And Haven was out of his trap!
Growling, he stalked into the room. The sound of his footsteps heavy on the ground was what finally caught their ears. They all turned at the same time.
And smiled.
He was raging, stomping their way, no doubt there was a scowl on his face.
And they were smiling. Grace actually raised her glass at him in greeting.
“There he is,” Garnet snickered.
“Told you I’d being in trouble,” Haven said, bringing her cup to her lips and downing it in two big gulps.
As she was putting it back down, he was scooping her up into his arm, tossing her over his shoulder, while the others laughed. Completely unafraid. Totally unconcerned.
“Vytln, did you know Haven learned Standard just by listening to it?” Grace asked as he crossed to his trap. “Isn’t that incredible?”
He grumbled a response. Because it absolutely was impressive, but Haven was unclaimed yet she was out of his trap and that was unacceptable.
“She can’t read though,” Garnet said, frowning.
“I can get her reading imprints,” Goldie responded. “She knows too much of the language for me to do a full language imprint, but the reading imprints that younglings do in school would work fine.”
“Oh, that’s a good idea. What do you think, Haven?” Grace asked, calling over to her as Vytln pushed a giggling Haven back into the trap.
She slid down to the bottom with a happy ‘oomph’. But even as he was using the lever at the top to close her back in, she was climbing up and poking her head out to answer.
“I would being opening to that. Tomorrow?”
“You’re not leaving the trap,” Vytln told her, glaring.
“Anytime really,” Goldie said, ignoring him. “You’d be the first one I did an imprint on though, fair warning. So, it’ll be a bit of an experiment.”
“I’m being willing to do that,” Haven smiled.
“I told you to stay in the trap,” Vytln said.
“I was wanting to eating with my new friends,” Haven laughed, unrepentant.
“You know, you are still technically a prisoner.”
“Binding me up,” she said, grinning wickedly, sticking her hands outside of the trap. Very similar to what she had done before.
Only this time she knew what it meant. She knew what she was saying. And that teasing gleam in her eye assured him that she knew very well what she was doing.
“Out,” he snarled, his eyes narrowing on her as she giggled, unafraid.
The other females, moving without any sense of urgency, also giggling, began gathering the remaining food and drinks.
“See you later, Haven,” Garnet waved as she stood, patting her robot on its head like it was a pet that could feel affection.
“Let me exam you whenever you get the chance,” Goldie added, lifting the food tray. “Before or after Vytln gets at you. Most definitely after. I know what he’s packing down there and how much it could potentially do.”
“Get out!” Vytln roared, needing them gone.
They all just laughed, filing out in absolutely no hurry. The total disrespect and their lack of fear would have infuriated him once upon a time.
As it was, he was just glad when the door shut behind them. They were gone, and there was no one stopping him as he grabbed Haven by her offered wrists and yanked, half pulling her from the trap. Her eyes went wide and he heard her legs kicking inside as she tried to catch herself.
