Relaxing with Arwen

Arwen obediently retrieves your controller along with your headset as you asked, having learned the terminology and basic functionality of most modern technology by now.

She puts the controller in your outstretched hands, and gently places the headset over your ears, adjusting it cautiously and ensuring you’re comfortable.

You turn on your game console and flick the joystick a few times, opening the youtube app along with your favourite MMO on a second screen.

Arwen meanwhile takes the bowl of food cautiously, motioning to it as if asking your permission.

“Go ahead, that’s for you. Only eat what you want.” You see tears form in her eyes, threatening to spill down her face as she’s relieved to have palatable food.

Arwen takes a seat next to you, curling her legs up on the couch and snuggling against you as she watches the screens with interest.

She grasps the bowl of meatloaf, vegetables and mashed potatoes. She makes no request for the utensils you admittedly forgot, and simply reaches in and daintily tears off a piece of the meat.

She cautiously places the piece in her mouth, and you see her brow furrow in visible confusion as she slowly chews.

“Something wrong?” Arwen quickly shakes her head and swallows, placing a hand on your leg. “No, no, it’s… wonderful James. It’s just…” you see her searching for the right words “it’s meat but… sweet?”

Oh

“Heh, yeah. Allot of food in this world must be pretty sweet to you by comparison. You’ve been mostly spared of it so far but, we uh… sure love our sugar.” She nods in understanding, and cautiously takes a string bean from the bowl, eying it.

You laugh, “just wait till you taste the processed bread, stuff is like cake. Mom really spoils us with homemade loaves.”

For a long while the two of you sit in peace, you playing your MMO while simultaneously watching YouTube videos, as Arwen eats beside you.

On occasion you see Arwen perk up when you encounter an elf, or another vaguely familiar creature in game, something you decide not to explain for now.

It’s a tough enough pill to swallow that you come from a dimension viewed as fiction, but the idea that your dimension in particular inspired eighty years of fiction, and thus further dimensions? Perhaps best to keep the lid on that.

Arwen eventually builds the nerve to swab a finger through the mashed potatoes, looking to you for an explanation. “Oh, that. Don’t worry, it’s just potato. Well, and allot of butter. No sugar though! … i think.”

In time Arwen finishes the full piece of meatloaf and most of the vegetables, and at your direction, eventually places what she doesn’t finish in the kitchenette fridge.

You’re surprised at the length of time this simple task takes her, until you look back to see she’s standing atop her pedestal, expectantly and obediently.

You wave her back, patting the seat beside you “no, come here, spend some time with me.”

She smiles wide enough to flash you some teeth, and happily walks back to the sofa, planting herself down beside you once more.

You spend much of the evening together there, cycling through various games and YouTube videos while cuddling.