I was playing Don't Starve whilst Mom was watching The Great Gatsby, and this happened.
Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment
The Great Gatsby © 2013 Baz Luhrmann
Wilson Percival Higgsbury stood in front of the mirror and straightened his outfit for the tenth or so time.
His intention, upon accepting the invitation from his cousin and her husband, was to come to New York, settle in a little house on West Egg, and focus on his stocks job, with his science experiments on the side. In reality, he had had quite a bit of difficulty in his side pursuits, what with his cousin pulling him across the sound and his incredibly noisy neighbor on this side.
Indeed, nearly every night since he had arrived, his neighbor had thrown a raucous party, a compendium of cacophony that kept Wilson up nights. He had been tempted to go over there and file a complaint, but gave it up as too much trouble.
He was surprised, then, when he received a letter from next door. And within the letter—a formal invitation to a party Friday night.
He had done his level best to ignore it, but finally gave in to scientific curiosity. Which was why he was standing in front of his mirror this Friday night, trying to decide if he should spruce up further, before finally settling on his dapper best. He snatched up his top hat and his invitation and headed next door.
The minute Wilson strode through the gates, he was swept up in the noisy mess. Ragtime and jazz fought for dominance, people danced and drank, and Wilson was left with a severe case of disorientation. He resolved to find his host, thank him, and be on his way.
An hour later, that proved easier said than done. He had met a multitude of interesting people, from a strongman to a mime to a librarian (that one had surprised him, considering the level of noise there), and now he was trying to carry on a conversation with a lovely young lady who had given her name as Willow Burnshigh.
The conversation was more an exercise in bellowing. "I said, I received an invitation—"
"What?" Willow asked again.
Wilson breathed in. At some point he had gained a drink, and he gestured with the glass. "I said, I received an invitation, but I can't seem to find our host."
"You probably won't," Willow told him, a shade below bellowing. "No one gets invited to these parties—they just show up."
Wilson stared as she drifted off to talk with twin blondes, who had introduced themselves as Wendy and Abigail. Wilson shook his head and tried again elsewhere.
Later saw no more success. He ducked around two people dressed in elaborate pine-tree costumes, a man juggling axes, and a boy dressed up as a spider before he finally found a place of relative safety and quiet, nestled in the curve of one of the expansive stairwells. He took a steadying swig of his drink, resolving to find his way out of this crazy place, without even bothering with the host—
"Say, pal, you don't look so good."
Wilson looked up to see a man, slightly older than himself, smirking down from his perch on the steps. He had a cigar in his hand, making Wilson glad he was down there away from the smoke.
"Well, it's a little loud," Wilson called.
"That's what makes a party," the man called back, coming down the steps to converse. Wilson drifted over. "No one likes quiet intimate parties—they always drift to the loud obnoxious ones that they can lose themselves in."
Wilson's desire to leave evaporated as he conversed with this person. After a while, he couldn't help but ask the question that had been weighing on him since he had arrived. "Excuse me," he asked, as they were walking up a flight of steps. "I don't suppose you'd know—I received an invitation to this party, but I can't find the host. I don't suppose you know this Maxwell character, do you?"
"I do," the man said, his higher position on the stairs adding to his height. "I know him quite intimately."
"Really?" Wilson asked, brightening. "I don't suppose you could point him out for me."
"You're looking at him, pal," the man said. "I'm Maxwell."
It wasn't until much later that Wilson found he was the only one to ever receive an invitation.
