watch me burn;

"You’re making me feel old," she teased with a grin. "I’m twenty-four."

"Oh, I still do. I just haven’t really read it in a while." She paused, taking Peter’s appearance in. "Which character do you think you’d be? I think I’d be Wendy."

"Twenty four?" he asked, the words punctuated with a faux tone of surprise. "You're right -- you're very old," he teased, smiling.

No longer startled, Isadora quickly stepped away from the comics, making sure that it seemed as if there was little to no correlation between her and the volumes that lined the shelves. Though she didn’t know her newfound acquaintance, she still figured that her reputation would still be somewhat tainted if someone were to find out what she’d actually been doing at the bookstore. 

After thoroughly scanning the area, Isadora returned the stranger’s smile. “It happens. I guess I just wasn’t paying attention.”

Eyes still gleaning over the various issues of comic books that lined the shelves, he turned his head to look back down at her, her blonde hair fanning around her as she turned away from the comics, almost white where it caught the light. He didn't know the girl, but seeing her step away from the comics made a thought nudge in the back of his mind that she was trying to dissociate herself with them, or something of the sort. Hearing her spoke, he returned his attention to her. "Oh, neither was I. So many books here -- it's not really unexpected to find people caught in fantasies," he said, smiling wider as he offered her his hand. "Oh-- I'm Peter."

I’m always right. It’s something I pride myself on. 

"That's impossible."

"Right, I don’t think a lot of people believe in the apples of heaven being monitored by an evil snake. It does not sound very…likely," he actually wished he’d been old enough to see it himself, but demon appeared after sin was introduced on Earth, and thus after the apple incident. 

"More people believe in it than you'd think. I mean, it's a fairly common story to be passed around." Nodding, he raised an eyebrow at the other as he spoke, gesturing with one hand. He, personally, didn't believe in the story, nor the various religious dogmas surrounding it, but he was well aware that there were plenty of people who did. 

"Longest neck" would certainly be stranger, and that’s a fairly well-known one.

  "Hm. I don't think long necks are all that strange, but I suppose so."

The ending to this book sort of put me in a sour mood. So, sorry ahead of time if I seem a little off today. Trust me, it’s all the books fault and not yours.

"It did? What happened?"

"Well, how old are you?" Sienna questioned, returning his gentle smile.

"I loved that story when I was younger," she said, a wistful smile on her pretty face.

Finding himself having to think for a moment on the answer to her question, he eventually shook his head, smiling. "Twenty-one. And you?"

Isadora carefully sorts through various issues of comic books, pausing to evaluate the condition of each one before gently placing it back on its shelf. A gust of summer air makes its way into the bookstore, and the young girl suddenly takes notice of the figure peering over her shoulder.

"Oh! I- I didn’t see you there."

Gaze fixated on the various shelves stacked full of various brightly coloured books, Peter had seemingly become completely oblivious to the figure standing before him until they turned around, exclaiming acknowledgement. Blinking a few times with a soft "Hm?" leaving from his just-parted lips, he looked at the unfamiliar face. "O-oh -- I didn't see you there either, funnily enough," he said, smiling just a little. 

That says more about you then it does about me. 

Thinking about it for a moment, he nodded. "Probably, actually."

"Oh, are you one of those ‘back in the day’ people?" she teased with a smile.

"Like Peter Pan!" she exclaimed with a girlish giggle.

"No, not at all, really. I don't think I'm old enough to be," he said, smiling softly at her.

He nodded, although he was not really approving a single thing here. “They prefer pineapples,” he indicated wondering from where the fuck he gathered this piece of fake information.

“Apples are bad. Ask Eve and Adam about it. They’ll tell you about it” The fairy tales were mere references to the Bible, nothing fantastic here.

Raising an eyebrow as the man spoke, he nodded. "Really? Strange," he said, though he knew the information had been offered in some form of jest and not verity.

It certainly wouldn’t be the strangest world record.

"No, of course not."