instead of continuing to stand like he was about to arrest mudslide for breathing wrong, the medic shifted into a seated position, thick dark fur fluffed up to protect him from the cold, still fighting his body on the aspect that his leaf bare coat wasnt coming in yet but, unlike mudslide, lucky to be blessed with a naturally thick coat. rook, ever unable to read the room unless its absolutely necesarry and written in bold letters that are practically jumping at him, wrapped his striped tail around white tipped paws with a certain uncharacteristic almost happy quirk to his movement, faint smile playing on his maw.
rookfire met mudslides reply with a grin, mildly surprised the younger warrior had it in her to be sarcastic in some capacity, instead of giving him a reply entirely based on facts or whatever else she mightve done "'ve not been havin much trouble pers'nally for obvious reasons" he shrugged, not so subtlely addressing his recent promotion in relation to this lockdown and the last one which he had spent fearing tragic mistakes..and the one before he had spent dragging lostspark from place to place..
"could be takin' yer out ta' stretch yer legs some time soon perhaps. once we need some more herbs or prey again..which we don' right now" he offered genuinely, in no way hung up on taking roachflare every time even though he had become his primary victim when it came to unprompted patrols. mudslide was quiet but he wasnt one to complain about a good worker that simply liked to keep to themselves. "clans' been behavin' well enough so i assume dawnstar will be liftin' the regulations soon enough though" the medic continued, leaning forward slightly to stretch out his forelegs while taking a peek over his shoulder and first towards the medicine den before switching to the other side and eyeing the part of the clearing closest to camp entrance.

cool grey eyes flicking from cat to cat moving around the clearing rookfire let the frosty leaf fall wind ruffle thick two shaded pelt, not yet adapted for the cooler part of the season cycle but enough so to keep him from shivering at the slightest gust of wind. stilling, his gaze lingered on hawkpaw on the other side of the clearing, and the medicine cat apprentice recalled the altercation with duskpaw. he still didnt really understand the connection between the two and why duskpaw had been so upset. something something about being left when she needed her the most, well, duskpaw hadnt been doing anything for shadowclan when they needed her the most, shouldnt that count as well? to linger in the shadows, sleep in and avoid patrols, training and contributing in order to mope all day. shadowclans family tree was intricate in a way he couldnt quite wrap his head around, connections through adoption, seemingly the highest honour to receiving from a older shadowclan cat, and unwinding in a long line of widespread relation. how much did the adoption aspect matter? did one accept only one cat or all their extended family? he should probably know honestly, considering his relationship with mossfreckle whom he was pretty sure was related to lostspark in some way and thereby bound him into being related to dawnstar?? kind of?

back on topic, as he considered the vast expanse of shadowclan relationships, hawkpaw shifted, stretching her tri colour limbs stiffly and rookfire couldnt help the slight frown that snuck onto his face. getting to his paws, the medicine cat apprentice crossed the clearing at a almost slow pace, fighting with some soreness of his own given the recently healed break and the cool air. "ye good?" rook asked upon arriving, slumping into a sitting position shortly after.

hickorykit looked conflicted, yet the older tom couldnt even try to understand what might be going on in the kits head. he hadnt been a kit in so long his memories were fading, the understanding of what it meant to be younger and the thought patterns of such a influencial age slowly being replaced and overwhelmed by new cares and worries. as little as there was, having spent a lot of his formative moons half unconcious, wrecked by repeated coughs in a unfamiliar den and away from all he knew, it appeared there wasnt enough space for even that to remain present in his mind. in reality, it was being drowned by the current moment, nothing he couldnt retrieve late at night, laying still on his side, chest rising with every contaction and expasion of his ribcage and thoughts wandering aimlessly, nudging into memories long thought forgotten. never had he been able to see his sister again though and it kind of hurt, to be left with nothing but a feeling to connect to her despite being the older one. perhaps it was for the best, he was sure she had died alongside his mother, there wasnt really any doubt in that, and it hurt less not remembering anything but her presence. he wouldnt see her until they met amongst the stars, as if total strangers and his heart clenching at the time they lost, but for now it wasnt his business.

the frown didnt fade from rookfires face even as the kit started moving away from him. now that he wasnt really all that responsible for where the kit was (on the way to the nursery hopefully), the medicine cat apprentice finally made his way towards the medicine den. the day had been too long, not filled with lots of stuff too do but with too many thoughts to comfortably process without going insane. thats not what rookfire thought about it though, in his opinion, he wouldnt feel so exhausted if he had tried harder, had more to do, and had, instead of lying around for part of the day, remained on his paws and active. it was nothing but a foul act his body was putting on to protest the work he had to do, a hinderance, a bolder on his path towards the goal.

[ @/rubberratroom ]