[VIDEO]; @fatima

[dust_of_life]

[Fatima's life dictates that she has to carefully manage and regulate her appearance. It's a bit of a neurosis, really. She's had to dedicate much of the last few years to proving that she's every bit as capable and mature as a bunch of vampires who have seen more than a few centuries. The mortal girl is not going to sit at the kiddie table, thank you very much. Which means not looking like a kiddie.

She wears a lot of make up. Like, a lot. It's well done and attractive, certainly. But noticeably an inch thick. Her hair is pulled back in a braid today, draping over her left shoulder. But what really completes the "I'm not a child" look is the attitude. It's her carefully schooled expression, just the right amount of jaded blase, as if to say "I've seen too much to ever be wide-eyed again."

It's her first network post. She figures first impressions matter. Although this is not how she imagined greeting the network.]

Hey, Fatima Merali here.

[She's got a thick, West Coast accent. She even says her name in a disgustingly Americanized way.]

Los Angeles, 2009, for any of you keeping track of that kind of thing.

Listen. Has anyone seen or heard from Ray Palmer lately? It's like he just vanished.

Comments

@dodger/audio

[smokedout]

Maybe he got kidnapped.

[He's being sarcastic, but... with Dodger, you can never really tell just how much he's joking.]

Or maybe he found a way home and didn't tell anyone else.

[dust_of_life]

[It's all right. Fatima's pretty fluent in sarcasm.]

Rude. You'd think he'd at least leave a note.

[smokedout]

Some people aren't the type for cooperation. What a sad world we live in...

I can look into it if you want. I got some experience as a private investigator.

[And by 'private investigator' he means 'information broker'.]

[dust_of_life]

[The thing is, Ray is just about the most cooperative human being Fatima's ever met. He's practically half lab puppy.

She sighs, shaking her head.]

This is me starting a not-so-private investigation.

[smokedout]

And you trust half the people they brought here to know how to find him?

@endsoftheearth, voice;

[earthy]

[Terra's not altogether sure what to make of her appearance. All her makeup, anyway. It seems a little strange to him, but then, he knows nothing about makeup... or her. Maybe she comes from a world where people are really enthusiastic about putting as much paint and stuff on their faces as possible? He's not judging.

Or commenting on it.

Much more important things to discuss here, anyway.]

Keeping track of what kind of thing? ["Los Angeles", "2009"... Neither term means anything to him. But more importantly-]

I don't know a Ray Palmer, but I've been searching the city a lot lately. If you tell me what he looks like, I can keep an eye out for him? It's a big city and there's a lot of people, but... you never know.

[VOICE]

[dust_of_life]

[Finally, someone helpful and decent. Maybe. This one might try to extract payment out of her too. But, of course, the joke's on them all. Fatima pretty much owns nothing. Ha ha.]

Ray's incredibly tall. Six foot four or five, I think. Dark hair. Dark eyes. Has one of those chin-butt thingies too.

He also likes to fly around in a weird, reddish suit of armor...

[earthy]

[Rest assured Fatima will find there are no demands for payment forthcoming.]

Tall, dark hair, dark eyes... [Chin-butt... thingie...

The 'flying around in a reddish suit of armor' detail is a good bit more helpful. How many people could there possibly be flying around in a reddish suit of armor?]

If I see someone matching that description, I'll be sure to let you know. And if I can catch up to him, I'll tell him you've been looking for him. He might have just gotten busy.

I take it he's a friend of yours?

[dust_of_life]

Kind of. We sort of fought monsters together. That's the kind of bond that...doesn't really have a good name.

[She sighs. It's at least getting easier to be open about the fact that monsters are a thing. There's something she could never have done back home.]

He was supposed to come out to the greenhouse, but I haven't seen him anywhere.

[ragnarsson]

Maybe he's dead.

[This is one of those moments where Ivar should really have adult supervision instead of just being allowed to be a sixteen year old little shithead.]

[dust_of_life]

[Lineface. All the lineface. Really, really hard.]

Well, that's helpful.

Thanks.

[ragnarsson]

Just being realistic.

[And doing it in the most annoying way possible.]

If someone disappears without a trace, it's a natural assumption.

[dust_of_life]

Maybe. But there's nothing exactly "natural" about this place.

I mean, if someone appears in a room, it's usually natural to assume they just walked in through a door.

@Morgan.Knight; video

[morganknight]

Morgan Knight. Pittsburgh, 2027. That's right, I'm from the fuuuuuuuuture. [He waggles his fingers like he's being all spooky. Here's a man who (thanks to a lot, a LOT, of personal growth) is perfectly comfortable acting immaturely.] Sorry you're missing your friend... that happens sometimes in this sort of, hmm, place.

[dust_of_life]

[She doesn't mind the joke or the ouija fingers. It's the rest of it that gets to her.]

"That happens sometimes in this sort of place?"

Is that a fact, opinion, or question?

[morganknight]

Three-quarters fact and one-quarter opinion that this place is like another nexus I'm familiar with. [Morgan shrugs slightly.] I'm certain and I think fact backs me up that this is a place people can come to from any location in space, time, probability, and cosmology. By extension, those people can go back without warning sometimes.

[dust_of_life]

What? They just disappear into thin air?

[Forgive her if she's skeptical. Fatima just isn't really built to trust people or places or...anything.]

video; un: d.grayson

[fingerstripes]

...Hey, Fatima? [ Distracted, a worried line between his brows, no visible sign of recognition there in his face. ]

I'm Ray's roommate. You're a friend of his?

[dust_of_life]

[Helloooooo, nurse. He's cute. Under other circumstances, she'd immediately be turning on the charm.

But the circumstances are...yeah.]

Sort of. Not from his world or anything, but he had my back in a fight so...

[She sighs.]

He was supposed to come down to the greenhouses. Haven't been able to find a trace of him.

[fingerstripes]

...Yeah. I haven't seen him in a few days.

I work with the police department. I'm going to file a report today, if you have anything that might narrow a search down.

[ Not that he... really has much hope, given how frequently people seem to vanish without a trace here. But like hell is he letting his own roommate's disappearance go uninvestigated. ]

[dust_of_life]

I wish I did.

The last place I saw him was at one of those market stalls, selling gross trinkets?

Next thing I know, he's gone and I have some guy trying to give me a shake-down.

@outis; text

[prisonking]

He was my coworker. I asked the city about him when he didn't show up for work.

They said he went back home.

[dust_of_life]

Who's "they?"

Someone in charge of the kidnappy funtimes?

[prisonking]

The municipality. They keep a roster.

[dust_of_life]

How does one get access to it?