Coustah

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Coustah
GENERAL
Witch Hat Atelier
Character	Custas
Character	Tartah
Canonical?	Fanon
Status of Relationship	On Opposing Sides/Former Friends
IN FANDOM
Type (?)	Slash
Also Known As	Custah, Custard, Coustar
Tropes	• Friends to Lovers • Just in Time

7

Tartah – “H...Hold it! What are you talking about?! Saving you was a team effort!”

Custas – “Aw...Don't be like that, Tartah. You're still my number two, y'know?”

— Custas teasing Tartah, Chapter 42.

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

Canon

Custas 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 Custas, 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 Custas. The apprentice witch finds Custas 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 Custas about the strength of the glue while introducing himself. Once Tartah learns of Custas'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 Custas from falling off the stairs, using their sylph shoes 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 Custas recognizes Coco he goes on saying how she saved him twice and says that they must be bond of fate, Tartah blushes furiously and points out that he also saved Custas as well saying it was a time effort. Going for the bait, Custas 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 Custas 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 Custas on his knowledge of plants. Custas 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 Custas was part of a traveling minstrel band that performed with instruments. Custas 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. Custas 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 Custas some hope. Before she can finish, Custas turns to look at her with a withering glare, stopping her in her tracks. Perhaps so, for someone as highly regarded as them, but Custas, 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 Custas 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 Custas 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 Custas storms off, Tartah returns to where he last left the boy. He's worried that Custas may still be angry at him, but his fears are unfounded when Custas charges to him in his sealchair, shouting out his name happily.

❝

TAR-TAAAAH!! I'm so happy you're here! I worried you'd stop coming for good!

—Custas, relieved that Tartah was back, Chapter 44.

Tartah catches him by the armrest before Custas 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. Custas 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 Custas had to go through, he couldn't bear it if he had just done nothing.

Custas 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 Custas's chair when it can't navigate the hilly ground and then they set up the contraption for him. Custas 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 Custas continues to swoop around them in delight. He flies behind them to hug them, so thankful for their ingenuity.

On the ground, Custas notices how the poles on the wingcloak leaves him continuously floating so the two witches launch into another detailed description of how Custas can use the cloak on the ground. Tartah asks Custas if there was anything he noticed, anything Tartah could fix. Custas 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 Custas. Custas 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". Custas 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 Custas magic as well, even though he knows it was forbidden to teach outsiders.

While Custas 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 Custas to Coco, the subject of their conversation appears. Custas, donning a pair of working legs and a wingcloak, swoops on them from behind. Tartah reacts with surprise, but says he's glad that Custas had found a solution to walking. Instead of being happy, Custas kicks up and the wooden bands stretch out, trapping Tartah's hands and body underneath.

❝

Said you were "really happy." Happy about what? Happy to hear that my legs are still broken? That's what you were thinking, wasn't it?! 'Cause if my legs were healed...That'd mean someone cast a forbidden spell on me. And that's be a big problem, wouldn't it?

—Custas to Tartah, Chapter 51.

Custas'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. Custas continues on his tirade; Even though Tartah knew that magic like this existed, how come he never taught Custas 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 Custas about the possibility, hardly making him a friend at all. He apologizes sincerely, but it's not enough. Custas's face hardens.

Coco tries one last time to convince him; she tells Custas that by studying medicine with him, Tartah was already breaking witch laws, showing just how much he was worried for him. Custas 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 seal 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 Custas or hand him over to the Magic Security Council.

When they encounter Custas the next time, it's when Dagda begins dying all over again. Tartah interrupts Coco and Custas's conversation by reminding them that normal doctors are a thing. He had heard a rumor that Deanreldy Ezrest was a skilled physician, so he might be able to save Dagda. Tartah tells Custas that he's not trying to atone for anything by suggesting this, he just wants to help save his partial guardian. Custas 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 Custas's plight. No matter the witch he chose to study under, they would probably never help Custas.

Quotes

“Are you ok? What were you thinking?! You know better than to try going outside on your own, Custas!”

— Tartah reminding Custas, Chapter 42.

“Jealousy's not a good look for you.”

— Custas teasing Tartah, Chapter 42.

“... That's the real reason you started studying herbs, isn't it? You're doing it for Custas' sake.”

— Coco to Tartah, Chapter 43.

“I told him...I'd help him back to his feet. But that's all I've done for him. I've held out my hand one time, and that was it. I may never know how he feels about it...But I know exactly how I do. I know what's it like to have your whole future closed off...Because of something you can't do a thing about. It's awful. It leaves you feeling so powerless.”

— Tartah to Coco, Chapter 43

Tartah – “But...even if we can't change you to fit into this world...we can still find ways to adapt the world around you.”

Custas – “Change the world? Why would anyone go to that much trouble for me?”

— Tartah giving Custas a gift, Chapter 44.

Custas – “I mean...yeah. I'm all right 'cause I hear you two are gonna make things all right.”

Coco and Tartah – “Yeah. Let's do this!”

— Custa, Tartah and Coco grouping up, Chapter 44.

Fanon

This section is in need of major improvement. Please help improve this article by editing it.

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 Custas x Tartah or some variation of that. It's a common alternative ship for TarCo, or sometimes the three of them together in Cocoustah.

Fandom

TWITTER

Coustas x Tartarh posts on Twitter

WIKIS

Custas' relationship with Tartah on Witch Hat Atelier Independent Wiki

Tartah's relationship with Custas on Witch Hat Atelier Independent Wiki