Here are some scientific facts about blood loss for all you psychopaths writers out there.
This is actually very nice. I like the soda bottles as reference. (I remember when I was writing ‘Wizards of Ceres’ how I had to do a similar soda-bottle conversion to try to work out how much blood Fai could drink from Kurogane without killing him.)
On the topic of vampires incidentally, this basically means that there is no reason why feeding from someone should necessitate killing them, unless the vamp can chug two soda bottles worth of liquid in one go or carelessly leaves the bottle open when they’re done
@fieldofclover thought this might come in handy for, you know, vampirey things
Ooh, I like this! The bottles as a reference makes it quite easy to picture mentally - especially since, having previously experienced just how much mess a litre-bottle spilt on the floor actually makes, it gives a better idea of volume etc.
Incidentally, as a frequent blood donor myself (thank you, haemochromatosis), and thus being more aware of the volume of blood donated at each session (the average appears to be 450ml, or 0.45 litres per blood bag filled) and needing to know how long it takes red blood cells and plasma to recover after donation–
about 24 hours for plasma, and up to 8 weeks for red blood cells themselves, which is why the average length between donations is 12 weeks, to ensure the body is well recovered by the next donation (which is also why I was so fucking tired after having to donate once a month for the first three months of my treatment)
– I ended up doing a bit of reading re: blood loss, but this really is the best imagery for it I’ve seen without bogging down into too much science stuff.
Other crucially important facts relevant to vampire porn I have learned:
yes, you can get an erection after donating blood, as the body generally maintains blood pressure equilibrium even if the volume of red blood cells per liquid ml is lower, though if you lose anything more than half a litre you’re probably gonna find it a bit difficult;
erythropoietin is a funky chemical involved in converting stem cells to red blood cells which your body produces when you need more of ‘em, so if we’re going with the standard ‘vampire saliva is an anticoagulant and narcotic stimulant, and/or induces arousal’ conceit, it probably makes sense that said saliva introduces a similar compound into the human blood stream in the post-feeding stage to encourage their food to recover quickly for a repeat feeding, usually while licking the wounds left behind;
your vamp is probably gonna have a reallyfull belly if they try and drink more than the average 450ml or so in one sitting. Blood is quite a bit thicker than water or soft drink; it’s more like drinking a hearty broth or soup. Can you imagine attempting to chug a litre of pressurised soup as it squirts into your mouth with considerable force? No thanks!
tl;dr the science behind blood loss is fascinating, especially in a vampire context, and the government agencies monitoring my search history probably think I’m a serial killer
AND while I was trying to find that video, I also came across these visual aids:
And this shirt, which only has 250ml (¼th a liter) of fake blood on it:
They also say that even paramedics have a difficult time guessing how much blood was lost, and many of them will say they probably got it wrong. For people used to having our blood be on the inside, it can be startling to see so much of it on the outside- even when ‘so much’ turns out to be actually not as much as we thought.
“This could have been so much easier for everyone.” Azari let go of Morgan, who fell limply to the ground, barely conscious and too weak from blood loss to stand. Azari drew the back of his hand across his lips, wiping away blood. “But you had to complicate things.”
Azari knelt on the ground next to Morgan. “I’m going to use you to take him down once I find him.” He whispered, a grin splitting his face. “And then, I’m going to kill you both.”
And Azari walked out the door.
—
August closed his eyes, leaning back against the tree in the park. He didn’t realize he was shaking.
It didn’t matter how many years went by. Ten. A hundred. A thousand. Ten thousand.
The pain always felt fresh when he thought about it.
Hissister.His responsibility. He was supposed to take care of her, but he didn’t.
He killed her.
Maybe he shouldn’t have walked out on Morgan so abruptly. But then again, if he had stayed, things would have only gone downhill.
Suddenly an odd feeling of uneasiness stabbed at August’s mind. He opened his eyes just in time to be knocked suddenly to the ground. He didn’t have time to register who his as a assailant was, but he could tell from their strength that they weren’t human.
August kicked them off relatively easily and scrambled to his feet.
A bitter taste settled in his mouth as he locked eyes with Azari. “You.”
“Surprise! It’s me.” He looked too happy. There was no way he was going to beat August in a test of strength— August had just proved that. So why was he smiling?
August’s thoughts snapped back to Morgan.
“What do you want? What did you do?”
“I think you can make an educated guess about that. Both of those, actually.” Azari stepped closer.
August brought up his hands to fight.
“Put your fists down. You look like an idiot. You can’t hurt me if you ever want to see your little pet alive again.”
“You know that’s not true. There’s only one way vampires can die, which means you’ve either already killed them or you have to go back to kill them. If they’re dead, what the hell is the point of leaving you alive. If they’re alive, I’ll find them after I put an end to this shit.” August lunged forward, but Azari was able to sidestep in time.
“Wrong. I mean, partially correct, except there are billions of places they could be. I’m fast enough that they could be at the bottom of the ocean right now. Or buried six feet underground— do you really think you can find them? And if so, how long will it take you? Maybe hours. Maybe decades. Maybe never. Are you really going to put them through that? When you could cooperate and save them from years of torturous waiting? Some things are worse than death, you know.”
August hesitated. Azari wasn’t wrong. He might be bluffing— Morgan could still be in his house. For some reason, though, August doubted it. He was right. August wasn’t going to make Morgan wait years to be found again. And he couldn’t guarantee he’d find him quickly.
“… So what happens if I decide to go with you? I can’t imagine you plan to just lead me straight to them. What’s your trick?”
“No trick. At least, not yet. I will lead you straight to them.”
August didn’t trust him— how could he— but he didn’t see a better option. “Fine. Take me to them.”
So this probably comes as no surprise but I very much appreciate all the whump and hurt/comfort elements of bleeding and blood loss. The aesthetics, the whump value, the plot value: it’s all glorious!
- symptoms of blood loss: cold and shivery; feeling faint; losing coherency; heart racing; hands shaking; vision dimming
- the injury reveal where a hand or jacket is moved aside to show a spreading red stain
- a manic grin with bloodstained teeth
- being held down so someone can put pressure on the wound
- needing to somehow put enough pressure on his own wound
- being pale and tired for days afterwards from the blood loss
- being pale and tired because of anemia
- ‘buddy’ transfusions - someone giving blood directly to the injured person because there’s no time for ‘proper’ treatment at a hospital
- internal bleeding: all the symptoms of blood loss without drawing attention to the injury for some time
- dark clothes which hide all of the blood he’s lost
- someone touches him and their hand comes away red
- bright red leaking through white bandages
- standing in a shower and the water on the floor turning red-brown as the blood washes off him
- the desperate panicked chaos of a sudden injury that causes a lot of bleeding
- the quiet desperation of watching someone bleed out slowly over hours
- a ragged cough which ends with blood on his lips
- the sudden, surprising warmth from torn stitches and fresh bleeding
- accidentally finding a blood stained shirt and new medical supplies when no-one was thought to have been injured
- blood welling up between hands pressed hard against the wound
- smears of blood left on a wall, marking which way he went and how he had to support himself
- tracking a trail of blood
- tenderly cupping someone’s face with a blood stained hand, and leaving a smear of blood
- gently washing away the blood from his hair and skin and hands
- putting back on clothes which are stiff and cold with old blood
- staring at his own blood stained hand in confusion
- desperately trying to finish a task before the blood loss becomes too much; feeling the adrenaline pushing him through but also speeding up the blood loss
Here are some scientific facts about blood loss for all you psychopaths writers out there.
This is actually very nice. I like the soda bottles as reference. (I remember when I was writing ‘Wizards of Ceres’ how I had to do a similar soda-bottle conversion to try to work out how much blood Fai could drink from Kurogane without killing him.)
On the topic of vampires incidentally, this basically means that there is no reason why feeding from someone should necessitate killing them, unless the vamp can chug two soda bottles worth of liquid in one go or carelessly leaves the bottle open when they’re done
It was a relief to get Harrison into the chopper, where they had more scope to work. Less danger, too. They could work without having to constantly watch their backs. Another crew had apparently recovered bodies, but no word on who they were yet. They had work to do to keep Harrison from joining them.
The blood loss was quite something. Even with the tourniquet in situ, there was a significant amount of bleeding from elsewhere, too. The entirety of his right side was a mess, bloodied and broken. The more they did, the more injuries they seemed to find.
Harrison’s obs were shocking, and yet they continued to get worse. They were still a good way off the base when his blood pressure sank, and they rushed to find the source of the new bleed.
He was bleeding through the tourniquet, what was left of his leg causing blood to soak into everything, pool around them as they tried to work. They were transfusing now, pushing blood as fast as they can to try and stabilise him - or at least keep him stable to get him to base and to surgery. They did their best to stop the haemorrhage, taking the tourniquet as tight as they dared.
As they tightened the second tourniquet, Harrison screamed. He wasn’t with it at all, but the pain suddenly made things clearer. He pushed their hands from his leg, fingers clasping around blood and fabric. His back arched in pain as he tried to get away from it. He didn’t want it. He caught Matt’s eye as he tried to help, silently begging the other man to just let him go. He didn’t want to live in that much pain.
Matt tried to soothe Harrison as he screamed. “It’s alright, we’ve got you. We’re gonna look after you, just hold on for us. Nearly back at base, nearly there.” He soothed, as one of his team gave more pain meds. “I know it hurts, I know.”
Why wouldn’t they just let him go? He couldn’t do this anymore. Marcus was gone, he could feel it. The pain was horrific, and the meds only made the world spin even more. He couldn’t just give in, his body wouldn’t let him, no matter how much he wanted to. Nausea rose again and he retched, though made no attempt to move. He had no energy to care, to carry on living.
“I know, I know.” Matt soothed, and they moved him up onto his side as he retched. “Hold on for us, Harrison. Just hold on.” He repeated, There wasn’t a lot more they could do, just try and keep on top of the bleeding, keep pushing blood and fluids to keep him stable. They’d already sent the alert to base, the team were waiting for them.
Vomiting and barely conscious, Harrison begged silently. He couldn’t do it, not without Marcus, and not with his injuries.
More drugs were given in an attempt to stabilise him, the tourniquets finally doing their job. There was enough blood in his chest to worry them, though he was still compensating enough. They had their airway kit out, the drugs ready to knock him out, but while he was still conscious, it was easier to keep him that way. It was there if they had to, but it would be easier to do it with the full team, in a much safer environment.
The transfer had him screaming again, even with all the painkillers. Lights flashed around him and alarms blared, but he struggled to focus on anything. He barely recognised the faces of the team he’d worked with for months as they swarmed around him, crying out for them to stop, to just let him go. It was a welcome bliss as he finally slipped under, into the welcome blackness waiting.
The mission was simple all Keith and the other paladins had to do was buy Kolivan and a few other blade members some time to break into the Galra ship. Easy right? Apparently not.
Keith had gotten separated from the group during the first fight when they arrived. Keith had been running in what felt like circles for god knows how long but as he turned a corner he was met with five druids. The druids pointed their magic directly at Keith who drew his blade ready to fight. The magic from the druids sliced up his legs with no mercy, by the time Keith had gotten close enough to the druids to strike he was too weak to hold himself up. In one final sweep one of the druids sliced Keith’s legs from under him, he let out a scream and slumped to the ground.
Keith must have lost consciousness for a few moments because when he opened his eyes the druids had disappeared, Keith felt at his head to call for help but of course, his helmet was on the other side of the room. He used the little strength he had left to pull himself towards his helmet. Keith managed to reach his helmet but the energy he used to get to it was all he had left because before he was able to put it on he was slipping into darkness again, consciousness slipping from his grasp.
The paladins had attempted to check in with Keith after realizing he was missing from the team. They feared the worst and well they were right too because on the other side of the huge galra base Keith was bleeding out. Pidge was able to lock onto Keith’s armor’s signal and the paladins followed quickly behind her.
The paladins first saw Keith’s unconscious body sprawled out on the floor but it was lance who noticed the pair of legs on the opposite side of the room and the trail of blood that ran between Keith and the legs. Once lance informed the team the paladins were quick to move into action.
Once Keith was safely inside the castle Coran concluded that the druids had used magic to cause the damage and although Altean tech is progressive it does not possess the ability to re-grow limbs. Coran also mentioned that if Keith was to survive he would need a blood transfusion the pod could sustain him for now but not forever. Lance Knew what he had to do, he informed Coran that he could give Keith a blood transfusion because he was an O blood type and could donate to anyone. With the green light from lance Coran raced to gather the amount of blood Keith needed. Once the blood had been collected Coran removed Keith from the healing pod and hooked him up to the machine pumping Lance’s blood into Keith’s veins. After what felt like forever Coran came out of the med bay informing the paladins that the blood transfusion was successful and that Keith could now finish healing in the healing pod. Shiro and lance both let out a large breath they hadn’t noticed they were holding.
Kolivan was the first of a few blades that came to see Keith in the healing pod. Kolivan approached the pod slowly easing down next to it, he placed his head and right hand on the outside of the pod and a single tear escaped the corner of his eye. The paladins watched on confused by the sudden and rather out-of-character show of emotion shown by Kolivan. A masked blade stood beside the paladins and explained that he and a few other blades had noticed an unusual bond forming between the two.
———– Two weeks later ———–
Kolivan hadn’t left the castle of lions med bay since Keith had arrived even appointing Thace as temporary head of the blades in his absence. Coran had announced this morning that Keith would be exiting the pod this afternoon now that his wounds had fully healed and the paladins began crowding around the pod. All the paladins jumped at a sudden low growl escaping who they can only assume were Kolivan’s lips as they grew closer to the pod. Before anyone could mention the growl the pod slid open allowing Keith to fall into Kolivan’s waiting arms.
Coran had ushered everyone out except Kolivan who refused to leave Keith’s side and allowed Keith to settle before telling Keith the news of his now missing legs. The other paladins held their breath on the other side of the med bay doors awaiting the reaction of the news. The hallways where silent for a brief moment before a pain filled sob echoed through the castle followed by soft purring which seemed to be coming from a much older and ruff voice than Keith’s. Kolivan was seen purring softly to Keith which seemed to calm the sobbing boy drastically.
