rookfire uncrossed his paws atop the ledge he had moved to following his demotion, cool grey eyes scanning the cats in the clearing. he was free and feeling pretty motivated so it was an easy choice; training. deciding who to approach wasnt quite easy but that was mostly for the fact that he was more so zoning out staring at the cats rather than considering someone. finally, he stood, leapt down into the clearing to pick out a apprentice.
"icepaw, how is training?" the warrior opened simply, leaving it up to the apprentice to lead the conversation. if they didnt get to the point, he'd help out but for now, he was happy just talking.

[ @Star ]

rookfire cocked his head in thought, with as many apprentices as shadowclan had, he had gone into this conversation with a blank mind. now, however, he was beginning to wonder if icepaw was one of the few blind ones shadowclan kept around. whatever, dissatisfied with her blank reply rookfires head dropped briefly, silver eyes falling shut in an attempt to re-center himself, irritation already bubbling up in his chest.
"have you gotten battle training yet?" he asked instead, voice barely straying from the neural tone he frequented. if she confirmed, he would have to try for something else, otherwise, the warrior would inform her that they were leaving camp to do just that before leading them not far away from camp. just enough to get things dealt with in peace without wasting time traversing.

[ pardon the late reply ]

rookfire suppressed a sigh, he had never enjoyed trying to extract answers from cats of very few words. but whatever, he was already here, time to make his troubles worth it. he wouldnt mind adding more training and possibly an assessment to his list of accomplishments.

"alright, we're taking care of that now" without any more dancing around the topic, rookfire tapped a paw to icepaws shoulder, claws poking out of their sheaths just enough that she would feel them. "slashing is one of the most basic moves you'll need to know. simply draw your claws through their flesh, anything above the shoulders will bleed heavily and is more likely to kill, do with that what you will." another tap of his paw, to icepaws foreleg this time.

"make sure you dont get stuck though, practicing controlled movement is important so you can estimate and repeat the same depth and force each and every time.. the stomach and flank are also sensitive spots, though you should remember that a simple slice along the stomach and turn into a big mess if you get what i mean" he grinned, gutting wasnt really something most clans would prefer in battle, but they were shadowclanners after all. all is fair is war.
"come over here, practice on a tree. the bark is a lot tougher than skin and fur but its a good way to get used to the resistance to force ratio you can get away with before you get stuck"

[ @Star ]

icepaw seemed a bit...slow. but so far there was nothing specifically wrong so he let her continue. while worry did settle in his stomach, the potential of being part of the line of warriors to not put enough effort into an apprentices training that would go on to fail their assessment. he was being rash, there was still time.
"make sure to keep your stomach protected as much as possible" rookfire correctly briefly, moving towards the tree to demonstrate. one white paw raised, keeping the movement slow for icepaws convenience, the dark tom crashed it down on the tree, causing bark and moss to scatter around them. while it pulled slightly at his claws, he still moved through the top most layer of the tree stump, leaving faint claw marks and a lack of bark behind.

---

he had let the apprentice continue on for a moment before interrupting her again. "enough, lets move on. second up, cranial blow." rookfire tapped icepaw on the head. "you hit your opponent on the top or side of their face in order to disorient them. no claws, this isnt meant to harm but to give you time to plan your next move or get to safety.. we wont practice this as i dont feel like having a headache but you have to hit hard."
he'd go over two more offense moves before getting the basics of defence down.

"we wont practice these two now as well, i believe theyre quite easy to understand. biting. simple, you can either use it as a distraction, bite their paw or ankle to make moving harder, or try to go for their throat." if icepaw was a bit bigger and didnt seem like a cat too shy to actually try it, rookfire wouldve offered up his not so secret preferred use of locking his jaws, deep within his opponents flesh and yanking his head back repeatedly, either to cause deep wounds or tear off the flesh itself. "'think ive got one 'a those on my tail somewhere but they usually heal better than deep gashes."

"belly rake. if your opponent has you pinned down, rake your claws along their underside but really focus on their sensitive underbelly. it'll either put you back into control via them moving away, allow you to get out, or gut them." alright so this was half of a defence move anyway so the transition would be fluid.

lastly, another one of the moves hawkbite had taught him. "drop and roll. if your opponent strikes out for you, you should duck out of the way and roll back onto your paws to the side. that allows ya to avoid their claws better than just moving out of the way sideways." rookfire explained before cowering down and using the momentum to roll back onto his paws.

---

"we'll do a brief spar, count it as your assessment n then youre done" without giving icepaw time to react or the honour of the first hit, rookfire dashed forward, claws within their sheaths but aiming to land a rough hit to her side all the same.



[ @Star | lets speed this up a bit or we'll never get to assessment ]

rookfire smacked icepaw square in the shoulder as she went straight for his throat. a bold move, he must admit, a less trained and experienced cat mightve reacted too late. in a battle, if she surprised her opponent, rookfire wouldnt be surprised if that technique wouldve worked. it was interesting to say the least, an insight into the way icepaw worked even if she rarely spoke. connecting to his defence, rookfire ducked out of the way of icepaws jaws, guiding her away from his throat via his paw. within the blink of an eye, they had gone from icepaw lunging at his throat to the enforcer stood next to her, opening his own jaws and aiming for her scruff.

it wasnt really ideal for assessment spar purposes but what the hell else was he supposed to do. he was moving slower than usual anyway, slow enough for her to realistically scramble out of the way in time and set up her own following attack.