As they had finally the pagode, Elena would abruptly stop, as the scenery around her, together with her company, slowly faded away from her attention. Instead, she would centre it solely on the figure before her, which would still build a noticeable contrast with the overall darkness of the biodome. This overall calm demeanor, but also the fact that he was more than two heads taller than her already began awing her slightly. For a moment, she'd dart a brief, concerned glance at the Operative's visor before Hussaini began turning around slowly
Though she had seen her before in the Neural Net Channel - his appearance wasn't completely new to her -, meeting him in person now, from face to face, with only a few meters parting both of them, it was a whole other story. Especially since he had caught her off-guard, for a moment he'd see her real expressions, the intimidation and even fear in her face. Elena straightened herself as he caught sight of her and her acquaintance, trying to not look as cowed as she might was. The worst in fact were his absolutely baleful, somewhat aberrant eyes - they were pinning her down, scanning her, and for a moment it felt like those eyes couldn't be lied to. Together with his smile that she had doubts trusting, it made for a very interesting first appearance.
A gulp was audible, and after she had straightened herself, she managed to put up a decently friendly facial play at last. It still wasn't a comfortable situation, yet it was now time to disguise this. "Bassam...", said she with a still fairly shaky voice. Realizing this, she coughed for a second, trying to cast a shadow over it, before going on. "It's a pleasure to meet you. More than ever, now finally in person." An overally forced smile played around her lips. It felt more than ugly to do this, and it actually surprised her that she had difficulty acting like she had intended to. Get yourself together, she thought silently to herself, then began speaking again. "I was just thinking the later hours, when less visitors are here, would probably be a lot more enjoyable for all of us." Else, she wasn't sure how to greet him properly. A handshake? Maybe even an embrace? Everything that would make her seem chilled...
