#but anyway that pun is genius (the dm thought it up)

[mikaharuka]

Haha, looks like it's time for me to explain the Annie-Barbara thing!

This is a long and super hilarious story, that involves Salty writing a brilliant fic (linked at the end of the post), so strap in for the ride XD

(Annie being @udaberriwrites, Barbara being me, as you can see lol)

The tl;dr is that it's Salty's (@tsunderewatermelon) fault for creating the name and mine for using it so much that everyone adopted it.

Thanks to us, many are shocked to learn that Annie isn't her real name! Nor is it one of her two usernames - Alhaira and Udaberri)

[Tagging the chaos family and those who asked me about the "Annie" thing - @tsunderewatermelon @kayedium-writes @axolotlsupremacyowo @hylianjo @alpaca-clouds @precambrian-sea-pancake @danceswithdarkspawn @lena-hills @mrsmungus @sliebman10 @oceangirl24... and the main star, @udaberriwrites]

So... a few months ago on the server, when we were really learning about how chaotic we were, we created 'The Chaos Family'. It started with Salty and Momo as the chaotic twins, then JoJo as their mother and Kay their dad. Then I ended up as JoJo's sibling along with Pearl (who isn't on Tumblr)... and somehow, Alhaira became my drinking buddy/friend because, of course, we were deep in DMs. Shoutout to Lena, for being the master lurker that she is, the entire time XD

Of course, since then, the family exploded to include so many others, but this story is very specific to the six of us, since it was still a new thing at the time. Heck, the Europeans had *no idea*... except for Annie, since... as you guessed, we regularly ramble chat in the DMs.

Anyways... we were doing the usual - causing and/or suffering through chaos. I don't remember how, but at some point, we decided that creating our own meta 'Chaos Family' verse was a genius idea... and Salty, the genius he is, went and actually wrote a fic for the verse. Or should I say that the rest of us cheered him into it? And it fit perfectly with the January server prompt - 'watching paint dry'!

Well, 'Letting it Sit' is amazing and hilarious. Y'all should check it out! (the fic is linked at the end of the post - I totally recommend it XD).

Of course, we all had to take on pseudonyms, so... Salty went and did that. Salty became Jalty, Momo became Yoyo, JoJo became SoSo, Kay became Fray, and Pearl became Opal.

I... was given an interesting distinction.

Since I'm often found with Salty and Momo... he gave me the name Bazuka. Rhymed with Mizuka and a pun with Bazooka. But obviously, I had to have a real name. He thought it'd be hilarious if my name was something completely unlike me, and settled on Barbara.

At this point, everyone knew about me and Alhaira regularly DMing, so Salty was like "haha, she's your drinking buddy and 100% has to be in the fic" and decided she needed a name. But of course, the rest of us had names. He gave her... I'll just quote the fic here. It's wild!

After she finished her explanation Bazuka suddenly spoke up with a hiss, “Oooh, hey sorry, we have to get going!” “Aww, where are you going?” Yoyo asked in an uncharacteristically small voice. “I have to meet up with my friend in a bit and Opal is my ride! Promise I’ll see you guys later on though, so don’t worry about that!” The two aunts exchanged quick hugs and handshakes with the other family members before making their way out the door, Jalty calling after them, “Have fun with the Annihairlator!” A small chuckle of recognition came from Bazuka as she replied, “We will! I’ll make sure to tell her all about your guys’ antics tonight!”

...yes, you read that right.

Salty, the madman he is, chose Annihairlator to match my own Bazuka! But of course, that nickname was too long and wordy, so it shortened to... you guessed it. Annie. That's how the name happened!

(also, this is why my Discord name is "Mizuka the Vamp-zooka" XD)

Or rather... that's how the name originated. It would've stayed within this silly little verse alongside the other names... except, of course, I found it hilarious and blabbed rambled told Alhaira all about it and not only was she amused, she was a bit salty that she was missing out, since this was going down while she was asleep.

One thing led to another (me rambling about chaos shenanigans) and I was constantly calling her Annie in the DMs... which in turn spilled into the main chat, where I was still calling her Annie all the time.

Then everyone somehow picked up on it, because apparently, I'm the perpetual enabler and trend-spreader. Somehow, a lot of stuff I say (including fic ideas) just somehow... permeate through our circle.

And here we are. Annie = Alhaira = Udaberri because Salty's a hilariously creative writer and I'm a rambly trend-setting enabler.

That's it! If you read this whole thing... go read Salty's fic! I love it!

Mizu, Mizuka, Bazuka, Barbara

Pfft, I'm still so amused that somehow, the name Barbara landed on me after the whole meta-fic deal! I love that contrast, ngl XD

But yeah - the other three are ones I expected from the get-go~

[cal-cium-the-nerd]

me, explaining my character to my dnd group: ok so i'm a half-elf called Elphaba who is a bard and my main instrument is a kazoo which was stolen by goblins, but that same kazoo was also given to me by my fiancee as an engagement gift. Our wedding is in a month and if i don't show up with the kazoo she WILL divorce me, no matter if we're already married or not.

[keplercryptids]

i feel like i can finally say this without the weird vibe that i’m subtweeting any of the players in my d&d campaign (because....the only player this refers to is gone now lmao) but. one of my biggest pet peeves as a DM is the culture of mocking / making fun of / making puns out of NPC names. i know it’s a running gag in d&d communities that this just happens but like. it’s so fucking rude to me!!! 

a one-off comment or chuckle about a name is fine, but like, fully renaming an NPC a punny name or solely referring to the NPC by that name in your notes/conversations or, even worse, calling the NPC the jokey name in character??? it’s just. rude as hell IMO! i’m sorry but. your friend named that guy and tried to do a good job. maybe just....don’t mock the thing your friend made for you??? as a general rule? it just feels meanspirited and it’s never as funny as it tries to be. anyway.

(i thought i was being overly sensitive about this as a Forever DM but no, i’ve gotten the opportunity to play more and i just. i would never. every name my dm/s come up with is genius, actually, and they did a great job, so there.)