchange costs you three sentences and her three characters.
Send this
Wow. That reply had the emotional depth of a vending machine. Is this your signature move or are you just trying to keep me humble?
Effort settles at whatever the two of you set. Answer "lol" with another paragraph and you have agreed the rate is fair, so she has no reason to renegotiate it. The move is not to work harder and not to sulk — it is to notice out loud, and to be amused rather than annoyed. Amusement is the entire difference between naming the imbalance and complaining about it.
You are pointing at what she is doing, and someone who was never really in the conversation will let it end there. That is a real cost, and it is smaller than the alternative: three more weeks of writing to someone typing with one thumb.
- Don't send
Haha what's so funny?
It asks her to explain a filler word, which cannot be done, and it puts you in the position of reading her replies for meaning. There is none in "lol" to find.
- Don't send
Another joke. Then another.
Three characters just bought three more sentences from you. The rate is now set, and it is set in her favour.
- Don't send
Just 'lol'?
The same observation without the amusement, and the difference is everything. This one says you were expecting more, which is the part worth keeping to yourself.
One line, written for your conversation
The text above works because of what it does, not because of the words. Screenshot the thread and Valerius reads what she actually said, where it stands, and writes the next message in your voice.
