How long does it take to turn?

[jen]

Laughter

Again, welcome!

Just jumped in to add my two cents worth and from what I read the topic seems to have been covered. From what I have seen, it seems that the time varies widely from person to person. In Dr. Feelgood, the good samaritan doctor who stopped to render aid to Gerald Stofsky after the hit and run only ingested a drop of the vampire's blood prior to being drained and it was enough to do the trick. The way I thought that happened (and this is just me adding two and two together and coming up with sixteen) is that the very virulant vampire virus (lots of v's--I know) will only take hold once most of that individual's blood supply is removed and their immune system crashes. Then, it rewrites that individual's DNA to that of a vampire. Mick was out for hours after Coraline's wedding gift. It was night when that Dr. was Turned and apparently it was still dark when he was up and 'doing whatever rogues do' When Josef returned Mick, he came back in only minutes, but if the cure only suppressed his vampiric abilities, he wasn't ever not a vampire really.

I think about it this way--at the office where I work, occasionally someone gets a cold and sneezes and coughs for a few days. Some coworkers get sick, and others don't. There are a lot of variables. Some have more natural resistance than others. Eventually, the vampire virus will win out but the length of the battle is going to vary.

Hope this helped and didn't just further confuse the issue.

[LaughtersMelody]

Thank you, everyone, for the answers! I'm almost finished watching the series, but not yet, and fic inspiration refused to wait, lol, so I thought I'd check the technicalities, just in case. It's nice to know that I do have some leeway there. I don't mind throwing canon out the window normally, lol, but given what this particular fic is about, I wanted this part to be as consistent as it could be.

Hi Laughter'sMelody, welcome to the board. (BTW, Love the handle) Can't wait to read your stories.

Thank you!

One thought on the re-turning going fairly quickly--if Mick didn't expect it to go quite swiftly, it wouldn't have been an effective solution for saving Beth. His time to get to her was limited, or at least it was as far as he knew, so he had to have figured on a quick transition. Otherwise, he'd have maybe (but not so heroicially!) prevailed upon Josef and perhaps Guillermo to go save her. Josef also expected the re-turning to go quickly, otherwise he'd have said, "And if I re-turn you, if it even works, you'll be out cold for hours..." or something to that effect.

Lucky

Great point! That does make sense! I'm leaning towards shortening up my timeline at least a little.

Laughter

Again, welcome!

Just jumped in to add my two cents worth and from what I read the topic seems to have been covered. From what I have seen, it seems that the time varies widely from person to person. In Dr. Feelgood, the good samaritan doctor who stopped to render aid to Gerald Stofsky after the hit and run only ingested a drop of the vampire's blood prior to being drained and it was enough to do the trick. The way I thought that happened (and this is just me adding two and two together and coming up with sixteen) is that the very virulant vampire virus (lots of v's--I know) will only take hold once most of that individual's blood supply is removed and their immune system crashes. Then, it rewrites that individual's DNA to that of a vampire. Mick was out for hours after Coraline's wedding gift. It was night when that Dr. was Turned and apparently it was still dark when he was up and 'doing whatever rogues do' When Josef returned Mick, he came back in only minutes, but if the cure only suppressed his vampiric abilities, he wasn't ever not a vampire really.

I think about it this way--at the office where I work, occasionally someone gets a cold and sneezes and coughs for a few days. Some coworkers get sick, and others don't. There are a lot of variables. Some have more natural resistance than others. Eventually, the vampire virus will win out but the length of the battle is going to vary.

Hope this helped and didn't just further confuse the issue.

Thank you! And that does help! That's very much along the lines of my own thoughts about it originally. If vampirism is a virus as they seem to imply, then it makes sense that times vary, since some people would be naturally more susceptible that others.

Thanks again, everyone!

[librarian_7]

As to the varying degrees of vulnerability to the vampire virus (and how's that for some alliteration!), I do agree. Let me throw this into the mix...the Dr. Feelgood's wife mentioned that he'd been working very hard lately, which might mean his immune system was not in good shape, and that may have left him easier prey for the virus--because, honestly, he did have minimal exposure to it.

Lucky

[Lucy]

As to the varying degrees of vulnerability to the vampire virus (and how's that for some alliteration!), I do agree. Let me throw this into the mix...the Dr. Feelgood's wife mentioned that he'd been working very hard lately, which might mean his immune system was not in good shape, and that may have left him easier prey for the virus--because, honestly, he did have minimal exposure to it.

Lucky

You mean the next time I am run down and fly towards my vacation I should be careful to ward against Vampire turnings because my immunity is down???

[jen]

Also, when we are run down our blood is probably much less appealing...



Seriously though, all this is conjecture and I don't think they meant to imply that the 'vampire virus' was something that could be caught like a cold. If that were the case, people with dibilitating illnesses that naturally attack the immune system, those taking immunosuppresive medications and those who have genetic autoimmune disorders would be susceptable to Turning from any contact with a vampire. People are only Turned when a sufficient quantity of their blood is removed causing the process of death to start--immune system crashes, organs begin to shut down, etc. Then, even a small quantity of the sire's blood is sufficient to start the process of the Turning. The newly introduced virus takes hold and they are now batting for the fanged, silver and sunlight avoiding, blood drinking set.

Just my take on it. We all have our opinins... and I freely admit I spend way too much time connecting the dots and trying to figure this out, but there is something so intriguing about filling in the blanks on some mysteries like this.