{"submission_id":"724433","keywords":[{"keyword_id":"554","keyword_name":"alien","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"11923"},{"keyword_id":"60","keyword_name":"cat","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"110713"},{"keyword_id":"44319","keyword_name":"contemporary","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"101"},{"keyword_id":"2193","keyword_name":"fantasy","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"11600"},{"keyword_id":"123","keyword_name":"female","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"519890"},{"keyword_id":"112296","keyword_name":"garuda","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"51"},{"keyword_id":"165","keyword_name":"male","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"639871"},{"keyword_id":"3313","keyword_name":"monkey","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"4907"},{"keyword_id":"1146","keyword_name":"vampire","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"3972"},{"keyword_id":"30403","keyword_name":"vampirism","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"93"}],"hidden":"f","scraps":"f","favorite":"f","favorites_count":"0","create_datetime":"2014-11-06 02:05:56.988095+01","create_datetime_usertime":"06 Nov 2014 02:05 CET","last_file_update_datetime":"2014-11-06 02:03:14.783905+01","last_file_update_datetime_usertime":"06 Nov 2014 02:03 CET","username":"Simoni","user_id":"279733","user_icon_file_name":"75728_Simoni_simoni_barjar.gif","user_icon_url_large":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/usericons/large/75/75728_Simoni_simoni_barjar.gif","user_icon_url_medium":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/usericons/medium/75/75728_Simoni_simoni_barjar.gif","user_icon_url_small":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/usericons/small/75/75728_Simoni_simoni_barjar.gif","file_name":"973352_Simoni_part_8_return_to_the_nightside__arja_and_company.rtf","file_url_full":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/full/973/973352_Simoni_part_8_return_to_the_nightside__arja_and_company.rtf","file_url_screen":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/973/973352_Simoni_part_8_return_to_the_nightside__arja_and_company.rtf","file_url_preview":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/973/973352_Simoni_part_8_return_to_the_nightside__arja_and_company.rtf","files":[{"file_id":"973352","file_name":"973352_Simoni_part_8_return_to_the_nightside__arja_and_company.rtf","file_url_full":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/full/973/973352_Simoni_part_8_return_to_the_nightside__arja_and_company.rtf","file_url_screen":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/973/973352_Simoni_part_8_return_to_the_nightside__arja_and_company.rtf","file_url_preview":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/973/973352_Simoni_part_8_return_to_the_nightside__arja_and_company.rtf","mimetype":"text/rtf","submission_id":"724433","user_id":"279733","submission_file_order":"0","full_size_x":null,"full_size_y":null,"screen_size_x":null,"screen_size_y":null,"preview_size_x":null,"preview_size_y":null,"initial_file_md5":"f79fd04d452f0ce0bcd70df4d0c3284c","full_file_md5":"f79fd04d452f0ce0bcd70df4d0c3284c","large_file_md5":"","small_file_md5":"","thumbnail_md5":"","deleted":"f","create_datetime":"2014-11-06 02:03:14.783905+01","create_datetime_usertime":"06 Nov 2014 02:03 CET"}],"pools":[],"description":"I really enjoy doing stories in the Nightside. For those of you who don't read Simon R. Green's work... *smacks you repeatedly with a rolled up newspaper* BAD! BAD! GO READ IT! GO! \n\nFor those of you who -do- read the works of one of my favorite contemporary fantasy authors, you know how much potential the Nightside has for stories. A pocket dimension/alternate universe/whothefuckknows existing inside of London, England where all the monsters, ghouls, ghosts, goblins, demons, elves, and such come out to play. Again, this one was going to be much longer, infact it was going to be a three part thing with the third part being titled 'Escape from the Nightside'. I really dislike that their flight from the Nightside winded up being a blurb at the bottom and maybe someday Arja and I will go back and properly fill it out... but for now it's just sorta there. :/ Sorry about that. \n\nI'd planned out what the Templars were going to be too and I had some really neat ideas planned. I pictured them as sort of a mixture of modern military force and armor-wearing knights that were totally devoted to their religious ideals and would war against the forces of darkness (read: the forces of not-human and magic user), basically being a major military force that was just -itching- for an excuse to strike out against something like Arja's group, even if they were just a bunch of kids and some guy who's almost in his thirties playing a mix of babysitter and bodyguard. \n\nReally, if it wasn't for Edwood's meeting with Drusilla and Nelen giving the opportunity for good character development and Simoni getting the vision that wound up being vitally important in a future story then I would've just scrapped the whole thing... but as it stands they were too important to remove. ","description_bbcode_parsed":"I really enjoy doing stories in the Nightside. For those of you who don't read Simon R. Green's work... *smacks you repeatedly with a rolled up newspaper* BAD! BAD! GO READ IT! GO!
For those of you who -do- read the works of one of my favorite contemporary fantasy authors, you know how much potential the Nightside has for stories. A pocket dimension/alternate universe/whothefuckknows existing inside of London, England where all the monsters, ghouls, ghosts, goblins, demons, elves, and such come out to play. Again, this one was going to be much longer, infact it was going to be a three part thing with the third part being titled 'Escape from the Nightside'. I really dislike that their flight from the Nightside winded up being a blurb at the bottom and maybe someday Arja and I will go back and properly fill it out... but for now it's just sorta there. :/ Sorry about that.
I'd planned out what the Templars were going to be too and I had some really neat ideas planned. I pictured them as sort of a mixture of modern military force and armor-wearing knights that were totally devoted to their religious ideals and would war against the forces of darkness (read: the forces of not-human and magic user), basically being a major military force that was just -itching- for an excuse to strike out against something like Arja's group, even if they were just a bunch of kids and some guy who's almost in his thirties playing a mix of babysitter and bodyguard.
Really, if it wasn't for Edwood's meeting with Drusilla and Nelen giving the opportunity for good character development and Simoni getting the vision that wound up being vitally important in a future story then I would've just scrapped the whole thing... but as it stands they were too important to remove. ","writing":"The story opens about an hour before Drusilla and Nelen left the hotel. Dawn is leading the group through London, disguised as a human (baggy pants to tuck her tail into, sock hat to hide her ears, and sunglasses to cover her yellow eyes), to a nearby subway station that houses one of the gateways into the Nightside. \n\nAs they walk along Simoni pauses, then waves to a woman across the street from them, telling the others that they were supposed to meet her there. Its Bethandi Shuda (see the main Simoni Barjar profile, Minor Characters, for information) the alien. Simoni explains that she invited her along since Bethandi wanted to see some examples of exotic life on Earth and, well, they're going to the Nightside. \n\nHard to get more exotic than that. \n\nDawn welcomes her aboard, just warning her to be careful who she takes samples from, then leads the group into one of the train stations. \n\n[i]There's a huge press of bodies in there so its easy to go unnoticed as she nods for the rest of the group to follow her into one of the tunnels, then into an old maintenence closet with a payphone on the back wall. She picks up the receiver and simply says, \"Nightside.\" into it, then the far wall splits open to reveal a long dark passageway. \n\n\"Right, follow close people and don't listen to any voices you might hear in there.\" she says, heading into the shadows as Simoni follows behind her. She does look nervous though. She knows what some of those voices are after all...[/i]\n\nThe passageway is a shadowy corridor where voices from somewhere else whisper to the girls, begging and demanding help... and then finally they come out the other side and enter into the Nightside. \n\n[i]The train that's parked at the station is a huge silvery one with no windows, just a single door built seamlessly into it. Next to the station exit there's a tall amazon of a woman wearing nothing but blue woad painted into sigils on her body arguing with an albino dwarf in a full SS uniform. Heading towards the train you see a group of drunken teenagers wearing teeshirts that all say 'Hogwarts Class of 2014', their wands spitting off sparks in random directions. On the floor next to the stairs is a depressed looking Leprechaun holding out his hat, a cardboard sign reading 'They stole me lucky charms, please help'. \n\nThere's a man with split personality a few steps down from him, singing acapella with himself in four different voices (and perfect harmony), and the graffiti on the walls isn't always in English, or even human languages. Some of what is though says things like 'Malkav speaks through our fillings', 'Dagon will rise again, really we mean it this time', and 'Fuck the Grays'.[/i]\n\n... average scene in the Nightside really. \n\n[i]The group comes out along the main road of the Nightside, traffic (and traffic-shapped things) thundering past at speeds that would put Germany's Autobahn to shame. To their left is a movie rental store featuring films from alternate timelines including highlights such as 'Star Wars: A New Hope' as directed by Andy Worhol, 'Gremlins 3: The Newer Batch', and the very popular Jim Henson film, 'Miss Piggy does Dallas'. To their right is a totally black building with a large, burly, and pale skinned man standing outside, the sign above it simply reading 'Vlad's'. \n\nDawn looks up at it, then over at Natasha, \"Hey 'Tash, check this out. Vampire club.\" she grins, \"Wanna see how your kin party?\" she asks.[/i]\n\nThey get some armbands and head inside. Natasha, Arja, and Simoni wear red ones with Natasha's name written on them (to show who they're with) while Bethandi and Dawn get black ones with the words 'No Feed' written on them in red lettering (their blood is potentially dangerous to vampires). \n\nThe interior of the club is a rather subdued one, like a high class goth bar. All black with red velvet on the seats and a band playing prohibition era Jazz music on the stage. There is a bar too, but it's for the mortals who come in with a vampire. After all, the vampires bring their own drinks. \n\nThey let Natasha enjoy herself as Bethandi comments on how unusual it is for so many undead to be in one place. Dawn tells her that it's probably just nice for them to not have to pretend to be mortal here. After all the supernatural is an accepted facet of life in the Nightside (that and, well, the sun never rises). \n\nThey notice screams coming up from the basement and Arja comments on whether or not they're going to go down there. Dawn however says that it's probably not what she thinks it is. Vampire clubs tend to ban S&M as the potential for bleeding is too great. Some vampires see blood and they totally lose it, so the clubs banned it out of necessity. Dawn decides to go down to investigate, teleporting herself into the basement. \n\n[i]There's a pop and Dawn reappears, grinning her 'something horribly amusing just happened' grin. \"Twilight fanboy. Some idiot came in here covered in body glitter and tried to get one of the patrons to turn him. He's down there with a couple bouncers who are showing him the 'error of his ways'.\"[/i]\n\nThe girls get a laugh out of that, Arja commenting that the vampires should sell tickets, though they stop once Dawn tells them that they couldn't because 'there's too much blood, they're cutting off his fingers'. Vampires take Twilight fans veeeeeeeeeery seriously... \n\nAs Dawn explains to Bethandi what Twilight is and why vampires hate it so much Natasha takes Simoni by the wrist and leads her off to introduce her to another vampire, apparently a long lost 'relative' of her's, a vampire named Leona, able to trace her bloodline back to Natasha's sire. She explains that the girl is Malkovian (Natasha herself being a Ventrue), and that she's a little unhinged but perfectly safe... which doesn't do much to make Simoni feel any safer. \n\nShe does allow her to feed on her in the end however, Natasha promising that she'll stay by her just incase. When Leona bites into her she gets the same rush of pleasure as she does with Natasha, but her vision becomes filled with a swirling and chaotic pattern of colors, like staring into a kaledoscope. \n\n[i]Simoni goes rigid, her eyes wide as she sees the colors flashing infront of her eyes. \"A-ahn...\" she trembles, gazing into the display as if she can see beyond the walls of the club, even the Nightside itself... and then... She sees someone. A very pale old woman, with long hair hanging down past her face, dressed in a long black dress and leaning on a gnarled old cane. The woman's lips are moving and she can just barely make out what she's saying... \n\n'When you and your friends fall below... find me...' \n\nShe tries to make sense of it in her brief moment of lucidity, then the colors and the pleasure come back and she almost forgets about it again.[/i]\n\nWhen she comes out of it and Leona finishes feeding she asks Natasha who the woman was, thinking she'd just seen an ancient vampire or something... but Natasha has no idea who she's talking about. She asks if Simoni knows her, saying that apparently a malkovian's feeding can 'shine light on the shadows of the mind'... but Simoni says she has no idea who the woman could be. \n\nNatasha insists that she and Leona use their vampiric powers to see inside of Simoni's mind in an attempt to figure out who or what she saw. Simoni is hesitant at first, but eventually allows Natasha to do so after she points out that Malkovians can sometimes induce visions and that what Simoni saw could be vitally important. \n\nHowever, while their mental probing does reveal some rather interesting images... they can't find any trace of the old woman besides the vision that Simoni had minutes prior... its as if she never met her before in her life. Natasha suggests that it could have something to do with the Nightside, mentioning that it referenced 'below'... but Simoni stomps all over that idea saying that if it involves anything underground in the Nightside then it can stay down there. \n\nNatasha presses on, but Simoni puts her foot down, \n\n[i]Natasha frowns \"But what if she's someone that can help?\" she says, taking Simoni's hand \"Come on, you have me and Arja...\" \n\nSimoni shakes her head firmly, \"No. Way. Even if we had Nelen and Drusilla with us AND all of Arja's family backing us up AND Hanuman himself with us.\" she replies, \"Trust me on this one Natasha. Whatever that... thing... was talking about, it can't mean what's under the Nightside. If the Brittle Sisters of the Hive don't find us then someone from the Deep School would or we'd run into the Lord of Thorns or we'd wind up encountering the tunnel men or the loathy ones or gods only know what else!\" she replies, her face almost as pale as Natasha and Leona's now.[/i]\n\nDawn walks over and nods in agreement to Simoni, having overheard them. She tells Natasha that going into world under the Nightside is suicide at best, saying that if she's really gotten that bored with immortality to just give her a few minutes to find a fire axe as it'd hurt less and be over faster than what would happen to her below. \n\nAfter hearing about Simoni's vision she suggests they just wait and ask Nelen when they get back to London as he knows 'all about that magicky prophecy bullshit', then asks the girls where they'd wanna go next. After a few suggestions Natasha says that she wants to go shopping and the group sets off again. After a few stops at a store specializing in goth lolita fashion and authentic vintage clothing (literally, they got their stock for that via a time portal), a store that sold salvaged alien technology from Area 52 (Bethandi got into an argument with the shopkeeper over whether a Glorian matter transporter was real or not, since Glorians are gas-based beings and don't actually need matter transporters), and a Gymbordomme store (a fetish store specializing in kids clothing, only in the Nightside...). Dawn and Natasha went shopping, goth lolita being very close to Wonderland clothes, Bethandi (of course) checked out the alien tech store, and Arja and Simoni went toy shopping at the last one. \n\nDawn winds up getting her own lolita outfit as she, Bethandi, and Natasha join Arja and Simoni inside the Gymbordomme store, and Natasha reveals one of the thing she saw in Simoni's memories. She then uses it to get the girls into one of the testing areas the store has and has some fun with them... \n\nDuring all this however Nelen gets contacted by his spy... to warn him to get out of Europe. Franklin found him out. After Nelen gets word to the girls they all flee London as the Templar forces swarm the building where they were hiding out.","writing_bbcode_parsed":"The story opens about an hour before Drusilla and Nelen left the hotel. Dawn is leading the group through London, disguised as a human (baggy pants to tuck her tail into, sock hat to hide her ears, and sunglasses to cover her yellow eyes), to a nearby subway station that houses one of the gateways into the Nightside.
As they walk along Simoni pauses, then waves to a woman across the street from them, telling the others that they were supposed to meet her there. Its Bethandi Shuda (see the main Simoni Barjar profile, Minor Characters, for information) the alien. Simoni explains that she invited her along since Bethandi wanted to see some examples of exotic life on Earth and, well, they're going to the Nightside.
Hard to get more exotic than that.
Dawn welcomes her aboard, just warning her to be careful who she takes samples from, then leads the group into one of the train stations.
There's a huge press of bodies in there so its easy to go unnoticed as she nods for the rest of the group to follow her into one of the tunnels, then into an old maintenence closet with a payphone on the back wall. She picks up the receiver and simply says, "Nightside." into it, then the far wall splits open to reveal a long dark passageway.
"Right, follow close people and don't listen to any voices you might hear in there." she says, heading into the shadows as Simoni follows behind her. She does look nervous though. She knows what some of those voices are after all...
The passageway is a shadowy corridor where voices from somewhere else whisper to the girls, begging and demanding help... and then finally they come out the other side and enter into the Nightside.
The train that's parked at the station is a huge silvery one with no windows, just a single door built seamlessly into it. Next to the station exit there's a tall amazon of a woman wearing nothing but blue woad painted into sigils on her body arguing with an albino dwarf in a full SS uniform. Heading towards the train you see a group of drunken teenagers wearing teeshirts that all say 'Hogwarts Class of 2014', their wands spitting off sparks in random directions. On the floor next to the stairs is a depressed looking Leprechaun holding out his hat, a cardboard sign reading 'They stole me lucky charms, please help'.
There's a man with split personality a few steps down from him, singing acapella with himself in four different voices (and perfect harmony), and the graffiti on the walls isn't always in English, or even human languages. Some of what is though says things like 'Malkav speaks through our fillings', 'Dagon will rise again, really we mean it this time', and 'Fuck the Grays'.
... average scene in the Nightside really.
The group comes out along the main road of the Nightside, traffic (and traffic-shapped things) thundering past at speeds that would put Germany's Autobahn to shame. To their left is a movie rental store featuring films from alternate timelines including highlights such as 'Star Wars: A New Hope' as directed by Andy Worhol, 'Gremlins 3: The Newer Batch', and the very popular Jim Henson film, 'Miss Piggy does Dallas'. To their right is a totally black building with a large, burly, and pale skinned man standing outside, the sign above it simply reading 'Vlad's'.
Dawn looks up at it, then over at Natasha, "Hey 'Tash, check this out. Vampire club." she grins, "Wanna see how your kin party?" she asks.
They get some armbands and head inside. Natasha, Arja, and Simoni wear red ones with Natasha's name written on them (to show who they're with) while Bethandi and Dawn get black ones with the words 'No Feed' written on them in red lettering (their blood is potentially dangerous to vampires).
The interior of the club is a rather subdued one, like a high class goth bar. All black with red velvet on the seats and a band playing prohibition era Jazz music on the stage. There is a bar too, but it's for the mortals who come in with a vampire. After all, the vampires bring their own drinks.
They let Natasha enjoy herself as Bethandi comments on how unusual it is for so many undead to be in one place. Dawn tells her that it's probably just nice for them to not have to pretend to be mortal here. After all the supernatural is an accepted facet of life in the Nightside (that and, well, the sun never rises).
They notice screams coming up from the basement and Arja comments on whether or not they're going to go down there. Dawn however says that it's probably not what she thinks it is. Vampire clubs tend to ban S&M as the potential for bleeding is too great. Some vampires see blood and they totally lose it, so the clubs banned it out of necessity. Dawn decides to go down to investigate, teleporting herself into the basement.
There's a pop and Dawn reappears, grinning her 'something horribly amusing just happened' grin. "Twilight fanboy. Some idiot came in here covered in body glitter and tried to get one of the patrons to turn him. He's down there with a couple bouncers who are showing him the 'error of his ways'."
The girls get a laugh out of that, Arja commenting that the vampires should sell tickets, though they stop once Dawn tells them that they couldn't because 'there's too much blood, they're cutting off his fingers'. Vampires take Twilight fans veeeeeeeeeery seriously...
As Dawn explains to Bethandi what Twilight is and why vampires hate it so much Natasha takes Simoni by the wrist and leads her off to introduce her to another vampire, apparently a long lost 'relative' of her's, a vampire named Leona, able to trace her bloodline back to Natasha's sire. She explains that the girl is Malkovian (Natasha herself being a Ventrue), and that she's a little unhinged but perfectly safe... which doesn't do much to make Simoni feel any safer.
She does allow her to feed on her in the end however, Natasha promising that she'll stay by her just incase. When Leona bites into her she gets the same rush of pleasure as she does with Natasha, but her vision becomes filled with a swirling and chaotic pattern of colors, like staring into a kaledoscope.
Simoni goes rigid, her eyes wide as she sees the colors flashing infront of her eyes. "A-ahn..." she trembles, gazing into the display as if she can see beyond the walls of the club, even the Nightside itself... and then... She sees someone. A very pale old woman, with long hair hanging down past her face, dressed in a long black dress and leaning on a gnarled old cane. The woman's lips are moving and she can just barely make out what she's saying...
'When you and your friends fall below... find me...'
She tries to make sense of it in her brief moment of lucidity, then the colors and the pleasure come back and she almost forgets about it again.
When she comes out of it and Leona finishes feeding she asks Natasha who the woman was, thinking she'd just seen an ancient vampire or something... but Natasha has no idea who she's talking about. She asks if Simoni knows her, saying that apparently a malkovian's feeding can 'shine light on the shadows of the mind'... but Simoni says she has no idea who the woman could be.
Natasha insists that she and Leona use their vampiric powers to see inside of Simoni's mind in an attempt to figure out who or what she saw. Simoni is hesitant at first, but eventually allows Natasha to do so after she points out that Malkovians can sometimes induce visions and that what Simoni saw could be vitally important.
However, while their mental probing does reveal some rather interesting images... they can't find any trace of the old woman besides the vision that Simoni had minutes prior... its as if she never met her before in her life. Natasha suggests that it could have something to do with the Nightside, mentioning that it referenced 'below'... but Simoni stomps all over that idea saying that if it involves anything underground in the Nightside then it can stay down there.
Natasha presses on, but Simoni puts her foot down,
Natasha frowns "But what if she's someone that can help?" she says, taking Simoni's hand "Come on, you have me and Arja..."
Simoni shakes her head firmly, "No. Way. Even if we had Nelen and Drusilla with us AND all of Arja's family backing us up AND Hanuman himself with us." she replies, "Trust me on this one Natasha. Whatever that... thing... was talking about, it can't mean what's under the Nightside. If the Brittle Sisters of the Hive don't find us then someone from the Deep School would or we'd run into the Lord of Thorns or we'd wind up encountering the tunnel men or the loathy ones or gods only know what else!" she replies, her face almost as pale as Natasha and Leona's now.
Dawn walks over and nods in agreement to Simoni, having overheard them. She tells Natasha that going into world under the Nightside is suicide at best, saying that if she's really gotten that bored with immortality to just give her a few minutes to find a fire axe as it'd hurt less and be over faster than what would happen to her below.
After hearing about Simoni's vision she suggests they just wait and ask Nelen when they get back to London as he knows 'all about that magicky prophecy bullshit', then asks the girls where they'd wanna go next. After a few suggestions Natasha says that she wants to go shopping and the group sets off again. After a few stops at a store specializing in goth lolita fashion and authentic vintage clothing (literally, they got their stock for that via a time portal), a store that sold salvaged alien technology from Area 52 (Bethandi got into an argument with the shopkeeper over whether a Glorian matter transporter was real or not, since Glorians are gas-based beings and don't actually need matter transporters), and a Gymbordomme store (a fetish store specializing in kids clothing, only in the Nightside...). Dawn and Natasha went shopping, goth lolita being very close to Wonderland clothes, Bethandi (of course) checked out the alien tech store, and Arja and Simoni went toy shopping at the last one.
Dawn winds up getting her own lolita outfit as she, Bethandi, and Natasha join Arja and Simoni inside the Gymbordomme store, and Natasha reveals one of the thing she saw in Simoni's memories. She then uses it to get the girls into one of the testing areas the store has and has some fun with them...
During all this however Nelen gets contacted by his spy... to warn him to get out of Europe. Franklin found him out. After Nelen gets word to the girls they all flee London as the Templar forces swarm the building where they were hiding out.","pools_count":0,"title":"Part 1.8: Return to the Nightside: Arja and company","deleted":"f","public":"t","mimetype":"text/rtf","pagecount":"1","rating_id":"1","rating_name":"Mature","ratings":[{"content_tag_id":"2","name":"Nudity","description":"Nonsexual nudity exposing breasts or genitals (must not show arousal)","rating_id":"1"}],"submission_type_id":"12","type_name":"Writing - Document","guest_block":"t","friends_only":"f","comments_count":"0","views":"11","sales_description":null,"forsale":"f","digitalsales":"f","printsales":"f","digital_price":""}