Perinteisesti Ropecon-entryni ovat pitkiä ja märehtiviä, ja käyttävät Conia koko vuoden tapahtumien tai tunnelman vertauskuvana tai vertailukohtana. Tällä kertaa mennään tulkinnasta riippuen joko ihan eri tyylillä, tai sitten aivan samoilla linjoilla. Pituutta ainakin riittää, ja kyllä tässä eräs vuoden teemoistakin tulee varsin vahvasti esille...Conissani oli kaksi keskeistä juttua: musikaaliproggis, jossa soitin, sekä puvustukseni. Pähkäiltyäni useampana vuonna, että olisi hauska pukeutua joksikin tunnistettavaksi hahmoksi, olin tänä vuonna Doctor Who -sarjan nimihenkilön tämänhetkinen inkarnaatio. Vaikka asustukseni oli kaukana täydellisestä, selvästi jotain meni oikein, kun satunnaiset teinit halusivat halata, ja kaverit eivät olleet tunnistaa minua, vaikka katsoivat suoraa kohti. Hihii. Tämän (ja tylsän työpäivän) kunniaksi kirjoitinkin Conistani osittain fiktiivisen debriefin kymppi-Doctorin näkövinkkelistä. Taitaa olla eka kerta, kun postaan jotakin fanficin kaltaista ihan melkein omalla nimelläni. Englanniksi, toki, koska en todellakaan osaa kirjoittaa tällaista suomeksi. Laadusta ei takeita, määrä sitäkin suurempi.
"I was on my way to 21st century Cardiff, to see how they were coping with the aftermath of the 456 incident - terrible thing, that, but a fixed point in time, so there was nothing I could do about it - when I picked up some rather dodgy readings from a place called Otaniemi, Finland, in 2009. So, at around half past six on Friday, the 31st of July, I left the TARDIS in a corner of a car park near the Helsinki University of Technology, and set out to explore this mystery.
I ended up dancing. Why, yes, I do dance. Rose had her doubts about that, and I proved her wrong. Of course, that might've had something to do with the leather jacket and the ears I had at that time. Well, anyway, I danced, and, while dancing, learned that I had landed in the middle of Ropecon, an annual meeting of Finnish roleplayers, larpers, miniature, card and board game players and other fantastic folk. This explained the number of alien-looking people about. Most of them weren't aliens after all, and the few who were were mostly nice and harmless. None of them knew anything about the odd readings which had brought me to the area in the first place, or if they did, they weren't telling me.
Thanks to a few friendly and helpful locals, I eventually found the first clues of what turned out to be quite an interesting puzzle. They were in the form of notes scattered around the area, written in different codes. Unfortunately, while working on solving them, I managed to get involved in a musical production. They were in desperate need of a cellist, their original one having disappeared mysteriously. I couldn't just leave them in trouble when I had the means to help them out. So, I did a quick trip to the 18th century, had a few lessons with this charming chap called Boccherini, and returned just in time for the rehearsals on Saturday.
Even though I spent a good part of Saturday doing music - which was a lot of fun, should do it more often! - I did manage to solve the puzzle, too. Of course, I never could've done it without the invaluable help of my local friends, who were very dedicated to the task. Slowly, the story behind the notes began to unravel. They were written by a fellow explorer, who had got involved in a strange cult worshipping an ancient local deity, which currently resided beneath the venue of the 'Con, a monstrous creature which was about to rear its ugly head during a ritual at midnight. An alien? Evil or simply misunderstood? I'd have to find out. Following the clues, we were able to gather the protective seals and mask needed in the ritual, and to learn the exact location of it. I even got a tattoo of the cult symbol between my shoulder blades - just a spray-on thing, mind you, so I won't have to wait until my next regeneration to get rid of it.
Since midnight was still many hours away, I did my part in the evening gala, playing the 'cello in the musical. It was called "Sampo", and it was based on the Finnish national epic Kalevala, which in turn is loosely based on certain events a couple of thousand years ago. Of course, I didn't tell the locals that the real Sampo actually had bits of alien tech in it, which meant that it really, really had to be broken apart, or there might've been serious consequences - not that I had anything to do with it - well, maybe a little, but - hm, where was I? Right, musical performance! Yes! It was brilliant! I can only hope the audience enjoyed it as much as we performers did! After the gala, it was the time for the ball! I had to admit that I didn't know all of the dances, but I knew quite a few, and I had a ball! At the ball! Oh, that's awful, isn't it? Sorry.
As midnight drew near, my companions reminded me that we had a meeting with a monster. We joined the procession of pilgrims with white masks marching towards the amphitheatre in front of the main building of the campus. There were a lot of them. I wondered how many were actual cultists, and how many were just curious like me and my friends, and there to find out what all this was really about. We took seats among the silent crowd, and waited. Someone was beating a ceremonial drum. Then, a group of robed figures carrying blue torches approached. They formed a semicircle on the stage, the head cultist taking his place in front of them, and finally, we had some answers.
I had been expecting that the cultists would want to summon the creature, Iku-Turso, but it turned out I'd had it all backwards. Instead, they were actually there to stop it from making a comeback, while the party who had arranged this 'Con were doing their best to stop this ritual from taking place. Seeing that the ritual was a good thing, I was happy to take part in it. We chanted the words to keep the Great Old One in its deep sleep - and we could actually hear it growl and snore, a spine-tingling, unearthly noise.
Afterwards, we had to make a quick escape to avoid being caught by the event's security staff. It didn't matter, though. We had done what had to be done, the monster would be out of the picture for another year, and I could return to share the last dance with a nice girl who had absolutely no idea how close to utter chaos and destruction we had all been mere minutes ago.
Even though the alien threat had been dealt with, I decided to hang around for the duration of the 'Con, just for the fun of it. Sunday was an altogether quiet day, with most of the humans either comatose or hysterical with fatigue - which in itself was pretty funny. I attended a lecture about crime scene investigation. The techniques were crude by my standards, but it was very hands-on, which is always a good thing. I also took part in a game of live Tetris, an interesting and all-new experience. After that, and the closing ceremony, it was time to return to my dear old blue box, and towards new adventures!"
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