Her words weren’t really all that comforting, especially in someone who was already feeling somewhat stressed and more than a little tired. Mayer was decently used to being awake at this time of night, but it was usually planned or at least slightly expected. It wasn’t a sudden “expedition” to save a hair-brained experimentator from herself. ESPECIALLY when even she didn’t know what was going on. “Okay, but you must have some idea, right? To me it just looks like dark sludge.”

She cocked her head, eyes flicking between it and him. “Well, that’s really all it seems to be. I suppose it could be some kind of ferrofluid, but I don’t really have any way to test it. I suppose I could lick it…” She looked softly, face contemplative. Maybe, maybe.

Maybe not. “Why would you lick it? Surely there’s other ways to test it. What if it’s gross, or bad for you? This sounds like an absolutely awful idea. Don’t do that.” Mayer wasn’t sure his face could get more disgusted, and surely she was jesting. He shook his head, reminded that Jun was flying around and hunting rather than hiding under his silver-dark mane like she would at what he deemed a reasonable hour. He could hear her, if he listened and wasn’t talking himself. “Just… don’t.” But, of course, why would anyone listen to him? And, specifically, why would Crenia listen to anyone? She was already licking the semi-sentient fluid.

She tipped her head, tasting it slowly as though she was savoring it. “Hmmm… it does taste a little like iron, but not as much as I’d expect from a typical ferrofluid. Maybe something with blood mixed in, I’m not sure. It’s most likely magic.” She was apparently entirely content with that answer, as she began to look more at the sarcophagus and the writings that he could barely see.

It was Eirin who first noticed the slight quaking of the ground, the pebbles running against each other as though they were trying to escape the oncoming storm. “Do you see that?” she said, poking at Elayne without turning her mismatched eyes to him. “Why are they doing tha-”

And then the whole floor moved, the sound of the little stones bouncing together getting louder and echoing farther until she had to admit that it wasn’t just the pebbles talking. She watched as the veins that once held the odd liquid started to part, the sides pulling away from each other with an abruptness that frankly shocked her. Oh! It was as though they were cleaved - closely bound together before, split apart now. Wordplay could be so fun!

Elayne wasn’t thinking about the words, though - he was eying the ground between them, and that little rivulet of black that wasn’t inky stone. “Eirin, come close. Please,” he said softly, though they were already close enough to touch. “Just a little further this way.”

She looked at him, eyes wide and mouth making an “o” shape that was rather unusual to see in a horse. “What’s going on?” She did as he asked, looking at him with more confusion when absolutely nothing happened.

Even Crenia and Mayer appeared safe - if stranded on an island in the middle of the room, with gaping ravines on all sides of them. When had that happened? Mayer felt as though he had blinked and was suddenly separated from his brother, but Crenia seemed entirely at ease. Perhaps a little too calm… Mayer cursed softly to himself. She probably hadn’t noticed. “Crenia,” he said, voice soft so as not to scare her. He shouldn’t have tried to be kind, however - she wasn’t paying any attention to him anyhow. “Crenia,” he implored, with a little more omph, “don’t step backwards too far - you might fall into nothingness.” It was actually entirely possible that the bottom was visible, but he was purposefully choosing to not get close enough to check. Jun swooped close to him, returning to her place of hiding, so it was apparently nothing that that she wanted to see.

She raised her head quickly, eyes glittering in a way that possibly meant that the black goop was getting to her… or just that she was excited and didn’t entirely look all there, but her ghostly eyes definitely didn’t help. “Can you find a way down? I want to see what’s down there.” Her leonine tail whipped about, nearly pushing him closer to the edge.

He braced himself, looked at her, really stared up and down, and once more shook his head on his thick neck. “No.”