Apollyon had always been full of quips, but Ruby decided not to indulge them too much considering the circumstances in which she had sought him out. As entertaining as it could be to play along with his jests and jabs, Ruby had to keep herself focused on the task at hand. This was, she thought, an important learning curve in itself. Even if she noticed the way he tensed up and sighed, clearly predicting a lecture, she tried not to show the little flicker of agitation that she felt. He could at least pretend to be interestd in whatever it was that bothered her, couldn't he? Still, her ear gave a flicker, and her eyes hardened on him momentarily...Just a hint, she supposed, that she too was annoyed about having to give a lesson of some kind.

Of course, it was even harder to suppress her annoyance when she got to talking about Skyfire. It wasn't so much the topic of Skyfire herself that annoyed Ruby (although, it certainly did) but rather, the way that Apollyon seemed so attentive to it. Ruby couldn't help but notice he'd practically jumped out of his skin at the mention of her name, and that he'd suddenly found something amusing enough to make him smirk. She frowned, but mostly she looked away and towards the path...towards a drier path, since he'd been clear about that at least. It was a pleasant enough distraction anyway, to try to navigate the reeds towards a more solid, loamier path.

It had become Apollyon's turn to speak though, or so it seemed. Ruby had expected something clever in response, a jest at her expense or something like it, but she had not expected him to be so bold, so direct. It reminded her of Skyfire in a way, but Apollyon's way of being direct...Well, it made Ruby feel exposed, suddenly seen. She couldn't help but lay her ears back and look away again, a sharp breath out as if it'd dissipate her irritation...and her embarassment. There was no way to hide that. Still, Ruby couldn't allow herself to be at the mercy of his game, and so she shrugged off her fluttering heart and looked towards him with a calculated gaze, head tilted.

"I worried that perhaps you'd be ensnared by a wily woman, and that she'd perhaps come here with tricks in her wake." Then she tilted her head to the other side and smirked, raised a brow. "Or perhaps you'd been out there being wily yourself, tricking poor, lost Spirane girls into following you here." Ruby might have believed either option, really. It wouldn't have been hard for Apollyon to be charming enough, endearing enough, for others to want to follow...But in the same vein, Ruby would not have put it passed him to have been smitten by a young woman like Skyfire, so full of boldness herself. In truth, Ruby didn't like either option though.

At least the fact that Skyfire had wanted a fight surprised him. In a way, Ruby felt proud to have at least thrown something unexpected at him. It had been her time to smirk in amusement, almost coming to a pause mid-stride so that she might take an extra second to witness his bewilderment. It was an expression she didn't want to forget, after all. But of course, Apollyon had been quick to compose himself, and his composure bothered Ruby. To her, it was an admission of some sort. He had to be hiding something, right? Apollyon had never been that concerned about looking so calm and collected. She watched him closely with narrow eyes, even as if he talked and talked, so very much like himself.

"Then let me put it like this, Apollyon: your magneticism, as you call it, has lured a wolf here with the intention to take me to combat. Only some time ago, it would have been the Monarch, your mother, who would have been summoned to fight. If this follower of yours, so pulled towards following you, had been less inclined to share words...Our conversation right now would be quite different, don't you think? Though her words had a harshness to them, Ruby could not completely conceal the flicker of worry that invaded the yellow of her eyes, eyes that searched his for some kind of indication that he cared at all about the situation. Ruby could be confident, and she could talk and talk, but even she knew she lacked the experience, the knowledge, to hold her own for long in a fight. Even if she had been born with fighter's blood to shape her muscles, she'd never been given the family or training to learn to wield it. "Even now, she might choose to fight. Truces are, after all, little more than words." She raised a brow, as if it'd make the words hit him just a little harder. A farce, really. Truthfully, Ruby's heart had started to thump away in her chest with a combination of nervousness and anticipation. It felt disasterously wrong to be so blunt, almost harsh, with him and yet...Ruby felt it needed. Skyfire had made her feel vulnerable, moreso than Apollyon's awareness of her jealousy had. How shameful would it have been, to have met her in battle and to have lost? To have handed her a position in the moors because she, the moors' titular leader, had been bested by a stranger with a name on her lips? It made a shiver run through Ruby's entire body, and she quickened her pace in an effort to dispel it.