61 Awkward reunion (1/2)
As they approached Lawrence city, Felix took off into the brush to avoid the gate. Even though he had been investigating in the cities he obviously didn't have an ID card due to being a beast man. Whenever they arrived at a town, he would disappear and reappear when they entered the walls.
”ID card if you please.” The guard said routinely. Leo was surprised and silently praised the guards good attitude. He handed over the card after dripping some blood on it, and a moment later received it back and guard motioned for them to go in. Once Leo was inside the gates, he was deeply impressed at the city.
Unlike the various towns and villages they had passed, there was a brick road going into the city, with gutters lining the sides for waste. The houses were made with a combination of stone and wood compared to the usual wood only buildings they had seen the whole way; and not to mention two story, some were even up to four! Most of the buildings that Leo saw after leaving the village were like they were from a medieval movie, and lacking compared to the village that promoted the use of magic and chi, while the normal towns didn't. He looked to Thomas to ask some questions, but he quickly shook his head before Leo could and explained,
”I don't know much about Lawrence city, I was only here once when I was just a kid. Anyways, I only plan to stay for two days before returning.” Leo nodded his head in understanding, but at that moment
”Then I'll go ahead and answer anything you want to ask, after all this is where I spent quite some time before heading north you know.” Felix had reappeared out of nowhere, and offered to answer Leo's questions. From that point the two were going back and forth with questions and answers the whole way until they reached the inn they were going to stay at.
The inn was a cozy place that seemed to see a fair amount of customers. Leo paid for the two rooms, and they all went up to store their items and rest until dinner time. Leo and Iris however decided to make use of the soundproof barrier that elder grandma taught Iris before leaving, and by the time they went to dinner both of them were looking very ”refreshed”.
Since Thomas wouldn't be able to drink much the next night in order to leave early, Leo decided they should have a small farewell that night for him. For the first time Felix experienced the immunity Leo had towards alcohol when he tried to out drink him. Iris didn't touch her ale much and was content just spending time with the other three, even though she had to keep her hood up. Suddenly the cozy atmosphere was disturbed when the door slammed open, and a man staggered into the tavern.
”SCOTTY! Gish me a damn ale!” There was a slight slur to his words, and Leo knew it would probably get worse over the next few hours. He seemed to be in a partially bad mood, and Leo was about to say they should call it a night, when the man suddenly yelled over everyone else in the bar on a drunken rant.
”THISH ONE ISH FOR THE PURGE! Wipe out all thoshe damn freakshes, and good riddansh!” Leo frowned at the mans behavior, and was about to say something before noticing that though the people didn't agree with his obnoxious attitude, they did agree with some of his words. Leo was quite thankful that Iris was facing away from the man, and had her hood up so there wasn't unneeded trouble. He leaned over to one of the other tables, as Iris and the other two tried to keep to themselves, and asked someone there,
”What's the deal with the town drunk over here?” The man chuckled slightly at Leo's words, and answered him,
”That's Shane over there, he's not really liked much but this purge is accepted so people agree with him tonight. It's a rare thing that they do, even though he comes in here and rants about mutants every other night. The way he talks about them you'd think their gonna be the end of the world.” Leo was a little agitated at the mans words, but didn't say anything. He looked over and Shane was indeed harassing some people, but they didn't do anything about, and the bartender even pretended not to see it. He turned back to the man and asked,
”If he's not really liked, why do people tolerate what he's doing? Why not tell him to back off? And why does he hate mutants so much?” Leo didn't want to ask this many questions, but the more he looked at Shane the more he almost felt a sense of familiarity. He was wondering why this was. The man was more than happy to talk once Leo passed him another ale though.