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raaorqtpbpdy · 3 months

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Have You Ever...

Danny gets invited to a hero convention as Danny Phantom, and his booth is next to none other than the legendary Ben 10, one of Danny's own favorite heroes. But when the two start playing a modified version of Never-Have-I-Ever to alleviate their boredom between handshakes with fans, they accidentally expose some things they didn't really mean to.

You can also read it on AO3

Written for X-over Danuary Week 2024, Day 1: Ben 10 | Prison Thanks @crossoverdanuary for running this!

I got a late start because I had DnD today, and I finished this at like 10pm, so I didn't have time to edit. I'm planning on editing it later this week, but until then, sorry for any mistakes. [Edit: it has now been edited]

[Warning for mentions of past traumatic experiences]

It was weird to see such a huge convention center so empty.

Well, it wasn't completely empty, but a few people carrying boxes and setting up displays was a significantly smaller crowd than Danny would normally expect to see in a place like this.

"Ah! Danny Phantom you're here!" A woman with a high ponytail and a convention staff t-shirt walked over to him. "Wow, I'm so excited that you actually came!"

Her voice was familiar.

"Sally, right?" he guessed. "Sally Braddock?"

"You remembered!" She said brightly.

Sally had been the one who'd convinced Danny to come to this convention. She'd offered him pretty substantial payment, but it was only when she told him he could have three free tickets to the convention as well that Tucker told him he had to agree or they wouldn't be friends anymore.

So here he was, at San Diego Hero Con, halfway across the country, to sit at a table and sign autographs for a few hours each day, and then do an hour-long panel with a bunch of other teen heroes, and another tomorrow on specifically ghost hunting. (He was still debating whether he should actually show up to that one, or if it would be too dangerous.) The worst part, though, was how early he had to wake up to set up his booth before the event started.

"Here's your presenter badge," Sally said, and handed him a bright yellow name tag clipped to a blue lanyard with the convention's logo on it. "Celebrity meet-and-greets are over there. I'll lead the way. We try not to put them too close to each other or the lines get out of control, but your booth is right next to Ben 10's."

Danny perked up at that. "The alien guy?"

"Yup!"

Oh, man, he hoped he'd get the chance to talk to him. Ben 10 was Danny's favorite superhero. He got to fight real life aliens, sometimes in actual space! And sure, Danny had been to space before that one time Technus had taken over a satellite, but it had still been a ghost fight. It wasn't the same.

"So, this is your table," Sally said, pointing to an empty, white folding table. "Do you have a tablecloth, or banners or headshots or anything?" she asked him with a tight smile.

"Uh.... I don't photograph well," he replied.

Sally sighed. "Well, I can bring over one of the convention tablecloths, but you really should get some kind of poster or cardboard cut-out or something that shows people who they're meeting. And you'll definitely need something to sign. Comic books, or T-shirts. Anything, really. There's a portrait artist in Artists Alley who works pretty fast, her name is Jess. If you get something from her, I can send a gopher to make copies for you to sign."

"Uh, okay? But, I can just call a friend to bring something."

"Whatever works." With that, Sally left to go organize something else.

Danny called up Sam, who was back at the hotel with Tucker—Tucker would no doubt still be sleeping—and asked her to find a nearby print shop and get a Danny Phantom Banner to hang up and a whole bunch of 8x10 illustrations of him. He let her pick the picture, but asked her to please not pick anything too embarrassing.

Right as he hung up, a pair of people approached the booth next to him carrying plastic tubs. It was none other than Ben 10 himself and a tall, furry, blue alien who was no doubt one of his allies. (That or a cosplayer, but since they were with Ben 10 himself, Danny felt safe in assuming that they really were an alien.) The two of them placed their tubs on the floor and opened them up to start unpacking their display.

"Woah, hi!" Danny said, louder than he meant to.

Ben 10 snapped his head around, muscles tensing. Danny recognized that response all too well, and tried not to let out a sympathetic wince.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," he said. "You're Ben 10, right? I know this is cringey to say, but I'm a huge fan."

"Uh, thanks? Just Ben is fine."

"I'm Danny Phantom, but you can just call me Danny."

"I can see that... uh... nice to meet you?" Ben replied. He seemed uncomfortable. Had Danny come on too strong.

"Something wrong?"

"What? No, of course not," Ben said, though it wasn't very convincing.

"I am Rook Blonko," Ben's companion said, offering Danny a handshake which he excitedly accepted. "It is an honor to meet another hero, though I will admit, it was only recently that I came to learn about you."

"Oh, yeah," Danny let out an awkward laugh and rubbed the back of his head. "My scope is a lot more regional and sometimes not very... in this dimension."

"That would be... the Ghost Zone, right?" Ben said casually. "What's it like? Anything like the Null Void?"

So he was at least somewhat familiar with Danny and his exploits. Danny tried not to let that go to his head, but he couldn't help feeling a little giddy nonetheless. Ben laid down a black tablecloth with his logo on it and spread it across his table. This definitely wasn't his first rodeo.

"I don't know about the Null Void," Danny said. "It's like the bottom side of this dimension. It's where ghosts live... or... not live. Reside. Almost everything is green because of all the ectoplasm there, and when humans go there, they can pass right through walls and objects just like ghosts can in this dimension."

"That does not sound like the Null Void at all," Rook observed, pulling rods and boards out of one of the boxes and assembling them into a small standing shelf.

"What's the Null Void like?" Danny asked.

"Mostly red," Ben said with a shrug. "Full of floating islands and enormous aliens. Used as a penal colony for this dimension's worst criminals."

"Oh... yeah, no. Aside from the floating islands, that doesn't sound anything like the Ghost Zone," Danny agreed. "Although it's kind of a cool coincidence that we both have experience with alternate dimensions."

"Yeah, I guess so." Ben looked over at Danny and his sad excuse for a booth—really looking for the first time. "First time at one of these things?"

"Oh yeah," Danny confirmed. "My friend is bailing me out at a print shop right now, but I was so unprepared."

Ben snorted. "Here," he said, digging through one of his boxes and pulling out a bright green swath of fabric. "You can use one of my tablecloths. I brought an extra, just in case. It has my logo on one side, but if you turn it around so the logo faces you no one will be the wiser. We have basically the same color scheme, so it works out."

"Thanks," Danny accepted the tablecloth, slightly surprised, and spread it out over his table. It was almost exactly ectoplasm green, just a shade or two darker. "Have you been to a lot of conventions?"

"A few," Ben said.

"This is your fourth," Rook said.

"That sounds right. If it hadn't been for Rook, I probably would've been just as lost as you at my first one. He's all about preparing in advance. But yeah, I've been a public hero for over a year now, and since my identity isn't a secret anymore, it's easier for the people who run these things to get a hold of me."

"About that... why don't you have a secret identity?"

"It wasn't exactly my choice," Ben replied. "Some kid found it out and exposed me on the internet. It turned out surprisingly well, though, for the most part. Must be nice for you though, not having an alternate identity—not that being dead is nice or anything like that—I mean, it's not a bad thing—or it is a bad thing? I uh... yeah, I don't know what I'm saying."

After taking a moment to parse that rambling sentence, Danny burst out laughing.

"Hahaha! Is that why you're acting so uncomfortable around me? Because I'm dead? Ha! You don't have to worry about that. You're fine."

"Serious?"

"Dead serious," Danny replied with a smirk.

Ben shook his head with a soft laugh. "Alright, fine.... Actually, that's not the only reason. Back when I was ten and just starting out I had... a bad experience with a ghost-like alien of mine. Ever since, ghost stuff just puts me a little on edge."

"Oh... I see. Well, don't worry, I won't take it personally," Danny said. "Did you really start doing this when you were ten?"

"Yeah. Although I kinda retired for a few years when I was eleven, and started up again when I was fifteen."

Danny did some quick math in his head. "Oh, so altogether, you and me have been in this for about the same amount of time. 'Cause I got started a little over two years ago."

"Yeah?" Ben was silent for a few moments. He pulled out boxed figurines of his alien forms and lined them up on the shelf Rook had assembled. "So... when did you...."

"Die?" Danny finished for him. "I was fourteen. I'm almost seventeen now. In about three months, I mean."

"Do you still age?"

"Sort of?" Danny shrugged.

He and Jazz had come up with an answer to this question a little while ago, when people noticed that Danny Phantom was starting to look older, even though ghosts supposedly didn't age.

"A ghost's body is a reflection of their mental image of themself. In the Zone, ghosts don't really age or change unless something specific happens that makes them feel older or different. Because I spend so much time in the human world still, because I learn and grow with each fight, I still feel like I'm growing up, so I look like I'm growing up, too."

"That is fascinating," Rook said. "I would love to learn more about ghostly biology."

"I would love to tell you about it. Problem is, I really don't know that much," Danny told him apologetically. He shrugged. "Sorry. I'm a superhero, not a scientist."

"I'm here!" Sam called, her heavy combat boots tromping into the room. She was carrying a large cardboard box. "I would have been here sooner, but I had to put together a design for the banner. Luckily I found a printer that could make one for you on short notice like this, or you'd be screwed."

"You're a life saver!"

"You wish," she scoffed. "I got you a banner and three hundred head shots."

"That's not gonna be enough," Ben said immediately.

"Ya think?" Sam asked.

"Trust me."

She sighed heavily in annoyance. "Okay, I can go back and get some more, but you so owe me, Danny."

"Yeah, I know," Danny said, taking the box from Sam. "You're the best!"

"Yeah, yeah," she said, taking one of the head shots off the top of the stack and leaving again.

"Is that your friend?" Ben asked.

"One of them," Danny confirmed, setting the box down on the table. "That's Sam. She and Tucker have been with me since the beginning. He's probably still asleep at the hotel."

He pulled out a stack of head shots for the table and slid the box with the rest underneath. She'd picked a good picture. It was a poster illustration for a local ghost awareness presentation he'd done a while back, and he nearly sighed with relief when he saw it. He'd been half afraid she'd pick one of the grainy newspaper photos of him in his underwear.

"That's cool," Ben said. "Yeah, I don't think anyone could do this job without allies. When I first started, I had my Grandpa and my cousin, then my cousin and my best friend, and now I have Rook as my partner."

"We have been together for a year," Rook added.

"Like... together together or...?"

"Working partners," Ben clarified insistently. "It's not like that."

"Oh, okay, my bad."

Hoping to alleviate his embarrassment, Danny unfurled his new banner and flew up to hang it on the wall behind his booth. It looked cool, but not too complicated. Just his name and logo and a little bit of ghost designs around the edges. Sam had done a good job with it.

"You are not the first to think that," Rook consoled. "It is a more common assumption than one might think."

They continued chatting idly while they set up their booths. Danny got to ask Rook what kind of alien he was, and what his home planet was like. Sam showed up with a whole bunch more photos and then immediately abandoned them to get a sneak preview of artist alley before she came back as an attendee.

Just before the convention center officially opened, Danny worked up the courage to ask Ben for an autograph, and Ben obliged him with a smile, offering an exchange, rather than asking for payment. Danny eagerly accepted, signing one of his own pictures and trading it for Ben's. Ben's looked far more professional than his own. He hoped people wouldn't be disappointed.

As people started trickling in past the security checkpoint up front, both heroes only got a few people in the beginning. After only about twenty minutes of boredom, Ben suggested they play a game.

"Sure," Danny agreed. "What game?"

"My buddy Kevin calls it Reverse-Never-Have-I-Ever, and my cousin calls it Have-You-Ever." Ben said. "See, we could never play regular Never-Have-I-Ever, because we all knew all the weird stuff we'd done and we'd target each other mercilessly. With this version, You say something you have done, and anyone who hasn't done it loses a point. If everyone's done it, no one loses a point."

"Okay... I think I get the idea, but why don't you start? Five fingers or ten?"

"Let's start with five," Ben said. "Rook, you playing?"

"I will pass," Rook said. "I always lose this game."

"Alright, if that's what you want." Ben shrugged. "Alright, Danny, have you ever... transformed into a different species?"

"Yes."

"You have?!"

"Uh, yeah. I went from human to ghost. Duh."

"Oh... right, duh," Ben agreed, shaking his head at how foolish he'd been to blow his first question like that. "Wow, I can't believe I didn't even think about that...."

"My turn, right?" Danny said. "Have you ever fought an evil alternate version of yourself?"

"Yeah, like six of 'em."

"Okay, well, now you're just showing off."

Ben smirked. "Oh, I never get to use this one on my friends. Have you ever been to space?"

Danny smirked right back. "One of my rogues possessed an orbital satellite."

"Damn it!"

Someone walked over to Danny's table and he smiled at her, pointedly ignored the way she shivered when he shook her hand, and signed a photo for her.

"Okay," he said, shifting his attention back to the game, "have you ever... been cut in two."

"I regenerated, but yeah."

"How?" Danny demanded.

"Plant alien."

"I should've guessed. Stupid plant creatures with their stupid regenerative powers. Undergrowth-ass alien. Lame."

Ben laughed at him while he signed a figurine for a fan who came to his table. "How about this. Have you ever fought a medieval-style knight?"

"A knight? Hold on." Danny considered that for a moment. Had he? He'd rescued Sam from Dora's realm that one time, and yeah, he'd definitely had to fight the ghosts of knights then. Oh! Also Fright Knight. How could he forget about him. "Yes, I have definitely fought knights on several occasions. Ghost knights, obviously."

"Ugh! I really thought I had you with that one. Why do ghosts who died a thousand years ago have to stick around for so long?"

"Nope!" Danny teased. "Okay, how about this one. Have you ever fought a ghost?"

"Define ghost?" Ben asked.

"The law defines a ghost as any creature which produces ectoplasm, is composed of ectoplasm, or requires ectoplasm to survive," Danny recited.

There was no need to say which law—that would be the anti-ecto acts. It was stupid that those stupid acts were still even law when public support of ghosts had never been higher. Although, they hadn't been as heavily enforced the last year or so, since the G.I.W. lost a lot of funding after repeatedly failing to catch their most wanted, Danny.

"Then yes, I have," Ben said. "Have you ever fought an alien?"

"Define alien."

"A creature originating from a planet or plane other than Earth."

"Then yes, ghosts."

"Ah ah ah!" Ben argued. "Ghosts are the spirits of dead humans, which means they originate on Earth."

"Except that not all ghosts are the spirits of dead humans," Danny countered right back. "Many ghosts originally formed inside the Ghost Zone, which makes them, by your definition, aliens, and I have fought them, too. Also I fought off some Incurseans back when they invaded the Earth a little while back. It was awesome."

Ben groaned.

"Haha! Gotcha!"

"Just go already."

"Have you ever died?"

"Ha! Yes, I have," Ben said, as if dying was some huge victory. "You probably thought you had me, but you were wrong. I may have been brought back through alien magic and/or time travel, but yes, I have died. Speaking of which, have you ever time-traveled."

"Psh, have I time traveled?" Danny scoffed. "I have literally met the Ancient, omniscient Master of Time. He's a huge pain in the neck."

It was at this point that more people started accumulating at the two heroes' tables. Some got in line for autographs, though both Ben and Danny were too engrossed in their game at this point to give their full attention. Others just stood, watching, and listening to the two of them. A few even started filming their little game.

"Alright, my turn," Danny said. "Have you ever... oh, I have a good one! Have you ever had to fight your best friend after he copied your powers which then caused him to lose his mind and become evil?"

"Literally how?!" Ben shouted.

"Is that a no?"

"No, I meant 'literally how' as in how has something that specific happened to both of us?"

"No way!"

"Yes way! That's happened to Kevin more than once."

"What?!"

"I know, right?"

"It is also strange for this game to go so long without any of the participants losing a point," Rook said. "I believe it is at this point that I would have lost, had I been participating."

"You put up a good fight, Rook," Ben joked.

"But... I was not playing?"

"I was teasing, Rook."

"Ah, yes."

"Whose turn is it now?" Ben asked. "Mine, right?"

"Yeah," Danny confirmed.

"Have you ever had a limb severed?"

"Yes, but I'm a ghost, so I reattached it pretty easily. Have you ever altered the fabric of reality?"

"I once had to recreate the entire universe after it got destroyed, and then went on intergalactic trial for doing it. And the worst part is, ever since then, grape smoothies just don't taste the same. It's so frustrating. I did get this super comfortable hoodie out of it, though."

"Ew, smoothies?" Danny grimaced. "What are you a yoga mom?"

Ben stood up, slamming a hand on his table and with the other, he pointed accusingly at Danny. "Smoothies are delicious, screw you!"

"You're just frustrated because I'm winning."

"You're not winning, neither of us have lost a single point! But you will!" Ben declared. "Have you ever saved the whole entire universe."

"Yes."

"What?" Ben fell back into his chair, deflated.

"A while back, this one group, the G.I.W. tried to destroy the Ghost Zone with a special anti-ghost nuke, and I stopped them. The Ghost Zone is the flip side of our dimension, so if it had been destroyed, it would have taken our universe along with it. Hence, I saved the universe. I just didn't let it get all over international news first."

"Boo!"

"Isn't that my line?" Danny said.

Ben threw a sharpie at him and he turned intangible and let it pass right through him while he laughed at his own joke.

"Anyway, have you ever visited an alternate timeline where the entire earth is barren and desolate and the alternate version of you rules supreme?"

"Yes, I call it the Mad Universe, because it looked like Mad Max, you know?"

"Oh, yeah, I guess I can see it. But really? You have?"

"Yup. The alternate version of Rook was a jerk."

Rook frowned but didn't have the chance to say anything before Ben kept talking.

"Have you ever... I don't know... every time I go weirder, you just match me. Have you ever had a family member be friends with one of you enemies?"

"Yeah, my dad considers my archenemy his best friend in the world," Danny said. "The feeling is not mutual, though. Have you ever been imprisoned by one of your enemies?"

"More times than I can count. Have you ever asexually reproduced?"

"Do clones count?"

"No!" Ben refused.

"Yes," Rook argued, possibly still upset about Ben's jerk comment. "Technically, cloning is a form of asexual reproduction."

"But could they fly?"

"I don't see how that's relevant to asexual reproduction, but yes," Danny said. "They were ghosts. They could fly. Most of them were too unstable to survive though. There's only one left." He frowned.

"Oh... sorry."

"It's... fine." It wasn't fine. He still found himself lying awake at night thinking about them sometimes. Danny shook his head and plastered on a determined grin. "I really think I've got you this time, though."

"Do you?" Ben did not sound convinced.

"Have you ever had to fight sentient food that was not still alive?"

"Y—wait...." Ben frowned as he thought about it for a long moment. "No... I haven't."

"Yes!" Danny cheered and Ben buried his head in his hands, humiliated. "This puts me in the lead."

"Not for long," Ben said. "Have you ever eaten food from another planet?"

"Wha—noooo...."

"Ha!"

"We're dead even again."

Their game continued.

"Have you ever fought a cult's subject of worship?"

"Have you ever had a Christmas-themed battle?"

"Have you ever fought on the same side as one of your enemies?"

"Have you ever been called upon to end a war?"

"Have you ever unexpectedly developed a new power that caused you trouble?"

"Have you ever used your powers to get out of other responsibilities?"

"Have you ever had to skip out on something you were really looking forward to and save the day?"

"Have you ever been blamed for property damage your enemies caused just because you happened to be there at the time?"

"Have you ever been mind controlled?"

"Have you ever fought an evil circus?"

The game kept going on and on, while they absently shook hands and signed autographs, with neither of them giving up another point. Until Sally showed up to tell them it was time to go to the teen hero panel they were on.

It was only then that they looked up and saw all the cameras that had been recording their game. How long had they been recording? How much had they gotten?

"Uh... right," Ben said. "Sorry everyone. You can come back for autographs after the panel. And Danny, I think we're gonna have to call it a draw."

"We'll have to have a rematch some other time," Danny said, trying to keep his tone light, despite his sudden anxiety.

Sally led the two of them to a large room with rows upon rows of empty seats, right down the aisle to the stage up front where a man in his thirties was already standing, and a masked teenage girl with glowing pink hair and eyes was sitting behind the table.

"Hello, I'm John and I'll be moderating this panel," the man introduced. "This is Lucky Girl, another teen hero we invited. Lucky Girl, this is Ben 10 and Danny Phantom."

"Nice to meet you," Danny said.

"I can't believe they roped you into this," Ben said, smiling at the girl like he knew her.

"Shut up," the girl barked back. "We can't all gain international fame overnight, and I have to pay for student housing."

"You two already know each other?" John asked, surprised.

"Oh yeah, we've known each other for a long time," Ben said. "All our lives, in fact."

"Ben, I swear if you give me away I will hex you so bad your children's children's children will travel for miles just to spit on your grave."

Ben put up his hands in surrender, and took his seat without another word. Danny followed his lead. This Lucky Girl didn't seem like the kind of person he wanted to mess with.

Once they were all in their seats, John gave them a quick run down of how the panel would go. He would ask a few questions. They would answer. He would open it up to questions from the audience, and they would answer those too. After an hour, the panel would be over, and they would return to their booths, or in Lucky Girl's case, simply leave, as she apparently didn't have a booth.

"She uses her powers to disguise herself, but she can't keep that up for more than an hour and a half," Ben whispered to Danny, clearly sensing his confusion. "She'll probably hang around for a little while after to greet fans, but she'll have to leave when her mana's drained."

"Oh, okay, that makes sense," Danny whispered back, nodding. "I was worried it might be like a sexism thing."

"As if she'd stand for something like that," Ben scoffed.

Soon enough, the doors opened, and people started trickling in. The seats filled up with mostly teens and young adults, with a few parents and older adults sprinkled in. Danny noticed Sam and Tucker come in and sit in the back row and waved at them. Rook was also sitting in the back row, trying not to draw attention to himself. Although, it seemed like most people thought he was a cosplayer, so he didn't really have to bother hiding.

When the doors closed, John started the panel.

The first part was easy.

John asked questions like: "How do you balance being a hero with the other responsibilities you have as an adolescent?"

"Honestly, not well. You know how people say 'you can sleep when you're dead'? Yeah, that's a lie."

"I'm lucky enough to have a good memory so I don't have to study much, otherwise my grades in school would tank. For me, the real struggle is finding time to do chores."

"I prioritize my other responsibilities. I don't usually face world-ending, city-destroying threats like these two, which allows me the luxury of saving hero work for after my homework is finished."

And: "Where do you go when you want to de-stress after saving the day?"

"I usually go over to my friends' and play video games. I feel safe around them."

"If the sun's still up, Mr. Smoothie. But if it's late, I like to go out for chili fries."

"The library. I know it makes me sound like a nerd, but whatever. I am a nerd. Who cares."

And: "How do your parents figure in to you heroic activities?"

"They... don't know. They don't exactly have a great opinion of ghosts, and they don't recognize me when... I mean, they don't recognize me anymore. So I guess they don't figure in." That wasn't entirely true, but Danny wasn't about to say they shot at him in front of a crowd of hundreds of people.

"My parents are actually very supportive. At first, they wanted me to quit, because they were worried about my safety, but I changed their minds. They raised me to know right from wrong, and to help others whenever I can, and they're proud of me."

"My parents don't know either, and I don't live with them right now because I live on my school campus, so I guess, like Phantom, my parents don't really figure in either."

They were easy questions to answer, even if Danny didn't always tell the whole truth. John kept things light, focusing mostly on them being teenagers, and how being a hero affected that aspect of their life, rather than the other way around. There were a couple questions about battles and enemies, but for the most part, they avoided the heavy stuff.

Then, about halfway into the panel, John opened it up to the audience to ask questions.

They didn't shy away from the heavy stuff.

"Hi, I'm Mandy, big fan," said a girl with curly brown hair. "I have two questions for Ben, first is, are you dating anyone?"

Ben chuckled, trying to sound amused, even though, up close, Danny could tell the question made him uncomfortable.

"No, I'm not dating right now."

The girl giggled for a moment before asking her next question. "My next question is: when you're fighting an alien invasion basically by yourself, do you ever feel afraid?"

Ben didn't answer right away. He took a breath, and nodded.

"Yes," he said. "I know I'm strong, and there's a lot that I can do and have done, but when I'm outnumbered a thousand to one, yeah, I'm a little afraid."

"Not that you were ever actually by yourself," Lucky Girl pointed out.

"Heh," Ben rubbed his neck awkwardly. "That's true. Even if there weren't many, I've always had people in my corner."

The next person who stepped up was a guy in a Danny Phantom T-shirt which read 'it's not gay if he's dead.'

Danny immediately groaned and Ben grinned hugely. "Before you ask your question, I have a question for you. Where did you get that shirt?"

"I got it at a souvenir shop when I went to Amity Park, but I think you can buy them online, too," they guy said.

"I'm getting one."

Danny groaned even more insistently.

"My question is for Phantom. If you hadn't died, do you think you still would have become a hero, and protected your home from ghosts?"

"Honestly? I don't know," Danny admitted. "Amity Park does have other ghost hunters, the Fentons and Red Huntress, for example. If I hadn't d... if I didn't have my powers, I wouldn't really have the ability to protect anybody. I'd probably leave it to the ghost hunters who were better equipped."

"And for Lucky Girl, are you single?"

"Ha ha no," she said flatly. "I have a boyfriend."

"Figures."

Next up was a girl in some pretty fantastic Lucky Girl cosplay. Her wig even lit up. Although she looked like she was quite a bit taller than the real thing.

"Lucky Girl, do your periods ever interfere with fighting crime?"

"Uh... that's a bit personal," Lucky Girl said instantly, as if the answer was instinctive.

But when she saw the way the girl reacted like she'd been slapped, hunching in on herself with shame, Lucky Girl bit her lip and answered anyway.

"Actually... the life of a superhero is really stressful. The kind of stress that has... biological effects. When I first started fighting crime as, like, a regular thing, I didn't have a period for months. When I finally did again it was... you know what, I'll spare you the details. Suffice it to say, it was really bad. Like, my doctor prescribed me pills to stop me from menstruating bad. So... I guess the answer to your question is 'not anymore' and also sorry for the TMI." She finished with a short grimace.

"Thank you for answering," the girl said before going to sit back down.

Ben covered his mic and turned to her. "How come I never knew about that?"

"Are you kidding?" Lucky Girl muttered back. "Like I'm gonna discuss my cycle with a fifteen-year-old boy."

Ben didn't even attempt to argue with that.

As... much as those questions were, it was the next one that really stopped everything in its tracks.

"Hi, I'm Michael. I don't know if you know about this video that's going around. It was only posted, like, less than an hour ago, but it's really blown up in fan circles already," the young man said. "The video shows Phantom and Ben 10... I guess playing a game or something? Where you guys are asking each other if you'd done certain things and basically comparing experiences with each other? Do you know it?"

Ben and Danny shot each other anxious looks.

"Uh... I haven't seen it, but I think we know what you're talking about," Ben answered cautiously. "Is that your question?"

"No, my question is... well, in the video you guys are talking about alternate timelines, and fighting evil versions of yourselves, and getting mind-controlled, and changing reality. I guess my question is. Did all that stuff really happen to you guys?"

Neither Ben nor Danny wanted to answer. They didn't look at each other, or the crowd. They deeply regretted playing a game that revealed such personal secrets in a public space.

Finally, Ben cleared his throat. "Yes, all that happened." Danny nodded his own confirmation. "The life we lead is a dangerous one, and it demands sacrifices, and it takes a lot from you, and it puts you in a lot of strange situations that few others can understand. It's... not for everyone."

The next fan stepped up to the mic. "Follow up questions. First, how are you guys like... functional? Because I mean, if I'd gone through the kind of stuff you were talking about in that video, I think I'd have a mental breakdown. Second, why would you put yourselves through all that?"

"Well, first off, bold of you to assume I've never had a mental breakdown," Danny said. "And secondly, if we don't do it, who will?" he asked. "We're not just random ordinary high schoolers who up and decided to subject ourselves to unspeakable trauma just for the fun of it.

"We do this because we have the power to do things others can't, to fight enemies other people can't fight. We do this because if we don't... if we don't, people die. Or worse. People experience the kind of things we do trying to protect them. So I guess the answer to both of your questions is, what other choice do we have?"

"Yeah, exactly what Danny said," Ben agreed. "I tried to give up my powers, and my responsibilities once, and people got hurt because of it. My grandpa.... Because I wanted to live a normal life, to take it easy, there was no one else to protect them. It is every individual's responsibility to do what they can to help others. It just so happens that we can do more than most, and that comes with drawbacks.

"Lucky Girl, care to weigh in? You weren't in the video, but I know you've had your share of superhero related trauma."

"I think you guys pretty much covered it," she replied. "I don't think I've been through quite as much as you two, but I definitely know about the sacrifices we make for this life. I also know that it's worth it to know that the people and places you love are safe and protected because of you."

The boy's both nodded in agreement.

The questions didn't really lighten up after that. "What's the worst experience you've ever had as a hero?" "Have you ever failed to protect someone?" "We heard Ben 10 say so already, but have you ever wanted to quit, or wished you never had powers in the first place?"

After a point, John noticed how uncomfortable they were getting and had to step in and ask that the next few questions not be so dark.

A younger girl, maybe even a middle schooler, hand mercy on them at last, and asked, "What was the funniest thing that ever happened to you while you were saving the day?" and from there the questions finally eased up.

It felt like it had been far longer than an hour when the session ended, and they left the stage and returned to their booths to sign autographs and shake hands and listen to dozens of people gushing, "I'm you're biggest fan!"

They didn't pick up their game again, even when things got slow. Evidently they'd learned their lesson. And they kept learning it as more and more of the people who came to visit them asked about that video. Each time Danny had to smile and laugh it off, the regret deepened.

It had been a while since he felt like such a complete idiot. Since he'd done something so thoughtless. He'd gotten a lot better at keeping secrets over the years, but he'd just been so excited to talk with someone he had so much in common with—and yeah, he'd probably gotten a little too competitive also. He should have known better.

"So uh... I was at your panel earlier," said a girl who placed a science magazine on the table for him to sign. The cover touted an article about 10 Things You Didn't Know About Ghosts (they have their own culture!). Danny remembered doing that interview.

"That's nice, thanks for coming," Danny said, his smile tensing. "Do you want me to sign the cover, or the page with the article."

"The cover please," the girl said. "For Marnie. And um... I was too nervous to stand up and ask before, but... I was really curious."

"Oh?" Danny asked, keeping his eyes on his hand as he signed the cover 'To Marnie, stay spooky'.

"Why would you make it a game?" she asked. "Wouldn't it be better to try to forget all those things?"

"Easier said than done," Danny said. "Things like that stay with you. Turning them into a joke or a game takes the power away from those bad memories. When you're laughing at your fears, what can they do to you? That's the way I see it. Ben might have another reason, and technically, it was his game. He came up with it."

"So... what you're saying is, laughter is the best medicine?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Danny agreed. He slid the magazine back to her. "Thanks for coming by."

Finally, Danny's shift was over, and Ben's ended at the same time. Just in time, too, because Danny was just about out of photos. He'd have to get more for tomorrow. He signed his last picture with a sigh of relief, thankful that the convention staff had come by to cut off the line when it was about time for him to be finished.

"You finished too, Danny?" Ben asked.

"Yup."

"You wanna go get lunch with us? Wait... do ghosts eat?"

"We do, but I was gonna meet up with my friends for lunch today, and then explore the convention a little." Danny said. "Are you gonna be here tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'm here for the whole con," Ben said. "Here, let me give you my number. We should keep in touch."

"Totally!" Danny agreed. "It'll be nice to have an actual superhero friend. I love Sam and Tucker, but there are some things...."

"Yeah, I get what you mean."

After swapping numbers the two of them headed off to their separate engagements. Danny transformed and got to experience what else Hero Con had to offer without getting swarmed by fans like he saw happening to Ben that afternoon.

They met up again the next day. Chatted at their booths, had lunch together, checked out the fan artists, just hung out for a while. This time around, Danny didn't have his human form to protect him from the crowds.

That video of their game haunted them both for the rest of the convention. People kept bringing it up until it became almost more annoying than mortifying.

When Hero Con finally ended, they both breathed sighs of relief. The convention was over, but Ben and Danny kept in touch. They never did have that rematch though. In fact, they were both pretty much done with 'Have-You-Ever'.

#dp #danny phantom #danny fenton #ben 10 #ben tennyson #gwen tennyson #fic #things i wrote #crossover danuary week #crossover danuary week 2024 #crossover #party games #past trauma #humor #dp x ben 10 #dp crossover #dialogue heavy

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missis-maple394 · 9 months

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ORANGE BOX - SMILE WITH MIKU

DO NOT REPOST / EDIT / TRACE / MONETIZE MY ART FROM OTHER SITES.

Author’s comment:

This quick artwork was previously drawn in 06.03.2023. I wrote my date is wrong because I've been jaunting myself from playing TF2 (Team Fortress 2), distracted and forgot how to count in a moment. I really want to do more of this so posting it here deserves a spot because I'm proud of this one. Oh and Miku's birthday is coming up!

When I look at this piece; I asked myself, "How does it feels like taking an actual break from obligation from personal/fan art drawing work, and that became choreful to rely quantity illustrations?" It was really sad for me, and I can't do the commitment to make more, then I realized; I have a lot of ideas, that I want to draw that. It was overwhelming. From my head again, take it at one time, and work smartly.

Enough talking myself, but I would be honesty glad if you relate this way and love this artwork in the end. I do really deserve a break for a loooooooooong time thanks to TF2 and friends. I will return and bring my older WIPs to carry it. Have a good one.

Author’s note:

Do not start a roleplay/venting/fanfiction using replying / reblogging / DMs with my artworks.

Do not add your playful or direct rudeness to my posts such as replies, reblogged with comments, hidden tags and private messages.

Do not tag and marked as a kin/me/morally questionable content etc.

DO NOT claim my artworks belong to you, and removing / cropping my watermarks away.

Please DM me for inquiries such as commissioned work or reporting my artwork has been reposted or edited.

#missmapleart #msm2023 #my art #myart #ART-PORTFOLIO #digital art #digital drawing #artist on tumblr #artists on tumblr #fanart #fan art #fanartwork #fan artwork #初音ミク #miku hatsune #hatsune miku #vocaloid hatsune

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shoggothkisses · 7 months

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Lore Rant: Ars Goetia Review and Speculation, 4.0 Edition

Yes, I know - Genshin fans and loremongers have done this a hundred times. It's everywhere on the wiki; we've been digging up info on the "demonic names" of the Archons (and non-Archon gods!) for as long as Genshin has been out. But I want to make a post about it, damn it, and so I will. Hopefully it'll make a nice point of reference that's easier to examine as a whole document than hopping around from wiki page to wiki page.

I also want to include a little speculation and some miscellaneous info I gleaned from looking at a facsimile of the actual Ars Goetia (second edition, ed. Aleister Crowley, you prick) I happened to find at work. It's a small book but the sucker is dense. Even so, i came across a couple things I found interesting enough to share.

I. Goetic Demons Referenced in Genshin(as of 4.0)

Baal/Bael (Makoto & Ei) - King : "rules over the East," can provide the sorcerer invoking them with invisibility. (It should be noted that although the only "true" Baal in Genshin is Makoto, Ei is also referred to as Baal. Beelzebul [Ei's true demonic name] is not spoken of directly in the Ars Goetia, as the name is synonymous with Baal [Ba'al-zebul, NOT Beelzebub] - who, other than being mentioned briefly as a ruler over demons in the Bible, has basically nothing attributed to him.)

Amon/Amun (Deshret) - Marquis : depicted as a fire-breathing wolf with a serpent's tail; knows all things past and future. (this gets repeated a LOT, and with very specific figures.)

Barbatos (Venti) - Duke : associated with Sagittarius (the archer constellation) ; can talk to animals ; can talk to animals ; knows all things past and future. (Though it may be coincidental, an illustration in the copy of the Goetia I was reading from had Barbatos depicted as an elf-eared man surrounded by horns playing music.)

Paimon (...Paimon) - King : "very obedient unto Lucifer" ; supposed to have a "great roaring voice" that makes it impossible to understand him upon first summoning (lmao) ; not only knows of all things past and future but also knows about the World/Earth and how it "floats upon the Seas" ; associated with the West. (will discuss this later in the post.)

Buer (Nahida) - President : associated with Sagittarius (less meaningful than Barbatos, but maybe there's something there) ; teaches Philosophy and Logic ; knows the "virtues" of herbs and plants and can heal all diseases

Morax (Zhongli) - Earl AND President : depicted as a bull with a man's face (may be referenced in Venti's voice lines, as he calls him a "stubborn blockhead" in CN) ; knows Astronomy, "Liberal Sciences," and the virtues of all herbs and stones (referenced heavily in the Liyue Archon Quest)

Naberius - Marquis : depicted as a black bird or crane ; knowledgable in art and rhetoric. (We know basically nothing about Naberius, except that Gold and Albedo [in his character story] found an artifact called the Heart of Naberius in a dungeon, and that after finding it, Albedo was entrusted with "finding the truth of the world." We can't automatically conclude that Naberius was a dragon based solely on its depiction in the Goetia, as it seems HYV picked and chose which depictions they wanted to reference - but I don't think it would be a stretch if it was.)

Astaroth (Istaroth) - Duke : depicted as an angel riding a dragon, carrying a viper in one hand (sick.) ; knows all things past and future ; has knowledge of "why the Spirits fell."

Marchosias (Guoba!) - Marquis : has a similar description to Amun (wolf with serpent's tail) ; likewise breathes fire. (While Guoba isn't extremely important to the overall story in Teyvat, I find it's worth mentioning him because he was technically the first mention of a god losing its memories and shrinking into a smaller form after expending a great deal of elemental energy - which is exactly what happened to Nahida and, I strongly believe, other godscoughPaimoncough.)

Focalor (Furina) - Duke : depicted as a man with gryphon's wings (there are a LOT of gryphon statues in Fontaine!) ; capable of drowning men and overturning war ships ; controls the seas

Haagenti (Guizhong) - President : teaches men how to transmute all metals into gold (Because I can't leave well enough alone, I definitely think there's an implication here about Guizhong being the one who actually brought gold/Mora to Liyue. The Zhongli of the past was better known for his martial prowess than his intelligence - which I find hilarious considering the Zhongli we know now - and so I suspect his current role as God of Commerce came from things she taught him.)

Orobas (Orobashi) - Prince : can discover all things past and future (note: written in a more passive way than other "knowledge of all things" demons; as though he takes a passive role and gives the ability to the summoner, rather than just telling them) ; gives true answers about the creation of the world. (I like to take this description from the Goetia as a sign that everything Orobashi learned from Before Sun and Moon was true and accurate - why else would Celestia try so hard to silence him?)

Ose (Oz???) - President : can convince a target (specified by the summoner) that they're something they're not. (Oz often gets mentioned in this line-up because he's listed right before a demon named Amy (Fischl) - who doesn't really do anything special that other demons can't already do. I used to think this was coincidental but ultimately pointless speculation, since...well, Fischl's a human, right? But there has to be a reason why Oz exists, and an answer to where he came from. I'll be mentioning it in a future discussion. :9)

Andras (Andrius) - Marquis : depicted as riding a black wolf ; aggro as heck and will kill you if you're not paying attention to what you're doing. (Might be a reference to his role as a boss.)

Haures/Havres (Havria) - Duke : like Orobas, has knowledge of all things and will give answers about the creation of the world ; notably, will lie if not bound correctly. (Very little is written about Havres otherwise; the lying part of the description may be a reference to how Havria's story was altered in Liyue as time passed.)

Decarabia (n) - Duke : takes the form of a pentacle ; knows virtue of all stones and all birds. (I went through Decarabian's wiki page a couple times and I can't find a direct reference to birds anywhere. What I can offer in terms of speculation is that they may have used this as a reference to how he essentially made Old Mondstadt into a cage [with his people trapped as birds might be], or how Dvalin [who inhabits Decarabian's tower after his fall] has birdlike plumage. Avian symbols are all over in Genshin, but I don't know if they have much to do with Decarabia in general.)

II. Miscellaneous Notes & Speculations

According to the Goetia (and corroborated by me, just now, on the internet), the word "demon" is derived from Proto-European daimon which means something akin to "divider" (of fates/destinies). Plato (hi) later claimed that his term daemon as meaning something closer to "knowing." For ancient Greeks, daemons weren't actual beings so much as intermediary forces somewhere between mortal and divine - at least, not until the Hellenistic Age, when Greek culture got thrown in with Egyptian and Persian/West Asian influences and mixed like a bag of Shake 'Em Up Fries, and daemons became something more akin to djinn.

Eleazar (Hebrew priest) is mentioned in the Goetia as a 1st-century "contemporary" of King Solomon, who allegedly used a ring to expel a demon out of some guy's nose, in front of eyewitnesses. I found it extremely interesting that this is where Eleazar gets its namesake, since it has more in common with a demonic possession (something something evil illness) than said possession's exorcism. I had a pet theory a long time ago that Eleazar manifested the way it does (black scales) because it's slowly turning those experiencing it into dragons, like a form of devolution? While I never really got confirmation for this, we should consider that Forbidden Knowledge was brought and filtered into Teyvat by the Dragon Sovereigns, where it mixed with their anger and desire to be rid of the Primordial One's influence. Since humans are a product of said influence, the name Eleazar makes a little more sense: it's the will of the dragons attempting to "exorcise" the energies that they deemed evil.

Aleister Crowley's versions of Goetic rituals (unclear whether it's like this in other versions, as, again, it's really hard to parse which parts of the Key of Solomon are legit, and which he made up) assigns Osiris (or possibly Horus?) as the "creator god." The declaration that his creator god is an "invisible god who dwells in the void" suggests more of the former (Osiris being the god of the underworld), while Horus's association with the dawn/morning star is more reminiscent of Lucifer.

There are supposed to be four demon kings which govern the cardinal directions. Nobody seems to be able to agree who they are, but Paimon is mentioned pretty regularly as the king who governs the West. While this is pure speculation, I believe this may act to further associate Paimon with the Seelie, as the old Seelie Kingdom is supposed to be a barren wasteland, and the most barren wasteland we know of (the Mare Jivari) is supposed to be the furthest point opposite Mondstadt (i.e. to the West).

King Solomon was known for trapping the demons he summoned into a brass vessel. This is openly acknowledged in the Goetia as being similar to how the djinn of Arabian myth was captured in a bottle. Brass is regularly mentioned in Sumeru in reference to Jinn, Shiruyeh and Brass Mask Uprising.

The second half of the Goetia is written in Enochian with English translation, but is essentially the same as the rituals portion of the first half. Worth mentioning that the Abyss mages may or may not speak Enochian, although most translations of said Enochian come up as gibberish.

I ignored most of the spells/rituals in the book, but I did come across one that felt EXTREMELY relevant: the "Curse Of The Spirit's Chain Against Those Who Rebel." In the event that the demon a summoner is trying to work with isn't acting in accordance to their wishes, a parchment with the demon's name is shoved into a black box and bound with iron wire. This act "sends (the demon) to the Abyss to remain unto the day of Doom in chains." So kind of like this?

Food for thought.

As always, lmk if I missed anything, and drop an ask if you want to discuss topics or theories!

#genshin impact #genshin #genshin lore #lore rants

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sam-glade · 4 months

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Writer's Bingo Tag - BINGO!

Tagged by @theprissythumbelina here and @writernopal here. Thank you💜

How-to: Click this link to get a card and mark it up. Share it. Tag some others.

I'll pass the tag to: @captain-kraken @void-botanist @chauceryfairytales @chayscribbles - no pressure to participate, of course!

ID below the cut:

Bingo card titled 'Writer Things Bingo', with the rows:

PoC Writer / Love Outlining / Reads a Lot / (marked) Carry notebook everywhere / (marked) Would love fan art

Soon to be Published / (marked) Novels / Illustrates too / (marked) Hate outlining / (marked) Novellas

Hate Editing / (marked) LGBTQ+ writer / Free! / (marked) Plot Bunnies) / No-one gets to read till its done

(marked) NaNoWriMo winner / (marked) Lots of worldbuilding / WIP in editing hell / (marked) All the Notebooks / Too many WIPs

Second Person??? / (marked) NaNoWriMo / Made own cover / (marked) In Virtual writing group / Prefer Modern settings

#tag game #writeblr #writeblr tag game #writer bingo tag

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ygiroadrift · 5 months

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Welxome Back to Ygiro Posts Art (and ramble)

Rhythm n Face edition!

By the way, it's worth noting that part of these are more of headcanons/fanon thingy; even though Rhythm N Face itself never really had lore except for like. 3 characters only. So the doodles of the characters interacting with another is pretty much fanon! Although the interaction between Toky. Acadey, Beaty, and Haird is closer to 'canon' (atleast based on the TAHB website....)

Okay but. Have you (the 1 or 2 rhythm n face fans out there) ever wondered what Namihei Panda is supposed to be?

Like I do know she has gotta be some sort of panda. But her ears are relatively pointy, and her body is sort of slender... Unlike the classic Great Panda™ we know. Sooo, what is Namihei Panda then?

Guys. They are most likely a Red Panda! [illustration below]

So uh yeah I'm gonna see her like this from now on LMAO

Anyways, game theory aside, have some cats! (totally not Toky, Acadey, and Beaty; nuh uh)

Also Haird is there because why not

Carry on,

.... Some Adidos too

Surprise!

Cluster of yummy Rhythm N Face doodles!!!!

(ignore the Hajime dragon thing)

Anyways, back to the man ever (Haird) and a bit of Acadey down there too

(the duality of Acadey...)

Last but not least, Ygiro actually draws a comic based on a quote from the incorrect quote generator!!!

Finally for once!

And that's all for now! Stay tuned for whenever Ygiro had time to post and write stuff here!

#ygiromadethis #digital art #artists on tumblr #ygirorambles #osamu sato #rhythm n face #fan art #doodle #whiteboardfox #traditional art

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burlveneer-music · 1 year

Audio

Gaf & The Love Supreme Arkestra - Garden Island - some Arkestras are more true to Sun Ra’s vision than others; this one is on the “more” side

Spectacular mystical jazz infused psychedelics from Canary islands cult band GAF. Adopting a series of different addendums to their names (Love Supreme Arkestra, La Estrela de la Muerte, etc) to illustrate what mutation or influence they are feeding through at the time of recording, the Love Supreme Arkestra here being the more Coltrane-ish (Alice more than John) and Sun Ra-esque influenced the matic of the project. Over a series of 7 huge sounding themes, we can hear saxophones, marimbas and rhythmic sections intertwining like spiral snakes over a burning sea of lava. Recorded live over a completely improvised jam session on a sunny afternoon in the mountainous region of La Esperanza in Tenerife, the band lets rip free of any previous albums sound and instead purge themselves into a world of musical liberation by embracing the aforementioned pioneers of the genre whilst taking their surroundings as a new pillar of musical freedom.The result really shines through its 74mins of mind blowing adventurous music. A journey to the peaks of the Teide Volcano and down the valley into the blue and black volcanic coast of liberation! For fans of Sun Ra, Alice Coltrane and every single mystic brother and sister carrying the free spiritual jazz torch! Dive DEEP! Mladen Kurajica: Synthesizers Felipe González Cabezas: Drums Eduardo Villalobos: Bass César Chinarro: Guitar Olivier Dubois: Alto Saxophone and Soprano Ricardo Marichal: Tenor Saxophone Alejandro Padrón: Trumpet and Herreño whistle César Martín: Marimba Music by Gaf & The Love Supreme Arkestra Improvised and recorded live on a sunny day in November 2012 at Liquen Audio studio, La Esperanza, Tenerife by Daniel Badal. No overdubs or edits were done.

#Love Supreme Arkestra #gaf #canary islands #jazz #spiritual jazz #2022 #keroxen #avant-garde #spain

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90363462 · 1 year

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The Remarkable Legacy of Queen Sugar

Illustration by Charles Chaisson for TIME

BY TANISHA C. FORD

NOVEMBER 28, 2022 12:15 PM EST

The New Orleans set of Queen Sugar is buzzing with energy. It’s a relentlessly humid July day, and creator Ava DuVernay has returned to direct the series finale, which will air on Nov. 29, her first time helming an episode since its debut season, in 2016. DuVernay yells “Cut!” and rises from her chair, moving nimbly through the immaculately decorated living room of the show’s central character, Nova Bordelon (Rutina Wesley). DuVernay converses with camera operators and grips. She positions props to her liking. Her light but authoritative touch is on everything from scripts to wardrobe. She finally stops in front of the couch where Wesley lies under a thick blanket, adjusting it to ensure that the actor’s striking face isn’t obscured. They talk briefly about the scene. “We have an unspoken language,” Wesley tells me later. “Ava would speak to me through her pen, and then I would respond with my work.”

To watch DuVernay in action is to understand her creative process on a deeper level. Later she will tell me that she likes to film many takes of the same scene—“collecting my toys,” she calls it—so she has options in the editing room. She’s looking for emotive glances, subtle shifts in posture, the “gentle moments” that characterize Queen Sugar’s intimate storytelling. The Juilliard-trained Wesley is a master at this kind of emotional dexterity. She begins delivering the last words Nova Bordelon will ever utter. As the crew looks on, they seem to carry the bittersweet knowledge that the series into which they’ve poured so much is coming to an end after seven seasons.

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POSTED 2 MONTHS AGO

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Queen Sugar, arguably the longest-running African American family drama in history, has revolutionized TV. DuVernay and executive producer Oprah Winfrey charted a path for the show on OWN. It averaged more than a million weekly viewers in its first seasons—a major feat for a boutique cable network during the rise of streaming. African American viewers were hungry for a show that authentically depicted the lives of everyday Black people, that didn’t pathologize them or shroud them under a veil of respectability. The nuanced characters, lighting that celebrated the beauty of melanated skin, and soulful soundtrack galvanized a legion of Twitter fans who shared their commentary using #gimmiesugar. DuVernay and members of the cast and crew joined in, mirroring the type of community the show itself exemplified.

Read more: Ava DuVernay on What Gives Her Hope

More from TIME

Queen Sugar | Official Trailer | Oprah Winfrey Network

0 of 15 seconds,

This video will resume in 8 seconds

Winfrey unilaterally greenlighted the show for OWN. “I didn’t give it any thought,” she told me over the phone. “All of the great things I’ve ever done have come out of feeling and instinct.” Winfrey had launched OWN in 2011—a peak moment in TV’s golden era—to break new ground and support new talent. This golden age may have been in full swing ever since Tony Soprano took a seat in his therapist’s office, but the vestiges of Jim Crow segregation in the industry made it difficult for Black showrunners and executives to seize the moment. By the 2010s, some had busted through, producing shows across genre—Scandal, Being Mary Jane, Empire, Power,Black-ish—about multi-faceted African American characters who defied stereotypes. Shonda Rhimes, Issa Rae, Donald Glover, Lena Waithe, Kenya Barris, Lee Daniels, Courtney A. Kemp, Mara Brock Akil became voices of the so-called Black TV renaissance.

Dawn-Lyen Gardner, Ava DuVernay, Kofi Siriboe and Rutina Wesley on May 20, 2018 in New York City

Paul Bruinooge/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

DuVernay vowed to keep that door open for others. She proposed to Winfrey that they hire only women to direct the show. That one decision established a creative ethos for Queen Sugar while helping transform industry hiring practices. “I give all, all praise to [Ava],” Winfrey says. At the time, women directors—especially Black women and other women of color—who wanted to break into episodic television were stymied by retrograde industry norms that granted men the most prestigious jobs. This created a maddening paradox: women couldn’t get hired if they didn’t have the experience, and they couldn’t gain the experience without getting hired.

Of the 42 women recruited to direct Queen Sugar, 39 had never directed an episodic series in the U.S. “Ava handpicked all of us,” says Shaz Bennett, who has directed, written, and served as the Season 7 showrunner. “From the beginning, [Ava] would say, ‘Watch the show, and get the feeling of it, but I want you to bring your skill to this.’” Each director’s creative bent brought an emotional texture that enhanced what Bennett describes as Queen Sugar’s “beautiful feminine gaze.”

Read more: 24 Essential Works of Black Cinema Recommended by Black Directors

The show counts among its alumnae Victoria Mahoney, Aurora Guerrero, Amanda Marsalis, and DeMane Davis, who’ve all gone on to have stellar careers in TV—Mahoney went on to direct for Lovecraft Country and The Morning Show, Marsalis for Westworld and Ozark—and their successes reflect those of their peers. Pioneering indie filmmaker Julie Dash, who had never directed a scripted series, had her TV career jump-started. “It’s changed the way people look at women directors,” says Bennett. “Now if you don’t have women directors on your roster, it’s like, ‘You haven’t even been looking.’” DuVernay is proud to see the women and people of color who’ve made up Queen Sugar’s production team parlay that big break into other high-profile opportunities. But she told me what matters most to her is being intentional about leveling the playing field.

“Queen Sugar has been my second job for six years,” DuVernay told me when I visited the set. She’s juggled Sugar while directing other projects, including A Wrinkle in Time and When They See Us, while also distributing films by underrepresented directors through her independent production company, ARRAY Filmworks. Now Queen Sugar is ending on her terms. “It feels complete,” she says. I looked around the set at Nova’s bungalow, Aunt Vi’s diner, and the Bordelons’ farmhouse, and realized I was standing in the brick-and-mortar manifestation of DuVernay’s imagination. She had dreamed this world and collaborated with people who could help her make it a reality. More than anything, I could feel the love between cast and crew, and the palpable spirit of creative excellence that captivated viewers week after week. This is Queen Sugar’s greatest legacy.

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xamassed · 11 months

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⟬ @ghostlyanon / itto’s birthday 6 • 1 ⟭

For his special day, she had a special parcel prepared!

The gift box was not big, but it contained not one single present, but a pair of smaller -but not any less significant- gifts she prepared and gathered for him.

She observed him intently as he opened the box, waiting for his reaction— But as she could barely contain her excitement for the occasion and as he would take each gift to inspect, she would quickly talk about it or explain to Itto their origin.

For one, there was a smaller box that guarded some delicious pastries and sweets she commissioned for him: multicolored macaroons and onikabuto-shaped chocolates. Though surely they wouldn't last long, they were a special treat she hoped he would enjoy after his birthday meal.

Secondly, a tiny wooden figure with a chain attached to it. This resembled -or intended to a famous figure within Inazuma Itto was a fan of: Miss Hina! A special friend of Annie's had taught her the art of wood carving, and though she was not as skilled as her friend Anita, she believed the figure to carry enough resemblance to Hina to gift Itto.

Lastly, the gift she was most proud of: a special card back design for his Genius Invokation TCG deck as an illustration that resembled Tenshukaku from Inazuma, which glittered if tilted by the sides. This was a limited edition offered as a reward for participating in a TCG event at Mondstadt and Annie needed to fight her way through it to gather the necessary points to acquire it.

"— And I played 150 rounds to get it, but I-I only managed to do it because you taught me how to duel" Annie followed, with a smile brimming in both pride and fondness for the oni.

With him being as tall as he was, she couldn't surprise Itto with a kiss, but for now, she contented herself with a hug for him— until she had the chance to shower him with more affections later on.

"Happy Birthday, Itto... I... I can't ever thank you enough for being here. If it's okay, I-I hope I can stay next to you for many other birthdays too."

Part of what made a surprise so thrilling was discovering it, but Itto couldn't deny that it was adorable watching Annie become a jittery, excitable mess. He wouldn't grouse at her for explaining the gifts because her enthusiasm was what made his birthday great.

"These smell amazing!"

Sweets were a rare treat for him and the Arataki Gang, considering chocolates and artisan desserts were on the pricier side. Rightfully so, he realized, as he had already bitten away half of a crackling macaroon. The soft and chewy inside, paired with the tang of the filling, made him crave finishing off the rest on the spot. Instead, he finished the one had had started, licked his fingers clean and pushed the box aside.

There were other presents to enjoy, and he didn't want to ruin them with sticky fingers — especially when he saw the small, wooden figure of Miss Hina.

The gasp he released was exactly what one might expect from a fanboy. Itto carefully pinched the chain and lifted it with a level of care that further proved just how deeply he admired the advice columnist.

"It looks just like her!" To a professional, it likely lacked detail, but the oni was far too grateful to nitpick a gift from the woman he adored. The shape was enough, therefore he would cherish it for the rest of his life. In fact, the chain would be slightly pried apart and squished back together just so it could dangle from his belt.

Grand and memorable as the first two gifts were, it was the last that left him breathless.

"S—Shiny. It's shiny!" He tilted the card back and forth, letting the light of the noonday sun cast iridescent streaks across the illustration. He could have spent the rest of the evening ogling the design, except he had to admire the true beauty sitting in front of him.

Annie had done this for him. She had toiled away, battling an impressive number of opponents and winning just to earn this one, pretty card for him.

A hug was enough. A hug was all she could have given him, and he would have happily accepted it. Annie was and always would be the best gift the world could have given him. He adored her with his whole heart, and he hoped the way he embraced her in return proved as much.

"I should be thanking you, y'know? You're the one puttin' up with me." He tossed shame aside and pulled her in, giving her a comfortable seat in his lap that made nuzzling into her all the easier. Voice soft and low, he continued to lavish her with grateful praise. "I'm always gonna want you around, for my birthdays and every day in between. You're my Starlight, and I'm never gonna let you go."

#ghostlyanon #「 ( itto ; ic ) 」#「 v. it's my job to not have a real job ( itto ; genshin ) 」#「 r. from my shoulders you’ll see the world ( itto ; annie ) 」#( that card back is his new favorite and he'll never change it!! unless annie gets him another one )

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zhuoyiyun · 1 year

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Death in the parasocial conscious

Recently a K-pop idol, Moonbin, passed away. It’s come as a bit of a shock for me, because it was unexpected. It came up in the midst of a conversation between a friend and I— and when I heard his name, I got excited because I was hoping it was dating news. Well, I could not have been more off.

I couldn’t believe it. I’ve grown out of K-pop these past few years, and Moonbin are one of these names that float out of my realm of awareness. After all, he’s a well-liked person, with many friends. Namely, he was good friends with VIVIZ’s SinB, a person I happen to ‘stan’ to this day.

Since 2018, I’ve been aware of their closeness. They were childhood friends. It seems as if every K-pop idol has a designated friend or two they happen to name-drop whenever asked about friends in the industry, and for SinB that was Moonbin.

It was pretty unique, if you ask me. A man and a woman publicly being friends in K-pop?! That’s what made it stand out all the more. They weren’t afraid of interacting in public, either. So there was how I knew Moonbin.

Every few months when SinB and Moonbin interacted, I would search up as to what he was up to. He was in a group, after all, and had various activities here and there. Through this that was I how I got know about Fantagio’s troubles and the like, the company Moonbin was under.

When I heard he passed away, I couldn’t truly imagine it. I scrolled through social media, as do you, and looked through edits. It didn’t feel particularly sentimental. It was as if I simply remembered him one day, and was catching up. There was no tinge of sadness, or sorrow, or even grief.

This morning something changed. I was awake on TikTok, when I chanced upon an account’s variation for ‘Time Passing Through.’ It’s a song lamenting about how quickly time passes by, and how you can’t be helped but be carried along by its waves.

'Is this the end? I thought we just started. Your train is eight and your show is at nine.’

Funnily enough, that was when it hit me. Nothing could have been a more apt description for it.

I do not know him. I did not know him. Briefly in passing did I hear his name, and it was because of his activities. He had just posted last week. Last month he was in Manila, performing. This week he had sent a message to his fans through Bubble. He was due for a leg of his tour today in Macau.

Perhaps he was due for plans with a friend. Perhaps he was to celebrate a birthday, or had promises to visit someone. A short-term goal that will go unfulfilled.

Moonbin was twenty-five. He was bound for many years yet.

Death is abrupt. We like to illustrate it as a grand, whorling prospect, one punctuated by grandeur and long monologues. Detailing every single regret, every unfulfilled wish. But in reality it is simply someone ceasing to exist. You reach out for your phone, that habit of reaching out— and the one who would answer is no longer there.

Bereavement is an acute absence. What you have to do is to cope with the fact that they are simply not there any longer, and this is shockingly simple in concept.

What does Moonbin have to do with me? I am scarcely a fan. I knew his name, I knew his friends. That was it.

What I do know is that he was *someone.* I knew him for the people around him. He was someone’s son, someone’s friend, someone’s teammate, their colleague, their idol, their brother.

But, first and foremost, he was someone.

He was a fellow human being, wrought with his own complexities. Worries, dreams, hopes, relationships— no different from me, in this kindred experience. To me he may as well been someone I knew in brief passing, a person I barely knew.

Moonbin’s status as a celebrity afforded me this peculiar, parasocial look into this stranger’s life. How come I am exposed to all these small facts about you, while you it will be that you will never know my name?

To grieve someone I didn’t know. What a prospect.

Moonbin, thank you for being SinB’s friend. Thank you for looking after her, someone I idolised. Thank you for being there for her. And I’m sorry I had to hear of your name once more in a situation like this.

Tomorrow someone will think of you. Next week someone will think of you. Next month someone will think of you. Perhaps now they will recount you in sorrow, a face streaked with tears. Or years from now on, they will recount you with a fond smile, missing you ardently.

The world will continue spinning. Life will go on, just as abrupt and fuelled of change. Even so, the memories they have of you, whether one-sided or not, will endure. You will be remembered.

#moonbin

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bloodiedpixie · 11 months

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All the fan illustrated editions!!

Carry On

Wayward Son

Any Way The Wind Blows

#carry on #wayward son #any way the wind blows #rainbow rowell #snowbaz #simon snow #baz pitch #fan illustrated edition

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underthecitysky · 1 year

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Linda McCartney: a life through the lens

As a collection of Linda Eastman's best photographs - as chosen by her family - goes on display in a London gallery, her daughter Mary McCartney tells Roya Nikkhah that her mother's motto was always "Keep it simple"

By Roya Nikkhah and Royanikkhah

04 June 2011 • 9:00pm

Mary McCartney, who has curated an exhibition of her mother's photographic work: Photographs by Linda McCartney

In May 1968, Linda Eastman became the first female photographer to feature on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine with a portrait of Eric Clapton. Less than a year later, she married one of the most famous men in the world to become Linda McCartney, and was thereafter known primarily as a Beatle’s wife.

“No one knew I was a photographer,” Linda once said. “When I married Paul, to [the fans] I was an American divorcee.”

McCartney died of breast cancer in 1998 aged 56, but her family are determined to ensure that her accomplishments as a photographer live on. For the last year, McCartney and his daughters Mary, a photographer, and Stella, a fashion designer, have sifted through Linda’s archive of more than 200,000 images, to collate Linda McCartney: A Life In Photographs, a book of some of her best work, accompanied by limited-edition prints.

The retrospective encapsulates her work as a leading music photographer, with iconic images of Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, the Rolling Stones and, of course, The Beatles. But while it covers studio sessions with the likes of Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson, it is also an intimate family album, with touching and many previously unseen pictures of the McCartneys raising their young children – Heather, Mary, Stella and James – at their farm in Scotland, on holiday in the Caribbean and at home in London.

Mary, who talks openly of her mother’s huge influence on her own career, is wandering around the cavernous white space of the Phillips de Pury gallery in London, where a selection of the prints are being hung, among them Linda’s famous photograph of a baby Mary peeking out from inside her father’s sheepskin jacket, which later illustrated the cover of his first solo album, McCartney, in 1970. “It looks so cosy, doesn’t it?” says Mary. “That’s how they’d go riding together – zip me in there and go for a little horse ride.”

Mary speaks movingly of her regret that her mother’s work wasn’t more widely recognised, so often overshadowed by the McCartney name. “She didn’t self-promote or do lots of interviews, she never blew her own trumpet, and so she was often pigeonholed as a celebrity who dabbled in photography, which isn’t how it was at all.

“People didn’t realise that it was through her photography career that Mum and Dad met and that she was a photographer way before she had a family with Dad. But she wasn’t that bothered about what other people thought about her, it’s more probably us, her kids, who got irritated.”

Linda’s break came in 1967, when she was the only photographer allowed on to a boat on the Hudson River in New York where the Rolling Stones were performing. The candid photographs of the band at work and at play paved the way for commissions from Rolling Stone and other leading glossy magazines.

“People know quite a lot of her Sixties work, but Stella, Dad and I were interested in showing a broader spectrum, as well as those iconic images,” says Mary. “When she got married, she stopped being a jobbing photographer doing all the bands in New York. When she moved to London, she carried on with a very similar style and eye, but her subject changed. She was still photographing the people around her, which were her family and friends.”

A previously unseen photograph of Twiggy shows the young model relaxing off-duty during a visit to Linda in London shortly after Mary was born in 1969. Another shows her young brother, larking around with McCartney in a bubble bath in 1983. “This one really shows her style,” says Mary. “Mum’s motto was always 'keep it simple’ which I stick to. She would never pose us all.

“With Dad and James in the bubble bath, she would just walk by and have thought visually that was quite strong and have taken the picture. She’d always have the camera on her so these are all like pictures she’d take as she was wandering through life.”

Mary moves towards a black-and-white picture taken at their farm in Scotland in 1982, showing Paul standing on a fence in his dressing gown, while Stella crouches on the ground and a young James, in his pyjamas, leaps off the family Land Rover. “This one is genius, but she won’t have set it up – it will have just been everybody there. That fence was really wobbly and we used to have a competition to see who could walk the longest along it before you fell off. It wasn’t very stable. I never, ever got all the way along.”

Mary remembers watching her mother at work; her subjects would barely register they were being captured on film. “She would have the camera with her but wouldn’t hold it up in your face for a long time, so she wouldn’t be clicking all around you – she’d chat with you, take a snap, put the camera down, so you didn’t have time to start posing and feeling self-conscious. She never intimidated people.”

Linda herself spoke of always trying to penetrate beneath the “veneer” of celebrity subjects like Jim Morrison, lead singer with The Doors, and her friend Jimi Hendrix. “People could confide in her, because she wasn’t a gossip,” says Mary. “Hendrix in particular became a bit disenchanted [with photographers] because they always wanted him to 'perform’ – be all rock and roll – but she was friends with him because she loved his playing, so he didn’t need to be like that with her.”

I wonder if Linda ever regretted relinquishing her successful career in New York after marrying Paul? “Talking to Mum, she had become a bit disenchanted with the music industry by that time,” says Mary. “She found that as the years went on, there were more lawyers and PRs around the record companies, who were more and obstructive.

“She was also being asked to get much more sensationalist pictures, which she wasn’t interested in doing. She told me people would try and get her to go to Andy Warhol’s Factory and take pictures of people shooting up, which wasn’t her style. It was enough to make her feel uncomfortable. She needed to be enjoying it to stay stimulated, so I think she’d got to a point where she’d done her bit.”

One of Mary’s favourite works in the gallery is Whisky and Milk, Scotland 1978, a black-and-white shot of an empty whisky bottle and a milk bottle side by side on the kitchen table. “I love that and it’s one of Stella’s favourites, too. It shows her quirky side and her sense of humour. She always thought that was quite entertaining, you know, the contrast of both bottles equally enjoyed by different age groups.

“This is one of my favourites too,” she says, moving over to Paul’s Feet, where McCartney grips a glass with his feet, toe-nails varnished in rainbow colours. “It kind of says a lot about Mum and Dad.”

Mary published From Where I Stand last year, a retrospective book accompanying an exhibition of her own work. While editing the book and show, she noted the similarity between some of her pictures and her mother’s. “I looked at some shots and thought, 'that was a picture Mum could have taken,’ but the difference between us is that she wouldn’t care about missing a shot, whereas if I see something and I haven’t got a camera, I can get quite stressed.

“She was very chilled, she’d say: 'It’s a soul camera moment’. Now, if I get annoyed that I’ve missed a shot, I try and think, 'Don’t worry, it’s on the soul camera’. I say it and don’t really mean it, whereas Mum could really let it go. She had everything captured in her soul camera.”

* Linda McCartney: Life in Photographs is at Phillips de Pury (Howick Place, London SW1, www.phillipsdepury.com) from June 7 to June 16. The book is published by TASCHEN and available for £44.99 at www.taschen.com

Mary McCartney, 6/4/11 - Telegraph (x)

#Mary McCartney #Linda McCartney #interview

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