Artists and writers need permission to borrow an OC that belongs to someone else. However, if we subtly mention someone without violating the rules, would that count?

For example, if, hypothetically, I wrote a story about this:
Pepper -  furshinku
"My friend Pepper really loves to eat. You should see him in an eating contest."

Kelsey the Saluki -  drbluecat
"You should see this saluki I met. I heard he has a boyfriend."

Buku -  snitch
"The king of Solarmo hasn't been feeling well since he ate."

Ron and Dan  RonRaccoon
"I have friends that are out of town. One is a fox, and one is a raccoon."

To simply put, by subtly mentioning OCs without introducing them directly, would that be alright without violating the rules?