man why had he never spoken to this apprentice, their almost playful nature, even while being obviously upset was refreshing to be honest. in comparison to bloody duskpaw he'd had to deal with one too many time in the recent past they were very welcome to share their time with him. "id be impressed if the vole would make ya into a good warrior but i aint above watchin it try" he went along with the apprentices mildly snarky sentence with a small huff of a laugh, maw pulled into a grin, before whisker 'brows' drew together into something between a frown and the visual expression of one caught in thought. "whos yer mentor again? i can have a word with em ta' get em on track again." he offered almost absentmindedly before the multi colour apprentice continued talking, expressing their frustration with the situation and showing willingness to actually get their training done. even if they would have to be reassigned some would have to have a word with the mentor n he wasnt too bothered by the thought of their the one to do so. rook could understand the angle they were coming from, having struggled to find training in riverclan once upon a time and now trying to do his best in being better than that in any way possible, and appreciated how open they brought it up despite his rank that made him feel like it made some apprentices more hesitant to speak their mind to him.
"'s good yer tellin' me 'bout that, i'll see what i can do..what training do ya still need? could help ye out a bit 'til you get a new mentor" the medicine cat apprentice offered, finally returning to the present, voice no longer carrying the faint unfocussed draw and cool eyes moving from the unfocussed spot he had been staring at to the apprentice.

rookfire slightly cocked his head in question, standing out in the nursery huh. he had not considered that may be an issue for any cat. given they already knew where fishkit had spent the last few moons it shouldnt a surprise or off putting to have her smell like the place she resided in for a while but apperantly that was something kits worried about and he wouldnt argue with that logie because why should he. perhaps it was a matter of blending in which he couldnt fully grasp given the medic practically lived off of attention but made enough sense supposedly. the kits were nice though, but but but he could continue to spin this around in his head for the next six moons if he wanted to but it was getting repetitive and he had other stuff to do to be frank.

fishkit didnt seem annoyed at the question so mossfreckle had either not asked at all which he doubted, she had somehow avoided any questions in the nursery which he had trouble believing as well or somehow matured a bunch between the last time he had seen her and now which didnt sound quite right either. perhaps a secret fourth option he was yet to discover.. "nice, didn' expect that honestly, 's pretty deep n ive seen less mess up an eye" besides all the mildly snarky thoughts and blunt words that tended to float around rooks mind and seemingly exit his maw at their own liking, he was honestly glad the kit would only be reminded of her mistake by the scar and not a lack of sight as well. he personally wasnt super bothered by his but a assumption could be made that other cats may have more negative reactions and outcomes than he had.

rookfire grinned at venomkits enthusiastic response, surprisingly not very bothered about the possibility about building a wall either (perhaps he would get the kits some sticks and fern to try to make their own wall with soon. this was definitely something he should talk to nightshiver about..) "i need a bit more time ta' prepare if ye wanna built a wall" rookfire huffed a laugh, carefully filing the need to go gather some sticks and ferns before talking to nightshiver later in the back of his mind.
ears practically shining with excitement, the kit encouraged him to continue talking, shifting closer to where rookfire had just wrapped his striped tail around his forepaws.
"alright alright..a few moons ago, way before you n your siblings were born, riverclan was lead by a cat named fadingsun n his sister dusklion. they tried to repair riverclan but fadingsun was a bad leader n dusklion went around causin' trouble." the dark furred medicine cat began, giving the kit just enough exposition to at least sort of understand the conflict without having to start at the very beginning.
"dusklion killed windclans deputy n their warriors were outta control so one time at the full moon gatherin' twilightstar asked bumblestar n dawnstar to work together n they agreed." this specific part of his retelling could probably use some more information but he hadnt been allowed to attend that gathering so he didnt know any more than that. besides, in an effort to avoid boring venomkit, rookfire tried to leave out unnecessary information and any names that didnt matter.
"dawnstar decided who would be allowed ta' come fight riverclan and chase em away to teach em a lesson n i was one of the cats. see, before the battle, i had just come to shadowclan a moon prior n she wanted me to prove my loyalty" unnecessary exposition this time actually? perhaps, but in his opinion this was kind of relevant to the story.

[ sorry im gonna have rook tell this in more than one part cuz i need the posts lol ]

rook squinted at eveningpaw when they mentioned their mentor, internally going through all cats he knew and attempting to figure out who in starclans name skyshade was and why the name said absolutely nothing to him, a blank slate, truthfully. "hmm ive never spoken to em..but some mentors well, ya know not all cats are ready ta' be mentors or just overall active members of a clan" he shrugged, trapped somewhere between accidentally having insulted this cat behind her back and excusing her behaviour as his striped tail tapped the ground absentmindedly. really, even if it didnt sound like it, he had a more grounded opinion on this, he was just hmm kind of caught off guard by now knowing the cat at all which felt..odd. perhaps they were just one slippery fellow, one that kept to the shadows and just wasnt seen regularly or something. at his core, rookfire tried to be understanding, genuinely, but slacking mentors usually didnt earn a lot of understanding from him given they werent even earning their place in the clan by not training their apprentices but he could live with eveningpaw thinking he was the master of nuanced opinions or something.

"mmh i understand. 's upsettin' ta' feel stuck but keep in mind ye can always ask one of the enforcers..other warriors as well usually but ya know, the lockdown n things" words trailing off at the end of the sentence brief silence engulfed them before he snapped back to his offer, "how does a territory tour sound hmm?" simple offer, the option that meant the least work for him, walking filled with comfortable silence and him yapping about the part of the territory they were in, yeah he wouldnt mind that one too much despite still being minorly burnt out about other training with all that was going on.

[ this is all over the place, sorry ahhhh ]