This is mostly just a sequence that popped into my head that I tried to write down, but I figured it could be a neat exercise that others might be interested in. Basically a short bit that could serve as the introductory scene for the character in a movie or show. Like, how would their defining character aspects best be showcased and introduced, what's important we know about them and how that'd be expressed. I'll probably at least try to write something similar for my other chars, though this one I had the strongest mental image for. And for some reason this seems to work better in my head as an animated sequence. So more XU TV show rather than movie, I guess. xD
This is essentially "canon" backstory for Nailah as well, though it doesn't have to be. Anyway, without further ado.
Soundtrack
The scene opens on the wide open blue sky with only a small smattering of clouds. As the view slowly pans across the sky a small sparrow comes into view, fluttering to and fro as the view follows it through the air and ultimately down to the ground in front of an RV trailer. It pecks at some crumbs that are scattered on the trodden red earth, hopping between the legs of camping chairs. Suddenly it's search for food is disrupted by the plastic-on-plastic slamming of the camper's door and the sparrow flutters away just in time to avoid the big lion's paw coming down on the ground. Claws flex and dig into the earth. The view pulls back to reveal a blonde girl with an impish grin on her face. She slams the door of the RV shut behind herself as she takes off in a run, loose trenchcoat fluttering around her shoulders. The door bounces in it's frame and when it swings open again a middle-aged woman still in her pajamas stands just inside. "Nailah! Get back here this instant!" she shouts, a frown of worry with just a hint of anger on her face. The blonde girl glances back over her shoulder with an apologetic smile but only picks up speed. The middle-aged woman steps out of the camper, behind her a man with short hair that's beginning to grey on the temples is hopping on one leg, trying to put his other leg through his pants.
Nailah sprints away from the campground, heading right for the light forest nearby. She cuts sharp corners every once in a while, feet skittering on the hard clay ground as her claws search for purchase. Small branches full of leaves slap at her face as she runs through the underbrush, picking up burrs and little twigs in the thick fur of her legs. In the distance her father's voice rings out. "Nailah Evelyn Weaver! If you don't turn around so help me..." his voice more exasperated than truly angry. She continues to run, stumbling occasionally but always finding her footing until she reaches an incline leading down into a small ravine. She stumbles forward, legs struggling to keep up as she goes flying forward. Finally one of her feet comes down on a small rock embedded in the slope and she finds enough purchase to jump forward. The camera pulls down as she jumps, silhouetted against the sky peeking through the sparse branches of the trees. Her trenchcoat flutters and we see the lion's tail that had been curled up underneath trail after her, swaying back and forth before she lands on the other side of the small ravine. Wasting no time she scrambles up the slope on her hands and feet, sprinting further as the vegetation slowly grows more sparse and the ground beneath her her feet is replaced with flat stone.
The view swivels until we're looking over her shoulder just before she clears the last line of trees. Ahead is a stretch of maybe twenty yards of rock before the ground suddenly falls away. Beneath the open sky the Grand Canyon stretches out in front of her, seeming to reach across the entire horizon. For a moment she comes to a skidding stop, both to catch her breath and to take in the view in front of her. The view pans across the gigantic gorge before her revery is suddenly interrupted by the shouts of her father.
"Gosh darnit, Nailah! It's dangerous out here!" his voice comes from somewhere behind, closer than before. She hesitates for just a moment, chewing on her lip as she looks over her shoulder as if she was expecting him to com bursting out of the small woods behind her. When he doesn't she turns towards the cliff in front of her again and takes off running. Only moments later her father comes stumbling past the treeline, arms raised in front of his face to shield him against the branches. He lowers them just in time for a gust of wind to blow Nailah's discarded trenchcoat into his face. He wrestles it away only to see the distant shape of his daughter leap off the edge and into the canyon below.
He stumbles forward as Nailah's excited, then slightly nervous scream echoes through the air that, all of a sudden turns into exhilarated laughter and, a few heartbeats later, Nailah comes shooting back up, over the edge of the cliff and high into the air, twirling around her own axis before wings snap out from behind her back and steady her, hanging in the air for one stomach-lurching moment before she begins to fall again, this time in a gentle arc that carries her further out into the canyon, wind whipping around her, rushing in her ears and making her t-shirt flutter around her. Behind her a couple of feathers slowly tumble through the air as we see her father being joined by her mom emerging from the treeline, watching nervously as Nailah grows smaller in the distance as she soars through the air, the cliff-face next to her a blur of red and brown as the seemingly tiny river winds it's way through the landscape far below...