I’m shaking my head & locking the gates

Loren not afraid to use every trick in the book Loren had been a bit surprised to get the summons from Edrei. Well, actually, he wasn’t that surprised, but he wasn’t exactly sure what it was regarding, since the invitation had been sparse on details. Knowing Edy as he did—well, kind of, since despite the declaration that they were BFFs, they were still basically strangers—he knew how strongly she felt about the family coming together. While he was worried about the family, especially their missing members (except Neron, because his twin always landed on his feet somehow) the librarian also was fully convinced the Launceleyns would come out on top, as long as they stuck together. They were, unfortunately, bad about that, but maybe this new world would lead to new behaviors. Stranger things had happened, like coming here in the first place. As he approached the designated area, he slowed, still not used to the sight of Beatrix being that age, or the sight of the other child accompanying Zariah. He still hadn’t asked the woman exactly how that had come about; there’d been too many other issues to prioritize over that. Still, he smiled—briefly, since he wasn’t ever capable of much more than that—at the children. "Hi Bea and...Jace, right?" He hated the uncertainty in his voice, but really, he had absolutely no idea who this boy was, or how they were related. He’d just shown up with Zariah, no explanation given. Nodding at Zariah, Loren turned to give Edy a brief hug. It was necessary: while he still wasn’t a fan of physical contact, he knew the younger Launceleyn would pout until he acknowledged her. Greetings done, he disengaged from Edy and crossed his arms. "So why’d you call us all here?" If it was a bad reason, he’d probably just leave. Although they were family and BFFs or whatever, he didn’t have time for nonsense, not anymore; there were too many other things to do (that were much more enjoyable than dealing with his family) for him to waste even a moment. He knew he was being a bit curt, but everything here was so crazy that he was having trouble wrapping his mind around it all.