[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

>action

[fingerstripes]

[ He's off duty now, and anyway this isn't an official case so much as what he knows in his heart is probably an exercise in over-the-top paranoia. In retrospect he feels a little guilty now for dragging an innocent girl into it with him. Fatima hadn't asked for this.

But he has to try. He has to try before he can let himself grasp the passive acceptance that people here level at the disappearances. Ray had slept in the next room over. Dick owes it to him to try.

He'll keep an eye out for Fatima as he blends a little with the crowd, hands in the pockets of his jeans. ]

[dust_of_life]

[Fatima likes to make an entrance. She likes to arrive five to ten minutes late, all heels and makeup and perfume, like some kind of Hollywood diva from the 1940s. Dah-ling. And 'how divine.' Stuff like that.

But she's there thirty minutes on the dot, hurrying over to him with the click-clack of her boots. She's all business today. There's a crack in the world and Ray's fallen through it. Ray. One of the few people to take her seriously. And possibly one of her only allies in finding a way out of dodge.

It's more than business. It's kinda personal.]

Hey.

[fingerstripes]

Hey. Thanks for showing up. [ If he notices her on-point sense of fashion at all, it's not immediately obvious. But the smile he gives her is real. He wouldn't have blamed her if she'd stood him up, honestly. He holds out his hand to shake hers. ]

Sorry to drag you all the way out here.

[dust_of_life]

[She shakes his hand. A firm, hard grip. No one respects a girl with a weak handshake. That fact's been drilled into her head over and over again.]

Glad to help.

Officer...?

[fingerstripes]

Grayson. [ It's a memorable handshake, and he accepts it as if it's definitely the first time they've done that. ]

But you can call me Dick. I'm off duty now.

[dust_of_life]

Dick, huh?

[It would probably be best not to make comment.

But Fatima doesn't usually do what's best.]

You must have gotten teased as a kid.

[fingerstripes]

[ In truth he'd rarely spent time in the company of other children until Bruce had taken him in. But she's right that school (middle school, high school, all school) had been an all-too lengthy road paved with far too many dick jokes. She gets a wry smile for that one anyway. ]

Yeah. Second grade wasn't my finest hour.

[dust_of_life]

[She winces in sympathy.]

Yeah, having the name "Fatima" wasn't much fun in middle school. I can relate.

[Sigh. She nods her head off to one side.]

Let me show you where I saw Ray. It was just over here. At that Sampremi thing.

[fingerstripes]

There? [ He follows her gaze in that direction. ]

I'll go ask a few questions. You mind waiting a minute?

[dust_of_life]

Yes.

[Sorry, Dick. Fatima isn't a sidelines kind of girl.]

I started this investigation. If you think I'm not seeing it through, you're crazy.

[fingerstripes]

Could be dangerous. [ The chance is small, but it's there. He looks for her gaze; serious. ]

You sure you want to step into something you might not be able to step out of?

[dust_of_life]

There's nothing I can't step out of.

[An exaggeration, to be sure. But between her bravado and her stubborn streak, there's no way Fatima's sitting out. And anyway, she's a vampire hunter. He may not know that, but she does. She's pretty confident she's not going to run into trouble she can't handle.

Especially at an artist's stall.]

You can go first, though.