Time for more Mary Kate, Wildfall and Iris!

 
Mary came stomping back to the booth with her supplies, looking furious and out of breath. She walked up to where Wildfall was lounging around. "I've never seen or heard such rude people and just want to get away from here and go home. Did you get what food we needed and your supplies? I got mine and I'm ready to get out of here."

Wildfall tenderly kissed her on the lips. "Hey babe, sorry to hear. We got invited over for stew. Do ya feel up to going? I promised her I'd let her know either way, but it sounds quite delicious."

"We can go. It'll give you a break from my cooking but I'm not hungry, honey," Mary replied as she returned the kiss.

Wildfall shrugged, holding her tight against him. "Well, we can check it out. Stew usually takes a while to make, anyway. Besides, she left me a note with instructions on how to get there- and I've never seen this part of town. I'm kinda curious."

"I told you we can go so I'll just tag along and keep you out of trouble," Mary replied.

Wildfall winked. "That'll build up quite an appetite."

They set out and quickly made their way towards, well, an unruly part of town. Wildfall noticed a sudden jump in abandoned buildings with broken windows.

Iris looked up from her cooking pot and waved to the two figures in the distance. "Hey," she shouted. "Over here!" She waved the big spoon back and forth until they spotted her. With a shrug, Wildfall and Mary walked over, with Wildfall taking note of the strong smell from the stew already. It was almost enough to drown out the other less pleasant scents in the area. Almost. Guess he was wrong about it "taking a while."

"Hi, I'm really glad you guys could make it," Iris said. "The stew is almost done."

"Hello," said Mary. "You guys eat, I'm not hungry."

Iris stirred the bubbling stew around a few more times and then fished around in her bag for bowls and spoons. "Well, if you get hungry, there's plenty. Hopefully it's palatable!" she said with a laugh. She handed Wildfall a full bowl and spoon. Then to Mary, "I do have a couple bottles of ale that I st… I mean, I have a bit of ale if you'd like?"

Mary shook her head, "No thanks, I'm fine."

Wildfall slowly stirred his bowl, eying it suspiciously. "Thank you. Besides, Mary's kinda young for ale, anyway."

"What the hell do you mean saying I am too young for ale? You're not my father and I'll decide if I'm too young for anything." Mary glared at Wildfall, priming for a fight.

Wildfall shot her a smirk, and shrugged. "Okay, but don't blame me for what happens, honey. If you wanna be the big girl, you'll have to live with the consequences."

Iris giggled at their exchange. She poked at the fire a bit with a stick, and then, after a hesitating glance at her companions, stretched her hand out and sucked some of the flames into oblivion, until the contents in the pot ceased to broil. Then she sat down, flushing somewhat consciously.

"I told her I didn't want anything to drink and if you're saying I can't make up my own mind then I'll shut up and sit here like a good little girl.." Mary fumed.

Not wanting to dig himself in further, Wildfall instead pretended to busy himself with his stew. "Soo, what'd you put in here, Iris?"

"Mourning dove, a little bit of some type of squash, and cabbage," Iris replied.

Wildfall hesitated, closed his eyes, and tried a bit. "Ohh.. not bad, sure you don't want any, MK?"

"Nope. I told you both I wasn't hungry."

"K," Wildfall answered. The silence that followed over the next few minutes felt oppressive. Wildfall looked Mary over; Mary looked upset as if she was ready to burst into tears and when she saw Wildfall watch her she got up and walked a short distance away to gather herself and put on her happy face.

Wildfall started to stand, as if to follow her, then thought better of it. So he plopped back down, wanting to help but not wanting to make the situation worse.

"So what do you guys do? I heard Mary say she needed medical supplies, is she a nurse?" Iris queried.

Wildfall tapped his spoon against his bowl, not seeming to hear her at first. "Huh? Oh, sorry. Yeah, kinda. Her mom was training her to be a healer - but then her family had to go do something at sea. Her father's a sailor, but Mary wanted to stay back here with me. I'm sure she's wishin' she was at sea right now. So, what's with this place, anyway?"

Mary walked back to the group and sat down beside Wildfall. "For your information, honey, I'm not wishing I was back at sea and I don't plan on going back to sea."

Wildfall blinked, confused. "To see what?"

"The damn water is the sea, silly," replied Mary.

"So you don't want to see th- ohhhh," Wildfall answered as it clicked. "Okay, good. I didn't want you to go back, anyway."

"Okay." Mary looked a little more relieved.

Putting his bowl down, he looked her in the eyes. "You know I'm just trying to watch out for you, right? I promised you and your family I would. And your dad's scary."

"Okay, so since when did you ever let anything scare you?"

Wildfall frowned. His eyes had this uncharacteristic seriousness in them, this far away look that was quite different than the confident smirk usually topping off the boyish charms of his expressions. "The thought of not looking out for you freaks me out. The thought something bad might happen to you terrifies me. So.. that scares me."

Iris said quietly, almost as if to herself at first, "You're very lucky to have someone like that… I'm glad you two didn't lose each other that day."

Feeling hopeless, Mary replied, "You get used to not knowing if someone is going to be around from one day to the next around here with things the way they are in this area."

Wildfall grimly nodded. He looked over at Iris, almost like he'd just remembered she was there. "Sorry, we don't usually get into it like this in public. My fault, MK. Won't happen again."

Wildfall's eyes drifted back down to his stew.

Mary looked at Wildfall and suddenly smiled saying, "Sure it will - if you ever say I'm too young again. You don't seem to think I'm too young to kiss."

Wildfall blushed heavily. "Mary! Don't say things like that in public!"

Mary stared at him and replied, "Why can't I say things like that when you kissed me in public in front of her?"

Wildfall looked too flustered to answer.

Iris chuckled merrily at that.

Mary sat quietly while the others talked and finished eating. Wildfall occasionally glanced up at her, but right now, she felt worlds apart and miles away.

The voter called this one a "better blend of styles" between Wildfall/ MK co-writes and an Iris piece, so that's a plus.

He also mentions the theme of not knowing if your friends will make it, which greatly helps contribute to the melancholy feel of this piece. It's full of missteps and fighting and that sort of thing- but in my eyes, it just works. Plus, again, it ties into the bigger overall story of the relationship between Mary Kate and Wildfall. The next piece of Mary/ Wildfall is especially good but next up, we get more SnowCat and Becky! Yay for both pairs!