Dead Star Dockyards

"Drink it." Donovan stared down at the cup in his hand with a blank expression. "You aren't in any danger, just drink it."

Donovan's eyes were focused on the contents of the receptacle, but for the life of him he couldn't manage to 'see' it - his brain simply refused to recognize what was inside of the cup. He spared a glance back towards Diana, who was being cared for by a group of Skwiven.

By cared for, he meant they had decided to cuddle up next to her, but he supposed there wasn't much they could do for an unconscious individual not in immediate danger. He sort of wished he was on the receiving end of that treatment, not that he would ever want Diana to take his place for this.

"Why am I doing this again?"

"I want to see if we can use the same method I did to push you ahead of the curve. If you draw benefits from this process, I will figure out a way to make it more appealing to you in the future. If you don't, my efforts would be better spent elsewhere." The Arboreal Maiden's logic was sound, sort of. "I promise you will not suffer the effects most others would experience from taking in Velar blood. You and Diana are immune to split based toxins. You are immune to the vast majority of toxins in general."

"So . . . what am I supposed to do?" Donovan was doing everything in his power to avoid looking down at the fatty, chunky, bloody sludge. Unfortunately, there was no escaping the smell. "Just drink it?"

"Just drink it."

"I don't need to do anything else?"

"I expect you not to panic. I would also prefer it if you directed any projectile vomit away from clothing if possible, though it isn't strictly necessary."

Donovan bit his lip, looking up towards the Watcher.

"What will he do if he finds out?"

"Nothing. If he tries anything, he knows I will kill him."

"Are there any bits of bone or grit in this?"

"Any shards of bone would have sunk to the bottom of the pond by now. It should be free of anything that would cut your stomach liner."

Donovan once more looked down at the cup. He couldn't see anything to suggest otherwise.

". . . you don't seem like you want to do this."

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"I think I could have handled drinking blood, maybe even a bit of skin or muscle, but this feels a little different. It's like, there's everything in this, right? Organs and all?"

"I was under the impression that the intestines of certain animals were considered to be a delicacy on Earth."

"Yeah, usually that was a whole organ. I'm pretty sure those organs were cooked too. This is like a smoothie. An organ smoothie." Donovan swirled the cup around, the between his actions and the response of the liquid hinting at its viscosity. "It isn't even cold."

"Would chilling it make it more appetizing for you?"

"I'm just gonna . . ." Donovan didn't know what else to say. He could feel his brain shorting at the prospect of drinking this stuff. "Fuck it. Bottoms up."

He threw his head back, closed his eyes, and pinched his nose shut. If he had the option to make his mouth and throat numb to the sensation, he would have taken it. The three seconds it took to empty the vessel to an acceptable level felt like an eternity to him. The sludge was slimy, sticky and slippery all at once, the oil and water based bodily fluids segregating while the chunks clung to the walls of his throat. Naturally, he began to cough and choke on the residue.

"FUCK!" Donovan belched, keeping himself from throwing up entirely through sheer force of will. "EUUGGGGGGGGH!"

"Here, water." The Skwiven were very clearly on the case. The Arboreal Maiden produced a glass of water the instant he handed the cup back to her. "Will you vomit?"

Donovan took in a mouthful of water, swirled it around, and then spat it out towards the lake before attempting to drink the water properly. He felt it far more important to get rid of the bloody, fatty, raw meat taste that lingered in his mouth than to slide it down the rest of his throat. 

"Donovan?"

"Gimme a second!" Donovan didn't feel like talking, and he didn't know the answer to her question. He wouldn't have an answer for her until he did, or until he didn't, both of which were seeming equally likely. "EUGH!"

He could feel some particles clinging to his throat, the surface tension of the lipids keeping them solidly attached. He was going to need a lot more water. Or maybe oil? Would oils be better at removing the clingy liquids? What if he just chugged soap? Yeah, soap definitely seemed preferable to whatever this was. The growing pain in his stomach did nothing to help matters, magnifying the nausea he was experiencing.

- - - - -

The Arboreal Maiden watched on with trepidation as Donovan struggled to deal with the sensations he experienced. Over time, he slowly fell to his knees, propping himself up with his hands as he stared emptily at the floor. As best she could tell, this was his method of preparing to vomit, getting most of his body clear of the splash zone and presenting an easier path for the vile liquid. The only problem she could identify was his total lack of responsiveness, he hadn't moved for about a minute now.

"Donovan?" The Arboreal Maiden approached and put a hand to the back of his neck. A quick check of his internals was all she needed to take action. Sending a few pulses of Split towards various nerve centers to stimulate regurgitation, she wasted no time placing her other palm on his stomach. "This might hurt."

Matching her timing with one of his convulsions, she 'punched' his stomach with a small wave of split. Donovan gagged, a dribble of pink dropping from his lips. Again, she punched his stomach, a little bit more forceful this time around. A cough this time, accompanied by a surge of pink sludge. One last time, she sent an impulse towards his stomach, squeezing it to evacuate its contents. 

What exited Donovan's mouth was less of a liquid and more of a gelatinous blob.

- - - - -

Donovan was currently in a fairly large amount of pain. The Arboreal Maiden's contribution in the form of three consecutive gut punches certainly contributed, however the primary reason for his suffering was the vaguely eggplant shaped glob on the ground before his eyes. If the concoction he had imbibed before was a disgusting form of oil, then his stomach was a match that set it alight. Even now, he could still feel the hole it threatened to burn in his stomach, the feeling being much more clear along the length of his throat.

"Donovan?"

He took a second to gather himself, breathing in and tensing his gut, before depositing the rest of his stomach's contents on the ground. This was followed by what was most likely the third or fourth most pained groan in his life. It was taking a decent portion of his remaining willpower to not fall into the slop below him.

"Donovan, I need you to stand up." As much as he would have preferred to just say no, the Arboreal Maiden more than likely had a panacea for this sort of pain. Boot in the blood, he pushed himself upright so quickly he became lightheaded for a moment. "My apologies, I hadn't foreseen this."

"Obviously." Donovan didn't intend to come off as fed-up or indignant, though such behavior would have been justified given recent events, he simply lacked the energy to offer a 'proper' response. "What happened?"

"Why it gelatinized is a mystery, however I am certain of one thing. There was too much Split for your stomach to handle. Well, it might be more accurate to say that there was so much Split free for your stomach to absorb that in doing so it began to induce Split Decay." She produced one of those coffee like beans that Donovan had been treated with aboard the Oberlux, handing it to Donovan along with some water a Skwiven had retrieved. "I had not imagined such a thing to be possible, especially not for you."

"Why wouldn't it be possible? Wait, would I suffer Split Decay if I touched the pool?"

"Ha, no. The cells in the stomach and intestines are naturally predisposed to absorb Split on account of their duty to digest foods, however the mucous lining limits how much of it is able to reach those cells."

"Like an insulator?"

"Yes, but also no. Liquids possess a natural aversion to absorbing or releasing Split, and most have a soft limit to what they will absorb even in the presence of incredibly dense atmospheric Split. In most scenarios, this makes liquids a less than desirable medium to work with."

"But humans are primarily liquid, no?"

"Indeed, most living beings are. The caveat to what I previously stated is that while the liquids themselves are incredibly resilient to changes in Split, anything dissolved or suspended within will retain most of its normal characteristics."

Donovan immediately equated this to electricity's relationship with water. Pure water was an excellent insulator. Once salts or other such ionic compounds were dissolved in it, water could become dangerously conductive. There was certainly more to it than that when it came to Split, but for now that was what he equated this to.

"So . . . could the fact that I what I drank was primarily liquid be the cause?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well I don't know too much about split decay, but it happens when a cell absorbs more split than it is capable of processing, correct?"

"An imperfect definition, but functionally accurate."

"And the 'liquid' I just drank possessed an unusually high concentration of Split?"

"The flesh and blood of Velar are considerably more dense in Split than most other beings, and gods inherently have a higher concentration. Even then, I don't think my own flesh would be capable of harming you if you consumed it, at least not at your current level."

"Based on my limited knowledge of the intestinal tract, the purpose of the stomach is to break down food in order to make it easier for the other intestines to absorb the nutrients. Usually this process is arrested to some extent by the available surface area for the enzymes to act on or whatever. Liquid food increases the surface area to volume ratio, meaning that it can be digested faster and easier."

"You mean to say that the flesh being a fluid rather than a solid allowed for the Split to be released at a fast enough rate to considerably increase the concentration of Split in your stomach?" Donovan nodded, not quite confident in his hypothesis. "An interesting theory, but even then I can't imagine it could reach a high enough level. I don't think it would explain why it has gelatinized either. Nevertheless, I will test it later. For now, I will consider our experiment to be a failure."

"You're gonna make me do this again?"

"I won't make you do it with something this disgusting, however I do believe the practice of intentionally imbibing substances rich in Split in order to push you further along. In practice, this is not much different than the use of Split crystals, simply lacking a need for conscious effort."

"Couldn't you just give me more Split crystals then?"

"That . . . I don't think that would be the best of ideas."

"Why?"

"While there isn't anything inherently wrong with relying on those crystals, the limited number of crystals the Sanctum produces and collects are intended to be distributed as rewards and payments internally. The excess is reserved for the Malannum competitions. Granting some of them to you when you are able to acquire them through the standard channels would be an ineffective way of going about it."

Donovan sighed. He hadn't gotten to the point of comfortability with those Split Crystals yet. There wasn't much reason to raise a fuss about it, he just didn't want to chug any more gut juice.

"Regardless, I believe we are done for the day. Go home and get some rest, though I would avoid eating anything for a few hours."