Chapter Text
“Deep breath alright? You’ve killed Burned Ones, helped defeat Rosalind, you even made new friends. Pfft this is just mother. She’s not scary, she’s just.”
Bloom approached the large glass door leading into Farah’s office and she gulped.
“Scary.” She nods, lightly knocking on the door and walking in when she hears a faint
“Enter.”
“Hello, Bloom" Farah looks up from her paperwork, hands politely crossed and her glasses on. She reaches up to remove her glasses and places them down on the papers, taking a minute to collect her thoughts before looking up.
Bloom shyly gestures to the couch before asking "Mind if I...?
Farah nods softly, "Of course."
Bloom takes a deep breath and looks around at the office, observing the frames on the wall, the large amounts of books on the shelves, and her eyes land on Farah, who was staring as if her gaze went straight through Bloom. Bloom clears her throat and begins the conversation awkwardly.
“While uh, ahem. While this has been, uh great. I-Oh for pete's sake I’ll just say it. Look, I really have loved getting to know you these past couple weeks, you’re an amazing person and I love living here at Alfea. I’ve learned a lot, formed a group with my suitemates and I’ve even defeated some Burned Ones in the meantime. But, I just don’t feel like this” Bloom points to her and Farah,
“Is really working out too well. I mean I love talking to you and coming to you for advice, it’s so nice to have a closer connection with the Headmistress of Alfea, but. Well uh, I.”
Farah stands up and walks over to Bloom, standing above her with her arms crossed, she says,
“Tell me.”
“I just don’t like how close we’ve gotten in this short amount of time. I feel like we haven’t had time to build a strong relationship on a steady foundation. I mean if you look back on it, we found out we’re related and then kinda just were always together without much wiggle room. Sure I was living with my suitemates but whenever I wasn’t doing school, I was here, trying to fill the gap of our unknown relation to each other by spending time with you.”
Farah nods and she drops her arms to clasp her hands together, relaxing her shoulders and gesturing for Bloom to continue. Bloom stands up and proceeds.
“I think we’ve been rushing this, we haven’t had much time to just step back and contemplate how life should look in the future. I think we both kind of just jumped into it and kept moving forward without slowing down. Ya know what I mean? It’s just been a bit hasty and I think that’s probably what led to our argument.”
Farah’s mind was working hard inside her head. Was this the girl that had yelled at her a few days back? The girl that intentionally avoided her during their time of tension? This is the girl who is now speaking to her in a rational, courteous manner like a civil adult? Clearly Farah had to give Bloom some credit for her maturity.
“Bloom, I think you’re right. I have had some time to think about it, and I agree with you completely. I believe we have been too hurried like you said. We, understandably, wanted to make up for lost time but during it, we might have gone astray on how to correctly approach this new relationship. I see that our emotions got the better of us, maybe we’re both getting over the shock and let it spill out into our words. I want to get to know each other truly, but maybe at a more logical and reasonable pace. What do you say?”
Bloom nods and she drops her arms to the side, unsure what to say next. Farah knows however and she speaks again.
“Bloom, I want to apologize for the way I acted that day. I had no idea how controlling I sounded, I suppose I was just worried that I wasn’t going to be a good mother. I thought that holding you back from your other parents gave me more time with you while I tried to figure out what a mother looked like. But I realize that wasn’t a good idea for it only led to our outburst and I’m truly sorry about my impertinent words, I should have been more gracious. I know that I can’t force you to love me, and I can’t force myself to love you, it just doesn’t work that way. But I know that with time, as said before, we can both grow and learn to enjoy each other’s company.”
Bloom shook her head, she looked down at her shoes and mumbled.
“I’m sorry too.”
“Bloom you don’t ne-” Bloom cut Farah off and looked back up at her face.
“No, I am sorry. The argument was partially my fault because I got all angry and fiery as I normally do. I guess you can see where I get my fury from, your phone call with my mom and all. But no, I shouldn’t have lashed out at you like that. You need time to figure out the whole maternal thingy and I didn’t give you any patience because I assumed you knew already. I thought it was basically the same thing as being Headmistress, but what do I know about parenthood or working as Headmistress? I’m just sixteen. Anyway, when you told me about how I couldn’t see my parents and such, well I thought you were being too controlling so that’s when I got angry. I guess though that you didn’t mean to be, it’s my fault that this whole thing began. If I had been more calm, we could have talked this out sooner. I’m sorry.”
Farah smiled gently and placed her hands on Bloom’s shoulders. With a reassuring look, she said,
“I think we both could have done better. Would you like to forget about that whole disagreement and move on? I know I would.”
Bloom nodded. She wished it didn’t have to come to this, but now was the best time to say it.
“I don’t think that this will work out entirely though.”
Farah removed her hands from Bloom’s shoulders and crossed them again, a perplexed expression on her face.
“I love you, you know that and I really love being around you, talking and laughing together. But, I just don’t think that being a mother and daughter will work out while we both are at Alfea.”
“Meaning that you would like to go back to being Headmistress and student? Surely we would have a little bit of a connection than the other students around this school, am I correct?”
Bloom shrugged.
“Well, I don’t think that reverting back to our original “places” would be a good thing to do. But as I said before, we can’t rush it. For all we know, we have the rest of our lives to be together, and I think that’s a long time to get to know one another. I know for myself that I can’t just force it and expect that I will love you completely right away. Only so much emotion can appear at a time, we both know that.”
“Bloom, does this mean that you do want to proceed with getting to know each other, or just on a scholarly basis?”
“Um, both? I guess what I’m saying is that we have a bit more structure to this whole thing, less uh, I don’t know what you call it. Less mush and a little more order. You know?”
Farah nodded and she beamed,
“Yes I agree with you. I know for a fact that structure, as you said, does well to a person. It keeps them in order and it helps them grow to be a better person. So, if I’m hearing you correctly, you’d like to be mother and daughter in private quarters but during school, revert to being teacher and student?”
“Yes.”
“But, were we not doing that before the quarrel?”
“In some ways, but a lot of the time people saw me with you and we were acting like mother and daughter. See, what I’m saying is that while I appreciate you and all your hard work in the past weeks at trying to fill my motherly role, I value you more as a teacher right now. But, I still want to get to know you better, does that make sense?”
“Yes, now I understand. Of course Bloom, and I might like that situation as well, for I haven’t had much time to focus on my duties as Headmistress, not because of you but because of me trying to think like a mother as well as a Headmistress. I’ll admit it’s rather exhausting to switch between the two, constantly throughout the day. I’m pleased with your proposal and I believe it may do us both some good to step away just a bit from being so close. Thank you for being open with me, I appreciate it and I’m encouraged to see that you’re handling this so well. In just the past weeks or so, I’ve noticed your maturity in dealing with situations such as these, except for that last one, but I may have provoked that one.”
Bloom grinned and shook her head,
“What argument?”
Farah chuckled and sat down. But Bloom motioned her to stand once more.
“So we’re all good then?”
“Yes. I believe we’re, as you say, all-good.” Farah hesitantly says. She was never much for the younger generation’s lingo.
“Good. Uh, I better get back to my friends, they’re probably waiting for me.” Bloom gestures to the door with her thumbs, turning her feet in that direction but Farah stops her.
“Bloom, I’m relieved we had this conversation and I’m grateful that we’re in alignment on how to continue this relationship. Thank you for talking to me, I appreciate your patience.”
Bloom scoffs and jokingly waves her hand at Farah in dismissal,
“No need to thank me, I already know how great I am.”
Farah’s mouth opens to retort but Bloom lets out a laugh and she joins her in a fit of giggles. Farah’s the first to regain control and she stands up, relaxed and comfortable.
“Well I must finish my paperwork, I’ll see you around.” Farah states, her face a bit confused if she said the right words like the teens at school do.
“I’ll see you around.” Bloom confirms, thumbs up and she pivots to walk out the door. Returning to her desk, she glances up to see Bloom squishing her face against the window. She chuckles once more and with a flick of hand, the glass fogs over. She can hear Bloom walking away laughing and Farah smiles to herself in the warm office. Her heart is content and her mind is at peace, for she found comfort in a close confidant.