Dollies, by Morpher

Chapter 1
Prologue

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Chapter Description: By Morpher. The story has ties with Sebtomato's Parkdale universe.

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Prologue

“You’re being unreasonable, Viola.”

 

“I’m the one being unreasonable!? I already earned this town more money than anyone has in its history! Who cares if I’m not handing over a fraction of that which, mind you, wasn’t supposed to be added in the first place?”

 

Gertrude rubs her aching temples before looking back over at the thirty-year-old nanny. “No one is doubting your service to Parkdale, Vi, me most of all. But we’re sitting on a number of major breakthroughs here. With that little extra push, our technology division will be able to-”

 

The blonde shakes her head as she turns away from her old friend. “Weren’t you the one who said that Parkdale has never been about the money? I won’t hear of it. I provided an extra service to the Arasts, one not outlined in the original agreement at that. The three million extra is practically a tip for my services, and I intend to use it as I see fit.”

 

“And what do you of all people need with that sort of cash, Viola? Going to buy some set items from Mary Poppins?” Gertrude shakes her head as she looks at the woman. Sure, the energetic nanny before her has always been a bit difficult to work with, but she’s never been so unreasonable before.

 

“I don’t think that’s your business, Gerty.” Viola turns to look at her friend, her usually friendly blue eyes rather cold on this day. “I don’t see why this is even an issue. I earned Parkdale fifteen million US dollars!”

 

“You did indeed. Using Parkdale’s technology. Sure, you probably added your own personal touch to the regressions, but you only managed to make that sort of money because of our technology.” Gertrude is one hairs breath away from rising from her seat. She needs Viola to hand over the money. Otherwise…

 

Viola scowls as she starts moving toward the door. “I don’t need to take this. And here I thought you’d be more understanding about this, Gerty!”

 

“The feeling is mutual.” Gertrude knows that Viola will leave the room at any moment now. And with the sort of money she has, she can vanish from Parkdale and never be found again.

 

Which is why, she takes in a deep breath and tries to calm herself down.

 

“I’m sorry, Viola. This isn’t something I have much of a say in. But like I said, technology has been making incredible progress of late. The fifteen million you earned is allowing them to go ahead with a number of amazing projects. And we’re all very thankful for that. But the higher ups, they think that no one in Parkdale has need for the kind of money you have. So they want you to give it back to the town. Think of it as an investment, or-”

 

The blonde continues to frown as she shakes her head. She doesn’t quite leave though, not now that Gertrude isn’t yelling at her anymore. “I don’t see what the big deal is.”

 

“Look,” Gertrude says. “I’ll see what I can do for you, Viola. Maybe I can talk them down. At the very least you’ll be able to keep-”

 

“All of it.” Viola says as she looks Gertrude straight in the eye. “You don’t know how hard I had to work there.”

 

“I’ll do what I can for you. But I didn’t call you in here to yell at you today, believe it or not.”

 

Viola blinks. “Oh?”

 

“There’s a new assignment for you. A young man will be arriving in town tomorrow, and you’re to see to his changes.”

 

“Changes? As in plural?”

 

“His mother wishes for her son to become a girl. A baby girl.”

 

Viola blinks again as she looks over the profile Gertrude hands her. “I think someone in town did something similar recently, although I don’t think that boy was this old. And he certainly didn’t become a baby.”

 

“This’ll be a first, but you’re good at those, aren’t you? After all, I don’t believe we have any other agents who have had the honor of regressing children in Disneyland.”

 

“Disney World,” Viola corrects with a smile. “Well, I should be up to it. I just need the night to figure things out.”

 

“Technology will have some new toys for you to play with. Just be careful: they’re still rather experimental. Once you manage to subdue the boy, we’ll be ready for the gender change.”

 

Viola nods as she takes the file. “Okay. If that’s all, I’d best head home to prep.” She approaches the doorway before turning back. “And Gerty? Thanks. I know you’re on my side in all of this. Sorry if I yelled at you.”

 

“Take care, Vi.”

 

Gertrude waits until Viola is out of the room before she collapses back against her chair. She had done her best to talk her friend down, but it hadn’t worked at all.

 

As she anticipated, her desk phone starts to ring. After only a brief moment of hesitation Gertrude picks up. “I take it you heard all of that, huh?”

 

A brief pause.

 

“I know she can be stubborn. I’ve known her for a lot of her life. But she-”

 

Another pause.

 

“Is it really worth it for the money?”

 

Silence.

 

“I get that, but she’s a Parkdale agent. It isn’t right to do this sort of thing. And you see how much she’s brought in for us. No, I’m not letting my personal feelings get in the way here!”

 

Gertrude scowls as the speaker on the other side of the phone continues speaking to her. There’s no reasoning with the woman. “She wouldn’t blackmail us. There’s no way she’d expose us-”

 

More silence follows as Gertrude sighs. “I know, I know…with that sort of money, she really can…okay.” As much as it pains her, Gertrude knows that she’ll have to say goodbye to her friend soon. At least, how she currently is.

 

“I take it you’ll have things ready by tomorrow. So who do I get for this? Stuart? What are you…I see. Okay, bye.”

 

Gertrude slams the phone down on her desk as she lets out a long sigh. It pains her, but there’s nothing she can do at this point. Viola has already been issued her orders for her next, and final, assignment.

 

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