Overanalysis

It was readily apparent just from its bearing alone that Azzar was a fine beast with plenty of strength and fortitude, enough to stand alongside Jin and Aegaeon with ease and pride. It was both powerful and resilient, agile and dextrous. Except for the fact that it was easily broken, in battle, it was pretty much an all-rounder.

And it ran with an amazing swiftness, too. Lora, even at her sprintiest, struggled to keep up. This wasn't what bothered her, though; what itched at her brain was how Azzar did it so easily with such a great handicap up top. Namely: Azzar's chest was not small. Azzar itself was not small. And yet, Azzar never complained.

(Brighid also must have had this difficulty, but Brighid had a peculiar way of walking that obviated any such complaints. If she was waiting for a fine lady knight to come and help her with some things she carried that were heavy, she made no mention. Lora thought it indelicate to ask.)

But she had to know. She had to be bold. The worst that could happen was that Azzar would snap at her, and it wouldn't be the first time. She had to be used to brisk personalities, anyway. That was why she had Haze.

"Azzar?"

It blinked at her, inviting the actual question. A sort-of smile touched the corners of its thin lips, and its nose twitched as if it were about to sneeze, but it wasn't. It was just waiting, patiently.

"I wanted to ask..." Lora twisted her fingers in the hem of her frock, still failing to find a straightforward way to put this that wasn't rude. "How do you manage, running?"

Azzar stared at her through closed eyes. "Two legs. One ground. You alternate. You do it quickly."

Trying not to be affronted at what - to her - was an address of something so obviously not her point, Lora tried again. "I meant...up top. In your chest area. I feel like my back would hurt."

Ever (in)expressive with its eyes, Azzar panned its glance downward, then back up again. "Okay."

And after all, what had she been expecting? Show and tell?

Just as Lora was about to hang her head and turn away, or else try desperately to change the subject, Azzar made a continuing remark: "This is with a binder on. You wouldn't want to know."

Except for the fact that Lora did want to know, actually. Was that inappropriate, to be curious about the other Blades in the party? Of course, they were people in their own right, no matter who their parents or Drivers were.

"I see," she said, blushing. "Thank you for explaining. I was just curious because Haze and I are both very slight."

"Same body type," Azzar said, confirming its recognition of the fact. "You don't need to bind."

Actually, Lora didn't need to bind because she had the opposite problem, originally, or even sort of an in-between that Azzar might well have experienced as well, but maybe it wasn't really relevant. She just knew that she and Haze were the same dress size, the same everything size, and Haze ran slower than she did because Haze carried less muscle, more fat.

Which would mean...

Lora stopped a moment to consider. Now, it was Haze who had voluntarily donned the big, wide pants and the corded loops like handles on both hips. It was Haze who wore her hair long and thick and straight, not a tangle to be seen. And it was Haze who...

Even with years of traveling together under their collective belts, Lora realized that she'd always been quite modest with changing. Jin had said nothing about it, let them do as they would.

Maybe Haze would have more interesting input on this topic than Azzar did. Maybe Haze knew more than she had ever let on.

And maybe Haze, without the saintly shift to cover her midriff and with her hair pulled up short, would look like Lora's dearest dream.

looking at haze's official art again has me thinking about how awesome it is that she's the femme and lora's the butch. she has the big cargo pants and the carabiner loops