#cormag

in the artur/cormag support, artur seeks cormag out. explicitly this is because of an interest in wyverns, but i think it also shows that cormag is the kind of person artur seeks out. artur uses his respectful title (sir) despite the fact that 1) nobody asked him to do that and 2) cormag was knighted in the enemy country. artur sees cormag as a true knight—straightforward, upstanding, and honorable—even when cormag himself feels like he's losing sight of those things in his quest for revenge.

in the artur/joshua support, on the other hand... joshua seeks artur out. (my interpretation of this is that joshua thinks artur is cute + sees it as an opportunity to get better at fighting mages.) but artur isn't interested in him. artur doesn't even want to gamble with him, and he only does so because he gets tricked into it. but, as they continue to fight together in battle, things change. joshua becomes more aware of artur and starts going out of his way to keep him safe, and artur sees this new side of him: someone who takes things seriously, someone he can rely on. and that is what matters to him. and now joshua is the one getting scared, because being relied on is scary and he's been avoiding it for actual years. to me, the endpoint of this arc comes after their a support and requires joshua coming back and stepping up to follow through on what he started—to finally commit to something.

to sum it up i think the cormag supports show artur very intentionally deciding to befriend his cool coworker and then successfully executing on that. while the joshua supports show artur getting looney tuned into a friendship with the worst guy he can imagine and he doesn't even know how it happened. and they're both great! my personal fave to write is artur/joshua but i like both pairings (romantically as well as platonically. and queerplatonically if you want to get funky with it!)

but hey, why stop there? you asked about joshua and cormag. i can see them interacting a little bit because of artur, but we can go further. maybe they've been assigned on the front lines together. maybe i just locked them in a box and shook it until they started talking.

i think joshua and cormag would make for interesting interactions because they're both very defined by their relationship with their country (notably unlike artur, who seems to be happy anywhere as long as he's helping people). cormag's role in the war and the story is inextricable from his loyalty to grado; joshua's character is completely redefined when you find out about his responsibilities as the prince of jehanna. and this leaves both of them grappling with things throughout the story; cormag has to square his loyalty with his opposition to grado's actions, while joshua has to accept the consequences of shirking his duties. (oh, and they both end up fighting to avenge family members, huh.) joshua ran away too soon, while cormag was willing to go down with a sinking ship until glen's death changed his priorities.