OH EMILY!!! I am just realizing now that I have a weirdly hard time knowing any backstory on any of the other characters; it was such a Howie-centric writing experience! I know that Emily's mom died and her father remarried, and I like to think that her stepmom was initially totally baffled by her but that eventually they wound up bonding and have a good relationship now (and, okay, just typing that sentence kinda intrigued me enough that I suddenly want to write the whole story there, if only to figure it out), that she and Dennis did some bonding when she found him crying in her kitchen in the middle of the night over his dad, and that she went to school to be a librarian, and that she really, really, really holds Loreena McKennitt in the absolute greatest esteem, and also probably has a great appreciation for Glow by Donna De Lory (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7PvHy6ISX0) (totally my current new agey jam of choice).

KATIE MCGRATH AMBER IS UNDENIABLE. What, oh what to know about Amber? I have a sneaking suspicion that she has probably written some fanfiction in her day, and probably has a Tumblr. I think she probably also lured Howie into a temporary fanfiction-writing phase when they were both about twelve, where they would write Harry Potter fic and post it on Fanfiction.Net, bwahahaha! Howie does not like to be reminded of this; he deleted his account when he turned 13, no doubt, but Amber printed it all out and keeps it in a binder to threaten him with to this very day (but really she just thinks it's sweet).