Madison's Code

[bbykimmy]

4 minutes ago, Sophie ♥ said:

But you won the hearts of the people.  (Cuz u so cute)

lol

I can tell you're not reading Sightlines - let's put it this way, @YourFNF is satisfied with the body count.

[Sophie ♥]

9 minutes ago, bbykimmy said:

let's put it this way, @YourFNF is satisfied with the body count.

O_O HOW.

WHAT KIND OF STORIES ARE YOU WRITING NOW

[bbykimmy]

4 minutes ago, Sophie ♥ said:

O_O HOW.

WHAT KIND OF STORIES ARE YOU WRITING NOW

www.dailydiapers.com/board/index.php?/topic/64625-sightlines

It's an Urban Fantasy story about Witches who transform humans into Littles and keep them to fuel their wicked magic.  It's the story of Rachel the Witchhunter and her grim mission.  We're only on Chapter 6, the story is just getting started - not too late to get in on the ground floor

[YourFNF]

32 minutes ago, Sophie ♥ said:

O_O HOW.

WHAT KIND OF STORIES ARE YOU WRITING NOW

Some how the extant of my reputation continues to surprise me

[Wannatripbaby]

17 hours ago, YourFNF said:

Some how the extant of my reputation continues to surprise me

Same here. It boggles my mind to think of how popular I've become and how many friends I've made over the past year. 

[Guilend]

17 hours ago, YourFNF said:

Some how the extant of my reputation continues to surprise me

Tell me about it, I happen to write, and almost finish a story and not sure how many comments and such and now I end up with some reputation. Though one of which I don't care for, though it's the truth, since I haven't written a chapter in a while, but I just haven't felt like it and will get back to it as soon as I can do so.

 

21 minutes ago, Wannatripbaby said:

Same here. It boggles my mind to think of how popular I've become and how many friends I've made over the past year. 

You are one likable guy, even @YourFNF with his/her (sorry I just woke up with just 4 and a half hours of sleep so can't remember) body count, blood guts and gore. We have all come to read stories and not only hope for a new chapter of a story, but to see if you or YourFNF has comment on the story we are reading, or are writing.

[Sophie ♥]

5 minutes ago, Aries said:

We have all come to read stories and not only hope for a new chapter of a story, but to see if you or YourFNF has comment on the story we are reading, or are writing.

I can absolutely confirm this!

[Sophie ♥]

Twelve.

    “I don’t know how to use these,” Madison pouted, fumbling with the chopsticks.  Lately, it felt like I saw more of Madison than I saw of Polly.  Maybe that was because of the yearbook club, or maybe…

    “Hold this one sort of like a pencil.  Now just take this one and set it…” I showed her with my own pair. “Right here.”

    She got the second chopstick situated just as the first one fell from her fingers.  I sighed and reached across the table, taking her fingers in mine, but Madison pulled back so sharply her saucer spun off the table and shattered on the floor.  The echo of the plate breaking on the tile almost made her jump out of the booth.  I rolled my eyes.

    “It’s not a big deal, it’s just…” But it wasn’t just a plate.  I could hear her breathing across the table, I could see the rise and fall of her chest.  Her bangs had fallen in front of her glasses, but the tight quiver of her bottom lip showed underneath.  Instinctively, I got up from my side of the table and climbed into her booth, but on the way over I stepped on the broken plate.  It crunched under my shoes and a tremor ran through Madison’s body.

    I froze.  No.  This was wrong.  I was handling this wrong.

    Slowly, very slowly, I sat back down on my side of the table.  The waitress came over to make sure everything was alright, but I ushered her away with a request for a glass of water.  She had to get a broom anyway.  I leaned in close to Madison, over the table, but I didn’t touch her again.  She had pulled her knees up onto the booth with her.

    “Hey,” I said quietly, as softly as I could.  It barely sounded like my voice. “It’s alright.  No one is mad.”

    “Sorry,” she stammered, resting her forehead down on her knees. “I was startled, I’m so sorry.”

    “Hey, it’s fine.  It happens.” Not to me, but to other people.  To her.  The waitress came back a minute later with a glass of water and started to sweep up the broken plate.  I thought the clattering of the ceramic would cause Madison to jump again, but she didn’t.  She just sat quietly with her head in her knees.  I pushed the glass across the table.

    “Drink something, you’ll feel better.”

    “I doubt it.”

    “Try.”  It wasn’t a question.  She tilted her head up and peaked out through a crack in her bangs I couldn’t see.  It took her a minute, but she reached out and grabbed the glass and pulled the straw to her lips.

    A moment later, our food arrived.  I asked for two forks.  After I had taken a few bites of my noodles, she started to unfold and do the same.  Neither of us said anything for a long time.  I wished I knew better.  I wished I knew that silence was the worst thing I could give her at a time like this.

    “Don’t worry about me,” she said under her breath.  Her eyes were soft and quiet and they couldn’t meet mine across the table.

    “I don’t think I can help it,” I told her, trying to be honest.

    “I don’t need you to worry about me.”

    “Friends do that, though.  Don’t you worry about me?”

    She looked up from her food, at me, and then back at her food.  Wait, did she actually worry about me?  Was this one of those questions she wasn’t going to answer?  The silence was killing me!

    Finally, she said, “You don’t eat enough.”

    …I didn’t eat enough?  I stared blankly at her for a moment, silently, and then… I laughed.  I couldn’t help it.  I knew she was serious, I knew this wasn’t a joke, but it just happened.  It poured up out of me from inside my chest.  And then I couldn’t stop.  Her cheeks inflated in frustration.

    “It’s not funny!  I’m serious!”

    I kept laughing, nodding, trying to agree with her, trying to find the seriousness in me.  But damn.

    “Stop laughing!”

    “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” When my laugh finally started to fizzle, I could see that Madison was frustrated with me.  She stabbed at her plate with the fork so that it made sharp sounds.  Every time, she’d wince, but she’d do it anyway.  She was so contrary, so damn cute…

    “I really am sorry,” I said again, when I knew I could say it without laughing. “I really am.”

    “I don’t see what was funny,” she said sharply, annoyed.  Madison Bell: annoyed.  Someone should write an article about it in the paper.

    “I just never would have guessed.”

    “Guessed what?”

    “That you… thought about me so much.” I flashed a small, nervous smile.  She stopped eating.  Maybe the pinkness in my cheeks was infectious, because she started to change color right in front of me, like a mood ring.  Her soft, quiet eyes weren’t so soft or quiet anymore.  I felt warm all of a sudden.

    “Well… you’re my friend, aren’t you?  You said friends do that.”

    “Then I can worry about you, too?”

    She took a minute to think about that one, and finally, reluctantly nodded. 

    “If you keep letting me buy lunch,” she said, “then you can worry about me sometimes.  But only sometimes!”

    “Only sometimes,” I agreed and put my hand on the table, palm open.  I wasn’t going to take her hand again without asking, not for a while anyway.  She reached out and touched the tips of my fingers with the tips of hers.  Then we went back to eating and said nothing else about it.

[bbykimmy]

21 minutes ago, Sophie ♥ said:

I agreed and put my hand on the table, palm open.  I wasn’t going to take her hand again without asking, not for a while anyway.  She reached out and touched the tips of my fingers with the tips of hers

And this friends, is how you do it.  An open palm laid gently on the table, facing upward is eminently unthreatening.  There's something about the gesture that's calming.  In therapy, you learn that when you are having a hard discussion with your partner, you both put your palms upward on the table, in each others' hands (both of you with palms up) and it's very soothing.  You can talk about hard feelings longer without getting mad because it's an expression of vulnerability.

This is how you do it because we are seeing Madison become "flooded" here - this whole story is a love letter on how to deal with someone who has depression/anxiety.

Madison is flooded - she's emotionally overwhelmed and has stopped processing new inputs "correctly" - and she's withdrawing.  Some people lash out when they get flooded, some people withdraw.  The worst thing you can do is pursue them.  When Madison is flooded, she doesn't want to be touched, it just makes it worse - I do this exact thing.  I will sit on the floor until my feelings are under control again (sometimes I just need to breathe, sometimes I need to sing) and then I can talk.  But an open, available palm is an invitation to rejoin when I can.

Beautiful.

I love this story.  Thank you for sharing it, and thank you for giving this opportunity for discussion.

[Sophie ♥]

43 minutes ago, bbykimmy said:

I love this story.  Thank you for sharing it, and thank you for giving this opportunity for discussion.

I'm just glad everyone is enjoying it.  You guys have really put my mind at ease about posting this and I feel a lot better.  Thank you so much!

[Wannatripbaby]

44 minutes ago, bbykimmy said:

this whole story is a love letter on how to deal with someone who has depression/anxiety.

Which is especially good for me, since it seems like half the people I associate with have Depression/Anxiety disorders. This is all good stuff to know.

[Guilend]

35 minutes ago, Wannatripbaby said:

Which is especially good for me, since it seems like half the people I associate with have Depression/Anxiety disorders. This is all good stuff to know.

I couldn't agree with you more. I suffer from depression and I just come to realize I also have anxiety Though it's never been "diagnosed" with an anxiety disorder, but once you have a bit of training and also been around others that have it, you can start to figure things out on your own if you start to pay attention to your own body.

I can actually go both ways, lash out or withdraw, most of the time it's withdraw. There are times though that I do tend to lash out and that makes me even feel more guilty later then if I just withdraw because most of the time, if not all of the times, that I lash out I emotionally hurt someone that i care about. There are times I even wonder if I can actually care about someone, or if it's just me wanting to feel normal to have someone. 

It seems that the only way I really feel emotions is when I come on here and read one of these stories that a few authors on here write, or if i happen to watch a good movie or tv show. Reading these love stories really help me a lot, especially if they have things like addressing depression or other disorders as it really hits home to me and I can understand it and I am not alone out there. 

 

[Wannatripbaby]

14 minutes ago, Aries said:

It seems that the only way I really feel emotions is when I come on here and read one of these stories that a few authors on here write, or if i happen to watch a good movie or tv show.

Same. I have difficulty emoting most of the time. But Art is sort of like a "safe space" for me where I can just let go of my inhibitions. It could be a song, a movie, even a few paintings or pictures have touched me in the past. But it's especially true with the wonderful stories I've found here. You guys have managed to bring emotions out of me that I didn’t know I still had and for that I am forever thankful. 

[ELLIE52]

Sweet story for someone's first time love.  The puzzle of Madison.  I like it.

[Sophie ♥]

ACTUALLY I have to run a D&D session tomorrow and I have a dentist appointment *cries quietly* so I won't be able to post anything.  Instead, I'll put one more chapter of MC up today.  

Thanks for reading!  Thanks for commenting!  Thanks for making this story worth posting!  Thanks for everything guys!  I'm just so happy today!

[Wannatripbaby]

14 minutes ago, Sophie ♥ said:

ACTUALLY I have to run a D&D session tomorrow and I have a dentist appointment *cries quietly* so I won't be able to post anything.  Instead, I'll put one more chapter of MC up today.  

Thanks for reading!  Thanks for commenting!  Thanks for making this story worth posting!  Thanks for everything guys!  I'm just so happy today!

I'm glad we could make you happy, Sophie. You've certainly given me a lot of happiness over the Past year or so since I joined. ?

[Sophie ♥]

Thirteen.

    “So where’s Sunshine?”

    “It’s a No Day.”  It was the third one in a row.

    “Do you worry about these No Days she has?” Polly asked.

    “Yeah, a lot.”

    “Do you think she’s hiding something?”

    “Probably.  But she doesn’t owe me the truth all the time.”

    Polly sighed dramatically. “I go away to my grandma’s for one holiday vacation and now you have a new best friend.”

    “Madison is not my best friend,” I said, rolling my eyes.

    “Then what is she?” Polly had trapped me in a corner with that setup.

    I stuck out my tongue. “A normal friend.”

    “If you say so.”

    “I do.”

    “Speaking of dating,” Polly went on, “Tom is taking me to dinner tomorrow.”

    “Wow, third date.  That practically makes him your boyfriend.”

    “Practically.”

    Tom and I didn’t know each other very well.  He was in the yearbook club with Polly.  He was tall.  He liked colorful, mismatched, extravagant socks.  He sucked with computers.  I liked him.  He felt like a real person.  Sometimes, high schoolers don’t feel like real people.

    “So you like him, then?” I asked Polly.

    “I think I do, actually.”

    “Then I’m happy for you.  And if he does anything to hurt you, I’ll beat him up!”

    Polly pushed the plate of pizza rolls over toward me.  I took an extra one and thought back to what Madison said at the sushi restaurant.

    “Hey, Polly.  Do you think I eat enough?”

    “Uh.” Well, that question clearly made her uncomfortable. “Usually?”

    “Usually?”

    “Well, I don’t know Jamie.  You never eat breakfast, and you stopped bringing lunch to school.  And I know you’re tight on money at home, so…”

    “So you don’t think I eat enough.”

    “I just want you to be healthy,” Polly corrected me, covering her bases.  Maybe she thought I would get angry or upset, but I wasn’t.  Actually, I was relieved.

    “You’re right,” I said with a smile. “I’ll try to eat more.”

    Polly watched as I took another pizza roll off her plate and shook her head. “Sunshine really has rubbed off on you, Jamie.  Believe it or not.”

    I think I believed it.

    Friday was another No Day.  I was starting to understand them a little more, even if I didn’t know exactly how or why they came about.  When I walked into Biology, she wasn’t at my desk.  She wasn’t talking to Amanda or the brunette girl, who I learned was named Claire.  She was reading a textbook, but her eyes weren’t moving.  They were dull today.

    “Hey, are you busy after school?” I asked her at the tail end of Biology.  She looked at me only for a second and nodded her head.  These days, the No Days, would often overlap with school, but no one ever noticed.  How did no one notice?  It was night and day.  But only two months ago, I couldn’t tell the difference either.  

    I knew what would happen if I asked if Madison was alright: she would don another forced smile, ramble on about the weather or how pencils work, and tell me over and over how fine she was.  Sometimes I wondered if there really was a brighter Madison Bell, or if it was only this girl and the pane of rose tinted glass in front of her. 

    “Maybe tomorrow then,” I said, and vowed to get to the bottom of it.

    On Saturday, my mom wanted me to run some errands.  I asked Madison if she wanted to come along and she miraculously agreed.  It seemed the streak of No Days had finally broken! 

    Everything was better with her company: the car engine more cooperative, the traffic lights less frustrating, the sky brighter and bluer.

    “It’s such a nice day,” Madison said looking up at the sky.  For January, the temperature was remarkably warm.  The snow on the ground glistened in the heat of the sun.

    “Is the sky that different when you’re colorblind?” I asked.

    She shrugged her shoulders. “I know when it’s a nice day and when it’s not.”

    “Well we only have to do some grocery shopping.  Then we can watch TV or something.”

    Walmart was crowded on a Saturday afternoon.  Extremely crowded.  I grabbed a cart and went straight for the groceries.

    “They have clothes here?” Madison asked.

    “Yeah, they have everything.  Have you never been to Walmart?”

    She shook her head.

    “Well, you’re in for a treat then.”

    I grabbed some bread, snack cakes, cheese, juice, peanut butter, mac and cheese, washcloths, and a large bag of store-brand chips.  When I satisfied my mom’s grocery list, I led the way to the other side of the store where the clothes were.

    “This shirt is only eight dollars?  But it’s so cute!”  It had a butterfly on it.

    “I can’t afford to buy anything else,” I said to her without looking up from the pajama rack, “but if you have money you should get it.”

    I leafed through the clothes, knowing full well I couldn’t afford any of it, until I came across a yellow pajama set.  The shirt had white trim over the sleeves and in the middle, written in cursive, were the lyrics: “You are my SUNSHINE”.  I bit down on the inside of my cheek.  Wow…

    “I think you should get this one,” I said to Madison, and held up the pajama set to her chest.  I’d never seen her in pajamas before.  Maybe I never would, but if she bought these, I could imagine it.

    “Alright,” she said simply, a real smile on her lips. “I think I will!”

    The two of us walked through the kid’s clothing department on our way to the school supplies; I needed to buy some editing pens for the Writing Workshop.

    “I know it’s silly to think one pen is vastly different than any other, but it’s a preference, you know?” I turned to Madison, but she wasn’t listening.  Her eyes lingered on something at the end of the aisle, but I couldn’t quite figure out what it was.  I watched her for a moment: her bright, distracted gaze, lips slightly parted, a word, a thought, waiting on the tip of her tongue… until I crashed the shopping cart into one of the support pillars.  It shocked Madison back into the present.

    “Sorry,” I sighed. “I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”

    Madison nodded quietly, stealing one more glance at the kids’ clothes, before following me through office supplies.

    I found my pens, but Madison hadn’t said anything in a long time.  I thought she was lost in the dull area of her mind, but her eyes were bright and focused.  She kept looking around on the shelves.  I really didn’t understand this girl sometimes…

    On the way to the checkout lanes, we passed the toy’s section and I lost Madison to one of the end-caps.  I was about to call her name when she picked up a box from the shelf.  She turned it over and read the back, her lips moving ever so slightly.

    A minute later, her eyelids fluttered and she put the box back on the shelf.  She looked up to find me, watching and waiting two aisles over.  She put on one of those forced smiles and hurried to catch up to me.

    “What were you looking at?” I asked.

    “Just some stuff.”

    “Anything fun?”

    She shook her head.  Hm…

    “Would you want to look at toys with me?” I asked.  She stared at me blankly, like she didn’t understand, so I admitted: “I like looking at the Legos.”

    “Alright,” she said quietly, and I led the way back up the aisle past the end-cap she was looking at.  Polly Pocket?

    After a month, I felt like I’d made a breakthrough.  Maybe it had some level of nostalgia to it, but these toys, this store… something brought out the brightness in her.  I just had to figure out what.

[bbykimmy]

This chapter says so much so subtly.

Jamie longs for the toys her mother couldn't afford when she was young enough to enjoy them.  She looks at them longingly, wondering what it would have felt like to actually have them.  The Legos represent a lost potential, one she will never achieve... because you can't go home again.

Madison longs for the feelings of caring that are supposed to come along with the trappings of childhood.  Maybe she's looking at a package of pull-ups?  Her eyes are drawn to the kids clothing section, she wants to be small and cute - but mostly she wants to be loved.  When you're in a store that has the THING YOU WANT MOST right there on the shelf, but you know you're not supposed to want it, your heart races when you're near it.  You want to look but you don't want to be seen looking.  You want to covet, but you fear being caught.  Madison is projecting her need for love onto childish things.

Jamie and Madison are both Littles, for different reasons, but the same reason at the same time.

I hope that they can admit this to each other before the end of the story, that the two of them can have a play-date where they both get to feel the things they need to feel to grow.  Both of them are stunted emotionally, and this sort of damage is really hard to get past.

I think I need to revise my analysis of Madison's parent(s) (probably mother).  I don't necessarily think it's neglect - I think it might be crushing expectations.  It could be that Madison was forced to grow up much faster than she wanted to, perhaps being constantly compared to her sibling, perhaps her parent(s) were just "done" with kids, perhaps Madison's sibling is a prodigy and Madison feels like a "disappointment", but I think shaming over childish things is a factor.

[Wannatripbaby]

12 minutes ago, bbykimmy said:

I think I need to revise my analysis of Jamie's parent(s) (probably mother). 

You mean Madison's parents?

Also this:

22 minutes ago, Sophie ♥ said:

"Yeah, they have everything.  Have you never been to Walmart?”

    She shook her head.

    “Well, you’re in for a treat then.”

THIS shpuld be enough reason to call CPS right now! ?

[ELLIE52]

16 minutes ago, bbykimmy said:

Jamie and Madison are both Littles, for different reasons, but the same reason at the same time.

 

I like your total analysis, Kimmy.

At the beginning of the story, I wondered if Jamie too was a Little, at least partially.

[bbykimmy]

4 minutes ago, ELLIE52 said:

I like your total analysis, Kimmy.

At the beginning of the story, I wondered if Jamie too was a Little, at least partially.

I deeply enjoy analyzing this story because I am both Jamie and Madison and it's really strange to see someone who isn't me write characters that I identify with so deeply.

I am almost every character in every story I write.  I'm Vanessa, I'm Dani, I'm Seth and Jess and Aubrey and Kailee... but I'm not Harvey   I'm April and Kimmy (obvi), I'm Mellie and Gwen and even Opal.  I can see how all of those characters are me, but unless you know me really, really well... nobody else can (Kachan can).

So it's a little surreal and incredibly satisfying to be able to connect with a story that ISN'T MINE as if it were mine.

But I never write underage protagonists (because I have a difficulty with remembering what it was like to be actually young, it's kinda painful) and I don't usually do a story this... gentle. 

It's really nice.

No spoilers allowed for BtG in this thread though.  Sophie is all the way through Chapter 3 on it

[YourFNF]

8 minutes ago, bbykimmy said:

I deeply enjoy analyzing this story because I am both Jamie and Madison and it's really strange to see someone who isn't me write characters that I identify with so deeply.

I am almost every character in every story I write.  I'm Vanessa, I'm Dani, I'm Seth and Jess and Aubrey and Kailee... but I'm not Harvey   I'm April and Kimmy (obvi), I'm Mellie and Gwen and even Opal.  I can see how all of those characters are me, but unless you know me really, really well... nobody else can (Kachan can).

So it's a little surreal and incredibly satisfying to be able to connect with a story that ISN'T MINE as if it were mine.

But I never write underage protagonists (because I have a difficulty with remembering what it was like to be actually young, it's kinda painful) and I don't usually do a story this... gentle. 

It's really nice.

No spoilers allowed for BtG in this thread though.  Sophie is all the way through Chapter 3 on it

Interesting, I'm pretty shameless about self insertion as well when it comes to characters.

[bbykimmy]

3 minutes ago, YourFNF said:

Interesting, I'm pretty shameless about self insertion as well when it comes to characters.

It's not really self-insertion.  Because none of them are the whole me.  Even Kimmy in Best of It isn't wholly me (I don't smoke or engage in vices the way she did, for example).

They're all pieces of me.  Some of them are an attitude or a feeling, some of them are a trauma... some of them are a combination, but with some added healing experience that makes them healthier person than I am (looking at you, April).  Each one is a character in their own right with their own histories (I didn't run away from crazy religious parents, for example), but some piece of them that makes me able to deeply identify with them... and thus write them in a believable and "organic" way.  This is why my characters feel three-dimensional, because I give them just enough of me to make them feel like real people.

I have a feeling Sophie does something similar.

I don't wanna derail Sophie's story thread by talking about my writing style any further though

[Sophie ♥]

7 minutes ago, bbykimmy said:

So it's a little surreal and incredibly satisfying to be able to connect with a story that ISN'T MINE as if it were mine.

But I never write underage protagonists (because I have a difficulty with remembering what it was like to be actually young, it's kinda painful) and I don't usually do a story this... gentle. 

 High praise coming from you!  I'm just so pleased that I can still write such unique and empathic characters.  Though this story samples my feelings and personality more than any other I've written.

I don't /prefer/ writing underage characters anymore.  I used to, until a few years ago.  Now I'm struggling to identify with simple problems like high school when I am so constantly bombarded with the complex problems of adulthood. *nods*  That being said, I love writing "first love" stories and high school is the best setting for that.  I also hate writing "going to work", which adulthood is littered with. >_<

Gentle.  Good word for "nothing has actually happened yet". XD

11 minutes ago, bbykimmy said:

No spoilers allowed for BtG in this thread though.  Sophie is all the way through Chapter 3 on it

Hey!  Three chapters is REALLY far for me!  I'm an awful reader!

45 minutes ago, Wannatripbaby said:

I'm glad we could make you happy, Sophie. You've certainly given me a lot of happiness over the Past year or so since I joined. ?

Awww I'm glad I could!   You deserve it!

Thanks for all the sweet words guys.  I'll never get over your kindness.

 

[Wannatripbaby]

14 minutes ago, bbykimmy said:

I deeply enjoy analyzing this story because I am both Jamie and Madison and it's really strange to see someone who isn't me write characters that I identify with so deeply.

I am almost every character in every story I write.  I'm Vanessa, I'm Dani, I'm Seth and Jess and Aubrey and Kailee... but I'm not Harvey   I'm April and Kimmy (obvi), I'm Mellie and Gwen and even Opal.  I can see how all of those characters are me, but unless you know me really, really well... nobody else can (Kachan can).

So it's a little surreal and incredibly satisfying to be able to connect with a story that ISN'T MINE as if it were mine.

But I never write underage protagonists (because I have a difficulty with remembering what it was like to be actually young, it's kinda painful) and I don't usually do a story this... gentle. 

It's really nice.

No spoilers allowed for BtG in this thread though.  Sophie is all the way through Chapter 3 on it

 

8 minutes ago, YourFNF said:

Interesting, I'm pretty shameless about self insertion as well when it comes to characters.

Lucas Granger was 95% me. But I feel like the rest of the characters in Angel Hunter were pretty detatched from myself... Which is probably why most of the minor characters (excluding Angel Hunter) were fairly lackluster. ?