a few stories to tell

one.

      Shortwhisker padded through the bare brush, her long, wispy tail flowing through the breeze. Being in Windclan was tough, any greenery on the fields being bare and lifeless, and often rough. She could barely find any rabbits that day, most retreating to their warrens in this lifeless, cold weather.
      "Starclan, might as well just go back to camp," she mewed, ripping up turf in frustration. I'm one of the only healthy warriors and I can barely find even a tiny field mouse. Wow. She growled and padded back to the open clearing, meeting up with a nearby patrol.
      "Hey, Shortwhisker! Catch anything?" meowed a wiry chocolate tom, his ears perked hopefully.
      "Nope. I assume neither have you?"

"Ugh."

The patrol padded into their camp, bringing with them nothing but a thin hare and two scrawny mice.
"Best y'all could do?" yowled an elder, clearly distraught and hungry.
"We do our best, and this is that," growled a lilac coloured tom in the patrol, flicking his tail angrily.
"Of course, you gotta be on the defensive," murmured the elder, going back into their den.

"Goodness, Palepaw, calm it. Don't growl at everyone who criticizes you," meowed Weaseltail, the chocolate tom.
"That's easy for you to say, seeing as you've never had to prove yourself at anything. I mean, come on! We're brothers, yet you were made a warrior first? Really?" Palepaw yelled, quivering in anger. Every hair on his pelt was on end, his breaths coming out in seething growls.
"That means nothing, Palepaw. Or should I say Palekit, based on how you're acting?" snickered the apprentice's brother, his mouth twisting into a smirk.
"That's it, you scum!" yowled Palepaw, jumping onto Weaseltail, claws out. They began to roll on the grass, hissing and lashing out wildly. Weaseltail pinned Palepaw, batting his brother's face harshly.

"Learn to behave, you idiots!" yowled a cat from the camp, her long claws out and covered in cobweb wisps. It was Twigtail, the Windclan medicine cat, named for her thin and angular body and tail. But her thin look make her seem formidable, in a way that would scare off an opponent rather than intimidate them. Her eyes looked a bit too large, and her teeth looked a bit too long.
Weaseltail immediately sat up, nervously grooming his paws to rid them of clumps of his brother's fur. Palepaw just remained on the ground, not caring whether or not anyone saw the fight.
"That's right, act like you didn't do that. Goodness, just grow up and accept you were stupid," meowed Twigtail, stepping closer to Weaseltail. She reeked of herbs, every breathe she took smelling like she had to chew thousands of leaves earlier today.
"And you, little apprentice. Stand up and go clean the elder's dens. I heard you make that comment," the spindly she grumbled, flicking her tail and returning to her medicine den.

"Wow, you made even Twigtail mad," Shortwhisker teased, brushing Weaseltail's muzzle with her tail tip.
"Palepaw just really, really gets me going sometimes. He's just such a haughty idiot," he laughed, shaking his pelt.
"Well, better go put this measly amount of kill in the pile. At least we can say we did something."
"Yeah, true, true. I'll go back out later tonight in some of our other places, maybe channel the old Windclan tradition of tunneling and dig up a warren or two," Weaseltail laughed, galloping to the fresh kill pile to drop off his catch.

Later that night, Shortwhisker tossed and turned in her sleep, haunted by one particular dream, which was a memory from her kithood. Shortwhisker was born to an all but friendly she, her heart seemingly twisted and dark in every crevice. No room to give her kits any sort of love.
Shortwhisker recalled her one brother, Berrykit. He was small, frail, and pure white. His eyes were rimmed in red, and he was blind. She dreamt of how her mother grabbed him by the scruff and dragged him to the edge of the territory, leaving him in a barren bramble bush.
"There. Now he won't steal your dinner, Shortkit. He was weak anyway. Anything he ate would come right back up," her mother stoically meowed, dragging Shortwhisker back to the camp. No one ever questioned what happened to Berrykit, no one ever wondered where he went, and anyone who did was treated like a fool for even asking.

Shortwhisker woke in a shock, every hair standing on end. Oh Starclan, why do you keep making me remember that? I just want to forget.
She padded down to the medicine cat den, thinking of possibly asking for some poppy seed to help her sleep more peacefully, hopefully with no dreams.
Her body was tense, and for seemingly no reason. She always went into the medicine cat's den for help, but this time around her breath kept hitching with every pawstep. Ever since the old medicine cat retired and Twigtail took over, Shortwhisker hadn't visited for anything, almost out of a sort of anxiety.

"Hey, Twigtail, you up? I need something for sleep," she meowed, pushing aside the coarse bramble entrance. She saw Twigtail resting, her breaths falling slowly. She was still sleeping deeply, ear occasionally flicking as if dreaming.
"Twigtail. Hey. Need some herbs."

No response.
Shortwhisker prodded her in the side, casually noticing how soft the she cat's fur was, and how sleek it felt to her paw pads. She wondered how she even had time to keep it like it was in her hectic life.
Twigtail began to stir, her eyes fluttering open slowly but surely.
"Yeah, I've got what you need, buddy," she meowed, taking some poppy seed between her teeth gingerly and sitting them on the ground.
"Take them and be sure to chew. Rest in here for the night."
"Okay, thank you so much," Shortwhisker meowed, a weird feeling rising in her chest. She knew the protocol for poppy seed, ever since a she cat got given the proper amount but got ill and died. The clan still never figured out the cause, but now they keep vigilance. But the protocol made her anxious, laying so close to the medicine cat.
Why am I feeling this... feeling? What even is this?

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ahh ahaha I hope you like my lil story! mmmm things will begin making sense soon and all that, also I hope this flows well!! I'll edit it a bit later probably :)