whilst still very much adjusting to this admittedly huge change in his life, the dark pelted feline had almost immediately made the choice to continue helping out with training, and since, by his and his roleplayers knowledge at this moment in time, he had been allowed to keep his apprentices this was good in dawnstars books as well. and stars help him, even if not, he was determined to help cinderpaw and firepaw finish their training and be the beginning of what would hopefully be a long line of proper warriors trained under his mentorship, no outside forces like the description of his position or anything that didnt kill him would make this change. obviously, when darkpaw, a apprentice he had vaguely recognised as having a sort of antsy aura but otherwise being nothing out of the ordinary, he had no reason to decline helping with his training (even if his roleplayer lowkey got sick of writing training roleplays two months ago).
the formal approach made him mildly uncomfortable, white tipped ear flicking briefly, he had taken to calling dawnstar and mistlewhisker 'ma'am' himself yet couldnt really help but be surprised to be met with a similar honorary title. the concept of honorary titles was overall not something he was super familiar with or understood, given some apprentices didnt use it at all and other did for seemingly every cat.
"yeah sure err, lets head out then hm?" rookfire agreed, letting the choice of 'what' linger a bit longer whilst nimble white tipped paws carried him out towards the territory. the apprentice hopefully hot on his heels as he sped up to a slightly more brisk walk, not yet switching over into trotting because he wanted to talk to the apprentice without having to sort words out into a logical sentences between the youngers potentially heavy breathing and the wind rushing in his ear.
"'you up for some hunting? realistically we should start with battle trainin' but 's up to you" he hummed in thought, trying to remember whether he had looked at the fresh kill pile today already.

[ @Rowan || head is feeling very soupy, hope this makes sense lol ]

darkpaw let out a weird huff but rookfire didnt bother question it any further, there was no need in further pressuring the apprentice that already appeared to be pretty nervous to have approached him with this. besides, he was here to teach, not bother with whatever issues the apprentice had unless they took it to the medicine den or the apprentice actively approached him with anything. he doubted there would be any cats choosing him over mossfreckle in regards to discussing their issues but a boy could dream.. or perhaps stop speaking his mind as much as he did right now..

stuttering words carried over to him, confirming their plans shortly before they reached a clearing rookfire deemed good enough for hunting. shaded grass dappled by sunlight where it broke through the thick canopy, a space small prey like mice and birds tended to gather at. "if you've had basic hunting as a kit i dont care, we are going to start from the beginning." he prefaced any and all explainations that would follow. besides being marked down as one of the kit lesson teachers the medicine cat apprentice had absolutely no idea what differenciated the two and chose to assume it was simply the opportunity to get similar training twice, only one of them would involve moving prey though.

"hunters crouch. should look somewhat like this n you dont need ta focus on much besides keepin yer tail off the ground" low to the ground and striped tail held above the ground with practice percision, the dark furred former enforcer demonstrated, pushing himself through the undergrowth at a speed slightly slower than regular walking, before halting and pouncing on a lizard that had been basking in the sun. "easy as. 's long as ya can pick up a scent you'll get a hang of it quickly, get practicing" he offered with a up-nod, straying from his usual technique of letting them pounce on leaves before moving to living prey to just letting the apprentice decide.

[ @Rowan ]

rookfire didnt pay much mind to what darkpaw was up to, besides executing the moves the medicine cat apprentice and former enforcer had instructed, as per usual. cats he didnt care about rarely enjoyed more attention than the bare minimum required for social interactions and the sharp edge of scepticism, almost bordering on fear, rookfire felt hard to shake. every little move, shift in expression or the way they held themselves, it was mostly subconcious after all so how did it matter? the medic wasnt exactly known for rationality and a gift in healthily experiencing emotions so who was he to question the way he observed the world around.
back to darkpaw, the apprentice did what he was told, crouching down low enough to probably fly under the radar in most forest-y environments and taking care to keep his tail off the ground. "good enough for th' start. ya can go a wee bit lower but that'll come with practice" the larger feline confirmed neutrally.

"once ya get close 'nough to yer prey, ya can leap at it n deliver yer killin' bite" rookfire had sunk back into a hunters crouch, sneaking forward a few steps before stilling briefly and leaping at a twig on the ground. "avoids startlin' it by accidentally disturbin' leaves or grass" he explained, nudging the twig to the side half heartedly without taking his eyes off the dark furred apprentice.
pale claws extracted from greyish white paws, piercing the soft pine needle covered soil and grass as the large tom strode back towards the apprentice where he delivered a slight nudge to darkpaw by use of his striped tail.
"get huntin'"