There was light chatter between the six of them; Atticus spoke about how, when he was fifteen, he started parkour just in spite of his parents but didn't get very far, Annie secretly had a thing for knitting and one of Emil's favourite bands was actually Metallica and ACDC despite all the classical music he listened to. Devon however, kept quiet, silently smiling at everyone's ridiculous hobbies from the corner.
"Did you know Atticus used to be a cop?" Annie said, giving the man a light punch.
"Annie--"
"He was a good one too, for the five years you were there. That's where you learned how to fight, wasn't it?"
"... Yes," Atticus made a face. Annie knew as much as everyone else how much he really didn't like talking about his past.
"Did you ever," everyone seemed to turn around when a noise was made from the corner. Devon had finally opened his mouth, "did you ever kill anyone?"
Atticus didn't answer immediately, staring at Devon for a few moments. Annie slunk back into her chair, her eyes switching between the boy and the man.
"Devon, that's a terribly rude and personal question," Emil shook his head at his son. "Apologise to Atticus immediately."
"No, no, it's alright, Mr. Bernot," Atticus shook a hand at Emil. "Yeah. Yeah, I did, Devon. It's a horrible feeling. I didn't want to do it, but I had to. To protect the ones you love, sometimes you gotta make sacrifices. But nobody should ever get a power like that, to choose if someone has to live or die. It's... it's not up to us."
It was silent for a moment, until Annie spoke up.
"That's terribly profound of you, Atticus. Did you take you philosophy pills this morning?"
"Hey, shut up."
"Excuse me, everybody," Cooper's voice came over the speakers. "But we'll be landing soon. So everyone should buckle up. I promise our take off will be smoother than the last."
"It seems our friends have landed," the Librarian seemed to say so suddenly, standing up and breaking the silence. He pointed out the window at a private jet which had just come in to land. He ushered everyone to their feet and walked them through the gates and down the hall to the outside. There, outside of the plane, was a man who looked to be in his late thirites or fourties, wearing a nice suit. He was similarly dressed to the Librarian, but the Librarian was a lot younger looking. Younger looking, but not actually younger. As far as Adeline knew, the Librarian was over two milleniums old.
"Emilio Bernot!" the Librarian opened his arms and embraced the man and patted him on the back. "It's so good to see you. How are you? How is young Devon?"
"I am great, Devon is great, we're all great. How are you doing... uh, haha, what are you going by today?" Emilio gave a grin, giving the Librarian a light slap on the shoulder.
"Well, yesterday I was James," the Librarian stroked his goatee. "Today, I am Oliver!"
"Oliver was last week."
"You are too right, Adeline! Hm, perhaps today I am... Cornelius. Yes, I haven't used that name in a while," the Librarian gestured a hand towards his guests. "This is Cira Gaile, his father Alexander and my apprentice and assistant, Adeline Russo."
"I am Otto."
"Ah! Another with a nickname!" Emilio gave a laugh. "You would get along swimmingly with Devon. Anyways, it is very nice to meet you all, I am Emilio Bernot. Please, come inside."
He led them inside, Natalia taking a seat behind Atticus and the rest standing awkwardly in the doorway as Emilio introduced them all.
"This is Helena, Annie, Atticus, Nikolai and my son, Devon. Cooper is in the cockpit at the moment," if you listened hard enough, Devon corrected his father from the back with a skulky 'It's Evo.' "Everyone, this is Alexander, Cira, Adeline, oh, sorry, was it Otto? Otto and my very good friend, the Librarian," Emil gestured to each person with their respective name.
"Please, call me Cornelius," the Librarian gave a wink to Cira and invited himself in, taking a seat at the front near Emil with Adeline sitting opposite him.
"Now, please," Cooper's voice came over from the spearkers again, "take your seats. Next stop, New Atlantis!"