netherwork | audio ↪ un: 012601

We've all had some time to settle in. Hopefully everyone's holding up all right!

For those of you I haven't spoken with, my name's Sakura. I'm both a doctor and healer and I have a little ad hoc clinic down by the docks. （ a helpful location ping follows this. ） If you ever find yourself needing medical care, please reach out and let me know. There's at least one other person here with medical experience that I know of as well, but I'll let them speak up if they want to make themselves known — and I'm happy to collaborate with anyone else, none of us can be everywhere at once.

（ paging

terraria, party of bird. ）

As for my reason for addressing you all... I'm looking to keep blood on hand for medical emergencies, transfusions and any surgeries that may be necessary. If anyone is willing to come down to the clinic and give a donation, it'd be very appreciated. I promise it only hurts a little! And you'll even get a candy afterwards! While supplies last.

Those with O-negative and O-positive types would be ideal. If you don't happen to know what your blood-type is, I can run a test for you.

Thanks everyone!

（ she's almost finished, and it seems like that might have been the last thing... but a few minutes later, she clicks the feed on again: ）

I'm still looking for information on anyone who's undergone the soulbond as well. Purely for research purposes. You can reply anonymously if you'd like, or privately if that's easier. I promise anything you say will be kept confidential.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ promises, obligations and duties keep chu wanning running, even when he might otherwise forget or neglect to do something. food and water are easy to skip, but promising to donate blood means he will show up.

(it isn't the promise of candy motivating him to show up, not at all.)

since they hadn't discussed a time, he shows up in the afternoon. the clinic itself is nothing impressive, and briefly, he wonders if it's possible to improve anything about it. walls, at least. the urge to do something, to be useful, is strong.

but there's little time to think about that before he's confronted with someone who can't be older than fifteen. he frowns at her, mostly out of concern, but his features are severe. ]

I am here to donate blood with Miss Sakura.

（ excuse you, she's nineteen!! ）

Oh! Yep, that's me. Are you one of the people I spoke with on the network, or did you just hear by word of mouth?

（ she is already scrubbing up, and donning a pair of gloves. say what you will about the fact everything falls apart in stygia, but at least they make decent gloves and she doesn't have to worry too much about plastic waste disposal! ）

[ still, she looks too young be doing this. not that he has any right to talk about age. ]

We spoke on the network, and I arranged to come today. [ he pauses, watching her for a moment before looking away, observing the walls, unsure of where to sit and feeling flustered for that. ] My name on the network is Yuheng.

Yuheng — it's nice to meet you!

（ not everyone does handshakes, so she doesn't offer one. instead, she directs him to a chair where he can take a seat. ）

Are you familiar with the side-effects of bloodloss at all?

（ it's said so very casually, as she gets started on the prep-work. scrubbing her hands, donning a pair of gloves and the like. ）

[ he settles in the chair, now watching her closely. he's never had blood drawn, so this is a novel experience, and he's never had an opportunity to watch the medical experts in his world at their practice. he can learn something, perhaps. ]

I have lost blood before. Meditation and rest are recommended to help.

[ he sounds slightly skeptical about that, disdainful. who has time to rest when things have to be done? ]

Those are definitely factors. It's also good to up your fluid intake, preferably with something high in sugar.

（ once everything is set and ready, she sits down beside him and pushes a juicebox into his hand. hope you like peach juice! ）

Drink this first, candy afterwards. It helps.

（ technically, it can be given on either side of the donation, but she prefers before so that the digestive enzymes are already breaking down the sugar by the time the donation is concluded. ）

[ he takes the juicebox and sips at it, pleasantly surprised that it is sweet and not sour or medicinal in flavor— peach is one of his favorites. if he weren't in public, with a stranger, he'd drink it eagerly, but since he's seated next to someone else, who is observing him, he's mindful. ]

Drink more fluids throughout the day, or just for now?

[ he asks more out of curiosity than anything else. even given an excuse to drink sweet things, he'll likely refrain; he gets cavities easily.

unfortunately, it is only a juicebox; it doesn't last long before he's sucking up the last of the juice. ]

Throughout the day as well.

（ she rattles off an entire spiel — what the symptoms might look like, how to combat them, how long he should avoid vigorous exercise and what to do if there seems to be excessive bruising at the site afterwards. this is done with the casual, practiced competency of someone who knows a thing or two about a thing or two.

once she seems otherwise satisfied he understands what she's on about — ）

Ready to start?

[ he does actually pay attention to the spiel, even though he's familiar with blood loss, and the rest surely can't apply to him. cultivators heal differently.

he offers her his arm, flushing slightly when he realizes he has to roll up his sleeve. although it's not actually revealing, it's still more undressed than chu wanning is used to, especially in the presence of a lady, and he hopes the entire thing goes quickly. it's mostly painless, and he watches it with fascination, not at all bothered by the sight of blood, and he doesn't realize how much time has passed until sakura announces they're done and has to bandage his arm.

once he's free to settle his sleeve in place, he does feel a tiny bit better, and he can ask the question that's been on his mind since their initial conversation. ]

How long do you expect to keep the containers? Have you noticed any sign of degradation yet?

Ah, the stable 'shelf life' of donated blood — even when properly stored — is around six weeks, so I suspect that the containers will deteriorate at close to the same rates overall.

（ not... untrue, as these things go, as she busies herself with clean-up and — of course! — with ensuring he gets some candy, the little basket proffered once she's confident she's decontaminated everything and has removed his gloves. ）

Try to rest for about a quarter hour, okay? How are you feeling?

[ candy, the main thing that drew him in, keeps his attention for a moment. he pokes through the offerings before selecting two pieces, immediately eating one and stowing the other one away for later in the depths of his sleeves. ]

Acceptable.

[ which is the most he'd ever say about his health. ]

Will you need more blood after that?

I might. Better to be safe than sorry, you know?

（ she doesn't want to waste it, but she'd rather waste blood than be short for someone who needs it at the end of the day. she can only do so much. ）

But if you're okay with it, I could always call you on an as-needed basis?

[ he dips his head in acknowledgement. it's not a big issue to him to donate blood, and she's one more person he can talk to about how items are faring without being soul forged.

the candy is sweeter than he expected, but it's tasty, and his face brightens for a moment as he eats it. ]

That is acceptable. Blood requires time to replenish; how often can one donate?

Roughly every two months — though of course it depends on your innate ability to replenish blood, which can vary between people and various abilities. It's a bit longer for women — （ for totally normal biological reasons she is NOT going to get into thank you!! ） but I could easily give blood once a week if I needed to, because of my own healing, as an example.

（ also? that's cute. mental note: make sure this kind young man has candy more often. ）

I can donate as you need. [ rather than mentioning his own healing abilities, vastly improved by his cultivation, or asking anything else, he merely offers her a nod and, feeling awkward because he never knows how to say good-bye, departs. ]

audio ↪ un: 012601

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