BRAVE FACE [ intro ]

TANGYPAW

SHADOWCLAN / APPRENTICE / BEAUTY QUEEN

  after they had snuck out of camp, tangypaw had managed to get into trouble with her father who had been looking for her. she didn't want to train with gorgepaw, but her father insisted. as blackfoot led his daughter, and apprentice, back to the training fields, it was safe to say that she did not have a good feeling about this at all. after all, she just had become an apprentice not too long ago. still, she was breaking her back trying to impress her father. only other cat who knew how much effort she was putting into this was owlpaw. she stood quietly across from the other, ears flattening back. her mother would be so very upset about this, but it was not going to be enough to stop blackfoot. "alright, gorgepaw. you know what to do. no mercy." he instructed, turning to his daughter with his eyes narrowed. "show me what you've got." it almost sounded like he wanted her to win, but she knew way better.

and it didn't, even take that long. the fight seemed to be over way before it started, and tangypaw felt claws digging into her skin, the pure brute force knocking her into a nearby tree, her gasps for air causing gorgepaw to retreat. her fur became dirty with mud, dust, and her own blood, as she stood up, ignoring the stinging in the side of her body fro. the deep claw marks, and the feeling of her ribs being broken. tears threatened to sting as her eyes as she slowly pushed herself up, though a paw slammed on her head, leaving her wincing as she looked up at the other apprentice. "i-i.." she didn't have enough air to say what she wanted. a snort from her father left her head turning towards him, as he gestured for the other apprentice to step back. clearly, gorgepaw had won. "pathetic. get up, tangykit." he only called her that to belittle her, and it was working. she gritted her teeth, and stood up shakily on her paws, holding back the flood gates to keep from seeing like a cry baby. 


she didn't even wait for her father to say anything. she knew she was in trouble. and now, she would have to see the medicine cat, and her friends, look at her crazy while she tried to explain that this was her fault. she whimpered lowly and quickly, as quickly as one with such injuries could even manage, made her way back to camp. she nearly fell over as soon as she made it, but caught herself, standing shakily in the camp, her eyes moving over to the medicine cat den. she wasn't going to make it there, as she heaved heavily, sitting down, feeling the blood drip from her wounds, down her fur. pathetic. her father said. and he was right.

TANGYPAW

SHADOWCLAN / APPRENTICE / BEAUTY QUEEN

  tangypaw's face seemed to absentmindly twist itself into a smile, despite the pain she was in. her heavy breathing didn't stop, yet still she smiled, her eyes closing gently as she turned her head towards figpaw, who seemed worried. a little too worried, if she had anything to say about it. her tail gently tapped on the ground, as she lifted her paw shakily to her eyes, wiping away any tears that may have threatened to expose themselves. "i'm f-f...f-fine.." a simple lie, but maybe it was enough to get figpaw to not worry about it. after all, this was none of his business. it was no one's. her tongue gently ran across her muzzle, flinching at the loudness of her friend, tansypaw. she was being loud and she was angry. oh, tansy. "c-calm down i-i'm okay.." she reached out her nose to gently nuzzle her friend in a greeting, only to pull back, his ears flattening on her head. "hey wait a minute- d-don't-" and she was gone. heading straight for the medicine cat den, leaving her frowningnlightly, turning to fig. "s-sorry about h-her..." she felt obligated to apologize. figpaw was new to clanlife where as her and tansypaw grew up in it. tansypaw seemed to forget that in a time like this. her body tensed up, seeing rainfall come over with a bundle of herbs
 through her quick breaths, she gave a small sigh of relief, but it was stopped, as the medicine cat insisted for her to tell her what happened. she didn't want to. it was none of her business. why couldn't they just treat her and mind their business? "nothing happened. pl-please just tr-treat me s-so I can l-lay down.." she winced, her paws gently kneading the ground beneath her. maybe she shouldn't have come back to camp at all.

TANGYPAW

SHADOWCLAN / APPRENTICE / BEAUTY QUEEN

  why was tansy so worried? was it that she didn't believe her, or was it because she was trying so hard to make sure that she was okay? if it was the latter of the two, was that because she didn't believe that she could take care of herself? this was exactly why her and owlpaw had been in the same... situation. she wanted to prove to her father that she wasn't as weak as he chalked her to be. and tansy now thought the same. at least, that was how tangy took it. every logical bone was telling her that her friend was just worried about her, but tangypaw couldn't help but feel otherwise. why wouldn't tansy just drop it? "tansy, can w-we just do this l-later?" she sounded so angry with her, and it frustated tangypaw. it wasn't like tansypaw had been the one hurt, so what was she so upset about?