In keeping with my BioShock theme this week, I thought I’d share a story that, if my partner hadn’t been there with me to verify, I wouldn’t be entirely sure it happened at all.

I have a good friend who is moderately (okay, there’s nothing moderate about it) obsessed with the television series, Game of Thrones. Before each season premiere, he and his partner have an annual Game of Thrones party where the entire preceding season is watched at one sitting. There is much food, drink, and mirth, and it is always a stellar time.

One year, my partner and I went and it was situation normal. There were a mix of people I knew and didn’t know, and light introductions were made.

I didn’t quite catch the name of everyone, and one male in particular wasn’t formally introduced to me. I recall thinking the girl he arrived with was quite pretty, and I knew she was a friend of the people throwing the party.

A couple of times during the event, I heard this guy mention he worked in video games. I think I was like, “Neat!” But I didn’t investigate.

A while later, I heard him say to someone, “…and when I left Irrational to go to Naughty Dog…”

(insert stunned face here)

(for good measure, insert completely stunned face here)

It was like slow motion. My brain was clack clack clacking along and I could practically take my giant mental marker and connect those obvious dots.

But the only thing my brain managed to croak out of my mouth was, “Holy sh*t! You’re Nate f*cking Wells!!!”

He laughed and responded in the affirmative, and I was freaking out. There really is no other way to describe it. It was like the video game gods of fate had randomly smiled down upon me.

He happened to be sitting next to me on the couch, and I started asking him a zillion questions. It’s like I couldn’t stop myself. He was patient, kind, and willing to endure my rampant curiosity.

I was so spazzed out (again, there is no other way to put it) that at one point, when we were talking about Atlas, I referred to him as Australian, and he corrected me saying Atlas was Irish, which I knew, but in my fan fever, had misspoke. He was entirely cool about it, and even mentioned that he hadn’t seen someone this into the game outside of a convention.

I still feel like an idiot for saying the wrong thing, but honestly, given how amazing the experience was and how absolutely unprepared for it I was, I feel like overall I did pretty good.

I was also extra glad that I had worn the t-shirt I did: a green shirt with a picture of Wart from Super Mario Brothers 2 on it that said, “Hates Vegetables.”

Sure, it wasn’t a BioShock shirt, but he got it right away.

When he and his lovely lady left the party, he made sure to say good night to me, and again, I was struck by how kind he was to someone who geeked the heck out over meeting him.

So thank you, Nate Wells, wherever you are, for being so genuinely kind to someone who couldn’t not swear when she met you.

Cheers.