Azul, Housewarden

Azul’s second year as a student is his first year being Housewarden, and he seems fond of the position (possibly for its prestige), saying, “There are plenty of practical benefits, and they far outweigh any ‘chores.’ Being able to put ‘Housewarden at Night Raven College’ on your resume is a major asset, no matter your future course.”

Idia hints that Azul “laid the groundwork to get the job in advance,” which Azul seems to confirm: “You can frame it however you like. For me, this job couldn’t come soon enough. But it took me a while to get here without making too many waves.”

Azul has a voice line of, “The clever should lead,” and in a vignette he offers to teach Silver how to act like a leader. Azul’s lesson begins with teaching Silver how to sit: “A leader would never act so humbly. Leaders must be feared! First of all, you must cross your legs when you sit.” When Silver sits “too proper” Azul says that he is not intimidating enough: “You must sit further back and fold your hands above your knees!”

Azul then teaches Silve how to rebuke a student when they do something wrong, scolding Silver for his “lukewarm warning,” and saying, “A housewarden is finished the moment his students regard him without authority. You must gaze down on miscreants with an air of superiority. Raise your chin higher! The way you move your hands is also extremely important. Act as if you are seizing control! Yes! Now once you penalize the miscreants, you will have attained total victory.” (Silver: “I had no idea this was a win or lose situation.”)

Azul spends three hours on his lessons, which include “how to sweet talk people to get them to —ahem. I mean, how to properly compliment your students,” and how to give proper handshakes.

When Silver attempts to put Azul’s teachings into practice with Sebek, however, Sebek is not pleased, calling Silver out on his “cocky posture and pretentious mannerisms,” and saying he looks ridiculous. Afterwards Floyd observes, “I don’t think Jellyfish has it in him to act all pushy like you, Azul,” but Azul responds, “That’s a rude way of putting it. All I did was try to teach him about my method of leadership.”

Azul says that NRC’s professors have complimented him on the good manners of Octavinelle’s students, and that, when he wears his dorm uniform, his students “quickly fall in line.”

It is possible that Azul is a fairly strict housewaren, or perhaps an active and/or watchful one: when Jack discovers mislabeled tea in the lounge an Octavinelle student exclaims, “The housewarden’s gonna hang us out to dry!,” and we see Azul scolding Jade in a vignette where he says an assigned take “only requires a few seconds of thought” and “I expected much more from you” and “Please try not to waste my time.”

Trey mentions Azul making Octavinelle students haul “a ton of giant pumpkins,” and, “Talk about demanding…then again, who am I to talk?” And when an Octavinelle students drops change on the floor in Mostro Lounge another says, “You know Azul. If the money in the till is off by even a single sorcent from the sales log it’ll be nag, nag, nag. He won’t let you hear the end of it until you graduate.”

In addition to being Housewarden of Octavinelle, Azul was also the head of the tournament planning committee for the interdorm spelldrive tournament of Book 2.