The voices of her friends filled the room. The laughter, the camaraderie as she did her homework. Working through subject as she joined in here and there. But her focus in the back of her mind was on Ezra. She could hear the charms and the tag making a making a soft tick as they tapped against each other ever so slightly as he moved about. She practiced trying to pinpoint where he was based on the sound.
Dayton practiced the way you practiced a new drill in soccer. She kept her face pointed at her homework, kept her voice steady, kept her pencil moving, and trained her brain to map the sound.
Tick, near the bed.
Tick, closer to the desk.
Tick, left side.
The thought of rolling her chair back and him being in the way without knowing was a real concern to her. So, he had to be perfect. She had to be able to learn to accurately tell where he was based on the charms. They were cute, they were decorative, but they served a real purpose to her even if others doubted that authenticity.
The last thing she would ever possibly want is to accidentally kill her former teacher. As despite their relationship never being all that good actually harming him was the last thing she wanted.
On the call, Hayden was still talking. “Okay, but I’m just saying, your vibe is gonna be dangerous. Skirt and boots is—”
“Hayden, I’m literally doing math,” Dayton muttered, eyes on her screen. She didn’t look up because if she looked up, she’d look down.
Dayton wondered what he was thinking about as he wandered her room. It was awkward having him in her room. It wasn’t like Thomas or Kinsley being here. Ezra somehow felt like different because she knew him as her teacher. A part of her mind couldn’t help but feel like it was a violation of her space. Even though she had put in to claim him when she reported the violations, actually getting Ezra Rhys was always a long shot to her. She thought the violations would be noted. She thought there would be punishment, consequences. She figured he would be reprimanded, and the school would be forced to assign a proper guardian or someone licensed to the classroom.
That would have been practical. It would have been what people thought and expected to happen. This was the furthest thing she could imagine actually happening. Even in her wildest thoughts of what could happen. Never did she imagine armed SEA officers bursting into the school.
She had never been that close to an automatic weapon before. She had never seen the clarity of the barrel, the stock, the slight smell of ammunition. It was all new and it was terrifying. She still can hear the officer who shouted r who shouted to put their phones face down on the desk. It was not just nerve wracking, it was terrifying. She remembered feeling relief when her phone was down. Something normally so attached to her. Something so a part of her now she felt instant relief that she wouldn’t be a target. The guns wouldn’t be pointed at her. As no one brings a gun they aren’t prepared to use. Even at just 13 she understood that.
And then they’d called her up.
They’d called her to the front of the classroom like she was being awarded a trophy. Like she was being volunteered. Like she was being tested.
She still felt the heat of all those eyes on her back. Her classmates, their phones face-down, forced to watch. The silence that made everything sound louder. The rustle of her hoodie. The squeak of her sneakers. The way her heart seemed too big for her chest.
They asked if she had a collar.
She’d had one in her bag for weeks.
Not because she’d planned this exact day. Because she’d planned for… something. Because she was Dayton Harris and she did not do unprepared. She always thought she’d get a heads-up. A phone call. A meeting in the office. A quiet handoff.
Not this.
Not in front of everyone.
Not with guns.
And then Ezra had been there. Small. Still. His face pale in a way that looked wrong on him, like someone had drained the color out of a person who used to fill a room.
And Dayton had put the collar in her hand.
She’d clicked it shut.
Her own fingers had done that.
She’d felt the instant shift. Not power. Not excitement.
Responsibility.
A rush at first, like her body didn’t know what to do with the fact that she’d won something impossible. Then immediately a heavier feeling, like a weight strapped to her ribs.
It had been a fantasy. The kind of thing you think about in an idle moment until it wasn’t. Letting your mind wander, picturing events and things that would never actually happen. Yet somehow this did happen, and now she had to live up to the reputation she had built. She finished top of her class. She was ranked, she was recognized.
Hayden said Sara’s name again on the call, casual, like it didn’t come with history. Dayton’s stomach tightened anyway.
Dayton knew she wasn’t Sara. Desperately she had wanted to beat her records. Topple her scores but she couldn’t beat Sara when it came to skill. She also couldn’t seem to match her in bonding or relationship building. Jordy was not just her little. He was a friend, a confidant. He was her “Whitto Man”. Her pet, her support. She had convinced him to take on all those roles when surely he had doubts. For so long she had wanted to ask him why. Why was he willing to take it on. Why he seemed to feel a affection for Sara. Not romantically but a love and it wasn’t just the natural bonding. As the bonding she knew from training isn’t mind control. It can’t make you kill someone or stab yourself. It cant ultimately make you do something you wouldn’t normally do. It wasn’t a hallucinogenic drug or anything like that that somehow trick or alter his perceptions.
it had to be something he was willing to do n some level. It can relax, it can clear the mind, it can provide comfort. However, it wouldn’t make him love her. It wouldn’t make him care about her. Not in a real lasting way. She had wanted to ask , to pick his brain but she knew she had messed that up. She was young, she was immature. She was thinking littles as something she could play with and control. They would follow and accept just like they were living puppets.
Now with the beauty of hindsight and maturity she can see where she was wrong. But Ezra was right. He was annoyingly right. Sorry doesn’t fix anything. She cant make Jordy truly forgive her. She can’t force him to want to interact with her. All she can do is prove through action and time that she has become better.
That was the part that scared her about Ezra. He wasn’t going to soften because she wanted him to. He wasn’t Thomas. He wasn’t training. He was a person who had to decide what to do with his own hatred.
Dayton blinked hard and realized she’d stopped writing.
On screen, Nicole was saying something about homework. Hayden was still talking about skirts like skirts were diplomacy. Hannah’s pencil was moving again, like she’d never stopped.
Dayton forced her hand back to the page.
Tick.
Ezra was closer now. Behind her desk chair, maybe. The sound was faint, but Dayton heard it anyway. Her shoulders went tight. Now she had her own little. Maybe not the little she dreamed about or fantasized about but a little nonetheless. However, now that she had one since it wasn’t just a little, it was Ezra it would always be different. Is she really going to ask Ezra to clean her cleats after soccer practice? It’s a chore he could do. She could brushes and tools for him. However, it felt weird to have him do it. He still even small seems to dignified, to posh, to proper to actually do a task like that.
She would train him, provide structure and support. She will give him a real home not a cold district home. Even though she never imagined it happening she would find a way to make this work as she knew Kinsley would and she wont lose to her. Even though being a guardian was robbed from her. They had plans, they talked, they were going to compete. Dayton knew the burden to excel, to succeed rested on her as she was no the only one who could. Just like in soccer she has to be better, faster, quicker, stronger, more aggressive, more of a leader as anything less then perfection is a insult to Kinsley. To memory, to her friend as now she has to walk the path of two alone not because Kinsley is gone but she is unable to. She can’t go where she’s going and that tragedy is why she knew she had to file. She had to do it because the rules were broken, the competition was in play and she had to win as Kinsley takes the shot 100 times out of 100. No hesitation that’s why she’s the goal goblin, the Kinslayer.
So now she won and behind her, on the floor is her former teacher and now she has to train him, she has to bond with him, she has to make this work. As if she can’t make this work she fails everything Kinsley was. She wont fail the memory of her friend, her rival, and everything that she was. As to lose that is as Ezra would stay the true tragedy of this play.
Kingsley is still around and a force, she now gets to tag along with her sister and compete with whatever schooling or jobs she will get for her.
I would think petting Ezra a lot while asking him to help her with home work would be a way to get access to bonding to him through him wanting to still teach.
I cant see dayton petting ezra or him allowing himself to be pet.
Love these inner thoughts of Dayton and her arc throughout this story and how she has progressed, although I’m sure Lethal will disagree. with me on that.
Dayton could cure cancer and Lethal would still complain about her lol.
She has grown since her first appearance in the series that is for sure.
Dammmm who would have thought! The Devil herself Dayton! Growing a conscience and a heart!
It’s probably performative.
lol performative internal thoughts. Love it.
Weirder things have happened in this world
Alot is going on in that head of hers.
0.1) Back from your trip, I see.
0.2) How many more?
1) “She practiced trying to pinpoint where he was based on the sound.” A logical thing to practice given the situation.
2) “They were cute, they were decorative, but they served a real purpose to her even if others doubted that authenticity.” Doubt Dayton, now why would anyone have any reason to do that?
3) “The last thing she would ever possibly want is to accidentally kill her former teacher. As despite their relationship never being all that good, actually harming him was the last thing she wanted.” OH Dayton, you and your bare minimums.
4.1) “A part of her mind couldn’t help but feel like it was a violation of her space” Oh, don’t worry, he feels violated too
4.2) “She thought there would be punishment, consequences” You don’t get worse punishments than being owned by
SatanDayton5) “She had never been that close to an automatic weapon before. She had never seen the clarity of the barrel, the stock, the slight smell of ammunition” Well, she’s just not living up to the American stereotypes if that’s the case
6) “As no one brings a gun they aren’t prepared to use. Even at just 13 she understood that.” Well that’s not true at all, plenty of cases where people have weapons they think will work solely for intimidation, not actual fighting
7) “They’d called her to the front of the classroom like she was being awarded a trophy. Like she was being volunteered,” She had volunteered, though.
8) “They asked if she had a collar. She’d had one in her bag for weeks.” yet apparently only saw receiving him as a longshot
9) “It had been a fantasy. The kind of thing you think about in an idle moment until it wasn’t. Letting your mind wander, picturing events and things that would never actually happen. Yet somehow this did happen, and now she had to live up to the reputation she had built. She finished top of her class. She was ranked, she was recognised.” I do hope being a guardian is far worse for her than she had hoped it would be.
10.1) “Dayton knew she wasn’t Sara” which in most cases would be a good thing
10.2) “She also couldn’t seem to match her in bonding or relationship building. Jordy was not just her little. He was a friend, a confidant. Sara and Jordan didn’t get off on the best foot, either, though I wouldn’t be surprised if Dayton didn’t know or care about that.
11.1) “She had convinced him to take on all those roles when surely he had doubts. For so long, she had wanted to ask him why” He wasn’t really given a choice, and when he was, Sara made sure it was presented as herself or someone even worse.
11,2) “Why was he willing to take it on?” He was basically forced, and he just seems nicer and more forgiving than Sara deserves.
11.3) Why does he seem to feel an affection for Sara?” Stockholm syndrome and the guardian bond.
12) “As the bonding she knew from training isn’t mind control. It can’t make you kill someone or stab yourself. It can’t ultimately make you do something you wouldn’t normally do. It wasn’t a hallucinogenic drug or anything like that that somehow tricked or altered his perceptions.” not on it’s own, but it is a tool that can be used in concert with other manipulation tactics.
13.1) “She had wanted to ask, to pick his brain, but she knew she had messed that up.” This line sounds like she does know Sara’s keeping Jordan away from her.
13.2) “She was young, she was immature,” and neither of those things lessens her guilt for what she did at all.
14) “But Ezra was right. He was annoyingly right. Sorry doesn’t fix anything. She can’t make Jordy truly forgive her. She can’t force him to want to interact with her. All she can do is prove through action and time that she has become better.” I love that it’s Ezra being the one to point this stuff out to her.
15) “That was the part that scared her about Ezra. He wasn’t going to soften because she wanted him to.” Good. Dayton doesn’t deserve him softening for her.
17) “He was a person who had to decide what to do with his own hatred.” best case scenario given everything that happens in they never make up and Dayton has to live with a Little who resents her, permanently ruining her perception of guardianship.
18) “However, now that she had one since it wasn’t just a little, it was Ezra it would always be different” Every Little would have been someone, Dayton sounds like she’d happily have ignored that with a Little she didn’t know prior.
19) “Is she really going to ask Ezra to clean her cleats after soccer practice?” Of course, she will; it’s a humiliating task that would make him feel like her slave, she’d relish making him.
20) “She would train him, provide structure and support. She will give him a real home, not a cold district home.” Not sure her definition of those things matches Ezra’s
21) “She had to do it because the rules were broken.” Dayton only opposes the rules because they’re being applied to Kinsley. Part of me wonders what her opinion on Littles would look like if Kinsley were immune, or Kinsley’s, for that matter.
22) “As to lose that is as Ezra would stay the true tragedy of this play.” Ezra has been the tragedy since the moment it was revealed he’d been tricked by the people he trusted.
3) 🤣
5) OK, just nitpicking here… You wouldn’t smell the ammunition, but you would smell the gun oil. Dayton, being unfamiliar with firearms could be forgiven for thinking that however. (Again this is just nitpicking).
6) True, and many times that leads to tragedy.
7) Agreed
11.1-3) Agreed!
12) Asuka says he does not see the “petting” happening, but I can see a time when Ezra is despondent and Dayton either in a moment of empathy or taking advantage, petting him.
15) Again the petting would certainly help with this issue.
17) Certainly a bitter outcome for both of them.
19) I like that she thinks such a chore is beneath him. This seems to show that she has some respect for him.
20) Ezra accepted the “cold district home”, so even Dayton’s idea of a home has to be little better than the one he had.
21) We will never know. But may ideas are changed when you are in the other person’s shoes. (Cindy for example).
22) It is strange how Dayton seems to view what Kinsley could have been as almost the death of a loved one and feels an obligation to “live up” to that ideal. She may do that, but that is often the wrong way to live one’s life.
1) if he is going to be lurking around her room it would be helpful to not have him end up in the wrong place at the wrong time that is for sure.
2) I cant imagine myself but there are people like that out there.
3) Her actual standard could be and probably is higher but that result would be the thing most people would be worried about I think,
4) I feel like it would be awkward for him but as far as violations go it would be lateral as between the district, and dayton would be equal in terms of violation. Where dayton is coming completely fresh. I wounldn’t rate either scenario all that different.
4.2) There are way worse punishments then dayton. I’m not sure what the Aussie equivalent to Guantanamo bay is but you are generally afforded a very limited subset of rights and the doors normally swing one way.
5) While most americans are familar with guns. An automatic weaspon is very different from a rifle or handgun that many us citzens are used to seeing. as even in the private sector there is very little reason to have a miltary grade assault rifle in your home. Not saying people don’t or can’t but I woldnt say its common.
6) Thats not been my experience living in the US. But it may be different elsewhere in other parts of the countries. I mean im sure some people in the US only have them for scare tactics. But if you’re buying one you should always be prepared to use it as if you aren’t prepared that seems to be when accidents happen.
7) Well she filed a claim which is different. As when you file a claim generally speaking you are a petitioning for ownership or trying to assert ownership. When you are volunteering you are freely giving up your time with nothing accepted in return. Dayton volunteers at little mart helping with intake. She isnt getting paid she is just donating her time to help littles.
She filed a claim to own Ezra but she also had to pay money for him. Which makes it not a volunteer situation. However the statement is more talking about how she was called to the front like someone volunteering for something being called up.
8) A person can be excited and also want to be thorough. If you are filing a claim for a little the expectation is you would have a collar ready if you were awarded. If you didnt have one ready that would look bad on you. As you are saying you want to own this little but here you are unprepared to even take them.
9) I doubt Ezra himself coudl ruin that. If anything she would just think it was him not the process itself.
10) Sara isnt a bad person though. I feel like she may have bad take on littles to some such as yourself. However, I dont know if somethuing like this would make her a bad person overall. I guess that would be for each person to decide.
11.1) I mean he’s capable of critical thinking anytime someone is presenting something i think it naturally has a slant to whatever his best for them. Thats just human nature in my opinion.
11.2) Nice people do exist. It does give him soemthing to do though as well. People do like having a focus.
11.3) The guardian bond cant do that much heavy lifting. I personally dont think stockholm syndrome holds that much water. I just think you are more bothered by it then he is.
12) THat would be true of alot of things though. Anything a person likes can be used with other manipulation tactics illicit a response that is favorable.
13) mean its been almost a year shes not clueless. It would be hard not to put 2 and 2 together.
14) well he is teacher. They can have wisdom
15) that can be a two way street though.
16) the lost question
17) I feel like thats your best case scenario. Not Ezra or Daytons.
18) I dont know about ignore but a little you have no baggage with would mean you can start fresh with no preconcieved notions on either side. Since Dayton and Ezra have a pre-existing relationship it would be more difficult.
19) Some people do find cleaning relaxing though as its simple and mindless. So its relieves stress for them. There is a world Ezra finds the idea of it theraputic as its just a task she can focus on to take his mind off things.
20) I feel like its a low bar to offer a step up from district housing personally.
21) Difficult to say as that would have put her own a different path. Just like kinsley would be fundamentally different. They would have different inspirations and motivations so they could be better people or worsre people.
22) I would have vetted the people i was trusting ahead of time and got more details personally . While i woudlnt call what hapepned to ezra a tragedy it would consider it unfortunate.