Scarlet Firestorm

Scarlet Firestorm is a female lion born in 278 ADD in the town of Sinh Mahal on the Bhula Diya Peninsula. She was exposed to the world of entertainment at a young age, where her father groomed her in the art of Lavani dancing. She traveled the world with her troop, until her father betrayed her when she was 15. She eventually became a solo performer renowned for her mystic use of Fire during her shows, and later a prominent public figure for body positivity.

Personality

Scarlet is a very self-confidant and energetic lioness who believes in promoting body positivity and self-empowerment. She has a lot of self-respect and is very firm in her beliefs without going so far to be narcissistic. She is also a supporter of mental health, and is interested in how self-esteem is linked to appearances and background. She is very extroverted and goal-oriented, although sometimes she can come across as overconfident, her pride often getting her into trouble.

Abilities

Scarlet is very agile and flexible as a result of her background as a Lavani dancer.

She is also a Fire Elemental, giving her the ability of pyrokinesis, which she uses to create flames and fireballs. It also makes her more fire and heat resistant.

Her Fire powers can also be used as a healing technique to cauterize wounds.

She is skilled with her whip, and often combines her agility and Fire powers to ignite and control it.

 She occasionally uses her attractiveness to emotionally manipulate her enemies when she prefers not to get violent.

Design

Scarlet has mainly golden fur, with a lighter cream color going down her belly and ending at her rear. She has fluffy chest fur and long velvet colored hair that goes down her back. Her tail is long and thin, ending in a poofy tuft of fur the same color as her hair. On the back of her ankles are several red spots, and she has a red heart-shaped birthmark on her left rear. The bottoms of her paws and feet are cream colored, ending in sharp claws. She has a red nose and paw pads. Her eyes are fiery orange and the interiors of her ears are cream colored.

Attire

Scarlet wears many different fashion choices, though most consist of thin linen with a fiery theme to them.

Her standard outfit consists of flowing red pants and sleeveless top with gold highlights. Her hair is pulled back with a gold hair tie. Around the tip of her tail she wears two small golden rings.

Story

Early Life

Scarlet grew up in the city of Sinh Mahal in the Bhula Diya Peninsula, where she lived a lavish life with her father King, who was a producer for the entertainment industry. She was raised to be a talented Lavani dancer while she was still a cub, her father often pushing her to do performances for the nobles across the peninsula. She was liked by her troop members, and grew particularly close with a zebra named Cinna Lacane. When Scarlet was eight, her father noted how well she performed, and decided to expand the troop's potential for fame by booking them a trip to Grand Concentra City in the Northern Empire.

While in the city, King had encountered a troublesome cheetah named Hunter Pantone, who'd conned him out of a sum of money. As punishment, he brought Hunter back to the hotel where Scarlet's troop was staying to await processing by the Authorities. King forbade Scarlet from talking to the cheetah, but she quickly took a liking to him. Eventually, King let Hunter go, and for weeks after Scarlet continued to sneak away from her family in order to be with him, the two growing to be best friends, despite how far away they lived from each other. But after several months of performing in the city, Scarlet's troop moved back to Sinh Mahal, where she lost touch with Hunter.

Betrayed

By the time she was 15, Scarlet had become renowned across the peninsula, with many nobles offering to see her specifically. King saw a great business opportunity, and set up a meeting with one of the nobles, a lion named Mahim Dhan. She met Mahim alone in his mansion, under the assumption he wanted to promote her troop. She was surprised when he threw himself onto her instead. However, Scarlet was able to grab a whip Mahim kept next to his fireplace, and used it to try to get him off her, but she found he was still too strong for her. In her determination, Scarlet's dormant Fire powers were suddenly awakened, which she used to ignite the whip and wrap it around the lion, setting him ablaze. Taking advantage of the distraction, Scarlet pushed Mahim off her and fled from the mansion.

When she returned to her home, King was furious at her, informing her Mahim had died after his mansion had burned down. Scarlet told her father how Mahim had attacked her, but he was still angry, revealing he had sold Scarlet to Mahim as his personal slave and was legally allowed to do whatever he wanted with her. Devastated by this, Scarlet abandoned her home, quitting her troop and leaving the peninsula, angry at her country's unjust laws.

On Her Own

 Scarlet traveled south by cargo ship to the vast Alnamari Desert. She stopped in Madina an-Sahil, a city-state along the continent's western coast. There, she found many of the city's residents had heard of her, and were eager to see her perform. Before being overwhelmed by the crowd, a tiger named Syren Kaneri took her to his office in the city, but she soon discovered he was an informant for her father and fled, though he eventually cornered her in an alleyway. As he was about to capture her, a fennec fox from the nearby bookstore named Sandara Diafa, intervened and told him off before ushering Scarlet to safety. She was then introduced to Sandara's twin brother Dunis, who offered her food and a place to stay with them in exchange for work at the bookstore.

She worked with the Diafas for a month, until one evening she and Sandara were harassed by a pair of drunken badgers demanding she perform for them. In order to persuade them to leave, Scarlet was forced to reveal her Elemental Fire powers, garnering the attention of Kaneri, who confronted her in a square. After a duel, Scarlet won by burning Kaneri across the face, the onlooking crowd believing the fight to be a staged event. They demanded more, and together with the Diafas Scarlet began putting on a series of shows in the city, utilizing her Fire powers in her performances.

Scarlet stayed in the city for three years, becoming a beloved attraction for many travelers throughout the desert. Eventually however, she noticed that it had been a while since Sandara had last attended one of her shows, and began growing suspicious. One night, she put on a disguise and followed the fennec to a night club, where Scarlet was mistaken for one of the staff. She found Sandara shortly after and discovered she had secretly been nightlighting as a comfort girl for the club patrons. Struggling to understand, Scarlet confronted her, asking why she would rent herself out for the people she constantly criticized. And while Sandara explained she was trying to save money so she and Dunis could move to the city of Oasis to the east, Scarlet finally revealed her troubled past and how she was terrified of it happening again, believing the night club to be the result of the same attitudes that had caused her to run away in the first place. Scarlet's outburst caused her to be thrown out by security. Shortly after, she was attacked by a pair of soldiers claiming to work for Kaneri, whom she hadn't seen in three years. She tried to fend them off, but their fire retardant armor rendered her spells useless, and she fled home instead.

A night later, Kaneri set fire to the Diafas' bookstore, trapping the fennecs and Scarlet in the basement. Before the smoke could overwhelm them, Scarlet used her Elemental powers to bend the flames away, allowing them to escape, where they were soon taken to a nearby medical center. With their home destroyed, there was nothing keeping the Diafas in Madina an-Sahil, and Sandara could finally use her savings to start the new life she had been working towards.

A New Declaration

Not wanting to endanger her friends, Scarlet decided not to follow the Diafas, opting instead to take a skyship to the western continent. As she waited to board, she was confronted by Kaneri, whose face was permanently scarred from their duel years before. Again they fought, Scarlet eventually being bested by him and pinned to the ground. Memories from her encounter with Mahim flooded her mind, but she was able to overcome them and created a blast of fire breath to finally incinerate Kaneri.

Returning to Grand Concentra City, she got in touch with the producer who hosted her troop during her last trip to the city. She cited her previous achievements and her Fire Elemental motif to persuade the producer to sponsor her own solo show in the city. However, the city's technological society also gave her an easy outlet to advocate for gender equality through social media. 

Several months later, Scarlet got an unexpected message one day, from someone claiming to be Hunter, whom she hadn't seen in a decade. Suspicious, Scarlet tested the sender, asking them something only she and Hunter would know. They responded correctly, and Scarlet realized it really was him. He asked her if she wanted to meet at his houseboat, but Scarlet declined, not trusting the area where he lived. Despite this, the two still reconnected online, Scarlet happy she had found him again.

Two years passed, and Scarlet had become a prominent vocal figure in the city. Her new fame allowed her to get involved in speaking out against the war between the Northern Empire and the Sur Kingdoms and how the Empire's control was damaging their freedoms in favor of corporate profit. The situation grew worse when she learned of a bombing on the Spectrum Academy, with the blame being placed on the Sur Kingdoms. Scarlet set up a fundraising campaign through her performances to help the families of those affected by the attack and to rebuild the Academy.

While managing the campaign, Scarlet began seeing wanted notifications around the city calling for Hunter's arrest. She secretly contacted him, and he revealed to her the truth behind the attack--that it had been staged by the Empire as propaganda to continue the war. Outraged, Scarlet came out on social media, urging people to think critically about where their taxes were really going. Her posts were quickly censored, and the government began attempting to slander her name, claiming she was mentally unstable by saying she had burned down a noble's mansion in an act of arson. Scarlet tried to explain her past, but the city continued applying pressure to silence her, threatening to shut down her performances. Not wanting to jeopardize the careers of her crew members, she reluctantly complied.

Still frustrated, Scarlet sought Hunter out again, saying she was finally ready to meet him in person. After deciphering the location of his houseboat, she made her way to the docks in the Pipeline District. On her way, she encountered a kangaroo named Vert Greene, and his partner, a clouded leopard named Rosa Amaranth. They asked her what her business in the district was, and after she declined to answer, she was shot in the shoulder with an arrow by Vert. Not wanting to draw out a fight with an injured shoulder, she activated her Fire powers to face them quickly. 

But before they fought, Hunter arrived after hearing the noise. He quickly deescalated the situation, and brought Scarlet in his houseboat to clean up her wound. Shortly after, he explained to her the Resistance he was building to expose corruption in the city. She declined his offer to join him, saying how her status as a public figure would bring him too much attention. He understood, but Scarlet was at least glad to have finally met him again. She did however make him an offer as well: to use her wealthy connections to get Hunter inside knowledge on events hosted for elites of the city, while remaining a performer in the public's eye. He accepted, and together they eventually rekindled the friendship they'd had as kids.

Relationships

She is currently in a romantic relationship with Hunter Pantone.

She is best friends with Cinna Lacane.

She sees twin fennecs Sandara and Dunis Diafa as the parental figures she never had growing up.

Trivia

-Her biggest pet peeve is when people try to reduce her to just fanservice.

-She loves collecting jewelry.

-She loves spicy food.

-Scarlet is not her original name, her father gave her the name Scarlet as a Universal name to appeal to overseas audiences, as he felt her birth name was too native. Her real name, Soneri, which means 'golden' in one of Bhula Diya's traditional languages, was chosen by her lost mother, and is a reference to her golden fur. Scarlet's father refused to acknowledge her mother and did everything he could to remove any influence she could have on their daughter's life. As a result Scarlet does not know of her true name.