ENTRY #13

[torino10154]

Title: Figuring It Out
Author: paulamcg
I am of legal drinking age in my region: (yes/
Pairing(s)/Characters/Fandom: Arthur, Rin, Ginny, Molly7Amelia+7HP
Challenge/Prompts used: Abiut all
Summary: in janury 1990 Arthur tries to realax andget somthing sone
Rating/Warnings: lame+
Word count: around 600
Author's Notes (if any): Lookds lime I gtodrunk bfore itwas to late.



“Dad!”

“Dad!”

Just the two of them, you'll manage.

She's right. Your Molly always knows best.

You've remembered to use a Summoning spell when Ginny and Ron claim they can't find their wellies. And now they are happily splashing in the pools... Not in the pond?

You have to hurry and follow them to the yard.

No, there they are, playing tag with the gnomes. You can stride straight to the garage. No need to discipline the creatures... any of them.

You've done your best with the twins, and now Hogwarts can try in turn. And Molly knows that the right time for her to go out on a date orwhattever its is the day after that fourleged memace is gone. She needs to relax after all she did to transform the chaos here into an enchanted family Christmas.

And you need your privacy after another frustting day at the Ministry.

There's nothing like tinkering with these things... Besides, it can help you do your job better. Misuse of Muggle... That was hardly a promotion. Never a promotion for you. And they should have hired a Muggleborn as the head of the office to guifr youto learn. They still hires too few Muggkenorns.

“Dad!” Ginny's rushed to the doorway when you have barely reached out to caress your Ford. “I can help you so you get something done.”

Ronald shouts over Ginny's voice, “She's only eight. She can't know what to do with plugs.”

“Do you think you know?”

“I didn't say I want to help. But it's raining too hard now. We can play here.”

“With your plugs! Please, Dad!”

“All right, you can arrange my collection, a part of this.” You give them a box full of odd plugs.

“But I want to see where you put them.”

You sigh and show her the spark plugs. “I've figured out these are similar to those inside Ford.”

“What are... What is it really – your Ford?”

“It is a motor car, an automobile.”

“And that means it moves by itself.” Ron says that.

“That's right. You've learnt some latin at Mrs Diggory's lessons.”

“The first part is Greek really.”

“How moves by itself?” That's Ginny

“Without magic.” Rin

“Without a wizard's magic, or a witch's. Ford has got magic of her own. Or his. I'm just figuring it out.”

But you aren't getting anything done with children around. Everyone expects... something sexu. Or perhps nobidy expetc anything form you anymore. Your bod's not liek ot ued to be nad your carers gone nowhere.

Un lije Madam Bones¨s. Amelias. Tou must say amelia, too ,id your wife does, And whta doe she do woth her. Yeah, she keeps meetong her, because they¨ve got sho much in common , just becauser she used to be friends with Mollys little boterjs bothers brothers. Youd think Amelias is older as she's the head no, now onlu the deputy gead of Lasw Enformemant.

Allrighht, Rin and ginny play with those plufs or go out. I nned to think.

You need to think. The muggke whose lawn mower youunjinex said that he was going to change spark pluds in his motir and hell need a spark plug socjet forhis sockert wrench. You owled Charie and asked him to ask a Mugglembrn friend.

What di dhe say? What's a wrench? Aaaaaa muggle wand? Or perhaps tje muggle said wechn. No Wench? Charlies frined said toget the plugin you need large amounts of lubrcants adn and a slow gentel aproach.

Better aks Molly adtwr all.

Comments

[dani_meows]

*giggles* Baby weasleys... stream of consciousness.

“Without a wizard's magic, or a witch's. Ford has got magic of her own. Or his. I'm just figuring it out.” My mom had three different fords they all caught fire. I think they have fire magic.

I love it.

[paulamcg]

Stream of consciousness is my default narration technique, and it seems to work well for incoherence! :) Thank you! Also for the information on Fords and their magic. :) I'm afraid I know less about cars than my Arthur did when he started his figuring out.

[digthewriter]

Great job! <3

[paulamcg]

Thank you! <3 I'm so glad this odd little thing worked for you.

[songquake]

Oh! You don’t have to rate this little gem “lame”! It’s charming! I love how we follow Arthur’s stream of consciousness and how he and Molly are both in need of tension relief but poor Arthur gets…plug-blocked? By his children. I love him and his generosity and his heart.

[paulamcg]

Ah, thank you for giving love to my plug-blocked Arthur! I guess he felt the story of his life failed to be cool and (writing stream of consciousness, like always, I guess) I couldn't help channelling him. :) Your kind, beautiful words make us feel better.

[sdk]

Oh this is so sweet and gentle! I love Arthur sort of giving himself a pep talk to be able to talk care of the kids without Molly and the 2nd Person POV works so well for the stream-of-consciousness slice of life story. I do love how slowly the typos take over, really hammering in the fact that you did get drunk before it was too late. ;)

[paulamcg]

Thank you so much! I've been glad (since January 2020) to see that my often gentle and almost always stream-of-consciousness writing is welcome and works for typo-filled drunken fics, too. Last summer I got fond of second-person narration, and I guess I felt that the pep-talk opening made it irresistibly fitting here. At first (until Arthur got frustrated and less coherent) I wrote so slowly that the typos were bound to start appearing slowly, too, and some of those in the earlier part are in phrases I added or moved there later. (I assumed such drunken editing was allowed.) :)

[lightofdaye]

This is a really lovely start MA. I love seeing Arthur as dad to Ginny and Ron and encouraging them in his love of cars and things. Just before Philospher's stone isn't a time frame you see very often.

Very creative! And you can tell the drink was taking effect by the end!

[paulamcg]

Thank you! <3 The unusual time frame is Molly's fault. Last summer I wrote about her going out with Amelia Bones on the day when the twins started at Hogwarts. But I also wanted to use the dad prompt in a simple, "childish" way, and to use the plugs to show Arthur's relationship with the Ford Anglia before it became a flying car.

Arthur got frustrated enough for me to start typing faster at the same time when I was getting more properly drunk. But he and I didn't get much done, and perhaps the story could have continued only with Molly's help. :)

[lq_traintracks]

Oh I love me a second person POV! Fantastic job with that! There was something soft and sort of melancholy about this maybe. I loved the feel of it. I also enjoyed how the typing deteriorated toward the last! :D Really nicely done, MA!

[paulamcg]

Last summer I read some excellent second-person fics and decided to experiment with such a pov in a small fic with a very rare pairing which not many readers would read in any case. Since then second-person narration has been my default way of writing. I guess we just need to try any odd thing, and there will be somebody to love it. :) Thank you so much for your love and praise!

<3 I'm afraid I tend to do soft and melancholy – even when I drink and I'm supposed to do hilarious. At least towards the end I managed to both drink and type fast enough. :)

[torino10154]

I love the point where the booze clearly kicked in. LOL Of course Charlie would know what to do with a plug. :D I like seeing Ron and Ginny pre-Hogwarts, too. That's super rare! Nice job.

[paulamcg]

Thank you! I guess the point you mean is also where I got excited about the story and Arthur got frustrated. :) Charlie was a sixth-year and a well-educated young man. :D Because of my idea of romantic feelings starting between Amelia and Molly in the late 1980s, I've ended up showing glimpses of pre-Hogwarts Ron and Ginny once before in a tiny story.

[ruinsplume]

Ginny's rushed to the doorway when you have barely reached out to caress your Ford. “I can help you so you get something done.” Whoever wrote this is a parent themselves, amirite?

But you aren't getting anything done with children around. Everyone expects... something sexu. Or perhps nobidy expetc anything form you anymore. Your bod's not liek ot ued to be nad your carers gone nowhere. Ouch, ouch ouch! That feeling. It's so hard. IDK if this is what you intended (if "intended" is a word we can use for FWF?) but this fic took me right back to having a small child in the house, both how adorable the kids are and how incredibly hard it is to get anything done or have a life when they're that age. Well done, drunk!you!

[paulamcg]

Oh, thank you for this kind and thoughtful comment! I am a parent, yes, and I do remember how it was when my three sons were that age, although that was... well, ages ago! I'm so glad this Arthur's pov manages to convey that feeling of frustration – which we can make worse by thinking about how little we've achieved professionally, and how we're getting older and less attractive, too. But, to be honest, at that point I also used Arthur's frustration to deal with the feeling that I couldn't possibly write porn after I'd made the mistake to bring the children to the scene, and that probably nobody expected any porn from me because so far every time at Firewhiskey (too) I'd written angsty or melancholy scenes with no sex. :)

[mywitch]

“And that means it moves by itself.” Ron says that.
“How moves by itself?” That's Ginny
I wish more writers did dialogue like this – I get confused sometimes!

Oh I really really feel for poor Arthur! He just needs a little alone time with his plugs! LOL And still two little kiddos at home interrupting! But at least the four-legged chaos is back to Hogwarts! haahha
I really enjoyed reading this!

[paulamcg]

Yay! I'm glad the dialogue as completed like that by drunk!me worked for you. I assumed it was all right to reread my text and to fix it a bit as long as I was still drunk. And when the dialogue seemed confusing, I tried to do something about that. I guess the fic remained incoherent enough in any case. :) Thank you for your lovely comment, and for feeling for my Arthur!

♥

[oldtoadwoman]

a wrench is a "muggle wand" :-) love it

Re: ♥

[paulamcg]

I guess muggle wands were popular in this edition of FWF. So glad my type of tinkering!Arthur's wand, too, worked for you! :) <3

[walgesang]

Awww, poor Arthur! I did love the veer into more drunkenness, though. :D Yay FWF!

[paulamcg]

Yay! Thank you for your empathy, and for sharing the fun of drunken incoherence! <3

[glittering_git]

LOL Ron and Ginny playing with the plugs in the rain is hilarious. I loved the "you" pov here and this was so much fun!!

[paulamcg]

The plugs I focused on were different from those used in most of the masterpieces at the fest :) and I'm glad you found mine (my plugs/my masterpiece?) fun in any case. It's great to hear that the "you", too, worked for you, as it's not the most popular way of writing the pov. Thank you for the sweet comment!

[ride_4ever]

I <3 the stream-of-consciousness style!

And I really, REALLY <3 what a stunning example this is of sliding gracefully into inebriated loss of coherence!

[paulamcg]

Ah, thank you for your generous praise! I guess I write stream of consciousness in almost all of my short stories, and I'm glad the style works so well for you. It seems to serve well for "graceful sliding" and incoherence. :)