PERSONAL CORRESPONDANCE #5

Q:   Other than play baseball and hunt, what might the vampires do on a sunny day?


A:  It just seems natural that they’d want to play–especially since they can’t use their full abilities most of the time.  I think they’d be equally interested in football (though Rosalie probably wouldn’t play something where she’s get mud on her…), but basketball would be harder–the court would never survive!

Sunny days, they do anything we’d do–just out of sight.  Do their thing at home, hang out in the city, catch a bad movie, shop (if you’re Alice), fly to Paris…

Q:  About venom and kissing.  Is Bella in any danger of this venom when snogging Edward? 

A.  I’ve had a few people wondering why Edward always pulls away from Bella when she opens her mouth while he’s kissing her (thinking I have some sort of anti-female-affectionate-aggression agenda or something, I guess).  But, of course, he’s just worried about her safety.  Yes, the venom does pose a danger to her.  It’s not like acid–it has to be in the bloodstream to cause any problems, it won’t hurt her skin.  However, say she had a sore in her mouth, or that she’d bitten her tongue….  Even if that wasn’t the case, Edward’s teeth are sharp as razors.  She could cut her lips or tongue on them easily, and then the conversion process would begin–very painfully and very slowly (because it would be such a small infusion of the venom).  Sadly, true snogging is out.
 

Q:  There really wasn’t a question, but rather a whole conversation about my own thoughts on New Moon.  In a nutshell, all she said was that I was wrong, but she did give me one more interesting fact.  When Bella looked up vampire information on the Internet, she found a name – Stregoni benefici.  I had a speculation about it, which as usual, was wrong.

A:  Stregoni benefici–that would be CARLISLE, my dear friend.  Yes, he created that myth all by himself.

Q:   Are the old vampires weaker than a newborn, even if they have fed?  And is a thirsty newborn weaker than a full one?  Are human blood vampires stronger than vegetarians?  Can human blood vampires go longer without feeding than vegetarian ones?

A:  Here’s the deal with strength–it’s all relative, and there are no finite answers because, like humans, every vampire has a personal range.  Emmett is immensely strong.  A newborn vampire of average strength might be a little stronger than him, but it would be close (and, if it came to a fight, Emmett would win because he’d know what he was doing.)  Emmett as a newborn must have been insanely strong. 
 
As far as hunting affecting strength–it is a very minimal difference with physical strength.  Mental strength is more markedly depleted.  (Remember Carlisle’s story?  How, as he got thirstier and thirstier, he knew his willpower was slipping and he tried to stay as far away from humans as possible?)  If you took two vampires of equal strength, one who had recently drunk human blood and one who had been fasting for a while, the one who wasn’t thirsty would be stronger.  However, the one who was thirsty wouldn’t exactly be weak.  He could still lift a minivan over his head and throw it across a football field.  Human blood does make them stronger than animal blood, but only fractionally.  Big game (bears, wildcats, predators) makes them stronger than the "weaker" blood of herd animals.  It’s not a huge difference and, given that all vampires have individual strength levels, it’s really hard to measure.
 
And this all just applies a straight contest of strength.  So, unless we’re talking about an arm wrestling competition, it’s almost irrelevant.  In a fight, skill is going to count more than strength.