Belle nodded. "Yes," she said. "I'm sure." Although she wasn't about to tell him that she pushed a bit for his invitation.

"That's... unusual," Gold said. He knew very well that he wouldn't have been invited if it could be helped. "Thank you for letting me know, then. I appreciate the gesture."

Belle nodded with a little smile. "I'll let you know when we know for sure when it will be," she told him. "Oh, and if one of you could tell Rachel and Hook? They've been invited too, but we're not sure where the ship is right now."

Gold almost refused just out of spite for Hook, but he reconsidered and nodded.

"I'll see to it that the message is passed along," he said. "I'm sure Tina is likely to go looking for Rachel soon enough."

Belle nodded with a little smile. "Thanks," she said. "I'll see you again soon, then."

"Of course," Gold replied with a nod. "You're welcome to stop by whenever you like."

Belle nodded and smiled a bit before she left, heading back towards the town to go tell the Charmings.

Tina headed over to Gold, drying off her hands. "So what was that about?"

"Belle stopped by," Gold replied, turning when he heard Tina. "She wanted to let us know that Snow White and her prince are going to host a ball, and you were invited."

"Huh. Okay." Tina blinked. "First time I've been invited to a ball." She hadn't exactly been popular back before Storybrooke, or even in Storybrooke.

"Apparently, they're inviting everyone," Gold said. "A celebration, I was told." He paused for a moment. "Belle also asked that the invitation be passed along to Rachel and her gods-forsake pirate, as well."

"I'll let them know when I head out that way," Tina said with a little grin. "So, were you invited too?"

"Surprisingly," Gold replied, "I was. I suspect there was no way for them to squirm out of extending the invitation, or I have no doubt that they would have."

Tina snorted quietly. "Well, you were invited too, and they can't take it back now," she pointed out. "So you may as well attend too."

"I'd prefer not to," Gold said. "I doubt I'll get much of a... warm welcome."

"You should come anyway," Tina said. "Maybe if you do go people won't be so iffy about you. Hell, they might start to accept you, since it's not like you've been going around making deals left, right, and center this time."

Gold was quiet for a moment.

"Perhaps," he said finally. He looked at her. "We still need toget you squared away with something to wear, however."

That made Tina pause. "Um. Can't I just wear what I normally wear?" she asked, a little plaintively. She liked her pants and loose shirts.

Gold raised an eyebrow briefly.

"I don't think so," he said. "You'll need a gown." He studied her for a moment. "I'll see what I can come up with for you."

Tina sighed but didn't bother arguing with him. She knew by now that arguing wouldn't get her anywhere.

"If you insist," she said instead. "Just don't go overboard."

"I won't go overboard," Gold assured her. "I will, however, make sure the gown suits you."

"That sounds almost ominous," Tina said, though she was grinning a bit. "If you try to put people-eating plants on it, I might have to object, those things are heavy."

Gold just grinned slightly.

"Very well," he replied. "No man-eating plants."

Tina couldn't help but laugh a bit and shake her head.

"Well, I'm going to go work on trimming the forest back," she said. She'd started calling her greenhouse that after The Incident. Because she still refused to acknowledge that she had plant magic.

"Alright," Gold said. "Be careful, I've heard here and there that some plants dislike being trimmed. They may react negatively to it now that they have some magic in them."

"Don't worry, I'll be careful." Tina shook her head a bit and adjusted her shirt, rather pointedly, before heading out to her greenhouse to see what she could do.