Vignette Summary: During a team meeting, one of the firm's partners doesn't like Mia's idea until he takes it as his own.

Tags: Slice of Life

Word Count: 588

Date: Monday, April 8th, 2013

Time: 9:37 am

Location: Boardroom # 4, Grossberg Law Offices, Los Tokyo

Operating in the "real world" was something Mia was still acclimating to. Back home, the women, particularly those versed in channeling, were the leaders and respected members of her society. Men, the ones who stayed anyway, were relegated to menial labor.

Once she moved out, she saw with her own eyes what she always heard to be the case but never experienced. Everywhere else operated a little differently than Kurain Village.

Still, she tried to be even-handed in her assessment of situations with the opposite sex. Mia knew that she was predisposed to having negative opinions of men but didn't want to be as openly hostile as some of the women back home. Given their experiences, their negativity wasn't unfounded, but it wouldn't be a fruitful approach in a world where the sexes lived amongst each other.

Try as she might, there were still moments where she couldn't help but feel that something like sexism was at play. Today, for example. At one of their Monday meetings, the Grossberg Law Offices team was looking to streamline their workload management system.

Mia, normally reserved during these meetings, decided to speak up. She had an idea for an online shared spreadsheet with color-coding. A simple, yet elegant solution that could be easily implemented and that she felt was worth sharing.

Mr. Grossberg was not very tech-savvy but, to his credit, didn't outright dismiss the idea, instead looking to Mr. MacPherson, one of the firm's partners, for an answer. Mr. MacPherson said "No," and "I don't think it would work."

Mia didn't like being denigrated without clarity on why her idea was so wrong but took it in stride. Then, as the team talked back and forth and in circles for 20 minutes, discussing alternate solutions that were way more cumbersome, she got a little annoyed.

When her original solution was tossed out by that same partner, as if never mentioned, and suddenly met with widespread acclaim and approval by the team, she was actively seething.

Mia looked beside her to Reina who smiled knowingly and rolled her eyes. She noticed too. Mia then looked directly across from her at Diego, who had a neutral expression, and was looking at the head of the table, nodding lightly.

He hadn't noticed and didn't care; she could tell. If he cared at all about this administrative issue, he would have been happy to make his opinions known sometime in the last 25 minutes. Instead, he silently sipped his coffee. She'd have to explain the slight to him later.

"What do you think, Armando?" Mr. MacPherson asked.

Mia stifled a scoff. Not only had he taken her idea, but he was now surveying the men in the room for their opinions, even those who clearly had no interest.

"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea," Diego agreed. "Although, I liked the idea even more a half hour ago, when Mia said it." Diego winked discreetly at her, and she smiled back.

Mr. MacPherson was flustered at being called out publicly. "I'm sorry, Mia. I didn't realize that's what you were suggesting."

Mia wished she had the nerve to put him on the spot. Someday, but not today. After she returned to criminal cases and had a little more confidence and cachet to her name. She smiled politely. "No problem. I must not have explained it well."

With Mr. MacPherson's ego now stroked, they continued with the meeting.