Apollo continued dancing. At one point, for a split second, he opened his eyes and looked directly at Elaine. It was pretty quick, and his body is moving fast, so it's likely Elaine didn't see it unless she was observing details deeply.

A small shadow humanoid figure appeared and looked up at Elaine. It was the size of a small child. It doesn't have any detailed features, but it's almost like it smiled at her. It then moved and sat down beside her, staying away at a little distance.

The shadow child figure tilted its head and then looked away, looking over to Apollo. Apollo's voice came from it, despite it's lack of a mouth.

"They're not alive, silly," Apollo spoke through the humanoid. The actual Apollo was still dancing, seeming to not be bothered by having to control so many things at once. It was almost like he was in two places at once.

"They're... I dunno! Shadows, I guess. I call them my little shadow puppets! Aren't they cute like me?"

The real Apollo slightly smirked as he danced.

His voice from the shadow kid said, "Impressed? You seem impressed."

"But it's making you have a cute look on your face and it's super funny!" Apollo said, the shadow tilting it's head again. There is a lot of teasing in his voice, obviously just him trying to be annoying again.

"I bet you're definitely impressed!"

Apollo stopped dancing, opening his eyes. The shadow kid faded away and was soon gone.

"Huh? Where are you going? Are you bored? You can dance with me if you want!"

He smiled politely. He didn't really want her to leave. Ruin refused to dance, preferring to guard Apollo, so Apollo was actually a bit lonely, hence why he was using the shadow puppets. They temporarily gave him a sense of being in a group, but they weren't real people so it was pretty artificial and felt too much like faking.

Apollo gently took her hand and pulled her into a waltz position, his excitement to dance with someone intense enough to make his irises shift into a vibrant gold.

It had been years since Apollo had danced with someone. Last time he had danced with another person... it had to be when he was teaching his siblings. How many years ago was that? Apollo tried to remember how old he was back then. He wondered in a wave of sadness if his siblings would be amazed of how he danced now, and he wondered of the possibility of at least a few still being... Oh, he shouldn't think of impossible things like that, it would get his hopes too high.

Apollo grinned at Elaine and muttered under his breath, the music changing into a more ballroom-dance type music that would fit waltz.  Magic? More than likely.

"I'm assuming you were taught to dance?" Apollo asked.

He carefully asked his, not wanting to accidentally upset Elaine and have her leave before they could even begin.

Apollo lightly laughed, "I've been dancing since I was a little kid, so you have nothing to worry about. I've taught people how to dance as well, so it would be a shame if I was bad at it, wouldn't it?"

So, uh, now they're dancing together. Nice transition lmao.

Apollo's expression rested into a more neutral, but focused, emotion. He seems a bit nervous too, but it doesn't show up much outwardly like his seriousness.

Really, since it's been years since he's danced with someone, Apollo is praying to the gods he doesn't screw up and make a fool out of himself. It would be too embarrassing for him to handle if he actually did step on Elaine's foot, especially after boasting! Would she really kick him out? Apollo didn't want to test that out.

His dancing is extremely balanced, and it's almost like he could dance in his sleep. Actually, he probably could if we wanted to. He has great muscle memory. He's careful to not step on Elaine's feet.

(bwhdjsnfnwn my heart-)

Taking this as the perfect moment to describe some of Apollo's features, as the Narrator likes to do with no shame, the Narrator is gonna narrate what Apollo looks like up close.

Starting with his left side of his face, he has a beauty mark at the corner of his eye. On the other side, he has freckles dotting his cheek. On the same side of the freckles, half his neck has swirling tattoos, the colour navy blue. His eyes are still in the intense gold colouring, almost glowing and highlighting how deeply focused he is. But there still is that childish excitement lingering from the pure joy of dancing. He has a sharp jawline and a triangular nose that Apollo himself thinks is too big. His eyelashes are thick, and looking closer Elaine could probably tell he is wearing eyeshadow and mascara. He has lipstick on too, it seems. Apollo's bangs frame his face, although the middle section seems a bit wild and needs to be trimmed. Something about it, though, somehow looks nice.

To be honest, he is extremely pretty. Even without makeup, it wouldn't be hard to say that he's attractive.

When Elaine turned her head, Apollo got nervous.

"Is something wrong?" Apollo asked, wondering if he stepped on her foot without noticing. Aw, jeez, he didn't even get to apologize for earlier and he must have already screwed up! Apollo didn't let this disappointment show, but instead kept a concerned look as he was very concerned indeed.

(Bwjfkakfke mood tho)

"Uhm... okay?" Apollo is a little confused, but he continues their dance with no fail. Apologizing is still on his mind, so he doesn't realize that Elaine is flustered, especially the fact that she's flustered because of him.

Apollo was really battling with his pride at the moment, but he knew he needed to apologize. It would be better to do it now than later, especially since they're alone. It would be more... embarrassing? Sure, embarrassing if he had to do it in front of other people.

"Uh, so, about earlier." Apollo spoke nervously. "I wanted to apologize for being annoying and then... getting upset." He slightly laughed at the end. He then smiled and said light heartedly with a more convincing laugh, "You really chewed me out. To be honest, I definitely was being annoying. So... yea... uh, anyway, I'm sorry... for being annoying and stuff..." 

Apollo sucks at apologizing, so he now has a very awkward look on his face. He watches Elaine carefully for her reaction.

"Oh dear gods, that was lame..." Apollo thought.

Apollo beamed, extremely happy. He has dimples. Apollo didn't say anything else, just continuing to dance with her.

"Huh? Oh... okay."

Apollo watched her leave.

Before Elaine exited completely, he yelled, "Oh! Thanks for dancing with me!"

(Yea, I'd say so. You can choose where they meet up at)

Apollo was laying on his bed... kinda. He's hanging upsidedown off the edge, which is quite amusing.

He's dressed in his usual clothing: the white "shirt" that resembles a similarity to ancient Greek clothing, the navy blue spandex turtleneck shirt under that, puffy pants, and golden jewelry. His hair is out of it's braid, long locks flowing and basically sprawled across the ground. His hair is usually to his feet when down, so it makes sense that the way he's laying would cause his hair to spread out like that. His wings aren't anywhere in sight, more than likely so he could lay comfortably on his back.

Apollo looked up from his phone, a neutral expression on his face.

Ruin yelled at Elaine, following in right after her, "Hey! That's no way to treat my Lord! At least knock or ask to be let in!" He then immediately knelt down, bowing to Apollo respectfully and continued to yell, "My Lord, forgive me! I will do better guarding next time!"

Apollo gave a slight smile and told Ruin, "It's okay. I wanted you to relax, remember?"

Ruin looked like he wanted to say something but he held it back, standing up to his feet.

"Yes, my Lord! I will attempt to relax!"

Ruin is very tense. He quickly walked out of the room, leaving Elaine and Apollo alone.

"Wassup?" Apollo said, putting his phone away.

Apollo was quiet for a moment, staring at Elaine blankly. Then his expression shifted to something darker.

"Don't call him a 'dog'," Apollo said, sitting up right after. "If you must call someone a dog, then by all means, call me one, but never call him a dog, got it?"

His tone was unnaturally aggressive for someone who is usually mellow, his eyes harsh when he said those words. He meant what he said, he didn't want Ruin to be dehumanized like that.

He stood up and stretched a bit, not in much of a hurry. His face shifted back into that neutral expression before he grinned, "Okay, yep! Seems like you waited long enough. Sit down or something."

Apollo grabbed his bag and pulled out his topaz pieces, setting up the symbols.

As he did so, he said, "You know the rules, Princess. If the dream corrupts, you have to let me pull you out or you'll go into insanity or whatever, blah blah boring stuff."

He then stood up and poked her forehead, starting to create the outline. Forehead to tip of nose, and then tracing a circle on her forehead. Easy.

"So, yea, follow the rules or bad consequences. It would suck for you to lose your mind, wouldn't it? I wouldn't like for that to happen, especially when you have a kingdom to run. Hm. Last chance to drop out of this."

He smiled slightly.