Archive of Our Own ^beta

Episode Three:  First Frame

A “first frame” is the addition of plating, armour bits and kibble (extra, non-functional design plating) to a protoform’s body.   This is generally given to a protoform by the time they reach two years or so.  This is different than a “lifetime frame”, which is the general final design a mech or femme chooses when they reach the age of at least ten years old…………this design is permanent, so while a lifetime frame can get small adjustments, to get any real changes would require a full overhaul (sometimes involving pain and discomfort) to the personal nanite plating and attached armour bits and is discouraged—however, a first frame is designed to grow with the youngling’s growing body.  There are techs known as “First Frame Techs”, who work with youngling’s to find the colors, shape and design of the body that is within their Spark’s encoding—then do their best to find the fit that the youngling needs.

The process of a first frame upgrade is as follows:

1. A special nanite coating is painted over the body of the protoform, which will interact and merge with the protoform’s own body’s nanites to create a harder dermal plating (skin). Said dermal plating has slightly movable portions and adjustable seams, for comfort and maneuverability.  This nanite dermal coating will grow with the youngling over the next couple years until they reach their Spark’s encoded bulk and weight and shape.
2. About an hour later, when the nanite coating has had time to merge and form-up with the protoform’s original body, basic armour plating (chosen from a catalogue beforehand)—such as around arms, legs and chest reinforcement—is added to the body. While the dermal layer will grow, the armour additions will not—guardians will need to bring their growing younglings back to their chosen First Frame Tech several times over the next decade to adjust the armour bits on the arms, legs and chest reinforcement.
3. Minor bits of kibble (aesthetic extras, purely for fashion purposes) are added. Kibble is generally discouraged in a first frame, so most First Frame Techs will only allow one or two pieces of kibble to be added to a first frame.   Kibble is more or less encouraged for when they are seeking their lifetime frames in the next ten years.

            “Whew,” Ultra Magnus murmured, reading the material about first framing for sparklings.   “I never knew there was so much involved……” he whispered.   The former soldier tried to think back to when he was young, he kind of remembered getting his first frame a little bit and having to go back multiple times to get the armour adjusted on his legs a whole lot.  It never occurred to him as a youngling why it was always his legs, but now he wonders if he got his legs adjusted a lot because he was an active fighter and always moving about on his legs…..?

            “Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!”  The sparkling squealed, tearing about the main gathering area of the hab block.  It wouldn’t have actually surprised Magnus to see the little one trying to climb the walls at one point.  His little star certainly had more energy than he needed…………and nap cycles!   Primus forbid you actually say the word “nap” in the sparkling’s presence!!

            It was strange, two years had seemed to pass by so quickly for Magnus and his little star—he hadn’t even realized how quickly the time went by until a couple months ago he’d received notifications from Sprocket and Rad at The Well, encouraging him to look into day-cares and First Frame Techs very soon.   But it was two years of a kind of stress that actually felt kind of good, overall.  It had truly been a joy to see the sparkling go from fitting in the palm of his hand to being of a size up to his knee-joint.   Magnus was no First Frame Tech, but if he had to guess, based on the way the sparkling’s body was growing—he’d turn out to be something slender and sleek.

            “Mags!   Book!”  The youngling demanded, coming to a screeching halt at Magnus’ pedes.   However, the little one’s field was just overflowing with love, so it was difficult to take the demand as a “demand” rather than something more like a plea.

            “Little star……..I have a special book we can look at together,” Magnus chuckled.  “It’s a bit boring in plot, but there’s a whole lot of setup……” he added, putting a light ripple of warmth in his field as he bumped it against the sparkling’s.

            Though honestly he could’ve bumped the sparkling’s field from the other side of the room, the little one just projected it like a searchlight all the time.

            “What’s it?”  The youngling asked, climbing up onto the couch and then into Magnus’ lap.

            “It’s a special picture book with no words, but lots of colors and shapes,” the former soldier said, giving his little one’s head a light pat.  “If there are pictures that you like lots and lots, then you can choose them to become your frame and armour……..to make you look a little more grown-up, like me,” he added, opening back up the first frame catalogue on his datapad.

            “Ooooooh!   Wanna be like Mags!”  The sparkling said excitedly, putting his little hands on the sides of the datapad.

            “What colors do you like?  Pick…………mmmm………..pick three of them.  Touch the three colors you like most on the screen,” Magnus said, bringing up the page with dozens of colors on it.

            “Lessee………” the youngling murmured, staring at the screen.  He instantly tapped red, but thought a little harder before he tapped orange.  Then, with a bit more hesitation than with the first two colors, he finally chose yellow.

            Magnus was taken aback………the colors of flames.  Except for that vivid red, they were the colors of Sentinel Prime.  His Prime.  A gentle ache filled his Spark and it slowed in its eternal turning within his chest.

            “Mags?”  The sparkling murmured, tilting his head back to look up at Magnus, when he felt the sadness hidden at the center of his guardian’s field.

            Magnus shook his head to clear it, reaching down to gently rub the sparkling’s head.  “It’s all right, just old sadness.  The colors remind me of someone I knew back on Cybertron……..” he murmured, soothingly.

            “Can change…………” the youngling murmured, still staring up at Magnus.

            “No, don’t……..these are your colors—the ones you want,” Magnus said, firmly, smiling down at his little star.

            The two of them continued to look through the other various pages of the first frame catalogue……..such as frame structure and armour accoutrements.  Magnus noticed that the frame choices that appealed to the youngling looked to be as if he wanted to be some kind of race car.  Was that the alt mode hidden in his coding?  A First Frame Tech would be able to determine that for certain once they met the youngling in person.

            For now, Magnus sent the requests to the First Frame Tech he had chosen, setting up a date next week to go in for the fitting and application.

            “Will I be like Mags?”  The youngling asked, turning around in Magnus’ lap and standing on his thighs.  The little one placed his small hands on the decorative glass coverings on the former soldier’s chest that served as windows in his alt mode and stared up into Magnus’ face.

            “My little star, you will be unique…………your armour will kind of be like mine, just with the colors you love and a design that will match the alt mode hidden in your Spark’s coding,” Magnus answered, smiling down at him.

            “’Kay,” the youngling said, seriously.  Then he plopped back down into Magnus’ lap and tilted his head back to stare up at his guardian.  “Book now?  Fun book?”  He asked.

            “Of course,” Magnus chuckled, warmly rubbing the sparkling’s head.  He reached over to the end table to the right of the couch and grabbed a different datapad from it.  It was a reader tablet that specifically only had books in it.  He and the youngling swiped through the screens that had various book icons and summaries until they settled on a fun little adventure story.

*      *      *      *      *

            All of the techs at the First Frame Clinic were super-nice.  Magnus imagined they all had to be, since they were dealing with sparklings all of the time.  The tech/physician that Magnus had requested for his little sparkling was named Pipes.  He was a small mech (barely up past Magnus’ knee-plating!), with a blue-and-silver frame, as well as a facial shield—but not a facial shield design common to the warrior class.  Magnus wondered if it was common to some of the medical class, as it had vents along the jaw edges of it.   Pipes let his EM field just ripple gently a little bit out from his frame, it was full of cheerfulness—so Magnus inferred that he used his field to soothe any anxieties of sparklings.

            Since releasing his field and noticing the fields of others, he noticed most people held their fields close to their bodies on a daily basis.  But others seemed to use their fields for purposes, such as alleviating anxiety of others or letting others know they were friendly (or in a few cases, would prefer not to be bothered)—by which Magnus noticed those fields were within a few feet of their bodies, projecting, but not very far.  He began thinking of this as a mech or femme’s “personal space” area.   Magnus doubted he could ever have that fine of a control over his own EM field—he could lock it down and he could use it, but not project it with such finesse.  He’d never been taught more than to how to lock it down.  And he’d had it locked down for so long, he didn’t know how to properly use it.

            It turned out that because Pipes was so short, he was an “instant friend” to Magnus’ little sparkling—because he didn’t tower over the youngling.  Magnus had known a lot of minibots back on Cybertron, so he was familiar with the varying sizes of Cybertronians.  However, here on Corona—it seemed most mechs and femmes were of a standard size, which was just a little bit shorter than Magnus was, although he’d met a number of minibots here as well.  But very few were taller than him.

            “So, do you like racing?  Have you watched some on the televiewer?”  Pipes was asking the sparkling, who was very excitedly kicking his legs against the edge of the examination slab he was sitting on.

            “Yah!  Cars’re so fast!”  The youngling said, excitedly.

            Pipes looked over all of the scans he just took of the sparkling, as he talked to him.  “It’s totally in your coding…….would you like a race car design?”  The tech asked with a rippling of warmth in their field.

            “Yes, please!”  The sparkling said, very loudly.

            “All right, give me a few moments to set up.  Here’s an Energon-box for you to drink while I speak with your guardian,” Pipes chuckled, handing the youngling a drink box with colorful designs on it.

            Then Pipes walked over to the other side of the exam room, where Magnus was seated on a waiting couch.  He hopped up onto the couch and sat next to the former soldier and began showing him prototypes of what the first frame design might look like.   He explained how the plates moved and shifted for a race car alt mode.

            “It really seems to suit his coding,” Pipes chuckled softly.  The silver-blue mech swiped through a few screens to show the yellow spoiler fin.  “This kibble is clearly aesthetic, but since he only asked for one bit of kibble, I think we can accommodate it.  Most sparklings have codes that can adapt one way or another, but his seems to be very set on a race car mode.”

            “It looks like wings,” Magnus noted, curiously.  The he glanced up and looked over at his little star.  The sparkling seemed to look very sleepy and had set the Energon-box next to him on the slab, so he could lie down.  “Oh, is…….that okay?”  He asked, pointing.

            “Don’t worry, there’s a general anesthetic in the drink box—it’s better not to warn them, knowing how many sparklings really hate to be forced into a nap cycle,” Pipes chuckled warmly.

            “I can definitely empathize with that,” Magnus responded, grinning down at the minibot.  “Shall I return to the waiting room?”  He asked.

            “That would be best.  I hope you brought something to read—the nanite coating will need an hour to set before I can add any armour and kibble,” Pipes answered, nodding up at Magnus.

            Magnus politely dipped his shoulders and returned to the exterior waiting room.  In all, the process was nearly two hours.  Magnus read a couple newsperiodicals on his datapad and answered any i-mails from his co-workers, whom he’d kept in brief contact with while he was gone from the precinct.  Eventually Pipes called Magnus back into the exam room and a flame-colored bundle crashed right into the former soldier’s legs.

            “Maaaaaaaaaaaaags!!!”  The sparkling screeched up at him.

            //JOY\\         //LOVE\\

            The sparkling’s field was radiating strong emotions of joy and love like a lightworks festival.

            “Look at you, my little star!  So vibrant and fiery!”  Magnus chuckled, picking up the youngling very carefully, so as not to dent the brand new armour and dermal layers.

            Most of the dermal portions of the frame were a brilliant orange, but a lot of the armour additions were a vivid red.   The spoiler portion of the kibble was a sun-fire yellow, as was a painted design of flames on the chest block.

            “Mags………..like?”  The sparkling murmured, a sudden bit of shyness in his energetic voice.

            “It’s very beautiful…………very you,” Magnus said with a warm smile, hugging his young ward and letting a light ripple of love in his field touch against his little star’s.

            At first, when the youngling chose the colors and the design, Magnus could only think of Sentinel Prime with the colors of flame.  It had saddened him a little to know that the one who cared for him and raised him was forever gone from his life, most likely—especially if events on Cybertron unfolded as Magnus feared.   But now, at this moment, his precious Prime wasn’t in his thoughts at all when he saw the colors of flame (as well as the extremely blatant flame pattern on the chest) as this young mech’s colors.  These colors truly belonged to his little star!

            “Would you like a name, now—to go with your first frame?”  Magnus asked softly, setting the sparkling down.

            “Naaaaaaaaaaaame!!”  The youngling squealed, running around the room with boundless new energy.  Clearly the nap cycle revitalized all his systems.

            “What do you think of ‘Hot Rod’, my little star?” Magnus announced.

            //hopefulness?\\          Magnus put the emotion out into his field and bumped it into the distracted sparkling, to get his attention.

            Pipes gave a delighted little clap upon hearing the name.

            //??????????\\         The sparkling stopped running around the room and stared up at Magnus with query everywhere in his frame and field.

            “My name?  I can have it?”  The youngling asked, softly.

            “Yes, if you want it,” Magnus responded, smiling down at his little star.

            //LOVE\\           The sparkling’s field exploded with the emotion as a huge grin filled his faceplate.

            “Hot Roooooooooood!   Hooooooooot Roooooooooooood!!!”  The youngling squealed with joy, starting to run around the room again.

*      *      *      *      *

            After leaving the First Frame Clinc and setting up a few future appointments for periodic adjustment and exams with Pipes, Magnus took his newly named ward to visit the day-care that he’d chosen.  It wasn’t far from the precinct where he worked.

            However, this was the first time all day that the sparkling had pouted and came fairly close to a tantrum.

            It seemed that little Hot Rod didn’t want to be parted from Magnus, though the former soldier admitted he had some similar feelings.  It would feel strange after being together every day for two years to be apart, but it would need to be done—for the both of them.   So Magnus and the kind mech they spoke to at the day-care tried to convince Hot Rod at how much fun he’d have at day-care, playing all day long with others of his age and size.  Now that had intrigued Hot Rod………that there were others like him.  So the potential of new friends gave him something to look forwards to.   After that, Magnus knew that after a few weeks, Hot Rod would be just fine at day-care.

            So, before heading home that day……..Magnus promised Hot Rod to show him the police precinct he worked at in Lumiere.  This was something that totally excited Hot Rod.

            “’S HUGE!!!”  The youngling squealed, looking ready to tear down the halls with his boundless energy.

            Magnus quickly snatched up his little star before Hot Rod could run into rooms he shouldn’t be in—or crash into other people in the precinct.

            “How about you ride on my shoulders, that way you can see all the exciting stuff?”  Magnus chuckled as he put the fiery-colored bundle behind his neck.

            Hot Rod draped his feet over Magnus’ shoulders and lightly thumped his pedes against the decorative window-plating on the white-and-blue mech’s chest.  Then the youngling grabbed the two long finials that were welded to Magnus’ external audial plating, using them as if they were control sticks on a toy—pretending he was “driving” Magnus.  Magnus put up with the weird sensations of someone grabbing his finals, because it was his precious little star, after all.

            “’M ‘bove ‘verybody!”  Hot Rod chortled excitedly.  “Go Mags!!!”  He said, firmly, as if ordering his guardian around.  But the ever-present field of the sparkling rippled with love and excitement, so Magnus couldn’t take the ordering very seriously.

            Magnus laughed warmly at his little star and walked down the staff hallways.  He was very careful to dip his shoulders a bit as he walked through any doorways.  The former soldier stopped at his own desk in the main office and saw his precinct partner busy reading something at his own desk across from his.

            Outback looked quite comfortable, with his pedes up on the corner of his desk and leaning back in his task chair.  He looked up when Magnus’ shadow fell across his arms and chest.

            “Well, well………what do we have here?  A rare two-headed monsterbot?”  Outback laughed.

            “No, you silly!”  Hot Rod giggled, looking down at the minibot detective.  “’M Hot Rod……..this’s Mags!”  The youngling said, very seriously, not quite understanding that Magnus knew who people were around here.  Or that people like this minibot quite possibly knew who Magnus was.

            “Heh, well, nice to meet you, Hot Rod,” Outback said with a grin on his faceplate as he waved up at the youngling.  “Hey, ‘Mags’—does this mean you’re coming back to work, soon?”  He chuckled, settling back down in his chair and looking up at the tall blue-and-white mech.

            “Soon enough,” Magnus said with a smile.  “I was just about to go see if Siren could spare me some of his time today.”

            “He’s in a meeting right now, that I know of……..but ask Volt.  That way he can let the Chief know you’re here before he tries to run away after the meeting,” the brown-and-cream colored minibot chuckled warmly.

            Volt was Siren’s administrative assistant—which was merely a fancy word for “secretary”.   The mech had a vibrant glow-red color for their armour, it seemed like you could probably see Volt glowing in the dark with that paint scheme—but you could certainly never miss him in a crowd.  He had once been a lead detective on the force, until he got a bad leg injury.  It left him with a heavy limp in his right leg, so he’d been retired from active duty.  However, he seemed to have adjusted quite well to the duties of an administrative assistance.

            “Afternoon, Volt.  Would you let the Chief know I’m here?” Magnus asked as he approached the glow-red mech’s desk outside of Siren’s office.

            “Of course, Magnus,” Volt chuckled.  “So this is your sparkling, hunh?  Very adorable.”

            “I’m Hot Rod!”  The youngling declared proudly as he waved down at Volt.

            “What a cool name!”  The glow-red mech laughed warmly.

            “’S mine!   Mags let me have it!”  Hot Rod giggled, bouncing his pedes on Magnus’ chest panels and his field bubbling over with his happiness and joy.

            “Looks like you got a lively one there, Magnus,” Volt laughed warmly.

            There wasn’t too long of a wait before Siren’s meeting ended.  While waiting, the two older mechs kept Hot Rod occupied with a game of “Find It!”, using objects in the room.   As soon as the Chief of the First Precinct’s meeting was over, Magnus went into the office with Hot Rod in tow.   The former soldier set Hot Rod down in one of the two chairs in front of Siren’s desk and sat down in the other one.

            “Hot Rod, this is my boss—the one who gives me orders when I’m at work—his name is Siren,” Magnus introduced politely, making Hot Rod focus on the polite introduction.

            “My name is Hot Rod!”  The youngling said proudly, somewhere between trying to be polite and still excited about getting his name.  He bounced slightly in the chair and looked all around.

            “It’s nice to meet you, Hot Rod,” Siren said warmly, then he glanced at Magnus.  “I knew you’d make a good guardian.  He seems like a real handful, though.”

            “Sometimes he can be,” Magnus chuckled, nodding his head politely.  “Thank you,” he added, as he glanced down at the little mech in the chair beside him—who seemed absolutely unable to keep still since his nap cycle at the clinic.  He smiled and his Spark spun with warmth inside of him.  “I just set up a day-care routine starting in ten days, for Hot Rod, so I can come back to work after then.”

            “I’ll put you back on the duty roster.  Outback will be glad to have his partner back,” Siren chuckled.  “By the way, I’ve had a few rookies ask if you’ll be teaching self-defense classes again…..?”  The blue-and-silver mech inquired softly.

            “I believe so, eventually,” Magnus responded, as he kept sneaking glances at Hot Rod.  The youngling had just learned the chair he was sitting in could spin in circles.  “I’ll probably start back up with first frames and other younglings again, so I can insert Hot Rod into classes and keep an eye on him for a while—until he starts school.  I’ll inform you, when I do, so you can advertise it on the department’s DBB.”

            The department’s “DBB” was a digital bulletin board that all law enforcement officers and staff could access from their work computers.  There were many different DBBs on Corona—such as also for governmental offices and the like, as well as a public DBB.  As expected, with specific department DBB’s, those could only be accessed by employees, whereas the public DBB could be accessed by anyone on Corona.  It was both a way to advertise community events and activities, job listings and general news (both local and world-wide).  When Magnus chose to open general classes for self-defense to the public, he always posted it on the public DBB.

            “Your classes always fill up fast, that’s for sure,” Siren chuckled.  “I think the tyke’s made a mess of his gyros and stabilizers………” he added, nodding at Hot Rod, who had eventually slowed and stopped the spinning of his chair.

            Magnus chuckled and stood.  He reached down to pick Hot Rod up and cradle the youngling in his arms.  Then the former soldier politely dipped his shoulders and dismissed himself from his Chief, walking out of the room.  He cooed and said soft, soothing words to the dizzy sparkling.  Hot Rod giggled a little bit and mumbled something Magnus couldn’t catch, then he snuggled against Magnus’ chestplate a bit sleepily.  Finally.

            “Mags’ Spark………..” Hot Rod murmured, listening to it spin and pulse inside of his beloved guardian’s chest.  It soothed him down into another gentle nap cycle.