Blood drinking

Some radikas drink blood frequently, others more infrequently, and yet others not at all. Being a radika does _not_ mean that you'd had to do it. Actually, if you don't really need it, you'd better not. Blood is simply energy in concentrated form. If you can get enough energy, you don't need blood. Think about it. I know it's hard like hell, and you most probably feel like dying if you're used to drinking and won't drink. But it won't kill you. (NOTE! Full-radikas are an exception to this! Some of them may need blood a few times per year to keep their bodies functioning. More information about full-radikas will be added sooner or later.)

If you end up with the fact that you really need to drink blood, consider how much you need. Our eyes are generally bigger than our stomachs. Human body does not digest blood well. It's the energy in the blood you're after, not the blood itself. Besides, when the skin is broken, there is a great amount of energy bleeding from the wound at the same time. You can feed from that too.

Risks and problems

I'm not going to tell you here how to get blood, just tell what risks it has and how they can be avoided. About getting blood I just say this: Do your homework. Before cutting anyone, study some anatomy so that you won't cut any nerves or tendons. That's permanent damage, they won't heal ever. For starters you could check some university's webpage. There usually can be found at least some information.

There are physical risks and how to avoid them:

• First, let us dispel some superstition. Being a radika does _not_ make immune to blood-borne diseases. It's very easy to get some disease if you drink blood. So make sure your donor is healthy. If you drink frequently, say once a month or more often, you and your donor better get blood tests two times a year. Otherwise, once a year would be good. If you don't want to pay for tests, go to give blood to Red Cross or similar place. They test it and you get the results.
• This is just common sense: Clean the knife or whatever, and the skin before cutting, and the wound after drinking. And remember that the sharper the knife, the better. Surgeon knives are generally the sharpest you can get. (Note! Surgeon knives are used in arts, especially watercolor-painting, if someone asks you why you want to buy one.)
• Mouth has all kinds of bacteria. Before drinking swish some water in your mouth. Do not brush your teeth, because your gums can start bleeding and if you or your donor has some blood-borne disease, the other surely gets it.
• For the same reason as above, if you have bleeding wounds in your mouth, do not drink blood.
• For the well-being of your donor, don't suck blood from the wound. Let it pool and then lick it away or something. Sucking hard can cause damage to veins.
• Do not cut too deep. There are lot of small veins near the surface of skin. And watch out for major arteries. And anyway it's better that the donor cuts him/herself, firstly because it may be hard to control oneself when one knows that soon one will get blood, and second because of legal matters if something happens.
• Keep bandages, and the phone number of someone who knows more than first aid and who you can trust, nearby in case something more serious happens. I don't think you want to try to explain in the policlinic just what you were doing... But if something that cannot be treated without expert medical help, happens, don't hesitate to go to doctor. It's better to try to explain the wound than to end up with a dead friend.

And there are mental problems which are not so easily avoided:

• In most cultures, since we were little we've been told that drinking blood is abomidable and evil and so on. It's not. It's no different from eating meat. Except that donor is usually human (drinking from animals is not adviced unless you can be very sure that they're not having any diseases). But no matter how many times you tell yourself that you're not evil, your subconscious may not understand it, and you end up feeling guilty even if there were no reason. Feeling guilty in itself is not so bad, it's actually good that you don't consider your donor just a meal. But do not do anything rash because you feel bad.
• And to make sure your donor is not feeling like a meal, stay some time with them after you've drunk. If you're (or your donor is) in hurry to somewhere, postpone the drink. Getting cut is after all some shock, and even the most cold-blooded ones can't handle it with a shrug of shoulders. Always remember that you depend on your donor, not vica versa. You can't treat them any way you wish.