Letting It Out [Tag: Pitch]

Esme didn't hear the sound of the target room door opening and closing or the silent footsteps that headed towards her. However, after a moment a voice spoke to the young woman, addressing her in a formal and calm voice.

"I you alright, Detective Esme?"

Pitch had come to the target range to practice his own unique weapon of choice, his shadows. His closest affinity still lay with shadows even if he had renounced his old way of life and he could easily manipulate the darkness into a series of weapons that ranged from a scythe to a bow and arrow. He didn't normally rely on firearms but often utilized the target range while practicing with his own shadow weapons.

And he wasn't alone. Even before he spoke to her, the demon knew that something was troubling his fellow detective greatly.

Pitch had raised an eyebrow at the angry and fiery outburst Esme displayed before remembering her powers and calming down enough to snuff out the flames that had begun to form. However he didn't chastise her or look down on her outburst, understanding how powerful anger could be and what it could drive people to do. In fact, he saw it daily in his line of work and had to deal with the outcomes.

"Shadows don't easily burn, Detective Esme. And while your irritation is a perfectly reasonable response, I do not think the BPD would look kindly on one of the target ranges burning down."

Once the heat from Esme's fire had dissipated, Pitch stepped into the firing stall next to where his female coworker stood and held his hand out. A small look of concentration came to his features as the shadows suddenly began to move and swirled into the palm of his hand, taking on clear shape and substance as he used his own abilities to form a shadow weapon. Several seconds later he held a simple yet imposing bow in his hand and, using the other, pulled back on the string of the bow as he took aim at the target set before him. His yellow eyes focused intensely on the middle of the target and, although there was no arrow held in the bow, the shadows quickly created one for him.

For several moments he did nothing more than look at the target and hold the string. Suddenly, he released the string and sent the arrow spinning through the air to impale itself perfectly in the center of the target.

Pitch didn't say anything and merely let Esme talk as he continued to conjure up arrows and practice his shooting. Each arrow hit its mark and soon the shadow-black arrows clustered around the center of the target. It was as he hit a button next to the range to replace the target that he began to speak once more.

"It seems to me that your flames could be directed if you received the proper training from someone with similar skills. You are not the only Other capable of wielding fire and I have seen such people control and direct their fire skillfully."

Pitch was preparing to launch another arrow at the new target but paused when Esme spoke once more, the tone in her voice lowering and the emotions clear in the flash of her eyes.

"I know something of that."

Pitch allowed the bow in his hand to fall away, once more turning to nothing but shadows. Esme's past might color people's opinions, but he knew even if his past hadn't been what it was, his heritage as a demon alone would immediately darken almost everyone's opinion of him, human and Other alike. And that was without his past deeds taken into account.

He watched Esme in silence as these thoughts passed through his mind, listening to what she was saying all the while. He hadn't said anything even when she had first brought the topic up, but it was clear she wanted to discuss the death of the child she had known.

"I am certain there was at least one person who thought the same of all of those children."

"I prefer to not become personally attached to any case, no matter how difficult the situation may be. I know my ability to work the case would be compromised if I allowed such passionate feelings to blossom."

He looked at Esme closely, his golden eyes focused on her own and the emotions that radiated from her as strong as a ray of sunlight.

"However, I understand that situations differ for every individual that belongs to the BPD. What is the standard for one might not apply at all to another."

Pitch wasn't sure how he liked being described as 'sneaky' but knew that Esme was probably right, even if she could have made the comment a more tactful one. She was like the flames she control and he, he was like the shadows that he manipulated. It was a part of his nature and something that seemed to influence his personality. And yet he knew there we aspects of himself that had begun to change and weren't much like the shadows.

"Only to a certain degree. It isn't enough to say the elements control us in all aspects of who we are, and while some traits are present we must also acknowledge that we are our own unique personality."

"Yes."

Pitch gave a small nod of his head. He couldn't say he had the powers since he was born because he couldn't remember that time and wasn't even certain when he had come into existence. Despite his appearance, he was a demon with centuries behind him and even he couldn't recall the earlier parts of his life.

He turned his eyes away from Esme to his hand as he lifted it into the air. Immediately it began to fill with something almost like black powder except it was a deeper black than any manmade substance could be and moved more like light than something floating in the air.

"The power of shadows and fear have been with me my entire existence, but even I had to train myself on how to control them and use them as a tool."

He closed his hand into a fist and the darkness disappeared, leaving no traces behind of the unusual substance.