(Bonus) Snowflake Challenge Day 3a: It's pronounced hoo-ga
So as I suspected, I'm not ready to post my current WiP. I don't want to skip any day, especially not one that requires me to write, so instead I'm adding an extra snowflake by dipping into an alternative seasonal meme, gakked from selenak and the Internet in general.
Bonus snowflake day: Your OTP in Winter Meme: The O.C.
Following on from yesterday's nostalgia, I've decided to pick Cohens +1 + 2, with a broad, post-series perspective.
1: Who makes the other hot chocolate?
Seth makes it for everyone. After picking up his studies, Seth segued into publishing and then specifically into designing graphics and layouts for a small but respected indie food publishing company. Working alongside various chefs he's picked up a thing or two, including half a dozen ways to make the "best hot chocolate". Unlike any of the chefs he's worked with, what Seth has realised is the best way to make the "best" hot chocolate is to make it bespoke for the person you're making it for. So for Ryan and Kirsten, it's creamy and rich with dark chocolate, for Summer it's a white hot chocolate with marshmallows, for Taylor it's a chocolate martini with a hint of espresso, and for Sandy it's a chocolate egg cream, just like Nana used to make. He gets it perfect every time.
2: Who knits the other a seasonal sweater?
Summer once declared that outside of babies, knitting is for people who haven't discovered internet shopping, and even then, the baby has to be seriously cute. Every single one of the extended Cohen family agreed with her.
3: Who’s family hosts a bigger holiday gathering? What’s the gathering like for your OTP?
Thanksgiving is at either Seth and Summer's or Ryan and Taylor's, but wherever it is, Taylor and Seth end up doing most of the cooking. This year Sophie Rose was in charge of the cranberry sauce and made sure that everybody had at least two spoonfuls on every bite of turkey. Chrismukkah is always at the Cohens in Berkeley, because even though there's not quite enough room for everyone and Seth, Ryan and Sandy sleep on air mattresses in the attic, where else would it be? As for New Year, well, no one throws a party like Julie Cooper. That's why her event management company is the most sought after in Orange County.
4: How would your OTP react to having a snow day?
With serious surprise, they live in Berkeley. Last winter they all had a great ski vacation away in Vermont, courtesy of Julie Cooper and her many contacts. Family, food snow, sledging, skiing incompetence. It was perfect.
5: Who offers the other one their jacket?
Ryan offers his to Taylor, and she takes it, and the accompanying close hug every time. Sandy is now convinced that she wears too few layers and he too few on purpose. It is, as Seth would say, totally adorkable.
6: Who makes a snowman that looks like the other member of your OTP, or do they both do this?
Seth again, with able assistance from Sophie Rose. That time in Vermont they got Ryan right down to the leather wrist cuff.
7: Does your OTP ever have snowball fights?
The only thing more perfect than an accurately rendered snowfamily is an accurately rendered snowfamily that can be used as strategical defences in the epic Cohens vs Coopers family great snowball war. Summer threw Sandy’s snowy head at Seth with such precision he fell over the water butt.
8: What gifts would they get each other for the holidays?
Following Seth’s lead from years ago, for her first Chrismukkah with the Cohens Taylor gave her “in everything but in-law in-laws“ a Taylor Townsend Starter Pack. It contained a subscription to the London Review of Books, a selection of her own line of Taylor-Made Cosmetics (for the sophisticate who likes to smell sophistiqué) and a cheese so obscure and ripe that the kitchen smelled of baked cow until New Year.
9: How do they spend their winter holiday? Do they even celebrate the same holiday?
Lately, the Coopers have scaled back their festivities. With all the parties Julie throws for other people, when it comes to her own celebrations she’s discovered she likes nothing better than spending time with her family. Though she eventually settled down with Frank, Bullit still joins them more years than not, and even Jimmy has been known to make the occasional appearance, but each year at least one meal is just Julie, Cooper, Kaitlin, and a toast raised to Marissa.
10: What sort of seasonal treats does your OTP like to eat?
Sandy has yet to meet a roast beast that he hasn’t enjoyed eating, with the possible exception of Kirsten’s last attempt to cook a brisket. As he said at the time, even for the finest chef, the line between rare and raw is a fine tightrope to walk. And as Kirsten acknowledged, she is not the finest chef. The respectful silence that followed spoke volumes.
11: How do they spend New Year’s Eve?
Two years ago, it was at the Orange County Museum of Art. Last year, it was on a yacht. This year Julie’s not telling them, but she’s told everyone to bring their passport. Kirsten hopes they’re not heading to Tijuana.
12: Who initiates the New Year’s kiss?
It’s a simultaneous outpouring of affection really. It would be almost nauseating if it hadn’t all been so hard-won.
13: Who tries to get a secret gift for the other one for Valentine’s Day?
Ryan. It’s Taylor’s favourite holiday and her planning of romantic surprises is legendary. He’s not to been able to surprise her in kind yet, but this year he’s got a week booked in Paris, and has enlisted several members of Taylor’s team in cahoots. If he manages it, then twelve hours after Ryan “flies to Austin to help bid on the Franklin Mall contract”, Summer will drop by to take Taylor for a Newpsie style lunch. Instead of the flowers Taylor’s expecting, Summer will present her plane tickets, a locked padlock bearing Taylor and Ryan’s initials, and a note that telling Taylor he’ll be waiting for her on Pont Neuf with the key.
14: Would your OTP take a walk together in the snow?
They all did, and it was wonderful. Let’s just say that the bedroom doors of all the Vermont lodge were all firmly closed that night.
15: Which one gets more excited over the first snow of winter?
By all rights it should be Sophie Rose and Cooper, but it’s Kirsten and Sandy. That first night in Vermont, when fresh snow begins to fall outside on the already thickly covered winter scene, they look around the table, at their family, their friends, and quietly join hands, marvelling in contentment at just how far they’ve come.
~~~
I think that's a close to writing a fic as one can get without actually writing a fic! It's work's Christmas party tomorrow, and I've a mountain of Christmas shopping to do afterwards, so I'm not sure I will be posting tomorrow. I will certainly try though, this has been a lot of fun!