"Crim-chan, I'm bored," Freya said, out of nowhere. She was collapsed on a couch in the guild hall, not doing much except running her fingers through her hair.

  The sudden exclamation interrupted Crim's concentration reading the strategy discussions on the forums, and she looked over at Freya and gathered her thoughts into a response.

  "Well, you could work on the guild hall? You know I'm bad with decorating, I'd rather you do it."

  "But what if... we went somewhere together instead?" Freya suggested, looking a bit embarrassed.

  Crim took no notice of Freya's state of mind however, and continued to glance at the open interface window displaying the forums. Her response arrived after some more aimless scrolling, and was completely deadpan. "We could go level some skills if you want. I think we're doing well compared to the top players in other guilds, but having an extra edge doesn't hurt."

  Freya sighed. Clearly her intent was not coming across and she had to be a bit more direct. But not too direct.

  "I don't mean fighting. There's a lot more to the game we haven't really seen. We could go looking at the shops, or the park, or something?" An attempt which Freya reckoned should be enough to make Crim understand what kind of things she wanted to do, without giving away too much of the why behind it.

  "You do have a point that there's still a lot to explore. I could take a break from focusing on guild battles," Crim conceded, closing down the forum window. "I like the food too, we can try some new stuff."

  Freya cheered up a bit, and sat up on the couch. It seemed her plan to trick Crim into unknowingly going on a date was progressing. Though she suffered an immediate setback that caused her some slight panic, when Crim continued: "I should message the others, maybe we can meet up."

  "No!" she blurted out, before gathering her thoughts and continuing: "I mean, they're busy with stuff, let's not bother them, we can go just us?"

  Crim seemed to process this for a moment and then replied: "Sure, yeah. I guess if they had lots of time to kill they'd already be here to hang out."

  And so, they left the guild hall, deciding to visit Valhallant, which had a lot of shops, both NPC and player operated, and there was always something new. Freya was quite excited, but Crim didn't seem any different. Though since she didn't know it was a date that was expected. If the D-word had come up, they would have gotten too awkward to do anything and the whole thing had fallen through.

  The streets were bustling with players checking out the market. Not wanting them to get separated in the more crowded areas, but also for other reasons, Freya grabbed Crim's hand, something she had done many times before. It felt different this time though. This time they were holding hands on a date. A disguised date, but still a date.

  "Crim-chan, you wanted food, right? Let's get food!" Freya said and dragged Crim by the hand to a nearby stall. While there were many different types with food from all over the world, the real world that is, this one featured some type of elaborate hotdogs with so much topping you could barely see the bun let alone the sausage.

  "Oh, nice, this food gives you a pretty good Strength bonus." Crim noted, inspecting the food in the stall. "I should write down what stuff is good for the different guild members."

  Freya pouted a bit at Crim's priorities, but quickly switched gears to muster a positive sounding response. "Let's not focus on that now. We're here to have fun!"

  "But minmaxing is fun..." Crim countered, being the competitive sort. Freya however was determined to make this a proper date with normal date things, among which she did not include caring about what the correct buffs for the meta were or something like that. "Well you can do that another time, you were supposed to take a break. Instead, let's check if they have something you can eat."

  Crim was a vegetarian, so hotdogs weren't an option. Unfortunately this stall seemed to have focused all their energy into those, so they moved on to the next stall. They had to go around the line for hotdogs, and at the end of their journey were offered wraps. Crim noted that the wraps offered a bonus to Vitality, but decided not to mention it or write it down. Freya wouldn't be thrilled about it, and regardless she had decided to look up the best foods later on fan sites which compiled data about the game. The wraps did however have a benefit relevant to their current situation: they were available in a vegetarian version.

  Crim ordered herself a veggie wrap, and soon after received a flatbread filled with chopped vegetables and some sort of white sauce. Upon tasting it, it seemed to be a yoghurt based sauce with garlic. Meanwhile, Freya had acquired a wrap with chicken in addition to the vegetables, which she set about to eat with one hand as the other reached for Crim's hand to hold once again as they began walking. Crim's hand was of course not there, as she was holding a wrap of her own. They both had their right hands occupied, so holding hands was more difficult. Freya however was not intending to give up, and swapped the wrap over to her left hand so she could hold hands with her right and swapped the side of Crim she was standing on so she could access Crim's left hand. And so onwards they went.

  Stolen story; please report.

  They passed many other food stalls, some which looked quite appetizing, almost making them regret choosing based on proximity, but Freya decided to turn it into an opportunity instead. "We should come back here and try more things. Some other day when not much is going on." Internally, she was expressing her gratitude for the Valhallant market stalls for giving her a reason to take Crim on a second date. Crim liked food, as much as anyone else at least, but her diet could limit her options inside the game, especially in the more rural areas. Having a place with many choices served as a splendid goal to entice Crim with and drag her away from theorycrafting or training.

  As they walked, ate, and talked about things as they passed them, the food stalls had begun to make way for stalls selling trinkets, potions and other small items, as well as proper stores which sold even larger items such as weapons and armor. Once their wraps were gone, having disappeared into their bellies, or whatever happened to food you ate in the game, they stopped for a moment.

  "You have onion and sauce on your cheek," Freya noted after observing Crim's face freshly stuffed with wrap. She instinctively wiped it off with her finger and licked her finger clean, which caused Crim to blush. "Uh, thanks, I guess."

  Freya, whose thought processes finally caught up to her actions after Crim's comment, began to blush too. "Yeah... No problem..." An awkward silence descended, before Freya rallied and got the date back on track.

  With Crim in tow, Freya went over to a stall selling jewelry. The items were quite pretty, at least by Freya's standards, and she did have a good eye for things. Crim however seemed unimpressed.

  "Unenchanted items, huh. Don't think we have anyone who does enchanting." Crim remarked after her thorough inspection of the goods.

  "But they're cute. Don't you think they'd look good on me?" Freya had a plan, coming to the stall to look at jewelry was a very date-like activity, and a good way to fish for compliments, and she was not about to let Crim derail it.

  Crim looked at the items, then at Freya, then back at the items, before finally facing Freya again. "For sure, I just don't know what would work even?"

  Freya thought about it, then realized she had sabotaged herself. She wore gloves, so getting a ring and having Crim put it on her finger would be rather strange. Her collar was rather high and she already had a ribbon which meant necklaces wouldn't stand out, which ruined her fantasy of Crim offering to help her put it on. Even earrings wouldn't really work, as they would be covered by her hair.

  Freya began to think frantically. There had to be something to make this moment work, even with her choices in hair and clothing coming back to bite her.

  "How about this? Might be nice to swap mine out sometimes." Freya had grabbed a hair ornament in the shape of a lily, which matched the white of her outfit. She already had a hair ornament, but that she wanted to try a different one for a change was plausible enough as a reason to get Crim to put something on her.

  Crim grabbed the ornament and held it up in front of Freya, picturing it in her hair. "Yeah, I think that would look good."

  "Then, can you put it on for me? Just to make sure?" Freya said as she gave Crim a look that suggested declining is not an option as it would be a crime against cuteness itself.

  "Yeah, uh, is it alright if we try it on?" Crim said to the owner of the stall. A young man and a fellow player, who seemed to be very happy, which Crim figured was due to anticipating a sale. The young man simply nodded and even gave a thumbs up, which was slightly odd.

  Crim reached for Freya's head, and with both hands gently removed her usual hair ornament. Then she placed the new one in the same spot and secured it, her fingers filtering through Freya's long strands. Freya was blushing the whole time, but with her head bowed down and Crim facing her left side it wasn't visible. Crim was blushing as well, but Freya couldn't see that either. The only one who could see well was the stall owner, who seemed to be experiencing bliss. Though soon the new ornament was in place, so Crim and Freya faced each other and could finally witness the mutual flush on their cheeks.

  Crim was the first to gather words. "Uhm, yeah, it does look good on you." Freya's blush increased. "How much do you want for it?" Crim asked, turning to the stall owner.

  "Oh, uh, nothing, it's fine. I support you and this preciousness is enough!" the young man stammered out.

  Crim figured the guy was a fan, she did have a lot of those. Some of her fans were unhinged about it, or downright gross, but getting some freebies was acceptable. Though somehow she felt getting it for free wasn't how this situation was supposed to go. It was a thought that didn't really make sense to herself though, she was just hanging out with a friend, is there a way it's supposed to go? She shrugged off the thought and moved on.

  "Thanks, appreciate the support." Crim bowed to the stall keeper.

  Freya on the other hand, as the only one of the two who knew it was a date, did have a clear notion how the situation should go, and Crim not paying for it was a twist. She wasn't unhappy about it, though. Things hadn't gone exactly as she imagined, but she had accomplished her goal. She also bowed to the young man and gave a smile, before taking Crim's hand again as they continued down the street. Though this time Freya walked a bit differently, perhaps even strutting proudly and merrily while brushing her hair near the new hair ornament as if to call attention to it.

  And while they didn't stay for much longer after that, Freya considered her operation a success. She just had to repeat the process enough times for Crim to catch on that they were going on dates herself, and what that meant. Crim had a lot of catching up to do, that much was certain.