Morgan Laurens was not a particular happy camper. She preferred the finer things in life, and to a degree, that was part of what attracted her to Lars Sanford in the first place. While he had a bit of a reputation of being a partying frat boy in college, she'd found him sharp and focused when it came to business and the insurance business particularly. She'd remembered all sorts of stories on people who made a lot of money and made it quick by managing those sorts of companies, though she never bothered to read how those companies made as much as they did in the short term. She simply figured that Lars would get in with a company and rise to the top and make a lot of money, which suited Morgan quite well, as that would then allow her to take a step forward and get some attention that she felt she deserved, maybe get hired as a model or something like that, or at least earn the jealousy from other women of being a rich man's arm candy.
But Lars ultimately proved to be highly responsible and focused on his work and warned that the ideas Morgan floated could lead to quick riches but could also prove to be unsustainable in the long term. For if the market went bad, those sorts of companies went belly up quickly. That frustrated Morgan, and then there was the sense that Lars was not as good in bed as his college reputation claimed, or at least that was Morgan's opinion. Getting pregnant with Philip didn't help, and so, Morgan left Philip with Lars and then went off in search of greener pastures. From there, Morgan managed to get by and paid little real attention to the fate of Lars or Philip. It was only when Philip caught a lucky break with either the lottery or some investment that she heard anything and from there she'd found out that Philip had become a Fennec Fox Animalian and it wasn't too hard to find out that Lars had converted as well.
That then raised some element of jealousy in that Lars had ultimately done fairly well for himself while Morgan had just made by. There was also the added knowledge that Animalians were known for not only being heavily active but sexually attractive as well, which would then likely give Lars the build and look that make Morgan jealous. The only thing that gave Morgan some pause was the reports on Lars hooking up with another Animalian, though who that partner was had been an unknown. All that Morgan had been able to find out through rumors and some of Lars' college friends after their conversions and their return to their homes and jobs was that the partner was connected to the fashion industry. Which got her up to wanting to berate Lars over some insecurity or something of that nature and trying to get in with someone rich, only to learn that Lars was actually dating the daughter of the woman that Philip was dating, and not liking the rebuff that she'd gotten from Nicole Mabel, she'd come up with the scheme to get in with Philip and Joanne. The irony of essentially wanting to take advantage of Joanne Mabel's wealth and connections when she'd originally set out to berate Lars for that escaped her.
Though things didn't go well as it only led to another run in with Lars and one that didn't generate the sort of support from Joanne that Morgan had been hoping for. That had been a setback, but Morgan had managed to comeback from things like that before, at least to a degree, and figured there would be something that she could do to get Lars jealous of her and thus "win" the proverbial argument. That included the idea for conversion, which when a Las Vegas lawyer, who happened to be a Great Basin Rattlesnake Animalian, had contacted her with an offer that sounded like Joanne Mabel might have had more interest in her than what had been seen at Christmas and that the issue there had been more about timing. Morgan jumped at it without thinking and ended up a Rabbit Animalian, a Desert Cottontail Rabbit, and while some research would have her find that the mundane animal was about the same size as the Fennec Fox, she had still been frustrated at falling into a trick and a trap, that lead her to where she was now... One of Joanne Mabel's staff as some of Lyre and Animalia's upper crust socialized at a Mardi Gras party.
The work wasn't necessarily that hard and much of it was in relation to things that Morgan had often done for herself. Though, there was a fair amount of expectation of her to be on time, follow instruction, particularly from the head of the staff, a Human male, and to be polite to all members of the staff, Human and Animalian. Morgan managed and had no complaint as to the lodgings in the mansion that she was given, but she was still expected to do this as a servant for Joanne, or at least that was what she supposed for the moment, as some of it seemed like training. The hardest part was when assigned to help a male Mule Animalian named Reggie with some repair work from time to time. Morgan didn't know that and most of what she was left with was handing him tools when he needed them. But for the party, her assignment was to bring drinks and dishes to guests as they were well dressed and often with a mask on as part of the party. At present, Morgan was also assigned to bring out some champagne to Joanne and Philip.
"Thank you, Ms. Laurens," Joanne spoke as she took the two glasses with the carbonation clear in the drinks.
Morgan watched as Joanne placed one glass on a nearby table and then dug her hand into a pocket in her dress before moving to drop something into the glass and passing that glass to Philip who stood by quietly. Joanne smiled to Philip as Morgan was ushered to step back to then deliver the next round of drinks to others that were attending the party. Joanne took a small sip and watched as Philip drank from the glass, at first, he didn't notice much until he lowered the glass and there was a clink to it. He looked down and then noticed a metal ring inside the glass.
"Joanne... is that...?" Philip said slowly in shock as he looked to her.
"It can be," Joanne smiled, "I must say that finding you at the Claw Coliseum and being so perfectly sculpted and on par with the Red Fox Animalians, despite the fact that the Fennec is a small species... the smallest fox... it's brought out a great deal of desire in me. And meeting you and getting to know you... it's..." there was a pause for a small sniffle "it's felt like meeting a wonderful loving partner again. I will always love Nicole's father, God rest his soul, but you've more than won an equal place there. Kind, cunning, gentle, and generous. You are very much someone I would want to spend my life with... and Fox and Wife."
Philip quickly downed the rest of the champagne which then allowed him to fish the ring out. He took one step and handed the empty glass to Morgan before turning back to Janne and nuzzling his muzzle to Joanne's, "the answer is yes."
The answer was a happy "yip." There were a few claps, with even Nicole and Lars clapping as well. For Nicole, a lot of it was in healing. Her mother had come a long way from where they'd been when she left New York to become the Fennec Fox Animalian she was now, as well as one of the Meat Market's stars, and while there had been some uncomfortable feelings with the fact that a young man her age had her mother's attention, that wasn't as harsh now. Some of it was her own relationship with Lars. Initially, the plan had been to get her mother jealous so that they could then switch partners, but Lars was strong, smart and respectful, and while there were signs that he was among the relatively low number of Animalians with Regressive Hypersexuality Syndrome, he wasn't lost to it. A part of her even thought that Lars and Philip had also figured out her plan worked some ways to prevent it from working, and Lars also had no real problem with Nicole or her choices, and she liked that freedom. And of course, Lars' Regressive Hypersexuality Syndrome had given Lars a lot of sexual endurance, which she liked. Thus, she was more than willing to take some of the jokes of Philip becoming her stepfather, as Lars was worth it. Though, in her happiness to see her mother happy, she missed Lars waiving to someone else in the room.
It was only when a Macaw Animalian approached with a small tray of cakes on it that Nicole noted that something was up. Morgan noted that the Animalian was named David and was another of Joanne's staff in a mixed Animalian species marriage to an Amazon River Dolphin Animalian. Their son was the Jackrabbit on Animalia Ambassadoria. It made for something interesting, but Morgan largely gave it little importance. Partially as she was still getting used to being a servant and not specifically the type of Animalian she thought would make Lars jealous. He approached Lars and held up the patter with one cake on it. A King Cake, if the traditions around Mardi Gras were correct.
"Thanks man," Lars said to David, "this was big... to make things special for Nicole."
"Something special?" Nicole asked as she looked over to Lars and then to the King Cake
"For someone special," Lars answered as handed the King Cake to Nicole.
She looked at it for a moment and wondered if there was something in it, as a lot of Mardi Gras traditions made this sort of thing rather random. But something told Nicole that this was deliberate on Lars' part. And while Fennec Foxes didn't have sharp narrow clows, they were good enough to find a spot in the cake that felt like there was something in it. She did a little digging, which let some crumbs fall onto the plate that the King Cake was on, but she did find something and to her surprise it was a gold ring with a small stone on it. It wasn't a diamond, but its cut did match some of her earrings.
"Have you been planning this with my mother?" Nicole asked.
"Only to ask permission," Lars answered, "as she is your mother and I know you two have been smoothing out some old issues. And that permission was granted. The timing was all me... so... would you do me the honor... of marrying me?"
The plate was put on the table near where they were standing as Nicole leaped into Lars' arms with a cry of "Yes!" Which only left Morgan to stand there and stew in frustration.