def intercalate_chars(first: str, second: str) -> str:
    result = []
    max_length = max(len(first), len(second))
    for element in range(max_length):
      if element < len(first):
        result.append(first[element])
        
      if element < len(second):
        result.append(second[element])

    return "".join(result)