Records indicate that Shilo Mokushi was born in the Hyōgo prefecture of Japan in the city of Kobë. When she was only 4 years old her parents abandoned her at a Orphanage in northern Kobë. The reasons for them to give up their child were unclear at the time. The only obvious unusual feature of the child was her eyes; they are a pale reddish-brown color and some even describe them as being pink.
Shilo spent most of her youth being bounced from one orphanage to another she spent most of her time in Osaka and Kyoto. The poor disillusioned girl realized that for some reason no one seemed to want her though she didn’t know why. For some reason whenever the girl would become upset people would often become frightened and she would find herself left alone wondering what was so scary.
Shilo spent so much time isolated that she became a daydreamer. One day her daydreams took on a new significance when she realized that often the visions that came to her would come true within a few days. Mostly these were mundane things: She would have a vision of a meal and find that the menu at the orphanage matched that vision exactly two days later. She had a vision of a pair of brothers being brought to the orphanage and next week the pair she had seen in her vision arrived. On other occasions the visions were more serious; she once had a vision of one of the orphanage workers being killed by “bad men,” and three days later the woman was slain in a botched bank robbery.
As Shilo got older her ability to instill fear in others got more powerful, or at least more controlled, though she still was not sure what was happening. She discovered that whenever she got upset at another child all she had to do was give them an intense look and they would soon run off crying.
One day, one of the matrons at her current orphanage pulled her aside and scolded her. She told Shilo to stop being so mean, to stop scaring the other kids so much. Confused, Shilo asked what she meant. She wasn’t trying to scare anyone. The matron told her that when she got angry at any of the other kids they would imagine horrible things. One boy saw spiders crawling all over himself and another girl had told of seeing a pack of mad dogs charging at her.
Shilo knew she was different and now she was starting to realize how different she really was. As she got to be a teenager she found she had more and more prophetic visions. They were surprisingly accurate but she was terrified of telling anyone lest she be further ostracized by the few people who would associate with her.
In her early teenage years she excelled in many school yard games and seemed to have a natural talent for volleyball, softball and dodge ball. Shilo’s talents had developed to the point that she was often able to see just where a volley, throw or pitch would go ahead of time. She was becoming able to see a split second into the future. It wasn’t always reliable but it gave her a tremendous edge in such simple games.
As she approached maturity she began to change physically. Her hair, which had been a deep black, began to take on an unusual hue. At first it simply became very silky and glossy and in the sunlight it seemed to reflect a deep violet color. As she grew older still it began to lighten and eventually became an exotic shade of deep blue. She covered this change by pretending to everyone that she was dying it that color. She even went so far as to buy hair color which she would pour down the sink to keep up the illusion.
By the time she was eighteen she was a truly exotic looking specimen. Pink eyes and blue hair made her stand out in a crowd. Fortunately the rest of her developed well and so instead of looking like a freak she took on an aura of exotic, enchanting beauty. This would seem to bode well for her future happiness but her limited control of her powers foiled many potential suitors.
When she turned eight teen she had managed to land a job as a waitress. She was a bit cold to customers as she tried to keep her powers in check, but she was attractive enough that she still earned good tips. At least the wages allowed her to afford a small apartment when she had to leave her last orphanage.
During her senior year of high school she found herself walking back to her apartment alone from a date again. She had gone to a movie with a young and handsome college man. The movie had been a scary. Unfortunately one scene startled her and she looked into her date’s eyes while she was frightened… Who knows what he saw but he quickly made up an excuse and couldn’t leave her fast enough.
On this evening she was wandering the streets in her poor neighborhood alone, not really a safe thing for an attractive young woman to do, when she heard muffled screams coming from an alleyway. She cautiously investigated and stumbled upon a crime in progress…
A couple of tough looking street thugs had a young woman cornered, they had knives and her shirt had been torn away. A proper looking young man lay on the ground nearby in a slowly widening pool of blood. She made too much noise when she approached and one of the thugs looked at her, suddenly she could clearly hear all of the thoughts in the alley. She saw the terror in the girl’s mind and her concern for her brother. From the two thugs she heard their thoughts about what they intended to do to the girl and to Shilo as well since they had spotted her. From the poor young man on the ground she heard nothing. For the first time in her life Shilo consciously unleashed her powers on someone.
The first thug was a little in the chunky side. He suddenly turned pale as a ghost, dropped his knife and clutched his chest as he collapsed on the ground foaming at the mouth. She quickly shifted her gaze at the other thug and he too paled. He ran off screaming and soiled himself as he ran. As soon as Shilo realized what she had just done she fled the scene as well.
That night had awakened something in Shilo, she now found it much easier to read the surface thoughts of all she encountered. She was shocked, and disappointed, at what she learned. She was surprised how many people honestly thought she was beautiful. She was disappointed at just how lecherous a lot of men are. It made her paranoid. There were a lot of nice and honest people out there but there were also an alarming number of people who were simply not right.
Her experiences (both in the alleyway and after) determined the course of her future. She worked hard and managed to put herself through college. She majored in criminal law and chose to pursue a career in law enforcement. She had realized that her ability to see the surface thoughts of others would allow her to separate the chaff out of civilized society. There were lots of good people out there she could hear them, but there were lots of vicious wolves who she could hear too.
Her abilities and having to work so closely to society’s bad elements (cops deal with lots of crooks) have jaded her some. The certain knowledge of what some perverted lechers would like to do to a woman like her, has resulted in her feeling much more secure when she is armed. It doesn’t help that many who she has captured have revenge in their mind as well. It has gotten to the point that she has hung a waterproof holster in her shower. No matter where Shilo goes, she always has a weapon within easy reach.
She has encountered many repeat offenders and their surface thoughts have convinced her that many are beyond rehabilitation. She often has to restrain herself from shooting those she believes are irredeemable. “I know what this scum is thinking, I ought to just shoot him now and save the taxpayers some money.”
A year ago Shilo and her partner were assigned the task to go to Angelus and retrieve a fugitive that the Angelus Police had apprehended. It was during that visit that she was approached by an XSWAT Captian named Alexander Richards. He told her that he was an Esper and he could sense that she was one too. He wanted her to join XSWAT and said that they would be willing to pay her to relocate. The job would come with a substantial raise and she’d get to work in the city on the edge of tomorrow.
She sensed no deception or ill thoughts from this man and it seemed like a really good deal. She put in for a transfer and moved shortly thereafter.
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