A/N My life has been hectic.

Thank you to all of my readers who have not abandoned me, and to all the new readers that have come! You guys mean a lot, and I'm doing my best to be more consistent with updates. My comp is on the fritz (like Prowl's processor) so I had to restart the first chapter of 'Pathways'… good news is, I like it a lot better and I'm about halfway through it!

So without further ado, this chapter is for Heaven's Archer who wanted something ridiculous about our culture to come up.

Ch. 12 Knock on Wood

I have a bad habit of biting my fingernails when I'm nervous. I also stare into space, and tap my foot on the ground repeatedly.

At the moment I was doing all three. And also gaining some unwanted attention.

"What's eating ya?" Jazz finally asked after watching me for a while.

The Jettwins, who had been talking to Jazz, both looked over at me worriedly. "Something is eating her? Is it hurting much?" they both asked.

I just shook my head, not looking at them. "Just an expression," I mumbled. My eyes were stuck on the TV on the other side of the Rec room, although I wasn't watching it. It was just something for me to stare at.

Jazz spoke again, "Didn't answer my question."

With a sigh, I put my hands in my lap and began to twiddle my thumbs. My eyes soon followed my hands. "Well…" I started. "It's just-" I sighed again. "Oh, I don't know." I sunk into the couch and looked at the TV. "It's nothing… it's stupid."

I could feel Jazz's optics burning into the back of my head. He wasn't going to give up so easily.

"Fine," I said after a few moments. "The Decepticons… they haven't been causing trouble lately, and frankly, I starting to get worried."

I was almost afraid Jazz would start laughing. I mean, wasn't it a good thing that nothing was happening?

Instead, he smiled. "Nah, no need to worry 'bout that. The 'Cons won't try anything on us for a while."

Unexpectedly (to Jazz and the others), I sat up abruptly, and glared at him. "Great, thanks a lot!" I nearly shouted. "Now you jinxed it!" I stood up and walked to the human sized table in front of me. After examining it quickly, I rapped my knuckles on it a few times. Once done, I looked at Jazz again, "You got lucky this time."

All of the 'Bots who had seen my little episode, which was most of them in the room, were staring at me. "What?" I asked, thoroughly annoyed with their looking at me.

"What the frag was that for?" Sides exclaimed.

I just gave a little shrug. "Knock on wood," I answered.

"And what exactly does that mean?"

"Wood is said to have protective spirits in it and bring good luck."

"…"

"Is every thing in the human culture this ridiculous?" Sunstreaker muttered. He earned a few chuckles from the mechs, and an icy stare from me.

Crossing my arms and pursing my lips I said, "Even though I didn't come up with that 'ridiculous' tradition, I'm still going to be insulted." Sunny scoffed in response.

The room was left in an awkward silence, but, slowly, everyone resumed what they were doing. Even I went back to actually watching the TV.

And I felt better about the Decepticons.

Short 'n sweet (in my opinion). Hopefully, I can take a look at the requests I already have and make a list of upcoming chapters. In the meantime, please continue to leave new requests! I really do appreciate all the help with ideas.

-Panic Switch