Work Text:
Vivian’s father had very “traditional” views of women, so naturally, he thought men were superior in academics. The wage gap at Becile Industries somehow increased while he was CEO, and the employee of the month was always a man. Because of this, he never taught Vivian anything about green matter or anything important, reserving that knowledge for her brother Buster. Despite this, she tried to get her hands on what knowledge she could, and together with a want to prove her dad wrong, she developed an interest in science and engineering.
School provided some relief from home. It was nice to be rewarded for being smart rather than being told to finish her chores. She graduated top of her class and had scholarship offers from several top schools, but her parents opted to send her to a mediocre college closer to home. As for Buster, they had to bribe his university to keep him, as he was not only failing but also skipping class very often. He never really understood why he was in school in the first place. He was going to be the CEO of Becile Industries no matter what, so what did it matter whether he got a degree or not?
Eventually, Vivian saved up enough money to move out, but her parents stopped paying tuition in response. She wasn’t sure where to go, but she had an idea, and it may also be the perfect way to spite her father.
She applied to Walter Robotics but worried endlessly about her last name. After all, she was the daughter of the current CEO of Walter Robotics’ rival company and was the sister of the future CEO. She knew she had a relative there, but her father always painted him as a traitor.
“Nearly figured out how those Walter cores worked, could’ve made himself a spy, but no, he becomes a doorman.”
Not that her father cared much. He didn’t want a face like Norman’s to be associated with his company.
Fortunately for her, Walter Robotics was always very accepting, hiring nearly anyone remotely qualified, maybe even less than qualified. Not only that, but Peter Walter VI was more open-minded than his predecessors. And thus, she was hired as the lead particle engineer.
Alas, nerves got the best of her on her first day. Her hands were extremely shaky, and she dropped something she probably wasn’t supposed to. After such a big screw-up, she knew she didn’t have much longer at Walter Robotics, but at least she had a job until she sorted the problem out. In the quarantine chamber, she realized that maybe her dad was right all along. Maybe women weren’t meant for science. However, if she didn’t figure something out, she’d be stuck in this room forever, so she had to work out a solution with her own two hands…
...and also an old operating system from the 80s.
If there’s one thing Walter Workers avoid, it’s trying working with QWERTY. Unfortunately, they have to interact with him quite a bit. Usually, someone at least introduces him, but Vivian didn’t have this advantage. Vivian couldn’t get QWERTY to cooperate for hours. At some point, she realized that the only way to break QWERTY was to be annoying herself. She kept talking to him well into the night, until he finally caved and helped her fix her problem.
With everything back to normal — save for her hair color — she was allowed to leave her chamber. She was sure someone would be waiting with her pink slip right outside, but the only person there was the Walter Worker who opened the door. Well there surely has to be something, she thought, and she was right. Shortly after she left the chamber, she was notified that she had a meeting with Peter in thirteen minutes. Vivian was too scientific to be superstitious, but she knew that it was an unlucky coincidence that such a number was tied with what would surely be the end of this job. She looked at the map of the manor and found that getting to the meeting would take ten minutes, leaving her no time to get a head start on collecting her things.
Meetings with Six were very informal. Usually, they happened in the wee bits of spare time he had, meaning that they were either held right outside his lab or in his office, neither of which were as organized as his mother would like it to be. This meeting was by the lab. Vivian waited by the door, looking around impatiently. She knew what was about to happen, but that didn’t stop the butterflies in her stomach. After an anxious eternity, Peter stepped out of the lab, his lab coat splotched with random substances.
“Hello Vivian”
“Hi Mr. Walter... not to be disrespectful but shouldn’t you leave your lab coat in the lab?”
“Good thinking,” replied Peter as he went back inside. He returned shortly after. “So what were we talking about?”
“You wanted to see me?” Vivian reminded him.
“Oh! Right! You were in that quarantine chamber for a bit so I wanted to make sure you’re okay, since you’re new and all”
Vivian moved a few strands of her now-platinum hair out of her face. “Um... yeah, I guess I’m fine. Nothing has come up yet.”
“Well great! I want you to take the rest of the day off, you definitely deserve some you-time.”
“That’s all?” Vivian asked, incredulous.
Peter tilted his head. “Did I forget something again?”
“I thought you were going to fire me,” she stammered.
“Why would I do that?”
“I sent an entire wing into lock-down?”
“Oh that!” remembered Peter. “Well that was one of the worst first days I’ve ever seen, but it doesn’t beat the others by too much. This is Walter Manor, strange things happen for no reason.” He motioned to a nearby Walter Worker. “Hey Terri! Remember what happened on your first day?”
“I accidentally made a hybrid of a cow, a shoe, and a garden gnome,” they recollected.
Peter turned back to Vivian. “See? Just ask any of your coworkers and they’ll tell you a horror story of their own.”
“Well I guess it’s good to know I’m not alone,” laughed Vivian, still somewhat nervous. “Thanks for letting me have the day off.”
“No problem. Just let me know if you need any more.”
“Alright” replied Vivian. She was used to the seven sick days a year that Becile Industries had, which applied to the children as well as the employees. She supposed that this was one indicator that things at Walter Robotics could turn out alright for her. She had already wrangled the nuisance of an operating system. Norman turned out to be a great guy and was proof that a Becile could thrive at Walter Robotics. She began thinking that, just maybe, she was capable of anything. Who knows? Maybe she’ll land a cat on the moon. Whatever may happen, Vivian was confident she was going to make her own way in this world.