forum A Stupid Friggin' Powerpoint (open oxo) (Workplace enemies to lovers)

Started Feb 19 by @KoriEqualsKJ

tune

Heres the basic plot:
Two colleagues competing for the same promotion are forced to work on a presentation together. They’ve had a somewhat sour, yet entirely unfounded, relationship since the two began working together, and this was the last thing either of them wanted. It doesn’t go smoothly at first, the two bickering and working over each other, resulting in little to no entirely conflicting work. When both of their jobs become part of the risk, they’re forced to set their differences aside and learn the other isn’t horrible. Maybe even lovely..

This is an office, set modern day. Business casual dress for the office. I have high hopes for this idea, I'm hoping to use this RP to flesh out a story arc I'm writing, so I would appreciate a 3-4 sentence writing sample.

-RULES-
Please be appropriate
LGBTQ+ is allowed
Please don't ignore anyone who's trying to interact w/ you in or out of RP.
Generally, just be kind. I reserve the right to deny requests to join and to boot people who are being hateful or mean. Three strikes and you’re out. Your character should be an ass, but you may not

-MY CHARACTER SHEET-
Name: Koa Jayce Montenegro
Nickname: K.J
Description: He's 5'4 with shoulder-length brown hair tapered short on the right side. He's got brown eyes, a round nose, and full lips. He has snakebites, a septum, and a right eyebrow piercing as well as plenty of ear peircings.
Work clothes: Generally a tucked white turtleneck, a black open blazer, and grey slacks, complete with white flats. He generally keeps his sleeves pushed up, and his hair in a loose topknot, and puts spacers in his piercings when at work.
General sense of fashion when off: Usually monochrome, in a stylish way. Tight undershirts, baggy pants, and even looser jackets. His favorite fit is a pair of baggy black jeans, black and white sneakers, a white tank top, and a huge black and white windbreaker. He likes to keep his hair down and his jewelry in.
Gender: Trans Man
Eye Color: Brown
Age: 26
Pronouns: He/Him
Sexuality: Bisexual

-CHARACTER SHEET-
Name:
Description:
Work clothes:
General sense of fashion when off:
Gender:
Eye Color:
Age:
Personality:
Pronouns:
Sexuality:

(Hi, this looks pretty cool! I'd like to join this if that's alright. Here's a little sample)

Saturday couldn't have come any quicker. Seriously. Damian dreaded the day by wasting through all the ones that came before it. If he wasn't catching up on case work then he was looking after the twins or doing whatever else he could to occupy his attention. As long as the activity prevented him from thinking about his anxiety which made his anxiety even worse, then it was a win. One day he volunteered to help with filing in the forensic department. He sure did miss being in forensics. It was oddly calm in there.

Name: Sunhwa "Sunny" Mae
Description: Usually she likes to have her black hair up in a plain bun, but she will also braid or curl it. If she leaves it dow, it goes just past her shoulders. She stands at 6'3" and has a slender appearance. On her ears, she has lobes and helixes pierced, but she mostly just wears earrings on her lobes. Sunny also likes to paint her nails; usually darker colors like red, black, and purple, but she also loves silver too.
Work clothes: She always tries to aim for the office siren look; it is one of her favorites. Normally, Sunny wears a women's dress shirt with a pencil skirt. Her favorite color combination is like a red wine shirt and black skirt but she loves to mix it up a bit. Sometimes she will wear hugh heels while on other days it might just be some plane janes or simple flats. Then she'll have on some sort of earrings like pearls or jade.
General sense of fashion when off: Honestly, it's whatever vibe Sunhwa is feeling. She really likes wearing those long vintage nightgowns with either a sweater or see through long sleeve shirt underneath, some stockings, and sneakers. But she also loves wearing oversized t-shirts like her SOAD or World's Best Aunt shirts with a skirt or baggy jeans. Her main accessories are weird (often clunky) earrings and a ring or two.
Gender: Trans woman
Eye Color: Dark brown
Age: 25
Personality: Sunny is as bright and warm as her nickname/name is, but she's also a fighter too. Like stubborn (and definitely ambitious) is her middle name. She's really into pushing herself to go the extra mile. Usually she keeps to herself and loves being in her own little world, but Sunhwa thrives for being around other's. She's not perfect and all her good qualites do act as negatives too, but she tries her best.
Pronouns: She/her
Sexuality: Omnisexual

(Here she is! I hope you like her :D )

KJ sat at his desk in his cubical, absently going through his paperwork for this stupid accountant job. He hated the work but definitely didn't mind the pay. He checked his email and sighed almost audibly when he had one from a Miss Madeline Lawson- his supervisor. He opened the email and it read something like this;

Good afternoon Koa. I just wanted to inform you that in order to get your promotion, you'll have to create a combined PowerPoint with a colleague. I'll be having you work with Sunny, as she's also after the promotion, and the point of this requirement is to ensure whoever gets it can work well with others. It'll be due in 4-5 buisness weeks. Thank you.
Best regards, Madeline Lawson

Koa pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. Of course, it had to be her. The woman was too cheery for him, always bright and bubbly at nine in the morning for no good reason. Koa had no reason to dislike her, but he sure wasn't going to take the time out to find a reason to like her. This woud be a long 4-5 weeks

(Yay! Also thank you for the little snippet on Koa's personality. I love him!)

On days like this, Sunhwa couldn't help but just look away from her computer and stare off into the distance. She didn't mind working here, but after all, she was only here to pay the bills and save up money to go back to college to pursue history and museum studies. It's not like she didn't like working here. Sunny loved talking with other coworkers, saying hello to everyone, and sometimes doodling in her notebook in between writing notes or doing little calculations. The working environment was good and she barely had any complaints.

Her computer made a soft "ding" sound. Sunny jumped in her seat, turning to look at the new email in her inbox. The sound of her heart beating like crazy filled her eardrums as she clicked on the email. Is it something about a little promotion for a little someone? Leaning closer to the screen, she read what Miss Lawson sent and could feel her shoulders dropping from the excitement evaporating from her.

"Koa…" She sighed to herself, "Great…great…" Koa was okay. Sunny didn't really have any reason to not like him, but she also didn't really have any reason to like him too. She just could not imagine talking to him beyond small talk let alone doing a whole presentation with him. But then again, she does want that promotion…

Standing up from her chair, she adjusted her skirt then turned around. Yes, Sunny has to admit that she forgets where this man's cubicle is, but she knew what she was doing. She grabbed a pen and her notebook then began to walk over to Koa's cubicle.

It took a long while for anyone to arrive in his cubicle door. He heard heeled footsteps, knowing It was the bright, bubbly girl that he simply could not tolerate. She just talked so much. Koa had no idea how she jaw and cheeks weren't sore from all the cheery bullshit she spewed and the smile that never left her face. Koa turned around in his chair, nodding his head softly. "So, presentation, huh?" He said, his voice soft and monotone. He wasn't entirely sure what they would present about, or how they would work on it. All he knew was he didn't want to do it.

Sunny stopped at Koa's cubicle with a wide smile on her face. Holding her hand up, she gave him a small enthusiastic wave. No, she didn't want to work with him, but that shouldn't stop her from being her usual self. After all, she can still be her bright bubbly self and not like this grumpy person. "Yeah, presentation time! Exciting, right?" She beamed with eagerly shaking her fists. "I know we really haven't worked together that much before but I think we'll do a really good job with this one. Maybe we can go into one of the conference rooms and talk more about it? Nothing serious. Just brainstorming and whatever. What do you think, Koa? Sound good?"

"Sure, Sounds good" He said, standing up. Koa walked a short distance behind her, his short legs and small gait not quite being able to keep up with her long, slender legs. He walked silently to the conference room, holding the door open for her on the way in.

"Okay, great!" In a blink of an eye, she already was halfway over to one of the empty conference rooms. If Sunny hadn't looked over her shoulder, she wouldn't have stopped. Once Koa was able to catch up, she kept walking. "Thanks," she said while walking into the conference room. Leaning over the table, she sat down her notebook and pen. She rested her arms on top of one of the chairs, placing her chin on top of them. "We have 4 to 5 weeks to do this," She sighed, "I can't believe it. I already feel so anxious about it. Don't you? And we have to agree on some sort of topic too. As long as we agree on something then we can start preparation and planning then one of us will get the promotion." Brushing a strand of hair away from her face, she looked over at Koa.

Koa nodded, a quiet 'your welcome' before walking in himself, allowing the door to shut behind him as he sat across from her, setting his laptop and small notepad down, twirling his pen in his fingers as he crossed his legs. He leaned back, listening to her talk. "We could do the stocks of the new products the company is selling?" He suggested. He didn't respond to her pleasantries, clearly just as sour as his reputation and Sunny's few interactions with him suggested

"That's a really good idea!" She sat down in the chair. Biting the inside of her lip, she tried to keep her cheery self up. Although, she found it kind of hard when the guy across from her wasn't giving her the same energy. She questioned how this would work, but Sunny tried to do her best pushing those thoughts to the back of her head. "We could compare them based off of recent reports on how well they're selling…Or we could also do an analysis on our recent quarterly reports, that could be something." She flipped the cover of her notebook and began to jot these ideas down.

Koa noted all of these things in his small notepad. He took a breath, deeper than usual but not noticeably so. He was getting a headache already. She just kept jawing. She had no sense of volume control either, as bright and bubbly seemingly had no off switch. "We could do a study on workplace productivity as well" He suggested. The position they were shooting for was management, so topics like that might put them in the good graces of the higher-ups. "That kind of subject might give us a bit of spark in their eyes"

How can someone so quiet be up for a promotion that dealt with people? Sunny clicked her pen as she thought about it. It didn't make any sense to her. No, she'll think about that later. She thought about Koa's idea for a minute then nodded, "I like that one! It's very people-oriented, makes sense for the promotion." While biting her bottom lip, she hummed to herself while writing some stuff down. "We can look at certain things the office is doing to boost productivity and look for other methods to use to get it higher. Wanna go with that one? I feel like it's perfect for the promotion and all."

"Sure, yea" He responded, almost boredly, writing it down and circling it. "We can look for lapse in productivity, as well as high points," he suggested. It was becoming more and more apparent as he spoke why he was a candidate for the position. It might have been management, dealing with people, and he wasn't a people person, but he was extremely objective. It was clear in his eyes that he had some of his own opinions on Sunny's overly cheery disposition, but he kept them entirely to himself. He uncrossed his legs, leaning forward and crossing his fingers nd resting his chin on them. "That way, we can propose ways to streamline it, and we can also survey employees for suggestions, appealing to the dealing-with-people aspect of the job"

Sunny tapped the table with her left hand as she listened to Koa. The presentation would have to be a nice blend of things like conflict resolution, maintaining a lively atmosphere, and overseeing people. Flipping to a fresh page in her notebook, she started to make a mind map. Perhaps later, they can make a more official one for the presentation; that way they have something to go back to as they made progress with the presentation.

"We could also look at stress and how it impacts productivity with projects and tasks people work on." She looked up to Koa, smiling, "It could be something we can include while surveying other employees. Maybe let's try to balance people and productivity." Turning around her notebook, she held it up to Koa for a second, "I'm making this lil mind map, just trying to tie together everything we're talking about."

Koa nodded, writing that down too. "Your way seems.. meticulous" He responded, holding up his notepad. He didn't phrase it as though it was a bad thing, but he also didn't frame it as a compliment. On his notepad were everything they'd brought up on separate lines, the ones they'd agreed upon circled. His handwriting was not great, but it was legible. Barely.

"Makes sense though." He added, setting the papers down. "I say we get the beginning of this PowerPoint together and call this meeting?" He proposed. It was almost closing time anyway

"Oh…" Sunny squinted her eyes a little while looking at Koa's notes. Leaning back into the chair, she sighed softly then nodded to herself. "Well, guess you can call me Meticulous Mae," she shrugged while laughing a little. "Yours looks…nice." From what she saw it looked organized. She really couldn't read it but she thought it was either because of her eyesight or if his handwriting is a little shakey.

Pulling out her phone from her pocket, she tapped on the screen to look at the time. Oh, thank God. Sunny nodded as she put her phone back, "Yeah, let's do that and end it there for now."

Koa nodded, opening his laptop. An empty PowerPoint arrived in Sunny's email inbox a few moments later. Her work email was saved on his computer, as he'd had to send her documents a few times. Without saying anything else, he collected his things and nodded to her before taking his leave

Once he had left the office and entered his car, he let out a long, drawn-out sigh. This was going to be a long presentation. He sat in his car for a few more moments, his social battery zapped. He didn't want to go home and deal with his roommate, but he had to eventually.

"Great thanks." Sunny looked down at her notes again. They were off to a good start, she was pretty confident in that. She took out her phone then logged into her work email. The moment she saw the presentation in her inbox, she pinned it and logged out. Looking up, she turned to Koa and grinned, "See you tomorrow!"

Though she normally was out of the office within five minutes of closing time, she took her time going back to her desk and collecting her things. Sunny hummed all the way to her car. After putting the aux into her phone, she pressed play on her playlist and drove off while The Cure blared through the speakers.

Koa connected his car's Bluetooth to his phone, blasting Type O Negative as he put his car in drive and took off. He usually took the freeway back to his two bedroom apartment, but decided against it today. He turned off the busy streets, going towards the more desolate, wooded roads.

He took his time on the long way home, not speeding like usual. There was no one for miles on this lonely stretch of road, so he went below the speed limit, his music filling the car and his mind