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Elliot continued to stare at him, from his stool at the bar.
"you wanna touch it, don't you?"
With only the slightest of abashed readjusting, the human nodded.
"I will admit to being curious."
Sans could understand, to some degree. It was something new. Well, maybe not new, he thought, recalling Elliot's earlier mention of being familiar with certain forms of magic. But it was different from what he knew. Therefore, new enough.
He had been a man of science, once. Still was, at his core. He knew very well, the maddening feeling of unanswered questions and hypotheses, when you had the solution sitting in front of you.
"you can, if you want to." The man stared at him for another moment. "you can touch inside my eye socket. uh... just, gimme a second. feels weird, so i gotta prepare."
Elliot shook his head.
"You don't have to do something that makes you uncomfortable, just to satiate my curiosity, Sans."
In response, the skeleton shrugged.
"not uncomfortable. just... uh, not normal. it doesn't hurt, or anything." He paused, seeing the restraint in the other's eyes weakening. "besides, eye know how much it sucks not having answers, my young pupil," he emphasized the end of the joke with a wink.
That managed to ease the tension somewhat, as the doctor turned away and snickered.
It was another moment until Elliot turned back to him with a defeated sigh.
"Well, you've convinced me. Now I have to know."
Sans winked again in the direction of the human's rueful smile, before hunching over. He cuts off the magic to his right eye, watching with the other as the light against his shorts is halved. After a couple more moments, he feels steeled enough for the next step.
He leans back up, noting how strange it is, even after all this time. The oddity of being blind in one eye. It's a little disorienting.
"mm'kay. you can go ahead and poke around in my right eye. i'll let y' know if i need you to stop."
The final comment seems to settle the other's nerves enough to urge him to reach out a hand towards Sans's skull.
Elliot's pointer finger sinks in to about his middle phalanx before he jerks it back, eyes wide. Sans takes a moment to confirm that he is just stunned, not hurt, before snickering.
Then Elliot's eyes are alight.
"What is that?" The question tumbles from his lips too quickly, outing his glee as he goes in for another poke.
Sans can feel the finger swirling around in the darkness of his skull, and he represses a shudder. It's still not uncomfortable - not really -, but it's something. His magic is neither in defiance of the foreign object, nor openly welcoming of it. He can just feel it taking up space and pushing around his magic. It's the oddest sensation.
"what's it feel like, to you?" he doesn't bother stopping himself from asking the other. This was research hour. He got to ask some questions, too.
Traven hums once, making another swirl just within the edges of his socket, while gathering his thoughts.
"It's... I suppose it has similarities to magics I've encountered before," the doctor starts, then pauses; seemingly to choose his next words. "But it has... qualities, not like others. It's... alive, I think. Not to say it shouldn't be. You've explained that you're made of magic, and since you're alive, it stands to reason that your magic would follow suit." The man taps Sans's lower eyelid from inside his skull, checking the skeleton's face for his reaction. His response is a noncommittal shrug.
He drags his finger over the rim of Sans's eye socket next, and that's when the monster shudders. Elliot retracts his hand quickly.
Sans closes his eyes, taking a moment to collect himself. That had felt intensely strange. But he couldn't decide if it was really uncomfortable. He misses what Traven says.
"what?" the smaller scientist questions, eye lights both intact when his bony lids open again.
"I asked if you were all right."
"yeah. yeah, i'm good. just, uh, surprised me. didn't hurt, but it was weirder than the usual weird. not a big deal."
The doctor looks skeptical.
"Even if that's the case, I think that's enough for now. Thank you, Sans." He tips his head towards him in a show of gratitude. "My thirst for knowledge has been considerably quenched." With that, the doctor finally returns to his drink on the bar, swirling the clear liquid in the glass. He looks to be thinking a little too hard about something.
"sorry if my reaction watered down the experience."
Elliot snorts.