The hotel room was fairly quiet as Philip and Lars sat on their respective beds, though not without its own tension. Philip was quite pleased to have his father want to join Animalia, though some of it seemed a bit odd that this happened after Joanne's daughter, Nicole, visited him Salt Lake City. And even before his conversion, Lars had suspected that there were some other things going on with Nicole's actions. Yet, after his conversion, Lars had seemed to go and act in ways that Philip had never recalled seeing him behave. Philip had always known his father to be a hard working, dedicated, and professional. There had also been plenty of conversations where Lars had tried to urge his son to pick up on those sorts of things.
Yet, after his conversion, and the behavior that seemed to be like some stereotypical college fraternity member struck Philip as odd and worrying. Generally because those sorts of characters generally didn't amount to much and didn't succeed in the real world, because trying to party all day got in the way of doing anything responsibly or professionally. It partially made Philip wonder on how his father got to where he was in the insurance business from college. This sort of behavior might explain how he'd gotten involved with his mother and the failure of that marriage, but it wouldn't explain his success in climbing up the corporate ladder in Salt Lake City. Though, because Lars didn't talk about his college experiences and Philip wasn't around for when Lars graduated from college and started moving out into the "real world," he couldn't be sure on what had gone on in the past with his father.
"Do you really think this is a good idea, dad?" Philip asked to his father as Lars began fiddling with his phone, "I mean... granted there's a lot of stuff going on right now that could be rather slow... but March is coming faster than you think, and I'm sure the company you work for didn't give you months of time off."
"They didn't... but one of the perks of my position is that there is a lot I've been able to do by phone and by Zoom," Lars answered, "and things that need my signature can be mailed." Lars paused to give a shrug, "I've had to pay more for shipping through private companies because the government buggered up the Post Office, but it's worked. And that has bought some time to better get used to things and work on figuring out what Nicole's game is..."
"Or playing with her?" Philip asked raising an eyebrow.
"Like you haven't been playing with her mother," Lars teased back knowing full well that their present romantic situation would seem somewhat odd in some ways. His son was dating the mother of the female Fennec Fox Animalian that flirted with him and especially after his conversion, Lars didn't mind the flirtation. There were some other things to figure out and the bigger issue that if his relations with Nicole were to become serious, she would have to accept moving to Salt Lake City when Lars did return to work. He liked the youth and energy that made him feel like he was in college again, but that didn't necessarily mean he'd forgotten what had given him some problems coming out of college. While it was carrying some tension with his son, which actually gave Lars some pride that his son had actually been paying attention when he'd tried to teach Philip responsibility, that didn't necessarily mean that he wasn't happy to let some of that pent up energy out.
"I'll give you that," Philip commented in reply, as Joanne's modest case of Regressive Hypersexuality Disorder had its moments where Joanne was rather flirtatious, which Philip wasn't against saying "no" to. In this he had little real room to complain about his father being with Nicole. And to an extent, he was actually fairly happy that Nicole had taken up some interest in his father, as he had been rather lonely over the years, though there were the questions as to what sort of game that Nicole was trying to play and how uncomfortable at times Nicole actually was with the stereotypical "frat boy" behavior that Lars had taken on. But there were also times when Nicole seemed to like the new Lars more and Philip wasn't going to get into that. "But this is different from Joanne or Nicole."
"True," Lars nodded.
"And I'm just trying to figure out if calling up your old college buddies is a smart idea," Philip said slowly, "you will be expected to return to Salt Lake City eventually, regardless of how much work you can do by phone or by Zoom or by mail. Sponsoring old college friends could end up delaying that... and you could potentially lose what you have."
"They're old friends, Philip," Lars said firmly, "and many of them were not as fortunate as me to be able to afford all this."
"Do they want to?" Philip asked.
"Some maybe," Lars answered, "as it would seem that most people that have converted did so not because they wanted to gain animal features but because they wanted a second shot at youth and they haven't found out a way to make a Human strain of the Animalia Virus, yet."
From there, Lars returned to what he'd started with, which was getting in touch with some of his friends from his old fraternity. They had all been decently close while in college, but they hadn't been as successful as Lars had been. There were some calls here and there and the college reunion that enabled them to interact in the past, and that was how Lars kept in touch with them. With his youth restored, a good part of Lars wished he could have been closer with his friends after college, as they had been fairly close during college. Thus his present drive to try and restart that with his five core friends, Mark, Kenneth, Richard, Greg, and Timothy. He dialed through the first number with his dull claws clicking against the plastic of his phone's screen. Eventually both Lars and Philip heard the answer.
"Hey, Lars, what's up?" came a voice through the other end of the phone, "haven't heard from you in a while."
"Not too much, just checking in on how you're doing, Tim," Lars answered.
"Not too much, really," came Timothy's answer, "mostly muddling through with things and dealing with all the troubles that have been going on..."
"That ranch in Colorado keep you on as a hand?" Lars asked.
"Yeah... but a lot of the work is different, given that much of the contact we're supposed to have is less and people don't come to the ranch as much for trail rides while they're scared of Covid," Timothy answered.
"I suspect that will actually start to get better now that denying science is no longer government policy, regardless of whether one is liberal or conservative," Lars commented, "but that's not why I'm calling. I've actually had something of an idea that might sound good."
"Like what, the fountain of youth to start over and fix old mistakes?" Timothy asked.
"More a fountain of youth that could let you have fun," Lars chuckled, "relive some of the fun we had in college...fixing old mistakes could happen with all that as well."
"You're not talking about this Animalia stuff, are you?" Timothy asked.
"I would be... and all things considered, it's not that bad," Lars commented, "It's had me feeling better than I did in college. And it might give you something to add some things to the ranch you've been working at. Think of all the ladies who'd like to come see the stud Horse Animalian lead them up and down the trails."
"Yeah... but I've also seen some of the news reports on Animalian sizes," Timothy answered, "Their females look like they could easily fill a D cup at the smallest... but the males are supposed to be equally big in their own way. Thus a Horse Animalian probably couldn't have sex with a Human woman. He'd split her in half."
"Probably true..." Lars admitted, "but then think on it... They'd come in for the ride, see what a stud you are and you could then arrange a few dates. If she wins your heart, you could then convert her and then you'd have a sexy Mare Animalian to ride to your heart's content."
Philip heard a laugh come through the phone. "You sound like you did back in college."
"It's something, isn't it?" Lars asked.
"Yeah... but I'm not sure I could afford it," Timothy answered, "Horizon doesn't have offices near me, so I'd have to drive or fly to Nevada... and even that would take some driving to get to an airport... and then I'd have to pay for the conversion and all the new clothes. I really don't have the money for that."
"What if I helped?" Lars offered, "I could be a sort of financial sponsor, cover a good bit of your financial costs and make things easier for you regarding the trek here. You'd then convert and if things go quickly... you'd be back in Colorado by March and getting all the ladies to look at you. The ranch you work for would make more money, you'd get paid more, and might even get yourself a mare as well. Or you could start over with the youth, energy, and vigor to start again."
"That," Timothy began, "that sounds doable. Thanks, man."
With that, Lars concluded the phone call with the base instructions for Timothy to apply for conversion and have Lars marked as a "sponsor." Once that was done, he hung up and smirked to Philip who only shook his head. The calls to Mark, Kenneth, Richard, and Greg followed and went down the same line of conversation. Philip sat by quietly and honestly hoped that his father wasn't letting things get too out of control.