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profbutters ([personal profile] profbutters) wrote2009-09-04 11:20 pm

Simspiration Post: Miranda Legacina

 I wanted to do this right away, but it took a while, as you'll see.

Miranda Whedonberry checked the pie in the oven.  “Oopsitude.  Don’t want this all burniyucked up.”  The doorbell rang.  “Ash?  Ava?  Could one of you get the door?”

Miranda and Dean’s twins, Ash and Ava, darted into the kitchen.  Ash barreled into his mother, hugging her l around the waist.  “Can’t, Mama, ‘cause Ava doesn’t want to.”

Ava looked down.  “Not . . .not don’t want to . . . “

Ash went right on.  “Doesn’t WANT to because she says it could be some stranger, so it’s MY job.”

Miranda frowned.  “Well, it could be, but it won’t be, because today—“

Ava lit up.  “It’s the Uncles coming over!  Yay!”

Ash shrugged.  “They’re just a bunch of boring grownups,” he said unconvincingly, but he scampered after Ava.  Some of those boring grownups played some cool games or brought neat toys, or sometimes . . .

“Miss me, kids?”  said a slightly built green man with large liquid eyes.  

. . . sometimes they just plain loved them.  Pure and simple.

“Uncle Farny!”  screamed the twins, burying him in hugs. 

“Watch it, guys, you’re getting big, and I’m a bleeder!”

“Are NOT,” said Ash, who could be very literal. 

“Kidlies, you will climb down off Uncle Farny so Mama-san can hug him first.”  Miranda hugged Farnsworth Gibson, her red hair brushing his green cheek.

“Is Dean home yet?”

“No, he’s going to pick up some things on the way home, he said.  I’m so glad you got here first, Worthiness.”

Farnsworth lit up.

“Because I’m going to put you to work.”

His shoulders sagged.  She handed him some cutlery.

“Set the table in there.  Now scoot!”  The doorbell rang again.  “Mama-san will get this one.  You run off and play with Aunt Louise.”

Ash made a face.  “OK.  We didn’t want to play with the Numb-Ni.”

Miranda opened the door.

 “Hello, lovely lady,” said a dark and interesting gentleman with brilliantly colored streaked hair.  A slightly sullen looking man with a beard hovered behind him.  “Did you miss us?”

“Knightly!  You brought flowers!” 

“I couldn’t resist.”

“Can’t stay off the flattery, can you, ‘Knightly’,” grumbled Dwight Familiar, as he followed the extravagantly courtly Lancelot Locks into the hall and handed Miranda a bottle of wine. 

“You’ll excuse me, Miranda?”  said Lancelot, gracefully slipping from the room.  “Now, where was. . .”

“Aw, no, he’s going to get in the hot tub again.  I’ve gotta go remind him to keep his swim trunks on,” Dwight said, eyebrows knitted.  He began to follow Lancelot out.

“Not so fastinaceous, Lite-Dwight,” said Miranda, giving him a large hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“I, well. . .aw,” said Dwight shyly, the blush barely visible under his beard as he left the way Lancelot had gone.

Farnsworth’s voice floated in from the dining room.  “The Numb-Ni?”

Miranda laughed.  “Oh, that was Jelly-Dean.  He called the dinners the ‘Alumni Association’, and Ash couldn’t pronounce it, so he calls you the Uncles, or the Numb-Ni.  All done? Good, ‘cause there’s more work in the kitchen.”

“Wait wait wait!”  spluttered Farnsworth.  “I brought cheese.  You didn’t even give me a chance to show it to you, let alone get it in the fridge!”  He showed her a nice creamy wedge of Brie.

“Scrummiacious!  Not in the fridge, Worthiness, that’s not cool, it’s supposed to be a little warm. Here, put it on this plate, and put some crackers around it . . .and here’s some veggies, you’d better cut them up and put them on, too. . . “

“You and Dean are SUCH Pop Sims,” grumbled Farnsworth.

“You are, too,” Miranda pointed out.

“Yes, but . . .but you’re SUCH Pop Sims.  MEGA Pop Sims,” said Farnsworth, but he didn’t really mean it.  He was sociable but shy, and it was much nicer to work with his hostess in the kitchen. 

“I do have to hand it to you, Miranda.  You’re probably the only Bachelorette ever to have an Alumni Association of her own Challenge.”

Miranda looked surprised.  “But you’re all my friends!  Dean’s friends, too, now.”

He smiled at her fondly.  “That’s what I mean.  You’re both such Pop Sims.” The doorbell rang again.  “Go get the door,” he added, waving her away with a vegetable knife in his hand.

Miranda opened the door to a boyish redhead with eyeglasses that made him look a bit like a science professor, which was sort of what he was.  “Scott-Free!” 

“Hi, Miranda,” said Scott Penguino shyly.  “Better put this in the freezer, cause it’ll melt.”

“Home-made ice cream!  Scott-Free, you are the best!”

“Well, no, I’m not, because technically I came in third and . . .kidding, kidding.”  Scott followed Miranda into the kitchen.  Shy people always head for the kitchen. “Hey, Farnsworth!”

“Hey, Scott,” said Farnsworth.

“Lipschitz! said to give you his apologies, he’s off somewhere with Hello Goodbye this weekend.  Sorry I could only bring the vanilla, I meant to make some rum ice cream too to go with the pie you said you were making, only. . . “  he broke off.

“Scott?  Did Marla have the baby?” squeaked Miranda.

“. . .yeah,” he said, blushing.  “ A girl.  We named her after my sister Jennie.  Oof!”  he added, as Miranda squeezed him. 

“You bring Marla all the goodies back, you hear, and you invite me over to see the baby.  And you thank her for letting you come when she probably needs you at home.”

“I will, Miranda.  She said it was fine.  She said she knows you’d do the same.  She wants you to come to dinner as soon as possible, only it might not be right away, because she’s so busy with the baby.”

“We’ll bring dinner, Scott-Free, don’t be silly.  I’ll call Marla tomorrow.”   Scott’s cellphone buzzed.  “You might want to answer that.”

“I was going to,” said Scott mildly, leaving the kitchen.  “Hello, honey,” he said, his voice going soft.  “Really? She did?  Already?”

“I noticed you have seven plates.  You’ll have to take one off, if Lipschitz! isn’t coming,” said Farnsworth.

“Yes,” said Miranda.  “What?  I knew Lipschitz! wasn’t coming.  He called last week.  Gardez la pointe,” she added, as Farnsworth sneakily cut a piece of Brie.

“Huh?”

“Keep the point.  Don’t cut the Brie straight across.  Keep it pointy.”

“Who cares about stuff like that?  It’s cheese, Miranda, it comes from cows.  Well, mostly from cows.”  He paused to slice some Brie.  “So you knew Lipschitz! wasn’t coming, but you’ve got seven plates out there.  Why?” 

There was a pause.

“No.  Not seriously.”

“Well. . .”

“Miranda, not seriously.”

“I’d just feel so bad if someday he showed up and there wasn’t a plate out for him.”

“Miranda, Cecil’s the only one who didn’t want to stay friends with you.  Do you even know where he is?”  Miranda shook her head.  “Unbelievable.  He can’t have any idea you and Dean have anniversary dinners for the Bachelorette Alumni. “

“I guess not,” said Miranda.

“He probably doesn’t even know where you and Dean live.”

“Oh, no.  I’m sure he does.”  Farnsworth stared at her.  “That’s the way See-saw thinks, see.  He doesn’t want to be friends, never that.  But I’m sure he knows where I am.”

“That’s . . . really creepy.”

Miranda shrugged.  “It’s just the way he thinks.  Oh, and gardez la pointe.” Farnsworth carefully, deliberately, cut the cheese straight across.  “Worthiness!” 

“I am only going to say this once, Miranda.  I will not eat cheese Cecil-style.  The only person who is going to eat a French cheese, cutting it in prissy little points while talking about the points in French, is Cecil.”  He put some Brie on a cracker and handed it to her. “Here.”

Miranda sat down at the kitchen table.  “Thanks.” 

“I just don’t like you getting upset because one person, one immature, lousy person, didn’t want to be friends with you.”

“That’s not what bothers me,” said Miranda.

“No?”  said Farnsworth.

“No,” she said.  “What bothers me,” she added sadly, “is that, in his way, he really did.” 

[identity profile] peasant007.livejournal.com 2009-09-05 06:43 am (UTC)(link)
...

:(

I loved this, I really did. I loved how I could totally see the entire scene played out for me and then BAM, the small, sad insight about Cecil. Miranda kinda knew him better than anyone else ever could, huh?

[identity profile] profbutters.livejournal.com 2009-09-05 08:16 pm (UTC)(link)
There's only a few people who are even close to "getting" Cecil: one of them is his brother Lytton. But I think the ones who love him best are the ones who see something that may or may not be there.

I don't know if Miranda understands WHY Cecil behaves the way he does: if the shoe were on the other foot, she'd want to be friends. But she does understand HOW he behaves and what he's likely to do.

[identity profile] docnerd.livejournal.com 2009-09-05 06:52 am (UTC)(link)
'Randa really does know Cecil. And I'm sure she's sad that she couldn't maintain even a friendly relationship with him. In the end, though, she couldn't have been herself with Cecil, and she and Dean were really made for each other.

[identity profile] profbutters.livejournal.com 2009-09-05 08:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Definitely. She's way better off with Dean. For one thing, would Cecil have cheerfully agreed to, or even suggested, Alumni Dinners? Nope.

[identity profile] orikes13.livejournal.com 2009-09-05 07:06 am (UTC)(link)
OMG. OMG OMG OMG. SO MUCH LOVE.

I absolutely love this, Prof. In so many freaking ways. I saw this and just squealed at my computer and then kept squealing as I was reading it. I am SO going to steal the term 'Numb-ni'. :)

Thank you so much for making my night. :)

[identity profile] profbutters.livejournal.com 2009-09-05 08:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Aw, I'm glad you liked it. It was so much fun to write. I remembered that Dean had some boys' nights out with the other guys, and it just made sense. Also, it gave me an excuse to skim back through your BC, which I still love. :) I almost wanted to shoot pictures to go with it, but I suck at that.

[identity profile] fireflowersims.livejournal.com 2009-09-05 07:07 am (UTC)(link)
Aww I love it! I can so see all the candidates for her BC getting together at her house regularly- and Cecil being the only one to abstain. Sigh. This was pretty much completely perfect. :)

[identity profile] profbutters.livejournal.com 2009-09-05 08:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Aw, thanks!

[identity profile] smoothiesims.livejournal.com 2009-09-05 07:13 am (UTC)(link)
Cecil breaks my heart (at the same time that, yes, Farnsworth totally has the right idea about him potentially knowing where Miranda is). :( I love the idea of Miranda having Bachelor Reunions though, it is so her.
Edited 2009-09-05 07:14 (UTC)

[identity profile] profbutters.livejournal.com 2009-09-05 08:22 pm (UTC)(link)
I thought it would be her! It's also very Dean: once he knows he's the man in her life, he's got no reason to feel threatened about it. I bet the evening ends in watching blooper footage :)

As for Cecil--he's just himself. I don't think he would *stalk* her, it's just that he feels the need to know. And just possibly to rub salt in the wound.

[identity profile] rosefyre.livejournal.com 2009-09-05 07:47 am (UTC)(link)
Aww. *hugs Miranda*

Great ficlet, Prof.

[identity profile] profbutters.livejournal.com 2009-09-05 08:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks!

[identity profile] penguingirl03.livejournal.com 2009-09-05 07:02 pm (UTC)(link)
This was great to read. I was grinning through the whole thing even though it was sad at the end. Scott marrying Marla in another world made me grin and he would be the one to bring ice cream. :-)

Thanks for making my day better.

[identity profile] profbutters.livejournal.com 2009-09-05 08:24 pm (UTC)(link)
I absolutely loved making this an excuse to write ALL the bachelors, even for a sentence or two. I figure after Antarctica, Scott would have certain flair for frozen desserts (plus, admittedly, I love making them myself.) And it makes perfect sense for him to marry Marla, since she's a Bin Sim and therefore available in any multiverse. (Besides, I wanted Scott to be happy!)

[identity profile] selenecorvino.livejournal.com 2009-09-05 07:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Very nice. Of course Cecil couldn't be there because he and young Cecelia are in Wheadonberry.

Yeah, I guess Miranda and Dean would have a reunion of sorts for all of those former bachelors. Nice touch with Scott and Marla. But why didn't Lancelot mention Penelope and his boys?

[identity profile] profbutters.livejournal.com 2009-09-05 08:28 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't know that I was thinking of Cecil in Whedonberry, more sort of "who knows where he is?" I keep sending Cecil off heaven knows where myself and even I don't know where he went sometimes. But he's definitely in Whedonberry with Cecilia and I cannot wait to find out what Stacie has planned for that.

Penelope's married to Lancelot's brother Dinadan. They look fairly similar, except for the hair, but they have really different personalities: Lancelot is outgoing and a bit sloppy and he's Romance; Dinadan is Family and fairly neat (I think) and painfully shy. That's why he works so well with Penelope.

[identity profile] selenecorvino.livejournal.com 2009-09-05 08:44 pm (UTC)(link)
So sorry about the confusion; mainly, I'm really bad with names.

Haven't made it to RubyBlue's legacy yet, and it's been some time since I've read Miranda's BC, I'd forgotten what some of the contestants looked like. Also, looking forward to Stacie's next update.

[identity profile] swhedonberry.livejournal.com 2009-09-06 03:51 pm (UTC)(link)
This was marvelous! I love the insight Miranda has with Cecil and the fact that she can't let go even though she would never want to be with anyone but Dean.

There is such a strong familial relationship with all of them now. Even though Miranda started out as a love interest, she seems to have become a sister to all of the boys. All the boys, except Cecil, that is.