Azul says. “It’s not that I lack stamina. I simply have a harder time moving on my feet than humans,” but does admit that he does not excel at exercising (images: Azul not excelling at exercising).
Azul struggles both times he is forced to climb the bell tower during Glorious Masquerade (Jamil: “So this is all it takes to reduce you to a miserable heap, Azul?”), and Malelus reflects, “now I’m stuck with two people who are struggling to climb a few steps. Perhaps I’ve made an error.”
Azul also struggles with the stairs in Tartarus.
When Trey comes up with a plan to stand agains the Vargas Monster of Vargas Camp that requires someone who can run Azul responds, “Don’t expect a merman to run,” but he ultimately ends up running anyway (“Normally l’d flat out refuse to run outside of PE…”), which he seems to struggle with.
Azul does not seem to have the best opinion of athletics or athletes: when Floyd points out that Octavinelle came in close to the bottom of the rankings for the spelldrive tournament of Book 2 Azul responds, “Let’s not forget that Spelldrive is nothing more than a game in which students run around chasing a disc like dogs in a yard.”
He also says, “Brains beat brawn any day of the week,” “My intellect will make up for my lack of athletic ability,” and, “I’m not really into the whole jock thing.”
Idia says, “Azul’s as bad at athletics as I am!,” and teases Azul about the stark contrast between his dream of being a star athlete and Jack’s dream, where he struggles to keep up in a spelldrive game.
Azul says, “Now that l’ve got my full wits about me, I can’t picture myself as some star athlete. Not to mention, we’re on land!,” and Sebek observes that Jade and Floyd “firmly believed they couldn’t shift to land form without a transmutation potion. I suppose you must believe you’re bad at sports just as firmly. That’s quite the conundrum.”
Being poor at athletics may be a sensitive point for Azul: when asked what dorm he would like to transfer into he says he would “prefer to avoid Savanaclaw,” but when Ace responds, “Savanaclaw’s real big on athletics. It’s chock full of jocks,” Azul says, “I never said anything about athletics. I just don’t think l’d fit in with the vibe there.”
After discussing boardgames with Silver, Silver comes up with an idea of “modifying the actions” to create a game where players will have to do things like “do 20 fingertip push-ups” and “do 100 squats.” Azul responds, “…are you being serious?,” and when Silver tries to invite him to join, Azul quickly excuses himself from the vignette.
After is captured “within minutes” of the start of Beanfest in his first year, a threat to his PE grade that inspires him to prepare for the next event a year in advance. Deuce asks, “Why would you spend a whole YEAR preparing to earn extra credit, when you could just try harder in PE. and get the same result?,” to which Azul responds, “What would someone naturally athletic like you know of my suffering?! NOTHING!”
Despite acquiring the gear and allies he had been aiming for Azul still struggles to keep up during the event itself (Jack: “Ever think about working on your stamina?”).
Rather than risk Azul getting cut off from the group, Jack devises a strategy where he chases opposing team members towards an ambush of Azul and Ruggie: “This makes it so that I’m the only one who has to do extensive running, and Azul doesn’t test the limits of his nonexistent stamina.” (Azul: “I feel the need to point out that I have perfectly average stamina. It’s yours that’s a statistical outlier, Jack.”)
Despite his issues with athletics, however, Azul does regularly exercise of his own accord, telling Jack, “I do circuit training, alternating between weight lifting and aerobic exercises,” and asking about resistance bands in order to add to his current regime.
Azul says, “I do light exercises every day, you know. And I eat a proper diet. Self-management is important,” and, “I can tell you from experience that swimming is a far better way to burn fat than walking.”
Twisted Wonderland Reference Note 