Coustah

Coustah is the slash ship between Coustas and Tartah from the Witch Hat Atelier fandom.

Canon
Coustas and Tartah became close friends ever since Tartah saved the crippled boy from being ganged up on in an alley.

A trio of magic thieves had gathered around Coustas, who was on the ground with his broken sealchair. Tartah, seeing the situation, thinks fast and pretends to have an adult witch come over and survey the scene. It scares the thieves who quickly rush away, leaving Tartah free to help Coustas. The apprentice witch finds Coustas cradling the broken chair leg, finding his life hopeless without the four legs to carry him. Tartah thinks for a moment before reaching into his bag and pulling out some glue. He applies it to the broken wood and sticks it together, informing Coustas about the strength of the glue while introducing himself. Once Tartah learns of Coustas's name, he extends a hand to the boy on the ground, telling him to grab on; he'll help him get up.

Tartah and Coco save Coustas from falling off the stairs, using their soarboots to lift up the boy when his service seat fails him. Tartah immediately starts fussing over him, reminding him that he shouldn't go out alone. When Coustas recognizes Coco and teasingly pretends to be her fated lover, Tartah blushes furiously and points out that he also saved Coustas as well. Going for the bait, Coustas makes fun of Tartah's dramatic reaction by "misreading" it as Tartah being jealous of Coco instead of him. Coco is surprised that they are already good friends.

While Coustas is being carried away by the Head Director, he invites Coco to join him and Tartah in studying medicinal herbs together.

The next time Coco sees them, they are in the Medicinal Herbs room where Tartah is quizzing Coustas on his knowledge of plants. Coustas is seemingly annoyed by this, complaining all the while. His face lights up when he sees Coco, however, and proclaims it fate that they have met once again. Tartah tells Coco that Coustas was part of a traveling minstrel band that performed with instruments. Coustas eagerly picks up his book to teach Coco about all the herbs that could be netted for money in the city but Tartah interrupts him, reminding him to learn his letters first so he can get a job. Coustas huffs and turns to him with a frighteningly blank face—witches like Tartah have a future, as opposed to a boy like him who was born in the slums.

Both Coco and Tartah murmur in protest, Coco being the one to step up and try to give Coustas some hope. Before she can finish, Coustas turns to look at her with a withering glare, stopping her in her tracks. Perhaps so, for someone as highly regarded as them, but Coustas, stripped of his use of his legs is no help at all. His outburst shocks the two, and he retreats to his own room in silence.

Along with Coco, Tartah suddenly brings up the state of the pathways in Karoon. He points out how slippery it was, surely hard for someone who had to travel around in a sealchair. Coco realizes that it was because of Coustas that Tartah began studying medicinal herbs as well, even though it was forbidden for a witch to learn any sort of healing. Tartah struggles over not being able to help Coustas any more than helping him up, as he is able to sympathize with the boy's plight of feeling like everything was hopeless.

Days after Coustas storms off, Tartah returns to where he last left the boy. He's worried that Coustas may still be angry at him, but his fears are unfounded when Coustas charges to him in his sealchair, shouting out his name happily.

"TAAAAAAAARTAR!! I'm so glad! I thought you weren't gonna come anymore!"

- Coustas, relieved that Tartah was back, Chapter 44.

Tartah catches him by the armrest before Coustas crashes into him and is pleasantly surprised to see such a positive reaction. They have a moment of silence before Tartah hands over the magical invention he and Coco have been working on for the past few days. Coustas is ecstatic, at first thinking it was magic to heal his legs, but is still glad anyways when he hears it's something to help him. He's a little confused as to why Tartah would go that far to create a contraption just for him, but as Tartah explains, after seeing the suffering that Coustas had to go through, he couldn't bear it if he had just done nothing.

Coustas smiles at this. To him, people who were able to save others, like his Dadga and Coco were amazing, so if he could also help Tartah, then he would also become one of the amazing ones.

They travel to the hill where Coco is waiting. Tartah helps lift Coustas's chair when it can't navigate the hilly ground and then they set up the contraption for him. Coustas cries in glee when he soars over the grass, aided by his new wingcloak. Tartah and Coco enthusiastically explain the uses of the cloak and how they finally decided on this design while Coustas continues to swoop around them in delight. He flies behind them to hug them, so thankful for their ingenuity.

On the ground, Coustas notices how the poles on the wingcloak leaves him continuously floating so the two witches launch into another detailed description of how Coustas can use the cloak on the ground. Tartah asks Coustas if there was anything he noticed, anything Tartah could fix. Coustas takes up the challenge happily, jumping back into the sky to try it out again.

His smile of pure joy is noticed by Dagda, who thanks Coco and Tartah for bringing such a genuine smile out of Coustas. Coustas spots him and glides over, hugging him. He drops down to the ground and presents to the three what he's been working on for a while. Tartah and Dagda are surprised to see that he's memorized the alphabet, even writing out their names for them. He admits that when Tartah left, he spent time practicing it and making it right. In the ground, he scratches out the words, "I'm sorry". Coustas apologizes for lashing out at that time because he got jealous of others born with privilege.

Alone with Coco, Tartah confesses that he had thought of teaching Coustas magic as well, even though he knows it was forbidden to teach unknowings.

While Coustas is talking with Dagda, he asks him if he can go to the Silver Night Festival because the witches were going too and he needed to say his thanks.

But the following time they meet, it's not as happy as their last one. Just as Tartah is divulging a secret about Coustas to Coco, the subject of their conversation appears. Coustas, donning a pair of working legs and a wingcloak, swoops on them from behind. Tartah reacts with surprise, but says he's glad that Coustas had found a solution to walking. Instead of being happy, Coustas kicks up and the wooden bands stretch out, trapping Tartah's hands and body underneath.

"You were relieved just now, weren't you? "I'm glad," you said... You mean you're glad that my legs weren't fixed? Isn't that right!? Because, it would be just awful if my injuries were healed with forbidden magic, right!?"

- Coustas to Tartah, Chapter 51.

Coustas's eyes go blank when Tartah mentions that he shouldn't've been able to learn magic. Why, he asks, why was it only reserved for others and why couldn't he use it to save himself? Tartah shouts out his name in protest, but it only pulls the boy's face towards him. Coustas continues on his tirade; Even though Tartah knew that magic like this existed, how come he never taught Coustas of it? He sharpens his wooden leg to a point and prepares to bring it down on the trapped witch. As he kicks, a burst of smoke flies up, and Coco is there having released the branches confining Tartah.

Tartah steps up and painstakingly admits to his wrong. By following the witch laws, he chose to not tell Coustas about the possibility, hardly making him a friend at all. He apologizes sincerely, but it's not enough. Coustas's face hardens.

Coco tries one last time to convince him; she tells Coustas that by studying medicine with him, Tartah was already breaking witch laws, showing just how much he was worried for him. Coustas flinches at this information, but it doesn't change his perspective. He demands that they sell something at the Silver Night Procession or else their metal bands will sear a glyph onto their wrists. When Coco suggests to Tartah that they could ask her professors for help, Tartah is adamant that they don't because they might wipe the memories of Coustas or hand him over to the Magic Security Council.

When they encounter Coustas the next time, it's when Dagda begins dying all over again. Tartah interrupts Coco and Coustas's conversation by reminding them that normal doctors are a thing. He had heard a rumor that the Island King of Ezrest was a skilled physician, so he might be able to save Dagda. Tartah tells Coustas that he's not trying to atone for anything by suggesting this, he just wants to help save his father. Coustas considers this for a moment before ruefully smiling and dismissing the idea as stupid. His legs grab Dagda and he teleports away, but it is shown that he is considering their idea nonetheless.

At the Silver Night Festival, Tartah's grandpa, Mr. Nolnoa, tells the youngster that he should hurry up and pick a mentor to study under. But Tartah feels hesitant because he's much more suspicious of witches and adults now that he understands Coustas's plight. No matter the witch he chose to study under, they would probably never help Coustas.

Quotes
"Are you alright, Coustas? What were you doing!? You shouldn't be trying to go out alone without someone to help you..."

- Tartah reminding Coustas, Chapter 42.

"Tartah, the reason you started studying herbs... It was for Coustas's sake, right?"

- Coco to Tartah, Chapter 43.

"I knew it, the two of you really are my fated witches...!"

- Coustas hugging Tartah and Coco, Chapter 45.

Fanon
Coustah is a much-overlooked ship within the Witch Hat Atelier fandom. It doesn't have a defined name (though some users have suggested 'Custard' or 'Coustah'), but has a fair amount of fans creating works under Coustas x Tartah or some variation of that. It's a common alternative ship for Tarcoco, or sometimes the three of them together in Cocoustah.

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