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[floozyfacade]

I had two Valentine's days this year, one here and one at home. Two Valentine's days and a grand total of zero Valentines. That said, this one? The extra one, the one I shouldn't have had to deal with? Totally the better one. Next step in it being awesome: me figuring out how to move again.Olive meant to go home before it got too late, she really

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[pointzerothree]

Eduardo thinks he gets it now, the things people say about the weird tricks the island pulls. He's lived through some strange things already in the month he's been here, a length of time that seems both incredibly short and far too long all at once, but nothing like waking up to find the island pretty much made out of candy, something straight out of Willy Wonka. For the most part, he's just watched other people, finding it amusing but not something he cares to indulge in too much. (There's a hell of a lot of candy. It isn't like he hasn't had any; he just isn't going crazy over it, like some other people seem to be.)

He's already headed in Olive's direction when she speaks, having spotted her on his way into the rec room from the kitchen, and he stops just nearby, the corners of his mouth pulling up in a lopsided smile. "No, I'm pretty sure I'm right side up," he says with a laugh, shaking his head. "You alright? You look kind of tired."

[floozyfacade]

He's less attractive upside down, Olive notes, which feels like a good reason to stay the way she is, but she turns around to face him anyway, lying on her stomach on the couch. Smiling up at him, she nods. "I am," she says. "Tired. And alright. I'm just... wired, you know? Like, I wanna sleep, but I wanna move. But I don't wanna move. Everything is candy." She's pretty sure she could take a bite out of the couch right now and it would taste good. She would have had a page out of a book earlier, except she couldn't stomach the idea of tearing one out, even if it was candy. There are, she has found, everlasting gobstoppers that eventually stop lasting. Most every day of her life, she's been the sensible one, but there are limits and they involve chocolate.

[pointzerothree]

"And I'm... gonna go ahead and guess you had a lot of it," Eduardo says, just barely managing to keep another, more outright laugh at bay. Between her simultaneously being worn out and energetic, plus the comment about candy, it isn't a hard conclusion to reach; he's pretty sure there are a lot of people on the island in exactly the same state right now, anyway. When there are actual rivers of chocolate, he figures it's safe to assume that it's inevitable. "Sugar crash?"

[floozyfacade]

Olive nods, then winces, because her head still feels kind of weird, like there's too much pressure going on in there. Nodding only exacerbates that. "Yeah," she says, "yes, yes, I think you could say that." It takes her a few moments, but she pushes herself up so she can sit properly instead of looking like a total mess in front of him. Pushing her hair back out of her eyes only to have it swing back into place a moment later, she leans back against the headrest, looking up at him with a drowsy, crooked smile. "Happy Valentine's Day." At least she has friends to spend it with, friends who are every bit as single as her. There's some comfort in that, despite the abundance of nauseatingly sweet couples here.

[pointzerothree]

"Happy Valentine's Day," Eduardo returns, his own smile a little surprised, though no less genuine for it. It isn't a holiday he's ever had much cause to make a big deal out of, and not just always for lack of girlfriend. Last time, it was ten days after Facebook's launch; that had, for obvious reasons, been his primary focus. This year, he'd have had even less cause to make note of it, except that there isn't any ignoring it. If other people are to be believed, it's the island's intention to make it that way, but even with all he's seen here, he has trouble putting any credence in stories about sentient land masses. "You usually celebrate by eating a lot of candy, or is that exclusive to when everything is made out of it?"

[floozyfacade]

Olive sucks in a breath between her teeth, weighing her response. "Little of both," she says. "I usually don't celebrate at all, you know? And most of the candy sucks because it's usually just those little hearts. Yeah, I'm not a big fan. I mean, even on Halloween, I usually just hoarded it all. Made it last. But it'll all be gone tomorrow, right?" And while she doesn't hate this place, her life kind of sucks. If she ever deserved a crazy sugar binge, it's now. It's really not a holiday she gives much thought to except to note that couples get extra cuter and disgusting this time of year. "It was good, I reccommend it."

[pointzerothree]

"I did have some," Eduardo says, lightly enough that it doesn't sound defensive, though in theory, the statement almost - almost - is. He has no intention of being the guy who doesn't know how to have fun, who's too serious to enjoy himself on a holiday, even if the lack of business hasn't done anything to make him any less business-minded. (You want to end the party at eleven, Mark said to him once, and he doesn't want Olive to see him that way any more than he'd want to be a carefree partier.) "Just not enough to leave me on the other side of a sugar crash. Makes sense, though, to take advantage of it while you can."

[floozyfacade]

That he says that only winds up leaving Olive somewhat embarrassed, feeling childish for her one day of indulgence. "Well, I won't be doing it again," she says wryly. "I'm seriously tempted just to stay here." She won't get much sleep if she does, though, so she's bot really that tempted, watching him as she shrugs, torn between wanting to make him brighten up and wanting rein herself in. The latter isn't a real option and she grins wearily. "What are you doing in here anyway?"

[pointzerothree]

"I was getting a late dinner, and then I figured I'd check out the bookshelf," Eduardo answers with an easy shrug, gesturing absently in the shelf's direction as he mentions it. It still hasn't given him any good information about Facebook, but he doesn't want to say that that's what he was looking for. He half-suspects that she'll be able to guess, anyway. She knows more about him by far than anyone else here, even if they've only known each other for a couple of weeks. "You know, if you don't want to sleep here on the couch, I'd be glad to walk you back to your place. I will be heading in that direction, so."

[floozyfacade]

"I wouldn't want you to go so far out of your way," teases Olive. She really didn't mean to get a place so close to his, worried how that would come off, but it's such a convenient location. His being there is just a bonus, one she hopes doesn't wind up awkward. Nodding, she smiles. "Yeah, okay. After you find your book or whatever and I rediscover how to use my legs."

[pointzerothree]

"I think I can manage the trip," Eduardo laughs, gaze lifting for a moment as he does. Surprising as it was to find out that Olive got a hut so near his, he likes that she's so close. It's a little like Mark's dorm in Kirkland, only Olive isn't like Mark at all, except in being his closest friend here. There's just something nice about it, knowing there's someone not far off. "And whenever your legs are working again is fine. I don't really need anything, I was just... going to see what was there. Probably nothing good."

[floozyfacade]

"You never know," Olive says. "Sometimes they're cool, even if they weren't what you hoped for." The little mermaid was all wrong about these things. Legs? Not worth the trouble. Boys, too. Definitely not worth a voice. She gets slowly to her feet, swinging a leg wide to avoid the board game she then winds up leaning down to pick up, placing the board and marbles neatly back in their box. It was out here to begin with, left over from someone else's game, and she's not sure if she should run it back downstairs or not. Instead she heads over to the bookshelf to look a little herself.

[pointzerothree]

"Sometimes they're cool," Eduardo allows, head tilting to the side, "but mostly it's just frustrating." He even took a copy of C++ for Dummies back to his place a couple of days ago, in the hopes that it would appease the shelf somewhat (and God, he's got to be far gone if he's thinking like that already), but he's found duplicates of it every single time he's gone back. Any effort made is fruitless. If bookshelves were capable of having a sense of humor, which he maintains that they aren't, this would have a sick one. Still standing not far from the couch she abandoned, he glances down at the box of the board game and smiles a little before turning his gaze to her once more. "I don't know, how's it look to you?"

[floozyfacade]

"That depends," Olive says, tugging a tattered paperback from the shelf and holding it out to him. "How do you feel about Nathaniel Hawthorne?" The joke's on her every time, but she honestly doesn't care. If the way her ringtone plays almost every time she's in the room weren't a giveaway (today seems to be the exception, since it's mostly been sappy love songs every time she's come through), the bookshelf would be. This place knows her, she gets it, whatever; whoever's calling the shots has weird taste in what makes a person interesting. The Scarlet Letter is here every time, but so long as the rest stays interesting, she can't say she minds.

[pointzerothree]

"I am... pretty sure I read that in high school English," Eduardo replies, frowning in obviously feigned thoughtfulness as he looks at the book's cover. He doesn't remember any of the specifics about it, but he does recall the actual reading of it. If there's a reason it's showing up for her, though, he doesn't know what it is; there sure as hell isn't any reason why the shelf would see fit to give it to him. Letting out a short laugh, he shakes his head. "I'll take it, though, if neither of us can get anything better. Beats manuals on computer programming."

[floozyfacade]

Olive laughs, setting it down flat on the shelf for consideration. "Manuals on computer programming," she echoes, "wow. That sucks, dude." Even if he were interested in the subject, which she doubts, there's zero use for something like that here. There are hardly any computers, for one thing. "I just haven't had that kind of trouble with it. I mean, it's got kind of a - if you can say a bookshelf has a sense of humor, which, I don't know, whomever controls it has some really twisted sense of humor, but I still find stuff worth reading." She'd go a little crazy if she didn't, she's pretty sure of that. There's plenty to do around here, but she wants to drag it all out, make it last in case she's stuck here longer than anticipated.