Adrian

"Something Toriel said bothers me," Adrian told Nyssa.

"What?"

"Remember when she gave us the cell phone?"

Nyssa nodded, fingering the metal object in her pocket which now lay next to two pieces of unopened Monster Candy. She still took it out sometimes to marvel at it, at the skill with which it had been made and the genius minds it must have taken to design such an extraordinary thing.

"She didn't realize we didn't know what it was," Adrian continued. "And then she said, 'I've forgotten how behind your race is in technology'."

"Yeah," Nyssa said, starting to grasp at what he was saying. "So?"

"She 'forgot'. That means she knew before. And how would she know about human technology…"

"...Unless she's interacted with humans before?" Nyssa finished, finally understanding.

There was a brief silence before Adrian said, "I have a theory." Immediately after the words came out of his mouth, he regretted it. Was he ready to tell Nyssa about Chara and her five years underground?

"What is it?" Nyssa prompted.

Adrian pressed his lips together to form a line. "Um… never mind."

Nyssa

Adrian had his secrets; that was clear now. Nyssa could definitely respect that. But a nosy part of her wondered what he had been about to tell her before he decided against it. That's Adrian's business, not yours, Nyssa reminded herself. She allowed the subject to drop, almost sensing Adrian's relief as she did.

An approaching sound led Nyssa to raise her head. It was the fluttering of wings and what sounded like… sniffling? Before long, a flying monster came into view. Its hands were clasped behind its back, and terror glinted in its small eyes.

The universe flashed once, flashed twice, before all color faded except for Nyssa and Adrian's souls. Once again, white lines sealed them into a rectangular prism with the monster just outside it.

"Hey, Whimsun." Nyssa had no idea how she knew the monster's name, but she went with it. The monster looked up from its midair cowering to meet her eye timidly. "We're not planning to hurt you."

The monster retreated, sniffling gratefully, and Nyssa and Adrian heaved matching sighs of relief as the battle faded around them. It hadn't been much, but they'd still managed to handle their first monster encounter without Toriel.

Xandre

A beautiful young doe pranced through the sun-dappled clearing, blissfully oblivious to the hunter crouched in a bush just a few feet downwind of her.

Xandre pinned his gaze on her light brown fur. He had never hated it more–what he had to do. But it's necessary. As much as he didn't want to kill this innocent deer, there was no other choice. How else would he feed himself? He readied his bow, careful not to make a sound. He had done this dozens of times before, but never alone out in the wild.

He steadied his hand, pulled the arrow back, and let go. The deer fell and Xandre was on her in a flash, raising his knife. I'm sorry, he told her silently. Your death will not be for nothing.

Xandre didn't want to make it any worse for him or the doe than it was already, so he made sure her death was a quick one. At least he could spare her most of the pain.