I sent the message, and I was not at all confident in my chances. But the reply was surprisingly positive and I passed.
*does a little dance*
Here is what I sent and the reply to it.
------
> Well, there I was, sitting in front of an odd electronic device and the clock on the wall behind, glancing from one to the other and wondering if the challenge would really occur as advertised.
>
> I mean, sure, Id read quite a few testimonies, and entertained the thought of entering as well many time, but a part of me doubted it was possible for anime characters to suddenly enter the... real world I guess. My real world at least.
>
> I glanced at the clock and stifled a yawn. Nope, the clock hadnt suddenly jumped to midnight, though it was getting closer. I should probably have slept, but my mind kept swirling with a mental war between rationality and my gut feeling that something WAS going to happen.
>
> A beep startled my attention back to the device and I saw that it had lit up. A glance confirmed that it was now midnight and it was with a bit of trepidation that I stood up.
>
> With an odd noise, Id say a mix between a bloop and a loud rush of air, my small apartment suddenly got more crowded.
>
> My mind had barely the time to recognise the three new additions to my abode before Sousuke, Teana and Seras jumped away from myself and each other, pulling out their respective weapons as they dove for cover.
>
> Three pairs of eyes then snapped to me when it became apparent that I was not going to do the same and I hurriedly lifted my hands to a non threatening half up position and hurriedly shouted, I can explain!
>
> I took a moment to compose myself and hurriedly blurted out, Im taking part in a challenge. I had to designate a team of three people from another universe to accomplish a task and the three of you are those Ive chosen. Once the task is done, the three of you will be sent back home to wherever and whenever you were before you got here.
>
> The three looked at me with apparent disbelief and I chose to attempt to prove my claim. I pointed to Teana, Teana Lanster is a mage.
>
> My hand turned to Seras, Seras Victoria is a vampire.
>
> I then indicated Sousuke, Sousuke Sagara is an Arm Slave pilot.
>
> I then swung my arm to indicate all of them, All three of you are something that exists only in your respective universes, but not in each others, or mine for that matter.
>
> ***
>
> It took more convincing before they, Sousuke in particular, stopped being too openly distrustful to work with me. Seras was the first, probably helped by the fact that neither of the others seemed to believe my claims that she was a vampire, which meant that it was likely that neither of them could cause her any lasting harm.
>
> With her help, I eventually managed to get the others to put their weapons away and talk with each other. Luckily, I had been right in thinking that all three of them could speak English when I had chosen them and so there was no language barrier to complicate things.
>
> Sousuke was the most disbelieving of the three regarding my claims, but the other two could demonstrate the truth of my statements regarding them fairly easily. Once it was proven that at least most of my statements were true, Sousuke seemed to decide to trust me for the time being.
>
> He was quick to question me regarding the challenge, and I realised that I had no idea of what it was yet. I looked in the challenge devices direction and noticed an envelope propped against the side of it.
>
> I looked within it and found plane tickets and a letter. After reading the latter, I groaned in dismay and handed it to a visibly curious Seras. There I was, having carefully picket a team that could fight, sneak and brute force through very varied challenges, and I ended up with one that neatly avoided everything anyone in the team could easily do.
>
> I sat there, pondering the puzzle before me for quite a while. The main problem I could see for the team was that we had no good male actors. I could play minor roles, but anything beyond that was beyond me. And Sousuke? He could probably easily remember any text you gave him, but he would probably not be able to put much emotion in his role.
>
> Really, the only kind of role I could see for him was a character that is pretty much always emotionless. And it was that thought that allowed me to find what I decided was probably the best role. I glanced at Seras and Teana, and winced a bit. I really wasnt sure that either of them would be great for their roles, but I could think of nothing else.
>
> I stood up and looked at the three, Has any of you ever heard of Excel Saga?
>
> ***
>
> According to the letter, I had two weeks before the musical. Seras and Teana both agreed that it was not enough for any kind of rehearsed performance beyond the basics and we all decided that we had no choice but to improvise.
>
> I quickly downloaded the anime series and left the three future actors to get better acquainted with their roles while I began the ordeal of actually writing the plot. It swiftly became apparent that I would not be able to convincingly follow the animes plot for any length of time. So I decided to satirize the manga to anime conversion by intentionally differing from the source material.
>
> The result was pretty much guaranteed to get a lot of criticism, but Id at least have fun writing it. Teana quickly improvised herself proofreader, often spotting inaccuracies and excessive conflicts with the source material that completely escaped me.
>
> And finally, after much work, we had what I considered a fairly good plot for musical, but no actual music. I contacted the cons planners and, for lack of a better word, strong-armed them into providing the costumes, equipment and someone with a musical ear to help us.
>
> If I cant pull it off, youre the ones who are going to look stupid. worked surprisingly well.
>
> The actual flight went fairly well. I was terrified when I learnt that Sousuke intended to bring his weapons along, but he took care of the problem himself and, to be perfectly honest, Im not sure I want to know how he managed it.
>
> ***
>
> With a lot of brainstorming with pretty much everyone I could recruit, Seras managed to make a few fairly good and, more importantly, simple songs and, with a lot of practice, Seras, Teana and Sousuke learnt them. Sousukes deadpanned rendition of Il Palazzos long list of hobbies, for example, was very amusing.
>
> ***
>
> (Author Note: Most of the following dialogue is inspired by the Quack Experimental Anime FanSub. Sorry about this.)
>
> The world is corrupt. Sousuke deadpanned, Manga books and Anime, which are circulated in exceedingly large quantities across the world are now being converted to Live-Action Anime Musicals. The world that ACROSS will build has no need of such things! Therefore, in anticipation of that day, those who create this material must be liquidated. This is you first target.
>
> I showed myself behind the fake monitor dominating the wall.
>
> Seras gleefully shouted, Woohoo! Liquidate! I, Excel, your humble servant, if it is your command, will blindingly liquidate this horrible person and all others be they author, musician or actors! This I swear as your always faithful servant Excel, through fire, water and wind, as an officer of ACROSS and a young maiden in love with Il Palazzo-Sama, I shall succeed.
>
> Teana indicated that she agreed with most of what Seras said by nodding and dying.
>
> ***
>
> Not everyone agreed, but most people liked the musical, although many mentioned that the plot was just an obviously mangled rehashing of bits and pieces of several of the first episodes. For the most part, it was declared that the actors performance was very good, and many people mentioned that whoever played Il Palazzo never slipped out of character.
>
> That evening, the three dimensionally displaced people and I got together for a quick goodbye and, at midnight, they vanished.
>
> *****
>
> Author Notes: Well, Ive spent a few days re-reading the whole fic several times and I cant find any more obvious errors. But damn, most of the time spent writing this has been spent with me having an idea in my head but being unable to write it down in a satisfactory way.
>
> Im just not able to feel satisfied with the result, Im not sure why. Actually, I do, I read enough to know what good writing looks like and this is not it.
>
> Oh well, I had fun writing it at least and the challenge of finding something that that team could do was amusing.
And surprisingly, you did what I thought was highly improbable. While you may not be satisfied with it, I most assuredly am. Above average fic for its length, and you most certainly pass. Congratulations.
*does a little dance*
Here is what I sent and the reply to it.
------
> Well, there I was, sitting in front of an odd electronic device and the clock on the wall behind, glancing from one to the other and wondering if the challenge would really occur as advertised.
>
> I mean, sure, Id read quite a few testimonies, and entertained the thought of entering as well many time, but a part of me doubted it was possible for anime characters to suddenly enter the... real world I guess. My real world at least.
>
> I glanced at the clock and stifled a yawn. Nope, the clock hadnt suddenly jumped to midnight, though it was getting closer. I should probably have slept, but my mind kept swirling with a mental war between rationality and my gut feeling that something WAS going to happen.
>
> A beep startled my attention back to the device and I saw that it had lit up. A glance confirmed that it was now midnight and it was with a bit of trepidation that I stood up.
>
> With an odd noise, Id say a mix between a bloop and a loud rush of air, my small apartment suddenly got more crowded.
>
> My mind had barely the time to recognise the three new additions to my abode before Sousuke, Teana and Seras jumped away from myself and each other, pulling out their respective weapons as they dove for cover.
>
> Three pairs of eyes then snapped to me when it became apparent that I was not going to do the same and I hurriedly lifted my hands to a non threatening half up position and hurriedly shouted, I can explain!
>
> I took a moment to compose myself and hurriedly blurted out, Im taking part in a challenge. I had to designate a team of three people from another universe to accomplish a task and the three of you are those Ive chosen. Once the task is done, the three of you will be sent back home to wherever and whenever you were before you got here.
>
> The three looked at me with apparent disbelief and I chose to attempt to prove my claim. I pointed to Teana, Teana Lanster is a mage.
>
> My hand turned to Seras, Seras Victoria is a vampire.
>
> I then indicated Sousuke, Sousuke Sagara is an Arm Slave pilot.
>
> I then swung my arm to indicate all of them, All three of you are something that exists only in your respective universes, but not in each others, or mine for that matter.
>
> ***
>
> It took more convincing before they, Sousuke in particular, stopped being too openly distrustful to work with me. Seras was the first, probably helped by the fact that neither of the others seemed to believe my claims that she was a vampire, which meant that it was likely that neither of them could cause her any lasting harm.
>
> With her help, I eventually managed to get the others to put their weapons away and talk with each other. Luckily, I had been right in thinking that all three of them could speak English when I had chosen them and so there was no language barrier to complicate things.
>
> Sousuke was the most disbelieving of the three regarding my claims, but the other two could demonstrate the truth of my statements regarding them fairly easily. Once it was proven that at least most of my statements were true, Sousuke seemed to decide to trust me for the time being.
>
> He was quick to question me regarding the challenge, and I realised that I had no idea of what it was yet. I looked in the challenge devices direction and noticed an envelope propped against the side of it.
>
> I looked within it and found plane tickets and a letter. After reading the latter, I groaned in dismay and handed it to a visibly curious Seras. There I was, having carefully picket a team that could fight, sneak and brute force through very varied challenges, and I ended up with one that neatly avoided everything anyone in the team could easily do.
>
> I sat there, pondering the puzzle before me for quite a while. The main problem I could see for the team was that we had no good male actors. I could play minor roles, but anything beyond that was beyond me. And Sousuke? He could probably easily remember any text you gave him, but he would probably not be able to put much emotion in his role.
>
> Really, the only kind of role I could see for him was a character that is pretty much always emotionless. And it was that thought that allowed me to find what I decided was probably the best role. I glanced at Seras and Teana, and winced a bit. I really wasnt sure that either of them would be great for their roles, but I could think of nothing else.
>
> I stood up and looked at the three, Has any of you ever heard of Excel Saga?
>
> ***
>
> According to the letter, I had two weeks before the musical. Seras and Teana both agreed that it was not enough for any kind of rehearsed performance beyond the basics and we all decided that we had no choice but to improvise.
>
> I quickly downloaded the anime series and left the three future actors to get better acquainted with their roles while I began the ordeal of actually writing the plot. It swiftly became apparent that I would not be able to convincingly follow the animes plot for any length of time. So I decided to satirize the manga to anime conversion by intentionally differing from the source material.
>
> The result was pretty much guaranteed to get a lot of criticism, but Id at least have fun writing it. Teana quickly improvised herself proofreader, often spotting inaccuracies and excessive conflicts with the source material that completely escaped me.
>
> And finally, after much work, we had what I considered a fairly good plot for musical, but no actual music. I contacted the cons planners and, for lack of a better word, strong-armed them into providing the costumes, equipment and someone with a musical ear to help us.
>
> If I cant pull it off, youre the ones who are going to look stupid. worked surprisingly well.
>
> The actual flight went fairly well. I was terrified when I learnt that Sousuke intended to bring his weapons along, but he took care of the problem himself and, to be perfectly honest, Im not sure I want to know how he managed it.
>
> ***
>
> With a lot of brainstorming with pretty much everyone I could recruit, Seras managed to make a few fairly good and, more importantly, simple songs and, with a lot of practice, Seras, Teana and Sousuke learnt them. Sousukes deadpanned rendition of Il Palazzos long list of hobbies, for example, was very amusing.
>
> ***
>
> (Author Note: Most of the following dialogue is inspired by the Quack Experimental Anime FanSub. Sorry about this.)
>
> The world is corrupt. Sousuke deadpanned, Manga books and Anime, which are circulated in exceedingly large quantities across the world are now being converted to Live-Action Anime Musicals. The world that ACROSS will build has no need of such things! Therefore, in anticipation of that day, those who create this material must be liquidated. This is you first target.
>
> I showed myself behind the fake monitor dominating the wall.
>
> Seras gleefully shouted, Woohoo! Liquidate! I, Excel, your humble servant, if it is your command, will blindingly liquidate this horrible person and all others be they author, musician or actors! This I swear as your always faithful servant Excel, through fire, water and wind, as an officer of ACROSS and a young maiden in love with Il Palazzo-Sama, I shall succeed.
>
> Teana indicated that she agreed with most of what Seras said by nodding and dying.
>
> ***
>
> Not everyone agreed, but most people liked the musical, although many mentioned that the plot was just an obviously mangled rehashing of bits and pieces of several of the first episodes. For the most part, it was declared that the actors performance was very good, and many people mentioned that whoever played Il Palazzo never slipped out of character.
>
> That evening, the three dimensionally displaced people and I got together for a quick goodbye and, at midnight, they vanished.
>
> *****
>
> Author Notes: Well, Ive spent a few days re-reading the whole fic several times and I cant find any more obvious errors. But damn, most of the time spent writing this has been spent with me having an idea in my head but being unable to write it down in a satisfactory way.
>
> Im just not able to feel satisfied with the result, Im not sure why. Actually, I do, I read enough to know what good writing looks like and this is not it.
>
> Oh well, I had fun writing it at least and the challenge of finding something that that team could do was amusing.
And surprisingly, you did what I thought was highly improbable. While you may not be satisfied with it, I most assuredly am. Above average fic for its length, and you most certainly pass. Congratulations.