The PPC Posting Board - Latest posts

I admitted procastinated on this one a while (it was meant to be finished two months ago) but I have another ready for a beta read. This one's a more slice-of-life type Interlude involving volunteer work at the Nursery. However, I am unsure if I did justice to the Nursery or how children generally behave (I am inexperienced with writing them). It's 12k words and doesn't require prior knowledge of any canons, I believe.

I and my family went to a really nice holiday resort and stuff. No cake though.

1. Rebecca Buch

2. I was named after my mother. There are multiple Rebecca’s in my family.

3. When I was in school one of the boys decided to call me Chewbacca because I was the tallest girl in class and he misheard my name.

4. Chewbacca was my nickname in elementary school, but I don’t have a nickname now.

5. My cat is named Onions. I don’t remember what 10-year old me was thinking, naming him that.

It is, indeed, the theme Lyrical Nanoha's authors kept for the series. To stay with characters you might remember, being canon characters who featued in The World without Authors, we have Fate Testarossa (named after the Ferrari Testarossa), Signum (Opel Signum), Vita (the Japanese market name of the Opel Corsa) and Shamal (Maserati Shamal)

When I came up with the idea for Sergio's original partner, I really wanted a silly Unison Device from that series, and so I decided to keep in theme (helps that I'm a car enthusiast myself). So I literally went for the cutest option among the various market names the Toyota "AE86" (chassis code) had (The "Sprinter Trueno" bodystyle, the one with popup headlights, is called the Corolla GT-S in the US, and the fixed headlight bodystile is called Corolla Levin in Japan and Corolla GT in Europe.)

It goes without saying that someone like our beloved Corolla would indeed also try to keep to the theme in-universe, since she would become aware of it once she ended up on the opposide side of the fourth wall!

1. What is your name?

Carlisle Cressington.

Mina Overpower!

2. What does your name mean? Did your parents/guardians or whoever named you have anything in mind when they gave you your name?

My mother wanted something that went with my last name and sounded British. Unfortunately for her, and me, Twilight came out.

I think my parents just liked the name "Mina".

3. What memorable experience did you have involving your name?

Learning of the existence of Twilight. shudder

One time I got into a fistfight with someone who called me "Nina". Don't worry, we're good now.

4. Do you have a nickname? Did you choose it for yourself or did someone else?

I will not acknowledge you if you refer to me as "Carl" or "Carly". My name is Carlisle. Full stop.

You can call me whatever you want! My mom calls me Sweet Pea sometimes.

5. What would you name your pet(s)?

I wouldn't.

I have a guitar named Flurfles. I might name a cat that, too!

I don't think "Agent Dafydd Illian" was even an elf when I first created him; in the original version of Interlude 1 his meal is based on Selene's author snarking on my food choices, which I think I would have amended if he was supposed to be an elf. I made the surname up for the sound; I probably was using the sounds of Quenya, consciously or not, because I was and always will be Huinesoron, but it didn't have meaning. That only came with The Heir of Feanor two years ago.

(I was not joking about Dafydd ap Gwilim's poetry. o.O)

hS

Corolla is actually named after the car?

So a few years back I wanted to write a badfic for the Badfic Games in which, following a long tradition of not bothering to read the names, I would have referred to her exclusively as Toyota Corolla. I am stunned to realise I would have been right. :D :D :D

hS

“Hey, mate!”

Charlie dashed into the RC in a manner that would’ve dented even its steel door if it hadn’t, out of self-preservation, slid aside to give the tabaxi room. Jiwon, lying on the couch in his humanoid shape, pushed his blanket out of his face to give them a tired look.

“What is it, Charlie?” he mumbled, not even lifting his head. He was forced to regardless, scooting against the backrest of the couch, as the open booklet his partner waved in his face was too close to make out details.

“New copy of the Multiverse Monitor! Thought you said you liked collecting those.”

“Did I?” Jiwon thought about this for some time. While his head had been on one armrest of the couch, his tail was large enough to drape over the other end to the point that when its tip flicked, it swept across the floor. “I don’t know, maybe I did. Is this the real one or the fake one? Why are you showing me… this…”

He finally realized what was on the pages, and the surprise woke him up like coffee. He pushed himself up by his elbows, fox ears high and attentive. “Ah, they’re doing questionnaires again? I missed those, the last one was… what, three years ago?” Adjusting to a cross-legged seat on the couch, he took the magazine and set it down in his lap to read.

Charlie sat down on the armrest beside their partner. The tabaxi was normally several heads taller than Jiwon, who barely reached five feet including his ears, but the armrest’s elevation turned their height difference comical.

“Didja bring a pencil?” Charlie chirped, scooting their rear to find good positioning.

“Charlie, I was asleep.”

“Eh, true that.” The tabaxi rummaged in their Bag of Holding until they found a crusty pencil that Jiwon leaned away from. “I’ll use this! Says down here—” They jabbed with its rock-hard eraser. “There’s this…” They squinted at the text. “Fill… in…”`

“Fill-in-the-blank,” said Jiwon, reading the best he could while trying to lean away from that pencil. “It looks like they want us to fill out these lines then send it back for some kind of survey. Do you think sending it by physical mail or this QR code would work better?”

“We gotta fill it out first before we worry 'bout that, yeah?”

“I mean, not necessarily?” Jiwon paused. “But I mean, if you want to get to the questions first we can do that now. Might as well, while I’m still here.” The gumiho yawned and stretched, one of his ears flicking as his arms came back down. “Alright, let’s see here…”

1. What is your name?

“Charlie, tabaxi bard. Well met!”

“My name is… I think I should take off the collar for this one… there. 김지원.” A moment passed as Jiwon put his Universal Translator back on. “Or Jiwon Kim, as they have me write on official documents here.”

2. What does your name mean? Did your parents/guardians or whoever named you have anything in mind when they gave you your name?

“Was I supposed to give my real name for that first bit?”

“I think so.”

“Oh, okay! Charred Grass or Charcoal Briquette. Depends on the year. And they mean what they say.”

“What do you mean, depends on the year?”

“Means depends on the year. How ‘bout you, mate?”

“Right, that. I think my mother just gave me this name because it was unisex. As for what it means, I actually don’t know. Um, this is… kind of embarrassing… one moment.”

Jiwon pulled up his phone and opened up the browser. “If mom was here I’d ask her. Ah, here we go. It says… huh. It says it combines syllables for ‘wisdom’ or ‘intellect’ with others for ‘beautiful woman.’ I’m not sure how to feel about this.”

“I think it’s a nice name. Says here the second bit can also mean… ‘or… i…’”

“It says ‘original,’ which I guess that works too. Also, uh, thank you.”

“For what?”

3. What memorable experience did you have involving your name?

“None that I can think of, other than not having to switch names when I change up my shape some days.”

“I changed it a lot! Charred Grass at first, but was never huge on it for bard work. It’s not a good-flow name, y’know? Charred is a rough word, and my teacher at the bardic college said Grass wasn’t good enough as a nickname. Doesn’t flick off the tongue right. So I went with Charcoal Briquette when I was in Waterdeep. And then I came here, and decided to fit in more by grabbing a human name! So now I’m Charlie!”

4. Do you have a nickname? Did you choose it for yourself or did someone else?

“I don’t think Charlie calling me ‘mate’ counts, so no.”

“Had all sorts of nicknames! Charlie’s sort of one! And back down in the Underdark the other party members had all sorts of nicknames for me! Not all of them were nice, but eh. Water over the bridge now.”

“Do you mean ‘under’ the bridge?”

“Same thing, no?”

5. What would you name your pet(s)?

“I’ll be honest, I’m not a pet person. The closest we got was that mini-snowman thing, and we managed to give it away within the month."

“Oh, I was wondering where Els went!”

“Charlie, you were the one who delivered it. I didn’t leave the RC, remember?”

“I don’t. But if you say so!”

“I mean, I think I remember that day fairly well. Uh, anyway, was that the last of the questions?”

“Looks like it.”

“Alright, then. I’m going back to sleep.”

“Okay. Good night!”

“It’s close to noon.”

“Good noon!”

“...Never change, Charlie.”

---

Molly pattered into RC #682, a Multiverse Monitor copy clutched to her chest. “Mister Sam! Oh, Mister Sam, do take a look at this!”

“Wait, what? What’s happening?” Sam set his phone face-up on the table, his CanonChat argument interrupted. He looked at the text on the open magazine as Molly held it up as high as she could - though, with her being less than a meter tall, he still had to squint to read it. “It’s the first time I’ve seen this.”

“It’s the same for me,” said Molly, tossing the magazine onto the table. She hopped to the closest chair with a grunt of effort, eventually managing to stand up on its seat. She was just able to peek over the table’s rim as Sam rotated the paper so both agents could read it. “But I’d like to go through this with you, if you’re fine with that.”

Sam took a moment to peer closely at the Monitor, first flipping through and scanning the article writers’ names, then skimming the articles themselves. This took a few minutes, and Molly waited patiently for him to finish. Finally, he put it back down, open to the questionnaire.

“It looks fine to me, and I know a survey shouldn't take too long. I was in the middle of banning some trolls from the Floaters forums,” he added, giving Molly a sideways glance and an apologetic half-shrug.

“Don’t worry, Mister Sam! It’s only five questions.” She hopped up once more to sit on the edge of the table and set a paw to the paper. “Let’s see what question one says…”

1. What is your name?

“Molly Shortpaws, at your service… wait, who am I talking to? Please forget I said anything, Mister Sam.”

“...Sure. I’m Sam Hunter.”

2. What does your name mean? Did your parents/guardians or whoever named you have anything in mind when they gave you your name?

“It’s weird that they ask this, since I’m sure they could look it up themselves. Well, I suppose it’s not too bad if they’re coming at this from an angle of letting people explain their own cultures. That's a justified reason, so if that’s the case, consider my question resolved.

“I’m not sure, but I can go and—”

“Don’t worry, I’m already on it. This’ll be faster.” Sam picked his phone off the table and pulled up Behind the Name. “Sam is short for Samuel, meaning ‘name of… God…’ Yikes. I'll stick to Sam. And Hunter, let’s see here, it means… it's just an occupational name. Well, at least it's not a personal offense like the last one."

“I can look up my own name, if it helps—”

“I already found it, you’re good.”

“Oh.”

“Molly means… wait, it’s a medieval diminutive of Mary? Glod, it was worse than I thought back in the Dark Ages. Now, I’m going to take an educated guess and say that this World One website doesn’t have ‘Shortpaws’ in its surname databank, so you’re up next.”

“Um, thank you, Mister Sam. I think it’s just a descriptive last name. I’m not sure it means much besides its literal wording. Sorry.”

3. What memorable experience did you have involving your name?

“None that come to mind! Though, I do think it’s cute that my last name describes me so well.”

“Define ‘memorable.’ Other than Sam Hunter being a fire name, there’s been nothing objectably... well, memorable."

“A ‘fire’ name?”

“Don’t worry about it, Molly. It’s just slang.”

4. Do you have a nickname? Did you choose it for yourself or did someone else?

"You could argue 'Sam' is a nickname, but I refuse to let anyone call me Samuel. It's just not me."

"I don't have a nickname. I'd remember if I did."

5. What would you name your pet(s)?

“I had a pupper back in Seattle. His name was Stevie, and he was a very sweet Golden Labrador. See, that’s why I hate badfics that hurt animals so much. It reminds me of those days.”

“That’s sweet, Mister Sam. I had a fish, once, but I’m afraid it didn’t live for very long. Her name was Fishy.”

“Just Fishy?”

“I was eight years old."

“Fair. Looks like that was the last of the questions, so if I may…”

“Of course, Mister Sam! I’ll just go and leave you to it. A nap sounds good right about now. I hope you win your internet argument!”

“It’s not an argument, I’m just banning trolls. I don’t know where you got the idea I was arguing from.”

“Oh! Sorry, Mister Sam. Have a good troll banning.”

“I will. See you later.”

---

“Sorry I couldn’t visit you before, lass. Schedule’s been a right pain in the— bah, you get the picture. How’s recovery going?”

“It could be worse, sir.”

“That’s the spirit,” said Matterhorn, leaning back against the bedside rocking chair. He pulled out a copy of the Multiverse Monitor and held it up so the bed’s occupant could give it a closer look. “Brought something else for you.”

A massive dragon lay on an even larger bed in the HQ Medical ward. Ocotillo could easily bump the ceiling with her horns just by standing up, meaning the arranged bed had to be significantly larger than, say, an 18-wheeler. According to the Nurses, it had been reserved historically for canons like Potterverse giants or the Balrog (with fireproofing to match), but it also meant that it was permanently imprinted with the weight of past occupants, and heavily stained, also from past occupants. Ocotillo, still recovering from exhaustion and sleep deprivation, did not care in the slightest. She was only somewhat awake now, eyes half-lidded as she looked at the paper in Matterhorn’s hand.

“So it’s another form?” said Ocotillo, slowly. “Like the ones I had to sign before my culture implants, or the ones I had to sign after joining the DIA, or the ones they had me sign when I woke up, or…” She trailed off, feeling like she’d given as many examples as her tired brain could handle.

Matterhorn squinted at the paper, then shrugged at her. “If you think of it that way, then sure.”

Ocotillo rolled her head to the side in a melodramatic flop that made her mattress creak. “Why would you do this to me, sir?”

“For one, to help take your mind off before the painkillers get working.”

“Thank you for reminding me of that, sir.”

“Haven’t heard you be sarcastic in some time, Octopus. That’s a good sign.” The old man nodded approvingly. “Means your spark’s coming back.”

Ocotillo blinked, now confused. “I’ll take your word for it, sir.” She paused. Man and dragon stared at each other. “You’re not going to leave until I take this survey, are you?”

“That or until the painkillers kick in and you no longer need the distraction,” said Matterhorn. “If you don’t want this, just say the word and I’ll be right on out.”

Ocotillo took some time to think about this, until parts of her body vividly reminded her of the aches and jabs from yesterday, and the day before, and the built-up strain from months gone by. “I think I’ll take the distraction. Might as well get this over with,” she said, but a little smile edged the corners of her maw. “So… what does the paper say?”

1. What is your name?

“Is this a trick question, sir?”

“Doesn’t seem like it. I'd bet it’s just here for completion’s sake.”

“I’ll trust your judgement, sir. Ocotillo. Of the SandWings, to be specific.”

“I don’t think there are any other Ocotillos in HQ.”

“You can never be sure, sir. Also, are doing something with your voice? It sounds… strange.”

Matterhorn smiled pleasantly. “Does it?"

Ocotillo eyed him for a few seconds, then sighed. “Maybe I’m just tired.”

“Maybe you are. Anyhoo, Ligma B. Matterhorn. Only one of those three names is real, but no one’s bothered checking my file to see which one yet.”

“B counts as a name?”

“In the same way Harry S. Truman's 'S' is.”

“Hmph. I mean, sir.”

2. What does your name mean? Did your parents/guardians or whoever named you have anything in mind when they gave you your name?

Ocotillo went silent for some time.

“Take your time. My name means jack squat, other than me choosing the two that aren’t on the record myself. Truth be told, I chose them on a whim and I’m considering rebranding, but the pseudonym’s on so many official records now that it’d be such a bother. Especially with the way my mind’s been going, ha!”

“I know this name’s some kind of cactus, but I don’t know who it came from. There’s this gut feeling that I always had that name, but still… can we move on to the next one, sir?”

3. What memorable experience did you have involving your name?

“Pass, please.”

“Fair ‘nuff. One thing I’m proud of with this name is that I’ve made a few of the younger folks laugh telling them my first. Still don’t know why they find it funny, but a laugh’s a laugh. One of them showed me this picture of a naked blue man detonating some poor sod with his mind, saying it’s the origin of this 'mey-mey'…"

A passing Nurse flinched at this pronunciation of 'meme.'

"…but truthfully? It just left me with more questions than answers, hoho!”

4. Do you have a nickname? Did you choose it for yourself or did someone else?

“This is my nickname. See question two.”

“Why are there so many name questions, sir?”

“Don’t worry, Octopus. The next one’s different.”

5. What would you name your pet(s)?

"Not much different." Ocotillo sighed, then shook her head to continue. “I… don’t think I’m ready to be around small animals yet. I can barely handle scavengers. Uh, humans. No offense, sir.”

“What’s there to be offended for? Now then, I’ve actually had pets some time ago… this old brain’s just not doing me any favors in remembering them. I’m sure there was a dog at some point. Bet he was a nice little thing. Where was I? Oh, yes. I’d name it Spot.

Of course, he’d be a dog. Or she’d be a dog, I suppose. Can’t say it’d matter either way, a Spot is a Spot. Though, granted, now I’m wondering what’d be funnier - keeping it traditional and finding a dog with an actual spot, or finding a dog with none and naming it that regardless. Bah, I’m overthinking it. Maybe I should find a dog again, just for the sake of it, and see what happens then. It’d be a novelty, I bet. Haven’t seen any pet owners in HQ with regular, non-mini canines in… well, I can’t remember. Ha!

Hey, Octopus? You still listening? Oh, the painkillers worked. Good night, lass.”

Matterhorn stood up with the sound of popping bones, then left the medical ward to let the sleeping dragon rest.

I'll go with the TWWA versions of my characters, since the most interesting ones are actually mostly used there.

Sergio

1. What is your name?

Sergio Turbo.

2. What does your name mean? Did your parents/guardians or whoever named you have anything in mind when they gave you your name?

I actually chose it myself, back in my fc of origin where I was a kid with no known origin. I... may have named myself after my favourite car, the Ferrari F40, which is turbocharged and had its body designed by a company, Pininfarina, whose president at the time had Sergio as his first name. I'm told the name Sergio shares its roots with the rank of "sergeant", from an Etrurian name meaning "protector", so... I may have chosen it right. My surname, instead, I admit it sounds silly now that I'm an adult, but I don't see myself changing it now or ever.

3. What memorable experience did you have involving your name?

Not many, really. Unless you count Luxury mistaking me for Spanish since the Spanish spelling and pronunciation is the same.

4. Do you have a nickname? Did you choose it for yourself or did someone else?

A few people call me "Sarge", which is silly because in Strike Dove I have the rank of Captain instead. I'm kinda indifferent to it, though. Oh, and Arumi keeps calling me "Rookie" to this day, though I guess pretty much everyone looks like a rookie to her. I heard she's been in the PPC since the 90s? How did she stay sane that long?

5. What would you name your pet(s)?

I'm afraid I'm not much of a pet person, so I don't have the faintest idea.

Nikki

1. What is your name?

Uhm... It's complicated. I went by Nikki Cherryflower before the Unravel, then some time after it I was adopted by the Kinomotos so I went by Nikki Cherryflower-Kinomoto, but then the timeline got rewritten with me having always been in the Kinomoto family and so I became Nikki Kinomoto. I... guess I'll leave it like that, because I'm not going through the paperwork again.

2. What does your name mean? Did your parents/guardians or whoever named you have anything in mind when they gave you your name?

My name is kind of a corruption of Sakura Kinomoto's, the canon character I'm a badfic clone of. I ended up meeting her while I was still using the same name as her, so we had to hastly figure out a different way to call me. Eriol had divined out that I was from a "diary world", a fanfiction's, so I was the "Sakura from the diary", Nikki no Sakura. Nikki is also a name both in Japanese and English, and Sakura means "cherry blossom", so when I got recruited by the PPC, suffering from amnesia at the time, I subconsciously came up with "Nikki Cherryflower". i used to write that in hiiragana when in Japan. After the timeline got rewritten I became Nikki Kinomoto, with the spelling 日葵 for my given name meaning "sun" and "hollyhock", while our family name is spelt 木之本 and means "origin of wood", but the last character could mean also "book". Dad isn't completely sure what's supposed to be the right one either.

3. What memorable experience did you have involving your name?

I... guess all of the above counts? Though nowadays I also have to deal with the fact that people from the same fanfiction I'm from, who I haven't seen since, still called me Sakura at first... it's getting frustrating, having to explain that I'm not the original Sakura, and also that I became her sister!

4. Do you have a nickname? Did you choose it for yourself or did someone else?

My first name is pretty short, so pretty much everyone just calls me that. Well, except of that girl from Macross in Corolla's "girl geniuses" group who just doubles up everyone's first one or two syllabes, I'm "Nini" to her.

5. What would you name your pet(s)?

... I have no clue, I never gave it much thought.

Corolla

1. What is your name?

Corolla!

2. What does your name mean? Did your parents/guardians or whoever named you have anything in mind when they gave you your name?

Well, it comes from the Toyota Corolla, since the theme naming in the Lyrical Nanoha universe is cars and I come from there. Well, kinda I was an unnamed bit, and so I tried to choose something cute after Sergio rescued me and I got recruited! In fact, Corolla is one of the market names for the car he drives, the Toyota Sprinter Trueno. That's where it comes, really, if he didn't think I could be saved I wouldn't be here at all. So it's a way to address my life debt!

3. What memorable experience did you have involving your name?

None really, surprisingly!

4. Do you have a nickname? Did you choose it for yourself or did someone else?

Let's see... Arumi calls me "Techie", and Makina calls me "Corocoro", but I like when kids call me "Auntie Corolla"! I want to be everyone's favourite auntie!

5. What would you name your pet(s)?

I used to have a pov, Mr. Snrfles, but I admit I didn't think of it until I adopted him. I guess I will always name my pets on a whim. Thats the most fun way!

Ami

1. What is your name?

Ami Tanegashima.

2. What does your name mean? Did your parents/guardians or whoever named you have anything in mind when they gave you your name?

My given name is written with the spelling 愛実, it can be read as "fond of sincerity" or "devoted to sincerity", among others ways. I'm told I'm a very honest, sincere person, so I guess my parents chose it right. My surname, Tanegashima, has the same spelling as the island with the same name, 種子島. I heard there's also a clan with the same name, descending from the barons who ruled the island, but I don't think I'm related.

3. What memorable experience did you have involving your name?

Well, I guess it's what I said: that I somehow ended up being someone who lives up to it!

4. Do you have a nickname? Did you choose it for yourself or did someone else?

My name is very short and easy, so people close to me just call me that. At most, they add the -chan suffix if speaking in Japanese. Oh, wait, I actually did end up having a couple nicknames in school in the States, but... they were making fun of my height, so I won't mention them.

5. What would you name your pet(s)?

I... never thought about having pets. I have no idea.

Keiko

1. What is your name?

My full name is Keiko Caterina Turbo.

2. What does your name mean? Did your parents/guardians or whoever named you have anything in mind when they gave you your name?

My first name is written 恵子, meaning something along the lines of "lucky child". Since my parents were the only survivors of their group in the Organization War, at least in my timeline, they believed I was very lucky to have been born at all. Cosidering how much of a weirdness magnet I am, though, I'm not so sure about the "lucky" part... My second name, Caterina, is the legal name of Aunt Kathleen. She had died in my timeline, but provided some help to my parents as a vision or something during the Blank Sprite Incident so it was a way to thank her. Now, she's back alive, and... doesn't seem to mind? We do get along though.

3. What memorable experience did you have involving your name?

As I said, in spite of my name I'm a huge weirdness magnet, even by PPC standards. Lucky girl, I am not.

4. Do you have a nickname? Did you choose it for yourself or did someone else?

Mom, Auntie Corolla, and lately Hajime too tend to shorten my name to "Kei". I don't mind, to be fair, I'm used to it.

5. What would you name your pet(s)?

I only had one pet, a pov called Dumbdores, and that's the name it had in the badfic I adopted it from. It never dawned it to me to give it a different one, it was a funny one. I lost him in the Unravel, sadly...

Hajime

1. What is your name?

Hajime Irene Turbo.

2. What does your name mean? Did your parents/guardians or whoever named you have anything in mind when they gave you your name?

My fist name, Hajime, in Japanese is is written... 肇, I think? And means "beginning" .- Dad and Mom ended up going through many hardships before they managed to settle down, so having me was part of their new beginning in life. It's an unisex name, too, so they decided on it right away without needing to know whether I was a girl or a boy! Once they knew I was a girl, though, they added my second name, Irene, after my paternal grandmother. I'm so happy I finally got to meet her!

3. What memorable experience did you have involving your name?

None really, aside classmates asking me what kind of name it was - I'm half Italian and half Japanese, but I grew up in the States, so my name wasn't really common there.

4. Do you have a nickname? Did you choose it for yourself or did someone else?

IAside a few stupid ones in school, I don't have any, unless you count Keiko calling me "Sis"?

5. What would you name your pet(s)?

Before the Unravel I had four silky hens, which I had called Huette, Develine, Louise and Webby after the Ducktales characters. I miss them, they were so cute...

Arumi

1. What is your name?

Arumi Knight, the one who is actually a car, at your service!

2. What does your name mean? Did your parents/guardians or whoever named you have anything in mind when they gave you your name?

Arumi derives from the designation I was supposed to have in the fic I was supposed to star in, a Knight Rider and Cardcaptor Sakura crossover that was never written. A.R.U.M.I., Advanced Roving Unit with Magical Intersystems. I somehow ended up at the PPC, and since they gave me a way to transform into an humanoid android I decided to turn my acronym into my given name, and give myself the surname Knight after the Knight foundation I was supposed to be part of.

3. What memorable experience did you have involving your name?

None really. People who meet in humanoid mode tend to take issue with my eyes first. I know they glow, but they're what my scanner becomes when transformed! No one is offended when my scanner glows!

4. Do you have a nickname? Did you choose it for yourself or did someone else?

I'm the one giving the nicknames here, buddy.

5. What would you name your pet(s)?

I'm not getting pets, period. I had my fill of dogs peeing on my tires, thank you.

1. What is your name?

Kaguya: Thank you for sending us questions. My name is Hazama Kaguya 間香久也. I'm pleased to work with you.

Momoka: Thanks for sending us questions, I'm Shigisawa Momoka 鴫沢桃花. I look forward to working with you.

2. What does your name mean? Did your parents/guardians or whoever named you have anything in mind when they gave you your name?

K: I'm named after the mythological princess of the moon from The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. My parents discovered I was successfully conceived on tsukimi, so they gave me this name regardless of gender since they thought I was a gift from the moon god. Aside from that, the kanji combination means "eternal aroma"; quite sensual, I would say.

M: My name means "peach flower"; my father's name has the kanji for "plum" and my mother's has the kanji for "apricot", so they decided to name me after peach. Not only that, my name is also a reference to Momotarō, so I could grow up to be brave like the warrior who defeats an army of evil monsters.

3. What memorable experience did you have involving your name?

K: Momo, do you want to answer first?

M: Well, since my name is rather normal, all things considered, I don't have any special experience with it. Ah, sometimes my name is misread as "Tōka" though.

K: Oh, my name gets misread a few times too. Sometimes people confuse where my last name ends and first name begins, so I've gotten called things like "Aika Kuya" or "Maka Kyūya". Other times, since the kanji combination in my name is a bit unusual (though not an outright sparkly name), it's been read as "Kōkuya", "Kokuya" or "Kakuya". Oh, right, Momo, do you remember when you and I first met?

M: Yes, what is it?

K: We both noticed our last names are the same as the main characters in The Golden Demon, so I thought maybe fate brought us together, or something like that.

M: Oh, right, both Urato-kun's and Inasuke-kun's last names are like in The Golden Demon too, right? Maybe it really was fate, or the powers of Ozaki Kōyō, that brought us together.

K: However, Momo, you can rest assured that I'll never kick you to the ground unless you insist.

M: Kaguya-sama, you really are the kindest.

4. Do you have a nickname? Did you choose it for yourself or did someone else?

K: I'm a certified tea ceremony practitioner, so I have a tea name. A tea name is usually the character 宗 followed by a kanji in the person's first name. Mine is 宗久, which I read as "Munehisa".

M: Urato-kun nicknames all of us, doesn't he? He calls me "Momotchi" and you "Guyatchi".

K: Right, he even nicknames the Flowers too, for heaven's sake. He calls the Floating Hyacinth "Hotetchi" and the Sunflower Official "Mawatchi". One of these days, I'll give him another piece of my mind for his horrendous etiquette.

5. What would you name your pet(s)?

K: If I had a pet, I figure I'd try to stay on theme; I might name one Tama, after the jewel tree branch, or Ryū, after the dragon.

M: I'd stay on theme too; since I'm peach, I'd name my pet Sakura. If we're going by the Momotarō theme, I'd get three pets and name them Monkey, Dog and Pheasant.

K: Momo, that's way too normal XD

M: XD

--

K & M: This is all; thank you for sending us these questions.

The middle of the backstory was new to me. Was Illian always meant to be a Quenya extraction, or no? Searching it turns up a place name in The Wheel of Time, some people, and a bunch of baby-name/ancestry sites which may or may not all be hogwash.

I had a good chuckle at the "smutty love poetry" bit and at the end. ^_^

~Neshomeh

1. What is your name?

   Jenni. Well, Jennifer Robinson on my ID.

2. What does your name mean? Did your parents/guardians or whoever named you have anything in mind when they gave you your name?

   I chose this one for myself. I've had others, but "Jenni" is the one that stuck. I don't exactly remember when I started using it, or why, but I guess I liked the sound of it.

   I don't tend to go by "Jennifer," but it looks better on official forms and such, you know? In World One, it's a descendant of the Welsh Gwenhwyfar, which I'm told means something like "white/blessed spirit." And, I mean, fair enough? The name is also cousin of Guinevere, but I guarantee I wasn't thinking about that Guinevere at all.

   "Robinson" is one hundred percent an homage to Masterharper Robinton of Pern, whom I admire greatly. Again referring to World One etymology, it literally means "son of Robin," where Robin was a nickname of Robert, which apparently descents from an old Germanic name Hrodebert, meaning "bright fame." A good description of the Masterharper's career! Of course, a robin is also a bird. Whether you picture the European robin or the American robin, they're both associated with springtime, and I like that.

3. What memorable experience did you have involving your name?

   I... changed the spelling from -y to -i, for exactly the reason you'd think: I wanted it to be more unique. So cringe, right? In hindsight, it was a silly thing to do, but now it would feel somehow dishonest to change it back. Don't ask me why.

4. Do you have a nickname? Did you choose it for yourself or did someone else?

   Er, yes? And yes? And also yes? That's a digression nobody has time for, haha.

5. What would you name your pet(s)?

   That depends. You can't name something without knowing it first.

---

1. What is your name?

   Supernumerary.

2. What does your name mean? Did your parents/guardians or whoever named you have anything in mind when they gave you your name?

   Oh, you thought we were going to talk about my birth name? Nope; not happening.

   As for "Supernumerary," I chose it as a joke. There was this Star Trek fic about redshirts who all had names like Ensign Cameo, Yeoman Extra, Lieutenant Walkon, and so forth. Since the Flowers paired me up with someone going by Cameo, I picked Supernumerary. Just another warm body for away missions; nothing special.

3. What memorable experience did you have involving your name?

   I'm going to assume you don't know why that's a stupid question to ask me. If I had to pick a memory... It doesn't get much more memorable than accidentally wandering into an interdimensional space-time nexus and finding out everything you thought was fiction turns out to be real, then signing up to protect it from bad fanfiction, right? Someone who isn't cursed with an eidetic memory will have to fact-check me on that.

4. Do you have a nickname? Did you choose it for yourself or did someone else?

   Since people are allergic to words with more than three syllables, I go by Nume. Cameo started calling me that as soon as I said I wanted to be called Supernumerary. That should give you an idea of how functional and healthy our partnership was.

5. What would you name your pet(s)?

   I wouldn't. Pets are messy and get underfoot. Even worse than partners.

---

1. What is your name?

   Ilraen-Aroline-Fothergill.

2. What does your name mean? Did your parents/guardians or whoever named you have anything in mind when they gave you your name?

   I do not believe it means anything. The second and third segments of an Andalite name may be handed down from one's parents or other relatives, but since it was not possible to know my family, the agents who chose it simply intended it to sound phonetically plausible. I do recall that, since Andalite names often sound similar to Tolkien's Elvish languages, the fact that the final syllable can be placed in front of the forename to sound like "Gilraen" was intentional.

3. What memorable experience did you have involving your name?

   As a formerly nameless bit character, receiving my own name was quite memorable. I will always be grateful for it.

4. Do you have a nickname? Did you choose it for yourself or did someone else?

   Young children often call me 'Raen—it is similar to the Terran name Ryan and easier for human mouths to say.

5. What would you name your pet(s)?

   That is a difficult question. Most agents keep minis as pets, and they come with their own names. In any case, Nume never allowed us to have pets, so I have never thought about it.

---

1. What is your name?

   Derik.

2. What does your name mean? Did your parents/guardians or whoever named you have anything in mind when they gave you your name?

   Oh, well, my parents named me Ezerik. No particular meaning; Pernese names are unique, although they often blend sounds from the parents' names. When I became a dragonrider, it was elided to E'rik, in the old tradition. ... That is, that's how I remember it now. Truthfully, I was called E'rik because the Suvian who co-opted me into her story wanted me to resemble the Phantom of the Opera, who calls himself Erik. In FicPsych after I was recruited, they called me Dragonrider!Erik, and in the Reality Room, when I came to understand why, I decided to follow the pattern of "Lerik" for Leroux!Erik, "Gerik" for Gerrard!Erik, and so on, and made it Derik. The resemblance to similar Terran names is entirely coincidental.

3. What memorable experience did you have involving your name?

   ... See above?

---

1. What is your name?

   Gall Knutson.

2. What does your name mean? Did your parents/guardians or whoever named you have anything in mind when they gave you your name?

   It means "don't mess with me, cuz I'm a pain in the ass." Or, like, a tree parasite or something? Anyway, Knutson's just my family name. At some point, we had an ancestor called Knut, I guess.

3. What memorable experience did you have involving your name?

   Well, I picked it myself. In the fic where they found me, they were calling me Luga. Yuck, and not in a cool, troll-scaring way.

4. Do you have a nickname? Did you choose it for yourself or did someone else?

   I tried to get people to call me Bonecrusher for a while. Didn't take. Losers.

   ((Trivia: Gall's surname was originally Bonecrusher. I retconned it to be more in line with canon surnames.))

5. What would you name your pet(s)?

   Fellrazer is literally right here, dude.

---

1. What is your name?

   Henry Dale Robinson.

2. What does your name mean? Did your parents/guardians or whoever named you have anything in mind when they gave you your name?

   So I guess I'm named after Henry Jekyll and Agent Trojanhorse? My mom is so weird.

   ((Trivia: Henry's middle name originally followed the tradition of naming badfic rescues after the author of their canon, in this case Rowling. I retconned it because I've lost respect for her. Another tradition is naming rescues after the agent(s) who save(s) them. Dale comes from the heales in Trojanhorse Heales-Shadowfax, the full screen name of Agent Trojie's author. One meaning of heales is a remote valley, and dale is a synonym that also serves as a not-too-outlandish name.))

3. What memorable experience did you have involving your name?

   I dunno, uh... getting called up to be Sorted at HFA, I guess?

4. Do you have a nickname? Did you choose it for yourself or did someone else?

   Not really... nobody calls me, like, Hank—or Harry, obviously. My screen name is The Half-blood Ponce, so I sort of walked into getting called Poncy for short, though. Younger Me was an idiot.

5. What would you name your pet(s)?

   I dunno. Something cool, like Leonidas? Or whatever?

---

1. What is your name?

   Simon Wolfram Robinson. I'm nine!

2. What does your name mean? Did your parents/guardians or whoever named you have anything in mind when they gave you your name?

   Ummm... Not the Chipmunk. A friend of my mom's, I think? I forget. Oh, but Wolfram is like Wolfric, and that's one of Dumbledore's names!

   ((Trivia: Simon is indeed named after a friend of Jenni's, who probably would have stopped her doing it if he'd had a say in the matter. {= ) Wolfram is a meta reference to the Boarder Tungsten Monk, whose agents were part of the team responsible for PPCing Simon's birth fic.))

3. What memorable experience did you have involving your name?

   Um, I don't know. That's a funny question.

4. Do you have a nickname? Did you choose it for yourself or did someone else?

   Sy for short.

5. What would you name your pet(s)?

   Something like... Spider-man! Or Ponyo! Or Steve!

---

Gall and Derik's son Gadrik will not be taking this survey, since he is currently six, but he's named after his parents in Pernese tradition. {= )

Aaand that's more than enough for one post!

~Neshomeh

1. What is your name?

I am Sam; Sam I am.

Dafydd...

Oh, all right. My name is Dafydd Illian-Sims, named in my youth Kanafinwë Makalaurë.

And I'm Constance Illian-Sims; I'm married to him.

2. What does your name mean? Did your parents/guardians or whoever named you have anything in mind when they gave you your name?

I thought you said these were short questions.

They are. Mom called me Constance; Dad doesn't seem to know why. He's told me at least three historical or fictional characters he thinks I'm named after; from what I remember of Mom, none of them sound plausible. See? Short.

For a mortal, maybe. All right, I will take them in order: I was named first Finwë by my father, after his own name and Grandfather's. As I grew, he augmented my name, making me Kanafinwë, Strong-Voiced Finwë. At that time, my noble mother bestowed on me the name Makalaurë the Forging Gold, for she foresaw my skill with the harp.

She foresaw something, at any rate.

If you interrupt this will take even longer, you know.

I don't have anything better to be doing.

Than watching me flounder? Very well. I never actually used the Grey-Elven form Maglor; my own language was far superior. When I decided at the end of the Age to take some time for myself--

You mean when you threw a rock into the sea and ran off crying.

Quite -- I took the name Illianda the Most-Distant for my own. A certain nephew of mine amended it to Illiand, which I accepted when a debased form was required.

Dafydd, your Noldo is showing.

Just be glad I don't have a TH in my name. After my kin departed, I lingered on the western shores, still bearing the name Illiand. It was long ages later that I chose to join mortal society; I chose the name Dafydd myself, to fit in amongst the poets I sought out.

Is this when you wrote smutty love poetry?

My love, I have always written smutty love poetry.

I'm not sure you're supposed to admit that in interview.

Then you shouldn't have asked. I returned at intervals to the circle of the bards, keeping the name of Dafydd but declaring different fathers - Gwilim, Edmwnd - or hometowns - Nanmor, Tywyn. I was planning another return when a certain Suvian snared me, smashed my names together, and threw me in front of the PPC.

Oh, you poor thing, getting to indulge your pyromanic tendencies. How did you bear it.

Well, I had you around as a consolation. And that is the last element of my name - Sims, given by my beloved wife at our wedding.

Okay, you were right - that's not short.

3. What memorable experience did you have involving your name?

Trouble here getting it wrong. What was it, 'Constant Sins'?

Something like that. Mine has to be you calling me 'Daffy'.

Only because you called me 'Connie' first.

You like it when I call you Connie.

Sure, now I do. But back then you didn't have the right.

4. Do you have a nickname? Did you choose it for yourself or did someone else?

Daffy.

Connie.

Don't use them.

Or you'll regret it.

5. What would you name your pet(s)?

'Would'? My fire lizard is Hera, because she is a golden queen.

And mine is Ilwion, the Son of the Sky.

You haven't considered giving him another six names with complicated backstories?

Considered it; realised my father would approve; threw the idea out of the window as hard as I could.

Good boy.

---

Did I fill this out just as an excuse to finally get Dafydd's complete timeline down on paper? Maaaaybe. Dafydd ap Gwilym, by the way.

hS

And it's just about their names, so it should be easy to answer. Please answer the following questions in first-person as your agent(s). Do note that you don't have to make all of your agents answer, if you have more than one:

1. What is your name?

2. What does your name mean? Did your parents/guardians or whoever named you have anything in mind when they gave you your name?

3. What memorable experience did you have involving your name?

(Optional) 4. Do you have a nickname? Did you choose it for yourself or did someone else?

(Optional) 5. What would you name your pet(s)?

How do you have them plain? 🤣

Hey, I’m sorry I didn’t read this earlier. I don’t know how I overlooked the post before now!

Ah, the food is all too fancy for me, but it’s good to see the characters celebrating in ways they personally enjoy! I like that even though you wrote these scenes as contrasts with each other, you didn’t cast either party in a negative light. People like different things, and that’s okay!

—doctorlit will have his okonomiyaki plain, thanks. (“Plain thanks” rhymes with “pancakes”—or close enough?)