#sensory homunculi

[a-book-of-creatures]

Some insectivore (and one rodent) sensory homunculi. The proportionately larger parts represent how much that area is represented in the brain's somatosensory cortex.

From Animal Behavior (2009).

[snivyartjpeg]

Yuma Month Day 26 - Role Swap

god i was excited for this one. it first started off as a joke, but the more i thought about it, the more interesting this swap became. so here's my massive lore dump of changes that'd happen in the story beneath the cut (spoiler warning):

i think, fundamentally, yuma and yakou are very similar characters. they're both very protective and kindhearted, with a strong sense of justice and a penchant for attracting terrible luck. because of this, some things would remain the same, such as the NDA's dynamics with their doormat chief as well amnesia!yakou's massive unpaid intern energy. i think yakou would be pretty similar to how he behaved in the light novel- a bit more optimistic and naive, like yuma. but there are two key differences between them that'd make this a different story, especially in ch 4: yuma has a forte, and yakou is very selfish. so here's some changes:

yakou's wife is his shinigami now, as you can see, while shinigami is yuma's dead wife. i think mrs furio would act cooler than shinigami. she'd still be playful, but she takes her job more seriously. also she hands yakou the solution keys normally without throwing up. they still have to do the dance and mouth sword thing tho. and the other stuff. that's just death god protocol

shinigami (or in this case the unnamed Mrs. Kokohead but i will still be calling her shinigami for convenience sake) was a scientist at amaterasu who studied forensics and thanatology instead of regenerative medicine. this also means that the pill she gives zombie yuma is not going to bring him back, but instead grant the zombie homunculi a peaceful, painless, but permanent death

speaking of zombie yuma, he's the homunculus now! yakou is 100% human and also doesnt have a forte. he's still number one, but instead of having a forte he's just that good at solving mysteries

yes this means makoto looks like yakou now. sorry makotoheads. i think he'd have really long, shaggy hair dyed to be like. idk. black or something. also he's more clean shaven bc stubble with a mask on is a sensory nightmare

yuma still cant cook. he subsists entirely on takeout, meat buns, black coffee, and beer. he's still in a lot of debt and under a lot of stress and his personality is essentially "what if canon number one just gave up"

he doesn't smoke though. he tried once and got into the worst coughing fit

imma say it right now. kurumi is not a love interest. yakou likely disguises himself as a faculty member instead (also i think one of the teachers gets a crush on fem yakou bc i just know she'd be hot)

ANYWAY what about chapter 4? im SO glad you asked! because here's where things get spicy!

so, lets start with the dead wife. shinigami catches onto huesca's inhumane research and she's just as adamant about bringing the truth to light as she always is. she blows the whistle, so he blows her up. yuma investigates, but they dont let him look any further, yada yada, yuma stews in his misery for five years

yomi sends in the evidence to motivate yuma to kill huesca, and makoto lets it happen because a dead huesca would be convenient. he even introduces the hitman, fully expecting yuma to make use of him

yuma doesnt. in fact, he wants to kill huesca with his own hands. and now that these detectives are here, he can do it and even return alive. the thing is, he doesn't want to put them in danger, so he chooses to do almost everything alone (sound familiar?)

his plan is simple:

ask desuhiko for a peacekeeper uniform. desuhiko trusts him enough to take "i want to investigate kanai ward's ultimate secret by infiltrating their ranks" as an answer. he does, however, let yakou know about this as an offhand comment before the mystery ever begins

hold fubuki's hand. it doesnt really matter how. she'll gladly allow it because she's fubuki. he stores her time powers and heads out the sub. yakou also learns this as an offhand comment played off as a joke (maybe fubuki affectionately comments about how she never expected the chief's hands to be so soft... idk. there has to be some way for yakou to have this as a future clue)

use his peacekeeper status to sneak into amaterasu HQ and demand a functioning ama-pal from that one creepy researcher

use ama-pal + fubuki's borrowed powers to bypass huesca's security. sneak the bot past the hard-of-hearing doctor and press the button to shut off security

this would probably alert huesca, but since the doctor never received a warning, yuma has enough time to rush in and stab him before he realizes what's going on

leave HQ while still in uniform, dispose of the disguise once he's safe, and return to the NDA like nothing happened. success!

soooo.... yakou, on that same day, decides to investigate amaterasu HQ with makoto

all the while, vivia has his suspicions about yuma's actions and keeps an eye on him in spectral mode. he... basically witnessed the whole thing, so he gets up off his ass and decides to follow yakou to the lab because he has a Very Bad Feeling about this

just like canon, he senses the death god and deduces that our protag has been killing off murderers, and so he wants to protect his chief as well as his peace and quiet (his dynamic with yuma would be the same as his dynamic with yakou, since it's entirely believable for yuma to treat vivia with the same kindness yakou did)

yakou tries to speak to huesca, but surprise! security is disabled and he's dead in the lab! no one else at amaterasu liked huesca enough to check on him, so yakou and makoto are the first ones at the scene of the crime. yakou, of course, decides to start investigating this murder

vivia somehow sneaks into the lab (dont ask me how) and confronts yakou, threatening him with his boxcutter and adamantly imploring him to stop pursuing this particular mystery in the same way he did yuma in canon. unfortunately, this attracts attention, and now they're in trouble (maybe even yomi's there to fetch his files). at this point, yakou has enough solution keys, so he panics and goes right into the labyrinth (and maybe others can enter for another reason that isnt coalescence idk)

so... they go in the labyrinth... vivia tries to stop him every step of the way, until the answer is right in front of them

yakou kills yuma with his own hands. there's no stab wounds or toxic gas to leave any doubt. yakou begins to question what good his justice really does. it doesnt even save them from their predicament, just like the other deaths. instead, makoto ex machina comes in to save them, and hands yakou a small black box

when they return to the agency, everyone is heartbroken over their chief, who seemingly died out of nowhere. fubuki tried rewinding time, but to no avail. halara tried everything to wake him up, knowing it's futile. desuhiko stood aside, feeling completely helpless. and yakou and vivia return looking like they just came back from hell

they barely get the chance for a funeral before the knockout gas trap activates... you know the rest

AAAAND SCENE! so that's my extremely long winded lore dump about this au. i thought about it Way Too Much but god it's so interesting to me. i love these characters and swapping them was immensely fun

[snailsea92]

ive been trying to make like, designs that could be stickers or charms or something. I’m pretty bad at drawing “chibi” type things though so they have to be freaky little sensory homunculi. Sorry.

[crazysodomite]

out of all sensory organs eyes are the easiest to give to homunculi. the hardest would probably be speech. unlike most other organs you can give pretty abstract eyes to a homunculus and they will perform their function (sight). for a homunculus to speak you need to give it a pretty anatomically accurate 'voice box'. it doesn't need to be anatomically accurate to humans though. another way is inserting an artificial voice box which is much easier. either way don't expect coherent speech from your homunculus without an appropriate level of intelligence.

if you want your homunculus to be capable of 'human speech' you're in for a massive headache. this isn't to say homunculi aren't capable of communication. they communicate by means different to ours. try to communicate with your homunculus in a dark room with earplugs on. most homunculi (if not all) are capable of understanding touch and explore the world by those means. sight is not necessary for their life and in fact makes their odds of survival lower. most homunculi can perceive sound through vibrations so it's debatable if hearing organs are necessary.

[rametarin]

Controversial statement:

There are many kinds of stupid, and children can be any one of them without it just being because they're children.

A child may be stupid because they're barely more than a set of sensory organs trying to suck on and touch and taste everything. Said child doesn't understand not to swallow paper clips, batteries, or bite glass because it could cut up their mouths. To them, they are singular beings like amoebas. Different names for parts of the face aren't descriptors for separate systems or part of an overarching system, they're just shapes with convenient titles to a singular unit.

A child may be stupid because they do not understand the universe exists beyond them, and believe reality is consensual. This is a massive ego that is only barely constrained by pain receptors, misery and ego. A child with this kind of stupid may understand, IF certain things about reality they didn't like were true, they couldn't eat glass because they're "not strong enough." But if they have shonen fantasies, they may try to eat it anyway, in the hopes Main Character energy is real, they have Shonen Protagonist energy, and they can power through bleeding guts by gritting through the pain, wanting to believe succumbing to pain causes damage, not the damage causing the pain.

A child may understand full well actions have consequences, if they stop to think about something. But refuse to, because they get too excited and the excitement overrides wisdom and sense. Because they have poor impulse control, either by lack of refinement or choice, they do a risky behavior and get hurt, again. This one bay bite glass because they find it funny, and then suddenly not.

And then a child may not bite glass, because they understand cause and effect, hate being hurt, and never let their excitement override their common sense, and either naturally come to the conclusion on their own or have it reinforced that there is no willpowering through internal bleeding caused by swallowing glass, so don't do it.

You'll notice that some of these require a degree of rationality and humbleness. Some are caused by lack of intelligence, some are caused by lack of comprehending reality, some are caused by weakness of self-control, and education on normalcy is only really a factor if the child, or adult for that matter, lacks these core attributes and has to compensate to get the message internalized.

And even then, just like adults, there are kids that think they can do it if they just try hard enough, and the dogmas of other people are just in their way.

In my opinion, we label why kids do stupid things just as "because barely formed homunculi need time to finish developing." We really need to have metrics to measure when a young person 'gets it' neurologically vs. those that don't.

[kattythingz]

I love Al in 03 but if I were Ed.... I would have had to body slam Al into another dimension for even considering that Ed created his memories artificially...

It put so much into perspective when you think about it though, I don't see enough people talking about how tormenting it must have been to be bonded to a suit of armor for years, and then the threat of the armor rejecting his soul at any point hanging over his head? Al must be so traumatized, and now I'm imagining how he would have grappled with having a real, living, breathing body after the end of the series. Ed and Al both went through some of the most terrible shit ever, but Al was just constantly detached from..everything. Ed's thing was that he was only human, but Al... I can't imagine that he felt human at all. He couldn't feel, breathe, sleep or smell. Years of not being able to do any of things that made him physically human, only clinging to memories of his past that were already rapidly fading as he grew older, and then being given back his original form but having to accept the huge sensory overload? I need the Al physical and mental therapy arc NOW! Wake up the writers and force them to create another series.

And this one is random but in the Clara/Psiren episode, Al's mommy issues were showing TERRIBLY.

I also have opinions on the homunculi wanting to become human but I haven't seen enough to create a huge paragraph yet so you can expect that one soon

Yeaaaaah Al's whole existential crisis makes a lot more sense and it's a lot more devastating in 03, cuz Al almost has "proof" thanks to how differently things went down in Fifth Lab. It makes his reaction to it in the hospital kinda understandable (tho still hurtful. Poor bby Ed, he's already traumatized Al come on ;;). ALSO YEAH, PSIREN'S EP REALLY SHOWCASES BOTH THEIR MOMMY ISSUES LMAO. Ed cuz he's in denial and refuses to compare anyone to his super special mommy, and Al cuz he's just desperate for any maternal love.

Oh dude I LOVE how complex the homunculi are in 03. Lust's upcoming arc is esp so good to me. It's the reason why I love her character despite fmab rendering her flat again. I just. I adore how 03 handles them all.

[gynandromorph]

Hi more Jessie questions,

So I have no idea how to phrase this one, this is pure brain soup that came from me smashing things I know against new thing I know and now soup, anyway, The first edition of Warhammer 40k was a TTRPG called Rogue Trader, and it had robot rules. The way the designers wanted you to play with the Robots is you had to program them, physically, using a sheet of command squares that you cut out and sequenced like this (taken from: https://youtu.be/tXXHcDvksGk?t=593).

Now you can write these out,

like I did (and if you do it right you can add in a shooting phase), so this isn't something that's impossible to do. So here's the scenario; Jessie creates some form of life and adds a basic command sequence to the snap. This seems eminently possible, however, would Jessie have the A. Will, B. Patience, C. Drive to want to actually learn a programming language (if something this basic can be called that) and use it? Or would she only make single-action creatures which she then just throws into a homunculi dungeon?

And;

In the same genre of 'Jessie can do this thing, but would she', would Jessie make herself Omnipresent? This might just be me, but I find the concept of omnipresence deeply terrifying. Part of the way I rationalized God was that He was unreactive because He was omnipresent; knowing about everything everywhere all at once made it so that it was impossible to be able to perceive the world as anything other than endless information mush. While Jessie is omnipotent, you've said you didn't want her to be able to expand her mind or grow her own brain power (via snaps at least), so I wonder if she would be overwhelmed by omnipotency? Like she tries it out and lays on the couch for five days observing rain falling on her while she is a forest growing 500 miles away from her house, and the ground beneath snails mating a continent away, and the food moving through the digestive tract of Trouble in the kitchen over from her. While it technically makes her non-omnipotent to not be able to be omnipresent, the benefits of being a single reactive being far outweigh being able to be the iron mined and smelted in a steel mill while also being the mill itself. It also adds the terrifying possibility of 'what if Jessie was competently omnipotent and omnipresent at the same time?'

And;

If Jessie could have chosen her Divinity (becoming the God of X instead of The God) would she have chosen differently, or would she always choose The God?

first question: if you mean, could she program one just for the sake of doing it -- i think that she has the will and patience, but not the drive. she can be very persistent, but that most often manifests as vengeance for her. i can't see her being motivated to make those little guys when intuitively writing them is so much easier. if you mean could she use this method to create living things that act independently of her writing them: no, because a writer still needs to keep track of all of a character's actions and history in their own mind, no matter how well their thought processes are atomized and mapped out.

second question: jessie could make herself omnipresent, but the aforementioned scene where she attempts to make herself perfect at multitasking and splits her stream of consciousness accounts for this as well. as an easily overstimulated person, she can barely handle being present in just one place without exploding, so being present in literally every place all at once is probably the 8th circle of hell for her personally. beautiful examples by the way- if she was also competent at being omnipresent, i think she would be an entirely different person -- or maybe just act 3 jessie (chain hair jessie). act 3 jessie's omnipresence would be defined by functionally erasing anything outside of a specific AoE determined by her sensory capacities and any extension that she's consciously putting forth the effort to create (ex: imagining the news broadcasting about her on the other side of the planet somewhere would make this place exist until she stopped thinking about it). i could picture her handling true omnipresence much more gracefully, though; in act 1, jessie has barely experienced life beyond a teenager's scope, and she reacts to many things with the same violent shock that an infant would have. in act 2, she doesn't experience much compared to someone who's lived for hundreds of years, but she experiences many extremes in a short amount of time, causing her to become desensitized to all but the most extreme forms of interaction with the world. by act 3, she is numb to most experiences, and i could see her handling an infinite barrage of them much better; however, it would ultimately only expedite her disease of ennui.

third question: i still think she would refer to herself as The God, The Author, or The Writer. it's a combination of important things including emphasis on herself as the main character, a lack of competitors, and a reference to the delusion she felt persecuted for.

[abecat]

The term AI implies a sort of intelligence that can process raw sensory data and produce/assign meaning independently. This was the goal of the so-called Good Old Fashion Artificial Intelligence back in the 70 and 80s, but it was proven to be extremely difficult (and some say impossible). What is now being sold s AI is, instead, the result of deeply exploitative labor for many, and surveillance capitalism for all. "Content Moderators" in the global south have been made to manually interpret millions of images and texts, in effect bypassing the hard technical challenge of symbol-grounding (aka turning 0 and 1s into usueufl things). It is not unlike the mining of ore or natural resources, but this time, the deprecated labor of millions is being used to build homunculi that will replace service workers in the North. I find it deeply disturbing that these companies use scifi-based doomsday scenarios as a marketing strategy ("our tool is so powerful it could destroy the earth!"), given that doomsday already happened, and continues, for millions of colonized peoples around the world. This is a labor struggle in all fronts, which the African Content Moderators have made it clear by unionizing like they have.

[ainews]

Researchers have long been fascinated by the intelligence and abilities of rats, as well as the mythical homunculi, and now a new study has shed some light on why these creatures possess such advanced understanding.

Firstly, let's take a look at rats. These small, seemingly unassuming rodents are often associated with filth and disease, but science has proven time and time again that they are much more than that. Rats have demonstrated impressive problem-solving skills, social behaviors, and even the ability to use basic tools. So why do rats possess such advanced understanding?

One possible explanation is their highly adaptable nature. Rats are incredibly resourceful creatures, able to thrive in a wide variety of environments. This adaptability requires a certain level of intelligence and understanding to navigate and survive in different situations. In the wild, rats must constantly be on the lookout for predators, find food and shelter, and interact with other rats. This constant need for adaptation and survival may have contributed to the development of their advanced understanding.

Another factor could be their highly developed senses. Rats have excellent vision, smell, and hearing, all of which are critical for their survival. Their keen senses allow them to detect potential dangers and navigate through their environment with precision. This heightened sensory perception likely plays a role in their understanding and problem-solving abilities.

But what about homunculi, the small humanoid creatures of legend? These creatures have been depicted as having similar abilities to humans, including understanding and intelligence. While there is no scientific evidence for the existence of homunculi, there is an interesting theory that could explain why they are often portrayed as having advanced understanding.

The theory suggests that homunculi are actually a type of a rat, specifically a genetically modified rat. In medieval times, alchemists were known to experiment with different substances and elements in an attempt to create life or turn base metals into gold. There are records of alchemists attempting to create a homunculus by mixing human semen with animal blood and then incubating it for several weeks. While these attempts were obviously unsuccessful, it is possible that some alchemists experimented with rats instead of humans, resulting in the creation of a small, humanoid rat with advanced understanding.

Ultimately, whether real or mythical, the understanding displayed by rats and homunculi is a testament to the power of adaptability, enhanced senses, and the complex nature of the animal kingdom. As researchers continue to study these creatures, we may uncover even more fascinating insights into their remarkable abilities.

[strawberri-syrup]

do you guys fuck with the sensory homunculi?

[atlasinthewest]

neat sensory homunculi

I like your crowd proportioned beafts very much, thank you for sharing your art

Thank you. I love making them.

To the many people who have sent me additional poll suggestions, thank you as well. Lots of good suggestions to choose from in there.

[luchaislife]

Sensory Homunculi: TASTE

This Sensory Homunculi specializes in stomatic magic and skill sets.

Notable biological traits include telescopic and tongue elasticity, poison immunity, acid projection, regeneration, thermoregulation, acute chemical identification, saliva and mucous production, language mimicry, body lubrication, hydra physiology, septic bite, poison nullification, external digestion, hyper bite, dentin armor, calcium bullets, vampirism  and starfish production.

Stomatic magic: floating mouth phenomenon, remote proboscis, mucus rope, Magic Volumetric jaw, acid cannon, enhanced breath, explosive bubble, extreme environment adaptation, wurm-minion missile, and suction channeling.

[sleepvines]

Roaming trees + Wistgazer’s homunculus

Roaming trees are large motile plants that gain energy both via photosynthesis and digestion of small animals. They produce wood and bark shells as they grow that protect their vulnerable inner cores.

These fleshy cores can be removed from a dead tree quite easily, although due to the enzyme that coats the sensory digits, (Bromelain), the tips of the core should be handled with care, as they break down proteins.

Cores are edible, but not worth seeking out for the taste. What people are really after is the seed, which can be used to create homunculi, due to the versatility and adaptability of roaming tree’s physical structure. In a strange sense, Homunculi are roaming trees, just ones that grow out of being trees and into being animals instead.

Wistgazer’s homunculus is named tread-on, due to its habit of being underfoot and rubbing against people’s legs much like a cat.

[eldritch-edward]

Image Description: In focus is Edward, kneeling and hugging a large metal bin. Kneeling behind him and holding back his hair is Lust, although she seems to be a bit blurry where she is farthest from Ed. Further away, standing, looking down, and with his hands on his hips is Envy, who is more blurred than Lust. Hiding behind a door closest to the viewer is Fletcher, who is blurred enough for any clear details to be obscured.

Summary: Okay, I decided to put two drabbles for this one— since they both take place on the same night and I didn’t have any ideas for the second one's drawing counterpart.

The first drabble entails Envy pestering Ed near constantly to try and figure out what sin Ed was born from. Eventually, something he says seems to get him an answer, and when he returns to using Amestrian he tells Lust (in a rather disturbed tone) that Edward's homunculus name is "Eldritch". Fletcher is watching from the door, trying and failing to go unnoticed. Side note: Ed's sensory issues (sensory sensitivities? I guess they're flaring up per illness, so "issue" might be more applicable than "sensitivity"…) are making it difficult for him to keep track of what all is going on around him, hence the gradation of blurring.

The second drabble is of Envy taking his leave. He briefly considers pestering Edward (Eldritch) some more, but shies way from it in favor of getting back to work (and maybe looking a little harder for Van Hohenheim). As he goes, he notices a ruckus in the manner, but it's of one of the Other Brothers so Envy doesn’t care.

Part 3: Reconstruct

It was a faint emblazonment, almost a smudge. And it was faint instead of stark red.

The ouroboros was there all the same, just beneath and behind his left ear. He, the pathetically pale, weak, and half awake twelve-year-old, was a homunculus.

He was also an alchemist. My, that was a contradiction, wasn’t it?

A homunculus who might as well not have been a homunculus. No wonder Lust was so fascinated; the twerp’s design was wrong. So wrong that it was right. How’d he manage to toe that line?

Then again, he might be dying—perhaps being so human wasn’t all she talked it up to be.

But all homunculi had an embodiment. Some Gate given sense burned into their very being. It defined them, thus it became their name.

“What’s your name?” Envy asked, this time with the face and voice of some staff member.

“Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist.” Was the bleary response.

“Why’re you asking?” A brief explanation, “Alright, then. I’m Ed.”

“Edward Elric. Just ‘Ed’, for short.”

Again and again—Envy wondered if the brat would ever just refuse to answer.

In the hollow voice of the younger Elric, he tried the question. Edward was nonchalant that time, though it was hard to miss the tightness in the brat’s jaw—how his eyes wandered away when he spoke.

Enough was enough. “Hey, brat, the hell’s your deal?” Asked through Edward’s own voice, tinged with Edward’s own diction, and emphasized by a bodily plop and sprawl across the side of the bed with Edward’s own feigned ease.

The brat bristled this time, looking away quickly and clenching his jaw.

“Well?” Leering now.

“What’s yours?” The brat responded lamely.

“That depends, I can be anyone you want.” He leaned back, tone turning to an oily purr, “So, who’ll it be, eh? Maybe you, but taller?”

A huff was all the brat gave him.

His preferred form this time “His name is Edward.” Lust answered in the brat’s stead. Her glance was disapproving as she patted the younger’s back and held up his hair. The brat, for his part, was retching into the handy bucket they’d taken to leaving nearby.

“Like how your name is Solaris?” He smoothly returned.

Ignoring him now, both of them. A scowl slipped onto Envy’s features before he smoothed it out.

Envy was acting as an audience to this little engagement. Lust had tried for ‘impersonal observer’ (continuously failing and realizing that the brat was in no condition for a hands-off approach). And, from the occasional creak of door hinges or the soft scuffle against wood, green-hat was acting as an audience, too, only he had been more successful at not engaging.

For a moment, Envy considered ripping open the ajar door. It might be funny to see the kid scramble…

Another retch. The bucket had to be brimming by now. Silver lining, though, seeing as how the brat had nothing left to force out.

This time, Envy’s words caused a reaction; a dry heave cut short by a startled sputter. “Do you even know what you are?” Perhaps ‘words’ wasn’t the way to put it, nor was it their meaning to jar the child. He'd asked that before, with different phrasing. What was different now, though, was the tongue.

Lust raised a brow, bemusement overshadowing displeasure, “What was that?”

Envy grinned, repeated, grinned some more, then laughed. Edward had gone still.

The boy before Lust muttered, and his words were as foreign to her as Envy’s. Her brows knitted and raised.

Envy responded, a sick delight in his voice.

Edward responded, tone hushed, head lowered slightly.

Back and forth the two went, the younger dipping to a murmuring explanation, if Lust understood the tone. He was tense, then, and she could feel it even through his coat. She stopped herself from withdrawing, not wanting the muck still on Edward’s mouth and chin to splotch his hair.

Envy tilted his head, grin slowly falling away as he said something. Comprehension spasmed through his features. His face darkened at Edward’s reply.

“May the two of you please speak so that I can understand?” Lust asked when the lull drew on for a moment too long.

“The brat has a name afterall.” Envy stated, all inflection having left with the mocking joviality. “Eldritch.”

The boy shifted, bangs drawing as curtains as gold trained on Envy. From this position, with the blond strands still held back, Lust almost thought that she saw a flicker of red from the ouroboros mark on his neck.

Part 4: Displace

There was a ruckus that night. Security was bustling about, on the move and anxious.

When Envy first noticed, he'd grown worried.

When he found out that it was just green-hat, burned from the rebound from a transmutation gone awry, he lost interest.

What he had learned, earlier that night, had been as interesting as it was vague. Edward Elric was a homunculus, definitively. Edward Elric could use alchemy. Edward Elric was the third man-made-man crafted by Van Hohenheim, because no one else could have made such an unusual figment.

But what gave Envy pause was gaping holes. When had this homunculus come to be? Why was alchemy within his reach? What concept, exactly, did the brat embody?

Eldritch. That had been Envy’s conclusion. It was simply a label to the sickly musings dragged out from the sluggish mess of a brain.

Maybe he should go back and inquire further, expound on what little understanding he’d gained.

Go back and pester the anomaly to wakefulness and force out answers he didn’t have. But all that would do was frustrate (and, maybe, unsettle) him further.

He had a train to catch, leaving in an hour. That had been planned in advance. As entertaining as the last week or so had been, he could only humor Lust for so long.

He had work to do.

And when he had time, the search for his creator, his father, would resume with renewed fervor.

[farginen]

psychology + mental health deep dive

general mental health related trigger warnings apply.  feel free to include more or exclude those facts / test results that take too much time or don’t apply, you can check out this list for more personality-related quizzes to include!

quick facts

diagnoses: ptsd, unspecified anxiety disorder/s (needs further evaluation) triggers: undefined, usually resistant to triggering situations to a degree. positive coping skills: maintaining a routine, eating and sleeping regularly, maintaining her own hygiene as well as the hygiene of her surroundings and her dog negative coping skills: social isolation + withdraw, (sometimes)  under-eating or sleep deprivation, self-sabotaging and suicidal plans attachment style: disorganized / fearful-avoidant love language:  physical touch (receiving), quality time (mutual),  acts of service (giving) myers briggs / mbti:  ISTJ

history exploration

are their diagnoses formal ( via a doctor, therapist, etc. ) or informal ( self diagnosis, a hunch, unrealized, etc. )

semi formal. a proper psychological evaluation was done when riza formalised her military career after the war.

have they ever been treated / medicated?

no, she was deemed "functional" and has not had any follow up treatment.

have they ever been hospitalized or treated on an inpatient basis?

no, only hospitalised for physical injuries after the promised day events.

how old were they when they first started experiencing / realizing symptoms?

some steem from childhood, some from war.

do they have a family history of mental illness?

yes, her father berthold hawkeye was severely mentally ill though undiagnosed.

how was mental health handled / discussed in the family?

it wasn't.

what are their thoughts on mental health / their diagnosis?

she sees it the same as other physical injuries. the brain is just another organ.

in what ways has their diagnosis shaped their life or experiences?

it hasn't. much like other physical illness and injuries, if it's something she can live and deal with and go without medical assistance she'll take that route. unfortunately, mental health does fall under this.

symptoms

bold all that are present, italicize those that are resolved or in the history.

depression.    anxiety.    panic attacks.    dissociation.    derealization.    depersonalization.    suicidal ideation.    self harm.    homicidal ideation.    psychosis.    auditory hallucinations.    visual hallucinations.    delusions.    mania.    hypomania.    racing thoughts.    hyperactivity.    attention difficulty.    flashbacks.    nightmares.    hyperarousal.    hypoarousal.    hypersexuality.    hyposexuality.    psychopathy.   risky behavior.    catatonia.    somatic / bodily concerns.    mutism.    phobia.    agoraphobia.    hoarding.    obsessions.    compulsions.    body dysmorphia.    hair picking.    skin picking.     amnesia.    illness anxiety / hypochondria.    sensory loss.    speech difficulty.    comprehension difficulty.    communication difficulty.    tics.    defiant behavior.    irritable mood.    vindictiveness.     aggression.    pyromania.    kleptomania.    paranoia.    attention seeking.    narcissism.    avoidance.    dependency.    pica.    rumination.    food restriction.    food binging.    purging.    soiling the bed.    insomnia.    fatigue.    sexual dysfunction.    delirium.    developmental delays.

note that all of the below are, on their own, normative and typical aspects of human functioning. they become “symptoms” when they last longer than “normal” or when they pose a significant impact on someone’s life / functioning.

explanations / elaborations on any of the above symptoms

riza is generally very self aware and has a strong grip on herself, most "symptoms" are either circumstantial (i.e high stress, life or death situations, fighting homunculi and all that jazz) and laying dormant until a specific event triggers a reaction, or are underlying subconsciously in her thoughts hardly ever being expressed outwardly instead appearing always calm, collected and even cold or emotionless.

tagged by: i stole this from @seesgood ! tagging: @kingsleyer, @hongdiwang, @fullmtal, @stovthearted, @bidotheuncanny, @blanchette + anyone else who wants to do it

[khrysopoeia]

Sensory Overload (Whumptober '22)

Okay, apparently I lied when I said these will all be connected. I want to do more high fantasy AU whump, but I haven't been able to get it working, so have something darker?

Roy, mindwiped and a captive of the homunculi, is allowed out of sensory deprivation.

Rated M, <200 words. Thanks to the cool folks on the Whumptober discord who helped me out!

Warning for dehumanization.

Eventually, they take him out of the dark. He doesn’t know how long it’s been—he never does—but it’s long. Longer than ever before, maybe. He sobs with gratitude, sobs harder when Lust strokes his hair, both from sheer relief and from how overwhelming it is after so long without sensation. He knows the touch is gentle, but it registers as pain.

“It’s alright now,” Lust says, fingers ghosting over his face. Her voice is quiet and gentle. He knows that. It is still too much, filling his hearing in a way the ghosts of his hallucinations never do. “I’ve got you. You just have to be good, and you’ll never have to go back there again, pet. You can be good, can’t you?”

The gag is off, so he opens his mouth to tell her yes, yes, he can be whatever she wants him to be, but she puts a finger to his lips, shushing him.

“No more talking without permission. You’ve abused the privilege, and we’re taking it away. Do you understand?”

Lust’s pet—and that’s what he is, isn’t it? How could he have ever been stupid enough to think he could be anything else?—nods.