I know that it's been a really long time since you finished MMSL but I was really curious. Lance said that the quality doesn't affect his ability to use his magic, it was just the quantity. Does this mean that he is also able to use liquids that have water in them such as drinks or even foods with water in the composition? Is he able to manipulate them along with their properties? Like using honey while keeping its stickiness? Sorry for the random ask and I understand if you don't answer. <3
You just asked me a question that required quite a lot of research hah :P Thank you though, it was interesting to figure out the details of this!! I’ll answer this in two parts:
The first question is whether he can manipulate foods or drinks with water in them.
Long answer: you probably remember how he repeatedly washed Keith’s sweat away without using extra water for that. I researched that and found out that sweat is more than 99% water. Seawater usually includes around 3-4% salt, amongst other minerals/bacteria etc. He kept up Shiro’s bloodflow in chapter 2 and blood is 95% water. He didn’t struggle with any of these at all and he always turns seawater into drinking water, so it’s safe to say he has pretty good control over these. So yes, he can manipulate other stuff that includes water, especially with drinks it should be easy. It is not any different with foods - he should be able to extract the water of them pretty easily, even if the amount of water in it is very small. That is because water is his primary affinity though; his range to control water stretches completely without any water source around him to ~2-3m.
The second question is, can he manipulate the stuff that includes water without it losing their properties?
Short answer: he can’t automatically control all stuff that includes liquid.
Long answer: yes for drinks, definitely. A coke (if it existed in that world) would have around 89% water still, so he’d have no problems with it. Honey, for example, should be somewhere around 15-20% water. It’s around 80% sugar, and the rest of it are proteins/enzymes etc. According to that, honey would be solid without any water. Water is the thing that makes it liquid-ish, the sugar is dissolved in there and just makes it a little more sticky. So yes, he should be able to control honey while keeping its unique texture although he technically only controls the water.
This does not mean that he can control people through their blood though, as bloodbenders are able to do in Avatar. With solid food or things that have a regulated bloodflow he would have to destroy the usual paths the water takes. Honey is more or less liquid, you can get it into any form you want, but the same thing does not apply to humans. If you stick water into a closed box Lance would be able to lift the box through forcing the water to push against the top but if he would do the same thing to a human he would effectively kill them by messing up their blood pressure. If he is lucky enough, a solid piece of food might have enough water in it to lift it without him accidentally extracting the water instead.
The general rule is: if there is enough water to completely surround an object/dissolve it, then he is able to control it. In other cases it depends on the specific circumstances.
I hope this cleared it up a little!! :D
