Arhi FF: Kalarikkal House (Thread 2 link posted) - Page 23

just got a hold of this ff... excellent charactarizations! i love this kashi...

i am eagerly waiting to see what kashi urf khushi has in store for ASR's most eventful week at kalarikkal house!

btw i love the house... it beautfiul...

Chapter 5 – Murderous Witch

Dinner was a spectacle to watch and savor. At least she thought so. He may not agree though. She was not the best of cooks even on a good day, much less on a day when she was faced with the possibility of feeding the enemy. Her father wasn't terribly affected by her doings as he only ate rice congee with a pinch of salt in the evenings. Her sister was saved as well as twice per week she only ate once a day; today happened to be that day and she had already eaten her one meal at lunch. That left only herself to bear the brunt of her cooking. She usually laced her entire rice and curry mixture with mango pickle before she started eating and that took care of the general lack of taste, unless the mildly burnt bottom had already lent its own carbon-infused flavor.

She had to admit, she had outdone herself today; the meal was spectacularly bad even by her standards.

As for their visitor, even before he tasted the food, his first glance at the plate showed his distaste for its contents. If she had had any concerns about subjecting him to her cooking – not that she did, but if she had – then that look of his took care of it. She now not only hoped that he found it to be bland beyond tolerance, she also hoped that he choked on it, especially when he asked for a fork and knife.

"There is nothing to cut or pierce in that meal there. All you have to do is pick it up with your fingers and eat. But if that's a lost art in whatever planet you descended from, the best we can do is a spoon." She said in irritation.

"Kaveri!" Her father called her by her given name, showing her that she had pissed him off well and good now.

She offered a quiet 'sorry' before she muttered under her breath as she walked into the kitchen. "Alla! Anju veralundu aa pannanu. Nalennam mathi kurachu chorunnanayittu. Anneram saayipinte spoon-illandu tollelotonnum irangillatre!" ("I mean, the dude has five fingers. He only needs four to eat some rice. But he still wants the white man's invention to pour some rice down his throat!")

She walked back in with the spoon and had to resist the urge to slam it down next to his plate before going to sit by her sister's side with her food.

Her father started eating then and did not bother to check in with their guest about the food; she assumed that even her father's tolerance did not extend to faux hospitality.

She watched her guest like a hawk as he put the first spoonful in his mouth and internally patted herself on the back with glee when he cringed. Small victories, Kashi... Small victories... that's how she will start to drive the monster away from the house before his week was up. Somewhere between the living room and the dining room, she had decided that she wouldn't wait for a full week to pass to convince the dude that this was a bad investment. Pissing him off would actually backfire if he made it a full week as he may buy her home just to spite her. Thus, the only way her method would work is to make him quit this place before the whole week was up. She was not exactly a men-magnet. Not because she wasn't pretty. She knew she was pretty and quite reasonably so. But her personality was a major deterrent. She had a serious allergy to men who thought she should be as sweet as she looked and her caustic tongue came in handy during such times to put them in their place. She didn't know how to use any feminine wiles. And she was honest to the point of being blunt. None of these prominent traits of hers made for a good outcome if she tried to convince their house-guest in a nice way that he would be destroying not just a family's home, but a veritable legacy if he were to buy and convert their home into a resort-spa where strangers would pay money to lodge and relax and get massaged, insulting the memories of generations of her ancestors hidden between each of these wooden planks, bricks, and tiles.

She was startled out of her reverie when her sister leaned in and asked, "Neeyentha aa kootanilitte? Ayalde mughan kandittu nee vella veshom koduthonna enikku samshayam." ("What did you put in that dish? Watching his reaction, I am inclined to think that you are trying to poison him.")

She watched him and felt a genuine smile emerge on her lips at his predicament. He looked like he was chewing something that was too bitter to swallow and too offensive to spit out.

"Oh, nammade nattile ee anja-pinja vishamonnum ee Delhi-karkkekkilla ichechi. Athinokke indulstrial-grade tanne venam." ("You think the garden variety poison in Kerala is going to work on these Delhi folks? For that, we will need industrial-grade.")

She saw her sister try not to laugh at her comment even as she gave a light slap on her left hand, which made the man look in their direction.

She smiled with sugary sweetness and asked, "I hope the food here is to your liking, Mr. Raizada. I personally prepared the entire meal myself."

He looked down at his plate once again in distaste before looking back up at her, "Don't quit your day-job, then."

Her fake smile disappeared just as she saw her sister give into an amused smile.

The rest of the dinner passed in relative silence; her father was disinclined to talk, in the mood that he was in, and the guest appeared to have a hard enough time chewing and swallowing, much less talking. She and her sister murmured amongst themselves occasionally as she pushed her food around on her plate, her appetite gone now even with the generous lacing of mango pickle.

Her father and the guest finished dinner at the same time and she took their plates into the kitchen. Her sister came into the kitchen to let her know that she was going to give their father his medication and get him the heating pad for his back. She asked her to take the guest back upstairs to his room. Kashi refused and asked her sister to do it while she went with her father. Her sister gave her a look as she said, "Inniniyum ninte mugham kandal achanurrakkam varilla kutti." ("If father sees your face again today, he won't be able to sleep.")

Her face must have fallen for a moment, because her sister added, "Nammade aditi urangiyillengilum kuzhappamillallo. Appa nee chellu..." ("You don't mind if our guest has trouble sleeping, right? So, you go with him.)

That made her smile and her sister smiled back before she left the kitchen.

Arnav Singh Raizada was standing by the sink, letting the water run while he looked in the mirror at his reflection when she walked back into the dining room.

"Running water is an expensive commodity, Mr. Raizada. Please don't use it as background noise while you indulge your vanity in the dark." She told him as she gave him a clean towel to dry his hands.

"Some spiteful mosquito bit me!" He told her in annoyance as he grabbed the towel from her.

She saw the angry bump on his cheek where indeed something seemed to have bitten him.

"Our mosquitoes love foreign blood filled with animal fat, scotch and whiskey. Variety is the spice of their life, you know? Us poor folks here don't offer them much in the way of a feast."

"That's because if they bite the likes of you, they would die on spot. Your tongue has enough venom to kill those cobras that your state is famous for."

"At least we don't slowly die from breathing the air like you guys do where you are from. Add corporate leeches like you to the top of the food chain and I start to really pity the poor denizens of Delhi."

"What's a real pity is that that they put so much emphasis on educating women in Kerala. It's a wasted exercise."

She felt her nostrils flare in anger and was thankful that the light from the kerosene lamp was dim so that he couldn't properly see that she had taken the bait.

"Too bad all your ivy league education still can't erase the misogyny that must have been passed on to you through breast milk."

He seemed angry all of a sudden, a look that was quite different from his agitation and annoyance, and for a moment she thought he was going to go off on her. But he just threw the towel back at her and looked away as he said, "Don't insult my mother. Show me to my room."

She hadn't even thought of his mother when she had made that statement, but now she could see how it could have been construed as such.

"I'm sorry." She said before walking off to get the lamp. "This way." she told him pausing by the stairs and turning back around when he didn't follow.

She caught the look of surprise on his face before he made it impassive and started to follow her.

They walked in silence for a while before he remarked, "This is not the way that your sister brought me down."

"Maybe not."

"That's confusing. How will I learn how to get around if you take me up and down through different routes?"

She stopped without thinking and he climbed up the step right into her back before stepping down and looking up at her in irritation.

"Are you seriously thinking that you will last an entire week in this house?" She asked him.

He lifted an eyebrow. "Do you know how many years I have been trying to make this deal? How many obstacles your father has thrown my way before? I can take one week in this hell-hole if it will make your father yield."

She felt a sudden burst of anger and moved the lamp in her hand in his direction suddenly. It caught him off-guard and made him stumble down another step which made him slip. He fell backwards and slid down the rest of the steps onto the flat corner from where the next set of stairs went down at a perpendicular angle.

She stood there staring at him as he slowly raised himself up onto his elbows.

"You almost killed me, you murderous witch!" he hissed.

She brought the lamp closer to her face until he could see her expression loud and clear.

"Sadly for me, almost doesn't count."

They stared at each other for a moment, drawing battle lines with their gazes, before she turned around and took another step up. "If you don't want to sleep there, I suggest you get yourself up and follow me."

----

What a conversation! If their words could be the volley, and Kalarikkal house Wimbledon, this could be a record breaking match, and they could be our own Federer-Nadal equivalents! :D

what a convo ...loving it, continue soon

Kaveri, you are amazing!

If words were hexes, then kalarikkal house would be the place where Dumbledore and Voldemort had fought, in the "Order of Phoenix"

You really have a talent for creating amazinngly sppiteful conversations.. Lovin it

God knows what's left in store for Arnav 😆

this kashi is really up there in the zone! she is really mean! ofcourse arnav is no less mean... they absolutely suit each other!

warring partners! waiting for more battles!