Our short stay

First Day
As I said the day before, we left my friend’s greenhouse really early in the morning. I didn’t want to wake up the smallhorns, so I wrapped them in some of my clothes and carried them on my lap while I drove to the city.

When we arrived, the smallhorns were barely opening their eyes. So, we waited a little bit inside my vehicle… when their yawning finally stopped I told them that we were about to go inside a new place they have never seen before.

I tried to reassure them that there was nothing to worry about and that we would go to get something yummy for breakfast as soon as they were ready to leave.I washed them a little bit behind my vehicle, blocking the sight of the city the best I could with my body.

Once they were ready I covered their eyes and made them face the city… when they finally got their first sight of it, the bandanahorns grabbed their horns instinctively and froze in place for some reason. Hoodiehorn kind of fainted / feigned to be dead.

I had to tickle them a little bit to make them snap out of it. Immediately after that they climbed my long coat and hid inside my pockets and hood respectively.

Whenever I took a step towards the city they would make a cute scream… I couldn’t help but to laugh a little. I patted their little heads and told them that nothing bad would happen to them as long as they stayed with me… also, that food was waiting for us there.

They tried to held back their screams after I mentioned the food… I guess that their gluttony is stronger than their fear, but even so, they didn’t let go of their horns.

Luckily for us, since it was still early in the morning there was little to no people on the streets of the city.

They couldn’t help but to look everywhere… but whenever someone got near us they would hide instantly.

Eventually, I found the bakery that was near the house of one of my contacts and I got us some cream puffs.

I gave one to each smallhorn, but they barely took a bite or two for some reason. It tasted very good to me, so I didn’t know why they didn’t like it...

While I was confused by their lack of appetite, a horned figure came out of an alley behind us, startling hoodiehorn. She grabbed her horns, letting her cream puff fall to the ground; she tried to grab it when she realized, but it was too late. She almost fell from my hood too.

The horned figure was wearing a long jacket. Talked calmly and at her own pace, with a soft but a bit high pitched voice. She apologized to us for startling her, gave her a head pat (making her scream a little bit) and gave us candies for later.

She picked up the cream puff from the ground and smelled it for a bit… then she told me with a kind of dopey smile that the bakery had used ingredients that tasted good for nohorns but were too fatty and tasted weird for them.

She then guided us to a bakery that would be better suited for them. The smallhorns were still on the fence about her, but after some talk about the baked goods they started to forget about it and started to drool.

When we got there we found out that she was the owner of the bakery she was talking about. Gave us an special discount and a few extras as an apology.

We had some cake with hot milk for breakfast in the backroom of the bakery and got extra cream puffs for later.

After that I had to go meet with my contacts to get supplies. The smallhorns hid inside my pockets the whole time while taking peeks here and there… by the time I finished my meetings, the smallhorns were fast asleep.

While they took a nap, I looked for a good place to have lunch… and I remembered that one of my old contacts got himself a tavern recently, so we went there.

The smallhorns woke up to the smell of food on the table. A huge plate of sausages, salad, puree with gravy and soup. Learning from the previous experience, I had to ask a few questions to the cook to make sure it would taste good for them.

Oh, boy. They went from 0 to 100 in an instant at the sight and smell of the food. For dessert I asked for some brownies with caramel sauce, and cheesecake for the smallhorns.

In the end we all ate a bit of everything. They wanted to get a bite of my food too after all, so we exchanged a few bites.

After lunch they were barely able to get inside my pockets and my hood on their own… and soon after, they fell asleep again. So, I guess they had a good time.

I presumed that they would be tired of camping by now, so while they slept I went to look for a place to stay the night, for a change.

I got us a room at an inn that was in front of a little park with some benches. It was almost tea time by then, so I sat on one of those and took out the cream puffs. There was nobody in sight so I made the smallhorns stretch their legs.

While I was eating I got a glimpse of a wagging tail from the corner of my eye… I guessed that the smallhorns didn’t notice since the wind was going on the other direction, but when I looked at the other side of the park I saw a pair of glowing eyes looking at us from a shadowy corner.

We got surrounded, I thought to myself… but I didn't feel any ill intentions, so I ignored it… or so I tried. They slowly got closer and closer, so it seemed that would not be able to ignore them any longer.

I sighed and offered one of the cream puffs to whoever was there to hear me.

A little girl came out of nowhere and took it from my hand, asking me very loudly if it was really okay… on my other side, the pair of eyes came out of the shade with a loud scream trying to surprise the smallhorns; but they already knew she was there. All they did was grab their horns and yell back at her.

The one with the cream puff sat with us and ate it at her own pace, while the other one played peekaboo with the smallhorns. When I least expected it, we became friends… well, sort of.

The fluffy ones overwhelmed me with a barrage of questions, one after another... Meanwhile, the smallhorns as curious as they are, smelled, climbed and touched their fluffy tails to their hearts content. They even ate cream puffs with them. So, I will call that friendship for now.

By the time the smallhorns got tired it was already time for dinner, so they said their goodbyes and asked me if it was okay to come to play tomorrow… I said that I wasn’t sure if we would be in the city by then, but sure. They might be able to find us after lunch at the same place.

Second Day
The next day we went to have breakfast at the bakery of the horned lady. The smallhorns had their fill of calories and then snuggled comfily inside my long coat.

While they were taking a break from breakfast I went to see someone special… I went to the other side of the city to visit a veteran puppeteer / toy maker. The one that made hoodiehorn’s hoodie.

I woke up the hoodiehorn and told her that a good nohorn wanted to meet her. The old lady shed a tear of happiness when she saw hoodiehorn wearing what she made.

She asked me if it was okay to hold her… It took a few attempts but hoodiehorn finally stood on her hands. Her expression told me that it was like a dream come true.

I didn’t know why she was so happy, but I didn't want to pry too much into it. She did make me a favor without expecting anything in return after all… and then, the bandanahorn came out of my pockets and tugged on my coat as if to ask what was happening.

Oh, boy… when the old lady saw them, it was like she was on cloud nine. When she noticed that they didn’t have more than their robes and makeshift clothes I made for them for the cold, she implored me if I could wait a little bit, and went to the backroom as fast as her old bones made it possible.

When she came back, she had a whole set of tiny clothes in her hands and told me that I could take whatever was fit for them… I had no choice but… to agree, to their dismay. The cold is no joke and what I made was by any means near as good.

They tried like ten pairs of tiny clothes. They had fun… for the most part. They liked the dresses but nothing that was stuffy.

In the end we didn’t take them, but she made us a favor a made their little robes more fit for the cold and added little socks and shoes with enough room for their little clawy toes. The old lady was moved by the sight.

Soon after we said our goodbyes and went to eat lunch at the tavern. When I took a closer look at the bandanahorns, they had their bandanas as ponytail holders. It looked so natural that I didn’t even notice the change until we were waiting for the food.

This time we ate a really good stew with many types of meat, a few side dishes and slices of bread… After that they got sleepy, so we went to our room at the inn.

A few hours later I saw the fluffy ones waiting at the bench from from our window. So, I opened it trying to get their attention.

I told them that the smallhors were sleeping, but as soon as I raised my voice they were already at the windowsill looking down below, so we went outside.

The smallhorns played with them all day while I sat on a bench. It was fun to look at them run around…

It was getting late, so I invited the fluffy ones to go have dinner with us… We ate a really good meatloaf with puree and gravy. For dessert, we ate a cheesecake with jam.

Since it was late, I escorted them near their house. Just in case, I told them that if a storm started to form the next day that was our cue to leave the city. We said our goodbyes and went our separate ways…

Final Day
Our final day at the city started the same way as the day before, but luckily for us, a storm started to form right after lunch.

It was time to take the smallhorns back to the herd. I was sure they missed Leader and the rest of the nursery haremhorns. So, I ran to my vehicle and followed the mild storm the best I could… and that is how our stay ended.