The credits rolled in silence, white names sliding up a black screen like ghosts trying to leave the room politely.
Dayton clicked the remote again, decisively, and the TV went dark.
Without the show filling the space, the living room snapped back into its real soundtrack: the low hush of traffic outside the double-paned windows, the steady churn of the dishwasher in the kitchen, the faint tick of something mechanical deeper in the house. Late afternoon noises. Normal house noises.
Dayton stretched, legs straightening out across the sectional with the satisfied, boneless relief of a kid who’d been holding herself together all day and was finally letting the seams loosen.
Ezra sat on the towel beside her, perfectly still.
Not because she’d ordered it. Not because he wanted to impress her.
Because the couch was soft in a way that didn’t feel safe at four inches tall. Because one wrong shift could send him sliding into a cushion seam like a person falling into a crevasse. Because he’d learned, in one school day, that “don’t be a distraction” wasn’t a polite request anymore. It was survival.
Dayton popped another pita chip into her mouth, scooped hummus like it was a ritual, and scrolled her phone with her thumb.
A normal thirteen year old, decompressing.
A normal thirteen year old with a former teacher sitting on a towel beside her like a fragile piece of décor that could talk.
Ezra kept his hands folded. He watched her from the corner of his eye, trying not to look like he was watching. Trying not to look like a pet waiting for a treat.
Dayton licked a bit of hummus off her thumb, then caught herself and reached for a napkin instead, like she remembered her mom’s rules mid motion. She dabbed her fingers, glanced at the towel, and moved the snack plate a few inches farther from Ezra.
It wasn’t dramatic. It wasn’t performative.
It was… careful.
It should have felt like kindness.
It mostly felt like proof. Proof that every normal action in this house now had to route around him.
From the kitchen, her mom’s voice floated in, softened by distance. “Dayton? You good in there?”
Dayton didn’t raise her voice. She just answered like this was any other Monday. “Yeah, I’m good.”
A pause. The clink of something set into a drying rack.
Then: “Okay. Love you.”
Dayton’s face did this tiny thing, almost invisible. A twitch at the corner of her mouth. A loosening around the eyes.
“Love you too,” she called back.
Ezra stared at the dark TV screen. At the faint reflection of the room, skewed and small. At himself, four inches tall on a towel, listening to a mother and daughter say love you like it was the most normal sentence in the universe.
It was a normal sentence.
That was the problem.
Dayton crunched the last chip, wiped her hands again, and finally looked down at him.
Her expression shifted.
Not cold. Not cruel.
Focused.
Guardian mode, sliding into place like a visor coming down.
“Okay,” she said quietly. “We have to do the boring part now.”
Ezra’s stomach tightened. “What boring part.”
“The part where you stop pretending you’re just hanging out with me,” Dayton said, and there was no bite in it, just bluntness. “And start remembering the SEA exists.”
His throat went dry. “Dayton, I remember.”
“Good,” she said. “Then this will be fast.”
She put the snack plate on the side table, grabbed her phone, and held her palm out toward him.
Ezra stared at it.
The hand was warm, steady, absurdly big. A bridge he hated needing.
He climbed into her palm anyway.
Dayton’s fingers curled around his middle, not squeezing, just securing him the way you’d secure something that could be lost with one stumble. She stood, and the world lifted with her. The couch fell away. The living room widened. The ceiling rose into its usual, indifferent height.
As she walked, Ezra felt each step through her arm like a wave.
They moved through the hallway toward the front door.
The entryway was brighter than the living room, chandelier glow catching on the brass hardware, making everything look too polished, too final. The front door loomed over him like a cathedral gate.
Dayton stopped just inside the threshold and set Ezra down on the hardwood.
He steadied himself, shoes sliding a fraction on the smooth surface. The air here felt cooler, like the door held the outside world behind it like pressure.
Dayton crouched, phone in hand, and tapped her screen with practiced speed. Ezra saw the glow reflected on her lower face, the slick shimmer of her clear gloss. Her hair had started to slip from its half-up twist, a normal end-of-day mess.
“Before you start,” Ezra said, voice tight, “I’m not trying to run.”
Dayton didn’t look up. “I know.”
He blinked. “You… know?”
“Ezra,” she said, finally lifting her eyes to him. Calm. Level. “This isn’t about whether I think you’re going to sprint away like a cartoon hamster.”
His jaw clenched at the word hamster.
Dayton’s gaze stayed steady, like she’d chosen not to notice his reaction. “It’s about compliance. It’s about safety. It’s about my mom not having a panic attack every time she can’t see you for ten seconds. And it’s about the SEA showing up and asking what deterrents I have in place.”
The last line landed like a weight.
Ezra swallowed. “So this is… for them.”
“It’s for everyone,” Dayton corrected. “But yeah. Mostly for them.”
She angled her phone so he could see without getting too close. The screen showed a clean, sleek interface. Not cute. Not teen. Professional. Toggle switches, status indicators, a little map pin icon.
A life reduced to settings.
“You see this?” Dayton tapped a section labeled something like Perimeter Control. “Doors and windows are geofenced. That means the collar knows when you cross a boundary it’s not allowed to cross.”
Ezra’s stomach turned. “Geofenced.”
“It’s just a digital fence,” Dayton said. “Not like… an electric one. It’s sound. You already know that part from training videos.”
He stared at her. “You’re going to make me trigger it.”
Dayton didn’t deny it. “Yes.”
Ezra’s voice went hoarse. “Why. If you know I’m not running.”
“Because you need to feel it once,” Dayton said. “So, you stop testing the boundary without thinking. And so, if you ever panic and try to bolt, your body remembers the consequence before your brain gets romantic about freedom.”
That was… brutally sensible.
That was the horror of it.
Dayton shifted her weight, lowering herself onto the bottom stair so she was closer to his eye level. Not equal. Just closer.
“Secure,” she said, quiet.
The word hit Ezra like a hook.
His spine straightened automatically, shoulders back, hands down, posture snapping into that controlled stillness he’d been fighting all day.
He hated that it worked.
Dayton watched it happen with the same expression she’d worn in class earlier, like she was noting a data point. Then her eyes softened just a fraction, kid peeking through the training.
“Thank you,” she murmured, like she meant it.
Then the training came back.
“Okay,” she said. “Step forward. Just one step out the door. That’s it.”
Ezra stared at the brass threshold.
It was only a few inches away.
It might as well have been a cliff edge.
“Dayton,” he said, voice shaking despite himself. “This is humiliating.”
Dayton’s eyes didn’t flicker. “I know.”
“And you still want me to do it.”
“Yes.”
He looked up at the door, at the frosted glass panels showing blurred streetlight shapes outside. Somewhere out there were sidewalks, air, space, people who didn’t know his name was now attached to a collar tag.
He took a breath that felt too big for his body.
Then he stepped.
His foot touched the threshold.
The sound hit instantly.
Not a simple beep. Not a polite warning.
A sharp, piercing shriek, engineered with the cruel precision of a system that didn’t care about dignity, only outcomes. It stabbed straight into his ears, into his skull, into the part of his brain that still wanted to believe he had choices.
Ezra’s hands flew to his ears. His knees buckled. He stumbled backward, scrabbling for the safe side of the line like the floor itself had turned hostile.
The moment his body crossed back into the entryway, the sound cut off.
Clean. Surgical.
Silence rushed in like water after a door shuts.
Ezra collapsed onto the hardwood, panting, ears ringing, heart slamming against his ribs so hard he swore Dayton could hear it.
Dayton was already moving.
She scooped him up, gentler than he wanted her to be, and held him close enough that the world stopped spinning.
“Breathe,” she said quietly. “In. Out. It passes.”
Ezra’s eyes stung. Not tears, not yet. Just the leftover shock.
From the kitchen, footsteps. Fast.
Mrs. Harris appeared in the hallway, dish towel still in her hand, worry already on her face. “What was that?”
Dayton didn’t flinch. “Boundary alarm. I was showing him, so he understands.”
Mrs. Harris’s eyes snapped to Ezra in Dayton’s hand. She crossed the distance in two steps, her whole body shifting into that parental vigilance that made Ezra feel even smaller.
“He’s okay?” she asked, and there it was again. Not are you okay. He’s okay.
Dayton nodded once. “He’s okay. It’s loud. It’s supposed to be loud.”
Mrs. Harris’s mouth tightened with sympathy she didn’t fully know how to express. Then she looked at Dayton, and the sympathy turned into something fiercer.
“You didn’t have to do that today,” she said softly.
Dayton’s jaw flexed. “Yes, I did.”
Mrs. Harris studied her daughter, and whatever she saw there, she believed. Her shoulders sagged a fraction.
“Okay,” she said finally. “Okay. I get it.”
Then she reached out and squeezed Dayton’s shoulder. “I hate that this is the world you have to grow up in.”
Dayton’s expression flickered. For half a second she looked like she might say something vulnerable.
Instead she did what kids do when they’re close to the edge of feeling too much.
She got practical.
“It’s fine,” Dayton said. “It’s just… necessary.”
Mrs. Harris’s gaze dropped to Ezra again. Her voice softened. “Ezra. I’m sorry. This is for the best.”
Ezra tried to speak. His voice came out thin. “I understand.”
It wasn’t true, not all the way.
But he understood enough to know there was no point arguing with a system that screamed when you touched a door.
Mrs. Harris nodded, satisfied that the immediate crisis was handled, and leaned in to hug Dayton again. Not as tight as earlier, but still real, still protective.
Ezra was forced to watch it from the crook of Dayton’s hand.
A mother’s arms around her daughter.
Relief, love, safety.
And him, cradled like a fragile object that had almost fallen off a shelf.
Mrs. Harris pulled back, looked at Dayton’s face, and said, very quietly, “You did good. Today. I’m proud of you.”
Dayton’s throat bobbed. She blinked once. “Thanks. You don’t need to keep telling me. I’m okay mom. Really.”
Mrs. Harris brushed her thumb over Dayton’s cheek like she was smoothing away an invisible smudge. Then she looked at Ezra one last time.
Mrs. Harris returned to the kitchen.
Dayton didn’t move for a moment.
Ezra lay against her palm, breathing slowly, ears still ringing. His pride felt flayed open. His body felt tiny in a way that went beyond inches.
Dayton looked down at him.
Her voice, when it came, was quieter. Less rubric, more real.
“I’m not doing this to torture you,” she said.
Ezra gave a short, bitter laugh that didn’t have any humor in it. “Could’ve fooled me.”
Dayton didn’t get offended. She just nodded once, like the comment was fair.
“I know,” she said. “But Ezra… if you ever got out, even by accident? My mom would lose her mind. And the SEA would take you from me and who knows what they would do with you really. My guess is you’d be put in the deepest darkest hole.”
She flexed her fingers slightly, adjusting her grip so his collar tag wasn’t pressing into his throat.
Not affectionate.
Practical.
But gentle anyway.
“So,” Dayton said, “you can hate it. I don’t care. The doors stay.”
Ezra stared up at the ceiling, at the chandelier light, at the smooth, indifferent architecture of a life he no longer controlled.
Then he closed his eyes.
Not because he accepted it.
Because he didn’t have another move.
Dayton stood, carried him back toward the living room, and as the house noises swallowed them again, Ezra realized the worst part wasn’t the alarm.
It was how quickly everyone else could fold the moment away and keep living.
As if the scream had never happened at all.
so is that a standard feature, an above and beyond one, or a SEA mandate for this specific situation?
I assume you mean the alarm system.
Well it’s not standard as alarm systems even in real life aren’t standard on homes.
However, it’s not uncommon or extreme either. Especially if your home already has a security system.
In this case the sea would prefer it in a situation like this and may have even requested or set the expectation.
Oh! so it’s a home alarm system. okay i was thinking it was something specific to a little and the collar like how dogs have geofenced collars that vibrate if they step out of the zones.
If the security system is Genritech than it could just be designed with Little Collar compatibility in mind.
at this point i’m just going to assume anything technology wise is generitech lol
Probably a safe bet. They’ve replaced, Apple, Netflix, Microsoft, and pretty much everything else.
If its quality its generitech. Preematech is the walmart of this world. Im not sure what a foreign equivalent would be. But walmart is a big box store with budget prices but also budget quality.
We need more Preematech stories.
The home security system has components for littles. So its just buying add-ons. it is specific to litles but its part of the home security system
that’s cool. i guess cause we hadn’t seen a security system yet (or i don’t remember it) that i hadn’t thought about this, but it makes a lot of sense lol
In fact, such an alarm system makes sense, even if only to prevent the kidnapping of a baby. Incidentally, no one considered the black market for babies, which exists anyway, along with crime and so on. A baby costs around 40-50 thousand —good money. The collar and beacon can be easily jammed with a regular metal box with foil, a Faraday grid, and there are actually plenty of options. And that’s it, after the kidnapping, it’s practically impossible to find. They take it to the basement, remove the collar, re-chip it, and voila. And then its fate changes from sex slave to glamorous fare in some exclusive VIP restaurant. The world is truly a cruel place, especially for those accustomed to living under the protection of the law, and it’s a great shock to discover the true nature of the world when the law doesn’t apply to them. When you’re left alone with death, and your money and connections are just dust at that moment. I think Ezra would agree to live literally in Dayton’s pocket if it guaranteed 100% protection from such a thing (if he’d thought about it). Yes, things are happening around him that are a bit inconvenient from his perspective and dignity, but in reality, the world is full of darkness, and we need to remember that.
So the noise is similar to a dog whistle. Something not perceptible to humans but to dogs/littles its the worst sound in the world.
Y’know, I’ve been wondering for a while if Littles could hear dog-whistles, and his reaction was about the reaction I’d thought they’d have.
Though Mrs Harris’s reaction indicates that humans can hear it too, unlike dog whistles.
The intent is a bit twofold. The alarm makes an audible alarm for the guardian to know a breech has occurred.
The noise and frequency the little hears is separate.
I should have been more clear on that
I first thought it was gonna be that “Little disabling frequency” same as Jordan’s collar makes, that would painlessly put him to sleep, but Dayton’s not that gente, lol.
You’re right, I misread that part as her hearing him scream, and that was why she came out of the kitchen to see what was going on.
Damn that’s wild to do him like that Dayton I’m gonna be honest but I get it to a certain extent but damn you are not making it easy
Making his life easy was never her intent; she’s doing this as revenge.
Fair lol I’m also worried if she will forget to turn off if she does take him out for something and he’s hearing that shit again
Lol, that was my 18th point
Oh damn !! Great minds think alike 😆
By the way, I understand the system is only configured for Ezra’s collar? Will the other Little Ones be harmed?
It’s designed around Ezra. So someone else’s little wouldn’t inherently be affected it would just depend on the settings.
Dayton really only cares about Ezra.
How else would you test the system worked though? How else would you go to the SEA who is no doubt asking what countermeasues and security do you have in place to ensure this little who was brought on acts of sedition and bringing up anti-government rhetoric in the edcuation to minors, was part of the scandal that nearly brought the entir school district down to its knees?
They are going to want to know what ayou are doing and that what you are doing works. When an agent or person checking up on things comes by they want to see what is being done and if its not tested and your just like well it should work. You know thats not gonna stand.
he made choices which were against the law regardless of if hte law is fair. He broke the law and now has to deal with those consequences thats not daytons fault. SHe can only do what she has to do be compliant.
0) Why’s this chapter called “SMALLARA: The Junior Guardian Chronicles” instead of “Dayton: The Junior Guardian Chronicles”?
1) “Ezra kept his hands folded. He watched her from the corner of his eye, trying not to look like he was watching. Trying not to look like a pet waiting for a treat.” Avoiding looking too pet-like is an understandable desire
2) “listening to a mother and daughter say love you like it was the most normal sentence in the universe.” Sounds pretty normal to me
3) “The part where you stop pretending you’re just hanging out with me, and start remembering the SEA exists.” oh, the performative part.
4) “Before you start, I’m not trying to run.” – “I know.” – “You… know?” Well, Dayton does have experience with Little trying to escape from her clutches.
5) “You’re going to make me trigger it.” – “Why. If you know I’m not running.” Because that’s how you test things like this.
6) “Because you need to feel it once, so, you stop testing the boundary without thinking. And so, if you ever panic and try to bolt, your body remembers the consequence before your brain gets romantic about freedom.” Makes sense in a Draconian kind of way
7) “This is humiliating. And you still want me to do it.” – “Yes.” The humiliation is a bonus for her Ezra, she’s gonna love it.
8) ““What was that?” – “Boundary alarm. I was showing him, so he understands.” So human’s can hear it?
9) “Mrs. Harris’s mouth tightened with sympathy she didn’t fully know how to express. Then she looked at Dayton, and the sympathy turned into something fiercer” She’s feeling sympathy she didn’t know she was capable of
10) “You didn’t have to do that today,” – “Yes, I did.” Probably something the SEA wanted answers on sooner than later
11) “I hate that this is the world you have to grow up in.” Has to? It’s the world Dayton’s been actively trying to embrace since she met Jordan
12) . “I understand.” It wasn’t true, not all the way. But he understood enough to know there was no point arguing with a system that screamed when you touched a door.” Sad but true, Very few Littles can safely argue their points
13) “You did good. Today. I’m proud of you.” Everyone keeps telling her variations of that
14) “Thanks. You don’t need to keep telling me. I’m okay mom. Really.” Yeah, say it too often and she’ll start thinking her actions are above criticism.
15) “I’m not doing this to torture you,” – “Could’ve fooled me.” Just because it’s not her main reason doesn’t mean she’s not enjoying it as a bonus, Her main goal of claiming you was for revenge, this would serve that.
16) “Dayton didn’t get offended. She just nodded once, like the comment was fair.” Damn, even Dayton acknowledges that.
17) “But Ezra… if you ever got out, even by accident? My mom would lose her mind. And the SEA would take you from me and who knows what they would do with you really. My guess is you’d be put in the deepest darkest hole.” Mrs Harris llosingher mind wouldn’t bother me, but SEA is another story. I could imagine Dayton’s guess being not far off. My thought was he’d get re-chipped with a Preema tech memory-wiping chip, either way the SEA is “protecting Littles” but oppressing them to the highest degree.
18) “So, you can hate it. I don’t care. The doors stay.” Dayton’s apathy to his misery feels like the real Dayton, but I do wonder how long until she forgets to turn it off when she plans to take him somewhere, and he, though no fault of his own, gets blasted again?
19) “Then he closed his eyes. Not because he accepted it. Because he didn’t have another move” I’m hoping he figures one out sooner or later.
20) “Ezra realized the worst part wasn’t the alarm. It was how quickly everyone else could fold the moment away and keep living. As if the scream had never happened at all.” Like most things, this is much bigger to a Little than it is to a Biggles
welcome to your little life Prof Puff, little things to giants are big things to you.
0) just from me setting up this post at 1am and i was tired.
1) may not be possible but certainly understandable. I would probably try to do the same.
2)agreed he probably thought daytons life was devoid of love.
3) It wouldnt necessarily be performative.
4) One could say she takes this part more serious becuase of jordan.
5) She would need him to test it realistically. There is no way to know for sure its working without having him test it.
6) Even people have this kind of need. i mean how many times can you tell a kid a stove is hot but someitmes they just need to touch it to know. This is kind of the same premise.
7) I don’t even think Dayton considers this humiliating. Its just a practical security application she needs testing.
8) Well humans hear the audible alarm it makes to notify them of the breech. THey dont hear what little frequency of noise.
9) One can not like things but understand the reality of having to do it.
10) agreed, a reasonable expectation would be validation that security and safety measures were in place. As one would assume they would drop by to check at random sooner rather then later.
11) I don tknow if dayton was trying embrace the SEA. She can want a little but not like having to do the sea parts.
12) Not much to argue when you’ve already made a bed and reputation. This is the conseqeunces for his actions. As if hadnt rocked the boat so severely it wouldnt be necessary but when your teaching philosophy and acations for a raid on a school district. Then I have more trouble feeling sympathy at the cause of ones own actions. as he didnt need to grandstand littles rights in a governemnt building with a camera in classroom picking up everything. there is a degree of sell responsibility that causes this need.
13) Well she did follow the laws even when its not easy.
14) Dayton has enough people critcizing her where i doubt that would happen. Although not everyone is as anti the laws of this world. so it may not be as much as you would like.
15) This is not enough to warrant punishment or revenge level to dayton. This is more just work and something she needs to do to check a box. its not all that deeply motivating to her in anyway. So even if he views it a certain way to dayton its not. It just something she has to do so she is doing it.
If she wants revenge she would need to do something she feels is actually extricating revenge. So far none of this has been that. its just testing system so she can check a box on a form later or when they stop by say yes it works, yes i tested it. heres the logs.
16) Because nothing she says is going to change his opinion. She has to do it. So she is doing it. he can think and view it however he wants. IT changes nothing. This is the consequences for his actions. He violated the law regardless of it was just or fair. He broke the law and breaking the law comes with consequences.
17) Preematech wipe or just locking him away and providing him food but never allowig him to see the light of day. Not given to generitech or preematech. Just a government holdig facility. Where he is in a cell fed with limited to no interactiona and just forgotten about.
18) Depending on how its setup if he is in being carried or held by her it wouldnt trigger. Its because she is doing it becuase it sjust part of the deal. Like if you get a dog you need a dog crate, you need dog food, a collar, a bed, grooming tools, etc. Its not the glamourous part of ownership. its just the practical reality. So she is just literally doing whats needs to be done without much other thought. It doesnt matter what she thinks or he thinks. Its just this needs to be done.
19) Not much more he can do. Dayton isnt being actively mean towards him. so far she is just doing what is necessary. So he can only be so outraged towards her.
20) Well if he didnt break the laws and cause a scene. it may not have been necessary. He has atleast 50% of the blame in this and the reason for it happening. As you are responsible for your own choices at the end of the day.
1) me to,
2) Lol, Dayton has love, mostly for herself but the women and girls around her seem to get some too
4) Pity that’s all she learned.
6) Yeah, that’s true, but you don’t push you kid’s hand into the fire.
9) Surprising for sure.
11) The SEA parts are also Dayton’s choice, she contacted them, not the other way around.
12) Definitely his own consequences, I’d argue that the consequences were an over reaction, but governments do that sometimes.
Personally I can’t wait for certain other Characters to face those consequences for their actions.
14) Who Tf in the story is criticizing her? Everyone who doesn’t agree is hiding it, and her Friends are all yes girls.
15) Her revenge wouldn’t be limited to this I agree.
16) NGL, that’d be a more compelling argument if there weren’t plenty of law breaking in these stories that went consequence free.
17) I could see that too
18) That’s pretty advanced tech if it can tell how high he’s being held and by who, unless any human could just pick him up and carry him away.
19) The fact Dayton put him in this situation is already mean, he can be outraged for that.
And I know you’ll say he partly put himself here, which is true in a sense, but it was Dayton who put her hand up to claim him, t9 be the one with him in her grasp when the dust settles..
20) Yes, as mentioned previously this is his Karma/consequence, but those things are objectively worse for Littles than humans in this world
Dayton being a good little momma lol
https://drive.google.com/file/d/12Lf0tDDJULbCgV0Pgzmf6Y8bLRHgU3ua/view?usp=drivesdk
Adorable.
I will have to check this out when i get home