#ghost!cuphead

These are my little itty-bitty teeny-tiny bits of questions :>

Sweet. I cussing love these kinds of questions.

Mugman’s physical form can’t change because he’s just a dish. Only Cuphead can change is form only when he’s a ghost. So if Cup were to possess Mugman, or a doll, that form would remain unchanged. Like what happened during the Dark Circus with Black Hat. The only thing I could thing of that would change with Mugman physically is maybe his straw would become a bendy straw while he’s possessed. But that’s more of a stylistic choice to better express what’s going on on my end of things.

Cuphead does have blackouts/rampages while he’s in his ghost form. He’s a lot more terrifying then. And a lot harder to contain and fight back. His form would change, he’d cause lights and electricity to go out around them, and bunch of things would start flying around him. Doors and windows will be slamming, books thrown across the room, glass breaking. It’s absolute chaos when he’s a ghost during a rampage. That’s why Mugs tries to keep salt and salt water on him in case that happens. No, cup doesn’t get an urge to possess Mugs. Maybe if he thought it was his only choice then I guess. But in rampage and out, he knows the risks and drawbacks of possession.

Yeah, Cup has poltergeist abilities as a ghost. But it’s a lot harder to interact with objects. He has to really concentrate when he’s trying to move or touch something. Of course Hat did train him to move things a bit easier. But it’s still really hard for him and he can lose his concentration very easily.

Oh my stars. Yes. He did everything he could to scare the crap out of Flug, Hat, Jerry, Bendy, AND Mugs at any chance he got. At some point Mugs, Flug, and Hat got so used to his scares that they hardly react at all to them. Lmaoooo

Live the entire story? I assume this is a typo or maybe I’m just dumb and can’t decipher what you mean. I mean, in IM cuphead and mugman are alive as of date so ghost au cupbros would be too. But I’m guessing the second question is your main question?

So! I’ll tell you HOW they found out AND their thoughts on it.

Bendy found out during Cup’s rampage after “Mugshots” (you know what I’m referring to). During his rampage he was switching between consciousness for so long I’m going to assume that maybe he was constantly flickering between forms with no real control. So Bendy would see him switching. Bendy would be super confused and bewildered at the moment but he’d push it off in order to get Cuphead to the hospital and moving on their quest. Later as the cupbros join the quest Bendy would ask for some more details. He would try his best not to pry and leave it as Cup’s buisness, sure that if there was something he NEEDED to know, Cup would tell him in his own time. Plus he’d try not to judge because he knows a lot about people giving him crap for be a demon. So he gets it. Eventually he becomes so chill with it he and Cup oftentimes joke and tease about it. A lot of pranks and a LOT of puns.

Felix and Boris would find out at about the same time while they were fighting Cala in the mountains. Cuphead integrates his fighting with his ability to turn into a ghost by flying around and phasing to avoid blows, that sort of thing. It becomes such an ingrained thing that he does it without thinking about the questers seeing him. So of course Felix and Boris would see.

Boris would be super freaked out, really confused, and really really worried. He most likely thought that Cuphead had died just then and there and panicked. After the fight, and some explanations he’d calm down a lot. He’d still be unnerved about it and concerned, but he’d also think it was super cool. Felix would be fascinated and ask a billion questions.

Holly would accidentally stumble upon turning Cuphead into a ghost. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. (Or maybe she was staking, nobody will ever know). She immediately drilled him with questions. Cup would be cold and curt with her quesitons and not share too much about it, but still answer a few questions, and Holly would back off. But his silence didn’t stop the brewing ideas, theories, and questions she had.

With Alice, maybe Cuphead would casually mention it in conversation? Like they were talking about him previously getting hurt and he’d say “Well, usually I just turn ghost so I don’t bleed out and to last longer…” Alice would stop short at that and ask for a clarification. Cuphead, realizing he never told her, explained the situation, or whatever all the other questers know, to keep her up to date. Her healer side would immediately flare up and she’d be super worried about him, she’d lightly prod with a few questions and how it worked, and then just casually talk about it. Generally she’s ok with it, as long as Cup isn’t actively being hurt or anything. Maybe a bit of pity for him literally dying and being brought back to life. Also puns. Ghost puns galore.

I think the people in the House in general would slowly find out one by one. He doesn’t really keep it a secret, he just doesn’t talk about it much. He’d just, drift into the room in ghost form and scare the ever loving crap out of the residents of the house. Oddswell would have questions. Red would just roll her eyes annoyed that she’d have to deal with this now. Granny would be very concerned for Cuphead but accept it nonetheless. Jerry would absolutely HATE it. Cup definitely abused his powers to prank Jerry so many different times. At some point there’s definitely a bunch of house rules like “No ghosting while someone’s cooking in the kitchen” specifically for Cuphead.

Mickey would find out while he’s invisible snooping around the house during Nightmare Night. He’d just see cuphead turn into a ghost right in front of him. He’d be a little spooked, a little curious, but he’s definitely seen weirder things so he isn’t bothered by it.

Oswald found out on the train to the Far West. Probably snuck up on a cuphead and spooked him and Cup turned to his ghost form out of instinct. It definitely startled Oswald and we was absolutely speechless when he saw it happen. Eventually he’d get over his shock and be cool with it. He later on probably teases cup for it.

I don’t think Donald and Goofy would know about it. Maybe Donald while they’re in the labyrinth. If he did Donald would either be shocked and surprised (in a zany way I guess). Or he couldn’t care less. “Oh great. The guy with a cup for a head can turn into a ghost. Whoop-de-cussing-do.” Either way later on he really doesn’t give two cusses about it.

I’m not sure if the bunny kids would know. If they did though, it would be when they dragged Cup and Bendy off to do Oswald’s dare. Cup would turn into a ghost and try to run away and Mugs/or maybe Ozzy would whip out a spray bottle of salt water and shoot him out of the air. Cup would be forced into his normal form again and fall flat on his back left to the billions of bunny children who’d ask billions more questions.

I think that covers everyone. Let me know if I missed anyone or if there was someone else you wanted a reaction from. ☝️

AB. SO. LUTE. LY. HORRIFIED.

I’m pretty sure in IM, Legendary Chalice can’t do the half-ghost thing like in the Cuphead show, so she’d be really freaked out that Cuphead had DIED.

And if he can't, shouldn't he be the same as him, but at 15-17 years old?

Oh! Good question!

In his normal solid form he can grow and age as anyone normally can. But when he’s a ghost, technically because he can shapeshift, he can change how he represents his age and growth. I’d assume that form would automatically just age along with his body because that’s how he naturally sees himself? Just instinctually he knows that he is 23 and not a teenager so his ghost form would automatically fit to what he ‘identifies’ as. If that makes sense.

Ok big spoilers for the Labyrinth first

It hasn’t been asked yet but I’ve already thought about it and had something fleshed out, but I’m gonna be honest I completely forgot what I had decided. (I have the bad habit of just talking about my AUs in discord with my friends but never recording anything) But I believe I have three ideas figured out that might work?

1. Night terror surprised him and didn’t give him the chance to phase/turn into a ghost to avoid getting hurt.

2. Like the Night terror can eat shadows I guess the same rule can apply to ghosts? Or maybe the Night Terror can touch ghosts or maybe just Cup’s soul? I dunno??

3. Idk? Salt??

I’m not sure which one is more viable but those are my thoughts. TWT

And yes, while I guess he’s technically dead he CAN get hurt and die. He just can’t really be injured when he’s a ghost because he can phase through objects. Unless if there is somethign magic involved in which case that is an exception. But if he’s injured in his normal form, he could very well die from the wound. But usually if he does get hurt enough to possibly kill him he’ll just turn into a ghost. It stops the bleeding (bc there is no blood) and buys himself some time. It doesn’t work permanently because eventually he’d have to turn back into his normal form at some point.

And yes he could have turned into a ghost AFTER the night terror ate his heart to avoid dying but I’m chalking it up to either, “he died before he could do that” or “shock” XD

Ooh! Interesting question!!

Mugman has some guilt, yes. Some deep part of him wishes that he stopped Cuphead from doing the experiment. Cup probably did the experiment in the first place because he was afraid if he said no then Hat would just do it to Mugs. And Mugman probably understood that. He probably wishes that he could have done a bunch of things different. Maybe made Hat stop the experiment before cup actually died… Largely Mugman isn’t affected by that guilt nor does it really change his relationship with other people, because Cup is still technically alive now. He’s still here, he just now has a different circumstance than before. And that has been a huge contribution to Mug’s ability to cope and move past Cuphead being half-ghost. It turned out alright in the end.

I think for those who do know that he is a half-ghost they would kinda know about how it happened. Like with the questers he’d most-likely tell them that “Hat put demon blood in my head and it killed me. Hat contacted some powerful demons he knew and they turned me into a half-ghost.” Not specifying more than that nor who the demons were, bc it would make sense that Hat would have some powerful magic oriented connections. They just don’t really need to know WHO those connections were.

And I imagine with anyone else who he doesn’t particularly trust he’d say either “I died and was turned into a half-ghost” or chalk it up to some kind of curse.

The questers would treat Hat about the same as they do in OG. Maybe a bit more resentful because Cup actually ended up dying, but aside from that nothing else really changes. They most-likely assumed that Cup dying wasn’t intentional more of an accident.

Kind of yeah. He does need to eat food, and sleep, and drink water and stuff to get energy like any person needs to survive, but also to keep his energy levels up in his ghost form. He can’t eat while he’s a ghost so eating then is useless. He can go in his ghost form however long he wants (plus it doesn’t expend that much energy) but eventually he has to turn back to sleep, eat, and drink.