Mary

Mary, like Clara, was also born and raised in Vault 49. She was 3 years younger than Clara, however, thus they rarely crossed paths. Clara would not be able to remember or recognize Mary either way, however, due to the changes the Wasteland inflicted upon Mary.   Mary was always considered a troubled child. She regularly expressed disdain for authority and pushed back against orders from a young age. When angered, which would happen very quickly, she would take to hitting, throwing objects, or yelling insults at others. As she grew, she found she disliked her teachers and family. The exception to this would be her grandparents, who were patient with her as they modeled and taught proper emotional regulation. As their relationship progressed, Mary remained outwardly angry but had become increasingly brooding and surly. Still, they encouraged her to express her individuality despite the overwhelming conformity of Vault life. They helped her make a cropped leather jacket and encouraged her to find her own sense of style. Mary took comfort in these expressions, and while the grandparents understood the benefits of these activities, other adults would write her off.    Mary was 12 when the Vault was attacked by the Brotherhood of Steel. She managed to escape with the help of her grandmother, Bettie, who worked in the Vault library. No one else in her family, if they were alive, would not be seen by either of them again.   Like many of the displaced 49 dwellers, Bettie and Mary attempted to make a new home somewhere along the 44 Corridor. Few people would let them stay for long, if at all, thus many nights were spent sleeping by the side of the road. Some, like Clara, were able to get hired on with the Route 66 Caravan or the towns they owned as bodyguards or laborers. No one would take Mary or Bettie, though, due to their ages. After bouncing between these locations, eventually they hit Springfield. Bettie nor Mary could find appropriate work still and took to prospecting for scrap metal to make some caps. While hunting for metal, they found a heavily run-down library in a mostly untouched part of town. Bettie, having seen the rate of illiteracy in the city, decided to salvage what she could and teach others to read for a fee. After much renovation, the plan worked, and they finally had a steady income. Mary would assist her grandmother by re-binding and restoring old books and climbing about the shelves where Bettie couldn't reach. Mary also learned how to properly fight and use firearms from paid mentors in Springfield, with the goal of becoming stronger and able to defend herself and Bettie.    They were happy, but the arrangement would not last more than a couple of years. Throughout this time, Bettie became more and more dependent on alcohol to cope with the trauma of losing her home and family, and with the comparitive hardships of the Wasteland. She hid this well from Mary at first, but eventually Bettie stopped taking as many clients as she used to, and the caps flow was beginning to slow. Mary took up other odd jobs to help pay the pills, but that too would go to alcohol eventually. After much fighting, and long after Bettie took her last client, Mary abandoned Bettie, writing her off as a lost cause.

On her 15th birthday, she signed on with the Route 66 Caravan as a bodyguard, and intended to leave Springfield behind for good.   Most of Mary's work with the Caravan was done with the 40 "Legion" Division, and she would regularly run between Oklahoma City and Flagstaff. One particular run, however, would take her to Joplin, which was beginning to have a raider problem. Her caravan was attacked by these raiders, called the Pit Crew, and left the survivors kidnapped. Mary, being an excellent fighter by this point, demonstrated her strength and fervor in their fighting rings, which caught the attention of Sixshot. Sixshot called for Mary to become his personal bodyguard, to which she accepted.   Now, after Sixshot's buying of Joplin from the Caravan, Mary partially rules over the raiders there, feeling as if she has found her place in the Wasteland.