Flynn Ryder's Story

"I didn't think we were going to get off this easily. Especially since that woman claims to know her surroundings, she clearly hadn't realized we were around," Flynn boasted to Gold.
"I know right! I thought she was definitely going to find us, especially when I was hiding under the stairs and the floorboards creaked under my weight." Gold laughed excitedly, her adrenaline levels still high. "That old shrew was blind as a bat!"

Gold and Flynn had been up all night. They had gone across the lake to where an old witch lived in this tiny cottage. The stuff that they had looted was going to be easily a couple hundred dollars. In Gold's opinion this was the best part of the robbery; right after when you go back and relive it. You get to remember all the horrifying adrenaline educing moments, without actually any risk. Gold knew she would pay for her lack of sleep later, but right no she was too riled up from the robbery to be tired, she was literally buzzing.

"After taking this to the pawn shop, wanna hit up Ruby's Cafe? I'm starved," Flynn asked. Gold was suddenly famished. It always happens that way, one minute Gold's not hungry, then the moment someone mentions food she's starving. Plus Gold may not like Ruby all that much, but the food she served at her cafe was top notch.

"Definitely. My stomach needs some food, and my head needs some coffee." Gold was hungry, but she also knew food would settle her after their big robbery.

The pair finished walking through the park and were almost at the pawn shop. Gold couldn't wait to off load their stolen goods and get some cash in her pocket. Though guy at the pawn shop had proven to be a bit of a nightmare to work with. He would consistently refuse to pay them a fair value for their stuff.

"I swear to god Flynn if this guy messes us around this time, I'm going to explode. I am not in the mood." Gold said defiantly, as she threw open the door to the pawn shop, and strolled on in like she owned the place.

"Hey, we're closed!" Called out the shop owner without looking up. He was lounging in an old beach chair flipping through some old magazine. He was wearing an old Hawaiian shirt that looked like he had been wearing it for weeks straight, adorned with several food stains.

"It's just us," Gold called back as she and Flynn walked up to him, keen to get this over with and head to Ruby's. "We've got some stuff for you to take a look at." Gold motioned to Flynn who was carrying their loot.

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Trixie studied the menu in front of her as Ruby asked what she wanted. She knew she was going to have pancakes, but with what topping? She'd decided on berries and syrup and was about to answer Ruby when a newcomer entered the diner. Tink looked up, studying him as he took a seat a few stools down. Despite the fact that she was pretty sure she'd never seen him before in her life, there was something vaguely familiar about him. Was he famous? No, that wasn't it. She shook her head and looked back at Ruby.

"Can I have pancakes with berries and syrup please, Ruby?" She asked, putting the menu back. "And do you still have that berry tea? If you don't, I'll just have normal tea," she added. The berries reminded her of Neverland, and she liked that. It was a taste of home. She didn't get homesick- after all, the stinky pirates were still there, as was Peter, probably still moping over her. She wondered if Wendy Darling had come back. Maybe she'd been eaten by crocodiles.

She looked up as two more came in. Ruby and Gretel were going to be busy, then. She recognised the curly hair of one as Gold Lockhart. The other she recognised vaguely, but couldn't put a name on her. She rolled her eyes and turned back to the counter. She didn't particularly like Gold and so wasn't going to waste time with a conversation. She had better things to spend her energy on. She looked over at the stranger. Maybe if she spoke to him, she'd get a better idea of where she knew him from.

"Hello. I'm Trixie. What's your name?" She asked.

"What a dreadful little town."

A beautiful black and white Panther de Ville pulled in front of Ruby's Dinner. Cruella, clad in black designer dress, opened the car door and stepped out, allowing smoke and 1930's Jazz to freely fill the air. She tossed her cigarette onto the ground, promptly stomping it out with a red bottom Louis Vuitton, and scanned the drab little town around her. "Absolutely dreadful." she said, shaking her head in disapproval.

"Jasper! Horace!" she called into the car. "Come along now, darlings." Two large Rottweilers jumped out of the back seats, quickly sitting by their mistress' side. Cruella slammed the car door and adjusted the black sun hat sitting atop her dual colored hair.

Cruella walked into the rather busy establishment. The air around her smelled of cigarettes, gin, and expensive perfume. The witch removed her hat as she sat down at the counter and flipped through a menu. She toyed with the diamond necklace around her throat as she skimmed the breakfast special

She had recently bought a large estate just outside of Crimson Grove and this would be her first appearance within the little shanty town. She would have to make a good impression if she was to produce her next coat in a timely manner. Oh how she wanted that big bad coat. She got the chills just thinking about it.

When a waitress came up to her, Cruella's red lips twisted into a pleasant smile. "Hello, Darling. I'll take a black coffee and an order of scrambled egg whites." One of the dogs below her growled in the direction of a sweaty shirtless boy, causing Cruella to smile internally. Perhaps she'd leave this horrid place with more than one new coat. She nudged the animal with her shoe and tsked at him in a disapproving tone. "Oh stop it you wretched thing!"

She looked back at the waitress. "Oh, Darling, one more thing if you don't mind." She cosied up to the counter, and leaned forward as if she were telling a secret. "You see my husband and I just moved into town and we're trying to get to know the community a little better. We're thinking about having a housewarming party and, well-" she smiled nervously and scrunched her nose, as if she were embarrassed. "I'm not really sure if we invited the locals that anyone would come. Do you think the people here would be open to having a soirée at a complete stranger's house or is that idea just demented?"

She shook her head dismissively. "I'm sorry, Darling, you probably don't want a strange englishwoman asking your advice this early in the morning." Cruella smile sweetly at the waitress, then sighed and looked down at her bony hands. The Devil Woman would have this whole town eating out of her claws in no time.

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MOOD: Hungry || OUTFIT: X

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MOOD: Cheerful || OUTFIT: X

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MOOD: Curious || OUTFIT: X

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██The trio didn't fit together, as far as appearances went. They were cut from different cloth, one lace, one silk, and one suede. They were three walking stereotypes, a miniature Breakfast Club cast, thrown together by a twisted fate. The princess, with her ivory locks and contagious giggle. The brain, with his preppy outfit and awkward mannerisms. And the basket case, with her heavy boots picking fights with the cobblestones, and her hair catching the light, this day a pale lilac, although it was prone to change.

They walked side by side, and chattered amongst themselves as they entered the mysterious town that they had decided to stop by in for a little while. Of course, with them, a 'little while' could be between a couple of days to a month or so, and thus their conversation was less focused on how long they'd be staying in Crimson Grove and more about where they could find something to eat.

"I don't suppose you have any idea where you're going?" The 'brain' frowned pointedly at the purple-haired girl to his left, who seemed to be directing the group in every direction. In most cases, he would be enjoying himself at the prospect of a new environment, taking in the sights and admiring the architecture. However, at this current time, he and his two companions were rather deadset on something far more important: breakfast.

"Perhaps a map...?"

The girl responded snark that wasn't all that out of character, although the bluntness of it was certainly spurred by her empty stomach. "Oh, right, of course! A map! I'll just whip out my 'A to Z Atlas of Obscure Towns..." She feigned reaching into her back in search of the fictional book, before shooting him a withering look. In response, he only tutted.

"It's weird that this place is so unknown, though, right?" The 'princess' chipped in merrily, apparently far less prone to hunger-driven sulks that her friends. As she looked around, her eyes were wide with childlike enthusiasm, and her pale lips were curled into a smile. "I mean, it's pretty cute, and it's right by the seasi- Oh! Look!" She pointed eagerly to a shop sign, and the others followed her gesture before the faces broke into relieved smiles.

"About bloody time. I thought I was gonna starve to death." "You ate yesterday." "Your point is?"

With Ari now leading the way, the three entered the cafe. As they walked through the door, the bell above rang out with a cheery softness, as though welcoming them in. They moved over to a free table in the corner, sliding into the seats before immediately picking up the menus laid out on the smooth, polished wood.

Ari looked about the diner with the same enthusiastic smile she had wielded so prettily before, and nudged Irvyn in the arm, -at the same time prodding Gin's leg with her foot- to get their attention. "And this diner's cute, too! I don't get why we haven't visited this place before!"

Gin shrugged, still eyeing up the menu, in her head deciding on a bowl of fries and a strawberry thickshake. "I dunno. It is cute, I guess. A little weird, though."

Irvyn raised his eyebrows, perplexed, and Ari frowned curiously. "Weird? How so?"

Gin shrugged once more, trying to think up a reason for the odd feeling she got by being here, in this little town. It was strange, but she felt as though this place was... different. Different to all the other villages, cities, and towns that they'd wandered through before. Why? God knows.

"I dunno. It just is."

"Oh. It 'just is'. How very informative."

"Shut up."

"These items are at least worth a couple hundred each," Flynn said as he placed the array of stolen items on the counter inspection. The owner of the pawn shop starting looking at each of them. Gold placed a hand on her hip and stared at the at the pudgy man, with 'don't mess with me' eyes. One look at Gold, had the man clicking his tongue is annoyance. Let just say, Gold had blown her top here on more than one occasion.

"You're right. I'll give you $800 for the lot," the owner said eventually.

"Thanks," Flynn said accepting the money and grabbing Gold by the arm to force her to leave with him. Gold was annoyed, she had a serious rule about never taking the first amount offered, and Flynn knew it. "I know what you're thinking, we could have gotten more for it but this is good enough. Here," Flynn said once they were out of the pawn shop. He handed Gold her half of the money which she quickly pocketed, you couldn't be flashing that kind of cash, there were thieves in Crimson Grove.

"Easy for you to say, looking like this doesn't come cheap," Gold said defiantly as she gestured to her face. Though the message was somewhat lost in the fact that after a whole night of hard work, or as some people would say thieving, she looked slightly less than perfect. Remembering the hard work she had put in last night made her pause in the middle of the road and look back at the pawn shop, tossing up whether to go back and demand the money she felt her and Flynn were rightfully entitled to.

"Come on Gold, if you must you can yell at the man later. Right now we need to eat something," Flynn said as he walked off toward the diner, leaving Gold in the middle of the street.

"Fine." Gold cracked and ran off after Flynn, though she refused to admit he had won, and so instead she walked to paces in front of him with her nose in the air. "But only because I'm dying for a coffee."

They both walked into the Diner and Gold did what all good thieves do. She scanned the room. She saw nothing attention grabbing, Ruby, her new waitress, Trixie sitting at the counter, and a few others. "Got a new person. We need to keep an ear out to see if he has anything of value on him," Flynn whispered into Gold's ear. Okay, maybe the whole sleep deprivation thing was dulling her senses.

"Oh him? He's cute."She said as she watched him out of the corner of her eye and joined Flynn in the booth he had chosen. "I gotta say Flynn, I am loving these new-comers to Crimson Grove," She said low enough for only Flynn to hear.

Gold flipped through the menu, as she saw Dr. Weaver sit down next to the new guy. "Peter, correct? I've been waiting for you to arrive! Thank goodness you arrived safely." So the newcomer knew Dr. Weaver, that was certainly something, after all, Dr. Weaver was the very definition of a man with too much money.

That was when Gold stopped listening to the pair at the counter as her attention was stolen by the very luxurious black and white car that just pulled up outside the dinner. Gold knew it was an out-of-towner, since her chosen profession involved keeping tabs on all the rich people and their pricey possessions.

She watched as a woman left the car, and strutted into the diner. The woman was all old-school glamor. Dressed in expensive designer wear, bathed in a perfume Gold would never be able to afford and they way she commanded the room. She made the $400 in Gold's pocket feel like chump change. For the first time Gold was completely conflicted. She knew as a thief she should be scoping her out like she would any other potential victim. At the same time though, Gold's natural instinct was to watch in awe. She didn't want to rob this woman, she wanted to be this woman. Classy, elegant, glamorous and very, very rich. Gold looked to Flynn to and raised her eyebrows questioningly.

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"Good morning Antonio, have a nice run?" "You bet." he cheerfully answered before turning his attention towards the menu. Everything on it always sounded so good to him but them again Andy would eat anything, he was a person big on food. Finally his eyes landed on what he wanted to eat, pancakes with blueberry syrup, scrambled eggs and bacon. If there was one thing Andy was good at then it was definitely eating and a lot. The wolf boy was about to get up when Trixie walked in and gave everyone a smile and greeting. Andy being himself smiled back and gave her a small wave. Then right after another person walked in, a blonde-ish male. Andy hadn't seen him around town but then again he doesn't think he had met everyone yet so he brushed it off as one of the towns people he hasn't met yet but his assumption was corrected when he heard Ruby greet him. She had welcomed him to Crimson Grove so obviously the guy wasn't from here.

Making a mental note to introduce himself later, Andy once again got distracted by Flynn who walked in with his sidekick. Honestly Andy had no problem with the little blonde even if she may have a problem with him or not but Flynn was another case. Andy sometimes wanted to get along with the guy but when he got shady and tried to steal from Ruby the couple of times since Andy's been here it got him a bit annoyed but whatever, the guy hasn't done anything yet so they were on good terms until then. Next came a tall man with a cane that Antonio only saw about once or twice around town, he was the towns doctor if he remembered correctly. Next was Jack, he walked in and exchanged some words with Trixie when all of a sudden that loud howl pierced through Andy's ears.

He sat up stiff as he looked out the large window towards were the sound came from with his head slowly titling sideways. His eyes flashed red for what seemed like a split second and he could see his reaction in the glass. Hearing some plates clatter behind him he turned to see Ruby looking worried and about to run out of here when Jack stopped her. Andy just stared at her, he didn't mean to honestly but he gave her that same curious tilt of the head that he just did. Was there someone else out there like him and Ruby in this town? His ears picked up on the door bell that chimed when it was open and a strong scent hit his nose. An odd mix of cigarette smoke and perfume came off this tall, fancy looking woman.

There was something off about her that Andy couldn't put his finger on but the dogs are what distracted him quickly from her. One growled at him but Andy couldn't help but to stare at them with a goofy grin and a childish gleam in his eyes once more. Andy loved all dogs no matter how big or small they were or how they acted or looked. He adored the slobbering and yapping creatures. Getting up from the booth with menu in hand he trotted over to the counter and took a seat next to the woman. If the lad had a tail, it'll be wagging all over the place right now. Flashing his wolf eyes down at the dogs for a second he then reached down to pet the closest to him. It let him without protest and Andy rubbed his ears before smiling over to the woman then at Gretel. " Hey, your working here now?" he asked curiously before continuing with his order. "I'll have pancakes with blueberry syrup, scrambled eggs and bacon please."

The wolf boy sat there waiting for his food while the woman next to him began talking to Gretel, he tried not to be nosy but since he was sitting next to her there was no way to not listen to her. The diner was getting pretty busy wasn't it? He thought to himself when he heard the door open again. Right there is when an all too familiar scent punched Antonio in the nose. His head quickly jerked over the group of three that just walked in. Among them was a face he knew too well because he had knew her before he even cursed by the wolf. He blinked a couple of times making sure what he saw was real and not just some trick of hunger but no matter how many times he blinked she was still there. In all honestly he thought she was dead, not turning back was one of his regrets when she told him to run. How depressed he and Amelia were after that.

He thought he lost a dear friend, one of his most treasured people, one out of a handful of people he considered family. Gin was among others though, a pale, beautiful girl who's face seemed vaguely familiar and a young man who reminded Andy of a rabbit. Something felt off about her too and once again he couldn't stop his staring and that tilt of the head he did when he was curious about something. Half of him wanted to jump out of his chair and hug Gin but the other half wasn't so sure that she recognized him.

Ruby quickly explained what Gretel needed to do, while passing her a notepad and pen. Gretel nodded dumbly trying to remember everything. Her memory was not the best. Though according to her fifth grade teacher neither was her mathematics ability, handwriting and social skills. Incidentally Gretel also hated her fifth grade teacher. "If you have any questions, I'd suggest you ask them now,"

"Um," Gretel looked down at the notepad in her hands, quickly running through her instructions in her head. "Take order. Hang order in kitchen. Bell rings. Take food to table. How hard can that be?"

"Oh, you'll need this," Ruby said as she handed Gretel an apron.

Gretel was relieved that the apron was white. She had actually been dreading the fact that she might be made to wear a frilly, floral apron. A thought she had accidentally mentioned to Hansel. He of course thought she was being ridiculous. Though she had got him to admit that he also would like to avoid having to wear a frilly, floral apron.

The door to the store opened as their first customer of the day arrived. "Morning ladies!" Antonio chirped happily as he sat in one of the booth. Gretel was kind of happy he picked the booth over the bar; that was she got to serve him. The boy hadn't been in town long, but Gretel doesn't take long when deciding whether she liked something or not, and she had decided she like Antonio.

"Alright, let's get to work then," Ruby said and she left to go behind the bar.

Gretel made her way over to Antonio's booth. " Hey, your working here now?"

"Yep, lucky you, my first customer," Gretel replied dully."Anyway Andy, I see you got the dress code," Gretel motioned to his apparent lack of shirt. Apparently he liked to run shirtless. Of course she had never seen him running shirtless as that would involve actually getting out of bed before midday, which was something she was willing to try for a view of Antonio shirtless. Though more than one of the oldies at the Nursing Home had been talking up fearsome tales of the town's first nudist moving in "So what can I get you for breakfast?"

Gretel looked across the restaurant and noticed how full it had gotten. She hadn't even noticed all the people entering. Maybe she wasn't going to make such a great waitress after all. Of course she didn't fail to notice that Flynn had come in, and he was sitting at one of the booths, meaning she would get to serve him. When she caught Flynn's eye she smiled at him.

However her smile dropped immediately as another customer entered the store. Now she was a Lady. She had black and white hair, blood red lipstick, and diamonds around her neck. Gretel felt her skin start to tingle. Gretel wasn't a particularly good witch. Partly due to the fact she never cared much for practice, and partly because after her parents left, her and Hansel were forced to learn their supernatural craft on their own. Of course with some help from the internet. Gretel knew enough about witchcraft though to know what dark magic felt like.

"I'll have pancakes with blueberry syrup, scrambled eggs and bacon please." Antonio said, dragging Gretel's attention away from the woman.

Gretel forced herself to look back at Antonio. "Uh, Yeah sure, that will just be a few minutes."Gretel replied as she wrote down his order and took it into the kitchen.

Gretel knew she'd have to talk to the woman eventually. "Hi, what can i get for you?" Gretel asked trying her best to be polite.

"Hello, Darling. I'll take a black coffee and an order of scrambled egg whites." The woman said with a pleasant smile, that made Gretel feel more at ease. "Oh stop it you wretched thing!" The woman said to one of her very large dogs that started barking.

"Yep, that's fine, it won't be long." Gretel replied, all ready to take the order to the kitchen.

"Oh, Darling, one more thing if you don't mind." The woman said leaning, giving Gretel a good whiff of her very strong perfume.

"Yea?"

"You see my husband and I just moved into town and we're trying to get to know the community a little better. We're thinking about having a housewarming party and, well-" The woman looked a little uncomfortable, so Gretel tried to smile and look friendly. "I'm not really sure if we invited the locals that anyone would come. Do you think the people here would be open to having a soirée at a complete stranger's house or is that idea just demented?" The woman shook her head. "I'm sorry, Darling, you probably don't want a strange englishwoman asking your advice this early in the morning."

Besides the fact Gretel hated being called darling, the woman seemed perfectly harmless. After all, dark witches didn't hsve soirées and worried about whether or not people would come. Gretel just shrugged. "It is a little early in the morning, but I say go ahead, I'm sure people will want to come, and if they don't, who cares."

Incidentally at that moment, Trixie turned around in her seat, and pronounced that she would love to come. Gretel gave the woman an 'I told you so look,' and went to put the ladies order in the kitchen. Gretel sighed, if the woman did go ahead with her idea, Gretel did not want to go, but she knew Ariel would definitely want to two of them to go.

Next up Gretel went to Flynn and Gold's table. "Here's trouble," She said approaching their booth. "Should I tell Ruby to check the till money after you two leave?" Gretel asked jokingly. "What can I get you guys?" She pulled out her notepad and got ready to take their orders.

Hansel headed to the store first. Pulling out his little shopping list, he lazily wandered up and down the aisles and until had most the stuff on his list, which he decided was close enough. Leaving the store, his arms now full of grocery bags he decided to head to the dinner and check up on Gretel at her first day of work. That is if Ruby hadn't decided to fire Gretel yet. Which Hansel knew was quite likely given Gretel's temperamental nature. She was bound to get grumpy with a customer eventually.

Walking past the store though, he looked in through the window and saw how busy the little diner was. Deciding it was probably best not to bother Gretel whilst it was so busy, he just gave her a little wave through the window. Though his smile turned a scowl when he saw she was currently taking an order from Flynn. Hansel personally didn't mind the guy, but didn't like the idea of Gretel being so cosy with a thief. He had been hoping this job would leave her with less time to hang out with Flynn, but it seemed the other way around.

Continuing past the diner, in a slightly worse mood than before, he decided he might as well just head back to the Nursing Home. Clearly Gretel didn't need him and his arms were starting to get a little sore from holding the bags of groceries. That was when he looked up and saw someone whizzing towards him on a bike. Of course he would have recognised that head of hair anywhere. "Slow down speed racer!" Hansel called out to Ariel as he flagged her down. "What are you running from?" He asked jokingly, referring to her very fast pace.

“Here’s trouble,” Gretel said by way of greeting as she approached the booth occupied by Gold and Flynn. "Should I tell Ruby to check the till money after you two leave?"

Flynn gave out a sarcastic laugh, and Gold just smiled wryly. “I would,” she said mock serious.

"What can I get you guys?" Gretel asked while pulling out her notepad and getting ready to take their orders.

"I'll have the vanilla waffles with a side of sausage and a vanilla cappuccino," Flynn order as Gold whilst still scanning the menu.

“Ugh, finally, now I can stop hearing you talk about how much you want to try Ruby’s vanilla waffles,” Gold muttered under her breathe in response to Flynn’s order. Finally deciding what she wanted she snapped the menu closed at looked up at Gretel. “I’ll have a black coffee, and the French Toast.” Gold’s favourite food was French toast. Her mum used to make it all the time for her when she was younger. Gold never really thought about her family or anything, as far as she was concerned they were her past, and she was never plagued with homesickness or longing for them. However the one thing that always brought her thoughts back to her old home was French toast. She craved her mum’s French toast, not matter where she went, she could not find anywhere that made French toast better than her mother.

Gretel was writing down her order when Ruby approached her and told her that she would be leaving the store for a while. That’s when Gold’s eyes lit up. Though she downplayed her listening in on the conversation and busied herself picking at her dark purple nail polish. She mentally noted that Ruby said she would be gone for an hour. She and Flynn had been trying to scope out Ruby’s diner for a while, but she seemed to have some sixth sense about thieves and she always knew when they were near. The diner was busier than Gold would have preferred, but it was the perfect opportunity, with Ruby gone and the new girl left behind to take care of a busy breakfast crowd. The least they could do would be to properly scope out the diner.

Gold waited for Gretel to leave before she leaned in towards Flynn and lowered her voice. “Hear that Flynn, that cat’s away for a full hour. This could be our chance.”

Gold leaned back and relaxed into the seat, she knew Flynn was close with Gretel and would be reluctant to do anything. The Flynn she knew though, knew that business was business and it came first. They’d have to wait a bit to do anything anyway. Acting straight away after hearing that Ruby was leaving and right after they had ordered food was a rookie mistake.

"I'll have the vanilla waffles with a side of sausage and a vanilla cappuccino," Flynn ordered, as Gretel scribbled down his order. Her handwriting was not the best, she just hoped the cook could read her orders.

Gretel heard Gold mutter to herself, “Ugh, finally, now I can stop hearing you talk about how much you want to try Ruby’s vanilla waffles.” Gretel didn’t mind Gold, but Gold and Flynn were so close, they always had inside jokes and knew everything about each other. Gretel had to admit it made her a little jealous.

“And you, Gold?” Gretel asked turning to the blonde. Though whilst Gold was still making up her mind, Gretel caught sight of Hansel waving to her from outside. She scowled, and made a ‘piss off’ gesture at him.

She could not believe he was actually checking up on her. He probably thought she was going to get grumpy with a customer and get fired or something. Then he even had to audacity to glare at Flynn when he saw the she was talking to him. She groaned out loud taking every self-restraint she had not to fly through the window and strangle her brother to death. Though she supposed she couldn't blame Hansel, for the longest time, he had not only been her oldest, but her mother and her father all in one. It was no wonder he was kind of forthcoming with his criticisms of her life. Though she couldn't blame him, she was certainly irritated with him.

“I’ll have a black coffee, and the French Toast.” Gretel scribbled down Gold’s order and went to leave when Ruby approached her.

“I'm going to head home for a bit, I shouldn't be any longer than an hour. Lunch is slower than breakfast. If you need anything call me, my number is on the bulletin board in the employees lounge," Ruby said.

“Oh, Okay,” Gretel replied, a little shocked that she being left to handle everything by herself already. She took it as a good sign though, apparently she hadn’t been doing too badly. “See ya,” Gretel called out to Ruby, before turning back to Gold and Flynn. “Your guys’ food will be out soon.”

Gretel went and hung up her new food order in the kitchen when she heard the bell ring. What did the bell mean again? Oh, right, food. She saw the three plates of food that must have been from the table Ruby had been talking about. Gretel grabbed them and took them out to the booth with three people in them.

“Okay, so I have the bowl of fries, Ruby Special and a club sandwich.” Gretel said placing the meals on the table one by one. “And for drinks, there’s a strawberry thick shake and a mango smoothie.” Now there was nothing else to do, everyone had either already had their food or their food was still cooking. She noticed that the table of people she had just served seemed like a very odd combination of people to be hanging out. Then again this town did seem to only attract the especially odd.

Gretel could hear Hansel’s voice in her head telling her to be friendly and try and make conversation. She so stuffing down her naturally antisocial she put on a smile and asked the table of three, “So, you guys are new to town right? How you liking Crimson Grove so far?” Then Gretel heard to bell in the kitchen ring again. “Oh, sorry, I’ll just be one second,” she said awkwardly.

Gretel got to kitchen and grabbed Antonio’s order. She smiled at Antonio as she dropped the plat on his table, “Here ya go Andy, your pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon. Let’s hope you can fit it all in.” Luckily Antonio’s table was right next to the three out-of-towners, so she only had to spin around to talk to them again. “Sorry, I didn’t catch your guys’ names?”

"If any one of these people notice what we're doing, then we're busted," Flynn warned, causing Gold to frown.

She reached across the table and patted his hand gently mocking concern. ”Oh, honey, hasn’t anyone ever told you? The idea is not to be noticed.” Gold leaned back smirking to herself as she surveyed the dinner. Flynn was right it was very full at the moment and it would be hard to do much. That never deterred Gold though. She always took big risks.

"So how do you propose we do this?" Flynn asked. Causing Gold to look out across the dinner, scanning it, hoping for an idea to pop into her brain. Of course nothing came to her. It really did seem an impossible task. Which sucked as with Ruby gone, this was the best chance her and Flynn would get. Gold could already picture the black-haired girl’s face when she found her store had been robbed. Gold wouldn’t feel any guilt, the girl was born with s silver spoon in her mouth and was basically handed this dinner. In Gold’s opinion, Ruby didn’t know what it was like to work for anything.

”We have already talked about this Flynn. You’re the ideas and I’m the looks.” Gold replied, once she had given up looking for ideas, throwing her golden ringlets over her shoulder. That was when her eyes landed on the fire alarm right next to the toilet. That’s when she knew exactly how they were going to pull this off. Leaning in Gold lowered her voice, to a whisper. “Maude’s, a year ago, I say we perform a repeat performance.” Gold indicated with her head towards the fire alarm.

Maude’s had been a small bar and grill from some other town in some other place. Gold and Flynn had robbed last with the help of a well-timed distraction. Back then, Gold had used a match to make the fire alarm go off, and then when everyone evacuated the building and waited for the firemen to arrive. Flynn who had been lying in wait at a rear door, broke in and stole the money from the restaurant’ safe. Then they two of them were gone before the firemen had even discovered that there was no fire. It had worked perfectly back then, and Gold was confident it could work again.

“So, do you want to be the distraction or the thief this time?” Gold asked grinning wickedly. The excitement of a potential robbery already hitting her.

[Double Post]