‘Secrets’ Ask meme - A weird ‘tic’ or habit no-one knows about
In all honesty, it wasn’t really something the Zircon had ever really thought about, and it stumped her for a near minute of silence, broken up with the occasional ‘ah’ and ‘well’. Everyone had their tics - although it felt like they really weren’t supposed to - but how cognisant of their own subtle behaviours were people, really? Weren’t most tics automatic? Were they always noticeable to the person they affected? Zircon didn’t imagine so - but then, anxious folk found themselves hyper-aware of their actions, even inconsequential ones...
And now she thought of it, teeth worrying the pad of her finger, she did recognise some behaviours in herself that could be classified as tics or habits.
...but could they be classified as ‘secret’ when they seemed to her embarrassingly visible to everyone in a five-mile radius?
“Ah, well, you see,” she began. Not a strong beginning to an answer that was sure to be fussy and roundabout. “It could be argued that, ah, the answer depends heavily on how you class a secret...” With some difficulty, she removed the pad of her finger from her mouth and projected a screen with incomprehensible data flashing by, scrolling endlessly on. “We could look at the dictionary definition of secret, and I believe, to paraphrase, you’d find that the word ‘secret’ is defined as, uh, that which is meant to be unseen by others. Could one, then, class a tic as secret when they are often highly visible - repeatedly tapping a foot, for instance!”
Oh, the other Gem had done it now. There was going to be no stopping her.
She yelled as she spun on her heel, projecting yet more screens, spinning one on the tip of her finger nervously. Perhaps she was putting off answering the question and spinning it out of nervousness. Or perhaps she was just enthralled by her own lecture. Either way, she was demonstrating her answer better through her actions than her words.
“Some tics might not be so clear to an observer! Chewing the inside of a lip, or - or tensing a limb! But that still leaves the question of how one classifies ‘weird’! What seems abnormal to one Gem may be stiflingly pedestrian to another! O-of course, there are some things one might classify as abnormal no matter what the circumstances. Reporting for duty standing on one’s head would be a notable and confusing sight, certainly, but couldn’t be classified as a tic!”
Spin, spin, spin. The screen perched precariously in the very tip of her finger spun faster and faster as she paced back and forth, presenting her case. If nothing else could be said about the Zircon, at the very least, she had an interesting party trick going.
“So, then, it seems to me, inasmuch as my opinion matters in this instance, that to answer the question posed, one would have to be able to define an action that is both weird AND a tic or habit, and once categorised comfortably within both of those descriptions, one would have to assess the tic or habit’s visibility, to be entirely certain that it is even possible that not a single Gem besides the performing Gem could know about it!”
Stopping in her tracks, a triumphant grin on her face, she caught the spin of the screen by the corner of her eye... and dropped it sheepishly.
Maybe she ought to just answer the question.
“Oh, uh...” Scuffing the floor where her data screen landed, she made it dissipate into nothing. “Well... I think you just saw at least three of my... little habits, there...”
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