#neighthan

After much deliberation, Drs Victor and Viveka Stein built a body. You see, for a pair of simulacrums each with a PhD in Mad Science, becoming parents isn't simply a matter of conceiving. No, for such monsters it is months on end of careful planning, graverobbing, and bodysnatching, cumulating in a long process of selection and surgery, over and over.

They were aiming for perfection. Perfection, of course, being a healthy young monster they could call their own - they let fate and the bodies they had access to choose the gender and appearance of their child. Parts could always be switched out later - such was the simulacrum way.

More than a year after the process began, the body was complete. The finishing touch was the most intimate - the Doctors Stein had opted to perform surgery on each other, one at a time, each donating half of their heart to their new child. They'd share DNA, then, in some sense - the left atrium and ventricle from Victor and the right from Viveka, carefully sutured together to form a new heart.

The rest was simple. It's a well-known story, one of the few parts the humans got right in their retellings: a lightning rod linked to the Stein Family operating table was enough to provide the initial spark to wake their creation. And so, Frankie Stein was born.

She was tall, almost as tall as an adult, and held the approximate mental age of a 15-year-old. Her first months were spent at home, her parents teaching her the skills she'd need to get by. Her life was shaped by science and family, two things she'd carry throughout her life.

By the time she was three months and 14 days old, Frankie Stein was ready for school. Victor and Viveka could easily have homeschooled her, and Frankie certainly wouldn't have any qualms with this arrangement, but the Steins were conscious to ensure that she was able to interact with monsters outside of their remote home. She was enrolled into Monster High, a school which welcomed her with open arms.

It was here that Frankie truly blossomed, learning as much about herself as others. She experimented with fashion and art, and approached each day with unshakable optimism. For her first science fair, Frankie and her parents worked together to create Watzit, a dog-like frankenmonster who would become her lifelong companion.

It was only a matter of months before Frankie came out as genderfluid, using feminine, neutral, and masculine pronouns. Both their parents and school accepted him with open arms, and adjustment was easy for all parties involved. Victor and Viveka in particular were hugely supportive, going as far as to throw a coming out party for their little monster which the whole of Monster High was invited to.

During Monster Ball season of their first year, Frankie experimented with creating life on their own. She needed a date, and creating one seemed easier than just asking another monster. Using a mixture of body parts scavenged from his parents' freezer, hay, and fabrics, he put together Hoodude Voodoo, a simulacrum-voodoo doll who failed to come to life. It was only the next day when Hoodude stood up from his corner of their dorm that Frankie was faced with the reality of what they had created, and decided that having a date to the Ball wasn't as important as fixing what they'd done. In a panic, she asked for help from her parents, who graciously took Hoodude under their wing, but only after having a stern talk with Frankie about the responsibility that comes with creating a monster.

Having thoroughly learned their lesson, Frankie stayed in their lane and the Stein family didn't grow until Frankie was in their senior year. She had expressed to her parents that she wanted a sibling, a real one - after all, Hoodude was more like a weird adopted cousin. The Drs Stein agreed, and allowed Frankie to lead the project under supervision. The build went off without a hitch. This time, she worked with her parents to source suitable body parts, and in a matter of months, the trio had created Alivia Stein, an equivalent-14-year-old Simulacrum who sported a "heart" of skin grafted from Frankie on her chest, in an attempt to mirror Frankie's own.

After a rocky start and some hard life lessons on Frankie's part, the siblings became inseparable. Frankie would demonstrate the inner workings of camera equipment to his sister, and Alivia would document her sibling's science projects. Alivia even began to apprentice under a friend of Frankie's, videographer Honey Swamp. At last, the Stein family felt complete.

Shortly after Alivia's creation, Frankie graduated from Monster High with honours and they began their first semester at a prestigious monster University in Boo York, studying Boology and Electrical Engineering, with a minor in Mad Science.

Being away from home, they rented an apartment with Neighthan, who had been a close friend for almost their entire life and was studying Psychology at the same school. Their apartment saw laughter and long debates, tears and chore sharing, and it was in their shared living space that Frankie confessed to having feelings for them. The pair had been mistaken for a couple for years by this point, and the adjustment that came with making it official was barely noticeable.

Around a year later, Frankie came out as polyamorous - putting a label on romantic feelings made him realise that he felt that way often. Neighthan was nothing but supportive. After all, Frankie had always loved freely and openly, so the discovery of their polyamory didn't come as much as a surprise.

Despite this, Frankie rarely went on dates outside of their relationship. That is, until a friend from Monster High returned to her life. Cleo was bright, charming, loving, and occasionally a little dim, and Frankie admired her deeply. The two spent hours on end talking, and their mutual crush grew over the following weeks. Before long, they'd set up a date and Frankie had (re)introduced her to Neighthan.

Within a month, Frankie's second relationship was official. Cleo and Neighthan, both being monogamous, remained nothing more than good friends who bonded over their love of the sunshine monster in both of their lives. They'd hang out individually or as a pair, and collaborated on guidelines for communication as a group of three.

When Frankie graduated, he quickly began to persue his Doctorate, just as his parents had. In the meantime, he and Neighthan began to help Cleo to run a charity she had set up, focused around improving monster-human relations and bridging the gap between the two worlds. They are loved, they are fulfilled, they are content.

Bonus little Stein Family doodle designs:

Alivia is based on my personal Alivia doll: