Azul, Jade, and Floyd

Azul says, “I’ve always thought trios make the best teams.”

The twins have voice lines about Azul gifting them with birthday presents that support their hobbies (a shoeshine kit for Floyd, a water tank for a terrarium for Jade), while Azul says, “Jade and Floyd always find some way to prank me on my birthday,” and that the twins burst into his room with cake at midnight.

Relating an anecdote from when they first came on land, Azul talks about having a barbecue during which he got smoke in his eyes, and “Jade and Floyd thought that was hilarious, and wafted even more smoke (his) way.”

Azul says, “Jade and Floyd mentioned wanting to come to a board game competition to ‘offer moral support.’ I of course shut that down immediately and warned them against distracting me.”

Azul tells Silver, “I always feel much better after discussing my problems with Jade and Floyd,” and Vil tells Floyd, “You and Jade always seem to be on either side of Azul, hanging off him like a giant pair of earrings.”

Due to there not being nearly as many mermaids as there are humans Jade, Floyd and Azul have been in the same classes since starting elementary school. In a flashback we see the twins approaching a child-Azul alone in a “teeny little octopus pot,” where they seem both impressed by Azul’s grimoire research and amused by Azul himself. Floyd says that he likes “old” Azul (“He’d make a better meal than the one we’ve got now”).

Jade mentions a time that he and Floyd went to Azul’s family’s restaurant in middle school.

Azul has some experience with video games because “Floyd owns several terrestrial game consoles,” but as they are “terrestrial consoles” this possibly means that Floyd has video games in his and Jade’s dorm room that Azul has played, rather than a reference to Azul going over to the twins’ home as a child?

Floyd says he is impressed that Azul is able to tell the difference between his and Jade’s tsums during Tsumsted. Azul explains, “I make it a point to memorize the features of the people I do business with. Otherwise I risk tremendous losses. Once you know what to look for, telling you two apart is simple,” but Floyd responds, “Uh-huh. Sure, whatever you say.”

In Book 3 Azul says that both twins have signed an NDA covering his past, and this is possibly why we have seen Jade and Floyd give vague answers on the topic of Azul’s childhood: when asked about knowing Azul since they were young Jade responds, “I didn’t know him all that well when we were younger, though, so I do not remember much.”

Vil asks, “What brought you together?,” and Jade answers with, “I haven’t the foggiest idea. It’s completely slipped my mind.” Vil seems unconvinced (“Right, so you don’t remember or know anything about such an important event in your life”).

When Jamil asks about the three being together since childhood Floyd is similarly vague, saying that he “barely knew Azul existed until just before (they) started middle school.” The prefect seems unconvinced (“You barely knew your own classmate existed until you graduated?”).

In Book 7, when explaining how Azul’s personality and unique magic have come to be what they are present day, Jade begins by saying, “I wouldn’t wish to violate Azul’s privacy, so I’ll omit the particulars,” possibly (not unconfirmed) in reference to the NDA that he and Floyd have signed.

During Beanfest Azul tells Jamil that the twins are not his servants, and they will absolutely not listen to him when they are not feeling inclined to do so.

Floyd says he just does what Azul says “’cause it’s more fun that way,” and Azul explains (again to Jamil), “I strongly doubt Jade or Floyd have any binding allegiance to me. This is all an elaborate game of pretend to them.If I made a poor choice as leader—or even simply a boring one—They would turn on me instantly and seize the housewarden seat for themselves,” though he adds, “Not that I’d lose if they challenged me, of course.”

Jamil says, “So essentially, the three of you are all equals in each other’s eyes,” which Floyd confirms: “We stick with him now ’cause it’s fun. If it stops bein’ fun, we drop him like a bad habit. Easy.”

This balance of their relationship comes into play in Book 7 where Floyd realizes he is in a dream after a dream-version of Azul says, “The three of us, together forever, down here under the sea.” Floyd responds, “Talkin’ about us bein’ together forever? He’d NEVER say stuff like that. If one of us ain’t feelin’ it or can’t keep up, we ditch ’em, simple as that. That’s our rule.” As it disappears the dream-Azul says, “I thought we were best friends,” which seems to irritate Floyd even more.

Similarly, dream-Azul calling Jade his “precious subordinate” contributes to awaking Jade.

When the darkness-mermaids of his dream convince Azul to succumb to a deeper sleep, Jade and Floyd refuse to go to his aid, explaining, “Personal responsibility is the rule in our dorm. Immersing himself in pleasant dreams was his decision,” and, “If someone doesn’t wanna step up, leave ’em. That’s our rule.”

Ortho manages to convince them to follow Azul with the threat of being trapped in Azul’s dream forever, though Floyd says, “This is Azul we’re talkin’ about. He’ll figure out somethin’ even if we ditch him.”

Ortho guesses, “They come across as cold, but maybe that’s just how they show faith in one another. Maybe they believe Azul doesn’t need their help to save himself.”

The deeper level of Azul’s dream is an alternate timeline where his plot of Book 3 was a success, but after seeing the result Floyd says, “Sometimes I think if Azul really had gotten everything the way he’d planned, I might’ve got bored stickin’ around him.” Jade says that he had the same thought.

Floyd: “Yeah, he gets real annoyin’ when he’s cocky.”
Jade: “But more to the point…
Jade and Floyd: “It’s just not fun.”

The twins then agree to “beat up Azul and get him back to his usual funny octopus self.”

After Azul wakes up his dream begins to collapse from the paradox, and both Jade and Floyd go to his rescue.

Silver convinces them to let Azul go as the only one of the three who will be able to escape if they all go together, and they do, all wishing each other luck.

In Azul’s dream of Book 7 he recognizes both Jade and Floyd, even performing a “bizarrely complicated and time-consuming secret handshake” with Jade.

After evicting the “land-dwellers” from his party, Azul allows Jade and Floyd to stay with him on the condition that they join his Coral Rush team (“This is a personal offer from ME. You have no reason to refuse, right?”).

The twins begin tearing apart the dream-version of Azul’s mother’s restaurant, and when Azul threatens them with his lawyer step-father Floyd asks, “Don’t you wanna kick our tails yourself?,” but Azul responds, “I would never do something so barbaric!” Jade observes, “Now THAT’S an out-of-character thing for you to say.”

The twins insulting Azul reminds him of his overblot, which nearly awakens Azul.

After following him into a deeper level of his dream—an alternate reality where his plot of Book 3 succeeded—they try to awaken him by again destroying his contracts, but the vault of the VIP room is empty.

Jade reflects, “He probably grew wary of coming under attack again and moved the contracts elsewhere,” but when Ortho asks if the twins can go to Azul asking where they have been hidden Jade says, “I somehow doubt Azul would share intelligence that valuable with individuals so incompetent they forgot about a critical hiding place.”

Jade judges it unlikely that Azul would succumb to his unique magic and so, instead, the twins take out their own dream versions, with Jade learning the location of the contracts b using his unique magic on himself.

Azul is displeased when it seems that the twins have betrayed him and he attacks them with magic, but Floyd says, “YOU’RE the one doin’ the betrayin’ here. Pretty rich of you to be talkin’ down to us when you forgot everything. We don’t want to see you kickin’ back and contentin’ yourself with a fake world. That’s just boring.”

Azul summons his anemone’d servants to fight the group, ultimately attacking them with Leona’s stolen unique magic, which Floyd uses to destroy Azul’s contracts in the same manner as Book 3, successfully awakening Azul.

After Azul escapes from the abyss he greets the group of students with, “Floyd! Jade! And the rest of you!,” and when Ortho deems the twins too injured to continue on, Azul instructs them to stay behind and recover in anticipation of the fight against Malleus.

Azul picks up a pair of necklaces with “a curious design with a cryptic meaning” during the Glorious Masquerade event, but when Deuce asks if they are souvenirs Azul says, “More like compensation for minding the dorm while I’m out. The necklaces are suitable and not too expensive.”

Later on Azul independently discovers the secret of the “cryptic” necklaces, and Rollo does not approve of “a scoundrel” like Azul having worked it out.

Rollo says, “There’s no telling how you’ll exploit this information. The city’s very future could be in danger,” but Azul assures him that he has no intention of sharing the secret: “I purchased a couple of these necklaces as gifts because the meaning was unknown. The point is to confuse the recipients. I want them to puzzle over what it is and why I gave it to them. It would spoil my whole plan if word got out that it’s a map of the city. They might learn of it.”

Rollo is confused and Azul continues with, “I’d prefer for this necklace to remain a strange and mysterious good-luck charm. It’s more convenient for me that way. Heh heh, I can see the confounded looks on Jade and Floyd’s faces now. How gratifying it is being privy to a secret no one else knows.”

Azul has a voice line about bringing Jade and Floyd with him to the Fairest City for a study trip.

Azul also gets gifts from the Fairest City for Jade and Floyd (“Food is never a bad choice, but I want something that will really make the two of them smile”), ultimately selecting kelp-shaped hairpins.

When Jade and Floyd tell Azul about their tickets to Playfulland Azul refuses to attend (“I don’t like being indebted to strangers”), but he makes no effort to restrain the twins, saying that they can do as they please, but, “don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

There are many examples of Azul giving instructions to the twins beginning with, “Jade. Floyd.”

Azul describes Jade and Floyd both as “Octavinelle’s upper management,” and in Book 3 charges Jade (and possibly Floyd) with training his 225 new anemone’d staff. They say that they cook and clean at Mostro Lounge, and they also run the lounge in Azul’s absence during Book 6.

Floyd is not pleased by Azul alone being selected for the Glorious Masquerade event (“How come Azul gets to go have fun without me?”), to which Azul responds, “By all means, cry about it.” Jade asks if he may join Floyd in throwing a tantrum and Azul approves, but he intervenes when Floyd threatens to do damage to the lounge, telling him “You had better do your job” and promising to bring back entertaining stories.

At the beginning of the NBC event we see Azul and Jade leave Floyd in the middle of a shift at the lounge to visit a used book fair together.

When Leona scolds Floyd for terrorizing ghosts during the Spectral Soiree event he says, “This is what I normally do to punks who don’t hold up their end of a deal,” and we see an example of this at the beginning of Book 3 when Azul, Jade and Floyd confront a contractee who fails to appear when summoned by Azul.

The interrogation begins with the target making an excuse for his absence, after which Jade uses his unique magic to force them to speak the truth. Afterwards Azul says, “Floyd, you’re up,” giving Floyd free rein to “Wring him out with all (his) heart.”

In a vignette Jade and Floyd confront another contractee who has broken their contract, with Jade explaining the contract’s contents and Floyd threatening the target when they begin to make excuses.

After Azul’s 225 new contractees become violent in Book 3 Azul summons Jade and Floyd to “play with them a bit.” Jack is shocked by the amount of students that Azul managed to contract with and he explains that “Jade and Floyd did a bit of proactive market outreach,” which we possibly see an example of with the prefect: Jade approaches the prefect and says that he has “no doubt (Azul) would treat (their) misgivings with all due gravity,” with Floyd giving the example of setting the students free.

Azul also has the twins seize Ramshackle Dorm as collateral, interfere with Jack’s group’s ability to fulfill their contract, keep surveillance on their movements, and punish the group for trying to destroy a contract, all of which are possibly activities that Jade and Floyd are accustomed to performing for Azul.

Throughout the game Azul is seen entrusting various tasks to the twins, including but not limited to gathering things he needs to fulfill contracts, seeing to unruly guests, preparing a gift for a visit, leading the students of Ocatvinelle to safety during Book 7, and trouncing opponents, including Malleus.

There are also instances when the twins go to Azul’s aid of their own accord, such as defending Azul when he is accused of setting up a false queue during New Year’s in order to be first in line to the school store himself, and when Azul announces a dramatic exit from Scarabia the twins both play along to guilt trip Kalim without needing to be asked.