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Full Name: Shiori Hayashi
Also Known As: Lupea
Age: 19
Height: 153cm (5')
Weight: 49kg (108 lbs)
Hair: Sable Brown
Eyes: Amber, with no visible pupils
Skin: Tan
Gender: Female
Nationality: Japanese

Physical Traits:(Picture) Shiori is a small, curved, and lithe figure of short stature. Barely reaching above five feet tall, she takes much pride in that extra quarter on an inch she possesses. She was never particularly fond of being short in her younger years, often complaining that she wanted to be her mother's 163 centimeters (5' 4"), but has since then come to accept the framework that genetics bestowed upon her. Instead of feeling that she is too short, she feels that people are just too tall.

Her body is proportioned adequately given her height. Only small amounts of fat cover her body, and her muscles are well-toned, though not strongly visible unless she is working out. Arms thin and seemingly stick-like, they provide little lifting assistance in manual labor and are the least developed area of her body. Her slender legs are not very long, but are the most defined muscles in her body from having run a great deal in her lifetime. Small hands and feet extend from both sets of appendages. The tips of her fingers and toes are adorned with lengthened nails that taper into an edge, creating effective claws. Shiori's teeth have a natural and extremely faint yellow tint to them, and extended and sharper cuspids (teeth, think fangs) hang lower than normal, and are plainly visible when she speaks. Her ears are also quite unusual though very characteristic, crossing the shape of a normal human ear with that of a wolf's to create a very sensitive sound receptor.

Thick, rich dark brown hair drapes down nearly to the base of her spine. Long and straight, her hair appears more black than brown in most lighting, having a mild natural shine to it. Her eyes are thin and angular of bright amber, set in shallow recesses above her cheeks, and have no distinct pupils. They are only visible in certain lighting, most commonly in bright surroundings where the extra light reflects in her eyes and turns them a shining orange, or when a flashlight is shone in her face. When visible, their shape is elongated to the edge of her irises, mostly slit-like, coming to a point much like a cat's eye and giving her a stronger animalistic intensity.

Shiori's whole body is covered entirely in soft, fine tan fur that darkens to brown around and over her ears, and down her spine. In different areas of her body her fur varies in thickness and length, though for the most part it is moderately thick, extending no farther than one centimeter from her skin. The base of her spine extends out from the top of her rump in the form of a very thick and fluffy deep brown tail, characteristically wolven, which sways and twitches about unconsciously depending on her mood.

Through gift of her mutant abilities, Shiori can neutralize her physical mutation, essentially becoming a human. In this form, her build is very much the same, now with tail and fur gone, leaving light tan skin (darker than a Caucasian's, lighter than an Asian's) in their place with no blemishes along her body. Her claws and teeth are also retracted to normal lengths, plainly white, and her eyes are no longer a brilliant orange, but cool, light brown in color.

Shiori prefers to wear loose clothing over her body, mainly sticking with wide jeans/pants, and some sort of t-shirt. Muted colors are what can be found in her wardrobe with very few bright colors, especially pink. As cold has little affect on her, she wears little more than long-sleeved shirts for warmth in the winter.

POWERS/ATTRIBUTES

Agility: 5
Constitution: (if this is health..) 8
Strength: 3 for arms; 5 for legs
Charisma: 4
Dexterity: 5

Description of Mutant Power:

Known Mutations: Shiori is aware that her hearing, sight, and sense of smell are more advanced than a human's, and that her claws can inflict minor damage to another person if she is not careful. She has never really thought about her feralism as a mutation, but is aware of its existence. She knows how to switch between her furry and human forms, and has observed that she gets sick easier while human. She has no knowledge of why or how any of her abilities function, nor what her true powers hold.

Major Mutations: In basic terms, Shiori is a walking immune system. Due to her body's greatly hyperactive immune system, it responds almost immediately to not only foreign bodies, viruses, and the normal ailment, but other mutant powers as well. With each exposure to a certain power, her immune system builds up immunity to the mutant attack each time she is exposed to it, and is fully unaffected by the power after reaching a certain dose (3 'shots' or 2 minutes of continued exposure). This immunization happens without her having to concentrate on the process and performs as one of her normal bodily functions.

All powers of a given mutant, if they are not greatly diverse, will become ineffective in harming Shiori no matter which power was used to build up the immunity. However, while she can render a mutant's powers useless, more physical manifestations or attributes, such as Toad's tongue or Warren's wings, cannot be fought against or altered. Physical properties of mutants cannot be changed in any way. They are an integral part of that person, and Shiori's powers do not change the looks of those she has grown immune to. Pyro's flames are included in this list because he does not create the fire, only manipulates it. It is the power itself that she can inhibit, and not the effects caused by it.

Also, elements affected by a mutant's powers can hurt Shiori while the power itself cannot. For instance, Jean cannot levitate Shiori herself, but can levitate a chair Shiori is sitting on, or levitate some inanimate object into Shiori. The same applies with Avalanche. His 'earthquakes' do not necessarily affect Shiori, but if he shakes over a bookcase on top of her, the bookcase will definitely hurt her.

The most Shiori is affected by a mutant's powers after immunizing herself is that she will become stunned by the attack, and perhaps stumble backwards a little. (Meaning, she cannot fight the laws of physics, momentum, and all that stuff.). Depending on the type of power, her clothing and fur may be damaged, but no blood wounds or mental instability will occur. In all actuality, she does become wounded from the powers, but her immune system rebuilds her body at such an accelerated rate that it appears undamaged. This is why prolonged exposure to intense physical/elemental powers (such as being engulfed by mutant-created flames) will eventually have an affect on her. Her body cannot handle regeneration of nearly all of her body surface at once.

On a different level, Shiori can negate her own mutant blatancy, essentially becoming human. This is done by putting a majority of her mutated cells into a sort of hibernation. In less technical babble, she can lose and regrow her fur at will. It doesn't just fall off her skin, nor does she have to tear it away and underneath lies human flesh. It is more like her fur dissolves away into her body. Shiori exhibits no pain in either process of donning or losing fur. This ability requires a conscious act on her part to take effect.

When Shiori degenerates her fur, she loses all of her mutations. She basically becomes a human in more ways than one because she is blocking her own powers to prevent sickness from entering her body. In this form she is susceptible to every mutant attack, be it physical, mental, or elemental, and has no defense against them except for her physical evasive skills. She has less endurance in this form, thus tires out more quickly. Her immune/regenerative system would be reduced to a normal human's strength, but she will retain her immunities to bacteria, viruses, and other foreign bodies.

The only mutation she still retains while human is an extremely low amount of feralism. This is because feral cells are deeply integrated with most of her inner workings, and act more as a factor for her more primal state of mind rather than an actual ability. This does not mean she keeps her heightened senses or her claws and fangs since they do not have jurisdiction over her emotions and behaviors. (The senses only aid in sending an increased amount of data about her surroundings.) The sort of feralism she does keep while human is the instinctive reactions to behaviors of other people, though these are greatly reduced since a majority of them are also based off what she smells around herself.

Every time she returns to furry mode, she loses the immunities she carried for foreign mutations. Because of this, she must let her body re-recognize the specific powers (and mutants) all over again. She does not lose the immunities she carries for illnesses and drugs.

While she has a healing factor, it is not too strong, and only minor flesh wounds are regenerated within seconds. Larger, more serious injuries take a long time to mend, but still heal at faster rate than normal (commonly taking two-thirds of the time than it normally would). She is also capable of restoring areas of her body that are not normally able to reheal themselves (for instance, a lost digit), but the regrowth of that area is infinitely slow and, depending on the size of the wound, would take a good number of years for that area to fully repair itself.

Injuries received in human form will heal at normal human parameters, no matter if she reverts back to being furry. If she damages a non-regenerable area while human, her feral rejuvenation will never be able to mend it. Only wounds received while in her natural furry form, even in non-regen areas, will repair themselves at a slightly accelerated rate.

Minor Mutations: Shiori is a feral. That being said, she has a superhumanly acute sensory system. Her eyes are quite receptive to light and movement due to the abnormal shape of her pupils. In darkness, they dilate until she can see clearly, though not perfectly, with what little light remains in her surroundings. She cannot, however, see better than 20/20 vision in darkness or in daytime. Her ability to distinguish different scents is also greatly amplified, able track even faint, unfamiliar odors as well as a large dog or wolf could. Shiori's hearing is also much more perceptive due to the large size and wolven shape of her ears, which allows her to hear far-off or quiet sounds easier. She also does not possess extraordinary abilities in the sense of touch, but is easily affected by highly spiced or temperature-hot foods.

Since feralism is rooted deep within the mutants that possess it, Shiori is bound by the instincts that it strengthens. However, she has since an early age lived with most of her feralism (quite possibly due to the animalistic nature of her physical mutation), and naturally has a certain degree of control over these instinctual impulses. For instance, unless her body/mind is functioning out of normal parameters (such as if she were under high levels of stress), she will not chase after prey (basically anything nearby that is distinctly afraid) that is on the move, though she may jerk her head and body in the direction of the frightened life form, sniffing it out more thoroughly. She does, on occasion, lash out at unexpected movement that she sees on the brim of her vision as a safety precaution, though more often she will shield herself with her arms or throw herself away from the unknown movement to prevent harm to her body. She also reacts to the scents, expressions and body language of the people around her, usually in unnoticeable ways to non-ferals, and depending on the degree of some of the actions of those around her, she will in turn respond to them physically and/or vocally. (In the case of being around someone she is not too familiar with, and that the person is making gestures that could be perceived as threatening, Shiori would growl lowly at the person, drawing back her ears in agitation as she took a firmer, more defensive/offensive stance.)

Physical characteristics attributed to feralism are a sort of side effect to a feral's mindset (animalism = animal-like features) and complement a feral's degree of primal ruling. For Shiori, the wolf-like senses she possesses balance her fur and other wolven characteristics, including her claws and teeth. Quite durable and sharp, she could easily tear down to the bone of someone's arm or leg with enough force behind her. Her voice can also produce canine-like growls, whimpers and certain barks/yelps.

Because of her rather strong immune system, Shiori seldom becomes sicks, and when she does, it is usually something minor like a cold or a low fever that lasts little over a day, and having the utmost mild symptoms. Her immune system also gives her a near perfect immunity to most poisons and drugs (which includes pain killers and alcohol) after she has been exposed to them a couple of times, no matter how small a dose it is. It is also next to impossible to break her bones.

Mutation Mechanics: Shiori has a distinct extra set of mutated leukocytes (white blood cells) specific only to her that are floating around in her blood and body tissues. One group of these leukocytes, a mutated variant of large eaters called macrophages, reside in the epidermis of her skin, specifically the stratum spinosum. These macrophages do not react to normal microbes that invade the skin such as Langerhan cells do, but are triggered to life by the appearance of foreign mutations from other mutants.

When the affects of other mutants' powers enter her body, most of the macrophages in her skin are destroyed. The ones that do survive send a signal out to the untransformed version or 'baby' form of macrophages (called monocytes) that float within her bloodstream to gather around her skin. Upon reaching the site of destruction, the monocytes extract what little information the surviving macrophages contain, enlarging and becoming exact duplicates of the macrophages surrounding them, thus reestablishing the link between all macrophages within her body. The data is transferred to other macrophages in other parts of her body by way of a number of wandering macrophages until all of them contain the same information. This reaction takes no more than a few seconds to complete.

Once a second wave of the power flows through her, the macrophages are able to partially block against it and reduce the damage/affects to Shiori's body, to 'eat' the power as their name implies. Some are still killed off, but most survive, gathering a complete data table of the power as they send it to neighboring macrophages. With this information, the macrophages are able to create a full immunity against that specific mutant's powers so that no physical/mental affects are brought upon Shiori's body if another assault is thrown at her.

Gathering immunity through continued assault takes a much greater time and effort on her body's part. During the first sweep of destruction to the macrophages, the few cells that survive are left partially immobile, even sluggish due to the presence of the mutation still acting upon them. By the time the monocytes arrive, it has been well over a minute's time and the half-dead were able to complete their analysis for a total immune response, bypassing the 'second wave' analysis when they send their data to the new monocytes.

It is unknown as to how much information can be stored in the macrophages lining Shiori's skin, or even if the information is stored permanently or temporarily. However, there appears to be specific coding recorded that identifies certain mutant DNA, as all powers of a given mutant (as long as they have similar properties) will become ineffective in harming Shiori no matter which power was used to build up the immunity. Meaning that if a mutant were to have three different abilities, though all were related in some fashion, Shiori would still become immune to all three powers even if the mutant only uses each one once on her.

When Shiori dons her human appearance, signals are sent her mutated macrophages telling them to attack the section of her cells that contain her physical mutations. These cells aren't actually harmed, but are prevented from functioning by enzyme secretions released by her macrophages. In simpler terms, the macrophages are reprogrammed into buffers that block the cells that are responsible for Shiori's wolven characteristics. Because her macrophages are solely and constantly working to negate her own mutations, they can no longer function as a protective force against invading mutations from other mutants. This is how she appears to be human on the surface, though looking at her genetics will prove that she is indeed a mutant.

Reverting back to her true furry form results in a signal being sent out to her natural-forming lymphocytes (another type of white blood cell) to digest her mutant-combating macrophages. (Before this signal, her macrophages were not perceived as threats.) Once the macrophages are destroyed, her physical mutations are no longer inhibited and will present themselves once again. This also causes the permanent loss of the immunities she carried for the mutations of other mutants. New macrophages are created, but do not carry any mutation immunities within them. In order for Shiori to become immune to a certain mutant again, her body must be re-exposed to that mutant's powers.

Shiori's prime mutation can be seen as her feralism, and not her immunity to foreign mutant powers. The reason for this is that most ferals have a healing factor (or at least a quicker ability to heal) and so are generally already immune to drug agents and other foreign bodies. It is possible that her immunity to foreign mutations is a variation of this response, and would explain why her accelerated healing rate is so low in comparison to other ferals. The strength of her healing speed could have gone into processing her mutant immunity, seeming to become the 'dominant' feralistic trait, and overshadowing what truly is her main ability of feralism as a whole.

Stated earlier, feralism can be seen as a sort of state of mind. It does have other components tied with it that are more manipulative, but these are not the essence of feralism. Ferals are, as the term implies, more wild and animalistic in many of their behaviors, and Shiori is no different. She perceives the world through a dual set of eyes, one of which being human. The other set reacts to scents, expressions and body language of the people around her, having little concept of human morality and logic. This other half is just as active as her human side, and often these two conflict with each other, sometimes causing undesired actions. These 'bizarre' reactions are rooted deep within her, almost instinctually. It is impossible to ignore these primal responses entirely, though because she has lived with a feral mind since she was young, Shiori is able to restrain these responses and reduce the chances of accidental outbursts and unwanted behavior.

Source of Mutant Power: Natural Mutation

Pros: There's no doubt that being able to revert into a human form is the best perk to Shiori's mutations. Though, her heightened senses help her to read people more easily and have been handy in the past. Her immune system, when concerned with injuries or foreign substances, is also quite beneficial as she will heal faster than normal and not get drugged up easily. (Other stuff is mentioned in the above paragraphs.)

Cons: Having to re-immunize herself after every full 'transformation.' Not that she has the need to become immune to any other mutant, but if she did, then it would be a major pain in the arse. Plus the fact that she's limited on just what exactly she can grow immune to. Of course, in her human, her other mutations are dormant, so she's susceptible to all mutant attacks as well as the common cold. (Other stuff is mentioned in the above paragraphs.)

Level of Mutant Power's Effect: 0-5, depending on what is trying to affect her.
Level of Control over Power: 0 for immunity, as it's an automatic process; 5 for negating herself
Willingness to use Powers: 0 for immunity. Again, automatic process; 4 for negating herself

Effect Powers have on Lifestyle: Because of her physical mutations, Shiori has been sheltered most of her life. This has caused her to grow to be rather shy and at times distant, but at the same time she is very eager to learn and converse with others. For the most part her true mutations have had little effect on how she has lived her live, save for finding out how to revert into human form. From this ability, she has been given the chance to live a more normal lifestyle.

Personality: Having been sheltered most of her life due to her appearance, Shiori is seen as a boisterous ball of inquisitry, seeking to learn all that she can from any source of information she previously had no access to. Her face is full of wonder and astounding awe whenever she ventures to new and unfamiliar locations, taking in all the little details. To the public (human) eye she is a cheerful young adult still curious as a little child.

In reality Shiori is pretty shy and somewhat introverted, always seen but hardly ever heard. She can explore her surroundings without a thought of where she goes could be a private area, but when it comes to conversations, she is more of an observer. Usually she is off to the side of discussions, listening to the gossip rather than interacting. She actually enjoys this more than speaking herself. The only time where she has an interest in speaking is if the subject at hand is important to her, where then she can become quite vocal in her opinions.

Soft spoken and modest, Shiori can easily be manipulated. She naturally has the habit of trusting and believing what people say. The concept of sarcasm is not unknown to her, but difficult to interpret and notice, so she takes things literally and is very gullible. This aspect has been exploited in the past a number of different times, which is partly why she dislikes being teased, though she can tolerate it to an extent depending on who is teasing her. She is also sensitive to criticism, and the slightest disapproving comment or unexpected response can make her feel uneasy, possibly weakening her self-esteem for a few hours to a couple of days.

Shiori is very unaggressive, subservient even, until she is threatened, harassed, or even questioned multiple times about something trivial, where then she is quick on a defensive, her feral mentality taking up greater dominance in her behavior. Normally kind and gentle-natured, the wolven feral is very polite, brought up with proper Japanese etiquette, yet reserved when speaking to others. Once Shiori opens up, she is much more talkative and playful, her voice louder and more confident, and can be found smiling much more frequently.

While she could care less how she dresses, or how her hair looks, she is, on the other hand, very conscientious of who sees her fur. Having only been around her family with the fine coat covering her body, she is still very much apprehensive, even paranoid at times, of reactions by strangers of either human or mutant. More than likely she would first meet a person as human, and then only after feeling comfortable enough with the person would she show them what she really was.

Shiori has her fare share of dependencies and independencies. She hates to be in charge of important tasks, uncomfortable with such a burden on her shoulders, but does not like being left out entirely of decision-making either. She prefers to have the freedom and liberties to generally do as she pleases, but given enough responsibilities to feel and know she is making a difference. She is also known to be quite stubborn on variety of different matters. For the most part, Shiori is very persistent in doing things on her own and usually has a hard time asking for help on difficult tasks, even if she really needs it. She is also a grudge-holder.

Shiori's feral side, while always present, usually has no great control over her actions unless she is extremely provoked. Under the full influence of her feral mind (usually brought on by intense anger, accompanied by stress factors), she has only a vague sense of distinguishing friend from foe, and she has no problem in hurting anyone (possibly to the point of death) that does not have a great influence over her. Her senses are also immensely heightened even greater than normal, including an increase in regeneration, and her physical appearance takes on a more predatorial stature, mainly moving around on all fours. The strengthened claws and fangs that accompany her temporary bloodlust have little resistance in shredding human flesh. The most notable physical difference about her in this state would be her eyes, the irises of which are greatly enlarged and the dark, inhumanly almond-shaped pupils clearly visible. Shiori will only have a vague recollection of anything that happens to her during this time, and usually the fragmented memories will come to her in dreams.

HISTORY

Family:
Father - unknown, but presumed alive somewhere
Mother - Keiko, deceased
Older Brother - Keisuke (22)
Aunt - Reika (54)
She is the only known mutant in her family.

Age 0: Secluded and hidden all of her life, Shiori was born one month prematurely to the Hayashi family on September 21st in Takaoka. When she was born, her family (then consisting of her mother, older brother, aunt, and grandmother) had mixed reactions to her physical appearance. Staring down at the tiny baby covered entirely in soft, thin fur, with a small dog-like tail protruding from her lower back region, the family's initial response was that of silent awe.

Despite her strange characteristics (and most possibly due to Keiko's persistence), Shiori's family decided to treat their newest edition as if she were any other normal child. In fact, Keisuke, elder brother by 3 years, was ecstatic to have a 'furball' as a sibling. The only one that had any real problem with Shiori's physical alteration was Keiko's mother, who was rooted to the older tradition of life and thought the child was a sign from the demons below, which she would periodically mention to her family. But because of her strong trust she had for her youngest daughter, the strange older woman relented, keeping her feelings to herself.

Only Shiori's mother, Keiko, and her doctor had known of Shiori's abnormalities during the pregnancy. Keiko chose to keep the child despite the abnormalities that were seen forming, having felt that it was wrong to throw away a life because it did not look the same as everyone else. So together with her doctor and a select number of reliable colleagues, the group of them made private preparations for check ups and ultimately the delivery of the child.

Official documents were created, signed, and filled out once the wolven mutant was born, legitimizing her existence, though hardly anyone knew of her distinguishable appearance. It was put on her records that Shiori was a weak child, unable to interact with other children or exert herself too much outdoors, lest her physical 'ailments' act up. It was the best way her family thought to keep prying eyes out of their family. Keiko's doctor supervised over Shiori's health as well in her first year, having the two come to the hospital at late hours for check ups.

Age 2-4: was in this time that her grandmother's initial opinion of her began to change. Shiori, a cute bundle of energy and fluff, always brought a smile to everyone's face as she toddled about the house, sometime crawling, sometimes walking, always eager to know what you were holding or doing. There were no signs of a 'demonic' influence over her spirit, and her adorably cute tail that seemed to never cease moving was hard to resist. It was nearly impossible for her grandmother to stay suspicious of the child. She was a mood-lifting lifting 'puppy' to the family.

While life was calm for the family, it was not without its ups and downs. At six months into the pregnancy Keiko had showed mild signs of pregnancy-induced hypertension. Her elevated blood pressure had been potentially dangerous, but not detrimental to her or Shiori, so her blood pressure had only been monitored. After Shiori was born, Keiko's blood pressure continued to be higher than it should have been, which lead to various health problems. Over time, these conditions worsened until eventually she died when Shiori was a little over two years old. Reika took care of Shiori and Keisuke from then on, raising them how Keiko would've with the help of their grandmother.

Age 5: As Shiori grew older, the question of what to do about her education came up. While she could not interact with other children or live a normal life, her family felt that she still needed proper knowledge of the world she lived in. Reika was able to loan out education materials through the local school, and with the help of her grandmother, the two women began the wolven child's education from their home. Since the curriculum was suited to her needs, Shiori was able to advance more quickly than publicly schooled children and learn a variety of extra materials, including a higher level of the English language, as well as a little of Latin. She also had more liberties when it came to extracurricular activities, favoring drawing over all others.

Age 9: Shiori had, from an early age, known she was different from the older brother she adored. It wasn't because of her fur and other physical abnormalities, or even her strange niche within nature. Shiori could smell the difference between them, that they weren't quite equal. A few years older she would ask her family about it, but of course they had no idea what 'smell' she was talking. Only after much clarification on her part was she able to come to learn that she and her brother did not share the same father.

Apparently Keisuke's father and their mother had been having problems together, and while the two were living in America with their toddler son, they divorced after five years of marriage. Now a single parent, Keiko made arrangements to move back to Takaoka. During a quick run to the store one night before her leaving, she was assaulted and physically abused. The results of the doctor's appointment soon afterwards showed no signs of STD's, thankfully, and that the superficial wounds would be gone within time. Though it wasn't until a few weeks after readjusting herself to her old surroundings in Takaoka did she find out about the child that had been created. None of this Shiori would learn until much older, however, and even later she would presume her biological father was a mutant, possibly out that night to show his superiority over innocent people, and that he was where her mutation came from since there were no mutants accounted for in her known bloodline.

But it did not matter to the then nine-year-old that she and Keisuke were only half siblings. Keisuke was Keisuke, her older, chattery brother that sometimes brought home little treats and surprises to her. He was her eyes into the world outside the forest, and she wanted to hear about anything the older boy had to tell.

Age 12: Turning twelve for Shiori was the mark of her mutant powers fully manifesting, although she did not know this at the time. She was aware, though, that her senses had strengthened considerably to where she could pick up certain scents or noises from the nearby streets, and that she had better vision at night. It was at the same time she was introduced to the internet. The virtual world was where she, for the first time ever, was able talk to people outside of her family.

Granted, at the time it was only through email, but the limited visual capabilities allowed her the freedom to communicate with the 'outside world' she had longed desired since she was little. The computer instantly became one of her main activities, and as the added programs to instant message others came about, Shiori took full use out of all of them, finding many online friends to chat with.

Age 15: When Shiori was fifteen her grandmother was diagnosed with the later stages ovarian cancer and died a month later. Shiori was devastated. Her grandmother had been a friend she never was able to have, and the two of them often playing card games with each other as a child, later piecing jig-saw puzzles together and playing board games. It upset greatly her that she wasn't able to attend the funeral, but there really hadn't been anyway around it without distant relatives and friends learning of Shiori's truth.

Having only a few more lessons before completing the requirements for middle school education, Shiori delve into her studies, distancing herself from her family as much as possible as she dealt with the loss of her grandmother. When her courses were completed, her family was not granted the privilege to borrow texts for high school curriculum. The education board felt that if Shiori was 'healthy' enough to study hard for the last nine years, she was healthy enough to attend a public high school, if being she passed the entrance exam.

This was fine with Shiori, as she felt there was no great use for any of the knowledge since she would most likely have to live in the shadow of her family for the rest of her life. Reika did, however, manage to get Shiori to study from Keisuke's old materials, albeit not in a very thorough fashion.

One day during the Sakura viewing in the spring, Keisuke had made plans to watch the blooming with his friends. Shiori, a year older and with a more persistent desire to see the town she lived in, begged and pleaded with her aunt to allow her to venture far enough away to see the park. Reika would not have it. The town would be filled with citizens watching the soft pink petals flutter from the branches, and she feared what they would think upon seeing the furry teenager.

A rather tempered argument later found Shiori stumbling over her hardly noticeable powers when she was able to dissolve her fur from her body. A bit stunned at first, she ended up touring out with Keisuke, literally stepping out into the city she lived in for the first time in her life. Of course the poor girl had horrible balance without her tail, toppling over at ever subtle change in motion. The day had gone smoothly enough at least, Keisuke's friends being surprised to see the overexcited sister that they thought was never allowed to leave the family estate.

Now able to mingle with the crowds of her city, Shiori felt like she had stepped into another life. Every day was a new and exciting adventure as she and Reika toured Takaoka together, with her aunt explaining what each store was, who owned it, and where it was in relation to other larger, more prominent buildings. Slowly the furless girl learned her way around the city, and before long was able to walk on her own to different locations without getting lost. For a while she thought the change as a human was permanent, and on some levels hoped it was so, but one night when she had felt the need to be engulfed in nature the fur and claws returned.

Age 16: With the coming of April, Shiori desired to try and enter the local high school and be around other teenagers. She was accepted easily, and the next few weeks she began her first day at a public institution. Enthusiastic but shy, and a year older than everyone else, Shiori became part of the crowd, not the most popular kid in class, but not the geek either. She fell into the middle grouping of students, becoming a friend to many, but mainly just another classmate.

Age 19: After her brother decided to study abroad in America for his continued education, Shiori decided to follow suit. After applying around at a few locations, she now attends Mercy College in White Plains as an in-coming Freshman, majoring in Digital Media, and lives in a university-affiliated apartment complex off-campus.

AFFILIATIONS: Loner

Extra: Shiori is fluent in understanding verbal English, but has trouble speaking it herself. While in essence her speaking vocabulary is pretty much understandable, she is still rather new to the language so her verb usage is occasionally a little off. She also gets confused between words that seem like they ought to act the same but do not (those vs. these, etc). Her sentences can be complex in length, but her word choice is usually fairly simple. She retains a heavy accent when she speaks, often distorting her words and making her hard to understand. Her reading and writing skills with the English language are marginally less than her listening skills.

Also, her body temperature is naturally a few degrees higher than normal due to her fur. Because of this, she has trouble in warmer climates while in her furry form.