A guest post by Rose Richards

The wait was long, but it finally happened. Darklight Con 4 took place at Hilton Charles de Gaulle, from 18th to 20th March. We had as guests: Misha Collins (Castiel), Mark Sheppard (Crowley), Mark Pellegrino (Lucifer), Rob Benedict (Chuck/God), Richard Speight Jr (Trickster/Gabriel), Ruth Connell (Rowena), Kim Rhodes (Sheriff Jody Mills) Brianna Buckmaster (Sheriff Donna Hanscum), Alexander Calvert (Jack) and Adam Fergus (Mick Davies).

As a first convention, couldn’t ask for a better experience. I’m a Lucifer/Mark Pellegrino fan & friend that travelled from Portugal not only to meet Mark in person for the first time after this pandemic but to live a Supernatural convention experience, meet the rest of the cast and…most important to be with friends, meeting new people, learn and have a blast. 

I arrived at noon something and went to my hotel, and did my make up. Then I texted my friends, Regina, Katrin, and Lu that came after, and I met them at the lobby of the Hilton. Where we stayed the whole day, waiting for the registration to open at least. We had lunch there, and we were so excited I don’t even remember the number of convos we had. One hour late to the registration… funny that when we arrived at the place, everyone followed us like we were 100% sure it was there…what a funny selfie we took. I was the first one to do it, and after that, we could only wait for the amazing first night we had. Meanwhile, I was rehearsing “The Show Must Go On”. 

The night was here; When Changing Channels episode ended… I knew the moment of finally seeing Mark after almost 3 years was here. The karaoke began, I remember seeing the cast coming from the left door, and getting up on stage. That first impact is something shocking, I spent years watching Supernatural, and suddenly they were in front of me. And there he was… Lucifer. I was looking for him, on the left, when I saw him with Frankie in his bag. He left his buddy on the couch and went on stage. My dad. Lucifer was here. I was in the second row, with my friends. So glorious to see him live. The sentiment was strong, odd; after so much time it’s finally happening. I got to sing with Adam, “Bohemian Rapsody”, unfortunately, the cast didn’t pick the song I signed for. But this moment was worth it. It was the first moment of the con, the first REAL one. Carry On My Wayward Son ended the karaoke, how it should be. All of the cast left except Mark… he grabbed Frankie and came to our group to greet us, with a fist bump! I was the last one… He said ‘Hey’ to me and I said back, I was very shy and overwhelmed at this moment. After waiting years, it’s here. We were scared that this trip was cursed because we had a bad week and lots of unpleasant events before. This was the opening of the 4th edition of Darklight Con.

The second day started at 7:50 am for me, took my breakfast and headed to the hotel. I went straight to the chairs of the auditorium where they hosted the panels. Some of us separated because of the passes, but Regina and Jaqueline managed to sit with me. The opening ceremony started, and the whole cast joined excited for the weekend. Mark was with Frankie obviously! After the pandemic, was good to be back. I could see the cast was beyond happy. Rich and Rob’s panel was the first activity, I tried to ask a question, but I was next and they ended. The question I had prepared was ‘What was the hardest role you guys played so far?’ After this, we were exploring the vendor’s area and the space in general. My first photo op with Mark was at 12:45 pm, everything was a little delayed. This was another moment I always thought about and played a million times in my head. When I entered the room… was so intense. I was nervous as hell. People were coming, greeting, taking and bye. It didn’t help my nerves. Everything was rushed and I was afraid to get a complaint if I took longer. So, when it was my turn, I took my pass and glasses and addressed him, he greeted me with the ‘What’s up?’ We hugged side and that was the first one. Not my plan, but the first… is the first. It’s special nevertheless. Well, I was so frustrated because of the plan failure I ended up buying another photo op. 

After lunchtime (we went to get some things at Mark’s and Spencer’s) we had Ruth and Adams panel, which was hilarious. The fact that I smiled at Misha in the elevator, was so silly! Misha gave his panel, I lost a few minutes, but it was fun. 

We were having breaks, and the autos sessions were the next thing for me. I went to Ruth, Kim, and Brianna first, they were all very sweet and dedicated, we spoke about different things, for example, Ruth was Portugal and Scotland, Kim the fact was my first con and Brianna was funny because I almost let the glass on the table break, I said ‘I’m sorry I’m so clumsy!’ After that… I went to the room where Mark was, Adam too. 

Frankie was on his lap, but then he left. Regina was behind me; I was more chill and trying to calm down. When it was my turn, I gave the lady the paper to sign Mark’s and I said ‘He knows me’ because of the name. He immediately looked at me, relaxed on his chair… and said ‘What’s up Girl!!’ We asked each other how we were, he was signing my poster, I explained my failure in the morning and said I was nervous I asked for a proper hug… he said of course after finishing the poster…

Mark’s first REAL big fucking hug was perhaps the best moment I had with him. His hugs are indeed the best ones. After that, I told him about the karaoke and he said that unfortunately, he had no control over that, so he challenged me to sing with him on Sunday because he was expecting me to be in the meeting room. And I challenged him back. 

The only negative thing about this con is… the constant delays and the lack of organization/information.

Now…

Angel Party!

We chose a table at the end, a black one. I put my black wings, on and let the party begin! 

We had time to pick the food first before the cast came in. We didn’t get anyone since 3 rounds. Mark Pellegrino was the first at our table, he spoke about his diet, and said he can’t control it because of the food around him! He loved the great chocolate mousse at the hotel. I was having that at the end. I don’t remember much, everything happened so fast at this dinner party, but we mentioned plays, Shakespeare… asked how we were doing at the beginning. He kept talking… he was a natural. In the end, he pointed to me and Lu saying “Good seeing you”. 

We spoke different subjects with each actor; Rob was after and I taught him some Portuguese ‘this song is for you’, Rich we spoke about thrift shopping and I said I’ve been loving their Supernatural podcast. Ruth remembered me… from the autos. Misha spoke a lot with our Polish friend, I said I was from Portugal, I was sick so I couldn’t attend the con when he visited in December. I know with Adam I remembered singing with him the song at karaoke, he is amazing. With Mark S, we had deep convos…About war, pandering… how society changed. Alex was drinking his beer, mind is foggy here, I guess I didn’t speak much with him. Kim brought her epic list of French swear words! So, she taught us a few new words in French. Ah…this could be useful. Brianna told us she felt dumb because she was so tired, she arrived like 1/2h jet legged to the con! This party was one of my favourite moments because we had the chance to speak to everyone, learn and express ourselves. I highly recommend this experience.

It was time to finish eating and head to the concert. 

Rob was great damn I missed being in a crowd at gigs. He invited everyone to sing except Alex, Adam, and Mark. I don’t remember seeing Misha. Brianna, Kim, and Ruth sang and Mark S played ‘drums’ using a lil’ box. Everyone sang together. I knew some of the songs, “Amazing” was my choice pick. After the end, I and Regina spotted Mark and I climbed my chair and I said ‘Bye Mark’, he gave him the horns and I have him back.

Third day… the last day. Emotions were already filling the air. 

It was a bitter wake-up, but… it was a Mark Day. Mark. Mark. Mark.

The first panel was with Kim and Brianna… so emotional when Kim touched on a subject about sexism and what she endured during work. Being a woman is not easy. After that, it was time to get 2 photo ops with Mark. I came, to him greeting saying I had two photos today. We had a break and I ended up buying a photo with the two Marks – Luci and Crowley, my favourite characters. Since this was my first con, I wanted to do everything. Hey…we always end up purchasing more items in a con.

Mark finished his group photo and greeted us bowing. He is the best!

After lunchtime, I was extremely nervous because Mark was giving his panel and I wanted to challenge him to sing Stairway to Heaven… 40m fucking minutes of delay… even me and my friends snapped our fingers in the hope to get in sooner. 

When it finally began, I was the first in the room, to be first in line for the question challenge. When I got there, I asked the staff if it was ok to be there already, since it was too early, they said to wait a bit, so I was getting my photo ops and organizing them when I realized the line for the questions was huge and instead of being the first, I was the almost last. I talked to the staff because I felt completely wrong, I was the first… and then I had to wait for this much? I loved the panel, especially Mark telling his ghost stories, and the father and son drama (it was Luci and Jack all along) I was on Luci’s side. And because they were delayed, I didn’t have time to ask the challenge… the good part was, Mark said ‘My friend Rose’ pointing to me because he saw I was waiting this long. I was a dead girl. I said ‘Hi Mark’ back. 

I went to the meeting room point and it was time to get my Mark and Mark photo op! Mark S found it funny that I was the one doing the horns. The Meeting room with Mark was my favourite pick. We had several conversations. In the beginning, I explained my challenge on the panel – he said we could sing together at the end. Unfortunately, no time. So, singing together with Luci has to be at another time.

After this, we waited a bit for the autos to begin, and my friends had a Private Session. I was beginning to feel emotional and tearing up. The ending was near.

I did Rob and Rich auto’s first and I was in the room fighting hard my tears. I didn’t want to let go. I talked to them about stuff we mentioned during the Angel Party. 

When I finished, I went to our spot in the lobby, leaving my stuff and grabbing a photo I wanted Mark to sign. My friends said he was alone… I went there. Strangely I was calm. Super calm. Lu was finishing and there was a girl next. I was the last. 

Perfect goodbye. I’m glad that Supernatural brought me amazing people from all around the globe.

The last ceremony took place, the cast thanked us and each one of them delivered unique and touching messages at the end, we sang the closing song: “Time of Our Lives by Tyrone Wells”.

I wonder about my next con.

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Many thanks to Rose Richards for sharing her personal con experience! It was a great weekend.

Photo: Rose Richards. Check out Rose’s other photos in the Darklight 4 Paris Gallery.