Structure[OPEN]

[Nicholaus I. Diabolus]

There was an understanding in nature. Structure was great. It involved balance, strength, cooperation, communication and a number of other things that helped keep things in order. Everything needed structure. Not just the sky scrapers in the city or the bridges towering across the rivers. But in the natural world. In humanity. Strength and unity through the various points brought forth a weight-bearing system that could withstand a number of things. Many a man understood this sort of inner structure within nature.

But not very many really knew how to fuck with it.

It was possible these days for any ordinary individual to mess with the balance. And such people were brought on to be labeled as 'terrorists'. A young man shook his head, thinking to himself as he stared out towards the water from the bottom side of the Brooklyn Bridge. A shame that humanity didn't know who the true threats were. Those that hid behind their own human-like masks and claimed to be like everyone else.

He, himself, was one of those threats. Although he had done well within the last century or two to really keep himself in check, he tended to have a slip-up every once in a while. Lifting his chin, his thoughts continued to ramble through his brain while the wind churned slightly, playing with his short, black hair. He reached up with a hand and adjusted the dark sunglasses over his eyes, staring at the lapping water along the shores of the river.

He glanced at the bridge however, here to see something spectacular. Something partially of his doing. After all, he couldn't keep his inner demon quiet all of the time. It had to be let out. And yesterday, after meeting with a patient in his home office, the deed had been set. Sirens wailed as police and a fire truck approached the bridge. Nicholaus knew this was it. This was what he came here to see. Because he had to remind himself why structure was important and why he needed to keep more control of himself. Because someone's life was going to end.

His red eyes hid behind those black sunglasses as he looked up from below. An individual perched himself on the edge, standing there. Nicholaus could tell he was crying. When the Muse inspired someone to go kill themselves, he usually kept a close attachment to said person until they were dead. But the face of the fey was emotionless. Stoic and cold. He seemed as if he were dressed for the future death of the man.

Black slacks and nice shirt. Polished shoes and slicked back hair. A long coat came to a few inches above his heels. His hands were in his pockets while he watched, almost bored. This wasn't the most creative way someone had ever killed themselves. But Nicholaus had to satisfy his inner beast from time to time. and the quicker, the better. Thoughts paused as he stood there for ten minutes, looking up at the bridge. The man was a lost cause and the police couldn't talk him back.

Not long after, he jumped. His body hit the water, but head first at an odd angle. Surely, that crush his skull. The emotional bond between man and Muse broke and the deed was done. The body had landed a hundred feet from where Nicholaus was standing at the shore, broken and mangled as it floated on by. Nicholaus stared, however, perplexed and mesmerized at the same time. Structure would return again.

[Johanna Lyse]

Jo day of wast spent doing her usual thing and very comfortable. She spent the morning jogging around the block where she lived, then went swiming before lunch. Finally out of the many places she randomly picked going to visit Brooklyn for the afternoon. So here she was visting, hands in her pocket she walked along the streets as she looked around. Dressed in jeans, shoes and a short sleeved top, with her blonde hair tied back in a ponytail.

As she neared the Brooklyn bridge, her eyes caught a spark of something, that many around her would have not noticed. She had a trained eye, or rather a shadowhunter eye, she was trained to see even the most obvious thing under your nose. It wasn't that a body jumped of the bridge, no it was the fact someone was at the shore watching.

Quietly she just continued about her walk, approaching the man from behind. "What did you do?" she questioned hand on her hips. She stayed calm and collected. She postive this guy had something to do it, she had a hunch. "Who are you? Jo wanted to know the person dressed in black.

[Nicholaus I. Diabolus]

What had happened? He had heard a person far off to the side asking that question. But Nicholaus did turn to look. It was simple. Someone had just comitted suicide. A man jumped off the bridge and killed himself. Nicholaus thought in the back of his mind, mentally answering the dumb questions of the human somewhere in the background. He shook his head only slightly, as if appearing disappointed that the man had jumped and that this other human had asked the obvious.

He sighed gently, comtemplating. His inner fae demon would be quenched today at least. Maybe for the next few months, nothing would happen until he found another poor victim to mentally fuck with. His eyes continued to glare at the body floating down the river, hearing the helicopter flying overhead to keep track of where it might wash up on shore. Such an exciting day and Nicholaus merely stood there, aware of what he had a part in with this suicide. But nothing could be linked to him in any way.

He was a careful sort. Very careful. At least for the most part. He returned his gaze to the bridge as he straightened out his long coat, cleared his throat quietly and continued to observe all of the chaos now. But something soon got his attention. There was someone approahing from behind him. He could feel her aura. Human... Yes.. But a different kind of human. He narrowed his gaze and turned his head slightly so only the side of his face was visible for a few seconds.

"Excuse me, miss?"[/b] he asked, keeping his head there for a moment before turning to look back at the bridge, his hand in his pockets and his body tall and stiff. "I was merely standing here, looking at the bridge and the water... Nothing more."[/color] he stated and gave a small shrug. He was telling the truth after all. Everything the man had done was from a few days worth of Nicholaus giving him the idea that he was worth nothing and jumping from a high place would give him comfort.

But since he had been standing here, Nicholaus had nothing to do with anything. For all anyone knew, he was merely a man standing there. But he had to convince this young lady, now didn't he? Nicholaus didn't look at her as she asked him who he was. "No one important. Just a man standing here and looking at the skyline. Why do you ask?"[/b] he turned his head slightly once more to look at her, his crimson eyes well hidden to everyone. Even someone so close as this woman right here. He lifted his chin a bit and waited for her answer.

[Johanna Lyse]

Today was meant to be a peaceful and fun day. She had planned and followed through it. Her afternoon walk in Brooklyn, was meant to be anything other then a walk. But she won't deny that randomly choosing to come here today was not for nothing. Johanna's afternoon just turned into a mystery and interesting. Defiantly interesting. Why did she notice the guy at the shore? When others passing by would choose to ingore it. Johanna's eyes didn't miss it, and she relied on her instict to see something out of the ordinary happening.

Here she was standing here, above the man slightly, as the shore titled downwards towards the water a bit. Johanna's eyes bored at the man's back, not moving to look at something else. "You heard what I said, I won't need to repeat my self again," she said firmly but collectedly. As he answered her question still. Standing here, doing nothing? Hmm. That could be believable, actually she would believe it believe if he was telling the truth. Sometimes you can be a simple innocent bystander caught in middle of anything. Other times, you can be as innocent and still be the heart and soul of a crime. Johanna would turn and walk away, if she was any different then who she is.

But she isn't. Johanna was born a Nephilim, she was trained privately as a shadowhunter by her mother, she knew what she and what to ignore at the right time. Aside from that, Johanna relied on her insticts, half the time she's not wrong. So when he mentioned being no one important, and just standing there, she found that line hard to believe the moment he spoke the words. "I beg to differ..." she began to say gently, and calmly. "No you're not just a man. I can tell a man is a man when I see him. You are a man and different. I can just tell. I ask again, who are you?" She was going to keep on asking him, over and over again.

Johanna was not afraid, nor she showed any fear, or doubted herself on the inside. Sure she was human still. But Johanna was not afraid if she was going to die, because she had faith in God will keep her alive to see another day, regardless of her training she had growing up. Yes she goes to Church and prays and believes. She was more then ever curious to rip those sunglasses of the man's face and look at him completely, face to face.

[Nicholaus I. Diabolus]

He stared at her from behind those sunglasses, contemplating just what this whole meeting between him and her was going to end up becoming. Well, Nicholaus only hoped it wouldn't become a fight. He was not the type to physically defend himself. Nor would he ever strike at a woman who meant to harm or kill him. No no.. He had better and more clever ways of getting himself out of tight spaces like this. But he wouldn't be a pushover either.

He lifted his chin, watching her at first as she started replying to his first question. He knew what she had said, but it was a momentary distraction from the subject. As if to throw her off guard. But alas, she was definitely going to be a hard little number to play with... Wasn't she? Blinking, he turned his head back to the water line, seeing the body floating still. But it was less visible now. The only way he could know its location was by the helicopter hovering over it.

By now, the screams of sirens were leaving the bridge and heading down the river on the other side. And slowly, the air was only filled with the gentle lapping of water at the shore, the cars passing by on the roads nearest them... and the voice of this young lady. But he stared straight ahead, listening to her before interjecting his own words. "Begging won't be necessary, miss.." A literate person he was. Though she might accidentally take it as some sort of cruel sarcasm, he didn't mean it that way.

He sighed silently as she spoke, judging him and informing him that he wasn't a man and she knew it to be true. By her aura, he knew she wasn't joking. She knew he wasn't human, but had she known what he was, perhaps she would have stated it too. She once again asked who he was. "My name is Nicholaus..." he finally answered and this time, turned to look at her completely. As he did so, he brought a hand up, removing his sunglasses to show her his brown eyes. Not his true color, but like his appearance, he could change his eye color at will. Just another trick to his glamour.

"Now that you seem to have my full attention, miss... Would you mind telling me what it is I can do for you? I've never met you before... Nor have I been rude or anything that would bring about this hostility you seem to harbor against me.." he held a bit of a frown on his face, clearly expressing that he wished her to calm down.

[Johanna Lyse]

Silence finally seemed to came around them, with only the sound of the water, the sirens and helicopter was moving down stream. Her head darted a quickly to look at the departing aircarft. She returned her attenion back at Nicholaus as he spoke. "Thankyou, such a gentleman," she mused half scarastically. "Saves me the trouble of having to repeat anyway." Johanna waited for him to answer, or say something in regard to what she said about him being not human. When he finally answered, he gave her his name. His name, really? That sound like a ordinary name same as her own name. "Nice to finally meet you Nicholaus. I'm Johanna, many call me Jo for short."

She didn't wait any longer as he finally took his sunglasses off. Maybe, just maybe, she was taken aback. She though she'd see eyes that are not plain and brown like they are - in conclusion to what she said about him. Johanna kept a calm expression and stayed collected, trying to hide the the little surpise right there. Now that she had a good look at him properly, he wasn't bad looking for a male...of any spieces. What could he be? He couldn't be a shadowhunter like her because he had no runes on him...from what she can see under the collar of his shirt. That left him to be downworlder or one of the other races.

Johanna rolled her eyes in her head and folded her arms cross her chest, looking at him, her back straightening with confidence. "Tell me the honest truth, who are you...aside from your name, where you came from, and what is your involvement with the man who died," she answered him. "That's all I want know, and don't try to beat around the bush, I know you're not human. So give it up." She let out a smalll smile.

[Nicholaus I. Diabolus]

Nicholaus took in a steady breath and let it out calmly. This would, no doubt, be quite an interesting meeting. He narrowed his gaze slightly, more for the reason that it was a little too bright outside in the first place. The sun reflecting off the white concrete wasn't helping matters either. Still, he was determined to see what any of this had to do with how she was treating him. And as she spoke, he caught that tone of sarcasm, which he wasn't going to bother commenting on because he just wanted to know the main purpose of this conversation.

She introduced herself, to which Nicholaus gave a slight head nod. "A pleasure... Johanna." he rolled her name off his tongue lightly. He saw that bit of surprise when he had taken off his sunglasses, revealing those plain, brown orbs. Did she expect something different? It seemed so, but Nicholaus wasn't the sort of creature to go and blurt out anything about himself or show off what he was just for shits and giggles. He was far more responsible than that.

The honest truth. Well it couldn't have been more direct than that. Nicholaus could tell a truth and still cover up what he was. He didn't trust her so much to know what he really was. As human knowledge of the supernatural was limited. Sure, there were demons and other dark creatures. The fey were each different in their own ways.. Nicholaus was one of a kind and those that knew of his existence really didn't like him at all. He had been hunted before and it wasn't pleasant.

Defiantly, he stood there, replacing those sunglasses on the bridge of his nose and adjusting his sight from the glare to a more tolerable surrounding masked by those lenses. "Correct... I'm not human. But I'm no beast either. Not a beast that would lose control and rip anyone's throat out. So I'd appreciate a little more fair treatment on your end, Miss Johanna." he expressed his concern and continued on with his talking.

"On the issue of my personal information, I am choosing not to tell you much else for a few good reasons. Firstly... I don't know you well enough and even if I did, I doubt that any personal information I gave you would be of any benefit to you. Secondly, you already know I'm not human. That should be plenty for you. And thirdly, I know that if I were to tell you what you wanted to know, you'd only want to know more. Which, in fact, is how you humans normally seem to operate. You ..... always.... want to know more."

He paused and looked at her carefully, as if judging her or looking for her reaction,m which would come soon, he gathered. "If I were some random stranger that treated you as you treated me and demanded information at the drop of a hat, would you give them what they wanted? Would you trust them very much for the approach they gave you? Or would you feel the need to say 'no' and protect yourself?"[/b] he asked, wanting her to think about the way she was handling this.

[Johanna Lyse]

Johanna didn’t bother correcting him into calling her Jo instead of by her full name. Standing there with her arms folded she tapped her foot gently as she listened to him speak. She didn’t say anything, not yet anyway as he continued to speak. “Well, I would and could and should, but since this entire situation seems to be supscious I rather not,” she said with a ‘what can you do’ shrug.

It was when he mentioned “human” that made her smile and laugh a little. “A little flaw to that part about being human, I am not human, I’m a Nephilim, so basically I am entitled to know more because out of every being that has walked passed, no one noticed anything with such fine details or you standing here.”

As he began to question the way she was treating him, she sighed and looked away then back at him. “Fine, have it your way, I’ll be nicer,” she said giving up. Well he did make a point, she doesn’t tell anyone about who she really is – referring to her human friends, but some of her downworlder friends do know what she was born as. "So, now that we both established we're not human...can I know more about you?"

[Nicholaus I. Diabolus]

He was debating about ending their conversation and making his way back to his home. Or maybe that was a bad idea. He wouldn't want her knowing where he lived of course. That would more than likely end up with her coming around and bringing her mountain of questions along with her. Nicholaus had no reason to tell her anything except for his name. So what planet did she think this was? Assuming he would just hand over answers to her questions was just like assuming a hungry homeless man would just hand over a sandwich to a wealthy business owner.

He had his reasons whether she knew he was supernatural or not and he wasn't about to buckle because she wanted to know his involvement with the man who just recently threw himself off of a bridge. He hadn't expected anyone to just suddenly come up and assume he had anything to do with it. Even if he sort of did. But it still didn't stand to reason with a woman who was so adamant to persecute him for just standing there. He was giving her more than enough time to explain herself to him. The hostility wasn't welcomed whatsoever. And a cornered fey like himself was more likely to shut himself in than to become physically aggressive.

With every passing second, he was closer to teleporting away from her and thus rid himself of this ranting conviction. But he stayed there after giving her his own piece of mind to hear her out and see what she had to say. So far, she wasn't very convincing and he wasn't about to satisfy that hunger for knowledge. He didn't trust her and people whom he didn't trust didn't need to know anything about him other than his name. Which he gave that up just for social reasons and to be polite.

When she mentioned that she wasn't human, but a Nephilim, Nicholaus blinked. Well he hadn't expected that. With the way she was coming off in this whole conversation, he assumed her to be some sort of human with knowledge of the supernatural. Either way, he still wasn't about to give her what he wanted. Humans and those that weren't so human were still dangerous depending on what sort of information they were able to acquire. All it would take to know was that he was a fey and just about anyone who knew enough would know how to kill him.

"And just because you are what you are makes you believe you are so entitled to more than your fair share of information? I beg your pardon miss, but I still refuse to just let you know anything you want about me. Just because you happened to notice me standing here... I'm entitled to my privacy."[/color] he argued and watched her carefully. As she seemed to relent her verbal assault for information and succumbed to his justification of a less aggressive manner, he blinked and stood there.

Her question came and still, he refused to give in. Such a pushy creature she was. "No."[/color] It was all he said in his answer before glancing behind her at the traffic rolling by and the people who didn't seem to give a care in the world. "So now that I've established the fact that I'm obviously not going to tell you anything... can I assume that you're just going to stop harrassing me so we both can get on with our days?"[/color] he asked, having thrown her words right back at her. The fey was doing his best to hold down the beast inside. Because as a whole person, he hated being cornered.

[Johanna Lyse]

Johanna cleary could see this was going no where, no matter how many times she asked him. "We are all entitled to our own privacy idiot, until someone becomes a victim and theres always a reason, like jumping of a bridge there always might be a suspect behind it and ding a ling, you're the only one standing here," she said to him. "So get your butt of your high horse, not like I am going to hand you in the human authorities...or the Clave, I just want to know."

She just looked at him for while and shook her head. "Don't go throwing my words back at me, I asked you them. Also didn't I promise I won't be rude to you? Why are you still on that, jeez. No I don't usually stop until I get what I want, but..." Johanna rubbed her forehead before looking at him again. "I give up, you're not worth my time...." She turned around to walk away. "Next time we meet and you are responsibile for something like this, don't expect to be lucky and get away with it." That was all she said to him.

[Nicholaus I. Diabolus]

So how much more could he keep this woman from getting the best of him? Well, he could outlast this all day and night if he needed to. There had been far more aggressive people trying to get information out of him in his lifetime and Nicholaus was not the person to give himself up that easily. In fact, the one person, or creature perhaps, that knew Nicholaus better than his own family was his horse. And that was it. His horse had gained his better trust through years and years. Ever since they both were young.

But this woman was still more or less a stranger even if he knew her name. He wouldn't trust her to know anything and unfortunately, his patience was running thin and to the point where he couldn't be polite to her. Instead, he was being defensive and that wasn't going to change until she stopped this nosy nonsense. What else would he have to say or do in order to convince her that he wasn't going to tell her anything besides his name and the fact he wasn't human? Wasn't all of that good enough? apparently not.

So he continued standing there, just waiting for what she was going to say, do or ask next. Whatever it was, it still wouldn't convince him to let out his life story or anything about himself. But she called him an idiot and said some words. But being who he was, he tended to like having the last word sometimes. "So when someone jumps off a bridge and I just happen to be standing there, that makes me a suspect for some reason? What connection does a person standing down here have to do with someone falling from a bridge way up there? Maybe I was just staring at the water and happened to be standing here at the same time that was going on..." he shrugged his shoulders.

Was she really still sticking with the conclusion that he honestly had something to do with the suicide? Well, he played a part in it, yes. She was on the right track. But his denial was keeping him out of trouble.When she finally said he wasn't worth her time, he shrugged once more and kept his mouth shut, turning himself back to look at the water. And of course, after her last words, he muttered quietly. Whether she heard or not was whatever her ears allowed her to hear. "And next time I'll be just another waste of your minutes, Miss Johanna."[/color] he stated, closing his eyes and taking in a breath of the city air.