"Oh, that's so cool!" the young, pink haired female gushed, fingers feathering around the translucent bandage.

Tess grinned, glancing proudly down at her forearm. "I've been saving up for months to get it."

Miko flailed dramatically. "I want a tattoo!"

"Did it hurt?" Raf asked, looking down at the lines imprinted into the older teen's skin.

She shrugged. "I mean, a bit… but nothing too extreme. When you're excited enough the adrenaline kinda counter-balances it. Near the joints is where you really start to feel it."

Jack stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Does it have some special meaning?"

"Not particularly. I just like ravens."

"There's no way my parents would sign for me," Miko continued, crossing her arms over her chest as she paced. "Maybe a piercing? My eyebrow… or my septum..."

"I think you'd look killer with a vertical labret," Tess supplied.

"A what?"

"Through the bottom lip," she explained, pulling up an image on her phone. "Like this."

"Ohhhh I do like that!"

While the two discussed piercing options, Jack to turned to Arcee and asked, "Do Cybertronians do anything like that?"

The femme glanced over at him, having heard the conversation. "Yeah, though with so few of us around now, you don't really see it as much. We call it frame modification."

That tidbit got the girls attention.

"What kind of modifications?" Miko inquired, though Tess looked equally as rapt.

"Installing additional bio lighting, clipping, singeing, etching, there's a ton of stuff," Bulkhead explained. "It originated in the gladiatorial pits. Fighters would do it to make themselves more unique and memorable, or more dangerous. It really picked up as the fights gained popularity, even some of the higher castes took to it as a way to show off their status. Certain types of frame modding weren't cheap."

"Do you have anything?" she pried, eyes wide.

He laughed. "Yeah, a lot of wreckers took part. All the bots in my old unit share a mark."

The green mech knelt down and lifted an arm, turning it to motion to the area above his gauntlet plating, near a joint. There was a mark etched into the living metal there, a series of alien glyphs. Raf adjusted his glasses to get a better look. "What does it say?"

"Just our unit code and the wrecker insignia," he clarified before righting himself. "Jackie actually has a bunch. I'm sure he'd show you next time he's around if you ask him."

"Jackie?" Tess asked.

"Wheeljack is another member of team Prime, though he's a bit of a recluse. Kinda comes and goes as he pleases," Jack replied. "I feel like you two would get along well."

I love the idea of Cybertronian body modification. I have so many character design ideas and *sigh* not enough time...