fandomhigh | Food & Cultural Appreciation, Tuesday Third Period

"All right, folks!" Raiden said with an enthusiastic clap of his hands once everyone had assembled. "This week we're heading to my country of origin, although I've never actually been where we're going today, because one of my brothers is...dramatic." No, not that one. "See, I'm from Corinth, which is a little bit west of where we'll be going today: Athens, Greece! Athens is one of the oldest cities in the world, with a recorded history going back almost three and a half thousand years, and evidence of people living in the area going back to...like...thirteen thousand years ago. In ancient times, Athens was one of the most powerful city-states in what is now Greece, and it's considered the birthplace of democracy and the cradle of what we consider Western civilization. In modern times, the metropolitan area is home to almost a third of the population of Greece, home to numerous museums and historical sites like the Acropolis...and they've got some very delicious food.

"Greek food is a Mediterranean diet, which means that it's based on certain things: wheat; olive oil, wine, and seafood traditionally more than red meat, although these days meat is more common...though usually sheep or goat over beef, because the terrain in most of Greece isn't overly suited to cattle. Greece was one of the earliest wine-producing areas in the world, and the olive oil and yogurt from Greece are renowned worldwide. They use a lot of phyllo, which is very thin sheets of dough used for making pastries, both sweet like baklava and savory like spanakopita. Some other Greek foods you may be familiar with include feta cheese, moussaka, which is a delicious baked eggplant casserole with ground lamb, horiatiki, more commonly known in English as 'Greek salad,' tzatziki, a sauce made of that delicious Greek yogurt and cucumber, and gyros or souvlaki, the Greek version of fast food made from meat roasted on a spit. While we're in Athens I would also encourage you to try retsina, a wine made with pine resin that's been produced since ancient times, or ouzo, an anise-flavored spirit." If you did try both of these, you might be left with the suspicion that Raiden was secretly evil. Or you might like them. Who could say?

"I'm starving, so let's head through our portal to Athens and get started on our self-guided food tour!"

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Cal had been fully prepared to haul Arden around like a backpack on this trip, but he supposed the scooter was less obtrusive and kinder to his back.

"I can grab you more of anything you need," he offered. He had some of those on his plate already, and he could share, but then he'd have to get more for himself anyway. "How are you holding up?"

Arden knew better than to try to reach for something on Cal's plate.

"I'm good," she said. "My auto-HVAC is kinda struggling in the heat - guess it's not up to a hundred percent either. And...maybe some more of that good pita and hummus and spanakopita?" She pointed to the vendor with the good hummus, her arm showing the ugly, mottled bruises that remained where the nails had been.

This wasn't the first time Cal wished he had Force healing, and it likely wouldn't be the last. The bruises just convinced him to move faster to get the good pita and hummus, and two servings of spanakopita, because that stuff was amazing.

"If you need BD to be a fan when we get back to town, let me know," Cal said, setting the food down in front of her. "I think he'd be happy to be useful." Not that he knew what that felt like.

"Once we get back to town, we'll be back to Fandom temperatures, not Greek ones," she teased. "Though I'm really grateful you found that electric blanket. The nights are getting chilly."

She looked over to him. "If you and BD are tired of camping on the roof with me, I'd totally get it if you two went back to your room."

"Hey, I've camped in much worse places than a roof full of blankets and pillows," Cal said. "And you're getting better every day, even if it might not feel like it. Soon, you'll be back in your room and feeling more normal."

If he said it enough, maybe she'd feel that way too.

"I have a deadline of this weekend," Arden said stubbornly. "I'm not going to miss out on a minute of our trip because I'm tired or whatever."

She would probably be driving her scooter through the portal, thank you again Castor.

"...Are you coming along? It's open to everyone, you know. At least everyone who takes or teaches classes."

"I've thought about it. I just have to figure out how to sneak BD in. I might be able to find a backpack big enough to hide him," Cal said. "Assuming it's all right for me to go, I still feel weird about doing 'student' things."

"Cal, you've been taking classes since the summer. You're maybe not officially enrolled, but I don't think this place cares about official all that much." She nudged him. "Come see the world with m--us. For longer than just an hour at a time. Consider it an opportunity to keep an eye on me and not let me go overboard."

Cal laughed and slipped one of his grape leaves onto her plate, which was the highest of compliments. "You won't go overboard, or get lost, or commit any kind of international incident. If you do, I'll probably be right there with you."

"At least there won't be any kiwis to try to get me in trouble," Arden said, giving him a melting little smile for sharing.

And then, a moment or two later, realizing that that was probably weird or something and pivoted around to distract him. "Besides, even if you tried to tell me I was overdoing it, I'd just speak Southern to you until you relented."

Cal let out an exaggerated gasp, pretending to be horribly offended. "How dare you use my secret weakness against me? What if someone hears you and realizes how to wear me down? How will I maintain my strength in the face of such an accent?"

"Darlin', you know it's not much of a secret, right?" Arden asked. Well. Drawled. "But, there there, think of it this way. You've already heard the best accents. You really think any of them'll compare?"

Of course, the best Southern accent was probably Remy's, let's be real.

Yes, but Remy's accent... okay, it was attached to a handsome man, but Arden's accent was attached to Arden, and that made it the best one.

"You're just trying to steal the rest of my food," he complained. "To think, I was going to cart you around here, and this is how you thank me."

"Thank you very much for what you were maybe gonna do," Arden teased, still in her accent, because she remained the worst. "And how do you know I'm not tryna help you be a better person by encouraging you to share?"

"I'm already one of the best people you know." The new Jedi Order would have no modesty if he had anything to say about it. "You're trying to watch me squirm for some cruel reason."

If she were really being cruel, she'd ask him why her accent made him squirm. Fortunately, she hadn't actually stopped to consider it that way.

"Cause I can't let you have everything too easy, can I?" Arden asked. "You need a little bit of challenge in your life." She leaned in to whisper, "Lucky for you, I'm a real handful."

And tried to filch his last stuffed grape leaf.

Food & Cultural Appreciation, Tuesday Third Period

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