first experiment; 9:53 PM

[originallutece]

For our more vampiric population, I come to you with a solution for your dietary problems.

I've invented artificial blood. A substance you can consume without harming others, but that will sustain you much as food and water. I owe a debt to Elena for helping me test them.

Unfortunately, it cannot yet be used in a medical sense-- for blood transplants, which are, by the by, a very important part of medical knowledge, which makes up the second part of this announcement.

If you do not know your blood type, come see me, and I can at least determine it. Blood types are a vital bit of information in a place where one routinely gets cut to bits. Transfusing blood-- that is, the act of giving one's blood to another-- can save a life in many cases. However, if the wrong sorts of blood interact, the result can be deadly.

Many of you do not know your blood type. This will, inevitably, come back to bite you.

So. I suggest you come by my lab within the next few days and find out, before you nearly die of an injury, manage to make it back to town, and then die of your original blood sensing the invader and killing off the cells that came to theoretically heal you. What a horrible, ironic death that would be.

Comments

[originallutece]

Would you like to explain the basic properties of blood to me more, or are you done for the day?

At least you know your type.

[donttalktome]

Look, for all I know, people in your time haven't figured out exactly how it works yet.
Maybe your world has completely different blood groups.
Maybe you don't know that the types don't have to be exactly the same in all cases.
Forgive me for trying to be helpful.

[originallutece]

1901. You ought to brush up on your history, Dr. Ingram.

[That's absolutely unfair and he has a spot-on point about different worlds having different systems, but also, consider, she isn't fair.]

More importantly: what spurred on this helpful attitude? It's commendable, but unusual.

[donttalktome]

Can you tell me everything the civilizations over a thousand years in your history knew about blood?
Actually, you probably can, since it likely amounted to "sometimes you have too much of it and that makes you ill".
Sue me if I can't recall which exact decade humanity discovered what.
In any case, if I tell the person likely to be performing the blood transfusions how to save my life in the event that it's necessary, I raise my chances of survival.

[originallutece]

You utilize quite a few words when you're on the defensive, do you know that?

[donttalktome]

And you like to try and change the subject whenever the other person makes a valid point.