{"id":6677,"date":"2024-01-01T22:50:23","date_gmt":"2024-01-02T06:50:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-anything-at-all\/"},"modified":"2024-01-01T22:50:23","modified_gmt":"2024-01-02T06:50:23","slug":"12-days-of-xmas-anything-at-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-anything-at-all\/","title":{"rendered":"12 Days of Xmas: Anything At All"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>ANYTHING AT ALL<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Raymond Zebronski had been an aimless genius. He was born with a great ability to learn and he had done all the things he was supposed to do, but it had been a half-hearted effort at most.<\/p>\n<p>He had been sleepwalking through his life. Filing patents, inventing things, buying a house and paying for insurance. He&#8217;d been doing all the things expected of him&#8230; and he&#8217;d been so unfulfilled.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone around him would talk about how wonderful and happy his life was going to be. He was limitless possibility and that was supposed to make him have a fabulous existence.<\/p>\n<p>It had felt like he was disappointing everyone&#8217;s expectations. His unhappiness was a burden he was forced to bear in silence because he was <em>supposed<\/em> to be happy. And he wasn&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p>His smile had always felt thin and painful. A baring of the teeth rather than a true expression.<\/p>\n<p>He graduated high school and college early, and suddenly he was expected to do great things. To work and make money and wow the world with his brilliance and bring glory to his family.<\/p>\n<p>And he did it. He changed the world of technolgy and those that ran the world knew his name. He made more money than he could ever spend in ten lifetimes.<\/p>\n<p>And it was empty. Meaningless. Because he was just as unmotivated as he&#8217;d always been. Just as empty and unfulfilled.<\/p>\n<p>He wasn&#8217;t sad. He wasn&#8217;t angry. He wasn&#8217;t <em>murderous<\/em>. He was simply unhappy.<\/p>\n<p>And then he met Darkstar.<\/p>\n<p>And suddenly there was <em>something<\/em>. There was music and light and food had flavor to it.<\/p>\n<p>He was no longer an empty shell of a person slogging through every day.<\/p>\n<p>He was filled with Darkstar. And it was good.<\/p>\n<p>. *. *. *.<\/p>\n<p>He knew that his feelings were because of Darkstar&#8217;s metability. His brain was being artifically stimulated and everything he felt was nothing but a lie.<\/p>\n<p>And he didn&#8217;t care.<\/p>\n<p>Because his brain was stimulated and for the first time in his life he could truly <em>feel<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Darkstar wasn&#8217;t purposefully doing anything to him. Just by existing, he brought happiness into Raymond&#8217;s life. His presence, his smiles, his frowns, his voice&#8230; everything about him chased away the ennui.<\/p>\n<p>By existing, Darkstar gave purpose to Raymond&#8217;s life.<\/p>\n<p>So in the background of Darkstar&#8217;s life, Dr. Zee came into being. Smoothing the things that needed to be smoothed. Deleting videos and destroying evidence. Ensuring that while Darkstar received the attention he demanded, Vereint Georges was able to enjoy the anonymity he craved.<\/p>\n<p>He arranged his first official meeting with Darkstar. Made himself an indispensable person in Darkstar&#8217;s life.<\/p>\n<p>When Darkstar fell in love with Blue Ice, he thought he might feel jealousy, but he didn&#8217;t. His feelings for Darkstar were so pure and all consuming that they surpassed physical desire.<\/p>\n<p>He would rather see Darkstar happy than fulfill his own desires. Would do <em>anything<\/em> in the name of Darkstar&#8217;s happiness.<\/p>\n<p>He didn&#8217;t feel guilt over the laws he broke. Didn&#8217;t hesitate or experience regret as long as it was for Darkstar.<\/p>\n<p>Before Darkstar there was nothing. He passed through his life like a ghost. Doing what was expected of him without having any dreams or desires of his own. Waking and sleeping, eating and pooping, every day passing one into the next without anything leaving a mark on his soul.<\/p>\n<p>And after Darkstar, there was light and pleasure and when he touched things he could <em>feel<\/em> them.<\/p>\n<p>Because he was real. Alive. Vital and full of the hope of life.<\/p>\n<p>He was full of Darkstar and he would do anything for him. <em>Anything<\/em> at all.<\/p>\n<p>=END=<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Paypal: <a href=\"https:\/\/paypal.me\/harperkingsley\">https:\/\/paypal.me\/harperkingsley<\/a>. Directly support the content.<\/li>\n<li>The Patreon: <a href=\"https:\/\/patreon.com\/harperkingsley\">https:\/\/patreon.com\/harperkingsley<\/a>. Become a patron and receive access to Patreon-only content and bonus posts.<\/li>\n<li>The Ko-fi: <a href=\"https:\/\/ko-fi.com\/harperwck\">https:\/\/ko-fi.com\/harperwck<\/a>. Artwork, links, a way to support the creation of new content.<\/li>\n<li>The Amazon shop: <a href=\"https:\/\/amazon.com\/shop\/harperkingsley0\">https:\/\/amazon.com\/shop\/harperkingsley0<\/a>. See curated lists of items, and if you click an item but buy something else I still get money for driving traffic.<\/li>\n<li>The story site: Kimichee: <a href=\"https:\/\/kimichee.com\">https:\/\/kimichee.com<\/a>. Stories, poems, and reviews; no excess babble.<\/li>\n<li>The blog: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harperkingsley.net\/blog\">https:\/\/www.harperkingsley.net\/blog<\/a>. The stories, the meta, the babble, the news; a broad spread of content.<\/li>\n<li>The Bluesky: <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/harperkingsley.bsky.social\">https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/harperkingsley.bsky.social<\/a>. Shares, re-shares, babble, writing notes, drabbles, anything and everything and all the things in between.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ANYTHING AT ALL Raymond Zebronski had been an aimless genius. He was born with a great ability to learn and he had done all the things he was supposed to do, but it had been a half-hearted effort at most. He had been sleepwalking through his life. Filing patents, inventing things, buying a house and&hellip;<\/p>\n <a href=\"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-anything-at-all\/\" title=\"12 Days of Xmas: Anything At All\" class=\"entry-more-link\"><span>Read More<\/span> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">12 Days of Xmas: Anything At All<\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"Layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[916],"tags":[917,249,942,896,646],"class_list":["entry","author-harperkingsley0-0","post-6677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-12-days-of-xmas","tag-12-days-of-xmas","tag-darkstar","tag-dr-zee","tag-fic","tag-short-fic"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2pPoL-1JH","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6670,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-eleanor\/","url_meta":{"origin":6677,"position":0},"title":"12 Days of Xmas: Eleanor","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"December 29, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"ELEANOR \"\ud83c\udfb6 Driving. Driving all night 'til the mornin' come. Wanna see my bed, but first I'mma see the sun. Wishin' you were here to whisper sweet things. Gonna close my eyes and visit you in my dreams.\ud83c\udfb6\" He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel as he sang to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;12 Days of Xmas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"12 Days of Xmas","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/12-days-of-xmas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6844,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-a-single-glance\/","url_meta":{"origin":6677,"position":1},"title":"12 Days of Xmas: A Single Glance","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"December 25, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"A Single Glance Darkstar in a Santa hat. Darkstar in a Santa hat. Chloe leaned closer toward the fence, her glossy eyes focused on the supervillain. He was so beautiful that she couldn't even consider looking away. He was a force of nature, unleashing violence upon those that had aroused\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;12 Days of Xmas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"12 Days of Xmas","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/12-days-of-xmas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6666,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-boxing-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":6677,"position":2},"title":"12 Days of Xmas: Boxing Day","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"December 26, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"BOXING DAY When he was young he'd thought boxing Day was a day when people went boxing. Like Rocky but for regular people. Now as an adult he knew better. And even though he still wasn't religious, he appreciated the concept behind Boxing Day. It was a day of charity\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;12 Days of Xmas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"12 Days of Xmas","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/12-days-of-xmas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6853,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-birthday-cake\/","url_meta":{"origin":6677,"position":3},"title":"12 Days of Xmas: Birthday Cake","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"January 2, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Birthday Cake He had been saving the box of cake mix, keeping it hidden in a box high on a closet shelf. The front of the box proclaimed the flavor: \"Birthday Cake.\" It was a vanilla cake mix that included a packet of multicolored \"funfetti\" sprinkles. It had been a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;12 Days of Xmas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"12 Days of Xmas","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/12-days-of-xmas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6850,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-the-6-inch-man\/","url_meta":{"origin":6677,"position":4},"title":"12 Days of Xmas: The 6-Inch Man","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"December 31, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The 6-Inch Man Waking up, Brendan thought at first that he'd been buried alive. He was covered in a layer of warm, nearly hot, softness that covered his entire body. He had to crawl and crawl until he was finally able to push his way out and draw in a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;12 Days of Xmas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"12 Days of Xmas","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/12-days-of-xmas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5676,"url":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/12-days-of-xmas-a-value-of-you\/","url_meta":{"origin":6677,"position":5},"title":"12 Days of Xmas: A Value of You","author":"Harper Kingsley","date":"January 3, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"A VALUE OF YOU Before there was an Entemat, there had been a world of roses and light. That was how it was described: A place where everyone was free and nobody was forced into the forever hell of Contract Labor. That was the trick the companies played: Once a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;12 Days of Xmas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"12 Days of Xmas","link":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/category\/12-days-of-xmas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6677\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harperkingsley.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}