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Adrian flew through the sky without a care in the world, letting the wind take him where it wished.

...

That's what he was trying desperately to convince himself of, anyway.

The fight with his father had both rattled him, and made him furious at the older stallion's words. They had had arguments when he was a foal, sure, like that one time when he refused to bathe for over a month...but they always forgave each other within a day or two and went back to normal. He almost regretted taking off without letting Ignis speak anymore, but then he remembered his father's words and the anger started boiling in his chest again. It was one thing when Ignis was ordering him around as a child, because Adrian freely admitted that he had been the kind of kid who got into trouble constantly. If he wasn't getting stuck on top of tall rocks or cliffs, he was trying to fly before his wings were large enough and crashing painfully. He knew as a foal that most of the time his father yelled it was because he'd done something to deserve it. This time, he thought, it was because Ignis didn't like him being himself.

Adrian liked mares. It was something he had always known about himself, but it wasn't until the last couple of years that he really figured out that ladies were good for more than just playing tag. It was fun to flirt, and see if he could get a cold mare into the right mood to take another look at him. It made him feel good to compliment a mare get a giggle or a blush in return. It was exciting when they were the type to return fire and try to make him blush. And usually, if his encounters went the right way...there was a prize at the end that he enjoyed most of all and sometimes they even let him drink their blood. Those were his favorites, and he would often reward them by sticking around slightly longer than normal.

Adrian had been flying slowly around a forested but hilly area for a while while he brooded, and in that time the sun had slowly disappeared behind some impressive dark clouds. He heard a distant rumble of thunder and immediately began looking for a good place to hide from the rain. He hated being caught in the rain because his hair always took hours to neaten without help, and it wasn't safe to fly in a thunderstorm. He'd been nearly electrocuted once, and that was all it had taken to convince him his father was right in at least one case. There was a convenient rock formation covered by grass and trees ahead and he decided to see if there was a cave he could hide from the rain in.

The rain began without anymore warning that another, louder, rumble of thunder and a flash of lightning. Adrian flew faster towards what he could now see was definitely a cave, and when he landed he shook himself like a dog. He hated the rain. Now he wouldn't be able to lay down until he dried or else dirt would stick to his shining white coat, and that was unacceptable. When a voice spoke from the back of the cave he barely refrained from jumping in surprise, and was glad that his cleaver was in his teeth already when he began searching for the source. When he set eyes on a beautiful blue mare it was like a switch flipped in his brain and he went from potentially hostile to flirty in less time that it took him to blink. He put his cleaver away in his leg and smiled charmingly, "Hello, I don't suppose you'd mind sharing? It's kind of wet outside."

Adrian smiled in reply and stepped further into the cave, his mass of hair just barely dragging on the ground. He'd had to find a happy medium between his pride in his hair and practicality, so cut it every once in a while. It was almost that time again, he mused while keeping his focus on the beautiful mare in front of him. She was simply stunning, he saw now that he was further inside the cave and could pick her out against the black of the cave. There was something about her that had his mind cautioning him but he was inclined to ignore it for the moment.

"I don't know," he replied, "Perhaps you have laid claim to this cave? In which case, I wouldn't want to trespass. That would be impolite."

He was testing the waters, seeing what reactions she would give him and trying to decide on the best approach to take to get into this new mare's good graces. She was lovely, and he was sure her blood would be exquisite. Hopefully she would be one of the rare willing donors.

Adrian leaned towards the mare as she leaned into his personal space, drawn to her eyes which were an impossible shade of electric blue. There was something about her that felt different from his usual fare. Normally he felt totally in control of the game, but now he felt like something was off. He decided he liked the feeling of danger he could sense now that he was so close to her. It excited him in a way he hadn't been by a flirtation in a long time.

"If they did indeed, I should thank them for a gift such as your company." he replied.

It suddenly occurred to him that he didn't know her name. "Does the beautiful lady have a name?" he asked, leaning into her personal space even more, close enough to almost-whisper in her ear.

Adrian smirked, picking up on the dare. He moved one of his feathered wings so that it just barely hovered over her back, close enough to feel the warmth from it but not touching. "I am told I can be...convincing. Tell me, how would you like to be convinced? How about this..." He trailed off, using the wing over her back to gently encourage her closer and nuzzle at her neck.

"Or would you like to make me beg? Please, won't you tell me your name?" He whispered huskily, his breath brushing her neck where his touch had been a few seconds ago.

"Mmm, is that so? Well, I'll just have to think of something to...tempt you with." It had been a long time since he'd had to work for something so hard. At that, a small part of him wondered if maybe Ignis had been right to be concerned about him, but he wasn't ready to face up to that yet. He'd much rather continue the game he was playing for the moment.

Adrian grinned back, a playful gleam in his eye. He sneaked a glance outside to see if it was still raining. Seeing that it had stopped for the moment, he locked eyes with the mare and slowly leaned in. When he was so close that their breath was mingling with every exhale, he whispered, "How about you tell me your name and I'll give you your flower back." then grabbed a flower (gently, so as not to crush it or pull hair) from her hair and took off out of the cave. He'd let her catch him, but only after she told him her name.

((So, yea that comes off as a bit juvenile given the situation, but that's just how Adrian rolls.))

Adrian let out a bark of laughter, nearly dropping the flower he'd stolen. He was delighted that the mare had chosen to play along, and though he knew the rain would resume soon and he would likely get wet (and dirty) it was unusually not his main concern.

"Tell me your name." he taunted from between his teeth as he heard her hoof beats gaining ground on him.

Adrian continued running for just a moment more, to prove to both of them that he was still in control in the situation before he relented. Turning, he trotted back towards the mysterious blue mare and stopped just outside of what he estimated to be her range to make a grab for the flower, "Okay, here I am. Won't you please tell me your name? It would be a shame to deprive a pretty lady of a pretty flower after all."