Next up, we're back to just Wildfall and Mary Kate!

It's a fun little character builder piece which I hope you will enjoy.

 
A gentle rain splashed the hills of the Nearby Plains early on this fine morning as Jarlsboris Wildfall and Mary Katherine O'Toole set out from Seaside Town, glancing up at the sky.

Wildfall frowned. "Rain isn't bad, but it doesn't look like it's gonna let up, either."

"Looks like we are going to have to put on our rain gear. Good thing I remembered to pack those oiled skins that Momma had me make a while ago. Wondered if they would ever get used," said Mary digging into her sack for them.

Wildfall laughed, resting a hand on hers. "We don't need 'em now, too warm. And yeah, I sorta noticed they don't seem to get much rain in this lil Kingdom here.. which's really weird since the grass on the plains always seems to be green."

Mary put the skins away. "Right, too warm." She looked around. "Do you think this grass is some of that experimental grass that stays green all the time? Remember the Council talking about that research project that was stolen in one of the robberies?"

Wildfall shrugged, looking over the vast expansions of grassy plains in front of them. "Good point. Dunno. I haven't been here that long, but it's a big field. And I've never seen anyone out here. I don't think so. Maybe."

Mary slipped off her shoes and looked at Wildfall with a playful glint in her eyes and asked, "Remember when we used to go skipping thru the puddles when it rained back home? I feel like doing that now but no puddles so I will just go skipping in the rain. Makes me feel free again."

Wildfall chuckled, smiling warmly at the memory. "Yeah, Mary. I also seem to remember you jumping in those puddles just t' see how many people you could splash. Quite a few, as I recall. Fun times, lass. Ya were really a funny little girl. Still are, actually."

Wildfall again chuckled, and slipped his boots off. "Sure, we got time to mess around. No rush, huh?"

"When we get to Degrassi we should ask about this grass and see if it is part of that research project." Mary took off running barefoot through the grass.

Wildfall laughed and playfully chased after her. "Where do you suggest we go to find that out, Mary?"

Mary shrugged. "I dunno. Degrassi maybe? Does Degrassi have a local gathering spot? Maybe we could ask some questions there."

Wildfall laughed, rushing to keep up. "Yeah, a few. Slow down, this grass is hard to run in! Kinda cutting my feet a bit."

"You just have soft feet, Wildey," said Mary as she slowed down and put her shoes back on. "I think my fun is over for now and I want to focus on the job at hand. So let's get to Degrassi."

Wildfall chuckled as he slipped his boots on. "Good idea, lil miss tenderfoot."

Mary glared at Wildfall and said, "You are calling me tenderfoot, who was it complaining that the grass hurt his precious little tootsies? Not me!!"

Wildfall laughed, flashing his best adorable smile at her. "Let me guess, ya just didn't wanna mess up your pretty lil feet then? Hahah."

Mary fired back at Wildfall and said, "I have gone without shoes a lot more than you have and on all sorts of surfaces so my feet are are not as tender as you think."

Wildfall almost doubled over laughing. "Okay, fine. You've got tough feet, too. I was just teasin. I didn't mean to question the integrity of your toes, Mary. Ya are too easy to get riled up, ya know?"

Mary laughed and punched Wildfall on the arm as she said, "Sorry, that is just my temper showing thru and that temper has gotten me into a lot of trouble back home. Got me into a lot of fights."

Wildfall rubbed his shoulder, surprised by how hard the girl hit even in play. "Yeah.. I remember some of those fights. Degrassi's a good place to pick a fight, I gotta admit, if you're into that kinda thing. But remember, we're here for Council business, not just bar brawls."

"Yes Boss, I understand and will be on my best behavior, just make sure you don't get us into any trouble and I won't have to bail you out by whooping ass." Mary playfully flashed a fast salute.

"Oh, brother." Wildfall rolled his eyes as he walked ahead of her. "A regular town guard, huh? Yeah, I'll try to keep you out of trouble, but no promises."

Mary walked along quietly aside him for a while before answering. "Okay I agree to curb my temper if you will help me understand something that is bothering me."

Wildfall took a minute before responding. "Yeah?"

She didn't answer right away, lost in thought and the sound of the rain splattering on the grass and surrounding ground. "I had this horrible dream last night and not sure how to handle it.

"The first part of my dream was about my parents and they were in trouble wherever they are and I could not help them. What if they're dead? I am afraid I will never see them again. The second part of my dream was the fear and uncertainty that I am not good enough a healer to save someone who is desperately ill. My mother is the one who is a good healer and all I am is a nurse and I am scared, Wildfall. So many people depend on my healing skills, but what if I'm wrong?" Mary sighed dramatically.

Wildfall wasn't sure how to answer at first, so he just looked off into the distance, and then turned and hugged her. "They'll be fine."

"Thank you for the hug, I needed that. You say that about my parents, but how do I know I won’t fail at the healing part? I am nowhere as good as my mom and I don’t want to cause more harm."

Wildfall paused. "You know, I do remember your mother being a pretty good healer, wasn't she?"

"Yes she was, and still is. I just hope that I can be just half as good as she is. I just want to make both my parents proud of me." Mary sounded wistful.

"Yeah," Wildfall answered, carefully weighing his words. "I could see why that'd be a lot to live up to. It's a shame she didn't share any of that knowledge with you, though."

Mary stopped walking and stared at him incredulously. "What's that supposed to mean? What do you mean she didn’t share any of her knowledge with me?"

"I'm just saying," Wildfall said. "Without any training, it's understandable you wouldn't know what to do if something went wrong. Like, if a mother walked up to you and said her boy's broke his arm and her girl's suffering from a temperature, you'd probably try to put the sling on the girl's stomach and give chicken noodle soup to the boy's arm or something hilariously dangerous."

Mary folded her arms, fists still clenched. "Oh ya? Well just you wait till you need me to fix you up or give you a cure for one of your famous hangovers and see what I can do that is so hilarious."

Wildfall ignored her, full into making his point, waving his arms dramatically in the air for effect. "I mean, most people wouldn't wanna be treated by a girl at all. Especially one that doesn't know the the difference between disinfectants and sanitizers. Whatever those are."

"Oh you think I don’t remember getting bullied by the kids back home for knowing the difference between disinfectants and sanitizers?" Mary grabbed Wildfall by his arm, angrily spinning him around to face her. "Would you like me to explain them AGAIN to you or would you like me to give you a demonstration of the differences?"

"You know what you sound like?!" Wildfall asked, sounding defensively at first. He then smiled a goofy smile, and got back to his normal friendly voice. "You sound like someone who's been trained. A gal who is perfectly qualified to take care of people. That's what you sound like to me. Not someone's gonna make things worse by doing something stupid."

Mary stammered, as tears welled in her eyes. "Wh--- Why thank you Wildfall. All this time I thought you were making fun of me and still treating me like that little girl who followed you around instead of a woman who just might be able to save your life one of these days."

"I know you might save my life someday." Wildfall smiled, giving her hand a light squeeze. "And I don't want you to be drownin' in self-doubt when that day comes."

"I can assure you when that time comes I will do my very best to save you but you better make sure you don’t die before then or I will have to kill you myself." Mary smiled. "You know, Wildfall, with your knack for getting into trouble I am going to have a full time job of keeping you alive and keeping you patched up."

"That reminds me," Wildfall said. "Do me a fav, close your eyes and count to ten."

Mary closed her eyes and counted to ten and asked, "What is that all about, Wildfall?"

"I needed a head start!" She looked up to see he'd snuck into the distance and was looking back at her, shouting, "You cry too much, girl!"

"Boy you just wait til I get my hands on you again," laughed Mary and with that, Wildfall turned and ran off with her chasing after.

"Good luck with that! I'm in better shape, gal," Wildfall called out, taunting her with a laugh. "I'll be in town before you get close!"

About six minutes later, Wildfall grumbled as Mary finally let him up. He stood, brushing himself off. "Thanks.. geez, when'd you get so fast and why didn't you tell me?"

Mary laughed and said, "I never told you because you never asked and I got a lot of practice running thru the woods back home."

"So did I," Wildfall answered with a chuckle. "Maybe you're just a natural, girl."

"Well of course I am an natural girl, there is nothing fake about me, or had you not noticed?" quipped Mary with a grin on her face. An incredibly cute grin, Wildfall noticed, his heart skipping a beat as he turned back, looking her over. He wondered if she was even aware of that little "cute me" pose she was doing, shaking his head but unable to resist tempting fate.

"Ohh, I've definitely noticed," Wildfall said. He realized he was smirking but didn't bother to stop. "Specially in the rain. We really gotta think about getting you a darker shade of shirt for these rainy days, ya know."

"My shirt is the wrong color?" asked Mary as she looked down at her shirt and suddenly realized what Wildfall was talking about. "OH my! I see what you mean and I agree we need a darker shirt for me," said Mary, feeling her face turn beet red.

"You can't really see anything," Wildfall said with a smirk. "Unless you stare. Or if you're Todd.. Oh, and ya might wanna cover your chest with your arms if we get near Todd. But for now, let's get going. It's really starting to pour and we need to get our story straight. Looks good on ya, by the way."

"Looks like we are finally going to have to put on our rain gear. Good thing I remembered to pack those oiled skins that probably never got used," said Mary, digging into her sack for them. She handed Wildfall his rain gear while she put on hers. She looked down at her top, smiling. "Now you don’t have to worry about getting me darker clothes. No one can see my light colored shirt.

"Anyway, why do we need to get our story straight? We are not doing anything wrong and why were you so embarrassed? We used to run naked thru the woods back home and you never thought a thing about it." Mary laughed and with that she took off running again.

"You're the one whose face was glowin like the sun!" Wildfall shouted, rushing after her. "Slow down, gitbrain, we already established you're faster than me, now don't rush off and end up in trouble."

She slowed down a bit, letting Wildfall catch up with her. Luckily, he was used to talking while on the move. "You're right, we've got nothing to hide, unless we're dealing with penguins down here. Or Knob Goblins. And I'm not even sure about the locals. Thing is, we'll be dealing with very suspicious people, and do ya know the problem with very suspicious people?"

"What?" she asked, teasing a smile.

"They tend to assume you're lying. And when you're in a dangerous situation, your memory can get a little iffy. Even things that might not seem important, like who answers or the exact reason we're here, might seem a bit suspicious if we give different honest answers. I mean, of course we'd never lie but we should still go over what ... version of the truth we're giving. Especially if we want to be the ones asking the questions and not answering them."

"Oh I understand what you mean and I agree so you will do all the talking and I will just listen and watch. I might learn something from you about dealing with suspicious people," said Mary.

"Right, great idea," Wildfall said. "Except suspicious people, at least the smart ones, would probably notice you doing that, too."

"Okay since you are taking the lead on this, what should we do now?" asked Mary.

Wildfall took her arm, slowing her down a bit. "Let's take our time and go over why we're here, what our story is and what we might need to lie about."

"Right I agree on taking our time and making sure we have a plan all worked out. That could save us a lot of time and energy," replied Mary.

As Mary and Wildfall continue on their trek to Degrassi, they agreed on the motivation for being there and on what they are looking for and why before reaching town and splitting up to find answers.

I liked voter Ichiro's comment about it feeling "like a slice of life anime." I think it helps further establish the bond and history between the two. This is Mary's second mission in AIL and it goes a long way towards building her story and seeing her change. And of course, the roleplay does the job of painting Wildfall as her mentor. I'm quite biased here, but I quite like this one, truthfully.

After Mary debut, a big chunk of roleplays were split into two parts. Mary / Wildfall, often with other player characters, and Sassy Snake's stories, which were mostly solos. This mission continues that. Although this time, Sassy is only doing solos. In fact, one is up in the next piece!