ADR - Episode 638: Micro/MiniPastas by MmPratt99

[00:00:17] Hello and welcome to Al Dente Rigamortis. I'm Review Cultist. I'm Mikey, the East Tens Feeble. And I'm the Gamer in Yellow. And we're here to discuss those internet stories, most creepy and most pasta, and be critically silly doing it. And tonight we have a little special episode, some micro-pastas collected by mmpratt99, No Place is Unknown to Darkness, The Ghost Tower, and The Innermost House.

[00:00:48] So yeah, we're really just, at this point, we're just going down the list of mmpratt stories, like whether they be in Curtisville or Hogan's Gap or what have you. And again, we've covered her stories in the past, obviously like multiple times, like different ones and stuff like that. But now I've decided to like, oh, we should actually like start from the top and just work our way down at this point. What we should have been doing the whole time, yeah. Yeah, but you know what?

[00:01:19] So yeah, we are starting with these, the ones at the top of her list that she has on her CreepPasta Wiki profile. Um, and uh, turned out they were very short, uh, micro-pastas. So I figured we should probably just cover a couple of them at once. Are micro and mini-pastas different? Because I feel like these are mini, not micro. Yeah, I, I always, I guess micro-pasta, I guess would technically be a paragraph long. Yeah, and like a mini-pasta would be like multiple paragraphs. Yeah. But like still like super short.

[00:01:48] Mm-hmm. Yeah, but these ones are like only like a couple of paragraphs long, uh, between them. So. Yes. Yeah, I'm, I, I'd still consider like micro, also micro-pasta and mini-pasta are kind of interchangeable to a degree. So like it's, they're all short. I've got the definition of them right now. Go for it. Yeah, let's see. Let's see what, let's do it. Do it. I'm here. Kill me. Prove me wrong. I can't wait for this to show up with like different types of noodles.

[00:02:14] In horror, both terms describe micro horror fiction derived from creepypasta. A mini-pasta is a very short story, usually under three minutes, I guess to like to read. Uh, while a micro-pasta is ultra short, highly atmospheric piece of flash fiction. Okay, so I'm, I'm wrong. It's, we're actually covering, from the top, we'll start over. Or future me just added mini-pasta. Every time I go to micro-pasta. Great. I love it.

[00:02:44] Or just leave all this in and we can all learn together, even though I knew this from the get-go, just saying. Wow. Is this the energy we're bringing to the table already? I guess so. This is like computational energy here. Ah, I love it. Great. Guys, mom and dad are fighting. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. All right. So yeah, we're covering three mini-pastas by mmprat99. Um, so you can check them out over at creeppasta.wiki.

[00:03:12] Um, and uh, yeah, I guess we'll just dive into the first one. Uh, no place is unknown to darkness. Uh, I guess starting with the initial recommendations for this one. Uh, I will not recommend it. Uh, I will also not recommend it. I will also also not recommend it. All right. And we'll see why. Mm-hmm. Indeed. Starting with the rundown.

[00:03:38] So, uh, when Nair dreams, cause we never get a name for this character, uh, she becomes a strange feathered creature and flies to a majestic mountainous place with crumbling buildings overrun by wildflowers and fruit trees, as well as various wild farm creatures. Uh, it was the kind of place Nair wished she could leave her old self forever behind to live as a hermit keeping the animals as pets.

[00:04:04] Wishing she could eat one of the apples as she was taking in the sights, a scaled hand holding an apple appeared from behind her and a voice that said they, they could be her pet. That's not the accent. That's not the accent. What is the accent, uh, gamer? It's very German. Ah, yes. Yes. Yes. I'll, I'll be a pet for a line. Mm-hmm. I don't know if that's a German accent. Like I, it is for now. Yeah. Sorry.

[00:04:34] I was going to be like, I'll be a pet for a line. Although that's technically Austrian. It is Austrian. It is Austrian. Let's just quit while we're behind and move on. Yeah. But yeah, that's, that's where the story ends is basically, um, Nair is wishing she could like stay here and like even taste the apples there cause they smell so delicious.

[00:04:58] And then like a scaled hand, like brings a, brings a piece of fruit to her attention from behind and then says like, they'll be her pet. And that's where we end. So, um, I suppose we'll move on to everyone tolerance the gram inquisitions at this point. And, uh, I've got one climbing an apple tree. I wedged myself in between a, in between a thick branch and the trunk.

[00:05:27] So it's hard to tell that for what I, what, what's wrong in my pronunciation of it, but in from in space between, uh, doesn't need to be capitalized because it is in the story itself. Like it's like I wedged myself capital in lowercase between. Maybe it's an L and it's in between. No, you're wrong. You're wrong. I hate you. I know I'm wrong.

[00:06:00] But yeah. So yeah, that's the, the one fix the one, the one grammar issue I've, I caught. So Mikey, these stands for evil. I have an it sentence. All right. And now an it sentence. Uh, it was late summer in the, these parts. Hey, wow. I mean, it doesn't sound wrong, but apparently Mikey grabs all this throughout the story that sort of words that they probably shouldn't look at the answer, but.

[00:06:28] Uh, cause basically the highlight that there's always better words to use. Oh, it doesn't sound wrong. No. When you read it like that, the, it is described. It was a. I don't think of the lack of context. That's the problem. It's just like grammatically. You shouldn't do that for reasons. I don't know. Yeah. Maybe cause it's like a cop out, like an easy way to start a sentence. Mm hmm. It did that. It did this. I don't know.

[00:06:57] I should probably look it up, but I'm not going to bother. We do. We do. We do often do this more for like the sillies than for the serious critique. Yes. Yep. Um, but yeah, gamer. Um, what's the grammar in yellow? Yeah, I got one. One day I was traveling along a Creek that meandered its way through flower filled meadows bordered by conifers.

[00:07:22] So my problem here is the fact that it says one day, um, because I assumed that, um, this was near in their waking life because it said day as in daytime. Oh, cause previously it said, um, at night they transform. Um, but like granted after this, the paragraph says like, um, my body was still in bed back in my world.

[00:07:52] So that clarifies it's nighttime, but it says day. So it is actually dark out and I'm aware. Okay. So I'm aware that the night that's being described here is the night of a singular day. So I get it. Like one, if you say one day, that's the whole day's worth, including the night.

[00:08:16] Um, because that's just the way it works, but for clarity, it would be cleaner to say one night I was traveling because the whole story is about what happens at night. Yep. Cause in my head, it was all bright with like colorful flowers everywhere. Meanwhile, it's just pitch darkness. There could be a moon like shining light and so that, but that should be described. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:08:44] Or, you know, she could be taking a nap during the day and this is her dreaming during the day. Who knows? I don't know. But yeah, if it's night, I believe it should be said that it's night just for clarity. Fair enough. But that's all I got for a grammar. All right. Well then let's move on to actual thoughts. So I'm going to start with the image.

[00:09:09] Um, I like it, it, but it's, it's way creepier than the scaled hand with an apple at the end of the story is described. Like the story may need to ramp it up a little bit with the description of this thing. Cause like, I did not see a snake like arm, like, like an arm, like a snake with like, with like a bird's like kind of clawed or like have scaled talon kind of like, uh, like hand holding an apple.

[00:09:36] I, I heard, I, when the description we get in the actual text is, um, uh, reptilian hand. That's when a scaly hand holding an apple reached out from behind me and a simulant voice said, blah, blah, blah. Um, so that's the only description we get for it. But then the actual like image we get is a photo manipulation of like, like, it looks like a,

[00:10:01] like a snake's like body that ends in a, like, like kind of like, I guess like probably like a scale like bird talon kind of claw, like kind of hand holding an apple. The blend is pretty nice on that, honestly. It really is. Yeah. Like it's a, it's a great piece. Uh, also I like the, I like the name of it. Fiend is like friend without the R. Yes. Um, but yeah, like I, I kind of wish that was described.

[00:10:25] Like it just like an, a, let's a scale the hand holding an apple snaked around my, my, my, my neck or like, like, like a, like a constrictor and like showed me the apple it was holding. Like, yeah. Or the hand was like slithering along the ground kind of deal. Yeah. I just want that kind of like descriptor because like the photo does not match the description in the text. Yeah. Like when you, so that being said, you went in seeing that photo from the get go.

[00:10:55] True. Yeah. But even so, when you were reading it, you probably forgot about the photo and we're like, okay, so it's a lizard man. Yeah. Yeah. I definitely just pictured like a scaly, like a lizard hand. Yes. Yeah. That's, that's all I've got for the images. Like I like it, but I, it's way, it's, it's way creepier than the description we got. Yes. Um, and I'm assuming the image is what the intent is because they put the time into making the image. I have to assume that. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:11:27] Um, do you guys have anything else for the image or? No. Nope. Okay. Then I shall move on to the actual text. My nightly wanderings. I later recalled in a leather bound book kept hidden from prying police eyes. I did not know what sort of creature I was exactly whenever I went on my nightly ventures.

[00:11:49] So I was a tad confused here, um, specifically by the police eyes as in, as the seemingly seems to be someone just dreaming or of like another, maybe even better fantastical world than their waking world. But the way these sentences play out, I could also see that maybe they are like, um, they,

[00:12:15] like they, they commit some sort of crime or murders as, as the spirit creature they become when they dream. Um, and so maybe like, that's why they have to like keep their, their, their like journaling like, uh, safe from prying police eyes is like, basically like they're transforming into some kind of creature and like doing something. Um, that would be really cool as a horror setup, like horror story setup. Um, and I, I like this story.

[00:12:43] It just, I, I, I just like, like the story seems to like insinuate like, oh, like this leather bound book. Like they keep, they journal in about like these dreams, but keep it from prying eyes. So maybe like, okay, so maybe the policing eyes aren't like, like, isn't meant to be like literally policing eyes. Like maybe like policing eyes in that, like their parents or like their, uh, the authority figures in their life that like, they're keeping from prying into their, their personal writings.

[00:13:12] But part of me kind of liked the idea of like them actually keeping this journal away, like safe away from like police or authority, like law authorities, because they're actually like killing people while they sleep or while they dream. That is the assumption that I immediately came across because when it first started describing it, saying like my nightly wanderings, I later recalled blah, blah, blah, blah. I assumed that was dreams because nightly wanderings. Okay.

[00:13:42] It's probably a dream unless they're sleepwalking or something. Um, but then as soon as the cops are brought up, um, I'm immediately like, okay, it's not a dream at all. They are shape-shifting into something and they don't want to tell people. They don't want people to know. Yeah. So like right from the, the mention of police, I'm like, oh, okay, we have a shape-shifter here. Or yeah. Yeah. A shape-shifter like either like probably not bodily, like probably their spirit like leaves their body and turns into something.

[00:14:10] We've actually seen that before in other MMPrat stories. Like we've had a couple of like monster, like people that like their body is like left behind, like in a, in a comatose, like sleeping state while they become like a horrible monster that fights, that, that like kills and eats and stuff like that. Um. Right. Cause it does say that their body is left behind. Yeah. As my body was still in bed back in my world. Yeah. You're right. Yeah. But either way at the start of it, as soon as it mentioned police, I'm like, okay, we have a shape-shifter here.

[00:14:38] There's like a lycanthrope situation going on or something. But then the more it gets described, we see what's going on. But basically to try to clarify it a little bit better for you, I do think that they are trying to hide this because the police shouldn't know what's actually going on. At least that's the way I thought. Yeah. I mean, like I, I, that's what I initially thought, but I think it's more or less supposed

[00:15:03] to be like, like the police, the, uh, prying police eyes are just like this person's like parentage or like whoever's their guardian is like basically like they're, again, they're policing like kind of parentage. Uh, kind of thing. But when they shape shift, it's not like they're doing anything bad in the story. No, exactly. They're just, they're going off to like a fantasy world or kind of like sort of like this, like weird, fantastical place.

[00:15:30] Um, but like, yeah, if it had been more like, oh, like they can like, cause it describes them like transforming into some kind of like feathered creature. Uh, and then like soaring through the skies and stuff at night. So it's like, okay, so they're turning into like some kind of a harpy or something. And then like, that would have been a really interesting, like horror story of just like, again, like us getting the, the journalings of the killer of the dream killer basically. But we don't really get that in the story.

[00:15:56] It's just a person dreaming and drawing down their notes and hiding those notes or hiding those, those journals. So, um, I guess, I guess what I'm getting at here is like, I really like, liked where the, where the story seemed like it was going to go with the, with, especially with the way it was worded. But then as you kept reading the story or whatever was left, it was just like, oh, that's not the router at all. Okay. A little disappointment.

[00:16:24] Um, but then the next thing I have, uh, one of these days I told myself moodily, I'm going to summon enough willpower to shift myself completely here and live like a hermit monk. I will gather and hunt and have plenty of free time. Perhaps I'll even adopt a few pets. So this little like mini story almost reminds me of the kind of tales that Lovecraft wrote about the dreamlands.

[00:16:53] Uh, specifically there's a story that he wrote about Celeface, uh, which is like a dream city that this guy like dreams of constantly over like the course of like months or years. And then like traveling to this place and be, and like kind of like effectively being the ruler of this, this majestic dream city they lives in, um, and yearning to stay there. And then by the end of the story, like spoilers, he does achieve that goal though. It is through his waking death. Like he dies, but his spirit stays in Celeface.

[00:17:22] And there was, there's, it almost feels like, like there's a cautionary motive or a cautionary motif here in this story of not falling too heavily into fantasy, lest you abandon, uh, life altogether. There's, it's almost there in this story. Like, like it is in Celeface. Cause I think that is the, Oh, to me, like it kind of felt like it was going after, after I was, after my, my idea of like, Oh, this is going to be like the, like a dream killer kind of thing.

[00:17:52] Like we're dashed. I started like kind of seeing this part at the end of the story where it's like, Oh, like maybe this is like, like, it's trying to go with like, this person keeps dreaming of this place and they want to stay there forever. And then the story doesn't quite stick around long enough to get there. But like, there's sort of like some insinuation that maybe that's the case. Are they dreaming of a world that's not their own? Yeah. That's what kind of, I saw. Well, that's how I, that's how I interpret it. Like they're like, there are, there are somewhere far off that they, that seems to be like, am I fantastical?

[00:18:22] Maybe not like magical, but like a more wondrous, whimsical place. I thought that basically they were just astrally projecting themselves like in Shadowrun. Sorry, Mike. It could be, they could be like actually projecting to another place, but like if, whether that be on earth or somewhere else, I mean, again, like there's a scaly hand that like offers them an apple. Like that's not exactly a mundane thing. No, you're right. But it could be someone else like Nair. True. That is also, that's also true.

[00:18:51] Because they turned into like a bird lady. So this could be like a reptile man. A snake lady, a snake boy or a snake lady. Could be. Yeah. Speaking of that, my last kind of note here is actually the end with the, the, the scaly hand popping up behind her with the apple and the sibilant voice that said, I'll be your friend. I'll be your pet frulein.

[00:19:15] Um, and this would be the, this would be where the story would give us the tempting devil like entity, uh, or some of some kind, uh, for Nair, for our Nair. But alas, that's where the story ends. It's like, we don't get any further. Um, so again, this is where I like, I got like, yeah, like the story just ends abruptly like with this part and like, I can kind of see like why the, why the story would end here abruptly because like a lot of horror stories sometimes like they'll end on like

[00:19:44] a, an anti-climax like this or just like, uh, what they think is a zinger of, of just like, oh no, like, like turned up there was some kind of creature there. Like, oh no, this wondrous place that you keep going to in your dreams. Like, and now you're thinking of wanting to stay there. You just need to have that enough willpower to, to break free of your mortal world and like come here. And then like, turns out there's something here that's like trying to tempt you, but then like the story ends. So we don't get any more elaboration on what happens next.

[00:20:13] And it bugged me. Um, I was, I was a Disney princess yet again. I must have more. Um, also I learned a new word, uh, sibilant, um, which is a speech sound character. Characterized as by a high pitched hissing or hushing noise. Hmm. I did not know that. Yeah.

[00:20:38] So my whole, like, so the Austrian voice, like, well, how do you get it? It doesn't quite work. Yeah. It would have to be like, it's like, uh, yeah. So it would have, it would have to be more like, I'll be all pet for a line. Like that kind of like high pitch and a little bit more like hissy or hush or like kind of like, uh, yeah. Hushy, like a little bit more of like a whisper. Yeah. That's, that's all I've got for, for the story.

[00:21:07] So Mikey, these stands for evil. Yeah. So yeah, I got that. This was a, um, sort of astral projection or whatever. Yeah. Um, and like that, they make it out like this world is the best thing since sliced bread. Um, so, and saying that they want to stay there or find a way to stay there indefinitely. Yeah.

[00:21:35] Um, and then they get offered the apple from the serpent. And the only thing I can think of is the apple of Eden. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So this story ends too soon because I want to see like we're explaining paradise and then I want to see the apple get eaten and then nightmares. Oh my God.

[00:22:05] Yes. Yeah. That would be really good if the, like she tastes the apple and suddenly her, her personal paradise, this, this personal dream world that she wants to live in forever, um, starts twisting or starts like changing for the worse. And maybe like, again, like maybe she realizes, oh, the, maybe, maybe the world I lived in, like I was, I was living in and look, awaken ain't as bad as this.

[00:22:32] And after, uh, taking the apple when she would normally be waking up, she just doesn't, she's like locked in this form in this hellscape now. Yeah, exactly.

[00:23:01] Mm-hmm. And then she's like, uh, run by like flower meadows and trees and long grass and like filled with stray, like ducks, peacocks and cats. Like, is it like just like a modern, like, or like an urban hellscape that she lives in? Like an urban, like shithole that she lives in? That like, she dreams of like the countryside or like the majestic hill, like the majestic mountainside thing.

[00:23:25] But like, yeah, she's just suffering from ennui and just like escaping to this place that's different than her boring life. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, that's the end of my actual thoughts. Yeah. It could have gone so much more into the nightmare, but. Even just a couple of lines would like sell it. Yeah.

[00:23:53] Like the tempter, like, so this, this character, like at the end, like seems like a tempter of some kind of like definitely that kind of archetype. So, but like they show up and do the charismatic stuff, but then we cut before we get the, uh, the flip, right? Like we need, we need to stick around long enough for her to like, for, for this guy to reveal himself to be like something, not like a pure intent. Yeah.

[00:24:19] Like the snake, uh, person did their, um, uh, uh, what's the word I just had in my head. That's gone now. Gone forever. Persuasion check. Yeah. But we did not see the result of the persuasion check. Yeah. The, the dice is still rolling, but unfortunately like the story ends before we get to find out where it landed on. Yeah. Cause again, like it could have also had like, we could have gotten like the ending here, like just stops.

[00:24:45] So, but we could have gotten like, maybe she falls for this whole apple thing or maybe she's like, what the fuck is that? Holy shit. Why are you, why is your hand a snake? Like, yeah, we don't get that because the story just ends. That's why I kind of feel like this is this one, this story particular might be a piece of micro fiction because it is a piece of flash fiction. Like it's here and then it's just gone. It leaves too early. I guess that's what I'm saying. Yeah. I don't know.

[00:25:15] I don't want to split hairs with you, whatever. But yeah, I guess if that's, that's it for Mikey, a gamer. Um, I got a little bit mainly, uh, most of your note cultist was most of my note as well. The relevance of the title. Oh yeah. Okay. Um, no places unknown to dark. That's why like, maybe like, like, like sort of like we're going with like the biblical, like reference that we can kind of see with the snake and the, with the, the scaled hand and the, the apple.

[00:25:44] I was like, maybe that is like no places unknown to darkness. Like maybe that creature is like, again, like kind of like a devil creature, like the darkness, like, or like kind of just showing up. Um, or it could even be sort of like a metaphorical kind of like title for like dreams, like no places unknown to the darkness of sleep. Like, cause we dream of these places. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:26:10] To be a little bit more poetic and like, you know, to actually like use my creative writing, uh, uh, my creative writing classes from back in college or my art, my art degree. Yeah. You might be right on that one. Yeah. Uh, the only other part that I feel like we should bring up is like, I'm glad that there is the mention of, I need to hide this from prime.

[00:26:35] Police eyes because that at least got me thinking, Oh, this is probably not a dream then. Cause if that wasn't there, I would have assumed this whole thing as a dream and none of it's real at all. Cause like it's, it is already kind of in that dream logic thing anyways, because she's sleeping in bed and then projects her, her mind to some other place.

[00:27:05] Whether she's actually there or not. I don't know. It could just be all a dream, but just the fact that it said police eyes, like made me think like she actually has to hide whatever she's doing. Um, when she's literally manifest manifesting as this other thing, because like if the police and the government know about this, they'll capture or do experiments. Who knows? You know? Yeah. That that's certainly a way to take it. Hmm. But yeah, that's about all I got left. All right.

[00:27:35] Uh, then I suppose we will move on to final thoughts for this one. Um, yeah, I'm, I'm still not going to recommend it. And I, and I hate to say that only because I feel like more could have been written to make more of a solid story. Um, like it, it ends abruptly, but like not in a good way. Like that horror sometimes does it, it ends before the story's finished. It doesn't end in stops. Yeah, exactly.

[00:28:02] Um, it feels like almost like the seed of something more that was, that was going to happen, but then we don't get that. So yeah, that's why I'm not recommending it is it's not a complete story. Uh, Mikey. For me, this all from me happened in the dream world or astral projection or what have you. Yeah. And nothing really happens. It stops before something happens. Yeah.

[00:28:31] Like it even, it even, it even stops before, um, she does break free of her, her mortal shell and like lives here. But then like, okay, congrats. You live in a dream world and you've left your home. You've, you've left, uh, your dead body in the real, in the, in the waking world. Like it's that kind of thing that like, like the story cellophase, like it's sort of like that sort of, that's where that one went for.

[00:28:55] Like the guy dreamed of the city so much every night and like wish to be there and like live there forever to the point where he took his own life at the end of the story. And it's like, that's the moral of the story. It's like, like the, the, the tragedy of like this guy dreamed of like this magical place for so long that he just, he fell into the fantasy and left the waking world behind.

[00:29:15] Okay. But the thing is with this story, the main character is not permanently in this other world as this, uh, bird-like, uh, being. Cause it says each night I soared free. No, for sure. Yeah. So during the day they wake up and they're in the normal mundane world. Yeah. I, I'm just saying like this story starts where that, that other story kind of like goes. So it felt like it was going in that direction, but then like we've said, it just stops.

[00:29:45] So we don't get, uh, this way or that sort of conclusion as to whether it was going to follow through with that path line or if it was going to do something different. But yeah. So I'm not going to recommend this. Fair enough. Uh, gamer. Uh, yeah. Ditto. Um, for basically all the things that you guys also said.

[00:30:07] Um, and like, while I got like the very clear, like biblical reference in this one and all that, it's not really even a scary premise, at least with what's there. And it's not long enough to like sink my teeth into this to get to whatever horrible fate would be befalling Nair. Um, the, the ways that we thought about it as like Nair bites the apple and then the world turns to shit. And then that gets all described and then they're stuck there.

[00:30:36] Like that is a way better ending that would actually make this feel like a proper, like creepypasta. And it wouldn't even have to be that much longer to get that, like kind of hit, you know? No, not at all. Um, but as a story that sits on its own right now, cause that's the other thing. Like I was reading this as the first of our three. So I was giving it the benefit of the doubt being like, okay, maybe the next one is actually what continues after this spoilers. It does not.

[00:31:02] Um, so as a story on its own, it doesn't really, um, present a whole lot to be digested aside from the apple. Yeah. But yeah, so still not, I wouldn't recommend it, unfortunately. Yep. In its current state. Yeah. In its current state. Like, and I think these ones are some of her, like are some of M and Pratt's like earlier stories. Cause like they're at the top of the list as far as they're all, they all came out in around 2012. Um, based on the, the history of when they came out.

[00:31:32] So yeah, these are all fairly early pieces that she was posting on creeppost.wiki. They're seeds of thoughts. Yeah. And that might be just what they are. It's just like their ideas that they wanted to commit to text to just so they existed. So absolutely. They like, and again, we, we are being pretty like, we're, we're being critical here. Like, again, like we, we aren't recommending this one, but like we see the potential it has. Oh yeah, for sure. Well, I just want to, just want to make sure that's no, or make sure that's more like clarified.

[00:32:02] Yeah. In its current state, I wouldn't direct someone to this page to read it because it's an anti-climax that goes nowhere, unfortunately. But the premise itself is interesting enough that with a small amount of work just to describe what happens after that scene, um, it would actually be upon read. Yeah, for sure. So yeah, I guess, uh, yeah. Three non-recommendations for no place is unknown to darkness. Uh, and I suppose we'll move on to the ghost tower.

[00:32:32] All right. Yes. And we will move on to the ghost tower. So, uh, initial recommendation for this one for me, I'm going to partially recommend it. Uh, I am not going to recommend it. Okay. I'm going to fully recommend it. Interesting. So we're running the gambit on this one. We'll see. I was not expecting that. One way or another. I was expecting, I was expecting Mikey's non-recommendation.

[00:33:02] I was also expecting you to either go non-recommendation or at least partial. Wow. So I'm very curious. I can't be more positive than you, right? No, no, no, no. I don't. It's just, again, like, I just. I need it now. Mom and dad are fighting again. It's fine. Uh, all right. So let's, I'm, I'm honestly genuinely curious to see what your, what, like your take on it, but, uh, we should continue on, but with the rundown.

[00:33:32] Uh, so a, this is a second person perspective story, uh, where we, the reader are told to imagine an empty, but still operational hotel tower like structure. Um, the last structure truly standing in the ruins of law civilization. Uh, even despite the automated accommodations and wondrous locations within this building, there is something unsettling here.

[00:33:57] Like something or someone is watching us, though we never see anyone else. Then we're asked to imagine waking up in the middle of the night to a sound, uh, at the door. And when we peer through the peephole of our room, we see a pale, or we see several pale gaunt figures with yellow eyes staring back at us. The end. So yeah, that is the ghost tower in a nutshell.

[00:34:27] There's obviously a lot more description, but we'll kind of get into that in some of our comments and quotes. Um, but yeah, uh, I suppose we'll move on first off though with everyone tolerance the grammar positions. Times two. Are you gonna speed it up every time? Maybe. So yeah, I have one again for this one. Um, you've seen other living things, genetically recreated animals like the moas.

[00:34:56] So that's all one sentence or like it keeps going, but like, that's, there's no like, like punctuation in there. So, and I feel like there should be a colon punctuation mark after things. So like you've seen other living things, colon genetically created or genetically recreated animals like the moas. And then it goes on and on with, with a little bit of a list. I'd almost say you have seen other living things, genetically recreated. Oh.

[00:35:26] Animals like the moas and the massive host eagles, kestrels, like then start doing the list. Yeah. No, I, I like that one. Yeah. Like you've seen. Yeah. I could, I can go for that. Yeah. Maybe even. Yeah. Like maybe have like, yeah, you have seen other living things, comma, genetically recreated animals. Yeah. And I like yours. Yours is definitely a, a, an improvement on what I was going with. So.

[00:35:54] Both of ours are better than what's there. Cause it needs some, some sort of punctuation there. Yeah. Cause it just dives right into like the list and doesn't even give us any kind of like warning. Yeah. Um, but yeah, uh, that's, uh, that's my grammar acquisition. So Mikey, these stands for evil. I have a conjunction junction. All right. And next stop conjunction junction. It must have been a very remarkable place at the height of its time.

[00:36:23] Although you will find that hard to believe now, just one functional building out of hundreds of abandoned weed choked shells and everywhere you go, you can feel the weight of countless eyes watching you, but no one else is in sight. Finn. Wow. Yeah. That's actually fairly succinct. Just a mini little rundown of what actually goes on. Yeah.

[00:36:54] Ain't nothing too silly in that one. Yeah. No. I already told you why he does it. Yeah. It's up front or wrong. Yeah. Exactly. All right. Um, gamer, do we have a grammar in yellow? Uh, yeah, one, uh, you were the only person at the swimming pool, the only one at the miniature golf course and the underground mall arcade. So for me, I feel that this should triple down on the solitary mentions.

[00:37:24] Um, because like it already did it for swimming pool and golf course, but then it's just like, and the underground mall. So I, like, I feel like being mentioned as the only one at each three locations should be mentioned all three times or just the first one. Um, yeah. Cause then you'd be the only one at the swimming pool, the miniature golf course and the underground mall or the only person at the swimming pool.

[00:37:51] The only one at the major golf course and the only one at the underground mall. Or like if I can just add one little correction or one little like possible, like, um, improvement to what you're saying. Um, like since it, since it has like a different, like word for like, like in the first one, it's like, you're the only person at the swimming pool, the only one at the miniature golf course. And then the last one is like in the only soul in the underground mall arcade. Yeah. That's like, yeah.

[00:38:21] Just have like an extra, like descriptor word for like the person. That might've been what happened to like, they wanted to do three. It's just like, I can't think of a third one. Fuck it. Let's go. Let's move on. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Cause I, I was like trying, like, as soon as you started like going into this, I was like, oh yeah, that's really good. Like triple down or not at all. But like, I, and I was like, had my, my, my mind was like racing, trying to like, think of like another singular individual, like kind of descriptor rather than person or one.

[00:38:50] Being the only being. There's, there's options, but either way. Yes. That's, that's my note. All right. Then I suppose we move on to actual thoughts. And of course I have to, I have to address the animal in the, the elephant in the room or the, the illustration in the story. Um, I love it. Like I love, I love the illustration work of that. M.M. Pratt does. Um, like I, I come to really like her style of art of like the way she illustrates.

[00:39:18] Um, we get a pretty cool look at the gaunt pale faces peering back through the people in this one. Um, I actually had to look back at the text to make sure that like, it was, uh, it was not like a singular person that we were seeing. Cause I, for some reason I thought it was one being that was staring back at us, but I really, that it says like, um, and peering back at you are gaunt faces. So there's plural faces.

[00:39:42] And it also mentions like earlier on that, like you feel the presence of multiple eyes on you, not just one person stalking you. So yeah, I, I really liked that. Um, I wonder if, uh, obviously like the, the other person below, like, so it's almost done like a comic book, like kind of either a comic book style or like where it's like two separate images, but they're connected together.

[00:40:04] Cause like the top image is of the gaunt faces and then below is like, uh, what we presume to be near, um, I guess us in the, because it's second person perspective, um, walking around in this, uh, walking around in this, this place. And, uh, walking around, it's like sneaking around a corner. Yeah. Um, probably like sneaking up to like, to the, either to the people or like, maybe like this is a scene where she's like getting in, uh, like, like she's getting that feeling of being watched.

[00:40:33] So she's being a little bit more cautious as she wanders the, the tower or the structure. Um, and, uh, you know what? I, I can't help, but, but, uh, I mean, the way she's, she, she does look like the descriptions we've gotten for a certain Gurdine protagonist from other, uh, M.M. Pratt stories. I don't know what you're talking about. Do you, do you actually not? Are you being, are you being sarcastic? I can't tell. You'll never know. But for those who are unaware, go ahead and tell them.

[00:41:02] Um, I believe this to be, uh, I believe this to be, I think her name is Kester. Uh, I'm actually scrolling desperately to one of the other stories to find her name. Uh, hang on a second. These stories do have millions of characters, so this will be difficult. Her name? Well, yeah. So I think, I think her name is Kes. It might just be the proto Kes. Like before Kes was actually Kes. Yeah. Or just, or like, maybe this is like one of her first stories, like that were, she was in.

[00:41:31] Um, but yeah, so I, I was just, again, very, very cool. Also some of the naming, actually I'm going to, my, this kind of goes into, dives into my first actual, like quote and comment of the story. Um, so I'll just, I'll just going to pull this in right now. Um, watching the old program stored on the crystal memory tapes, you laugh at the various warnings made by various Nigh tribal groups and Sifrasian jungle guides.

[00:42:00] You snicker at even the hushed, cautious words of the various demonic and witchborn traitors. Ah, I recognize some of these groups and words from the Curtisville and Hogan's gap tales of, of later, of later year. Um, cause yeah, like Sifrasian, uh, or Sifrasia, I think, or, uh, Sifrasian are, is mentioned in some of the Kes stories that we've, we've heard. I think she like ventured from there or she has like a weapon that's like a Sifrasian tech.

[00:42:30] Um, and some of the later stories of the, uh, that, that are, she's mentioned in as a pro tag. Also Nigh, um, are, I think is actually the name of one of her friend or is the, is the name of the people of one of her friends in some of the Curtisville and Hogan's gap stories. Yeah. It was familiar. Yeah. Like I think Megra from the shadow fog and firelight is a Nigh. And like, there's been some like, I think there was also like a Nigh goth girl in some of the other tales we've covered actually this year.

[00:42:57] Um, uh, revolving around a certain Halloween party that never was. No, still mad about that. Honestly, I have a little too. I really want that story. Or the aberration that's in the aberration series actually. Yeah. Hmm. That's what it was called. Yeah. So yeah, I was like, Oh, I recognize these words. Oh, so this is like, again, like this is like, I'm, I'm just wondering like, this is like where it all kind of starts. Um, again, I'm not entirely sure like which stories came first or, or, or later, but like the, these ones all came out in 2012.

[00:43:26] So like, uh, I think some of the, the ones that we've covered in the past were like more recent, like at least a couple of years after that. So yeah, it's interesting. I just like the, I like seeing like going back and seeing, uh, like proto ideas and concepts and characters, um, from, from others, from stories of, of a writer that we've been covering for some time. But, uh, yeah, no, again, good to see Grudy, uh, see a potential like a Kess appearance here.

[00:43:56] Um, even if it is through the illustration and like, we, we're just like kind of living through her eyes in the actual text of the story. Mm-hmm. Um, and on that aspect as well, uh, we have, uh, this comment and this quote and comment. So the quote is a nice place for a vacation. You think living amid Calpurnia, the once great capital and culture, cultural heart of the Simac islands.

[00:44:22] It must have been a very remarkable place at the height of its time. Although you will find that hard to believe now, just one functional building out of hundreds of abandoned weak, weed choked shells. And so like, as I kept going and like describing this place in this, like this, this tower, like among ruins and how like, this is like the last like vestige of this prop of this like civilization. I was really digging the second person POV of like weird fiction.

[00:44:52] Cause again, like similar to the other story, like where it kind of reminded me of like a Lovecraft, like dream cycle story. This one definitely reminded me of like pulp fiction from, from the, from like the early days of like, of like the weird fiction scene, like the kind of things that Lovecraft and like his, his contemporaries were like writing. Mm-hmm. Just like, again, lost civilizations or like an ancient city, like, and like the, you're in like the last, the last like sentinel of an, of a dead civilization as like these weird

[00:45:22] creatures like roam around it. And the, and the second person perspective is interesting. Cause again, I, you don't often see that in stories. No. So yeah, I was just really, I was digging the way it was written, uh, early on. Um, then the next thing I have here that also kind of like had me digging the story. You are the only person at the swimming pool, the only one at the miniature golf course and the underground mall arcade.

[00:45:50] And everywhere you go, you can feel the weight of countless eyes watching you, but no one else is in sight. So this had some inklings earlier on, but this just went straight backrooms level for me. Hmm. A decade or so before the backrooms concept even popped up on the scene. Yeah.

[00:46:13] Like this building, like, like, like obviously the concept of like the concepts that like the backrooms kind of like expanded on and exploded into the, onto the internet weren't like brand spanking new when the backroom showed up. Like there's always been ideas like this, like, I think mostly from like the SCP foundation and even like beyond that, there have always been like kind of liminal space horror, like

[00:46:41] or ambient, ambient, ambient level horror kind of stuff and like ruin porn stuff. Yeah. I was just going to say like, look at any story that has the main character just investigating like a rundown building, like a, some, some place that there's not supposed to be anyone there and then there actually isn't, but it's still scary because of that. Yeah. Like again, that the whole idea of liminality is older than the idea of liminal spaces,

[00:47:08] at least like the modern version of liminal spaces, but it's still just really cool. Like, cause as I was reading this, like, oh man, like this is kind of just like a liminal space backrooms level story, but like way earlier than backrooms, uh, kind of stuff. Yeah. Like I could see this being like level, I don't know, whatever, like level nine, five, zero two of the backrooms. Uh, but if you're basing it off the backrooms of the wiki of like the backrooms wiki, um,

[00:47:38] concept, but yeah, just like abandoned tropical, um, hotel basically. Uh, and yeah, like just the idea of like, yeah, you're just like, cause also like just, I love the, again, it's, it really captures that idea of like, you're, you're the only person in this, in this building and you're like kind of taking advantage of it. Like you're basically, it's like a survival horror kind of thing. Like you're taking advantage of like the automated systems that give you food and water and, and

[00:48:04] accommodations, but you feel, you still feel that there are, there is a presence watching you, but you can never see where they are. Like that's the, that's the whole like thing of liminal, of the liminal space guy stuff. It's like, you're in this place and it's really cool, but it's also, you feel a threat while you're there. Yeah. You don't know for a fact that there's no one there. Yeah, exactly.

[00:48:28] Like you've never seen anybody else, but you feel like a predator is prowling around. And yeah, I, I really dug that part of the story as well. Just like, oh, that's, and maybe it's just because like in the last couple of years, like we've really gotten hooked in with like the back rooms and like liminal space stuff, but like, moi, like this is like a perfect time to read this story technically because of that, of that element in it. And then I'll move on to the next thing I have.

[00:48:59] Now imagine this, you're up late at night trying to calm your frazzled nerves by reading howling winds were rattling the storm shutters on the ghost tower credits. No, no, not quite, but very close. Um, and speaking of very close, like very close to the end of the story, we get this nervously. You tiptoe up and peer through the people and peering back at you are gaunt faces, the

[00:49:28] color of bleached bone with sickly orange, yellow eyes. And that's it. Not, not even a, what do you do then sort of like thing? Like feeling there should be more and I want more. Like not as badly, I think as like the second, as like the previous story, but like, I want more. Yeah. I don't know if you guys can tell, but like, I'm like, I'm like flailing every time I do that. It sounds like it.

[00:50:00] Um, but yeah, no, I, I really wish there had been some more, but like, it's, it's not a bad like ending. Cause like, it's like, oh, like that's like, that's the zinger it's trying to get is like, like you get to the door, you, you, you hear a noise, you get to the, the, the people and you look through and there you finally see what's been, what's been stalking you. What's been watching you in this, in this seemingly empty place. Uh, and then the story cuts to credits.

[00:50:26] Granted what described there sounds like it could be more threatening than the image, which is just like three dudes. Yeah. Although I don't really like the, the, the title of that image or terror. Like that's, that's, that's like real world, like kind of creepy is like gentlemen prefer blondes. Is she blonde though? It's like very white. She's like silver. Yeah. I think it's like bleach blonde though. I think we always, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're right.

[00:50:56] I think anyway, that's the other thing that makes it make sense. So yes. Yeah. But yeah, so that's all, that's all I've got for the, uh, uh, for the ghost tower, uh, for actual thoughts. So Mikey, these stands for evil. All right. Um, so. Based on the image and the descriptions we get, I don't think there are any ghosts in this story.

[00:51:25] I mean, it might've been more metaphorical ghosts. Like the, like these, these gaunt figures might just be like the, the remnant ghosts of the civilization. I'm doing in quotes. Uh, how do you know that those guys aren't goats or not goats? Ghosts. They look more like robots or androids. Which could be like, you could say that like to be poetic, they could be like the ghosts of this civilization that fell.

[00:51:52] If they're like, they're the remnants, like they're the things left behind from this civilization and what are ghosts, but the, the remnant energies of a, of a, of a living person. Like these guys are the remnants of this once living civilization. Yeah. That dude in the front has like a segmented neck, like Colossus's arm. Yeah. Hmm. I didn't realize that until you asked me to look. Yeah. Although, yeah, that could either be like their, his actual neck or it could just be like a

[00:52:20] piece of like some kind of like, um, some kind of like clothing article, but, or jewelry perhaps even. But I do like, I do like your take on it. Like they're just synths that like are like they're because they outlived their, their, their creators and they're just kind of like walking around, stalking around. They're like staring pretty like blankly. Mm-hmm. Yeah. They're the, uh, robot housekeepers for the, uh, hotel. Hmm.

[00:52:50] Yeah. Cause yeah, I did say that that's a thing. So really we're just missing a voicing housekeeping. At the end. Ruin all of the potential creepiness immediately. Housekeeping. You need new towel? No, no. I clean. Thank you family guy for Consuela. I think. Yeah.

[00:53:20] Um, yeah. So this whole, uh, thing also reminded me of an anime, uh, which is called Apocalypse Hotel. No, I'm not familiar with that one. Uh, well, basically it's where there's an android that has control of a hotel and the robots

[00:53:45] in it to keep everything prim and proper for when humans return. Um, because humans left the planet because the earth became uninhabitable. Um, so the premise of Pocopia. Um, so, so, but, and it, it fits this perfectly because there's this one hotel in a city that's

[00:54:14] perfect where all the buildings around it are crumbling. Yeah. Like they, they, they focused all their efforts on preserving this one blue building. And actually that would make sense because this building is basically like a habitat for people. So it makes sense that they would try to preserve at least one of them for the people when they get back. Yep. If they ever come back. And then like the tragedy is that they're never coming back because the civilization's likely like long dead or like they've just abandoned this place.

[00:54:44] Except the fact that there's a human there right now. Yeah. But I mean, is this person, again, we, we don't know the circumstance of why this person's here. Like this could be a sole survivor who's like woken up here and under some mysterious circumstances, they could be a traveler who's found this place. Mm. Yeah. Uh, to know my actual thoughts. All right. Uh, gamer. So, um, immediately when I first started reading it, I'm like, oh, this is a second person story. That's neat.

[00:55:12] Um, because as you said before, that barely ever happens. Um, but what was cool about me is what it made the story feel like. Um, especially because the story kind of stops at the end instead of ending, but it's kind of fitting. If you view it this way, this is a primer to a tabletop game. Oh yeah. Actually. Yeah. You, it's all, you're doing this, you're doing that. You check the, uh, peephole and there's dudes there.

[00:55:43] Go describe your characters. Yeah. You like that? Yeah. That's like the opener, like the intro stuff. And then like, we, we just started media res like, or not, maybe not media res exactly, but like, yeah, like, like you said, like this is basically the setup and then players actually are able to do something. The cinematic's over. Players are actually able to do something now. Yes. Create your character. Go. You're at the character select screen. Yeah. Oh wait. So are the, the gaunt figures, the players as they've like, they're, they're playing slates.

[00:56:12] Like they're, the reason why they're gray and gone is because they're just like the template. Oh, maybe that if you view it that way too. Yeah. Or yeah. Or are we supposed to be playing the, like the Kess character who's like looking through the people? Well, if you do this, you do that. So I'm assuming Kess. That's true. Yeah. That's the way I saw it anyways. Yeah. But yeah. Um, and in regards, in regards to the. Second person nature of the story, I feel the art showing who Nair is meant to be is

[00:56:42] kind of odd. Um, basically just like, because like, this is one of those situations where if the main character needs to be drawn, they should probably just be a silhouette at best because it's meant to be, this is you experiencing this, you know? Um, but when you get a clear visual that you're not you, it's her name is you basically at this point. Um, but yeah.

[00:57:08] Uh, and honestly, like as cool as the art is, I feel like she isn't needed to be like, she doesn't need to be included in that image because it doesn't really have anything to do with what happens in the story because she's not living in like a, a log cabin, which is basically kind of how that, uh, interior wall looks like. Um, she's not like checking through the, uh, uh, the people or anything like that. So I don't really get the connection a whole lot. Yeah.

[00:57:35] Like I could say like, I could maybe like devil's advocate that like the, the walls are just like wood paneling kind of thing. So like maybe it's just supposed to be that she's just in a spot of the, of the building that's supposed to be rustic. But yeah, she's also looking over around a corner cautiously, not actually like looking through a peep hole, which yeah. So it almost feels like we just need the second, the top half of this image to really like, or like the second half of the image is what's going to happen next. Like, Oh, okay. Those guys are scary. I'm going to sneak out of here, but we don't get the sneak. No.

[00:58:07] Yeah. It almost, when initially I almost thought the illustration was actually like from something else that she'd been working on. And then like, they use that for the, the characters, but I also, I, it could just as easily be like for this story. It's just, there was more perhaps to the story, like to M.M. Pratt and we just, it doesn't quite translate in the story because of the second, the second person perspective POV. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, that's most of what I have to say for notes, honestly, or at least stuff that hasn't

[00:58:37] already been brought up. Okay. Uh, then I suppose we'll move on to final thoughts for the ghost tower. Uh, like I said before, I'm, I'm still going to partially recommend that I'm going to recommend it because I really liked the description and the flavor of this like fantastical situation, like this almost like fantastical survival horror situation and the, the creepy liminal vibes that the story did, like the story gave us.

[00:59:02] Um, I just wish there was more, uh, especially like as the ending, the ending isn't as bad as, um, as what happened with the previous, uh, story, but this one, it does still end. And, and I want more, so let me have more. Uh, so I will only partially recommend this one. It was getting there.

[00:59:27] Like each so far, like the previous story won't recommend this one, partially recommend this one has, has a, had a stronger narrative to it than the previous. I think it means the next one you will fully recommend, right? Spoilers. Spoilers. That would be spoilers. You're right. Yep. You guys have to stick around to find out. Yeah. Tune in to our third act. Um, but yeah, so that's, that's my, my final thoughts for the ghost tower. I will partially recommend.

[00:59:56] Mikey, these stands for evil. Uh, well, because in my mind, there are no ghosts in this story. So no ghost means no recommendation. Wow. But it was metaphorical. They were so hard to please. He really is. Well, when you have ghost tower, it's in the name. I demand ghosts.

[01:00:25] I demand literal ghosts. I want spookums. I think it's okay. I'm pretty sure you mentioned it before, but it's basically like all the towers around it are dead and covered in like vines and stuff. And this one is still thriving. So to the outside person who hasn't gone in to investigate it, they're probably thinking that one is haunted and the ghosts are still keeping it running. Or it's a ghost tower.

[01:00:55] Like some towns are ghost towns, like barely, barely occupied at best. Like that is the description of a ghost town. Like ghost towns. Some ghost towns aren't necessarily like completely like devoid of occupancy. Sometimes there are like one or two people still living in them. So that could be why this one's called a ghost tower is because, and also ghost tower, ghost town. I mean, they have the same, like same, uh, um, abbreviation.

[01:01:22] You should make a YouTube channel called ghost tower living. It's like Sarah Gordo. The guy who like is living in that ghost town, his channel. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Ghost tower living. Yeah. Yeah. And it's just like, Hey, it just wasn't funny. No, no, no, no. I just didn't get the reference. I didn't realize like ghost town living is the guy's like YouTube channel. So I do get it now. I do get it now. Great. And I do.

[01:01:48] I was like, Hey, it's, Hey, it's Kes here living, living my best life in the ghost towers in this ghost tower of the, uh, Safrasian ruins or the Simac ruins. I like that idea. That actually would be a really interesting idea for a story. It's just like, you're just living in like a, the, the last vestige of a, of a lost civilization. Yeah. You either learn to survive here or you die elsewhere. Yeah.

[01:02:14] Well, I would go out, I would go out beyond the, the walls, the, beyond the borders of this tower, but like there's a bunch of like genetically engineered raptors and T-Rexes. Mm. So yeah, I'm not doing that. I'm just going to stay here. It's, it's like, uh, what's that? It's like dead, the premise of dead Island where it's like a hotel, but zombies. Mm. Anyway. So for me, I, I found that this one did a lot with the word count that it has.

[01:02:43] Uh, I dug the second person's perspective of this and like the small bit of lore that we get about this world in such a short amount of time. Yeah. Cause like this one, especially compared to the last one, there's like no wasted words. It's all describing and setting up this situation, this world that's fucked up beyond belief in one way or another. Um, and like, for example, like, I want to know what the hell is the deal with the red death. Then like, why is this one tower still active?

[01:03:12] Are the ghosts friend shaped or not? You know, like these are things that I want to know, but just because the story leaves me wanting to know these questions or these answers rather to these questions doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the read the first, uh, the first way through. Yeah. Cause I feel like I said, in the short amount of time that it stayed, it actually described a lot. Like I could feel like a whole living, like world that's in this situation because like

[01:03:41] in the past everyone died because of the red death or something, uh, 60 years ago it said. And then she's like living in this, in this city, but like, this is the only one that's still active and it's just maintaining itself. But why, you know? So I want to know more. Um, but it is an interesting enough read that I enjoyed it. So I'm still fully recommending it. Um, but I would not turn down a sequel to this at all. Yeah. Or an elaboration.

[01:04:12] Like, yeah, yeah. Cause while it's not like directly scary, it still has the horror vibes of a post apocalypse situation and just trying to survive. Yeah. So, yeah, I guess, um, uh, a partial recommendation, a non-recommendation, and then a full recommendation. Um, for the ghost tower. So, uh, the stories are getting better. It seems.

[01:04:42] But, uh, let's get onto the, the last of our stories for today. Um, that is the innermost house. So, uh, before we get too far ahead, uh, my initial recommendation for this one is I recommend it. Uh, I am angrily not recommending it. Okay. Angrily so. Curious? I'm just normally not recommending it.

[01:05:09] I didn't realize that there were like, there was an anger tier of that as well. There was an emotional, like, depth to it. Yeah. Is there like a joyful tier if on a fully recommended as well? Well, I mean, so like my recommendation might be like, because like there's something personal that I, I latched onto for this one, but like, we'll get to that. Um. Boilers. Yeah. But yeah, I'm, I'm curious now about the angry non-recommendation. Yeah. More than like, yeah. Like, like, like I'm not even like afraid of it. I'm just like curious.

[01:05:39] Mm-hmm. Um, but we'll, we'll, we'll get there, I suppose. So let's start with the rundown for this one. Uh, so when Nair was 11 or 12, her family took her to Clam Beach to collect driftwood for stow fuel and building materials. Uh, while there they found a house just sitting there seemingly empty and facing the ocean. They never went in, but Nair began to imagine that if they had gone in, what,

[01:06:06] if they had found it to be, what if they had found it to be a portal to a multiverse of other worlds? Uh, despite this whimsy and wonder, Nair also cautions in this imaginative supposition of what sinister things might also be lurking and waiting for the curious to venture forward. Fin. That was the innermost house. In a nutshell. Uh, and I'll start with, uh, Taller at the Grappler Consciousness 3! Ahem.

[01:06:36] Uh, I'm gonna start with this one here. There was no metal gate blocking vehicle access so people could drive their big SUVs on the beach and take what they want. So this might be, like, just like, I'm not gonna die on this hill, but I feel like it should be, like, wanted, like, and take what they wanted versus take what they want. Might be like a past tense, present tense sort of thing that I have an issue with, but... Uh, I don't know.

[01:07:03] It seems fine to me, but it seems fine the other way too, so... Yeah. I'm not gonna die on this hill, but... No, no. Just when I was reading it, like, it felt like it should have had a wanted, but... One thing I feel about that line is, I think it needs a comma, where it says, um, there was no metal gate blocking vehicle access, comma, so people could drive their big SUVs, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. No, actually, that... Yeah, I also noticed that as I was rereading it for this bit, so, yeah. Mm-hmm.

[01:07:31] Um, but that's all I've got for Grammar Inquisition, so, Mikey, the East Ends for Evil. Uh, I have an It's story. All right, uh, and now an It's story with Mikey, the East Ends for Evil. It was a house. It may sound great until you consider what might be lurking on the other side of that particular door. It's... Wow, that is an even more succinct denotis.

[01:08:04] Wow. I mean, you don't know what the sound is. Maybe you're just, like, walking up to a house, and, like, you hear, like, the sounds of a party going on inside. It's like, oh, yeah, fuck yeah, bud. But then it's like, you know, but you don't want to go in, because you don't know what's actually going on inside, and there's, like, blood sacrifice shit happening. Oh, wow. All right, gamer. Uh, where's your grammar in yellow? Sorry. I did one. Sorry. No, where's your grammar in yellow? What... Do you have a grammar in yellow?

[01:08:33] I don't. Okay. All right. It's awful presumptuous. Like, where's the grammar in yellow? Come on. You gotta have it. I mean, I definitely chimed in with mine, so I still got one. Yeah. With the comma situation, so I helped. I'm helping. All right. All right. On to actual thoughts, then. Gonna start with the photo here, and this is actually probably one of the few things I don't like about this story. Okay. Why not? Because that is not the same house described in the story.

[01:09:03] So, the story describes the house, not a crude hippie hut weaved together from driftwood or sprawling Victorian, but a simple one-story wooden-framed house with a shingle roof. The front of its face to the ocean, or the front of it faced the ocean, and it had either red or green trim. So, if we look at this photo of this house, that is not a shingle roof. Is it not? Is that a metal roof?

[01:09:31] I'm pretty sure that's a metal roof, but also, that is not a single-story house. I mean... I can have an attic. No, that is more than an attic, sir. It's a really big attic. No, that's not a second story. It's so big that they made a staircase to get up there, and they furnished it and furnished it. They have rooms there. Also known as a second story. Yeah, also known as a second story. Yeah. Like, don't get me wrong.

[01:09:59] Like, it's a building. It's an old, decrepit building that, like, I'm sure... I'm not sure if it faces the ocean, because we can't see an ocean that's facing. But, like, maybe on the other side of the house, it's facing that. But, like... Yeah, no, I'm sorry. That's not the same house. That's the script. Yeah. And, like, if this is the image that you got for it, and then you wrote the story based on it, why not just say it's a two-story house? Or don't even mention the stories, because who cares? That's not relevant to the story.

[01:10:29] Oddly enough, the story is not relevant to the story. Oh, my... Goddamn it. That took a hot second. Yeah. Damn. Yeah. No, that's the one thing I really... The one beef I have about this story, I think, for the most part, is just that the photo is not of the house in the story. Mm-hmm. Like, it... Yeah, so... But, uh... I digress.

[01:10:56] I'll move on to the next thing I have, which is more of the text of the story. I'm gonna start with this one here. When I was maybe 11 or 12, my family used to go down to Clam Beach a lot to gather driftwood, which was either used for stow fuel or building material. In those days, we had more time on our hands. The Mad River hadn't shifted its banks yet, so the entire beach was crammed with a jumbled

[01:11:24] hodgepodge of available material. Okay, so I know this is likely referencing somewhere on the Pacific Northwest, as many of other M.M. Pratt stories often do. But, a little connective tissues time here. Mm-hmm. I recently found out that here in Ontario, Canada, there is a mad river in our neck of the woods, and it feeds into the Georgian Bay. Oh.

[01:11:51] So, a beach called Clam Beach on Lake Huron isn't that far-fetched for me. Like, I could imagine one of those beaches, like, along the Georgian Bay being called Clam Beach. Mm-hmm. I just, I happened to find, I happened to realize that, like, yeah, there's a mad, there's a river near us that, like, winds and snakes through the countryside and then goes and feeds into the, into Lake Huron. And it was, so I was just like, oh, that's kind of funny. Like, oh, the Mad River. Like, we both have Mad Rivers.

[01:12:21] Also, there's technically an Ontario, California. So. Yeah, exactly. And then there's an update. I did look up Clam Beach, North Carolina. That's a completely different coastline. Clam Beach. Clam Beach, North California is indeed a place, and it's even located in good old Humboldt County. There you go. There, we got there. Yeah. So, again, just very, very, again, connective tissues.

[01:12:48] It's like, oh, there were, like, I know this is probably somewhere in Humboldt County or in, like, the neck of the woods that all the other stories tend to take place in. But it just happened to have, we happened to have a Mad River near us. But I was like, oh, that's cute. That's pretty neat. Yeah. And then the next thing I have is, let's suppose that instead of leaving, we went inside to explore. Let's suppose that instead of dark, dreary rooms filled with mildewy, smelly trash piles,

[01:13:15] we found a completely different world in which anything is possible, including the laws of magic overriding the usual laws of nature. Let's suppose that this particular house is one in a series of gates connecting a vast multiverse. Ah, the Curtisville Hogan's Gap realities then, is it? Like, that's where these gates connect possibly to.

[01:13:44] Honestly, reading this one, and I could be totally wrong in my supposition here. I am assuming, so assuming means I make an ass of you an umption. Yes, always. But this feels like a take on a real memory and possibly one of the seeds of inspiration for other stories written in the stretch of M.M. Pratt's Pacific Northwest. I could see that for sure.

[01:14:09] I say this because this feels familiar to something I've done in my own creative ventures and writings. Like, pulling things from familiar memories and fictionalizing and adding on fantastical and horrifying things to places that are near and dear to me. Like, which sounds weird now that I say that out loud. Yeah, it really does. Adding fantastical and horrifying things to me.

[01:14:36] But, like, I do it because, like, again, like, you write what you know. You pull from personalized memory to really capture a setting. And, like, we've been reading M.M. Pratt for years. And we've seen the Pacific Northwest, the Humboldt County region of, like, Northern California into, like, that stretch of coastline. Like, we've been seeing that stretch of coastline fictionalized through M.M. Pratt's writing.

[01:15:07] And, like, I know from, like, some correspondence that we've had in the past and even through some of the comments she has left in her stories on the wiki that these stories are, like, she does pull from her experiences of living on that coastline. Yeah, it's the best way to do it. Because, as you said, write what you know. Because then you know it's going to be accurate, you know.

[01:15:32] Like, if you're not a doctor writing a character without the doctor talking about doctor things, it's not going to come out right. It's not going to be accurate. Like, you either have to do your research if you don't know about a subject. Like, again, in our history of reading stories on the show, we've come across stories that, like, oh, like, they're referencing, like, they're talking about, like, the police procedural stuff. And it's, like, very clear that the person doesn't really know how police work works. And, like, they needed a little bit more research.

[01:16:02] But then we've also seen other stories where, like, oh, this person must have either done some, like, real decent research or has some lived-in experience on a profession or, like, on a location. And, again, the same has been said with M.M. Pratt's writing with her setting. Like, remove all the fantastical elements and you can feel the Pacific Northwest in her writing. Yes, absolutely.

[01:16:27] So I would not be surprised if this thing of, like, when she was younger traveling to, like, Clam Beach to pick up driftwood and stuff. Or at least even seeing, like, on a venture to a beach, like, to Clam Beach, they saw this, like, derelict house, like, on the ocean. And then being the creative person that she is, she decided to write a story and incorporated that memory into it. Because I've done the exact same thing.

[01:16:55] Like, I've seen a peculiar location or I've seen a peculiar building or something like that. And I was like, oh, that's really interesting. I kind of want to add that, like, take that location and take that memory of that location and incorporate it in the story. Like, I have absolutely done that kind of thing as well in my own writings. Yeah, it's a smart thing to do, honestly. Yeah. Yeah. So I may be a little biased in my final thoughts or my final recommendation.

[01:17:22] But this story just kind of spoke to my creative, like, authorial kind of side. Mm-hmm. And so I really dug it for the, I guess for the energy it was giving off to me. Or, like, the sort of, like, the process was what I was really, like, digging on this. Or the potential, like, the potential process that the story went through from when it was being created and such.

[01:17:50] Um, there's definitely, like, a weird, like, sense of nostalgia for, like, how the story went, like, how the story was, like, constructed and such. Yeah, nostalgia for something that you're actively reading right now. Like. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Like, this isn't my story, obviously. Like, like. Yeah. But, like, it felt like the process of, like, how the story might have been made was so damn familiar to me. Yes. And, like, I don't know, I just, it hit me in a wave. I was like, oh, my God. This is, oh.

[01:18:20] This is, oh. And then, like, the fact that, like, it, like, the way, like, her, like, the way the, the supposition of, like, what if when we got inside, like, the laws of magic are there? And, like, there's portals to these, this vast network of, of a multiverse. And I was like, like, the Curtisville, like, network of, like, of multiverses? Like, the dimensions of, like, other places that are in all her other writings? Mm-hmm.

[01:18:42] Like, is this, like, the anchor point to, like, the other, like, like, from, like, the, like, the mundane, like, writer's world to, like, her creative, like, her imaginative world? Like, that's, like, that's something that was just kind of popping in my head as I was reading. I was like, damn, that's, like, and who knows? Maybe I'm totally off, off target. And, like, I'm just, like, adding in things from my own experience and such. But, like, that's kind of what writing does anyway, so. You're allowed to enjoy things. No, I know, I know.

[01:19:12] You have to remember that. Yeah. So, well, I don't know, I'm not saying, like, I'm not, like, I'm just saying, like, maybe I'm totally off on that. But, like, that's just, like, personally, like, this story spoke to me in that way as I was reading it. So, but I will move on to the last thing I have for the story, which is the, near the, basically, it's the ending. And it's, uh, it may sound great until you consider what might be lurking on the other side of that particular door.

[01:19:41] Something, something, stare into the abyss long enough the abyss stares back. Something, something, dark forest theory, like. Something, something, three pale dudes with orange yellow eyes. Yeah, that too, yeah. And, again, like, I actually like how this one ends, like, way, like, and, like, I'm done. Like, I'm, I'm content with how this one ends. Um, because it leaves off on this, like, foreboding thing that, like, the dark forest theory sort of, like, ends off.

[01:20:08] And if you haven't, if you don't know what the dark forest theory is, uh, or if you haven't heard our previous episode that covers something that was similar to the dark forest. Basically, it's the idea of why we haven't seen alien life in the galaxy, even though we've, like, sent out messages and stuff. Uh, it's because they are hiding. Because either they're just as afraid of us as we might be of them. And so they're, they're afraid of, like, mutually assured destruction. Or they're hiding because there's something else out there that kills civilizations.

[01:20:39] And so we might one day get a message response from all the messages we've been sending out to space saying, hey, we're out here. Hello. And we might get a message back. It's like, shut the fuck up. They're listening. And, like, what the fuck are they listening? Who's listening? What? Like, send in another message. Who's listening? Yeah, it's that, it's that thing of, like, oh, yeah, sure. Like, like, the dark forest. Like, um, it looks all cool and, like, atmospheric and, and foreboding.

[01:21:09] Um, because, like, we're, it's that fear of the unknown. Like, what's in that forest staring back at me right now from the tree line? Mm-hmm. Like, it's that kind of thing that, and it's, like, that sort of thing. It's, like, yeah, this, like, this place, this house might be, like, some magical portal to other realities and other realms. But all those other places aren't always going to be sunshine, rainbows, and lollipops. Nope. There might also, it might also be a, uh, a portal to hell. Most of them are probably bad. Yeah.

[01:21:40] So I just like that kind of, like, foreboding cautionary message at the end of the story. Because it was, like, it was, it's very, like, kind of bittersweet and, like, or melancholical in a way. In a, in a horror story format. Because it's, like, oh, yeah, like, I saw this thing. Like, I'm, like, recollecting it and, like, adding it to my, like, the story of, like, oh, I saw this place. We never went in. But I always imagined, like, what if there was, like, portals to other magical places and whimsy and stuff like that. But also, what if some of those portals weren't all whimsy and sunshine?

[01:22:09] What if there was, like, darkness and dark things just waiting for somebody to open the door? Like, I love that. I love that kind of sentimentality of it. So, yeah. So, yeah. Um, that's my, my, my notes on the innermost house. Mikey, the Sensory Evil. I am so interested to hear why you angrily detest the story. All right.

[01:22:39] Um, well, this story made me irrationally angry. With how stupid I think it is. Okay. Um, so, to illustrate, I wrote my own story. That's nice and short here. Uh-huh. Uh, there's a high school. And on the top floor, there's a door. Students walk past this door every day of the school year.

[01:23:07] Yet no one is ever seen to enter or exit from this door. This door is so ordinary that no one ever thinks about it. Clearly, it is a doorway to another dimension that could be filled with your wildest nightmares. Unfortunately, the high school was torn down and the door no longer exists. So we'll never know what lies behind that door. Wow. Okay. I hate to say it.

[01:23:37] I like your story better than the one that's here. I kind of, honestly, I kind of do too. Like, for the same fucking reason that I love this story. Yeah. Because, also, first off, I love that you hate-wrote a story. A piece of microfiction. I hate-wrote. You hate-wrote a micropasta.

[01:24:00] But in so doing, after listening to the story that you wrote to mock this one and what it's trying to say, for me, anyway, personally, you just got across the same- You just told a story that basically gave me the same reaction as this fucking story. Because, like, that's the whole fucking point, I think, personally, is that this story is, like, yeah, this person saw this house and they never went in.

[01:24:27] But they decided to use their creative imagination to wonder and create a story, a fictionalized version of that place. And incorporated, like, a narrative element of, like, horror to it as well. So, here's the problem, though. Yeah. And I'll either get into it again on my notes. Actually, I didn't write it down. It's all in. Final thought.

[01:24:49] But basically, like, my whole issue with this story is, like, there comes across a random building and theorizes what's in it. Because they never went in it, even though it's clearly a mundane building. But you never know. There could have been something weird in it. Finn. Yeah. But in Mikey's story, he said that there is a door upstairs that is a normal door.

[01:25:16] But everyone knows that no one goes in that door. That is a more legit. That has more meat on the bones of it actually being something supernatural and fucked up. Because everyone knows no one goes in there. Why? But this old house is just someone's old house. No one goes in there right now because no one lives there right now. Like, that's it. I can see where you're going with. I don't see it that way.

[01:25:44] I see them both as being almost the same in terms of, like, because that's the whole fucking point of creativity and imagination is building off of the mundane. And that's exactly what both stories have done in my mind. Yeah. Except one has, like, an actual ounce of truth in it where it's like, there is a reason no one goes in there, but we don't know. Sure. I don't know. I don't know, man. Yeah. Uh, yeah.

[01:26:13] So anyway, I guess to help hammer down my point, um, I haven't been inside 99% of my neighbor's houses. So clearly there's a bunch of doorways to other dimensions nearby that I just don't know. No, that's not. Person's using their imagination, just like they're being whimsical of it.

[01:26:37] And like, just they're using, they're being creative and like imaginative with like something they saw that sparked their creativity and their imagination. There's the author being creative. And then there's the story. Separate the two. What he's saying is like the idea is creative, but in the lore of the story, the fictional character that isn't real is saying that this building out there may or may not have something.

[01:27:07] Weird in it based on no facts whatsoever. So there's a couple layers of disconnection to something that probably doesn't exist. Okay. I, yeah, I can, like, obviously like going on, like this character thinking that this is like some magical world. It's like, let the person fucking be whimsical. Like, yes, but this is that anymore. Is it scary? But there is an, and there is an inkling of creepiness at the end because like, while they're all being whimsical and stuff, they then start kind of spiraling down.

[01:27:36] Into, but what, like, what if it's not all whimsical? What if there is something on the other side, like that's horrifying? It's waiting. That's lurking on the other side. But they can never go because the, that house no longer exists. It almost sounds like the character themselves, like while theorizing this as a kid might, this might be like the start of some disorder where they have a fear of going in places that they don't know anymore.

[01:28:01] Because as a kid, after seeing this, they went through their heads, like what could theoretically be in there? And all the horrible stuff is sticking out to the point that they have a phobia of it in the future. Yeah. Like if that's the origin to it, like if that was the, the opening, uh, um, like bracket to this, it would make more sense and feel better. Cause it has like a flow, a story flow to it instead of it being in space. But that's just me. Fair. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:28:30] I don't know. We're going to disagree on this one, I think, but yeah. I mean, you shouldn't be surprised considering the initial recommendations. Yeah, exactly. The angry, not recommendation for Mikey. Yes. Yeah. All right. And then, uh, my, my next actual thought, uh, is, uh, based on the title.

[01:28:58] So based on the title, I was expecting this to be more of a house within a house, within a house, like houseception all the way down. Um, but. Like those Russian nesting dolls, but houses. Yes. Well, technically it is the innermost house because it could, you could interpret the title being the innermost house because the, the house that the character is, is thinking about and suppositioning about is in their innermost mind.

[01:29:30] Like it is the, it is the, again, like we're inception. It's an inception house. Like it's a house that they've constructed in their mind and fabricate and made like a bunch of like weird stuff in and such. Hmm. The house of the mind, the innermost thoughts. Yeah. But honestly, that's, that's all I got for that. Like for the title.

[01:29:52] So I, I, I, I also, I, I will concede this one, this one bit of this one, this one thing from Mikey. I will concede that like, yeah. When I first read the story, I thought we were going to see a house within a house kind of thing. Yeah. And that's the end of my actual thoughts. Okay. I love that you hate wrote stories to prove your point of like how you viewed it. That's the only way to actually get that across. Yeah. That is a fun way of doing it. But yes, I do like that. You, you hate wrote a story.

[01:30:25] Uh, all right. So I guess gamer. Yeah. I don't know how much left I have to say on this one. Um, the way that it started out, maybe just cause I, the previous story had posed to apocalyptic vibes that were very in your face. I went into this one with it. Cause like they're going out just getting driftwood for the purpose of making structures and heating. Like that sounds like it's post-apocalyptic until they mentioned their driver on an SUVs.

[01:30:53] Um, but, um, or like it literally just might be like, these people are like saving money. You know, they're instead of buying firewood, you're getting firewood and like recycling because of that, you know, and so, and you're cleaning up the beach. So like, hell yeah. But regardless, the story itself, it's an interesting thought experiment, but my big problem is

[01:31:19] like nothing truly happens in the story because this story is basically, Hey, wouldn't it be neat if this happened, but that would be spooky or it could be spooky. And then that's the whole story. Um, so like, I don't know. I just kind of wish that like something happened more directly. I don't know. Yeah. Fair. All right.

[01:31:43] It's a big, what if, like, what if I'd opened that door, but then we just find that it was a house or maybe not. And that's where the story would go on further. Again, like the story, it's based on no evidence though. You know, it's not like they heard some weird noise and the weird noise could have just been like a coyote running past or something, but something to trigger their mind to even think

[01:32:11] about it instead of it being a entirely mundane building that they're like, Hey, there could be a portal to hell in there. Anyways, moving on. I don't know. I, I, I get what you guys are saying, but I don't like, maybe I'm just too emotionally attached to the story or like, like what I, what I perceived of the story that I can't break away from like that rationale. So. Yeah, possibly. But again, also these like, these doors are all quite small. Is this the biggest out of the three? I think. I think so. I think. Not by much.

[01:32:41] I can still get it all on one page or one screen. Um, but yeah, that's part of the problem with writing really short stories like this is there's not a lot of words to say what you want to say and, um, get people invested in like out of these three, the only one that I was actually invested in the world building that's going on is the second one. Cause the, the second one, it kind of felt like the opening to iron lung in a way where

[01:33:09] it's just like, shit's bad. You're going in to do stuff, go like, but it tells you enough to get you hooked. But this one is just like, I don't know the time period. I don't know if it's, um, normal modern day. I don't know if it's post-apocalyptic. Like it's hard to know. Cause there's not, there's stuff said, but not enough to give it like a unique sort of a world that they're living in, which might be intentional because they might just be living in our world.

[01:33:39] Yeah. That's kind of what I, yeah, I, I, I understand like, yeah, this story isn't going to be for everyone. I'm kind of starting to come around to that. So I might change my final thoughts slightly, slightly. And speaking of, let's go to final thoughts. Okay. Um, yeah, we, I've, I've personally run a gambit here, like a real spectrum of my final thoughts throughout these three stories that are all separated. They don't all, none of them actually connect to each other really.

[01:34:07] Um, aside from perhaps there's just like the fact that they, some of them take place in the Hogan's gap Curtisville universe of stories. Um, but yeah, for me, I will, I will conditionally recommend this one. Um, mostly like if you are like, maybe if you have read the other like Curtisville stories and like, you're also a writer or like an author yourself and you have the same kind of like,

[01:34:33] kind of innate or like personal lived in experience that like I have had with this. And like the, the, that's maybe like why I connect to the story a little bit more. You, you'll probably like, that's how that's the person I kind of probably recommend this to. Um, because again, like you said, I said, like, I do kind of understand where you guys are coming from with like the fact that like, it is just a plain building and this person just like decided to imagine it. But like, that's literally how I make stories and how I write characters too. So like, exactly.

[01:35:03] That's how you write stories. That is not what you publish as the story. So the, the, my view of this is like, while it's an interesting concept, it's a, it's a concept. It's a thought experiment. It's not the story. Yeah. So I'd, I'd recommend this as a thought experiment story more than an actual, than an actual creepypasta is, it's kind of a, where I'm kind of moving to in my, my recommendation.

[01:35:31] I still love it to death, but yeah. I am. You're allowed to. Yeah. Am I? I don't know. Yeah, you are. Sounds like you're angrily recommending it now. I'm spitefully recommending this. Cause. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, no, that's legitimately my, my, my note, like my thought on it's like, I think I will,

[01:35:57] I will conditionally recommend it like as a thought, like it is a very interesting and, and personally it's a, it, it, it latched on as a, as a thought experiment and like, or it's like, I don't like, I, and again, I'm only, I'm just kind of like assuming and perhaps I'm even projecting onto the story of it being like a memory that this, that the author had in like incorporate into this like thought experiment story. Also the fact that like, I don't know, I immediately latched onto the fact that like, oh, like maybe it's a portal to other worlds where magic exists and like a multiverse network.

[01:36:27] I was like, she's talking about the Hogan's gap, Curtisville universes. Yeah. I didn't get that. Rather. I didn't get that the first read through, if I caught that, then I may have been on the same boat as you. Yeah. That's, that's kind of where I caught it from. It's like, this is like, it felt like, um, almost like a, a connection between the author's real world and like the writings she's done. Um, sort of like, again, but it's more of like a thought experiment.

[01:36:54] Like, I don't, I don't mean like, oh, like she's like clearly linking our world to their, to her fictional world. It's like, no, like, I'm just like, I'm, I just saw like this, like kind of imaginative like thought experiment. Like you, like we've been saying. So, but yeah, I really, I really just, I liked it. Like it connected with me personally. Um, I like the, just the creative exploration and imagination meeting this mundane building and just like, what would like the supposition got me.

[01:37:23] And then also like the, just the tinge of darkness at the end with like, with all this whimsy going on, like, what if there was something also like, but like, what if, what if the thing on the other side isn't very good or isn't very nice and like, perhaps even like something creepy. So yeah, that's my, my recommendation is a conditional recommendation. Mikey, the East ends for evil. You son of a bitch. Truly does today.

[01:37:51] Well, as I said, this story made me irrationally angry to the point that you wrote, you hate wrote a creep, uh, your own micro fiction. Yes. And I will give you this. Your story is also really good. Like to me. That's good. Um, but yeah. Very angry story. Anyway.

[01:38:18] Uh, so to quote the story, it was just a house, but there's no creepy factor to this. It's it's all speculative. I'm still not going to recommend it. Fair enough. And gamer. Yeah.

[01:38:44] Um, so this one, like, as I kind of said, uh, I went in with a post-apocalyptic kind of mindset, but then it's positive, possibly not. I don't know. Um, I mean like, yeah, like people like it does say like when she was 11 or 12. So like, and I know, I do know, like back in the day, like back in the, like the seventies and stuff like that, or like for going even that far back, uh, or even that recent, depending on how you picture it.

[01:39:10] Like people would like do this kind of thing, like they would collect wood and some, Oh, I know that I'm just saying like, as I said before, the reason that I went in with a post apocalyptic tone was because I just read a post-apocalyptic story. Yeah. With the red death and such. Uh, but the story itself, I just wish it went somewhere, but that's me because as I said multiple times, I feel like this is an interesting concept and thought experiments,

[01:39:36] but it is not a story because it doesn't really do anything with the, the thoughts of it. It's just, it's like if you write down some jot notes about the ideas of a story and then just put those to words without, um, like without evolving the what's going on and like actually telling a narrative. Yeah. This is more of like a meta textual thing or rather than like an actual in universe kind

[01:40:06] of story for like the Hogan's gas. I will say like, would it be, I guess it would be more interesting for you guys if, if the story, like she says all this stuff or like supposition and then we don't end right there. We, we continue on with like her finding this house again, like, or she goes back to clam beach, like either with her own family, like, like grown up and finds that place, like strangely still there. Um, and goes in and then like goes to like finds like actually there was a portal and then

[01:40:35] when she comes out and like, it's not her version of the world anymore. It's like, it's the Curtisville universe again or something. Yeah. Yeah. I just, I don't know. I just wish it went somewhere. Like it doesn't even have to connect directly to Curtisville could literally just be like a story about like, they just like, haha. Think about like, what if there's something spooky in there and then they go in there actually is, and then they're not coming out again, you know, that kind of deal.

[01:41:04] So it's like the, the entire like meat and potatoes of this story should be the lead up to what's actually going to happen, not be the whole story in my opinion. So that's why I personally wouldn't directly recommend this as a story, but I would partially recommend it as a, an idea. The thought is good. It's just, there needs to be more meat on the bones there. All right. Well, I guess that'll do it for tonight.

[01:41:31] Um, you've, you've heard our thoughts rather than, and you've heard us fight as we often again, but again, like go with whichever opinion you jive with better. Um, cause again, we are all different people as has been definitely shown from this one. Absolutely. And, uh, yeah, um, that's it for tonight. If you like what you heard or if you didn't leave us a comment, a comment section below where this gets posted.

[01:42:01] Some of us are on blue sky. Mikey is at the East ends for evil and I'm at review cultist. You can also send us emails at Alden Tabor, G mortis at gmail.com. That's a L D E N T E R I G A M O R T I S at gmail.com. Where you can also leave us suggestions for other creep pastas, SCPs, spooky things. You creep it, we'll peep it. Yeah. And if you'd like to help support our show financially, you can go to Patreon.

[01:42:26] We have special episodes, early access and extra content to all our patrons that are helping support the show. Thank you immensely. You're helping keep those hosting bills at bay. And as always, we very much appreciate that. And to our listeners and the authors of these stories, thank you immensely. Cause without your listenership, it'd be like screaming into the void and without your authorship writing and posting these stories on the internet. We really wouldn't have much of a show cause we'd have nothing to talk about and certainly wouldn't have anything to bicker about. Yeah.

[01:42:55] So thank you. Now's a good time to mention that we are part of a podcast network crit in the night, an actual play and creepy pasta podcast network. We're there alongside our sister podcast, one less die and our cousin podcast, the role playing exchange for things that go crit in the night until next time I have been your host review cultist. I'm Mikey. And I'm the gamer in yellow. And this has been Al Dente Rigamortis.

[01:43:25] Sleep well.