Bloom (High school me): Hey Mom?

Mom (Present me): Yes Bloom?

Bloom: I met with Libra yesterday — she had changed into a fox somehow?

Mom: Yes, our fursona.

Bloom: Huh.

Mom: You seem disappointed.

Bloom (flustered): Oh! I’m not… I mean, don’t get me wrong! Changing into a fox is pretty cool — I remember thinking how cool it would be to change shape. And I guess I feel kind of fox-ish sometimes, but…

Mom: You have something else in mind.

Bloom: Well, I didn’t really dream about furry stuff much, you know?

Mom (smiling): No, you dreamt about this.

(I snap my fingers, and standing beside me is a beautiful fairy woman, wings glittering as they stretch behind her. She’s waiting patiently with a vacant look in her eye.)

Bloom (startled): Oh my goodness. She… She’s so pretty.

Mom (smiling): I thought you’d like her. I remember dreaming a lot about fairies; about finding my way into the fairy world or being found and taken there and then living with my new fairy friends.

(Bloom approaches the fairy timidly, reaching a hand out to touch her but stopping a few inches away.)

Bloom: May I?

Mom: Of course.

(Bloom touches her hand to the fairy’s cheek, then feels the silky fabric of her clothing. Bloom looks longingly into the fairy’s eyes.)

Mom: Like the fox, the fairy represents a cultural concept that we identify with. Otherworldly and effortlessly beautiful, with magic running casually through her like water flows through a river. And as cool as it would be to have wings, the fairy is less about actual flight than it is about feeling unbound and free.

Bloom: She’s soft… Can I… Can I become this somehow?

Mom: Hm, that isn’t how this dream usually goes, is it?

Bloom: What?

(Bloom turns from the fairy to face me, but the area around her is empty.)

Bloom: Mom? Where’d you go?

(Confused, Bloom looks back at the fairy and slowly reaches her hand out to touch her face again. Just as her fingers brush against her skin, she flicks her eyes down to look directly into Bloom’s now shocked expression. The fairy smiles and sweeps Bloom off her feet in one deft move, carrying the stunned teen in her arms.)

Fairy: This feels a bit more dreamy, don’t you think?

Bloom (blushing fiercely): M-Mom? Is that you?

Fairy Mom: Of course, dearest. This is my fursona, after all. Or perhaps I should call it my faesona?

(Before Bloom can answer, I leap into the air and fly off into the sky, Bloom’s hair whipping about her face as her heart races. She reaches up to cling desperately to me as I fly over the land, navigating my way to a flowery clearing in a vast forest. I descend quickly but carefully, landing gracefully before setting Bloom gently down on the grass. Bloom takes a couple of tentative steps away from me before turning to face me, her face still flushed with exhilaration.)

Bloom (breathless): Wha… That…

Fairy Mom (grinning): That’s closer to the dream, right? Spirited off to the fairy realm.

Bloom: So… So you can transform too? Libra and Lark can be foxes, and you can be a fairy?

Fairy Mom: Any of us can be either fox or fairy if we want. Both have always been expressions of our personality. 

Bloom (excited): Any of us? Including me?

Fairy Mom (smiling): Try it!

(Fascinated, Bloom closes her eyes and concentrates. After a moment, wings spring from her back with a burst of sparkles and a gust of wind. She opens her eyes and looks down at herself with delight. Satisfied, I shed my own fairy form.)

Fairy Bloom (ecstatic): Eeee this is so cool!

Mom (laughing): I’m glad you enjoy it.

Fairy Bloom (effluent): I do, I really do!

(Bloom rushes forward to give me a big squeeze of a hug before turning around and flying off into the forest. I watch as she leaves, content.)