#I have no spatial awareness because of the audhd

[sainamoonshine]

Listen guys I know I will never be much good* (or even enjoy, tbh) calligraphy, but my mother-in-law keeps giving me old “the basics of calligraphy!!” sets that she finds at goodwill that obviously someone got as a gift in the 90s and never even opened and I enjoy collecting the inks and tiny ceramic bowls and inkstones so, so much ☺️

*this isn’t poor self esteem btw this is clear eyed & serene knowledge of where my skills lay and the answer to that is in art forms that do not require steady hands and good spatial awareness. I like digital art and fiber crafts lmao.

[starry-skies-116]

Self-Indulgent Headcanons for Cuphead from The Cuphead Show because I can:

This cup can fit so much neurodivergency inside of him- AuDHD comorbid. What can I say? This little dude has both ASD and ADHD combined type- if a telepath tried to read his brain, it would literally be some sort of bitcoin string combined and layered on top of each other combined with a bunch of windows errors and glitching CRT effects. Cuphead has the personality of Yoimiya, Klee and Hu Tao all combined- a pure chaos catalyst, and he himself is the harbinger.

He’s such a goofy little guy- so fun-loving and carefree and genuinely sweet- ah, but did I mention undiagnosed neurodevelopmental disorders can basically ruin someone’s life?

He secretly harbors a lot of pent up depression and shame, thinking that he has personality flaws instead of a debiliating developmental disability that makes life astronomically and instrumentally, laughably hard. Like, my guy, it’s not your fault that you have a terrible memory or lack foresight or insist on sticking to your plans and are terrible at changing them or will do literally anything to get what you want because “oh god what if it’s not there tomorrow what if this opportunity leaves.”

Cuphead is an energetic, enthusiastic go-getter who never lets an opportunity escape his sights- however, he tends to disregard small details in pursuit of his hyperfixations and goals, and always tends to act on impulsive and reckless tendencies. His dopamine starvation and overwhelming need to feel pleasure and reward through haphazardly set goals in any way, shape and form masks itself as a reckless type of greed- why do you think he gets so excited at the prospect of the Devil offering him 10 bucks to the point where he’s willing to risk his soul? When’s the last time you’re ever going to see 10 bucks? Especially during the 1930s, the time of the literal Great Depression. Can you really blame him for following such an impulse, even if he didn’t have financial prudity in mind when acting on it?

Also, look at this dude. Just LOOK at him. You can’t tell me he doesn’t give off the vibes of a transmasculine asexual who doesn’t understand gender beyond Being A Dude™.

Cuphead is aware sometimes that he can be ‘too much’ for Mugman, and this thought sends him into rumination spirals of sorts whenever he thinks about it. He genuinely loves his brother and doesn’t want him to get hurt, so he just bites his tongue and continues using his behavior as a coping mechanism to mask his guilt and anxiety (basically he secretly thinks everyone hates him- which isn’t too wrong but still, my guy, you’re that scrunkly and ilysm <3).

Genuinely, he’s so kindhearted and such a good, well-meaning kid despite his flaws, but lacking certain things and traits due to a disability and having them labeled as HIS fault takes such a toll on him without him even realizing that the guilt is present and eating him alive from the inside out in the first place. Of course, they DO bleed into his personality, but they can’t EVER be confused with a dopamine deficiency and developmental disorder occuring in the brain.

Cuphead’s safe food is hot dogs. I know y’all are going to attack me in the comments like ‘oh not all favorite foods have to be safe foods’ but have you seen the King Dice episode? That one where Cuphead basically YEETED his speech filter to oblivion because HYPERFIXATION? Broski gushed about hot dogs three times- he LOVES hot dogs and pancakes, especially with COPIOUS amounts of maple syrup. Texture good, taste good, what can he say? They’re just that GOOD.

In addition to that, his favorite foods can be anything spicy and/or deep-fried, basically some of the snacks that can be found at the snack stalls throughout the Inkwell Isles.

Also?? This cup chronically loses things due to a crippling lack of object permanence and spatial awareness. Papers? Puts it down, now they’re gone after 0.0000000001 seconds. Elder Kettle’s tire? Oh, where did it go, did it roll out the fence again even though I NEVER touched it? The out-of-sight, out-of-mind principle always applies with him and the way his mind operates, which is why he sometimes panics when Mugman or Elder Kettle moves his belongings from their original place or puts them down somewhere else because “NO NO NO DON’T DO THAT I’M NOT GONNA FIND IT LATER BECAUSE MY BRAIN WON’T LET ME RETAIN INFORMATION IN MY SHORT-TERM FOR LONGER THAN FIFTEEN SECONDS MAX NO- Guys I know this looks messy but IT’S ALL LIKE THIS FOR A REASON I SWEAR.”

Special interest? Fireworks and fire. Basically anything that’s shiny and sparkly and emanates warmth. Cuphead LOVES operating with fireworks and explosives- something about those bright flashes of light, ribbons of colors streaking across the sky and the low-frequency sounds vibrating through him alongside the boom echoing in his ears making him feel truly alive, with his heart beating so happily in his ears and him feeling it within his chest as he’s not even aware of the big smile across his face. Something about the sensation of working with fire, feeling the crackling within every pore of his being as something ignites making him SO DAMN HAPPY as that adrenaline and dopamine rush hit him. GOD he loves it so much.

In a way, this little cup reminds me strongly of Yoimiya from Genshin- an energetic, enthusiastic kid with an entrepreneurial spirit and a domineering, foolhardy personality due to a constant dopamine deficiency- the ultimate AuDHDers. Also, they’re incredibly talented pyrotechnicians and have an affinity for things associated with fire, elements of daytime and the sun. And the fact that Cuphead is a mischievous prankster like Hu Tao? Icing on the cake.

In the show and game both, Cuphead has black pie-cut pupils due to the characters being animated in a cartoonish style, but my personal headcanon is that Cuphead has brown eyes that are less saturated to the point where they appear a dark shade of charcoal grey, and Mugman has light blue eyes. They both speak in a 1930’s New York Accent, whilst Ms. Chalice has warm brown eyes and speaks in a Brooklyn accent.