"The roast beef sandwich, if you please," Gold replied. He knew he'd offended her, and didn't particularly care at the moment. He glanced around the diner and made note of everyone squirming in their seats at his presence.

Dahlia met his eyes evenly, lifting her chin a bit. She didn't like how uncomfortable he was making everyone, and she wasn't afraid to let him know that.

Gold met her eyes in return, not cowed in the slightest. Although he was, perhaps, grudgingly impressed that someone had the backbone to glare at him like that.

Dahlia looked at him for a few moments longer before she sniffed and looked away in such a way as to make it clear that he wasn't even worth the trouble of glaring at him. She did thank Granny when she brought over their food.

That intrigued Gold a bit. She was the first person he'd met who wasn't the least bit afraid. That was interesting. He would have to look into that.

"Rumplestiltskin is here," Dahlia murmured to Violet. "Everyone is scared of him."

"Is that what's going on?" Violet asked. "The tension in here just shot through the roof."

Dahlia nodded. "Yeah," she said. "He's the reason why. I think everyone is trying to pretend he's not here. Or they're trying very hard to be invisible."

"I don't blame them," Violet said. "Can't you sense how much power he has? It's insane."

"Oh I can sense it," Dahlia said. "But I'm not going to let that scare me. I'm not scared of him."

"Everyone's scared of him," Violet replied quietly. She glanced around. "He's the one who did this to us. The curse. It was his work."

Dahlia blinked, momentarily surprised. "His work, huh? Interesting." But she still wasn't going to be afraid of him. "No wonder he's unpopular."

"'Unpopular' is not the right word," Violet replied, although she kept her voice down. She didn't want to draw Gold's attention

Considering that they were the only two in the diner who continued talking, however, it was inevitable, and Gold glanced over at them.

"Can I help you?" he asked, giving them both a chilly look.

"No," Dahlia replied, her voice calm and her gaze just as frosty as his. "We're just having a private conversation."

"It's not very private if the entire diner can hear, now is it?" Gold pointed out. "If you could see fit to cease the idle gossip, it would be much appreciated."

Violet just sank down into her seat silently, trying to make herself less of a target.

"Not my fault if anyone is listening," Dahlia said, her voice mild. Because she absolutely refused to be cowed by him.

"One would think a former monarch would understand discretion," Gold retorted. "My mistake." With that, he turned back around, effectively ending the comversation.

Dahlia just snorted at him and returned her attention to Violet, relaxed as she waited for their food.

The rest of the diner broke out in uneasy murmurs, and many of the other patrons glanced at Dahlia with looks that ranged from shock to pity. Clearly, they were all of the opinion that it was a Bad Idea to backtalk the Dark One the way she did, and they were all apprehensive of the outcome.

Dahlia was completely unconcerned. Well, okay, mostly unconcerned. She was a little concerned about the consequences but she wasn't going to show that.

"That was really brave," Violet said softly. "I'm not sure if it wasn't really dumb as well, but it was still brave."

"Probably both," Dahlia admitted quietly. "Oh well. We'll just have to wait and see what happens."

"Yeah," Violet replied. She glanced around one more time before slowly forcing herself to relax.

Dahlia shrugged and nodded to Granny when she put their food on the table, starting in on hers. Now she just had to relax a bit.

Violet started on her food as well, although she ended up only picking at half of it. She lost most of her appetite when Dahlia and Gold started bickering.