I think a lot of times when people argue, they do a terrible job of communicating the things that they’re actually upset about.  Emotions get in the way of expressing yourself clearly, and sometimes people may not even know in their own heads what is really making them angry.  All in all, we humans can be pretty inefficient communicators.

Emily’s family situation is under a lot of stress, with everyone following their own agendas and keeping secrets from one another. I’ve been trying to make the conversations sound real while still making the underlying conflicts come across, and it’s been an interesting challenge.

I spent a long time considering what Lauren should reply in the last panel, and I tried different versions of different responses.  I even thought about using a thought balloon with different unspoken comebacks.  At one point I deleted everything and went back to the empty picture, and I found I liked it.  The best response to panel three was no response at all.  I hope the readers agree….