i ain't trading my youth for a suit and jacket

► basics;

Full Name:  Wilder Mateo Kelly 

Age: 34

Birthday:  December 5, 1987 

Sexual Orientation:  Heterosexual?

Relationship Status:  Single

Religion:  Miscellaneous

Occupation: Lands Program Coordinator

Nationality: Canadian

who : open | @vancitystarters​ , 2/4 where: samhain festival, sully’s   when: monday night

“When do you ever have a plan?” It was always fitting bumping into Wilder at Sully’s, the place they had met on one of her first nights back in town all those years ago. Her hand settled on his shoulder and she situated herself on the sidelines and against the wall next to him. An attempt to get away from the hectic nature of an event like this. In ways, Wilder had become a comfort for Nat in a place that didn’t necessarily feel as much like home as it once had. “Huge fan of your on the fly ideas, though. They never disappoint…give me your best, Wild.”

.

Their relationship was inconsistent in some ways, but consistent in the ones that mattered.  She communicated something to him with her familiar smile and her hand on his shoulder, and it was both warm and comfortable.  He didn’t love being in a crowd, but he didn’t hate that she was the one out of that crowd who was standing close to him.  

“My best?” He said, exaggerating the tone a little.  “I don’t know, you’ve set a pretty high bar.”  He chewed on his lip for just a second, lost in thought.  “I hear there’s fortune telling here somewhere.  I’m not about that, but we can try to come up with our own fortunes.  And we can go get some fresh air if it’s not too cold for you out there.” 

❛ WILDER KELLY

who : open | @vancitystarters​ , 1/4 where: samhain festival, sully’s   when: monday night

—&—

“Umm, not really,” Juliet replied perhaps a little too quietly for such a lively atmosphere. “I guess I’m just trying to be social and somewhere around temptation and not give in.” It wasn’t exactly the confession that she wanted to make, especially at a party, that she was an addict in recovery. Honesty and being upfront was the best policy, right? Mostly she had been looking for a distraction and something to keep her away from the bar and people that would keep her offering drinks. “I guess this was a pretty dumb idea coming here,” Juliet sighed.

Now worried that she’d made things awkward she became a little uneasy. Juliet had never really been shy before but since rehab and working on staying clean and sober, she felt a vulnerability she hadn’t been in touch with for a long time. “Maybe I’ll just go out and get some fresh air,” she finally said. “Sorry for bothering you.”

.

There were key words to what his counterpart said, easy to pick up and suss out some kind of meaning.  Temptation told him there was something at the gathering they wanted to have but felt compelled to avoid.  Dumb idea told him they felt some type of way involving competing desires.  And the apology told him they wanted someone to listen but didn’t want to be a burden.  He wasn’t the most intuitive person, but even he could piece that together.  And, for his part, he didn’t mind being the companion, at least for now. 

“It’s okay.  Why don’t we go together?” He offered, setting his beer on some type of ledge and gesturing to the door.  

.

Was it ridiculous to eat ice cream in cold weather? Probably. Did Evie care? Not particularly; she had it down to a science. The science included sticking her tongue to the roof of her mouth after almost every bite to stave off the headache that would loom over a lesser person.

Evangeline Georgina Morris wasn’t a quitter.

“Oh, I absolutely am colder after I eat this, but the way I see it, my body will go into overdrive to warm myself up. Probably something with metabolism. I’m not a scientist,” she responded. 

.

Wilder let out an appreciative chuckle, mostly through his nose, his lips pressed closed. 

“Okay.  Well, as long as you’re aware of the potential consequences, even if you aren’t a scientist, you are an adult.  I’m pretty sure.” He squinted a little in her direction to hopefully communicate teasing.  “Ice cream in cold weather isn’t the most ill-advised thing I’ve ever eaten, so I have no real room to establish an opinion.  Plus I don’t know you, so there’s also that.”

WILDER + SOSH / FLASHBACK

-

“Impressed by, what? Me walking around… begging for some to take this thing off my hands?” she jokes to diffuse the compliment, holding the guitar up by the neck with needless apology. As desperate as the situation was becoming, she could take a moment to appreciate the moment: knowing someone, anyone, in a sea of nameless faces she’ll skip in two weeks’ time. 

“Yep. Loud and proud, ‘cept I can’t find anyone who knows how to pluck some guitar strings while I go over new material." 

Pushing a loose strand of blonde hair from her face, Sosh offers a half-hearted shrug. "I probably should have learned my own lyrics before booking this gig, but I wasn’t chancing losing out to some half-drunk weirdo. I’ve only had one drink, and that’s for nerves. What kinda work have you been doing?”

.

He offered a quiet chuckle, lips pressed together, that was mostly air moving through his nose.  "You remembered my name," he clarified.  He reached out and took the guitar from her hands, though, reflexively lowering it into playing position.  Part of him didn't know if he remembered how to actually play it, but apparently some of him remembered how to hold it, so that was a start.

"Counting trees mostly.  Like... as a job.  Conservation."  The answer to her question was offered even as he lined his hands up and started doing the thing she'd said no one knew how to do.  Plucking strings, as it turned out, still came somewhat naturally to him, though he was doing it randomly.  He didn't know if that pattern would hold for an actual song.  He'd spent hours, days, probably weeks practicing with Lola when they were younger and he was tempted to find out if that had been wasting time.  "I might be able to help you.  Not with the lyrics, but with this part.  If you want me to."

Margot : hey, are you doing something?

Wilder: I'm at my dad's dispensary checking on a few things. I can text, though.

Jilli: Trick or Treat? 👻

He couldn’t exactly describe the Samhain Festival as an annual tradition for himself, because Wilder wasn’t exactly guided by anything other than his mood in the moment.  But on Halloween night, he didn’t want to sit home alone in his apartment, either.  And, if he was being honest, something a little darker and a little more grown up was his speed moreso than handing out candy to trick-or-treaters.  He’d definitely spent some time deep in the woods, in the dark late and night, and some part of him came alive while that was happening.  Maybe that would be the case at Sully’s, too. 

He nursed his beer and, like he did everywhere, mostly watched other people.  Not exactly a wallflower, but always hanging on the fringes and waiting for someone to come to him rather than the central, life of a party.  He was considering sneaking off for a smoke, plenty of opportunity in his pocket, but he hadn’t done it just yet.

who: @wilder-kelly​

when: october 29th

where: cabin in the woods

His trek through the woods proved more hassle and full of muck than haunted. Unfortunate for the vloggers he passed on his way to the bonfire, hoping to catch something paranormal and spooky on their expensive nikon cameras. “This seat taken?” The chair next to Wilder looked empty but, Daniel didn’t want to assume in case the man had company that was planning on coming back. “I promise to share.” By that, he refers to the plastic baggy he pulls out of his jacket pocket. There’s approximately six pot brownies in it, which he bought off one of the trick or treat booths as a secret menu item.

Wilder had eventually walked away from the crowd a little, seeking seats in something that more closely resembled his preferred habitat.  The people watching was still pretty great, but it was dimmed, somehow.  A little more tolerable of a quantity, even if people were shrieking and faking scares a little more loudly. 

open starters for @vancitystarters​ (capping at 5) 

location: eating area of the festival

While Evie loved most days of the year, she came alive during the colder months. Holidays just felt different during the cold months. Perhaps it was her own nostalgic longing for something familial she hadn’t felt in years. Maybe it was the escapism that cold weather equated to a warm heart and wrapped in a pretty little bow. 

Her breath was nearly visible when she exhaled, a fascination she’d held since she was small, as she sat with a disgustingly sweet waffle wrapped around ice cream. Seats were hard to come by and she scooted her things aside to make room for someone.

“Here, you can sit here, but the rules are, you can’t judge me for my palate,” she offered.

.

Although Wilder generally preferred to be lost in the backwoods, it was getting a little too cold to do that just casually.  Outside was still okay in the city, though, and the people watching here was a premium.  People were always so creative with their Halloween costumes.  He was... not. 

Amongst the people he’d been watching, though, the one who sat next to him was probably the most interesting.

Ice cream? 

“I’m not judging your palate,” he promised.  “I am curious if you’ll be colder after you eat that, though.” 

─────── · ·

Glancing up from his phone at the familiar voice, his expression softened in seeing that it was Wilder. “Well, damn— it has.”

“Things have been alright. Been busy getting things ready for Halloween and trying to deal with the fact that Selvi is looking at colleges for next year.”

Briefly, Matt’s thoughts ventured to worry. Had Wilder shown up because of something to do with his sister? He figured not since he seemed pretty relaxed.

“How’s things with you?”

Wilder didn’t exactly have a frame of reference for having a teenage daughter, or even a kid at all. He nodded, accepting Matt’s answer, but stayed characteristically silent, not needing to fill the silence with words just for the sake of filling the silence. 

“Well, I mean, none of my mistakes have killed me yet, so I’m not sure. I think a lack of forward thinking means I get stuck sometimes, so that might be the closest thing to a fatal flaw.  Is stagnancy the same thing as death?” 

"Not really. I like sex as much as the next guy, but I'm kind of shitty at relationships and it's not really fair to start something up if I can't or don't want to commit."

“No.  I’m painfully bad at keeping secrets, so it’s easier to just not.”

WILDER + SOSH / FLASHBACK

who: closed | @soshsanderson​ when: flashback when you met me (kinda, but no buzz cut or hair bleached unless.. whatever. I just have TS stuck in my head); prob like 2011-2017. Super helpful. where: some backwoods bar somewhere in North America.

If New York wasn’t going to have her, then someone would. Determined was a softer descriptor for what she’s trying to be in the middle of nowhere, fingers itching for a sliver of solid ground. Things were good, great even, until the guy she’d met the night before bailed. Although it ought to have been momentary karma, all Soshanna Sanderson could think about is how to rectify the problem. Wallowing in self pity wasn’t going to make a guitar strum chords. 

She could make this would. (She would make this work, damn it, even if she was late to her set.) 

Do you play guitar were slowly becoming four words without meaning as it repeated over and over to every patron in the bar looking remotely two sheets to the wind instead of three. They didn’t have to be sober. Her songs weren’t that intense. No after no after no, Sosh could only smile blankly at the rejections and push foward. 

Until someone, quitely literally, pushed themselves over to her. Blue eye wandering for the source of greeting, she’s met with a taller man. 

“Yeah, Soshanna.” With the neck of her guitar, she pointed to the stage where the namecard sat on an easel. “I’m – Lola? Wait.” Her nose scrunched, contemplating. The recognition wasn’t instantaneous, but the relief in her shoulders prove animated nonetheless. “Oh, damn, Wilder Kelly? Hel-lo, what the hell are you doing here?”

.

It was actually a fuck of a lot of fun to watch realization dawn on her.  He was as surprised as anyone he'd managed to come up with her name, dredged out of the archives of his mediocre memory like something precious and shiny.  

"Mmm, being impressed at the moment," he admitted candidly.  Strangely, he realized, it was the first time in a while someone had said his name out loud.  Most of his job didn't require talking to anyone for days at a time. It was gathering data and samples, then sending all of that to his boss when he got somewhere with any kind of digital access or post.  Even if he did have to call or talk to someone, names weren't part of the deal.  His own name sounded a little weird to him, especially in her melodic voice.  To be clear, though, it wasn't the *bad* kind of weird -- not by a long shot.

"Actually, I've been working nearby.  Sometimes I crash in whatever town is nearby if I have a few days between projects so here I am.  You're here to sing?"