Lionstep

Friends are there for you when you have nowhere else to go. They'll defend you in your darkest hour. They're someone to talk to when no one else will listen.

-Lionstep to Hickorykit

## Physical Description

Lionstep is mostly light gray, with russet paws and head. She has small white freckles across her nose. She is very fluffy, especially her tail, which was bit in half in a battle with Night. She has the build of a WindClan cat due to her parents both being partly WC. She's tall, as in TALL, long-legged and slim, though her fluffy fur makes her look bigger then she really is. (She's a giant like her daddy owo) Her left ear is torn from fighting Night.

## Personality

Lionstep is an independant, cheerful, protective cat. She has strong emotions that she isn't the best at handling, and is very hard on herself. She craves adventure, often as a way to avoid her problems. Occasionally, her temper does get the best of her, but she'll always cool down eventually.

## Skills and Weaknesses

(+) A good hunter

(+) Because of her WindClan lineage, Lionpaw is faster then most RiverClan cats.

(-) Lionpaw's long fur soaks up snow, slowing her down in winter, and in summer she is more susceptible to heatstroke then shorter-furred cats.

(-) Lionpaw has a massive fear of heights, due to an unfortunate encounter as a kit, and hates climbing.

(-) Since she's ultimately more a peaceful cat then a fighter, Lionpaw's unsteady/unsure in battle...

(=) ...however, if she sees someone important to her in trouble, she gets really fierce/overprotective, even though in some situations that's not a good solution.

(+) Most of the time, Lionpaw's positive and social, and good at making friends.

## Life

### Kithood

Lionkit was born in the middle of leaf-bare to Swiftbird and Coalheart of RiverClan. She quickly found out that snow melts, and long fur gets very wet, and therefore she hates snow. At three moons old, she made her first journey into the unknown lands of the territory, accompanied by Havenbriar. She wanted to find out where fish lived, and secretly wanted to keep one for a pet. There, she discovered rivers and ice, but luckily didn't fall in. After that little taste of freedom, though, Lionkit wanted more. A few days later, she ventured out alone, through a hole in the camp wall. Eventually she found a pond, with a hollow tree near it, and she stopped to take a nap there. Raccoonkit, Brokenkit and Robinkit had followed her. Drama happened. Coalheart showed up, scolded Lionkit, and escorted them back to camp. Not long after this, Lionkit decided that she would become an apprentice early. She talked to Sparkpaw about it, and showed off her bramble-pouncing skills. Sparkpaw told her that she'd be a great apprentice, which got Lionkit even more convinced that her plan would succeed.

One day, a cat called Ravenflame took Lionkit out of camp. Being young, trusting and stupid, she followed happily, and Ravenflame unexpectedly threatened to drop her over the edge of a cliff. Coalheart rescued her, but Ravenflame managed to throw him over the edge. Lionkit was traumatized. No one found him, and that's when she got anxiety. While Coalheart was gone, she made a picture of him out of pebbles at the back of the nursery, half-hidden under strands of brambles from the wall.

As the moons went by, she started to recover from her traumatized-ness but still believed that Coalheart would come back. When Pouncekit revealed that Ravenflame was the mystery cat, Lionkit started to think of herself as cowardly for not doing the same thing sooner. After all, she'd known who it was since the first attack! She decided that when she was an apprentice, she'd do something brave, too. Maybe she would even find Coalheart!

Then she got depressed again, but didn't show it. She hated being an old kit, and Coalheart was still gone. At this point she wished that she could be thrown off a cliff and disappear, just to have something to do. She sulked in the nursery a lot, blah blah blah she's 5 moons old so literally nothing interesting can happen.

Oh yeah, Coalheart appeared again and she's happy now.

### Apprenticeship

Lionpaw became an apprentice, with Blazingwing as her mentor. As soon as she was apprenticed, Lionpaw took advantage of her new freedoms. On her first outing as an apprentice, she went to the river, where Lynxpaw taught her how to swim. Soon after, she was wandering around the riverbank before sunset when she heard a crashing noise, and ran to find Swiftbird and Coalheart under a fallen tree. Lionpaw became an orphan that night, along with her littermates and (adopted) older sibling. Yay childhood trauma. She was unofficially adopted by Ravenflight, as Coalheart told her to take care of the kits. This, of course, was devastating for Lion, and she felt like a failure all over again, the other times being at the cliff and when Ravenflame was revealed.

She began to push her freedom, venturing into No Clan's Land once for a short time, and hanging out on the WindClan border. There, she met Hornetpaw, and they discussed what it would be like without the rules (or limitations) of the Clans. And that's the story of how Lionpaw had a forbidden crush for about 5 minutes.

She didn't see him again after that incident, though. Lionpaw focused on hunting for the next few moons, chasing down rabbits with WindClan speed. At the WindClan border one day, she met Poppyblaze, the WindClan deputy at the time, and Lionpaw learned that she's "related to, like, half of WindClan."

She met a loner named Shade one day, and caught her a fish. They became friends, but Lionpaw never saw her after that.

After a few hunts together, Mudpaw confessed that he had a crush on Lionpaw. She was kinda shocked- they were good friends, but she'd never expected this! He gave her a small white rock, like a mini Moonstone, a few days later at the river. Lionpaw /almost/ accepted his proposal, but she was so shocked she didn't know what to do with herself. Deep down she knew she should, but she didn't want to believe it.

Hickoryfrost caught greencough, and went to the Twolegs for help. As a result, a new deputy was chosen: Blazingwing! Now semi-related to and apprentice of the deputy, Lionpaw was thrilled. Just after the ceremony, Beechstorm, who had been missing for a few days, returned with Primrose. Beechie and Badgie and Lion all made a huge cat hug, and Lion was happy that Beechie was happy and everyone was happy (except maybe Primrose, who was awkwardly standing a few feet away).

Lionpaw hung out with Dewkit/paw a lot, as they were good friends. Shortly before Dewpaw's apprentice ceremony, she took her out to her favorite spot- the little pond she'd gone to as a kit. This and a conversation with Ravenflight helped her to relax a bit and think about what to do without worrying so much. After a moon or two, she'd made up her mind.

Mudpaw won her over, and she realized why she was so reluctant. Lionpaw was scared that if something happened to him, she wouldn't be able to save him- like with her parents deaths. She admitted this to Mudpaw near her pond, relieved to have it done but still a bit nervous- did Swiftbird and Coalheart approve, up in StarClan? She gave Mudpaw a small white rock, matching the one he'd given her, and finally, for once, Lionpaw was satisfied with herself.

Not too long later, Ripplepaw died. Lionpaw found his body just past the border to NCL, with evidence of an animal attack, and brought him back to camp alone. Naturally, she was devastated, and she felt responsible, because that's Lion for you. With Lionpaw's grief rose a new kind of anger she wasn't used to, and she took it out on some poor random rabbit. Suddenly she realized that she wanted- needed- to learn to fight, so she could at least try to help the next time she saw someone in trouble, and she broke down in tears right there.

Nightpaw wandered into ShadowClan territory one day, followed by Dewpaw and later, Lionpaw. She immediately snapped at the SC warriors who'd caught them, had a very short stare-off with Swiftgaze (not a wise idea), had problems explaining her trust issues with other Clans, and then was very dissapointed in herself for not doing what she should have done (and instead being reckless). She pretty much scolded herself the entire way back home, once a WindClan patrol came to help them.

Dewpaw was attacked by someone or something, and Lionpaw's emotions got all mangled up- anger at herself for not being there to help, anger at Ravenflame, because she might still be out there, fear and worry about Dewpaw, deep regret about not being able to help with Ripplepaw and now again with Dewpaw, and some mischievous shipping plans when she figured out that Heatpaw, who helped get Dewpaw back to camp, was from ShadowClan, the land of "RiverClan sucks but we're perfect."

At first, Nightpaw blamed it on a pack of dogs, but later said it was a fox, and immediately Lionpaw caught him. She hated Ravenflame even more at this point, and was desperate to take it out on someone or something. She ran into Stormheart in camp, and they yelled/hissed/growled at each other for a while. Stormheart had decided to take a patrol of warriors to find out who the attacker was, and Lionpaw was determined to come, but Stormheart just kept insulting her and saying she was "sticking her nose in warrior's buisness" and that she couldn't come. Quilldawn broke in to stop the argument, and agreed that Lionpaw could come, after all.

Ravenflame, Lionpaw's oldest enemy, showed up in camp. Lionpaw was utterly shocked, and immediately pinned her, absolutely furious. To her surprise, Ravenflame just went limp, asking for Badgerstar. Though filled with anger and fear, she tried to act brave in front of Badgerstar. When Ravenflame went up to Lightflare, she was more shocked than before, and could barely think straight. Again, she just broke down, unable to handle it. Dandelionpaw helped her calm down a bit, and she crawled off to her nest for a few moments until the patrol to find Night started.

While Badgerstar was fighting Ravenflame, #RevengeTeam went out to find Night and make her pay for what she did to Dewpaw. Lionpaw had never had any battle training, but her size, speed and instincts helped her a lot. She was more focused then she'd been in a long time, and fought well for someone untrained. In the battle, her ear was ripped and she lost half of her tail, but she also realized that just because she couldn't help Dewpaw or Ripplepaw, didn't mean it was her fault. She was pretty weak from the blood loss, but even with Nightpaw in a coma with Dewpaw now, she was happy. Night had been defeated, and she felt that the battle was the right thing to do, even if it cost.

Relieved of the stress she'd been putting on herself, Lionpaw was more positive than ever in the next few moons. When Night woke up, they became friends, and Dewpaw followed within a day or two. Dewpaw was different though, scared and not trusting anyone. Lionpaw repeatedly tried to get her to calm down, to believe that her friends wouldn't hurt her, and failed.

Dandelionpaw left, swept away in Adder River. Lionpaw and Pitchpaw were there, and Lionpaw reasoned that if Dandelion had had a plan, at least she could finish it now.

### Adult Life

Lionpaw became a warrior with the name Lionstep on May 28, 2020. She was still getting used to her shortened tail, but was happy with her life. She'd conquered her fear of not being to be there for everything, and seen her parents at her warrior ceremony. She could finally be with Mudpatch, and was excited for the moons to come.

One day, at the shore of the Endless Salt Lake at sunset, Mudpatch gave Lionstep a flower necklace and did the official proposal, to which Lionstep said "Of course!"

Her life was pretty uneventful, for a nice change. Since it was getting closer to greenleaf, it was hotter, and Lionstep started to go out rabbit chasing less, since it was already hot enough without adding that much activity.

She was given Goldpaw as an apprentice, and was happy and excited, feeling like she had a purpose again. Shortly after, she found out that she was pregnant. Lionstep was devastated, but couldn't let anyone know it. Having kits was a blessing, wasn't it? But all she wanted was for life to go back to normal. Going back to the nursery also reminded her of her own kithood, and she was reminded quickly of her grief for her parents.

She quickly had to forget leave all that behind, because she gave birth only days after moving in. Beechstorm, who was now a medicine cat, helped, and soon Lionstep had three little kittens: Yewkit, a soft, floofy little tom, Patchkit, a black and white she-kit, and Swiftkit, who resembled Swiftbird's pelt color. Yewkit and Patchkit were exploring the nursery very soon. When Swiftkit didn't start right away, Lionstep started to worry, but luckily Swiftkit started to wake up soon after her siblings.

After existing for two days, Lionstep's kits had done a lot. Yewkit fell into Duck Pond and found a rock, Patchkit discovered she was blind and was tragically sad about it, Swiftkit became a pacifist, Yewkit became a sassy detective... it was crazy. Lionstep just assumed that all of this was normal, because she was too tired to think about how she might be doing things wrong.

She quickly got used to her kits, though it was hard to keep up with them, and started swimming daily to get her strength back up as soon as possible so she could be on warrior duties in leaf-bare. Alone with her thoughts for the first time in a while, she started realizing a few things. Mudpatch had never visited her or the kits in the nursery, and they barely knew who their father was.

One day she walked into camp after a swim in the river and overheard Mudpatch- “Yewkit is the worst kit a cat could have, so sassy, disrespectful, annoying.” She got mad, and stayed that way. Mudpatch ran away into the territory and Lionstep went back to the nursery, where she found Yewkit crying because Mudpatch scared him. She told Yewkit he never had to see Mudpatch again if he didn't want to, and in that moment decided the same was true for herself.

She had a short talk with Lilyflight about it, and went for a walk along the WindClan border, which helped her feel better. The next day she was planning on going for a swim in the river, but instead found an injured ShadowClan apprentice, Petalpaw, swept against a rock. She dried her off and helped her back to camp, where Beechstorm treated her while Patchkit comforted her.

Patchkit asked one morning if they could all go outside camp together, and Lionstep quickly agreed and brought all three kits to the little clearing/pond she found as a kit. They all tried to convince Yewkit to join them in the water, which was barely past Lionstep's knees or whatever they are on cats. Yewkit was too scared though, and ran off into ThunderClan territory. Lionstep followed him, trusting Patchkit and Swiftkit to wait for a patrol, which, luckily, they did. Lion and Yew met Baypaw, who allowed them to return home without trouble.

Nothing eventful happened for a few moons, and Lionstep went out one day to test her hunting skills. She caught a rabbit, but was suspicious that something was wrong with it since it's partner had been acting strange. She caught a few fish for the fresh kill pile and returned to camp, keeping the rabbit to herself so if she got sick it wouldn't spread. It was pretty bad. She ended up having the dreaded WindClan rabbit disease, which gave her a bad fever and stomach pain.

Eventually she got better, and leaf-fall turned into leaf-bare and the kits were apprenticed. Her life was officially boring now, and in the thick snow Lionstep was pretty much unable to hunt. She started to feel worthless, not able to hunt, her kits not needing her to take care of them anymore, and not having any close friends or family left to talk to. One night she wasn't able to sleep, so she got up and went on a walk, contemplating life. Her paws took her down to the little pond in the clearing she'd found as a kit, and so began her existential crisis. She couldn't figure out why StarClan hadn't just taken her to be with her siblings and parents when she couldn't hunt and her kits didn't need her to take care of them, and she somehow managed to fit herself into the hollow tree to sleep there, not able to bear returning to the Clan when she was so useless. Ripplewatcher found her there, and convinced her to eat a little, but she still refused to go back to camp.

Leaf-bare ended, and she finally decided to go back home. She slowly got used to Clan life again, but then Ravenflight was injured and went into a coma. During that time, she was super stressed, but when her adopted mom woke up again she cheered up again. It was like her problems melted away with the ice, and she accepted her life for what it was.

## Friends and Family

Family-

Swiftbird -Riverclan, she-cat, mother (deceased)

Coalheart- Riverclan, tom, father (deceased)

Raccoonpaw- RiverClan, tom, brother (deceased)

Ripplepaw- RiverClan, tom, brother (deceased)

Ravenflight- RiverClan, she-cat, aunt / adopted mom

Beechstorm- RiverClan, she-cat, grandma

Swiftpaw- RiverClan, she-cat, daughter

Patchpaw- RiverClan, she-cat, daughter

Yewpaw- RiverClan, tom, son

Friends-

Dewpaw- RiverClan, she-cat, friend (deceased)

Nighthawk- RiverClan, tom, friend (deceased)

Other-

Ravenflame- rouge (?), she-cat, once mortal enemy

Mudpatch- RiverClan, tom, ex-mate

## Quotes

"I'm going to be the leader when I grow up, like Boomewstaw!" -to Coalheart

"I have littw- littuw- Litter-mates. W- Raccoonkit and w- argh- Ripplekit." -to Brightblaze

"This is WAY better than a mouse!" -to Coalheart about salmon

"I'm halfway an apprentice. I can do it!" -to Coalheart and Havenbriar about leaving camp (as a 3-moon kit)

"You said his name was Boomerstar." -to Ravenflight

"He was trying to protect me. I shouldn't have let him." -to Pouncekit, about Coalheart

"I couldn't betray my Clan, limitations or not." -to Hornetpaw

"Apparently I'm related to, like, half of WindClan, but whatever." -to Shade, a loner

"A WindClan apprentice and I were talking about the same thing a few moons ago. It's a matter of pride, I suppose- he said something like that." -to Shade, about there being four Clans instead of just one

"I guess remembering is kinda sad," she murmured, thinking of her parents. "Sometimes it's good, though... Like, what if you forgot all the bad stuff, but the happy stuff went with it?" She paused. "I'd rather have some sad things and some happy things, then nothing, if that even makes sense." -to Beechstorm

"I don't have to do this right away! I can have my own life." -To herself

"I haven't been training for six moons to be 'just some apprentice.' I've been training to become a good warrior." -to Stormheart

"I know a thing or two about mystery attackers, and what I know about this one is that I want revenge." -to Stormheart

"What if I can't handle this when I'm a warrior, either? What if I fail the Clan?" -to Dandilionpaw

"This is going to sound odd, but... Sorry if we went a bit too far. I hope someone helps you out there- as long as you don't hurt anyone else." -to Night's ghost

"No one can be perfect, but at least some of us try." -to Dewpaw

"I'm sorry your father never visited you, I'm sorry he was mean to you..." to Yewkit

"You never have to see him again if you don't want to." -to Yewkit

"Being scared is the first part of being brave." -to Yewkit

"I'll do whatever I can to make sure I can be here for you." -to her kits