Azul and Flight

Azul may struggle with heights and balancing: he calls a tightrope-walking performance “patently absurd,” saying, “How can someone rely so heavily on their legs when they only have two of them?,” and is unable to maintain his balance while attempting to surf: “Human legs are so useless! They aren’t flexible enough to wrap around the board, nor do they have suction cups to stick to the surface!”

When he asks how it is that Floyd has adapted to surfing so easily Floyd responds, “Just vibes,” and Floyd seems to be the best of the three mermaids at flight as well, saying, “even on my worst days I’d say I’m still a better flier than Jade or Azul,” while Jade says, “I’m not nearly as bad as Azul.”

Azul says that he does not actually dislike flying (“Though I don’t know how my broom feels about the matter”), but “floating in the sea and floating in the air are two completely different things.”

Azul explains that he does just well enough in flight classes to ensure that he will graduate on schedule, but he is not merely doing the minimum, putting forth a good-faith effort in every class. One of the ways we see Azul securing a passing grade is by earning bonus credit in Vargas’ classes during Beanfest, where Ruggie comments, “watchin’ Azul in flight class is just plain cringey.”

We see a flight class with Azul where Vargas says all he is doing is “sitting on (his) broom and jumping,” but Azul explains he is imagining himself achieving liftoff, but his broom always goes out of control when he loses focus.

Vargas assigns Jamil to tutoring Azul, who exclaims, “It’s only been a little over a year since I began walking on land. I should be applauded for that! And yet now you’re asking me to fly? What an utterly ludicrous demand,” and says that his broom refuses to do what he tells it.

When Deuce suggests that a struggling Azul and Idia take a broom up the bell tower at Noble Bell College Jamil comments, “Flying would just take them longer and exhaust them even more,” and when the other students suggest using brooms again later in the event Azul himself says, “To be honest, l’d prefer exploring ANY other option.”

When Riddle insists on Azul driving the chariot out of Tartarus in Book 6 Azul responds, “I can barely ride a broom as it is.” When STYX staff assure him that it is no different from driving a blastcycle he says, “Blastcycles are even more foreign to me than brooms!”

Azul’s issues with flight may not be limited to brooms: in Book 6 he falls unconscious after his first dream-crossing and says, “I’m glad I passed out so soon into the journey. If anything, I’d prefer to be unconscious before we cross next time…”

He takes motion sickness medicine before his next crossing, which does seem to help.