About to comment on the fact that she could start by getting rid of that attitude— a purely visual attitude that only those who knew her could really, truly pick up on— it was gone. Well, that was taken care of, at least. It put a smirk right back on his face, and just about the time that they managed to hold one another’s gaze.
Nevermind.
The reply that followed wiped that sneer right off of his features, replacing it with one relatively irritated one instead. He certainly had it coming, but he was too irate to even think of a proper response to such insubordination. What he said next would pale in comparison to how he could be, for sure.
"Well, that’s certainly a surprise, because you have quite the affinity for trash like him.”
Whatever self indulgent amusement the small, voiceless blond had earned for herself at her childish, unapologetic lack of respect towards her superior evaporated into a hollow feeling at his words, leaving behind an almost unbearably hot, burning feeling in her chest that spread from her heart and encompassed the entirety of her body. Oh, how it stung - Impossibly so, sharp and unforgivable -
Her irreverent smile froze, before melting away completely, replaced instead with the widening of her honey coloured eyes and the almost (almost) imperceptible rising of her shoulders - Hostility. So much of it so, that it felt like she would drown in it, both welling up from within herself and rolling off the Rocket executive in almost palpable waves. It was no secret, the disapproval, the distaste between the Masterson siblings, but to think that he would actually drag Orion into their conversation (if it could even be called that) for the sole purpose of putting her in her place was almost too much for her to take with a straight face.
"........"
A pause that felt like it extended for hours was broken by the sound of a small, near-silent intake of breath, followed almost immediately by the soft scribbling of pen on paper -
'That's a funny thing to say, sir - '
Indignation was replaced by a soft smile, but the sharpness in the younger woman's eyes was impossible to miss, indeed her amusement did not extend past a physical facade.
'After all, if someone like him is, as you say, trash - Well what would you consider lower than even that? You would know, since that can only be something directed at you.'
If Proton thought Beatrix was being rude to him just then, well he had better prepare himself for an utter and complete lack of respect.
