Azul, Cautious

Azul says that “octopuses are sensitive and wary by nature,” while Jade says that Azul’s cautious personality arose from negative emotions, “loneliness, sadness, resentment, envy, and the like,” while Idia also says Azul is “definitely an ‘always be cautious’ kinda guy.”

There are many examples in the game of Azul advising caution, which Jamil refers to as “cowardice” in Book 7. After an evaluation of Azul’s abilities Idia explains that Azul seems to be “banking on his quick thinking to make up for his lack of reserves,” which is possibly contributes to how careful he tries to be. Idia also observes, “while he utilizes a wide range of spells, his magic pool isn’t big enough to sustain them. Maybe that’s why he’s so careful about when he uses them.” 

After Azul says that he “can’t afford to expend much more energy” during Glorious Masquerade Idia responds, “Sounds like you’re holding out on us,” and Azul confirms trying to conserve energy in the battles against darkness of Book 7 leading up to the fight with Malleus.

We see several direct comparisons of Azul’s cautiouness and Riddle’s straight-fowardedness during Book 6, with Azul saying “It’s a reasonable first step to try and get a grasp of our situation” and Riddle countering with, “Acting before others gives us the initiative. THAT is a reasonable first step.”

Azul tries and fails to stop Riddle from entering the “obvious trap” that is the elevator in Tartarus, argues that they “should be careful when dealing with unknown enemies” and “there’s a fine line between bravery and recklessness” but, similar to Jamil, Riddle compares Azul’s cautious nature to cowardice.

When Azul opts to knock on a cage instead of magically destroying it from the start Riddle says, “We might as well declare war on them at this point! I should’ve just destroyed the cage to start with!,” to which Azul responds, “Spoken like someone with magic to burn. I could never waste my reserves like that.”

Riddle says that the experience ought to be a lesson about being overcautious, but Azul insists, “I still think it’s better than the brute-force option,” later again asking Riddle to “please try to practice a MODICUM of caution,” to which Riddle responds, “If you’re scared, you’re welcome to go hide.”

Shortly after, however, Riddle benefits from Azul’s caution: after a Phantom attacks Riddle before he is able to prepare, Azul saves him with a barrier spell that he’d had ready just in case. Riddle acknowledges, “Your prudence paid off.”

Azul’s cautiousness saves Riddle a second time after the fight against Idia: after Riddle loses consciousness he bows out of the battle to take them both to safety and Leona observes that Azul “kept a little power back even when firing off their last blast. What a tightwad…though in this case, it was the right call. If he hadn’t done that, both him and the ginger brat would probably be plungin’ headfirst into the Underworld.”

During Beanfest Azul recommends a tactical retreat from Vil’s group after Vil calls for “more distance” from their enemy (Azul’s group), saying, that Vil seems to be trying to lure them into a trap: “He could very well be bluffing, but we’ve had two instances of unexpected interference already. I say we play it safe.” Vil responds, “I knew he’d think twice. It was purely a bluff on my part, but luckily for me, Azul is a cautious man by nature. Yet the fact that it was a bluff was largely apparent to him regardless. My acting, convincing as it is, didn’t work on him. I suppose his wariness can also be to our disadvantage.”

While reviewing paperwork for the interdorm spelldrive tournament of Book 2 Riddle reflects, “Why am I not surprised Azul wrote this? He’s outlined so many rules that merely READING them is tedious…and that’s coming from me.”

When presented with an NDA during the Tapis Rouge event Azul declares, “Documents like this must be read thoroughly before one signs” and reads through the entirety of the paperwork with which they have been presented, asking questions and then rereading from the beginning. Jamil says, “Even I’d consider that excessively cautious.”

Azul is similarly wry of the NDA provided to them by STYX in Book 6, saying, “If I got caught in some contract because of the fine print, l’d never live it down.”

In his dream of Book 7, however, Azul is happy to sign his name when asked for an autograph. Floyd observes that Azul has become “the kind of octo-sucker that casually signs stuff for people he barely knows,” and “That’s the total opposite of how he really is.”

NBC Riddle has a voiceline of, “I’d advise against opening any boxes in this town unless you actively want to get scared,” and Epel says, “I saw Azul opening a locked box extra carefully. Maybe he fell for a trap before…”

During Beanfest Vil overlaps with Azul and calls out to his group, “Get more distance from the enemy.” Azul then calls for a “tactical retreat,” telling Jack, “I don’t like the way Vil said ‘more’ distance. It’s almost like he’s trying to lure us somewhere. He could very well be bluffing, but we’ve had two instances of unexpected interference already. I say we play it safe.”

After Azul leaves Vil reveals that he was bluffing (“Luckily for me, Azul is a cautious man by nature), but adds, “The fact that it was a bluff was largely apparent to him regardless. My acting convincing as it is, didn’t work on him. I suppose his wariness can also be to our disadvantage.”

During Tapis Rouge Azul leaving their hotel with Jamil the night before Vil’s red-carpet appearance to confirm a back entrance to the venue, just in case. Ace says, “I figured you and Azul went out partyin’ somewhere…” while Vil thanks the two for not leaving anything to chance.

After the events of Book 3, Azul is careful to book the entire Atlantic Memorial Museum for a “study tour” by Mostro Lounge in order to ensure that no one will interfere with his returning of the photo that Jack’s group took earlier in the story.