Wow, Elena. He is just another Commune guy, the Operative thought as he witnessed her rather intimidated behavior and stance. Since he was only here to watch her back, the Operative remained next to her, however coming a step closer to her, to grab her arm if she really wanted to get closer to him. This guy was creepy, he felt. He probably was that intimidating to her for a reason. Without any word, he would just stay close to her, eyeing Bassam and his body language, and every now and then he would throw a glance to their surroundings.
"Lots of suspicious characters come out at night." - He smirked coyly. - "I was starting to get worried, all alone out here. But now that you're here, I feel much, much safer." - He spoke in an almost mocking tone as he walked towards her, finishing just as he stopped in front of her, a step short from violating her personal space. He stood like that in silence for a few moments, examining the features of her face. - "It's good to finally see you in person. You look wonderful tonight." - He extended his hand, palm up.
The sudden closeness between Hussaini and her definitely felt unpleasant, and together with this mocking tone of his, it costed her some self-control to now start making a face of digust. The way he spoke sent awful shivers down her spine. She felt the sudden, yet natural urge to step back a little to gain more distance again, but knew that it was probably exactly what he expected. It would show some self-confidence just staying where she was, she thought, and so she did, not moving an inch. Chest out, straightening herself again. "Oh, I wasn't worried at any point that something would have happened to you", said she, being able to keep a more or less neutral tone. "You seem like a person who knows how to rely on oneself, if I might say so."
Slowly regaining control over her mind again, not being as surprised by the situation anymore as she had been before, she automatically switched on the girly behavior. Stroking through her blue-dyed hair, putting a grin on her lips, she would say: "Thanks, I must admit I've put some effort into it. Good to see somebody is appreciating it." The grin kept being there, and as she saw he had extended his hand, she would go for it - and instantly regret it. His hand felt cold, extremely cold to be exact. It sent another shudder through her, but this time she could conserve the demeanor she had accumulated, except that her grin disappeared all of a sudden.
He could feel her tension as her hand touched his, the sudden blankness on her face painting what his mind considered a work of art. To say that he enjoyed this would be an understatement, and he struggled to not push harder, to not prod deeper into her psyche. The thought of it exhilarated him, but he contained himself. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze before releasing and motioning into the Pagoda, towards the wooden table surrounded by benches in its center. - "Let's not stand around, you and your friend must be very tired." - He glanced over to the Operative for a moment, trying to figure him out. Deciding to leave it for later, he walked into the Pagoda, and around the table, where he stopped and courteously waited for his guests to settle down first.
Before Elena could do a move, the Operative grabbed her arm for just a short moment, moving infront of her to turn around to her, showing Bassam his back. "Don't let him lead the conversation. You two know this is nothing else than acting, so don't play along. You are here because you allowed it yourself, not because he forces you. So let him play along your rules, not the other way around." With that he turned silent again, turning around to look after Bassam. Right now, he would even prefer Enma Loyola over this guy. Enma was at least pretty straight with her plans.
For a brief moment, she looked quite surprised into his visor, eyeing his hand grabbing her arm cautiously. An eyebrow of hers raised while he spoke, but in the end, she silently nodded, showing him she had understood.
It was a relief to finally got Hussaini off from her again, she thought. Some sort of anger even emerged in her mind, he probably thought like he could do everything just as he wish. With a simple look, at least from the surface, she told the Operative to come and sit down as well. But in fact, this look could tell a lot more. Intimidation, fear, concern, anger, even annoyance, everything combined in two eyes glancing at her companion. But there was also a good amount of cheek visible in them.
"You are absolutely right, we should sit down for now", she said with a smile, nodding at Hussaini again as she sat down on the opposite side of the table, letting her eyes wander around the scenery once more. "But you know what I'm wondering? I still don't know why exactly you wanted to talk to me today. I can just remember you thought about telling me things, in a more private encounter. I take it that does still apply, no?"
Hussaini pretended to not hear the Operative as he waited, instead he idly tapped his foot and looked around. After they finally made their way to the table, and made themselves "comfortable", he sat down himself on the opposite end. Slowly, he moved left and right before he finally found a perfect position, almost centered in respect to his guests, but closer to being across Elena. He laid his hands flat on the table, as if having nothing to conceal. He glanced to both of them before speaking.
"Of course. I invited you here, to offer you a choice." - His mouth curled into a half-smile and his pupils slowly dilated as he established eye contact with Elena. - "A choice between eternal mediocrity and eventual damnation on one hand, and between greatness and salvation on the other."
He tapped his index finger on the table several times, not breaking eye contact with Elena. - "I think we both know which choice is in your best interest."
It wasn't exactly easy to find a comfortable position under these circumstances, she shifted around on her seat until she found something she could live with, having her legs crossed in the end. Her folded hands rested on the table, in fact not far away from Hussaini's. Putting on a smile, she forced herself to look into his cold eyes and keep it that way until he would break off the stare himself. Sort of imitating his behavior, Elena as well began tapping with her hands, silently, a very weird, hobbling rhythm it was, to let out some of the nervousness.
Another quick glance at her company that sat beside her, then she would start speaking. "Oh, I tend to judge what is in my best interest after I heard people out. 'Eternal mediocrity and eventual damnation' sounds quite bad though", said she with a toothy smile. "And ... uhm, what was it? ... Ah, right, 'Greatness and salvation' sounds interesting to say the very least. Though these words are quite meaningless, don't you think? I'm going to make a choice, but not with only so few details at hand. Divulge what you mean with that to me. However..." A small pause appeared in which Elena leaned a little closer over the table, not too much, making a worried expression, rasing her eyebrows. "... I would be scared if I had to face a neverending road of mediocrity. Maybe you can indeed show me the way out, Bassam." By now, it felt less hard to act out what she had been planning.
"I can show you that, and much more." - He blinked twice, perhaps for the first time since Elena and Red arrived. He retracted his arms slightly towards him, brought his hands into a steeple and leaned towards the table. - "What sort of future do you wish for yourself, your loved ones..." - He paused as he watched her closely, and listened to her heartbeat. His eyes widened as he heard a second, fainter heartbeat join hers. - "...Your child?" - He added almost triumphantly, straightening up again.
As the result of his instinct, the Operative moved his right hand to his paralyzer and his other to Elena's arm. "If you would kindly drop the act and come to the point, Hussaini. Stop hiding behind nice words and say what you want." Although he felt horribly disgusted and slightly agitated by Bassam, he kept his countenance. Something however was off about him, very off. For a moment it looked like he blinked differently, but the Operative was not sure. To Elena, it would look like the Operative moved for the first time since they sat down, but Bassam obviously would know the emotions felt by him and the tiny movements under the suit.
