Evolution of Brattiness

I've got a talent for sarcasm.  If you talk to me with any regularity, you might notice that I have my own jokes, as well as pride in my own original wit.  When people rely on puns, or referencing/ stealing lines from media to be funny, it bothers me after a rather short amount of time. 

And, along with that wit, comes the sort of personality that makes me want to crack more jokes and silliness the more I get to know people.  See, with new folks, or those I don't take too kindly to, I tend to be really quiet.  I'm not sure what sorts of jokes I can make, and have no desire to really converse with them until I either feel them out, or am forced to deal with them.

So, one of the best ways for me to tell someone how I feel about them is to poke fun.  Almost like the middle schoolers who poked and prodded because they didn't know how to express how they felt.  I know when to reel it in, but most especially when in private, during those calm times, I will make cracks, just to get a rise out of the person I'm with, and the more often, and heavier digs the closer I get.  I'll test patience, find the holes in their words, for no reason other than a giggle. 

And, it's not that I'm looking for attention or anything.  There's no malice, quite the opposite in fact.  It's more or less how I say "Hey, you're awesome, and I like you a lot.  I wanna keep you around for a while."

Sure, it's fun to have that brattiness responded to, whether with returned poking, or an understanding sternness.  So long as they know where it's coming from though, it makes me happy.