FRAMED - Cowboy Bebop fanfiction

Session 15

6 months later 

"Okay, let me stop you right there," Quinn huffed angrily as she extended her arm towards the hologram screen behind her. 

"This is great work ok, but it's just repulsive to look at," She sighed,  directing a menacing glare towards the associate across from her. 

"I mean, it's a matter of opinion but-" the associate trembled, but Quinn was quick to cut him off. 

"Try again," she sneered impatiently as she placed her fingers on her temples. 

Marketing meetings were always the most frustrating part of her day. Her job position was enjoyable, but the obligations that came with the title weren't always so pretty. She hated having to be the one to slap the sense into her underlings, but she knew someone had to do it. 

"Alright," the associate mumbled under his breath as he hastily disconnected his tablet from the hologram screen. Quinn was quick to notice the tension she had created within the board room. The associates were on edge, and Quinn was starting to feel the pressure herself. 

"Guys, I don't want to be a villain here, but look at our charts! They were the lowest they have ever been just over a year ago, and I refuse to see those numbers associated with our name ever again!" Quinn stated assertively as she connected her laptop to the screen. 

The charts she displayed for her audience showed statistics from the last 12 months, and coincidently, the numbers were only low when Mack was working her position. Quinn was unpleasantly surprised by Mack's incapability to manage the place while she was gone, and even though both girls were just as qualified for the position as the other, Mack lacked the initiative that Quinn had. The statistics showed the difference loud and clear, and Quinn was surprised the company was even still standing after everything Mack had done.

The meeting Quinn had scheduled continued accordingly. Unfortunately it went a little longer than planned, and once it was over Quinn was displeased to see how busy her schedule still was for the remaining hours of her work day. 

She had two more meetings ahead of her, multiples appointments with other Microz officials, and to top it all off she needed to prepare an hour long presentation for a tech group over on Venus all within the next eight hours. It wasn't even eleven am yet and she was already breaking a sweat. 

As she walked out of the boardroom with her laptop and coffee in hand, she couldn't stop thinking about the meeting she had scheduled for the next day. That hour long presentation she needed to make was looming over her like a dark cloud, and even though she wasn't presenting it alone, the anxiety was soul crushing. 

Needless to say, the pressure was unbearable, and she made her way through the bustling hallways of her workplace, she couldn't help but let a smile grow across her face. She absolutely adored the stress she was feeling and she couldn't believe there was a time in her life where she seriously doubted her enjoyment for it.

Quinn hated thinking about the past anyways, and she rarely even let it alter her train of thought. She shook her head as she head towards her next meeting. There was no room in her schedule to be thinking about a life she never wanted to experience anyways. 

...

"Quinn, what on earth are you still doing here?" A smooth, comforting voice called out as Quinn lifted her head up from her laptop. 

"What?" Quinn asked as she directed her eyes towards the figure leaned against the doorway of her office. Her secretary was standing there with her arms folded across her chest. Her gold rimmed glasses twinkled under the fluorescent office lighting, and as she walked towards Quinn's desk, her heels clicked loudly against the hardwood flooring.