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]

[So, that's . . . a lot.

It's not that she's never seen him around, but it's one thing to see him in the distance and another to see him looming in her doorway. She blinks for just a moment, one eye shining, the other covered in a patch, before stepping back to let him in.]

By all means. Take a seat.

[sunborne]

[ she's going to get so much arc fuel from him.

daylight gives a polite 'thank you!' as he enters, keeping mind of his size as he takes a seat on something that (hopefully) looks like it could take his weight. ]

Right. So... Um- Before we try and stuff, I wanted you to give you a heads up about arc fuel. Like, you know, the usual rules: Don't eat. Don't breathe in the fumes. Don't expose to extreme temperatures back to back. Things like that. [ he pauses. ] Sorry. Just got this drilled into my processors by my aunties if I had anyone else besides approved medics or Meddy to do any treatments on me.

[originallutece]

[Hm. She raises an eyebrow, but nods.]

What would happen if I, say, did do any of those things? Presumably I'd die, but-- is it gasoline, your arc fuel?

[sunborne]

[ cue the most noncommittal sound daylight has ever made as he thought about his answer, tilting his helm back and forth in thought. ]

I mean- I guess that's the closest equivalent of an Earth resource for arc fuel.

And I don't think you'll die. Just get super, um, sick and stuff but I don't think you'll die, Madam Lutece

[ that repeated use of 'think' doesn't exactly experience confidence, daylight. ]

[originallutece]

[It's an oddly childish answer from someone so tall-- but height doesn't necessarily indicate age. Her mouth twitches slightly despite herself.]

You're going to have to help me with the needle, I'm afraid.

[Because she doesn't know how much strength it will take to pierce him.]

. . . out of curiosity, where are you in your developmental cycle? That is to say . . . are you an adult?

[sunborne]

[ if daylight had visible pupils, it would be obvious they were darting back and forth as he tried to formulate his answer.

but, thankfully(?) his winglets make up for that with how they nervously flap between his wings. ]

Um.... I'm old enough...

[ that is most definitely not a confident 'why yes, i am an adult-adult, yes.' answer, daylight. ]

[originallutece]

[Her eyebrows raise, and her voice has a very slight edge to it: not scolding, but school-teacherish.]

Answer the question.

[sunborne]

[ daylight makes the unhappiest sound in the world but he knows that tone. ]

I'm a hundred-and-twenty-one cycles. Around... [ he pauses here out of genuine uncertainty, trying to figure out the convuluted conversion that his guardians had made. ] I don't know, eighteen, in Terran years? At the very best?

[originallutece]

[. . . oh.]

That explains a great deal.

[No, not really. But it does explain the occasional dissonant phrase she's heard-- things that are more common in a teenager than an adult.]

Now. Slip this into your equivalent of a vein. One smooth motion.

[sunborne]

[ day puffs out his cheek, annoyed by the comment but keeping quiet since she is trying to help. ]

Um- Okay. Sure. [ he turns his servo over, revealing a gap between the plating of his arm guard and servo.

day winces for a second as he takes a deep breath and punches through the protoform- an audible sound is heard. best described as a creak and puncture through a solid object that's not entirely unyielding. definitely a weird sound, for sure. ] How much will you need from me?