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Happy Birthday (Part One)
Savanaclaw Dorm - Lounge
NRC School Newspaper A Birthday Interview with Jack
| Hi, Jack. Happy birthday! |
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Hey, thanks. ...Now I'm kind of embarrassed. |
| How does it feel having all these people celebrate your birthday? |
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I've never had a lot of friends, so having this many people wish me a happy birthday is a first. People I've never even talked to are coming up and wishing me happy birthday. It kinda weirds me out, to be honest. Then again, this outfit's practically begging for people to say it. You know what Ruggie said to me this morning? "You already stick out 'cause you're so huge, and now you stand out even more!" |
| So has your family sent any well wishes? |
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Yeah. I got a card in the mail from my little brother and sister today. They wished me a happy birthday and wrote about the stuff they'd like to do when I'm back in town. |
| What kind of stuff? |
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Oh, there was lots. One of the big things was skiing. My brother and I go skiing down this big mountain every year, and he wants to go again this year. Thing is, my seven-year-old sister is begging us to take her along now. I'd love for her to experience the rush of skiing all the way down from a mountaintop... But hiking up a mountain while hauling ski equipment is pretty rough, y'know? And here she's writing that it's "no fair" we get to have all the fun. Sheesh. I'd take her if I could, but a seven-year-old's just not gonna have the stamina for that hike. I didn't get to go skiing on that mountain 'til I was 10. |
| Sounds like you have a good relationship with your siblings. |
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Yeah, well, I'm a little older than they are. Five years older than my brother, and nine years older than my sister. My brother's starting middle school this year. He's mouthing off more and more every day. He used to follow me around wherever I went. But hey, it's fun to go back and forth with a brother who's got some bark. |
| D'awww. They must love you to pieces, big bro! |
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Huh...? Are you making fun of me?! |
Happy Birthday (Part Two)
Savanaclaw Dorm - Lounge
| I know you come from a snowy place. What's your favorite winter sport? |
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I've done skiing, ice skating, and a bunch of other winter sports, but I'm definitely best at snowboarding. |
| What's the appeal of snowboarding? |
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Well, the challenge, for one thing. Having just the one board really limits your range of movement, and makes it harder to balance than with skis or skates. I fell over a ton when I first started. I can stay up for a long time now, of course. Lately I've been getting into riding halfpipes. |
| What's a halfpipe? |
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You've never heard of 'em? They're like half tubes of snow you ride along. You can do cool jumps, spins, and poses on them. I've been practicing my grabs lately. That's when you do a jump and grab your board in mid-air. Come to think of it, there are some real goofy names for snowboarding moves. There's the roast beef, the chicken salad... I've got no idea where those names came from, but they sound pretty good, huh? |
| Now you're making me hungry. |
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I know, right? I'm actually starving too. Let's wrap up this interview and grab some of that party food. |
Happy Birthday (Part Three)
Savanaclaw Dorm - Lounge
| What's it like to turn into a wolf? |
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Well, my mind stays the same. Some of my senses get heightened, though. The biggest change is to my sense of smell. It's way sharper than in my human form. I can identify the game on an entire mountain by smell alone. I can also tell who last passed through an area by the scent in their tracks. So I know when something dangerous is headed my way, like a bear. Handy, right? |
| That's so cool! |
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Having a keen sense of smell isn't always great, though. Sometimes I get dizzy when I'm near a strong scent. Synthetic fragrances like cologne really mess me up. In a school with this many people, there's no telling what kinds of smells I'll come across. So I gotta be careful when I transform. |
| What else can you tell me about your wolf form? |
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You wanna know more? Hmm, well... Running feels way better when I'm transformed. I can run 60 to 70 kilometers an hour, so I cover a lot more ground. And at that speed, I can pull off jumps over 10 meters high. Is that sweet or what? |
| Sounds thrilling. |
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It really is. Nothing beats tearin' through a winter wonderland covered in snow! But snowy mountains'll always have some tricky cliffs I can't negotiate, even in my wolf form. I hear stories about sleds falling down 'em too. Plus, being in wolf form constantly drains my magic reserves. It may give me a huge boost physically, but I have to stay on my toes. |
| This was fascinating to learn about. Happy birthday again, Jack! |
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