Central tower had the most off-shoots on the “ground” floor; the wide hall leading off to the offices, a few ground level halls that were various classrooms and fixtures, but on the left wall was this large curved section of glass that opened like sliding doors into this massive cafeteria; the entire outer wall bowed outwards and glass and the view from across the maybe fifty foot width of the room, the bowed glass wall seemed to be the glass wall of the tower’s outside. It was quite obvious by the way the towers function, the scale of them is wildly different outside to in; they were cavernous on their interiors, it gave that feeling of when you know you’re walking into a massive skyscrapers or something, despite how needle like they looked from the outside. Like the lobby, the café had a sleek white stone floor, almost a white mirror finish to it, brushed steel pillars and matching tables and white acrylic chars, sporadic spots of plants, artwork and various things that are in college cafeterias, off to the left the room grew larger than the room’s constraints should allow and the same was on the right, but to the right it instead spread into this massive…basically a mall food-court, but far larger and more thickly stocked than any mall food-court should be. It was cold and quiet in there, but Dominus just walked across and to the right, the right wall was also glass, but led out onto the brick platform that looped the tower, I followed behind as a little bit around from the café was a small arch sign overtop that said Featherfrond Café.

“Featherfrond?” I asked

“Silklily’s animal companion” he explained, “The group felt like she deserved something in the school too, it is usually open” he added as the glass doors slid open, through that door opened just…a genuinely nice coffee shop.

Eventually, the two of us were seated across from each other, nice mugs with matching saucers in front of us with dark sage porcelain veined and streaked with gold.

              “God, must be strange…having a surgeon as a parent.” Dominus said, I laughed at that.

              “Interesting to say the least” I said before taking a drink of my cappuccino. “What about you?”

              “Oh, both my parents are lawyers” he said, running a gilded claw along the top rim of his mug, catching a little of the whip toping from the mocha he got which he just licked off as he twisted his forked blue-black tongue. “So, all my siblings and I, we all got some intense pressure, but not anything that was all too serious, they didn’t demand certain expectations of what our future profession could be.”

              “Only three: lawyer, doctor, engineer, luckily I didn’t have those either, all my parents cared about was my happiness.” I said quietly as I looked towards him, “They never got angry when I failed or wanted to stop doing something, they never said things about what I did or who I spent time with…they are incredibly good parents.” I said, my hands wrapped around the warm mug of my coffee.

              “What are you thinking of going for here?” he asked, I paused a little as I bit my lower lip before sucking my teeth as I rocked my shoulders a little.

              “I’m not sure yet”

              “You said beforehand that you were studying at Berkely before, no?” he asked, I nodded, “What were you studying there?”

              “Poli-sci” I sighed, “My parents, met at a riot and have had a very, very long history of protests, we never miss a pride or anything like that, so…the stories of what my parents have done and the strength I see that they stood and still stand with for what they deem worthy…I always thought there was a connection there…The history of protests and everything like that had its appeal, but…I don’t know about what to do here.” I said as I looked out towards the windows. He smiled softly as I said all that, a kind and understanding expression that showed that he could feel the comfort and draw of the stories I was told by my parents and growing up in a family where a weekend outing was going to a protest or something. “Ever sense I was a child, there was no topic that wasn’t considered “too adult” to discuss with me as part of the conversation like the cause or reason of a protest or anything like that, any questions I had were answered, things were explained and talked through in ways where a child me could understand and comprehend what they were telling me…so, I could understand some very “adult” topics fairly well when I was a child…we’d plan weekends around the things constantly happening around the city.”

              “Political sciences, not something we’re known for, but I’m sure there are some forms of arcane study that you’d probably find yourself at home in” he asked, sitting forward a little, the sunlight filtering through glistening intensely across his scales in those beautiful shades of creams, golds and those neon blues, ivory and gold feathers softly flicking in the slight air current caused by the AC, a long fringe of his cobalt hair hanging in front of his face which he just let hang there.

              “What about that…unreachable dream profession you wanted as a kid?” he asked, I paused before laughing softly, “No judgement, those dreams are not unreachable to magic.”

              “It was always a tossup; I wanted to be an astronomer, not an astronaut, but an astronomer…or an oceanographer, I mean we know less about the deep sea than we do of space” I laughed quietly, “One of those impossible reaches…those were always what drew me in, but…I knew that they were not easily feasible, hence why I chose to study poli-sci instead of one of those two fields. Something to keep me grounds…physically and mentally.”

              “If you don’t mind me asking…a lot of people often find study or profession that works with their magic or vice versa, they mold their magic to what they wanted to do…what is your magical classification?” he asked, an inquisitive and curious look on his face as his head tilted over a little as he looked at me.

              “Oh, storm sorcery” I said, when I said his expression shifted: not softening or anything, but shifted…maybe a bit of fluster or bluster crossing across his face as I noticed the feathers of his wings and the big puff at the end of his tail grew a little fluffier and the fringe of feathers along his ears stood up at attention in that way like owls can do…I think it was mainly surprise that made his expression shift, but I was able to hear a few quick thumps of his tail against the floor which despite the fact I heard it, we both unconsciously chose to entirely ignore. A smile formed as he looked at me.

              “I’m confident that magic like yours can rightfully find a place.” He explained with that kind smile, it was almost a little odd, the bright color of his eyes mixed with the lack of pupil and the sharp teeth in his mouth, but it was a warm, understanding expression. He reached over as he said that, just softly resting a fully scaled hand against my forearm as he looked at me, I was expecting coldness from a reptile, but his hand had that feeling of standing in a sunbeam: just a wide reaching, encompassing deep warmth that seemed to all, but melt your bones in a pleasant glow. As he looked at me, I was able to see…multiple eyelids; not only the scaled outermost ones, but as he blinked, I could see the edges of a vertically slit pair of sheer ones or the tiny movements at the inner corner of a nictitating membrane, giving him a far more reptilian look to his eyes compared to the rest of his face.