Trudy had asked Michael how many EX-Gear suits the Skulls had available for use in the X-Wings and VFs, for system interlink as well as ejection safety. While it certainly wasn't an infinite number, it was more than enough to outfit a squadron and a half. He wasn't sure how you'd go about connecting the machinery to the X-Wings that weren't built for it, but hey, that wasn't his job to figure out. He just needed to make sure people were fitted for them, and understood how they worked.

"It's not the most fashionable outfit in the world, but you'll want an EX-Gear for two reasons," he explained to the figure in front of him - having set up a temporary "fitting room" in the hangar bay. "One, it's more efficient at reading your body's movements than a normal flight stick would be, which means precision control and quicker reaction times when you need it most."

"Two, if that doesn't help you, it's got a fully contained zero-G and vacuum survivability system for when you need to eject, plus a propulsion pack to get you back to base. You won't be going at Fold-warp speeds, but it has enough thrust to get you back home."

"Care to strap yourself in and give it a test?"

(ooc: Open to any in Starfighter Command who aren't flying a Mobile Suit. For reference: In the middle, 1, 2)

The tapping of feet on the city streets slowed to a halt as Negi, or rather "Nagi" Springfield slowed to a halt, breathing a little heavy. He had gone out for a run, and had shut off his magic for about a couple of hours so that he could get a bit of a normal workout in.

He hadn't counted on how hard it was to do the things he did without his magic. Certainly he had a really good sense of what his body was capable of without it since the last time he shut off his magic, but this was just ridiculous. He wasn't painfully out of shape but his endurance had been effectively cut to a tenth of what it was supposed to be.

Checking his wrist, the black line was gradually easing off, a sign that the seal was beginning to diminish. Patting his forehead with the towel that he had brought, he took a drink of water from the bottle he had managed to make up before heading out.

"Well Nagi old boy, you've really gotten to the point you're officially bored," remarked Negi to the air as he leaned against a wall.

Zuko's mind was in a whirl. He had wasted, and would unfortunately continue to waste, so much time. The Avatar was free on the ship, and although Zuko could easily find him at a moment's notice, he had no way to restrain the airbender - and even if he could, no way to deliver his prize to his father.

How had he been able to do other things? Meditate? Explore the ship? Train the peasants in arts of war that their backwards breeding would never allow them to fully comprehend? It was all of it a waste of time, made tolerable only because these small actions might help him restore his nation - and with it, his chance to get his honor back.

He needed a plan, and he didn't have one. It was driving the prince of the Fire Nation crazy.

He stalked the halls, an unfamiliar person with a familiar scar, gleaming vivid and new, his armor too heavy to be practical in the ship's warmth. The scar was much more visible now that most of Zuko's head was shaved, the remaining portion of his hair pulled back into a dramatic ponytail.

His stalking brought him to a podroom in the Media Library, where he sat down, heaving a frustrated sigh. He was without a plan, without honor, and his feet hurt. The whole situation was intolerable. As if in response to his mood, music began to issue forth, the angry words and harsh chords combining into a cacophonous noise. It was bitter with rage and disappointment. It spoke to his troubled soul.

Anwei was feeling particularly frazzled after recent events. Frazzled enough that she was taking time out of her schedule to do nothing: just relax and think. Or try to think.

She was in one of the Sensoriums. The walls had turned themselves into fluidly overlapping semi-transparent sheets of yellow slate, on which multiple formulas in red and black kept writing and rewriting themselves. Endless multiplications and subtractions, with the occasional actuarial table appearing and disappearing like fog under moonlight.

At the far end of the Sensorium was a tiny clear space where Anwei stood, her back to the door, head bowed. There was a frosted white oval in front of her, about the size of a large serving platter, held horizontally on her fingertips. And on that oval was a miniature table with tiny white-clad figures sitting around it, laughing with too-wide mouths and eating elaborately sliced red meat from white plates. Seven of the figures were grouped at one end of the table; at the other end sat two who were holding hands, and one of them was barely recognizable as Anwei. Much younger, her hair an elaborately braided coil of gold under a complicated headdress, her face painted with fine black stripes.

Anwei looked at her memory, balanced on her fingertips. Carefully, she reached out and then did not touch the man sitting beside her younger self. Instead she only watched, her face a little too still.

Reimi was in a really good mood today, but even practice needed to be done in her downtime. Creating a nice outdoor archery range, she had unslung her bow and sighted down the shaft of the arrow.

THUNK.

Nodding at the shot which had pierced in the centre of the target, she drew another arrow, the item flickering to life. Arrows tended to do that for her, and this bow of hers was special in a way since it was from her own world.

Two more arrows joined it as the next target lined itself up, moving as if it was a duck on a stick. Concentrating, she gathered chi into her body, sending it down the shaft. That new ability of hers flared to life, spiralling upwards as wings sprung from either side of the arrow.

"Crescent..." intoned Reimi on reflex as the glow got more brilliant. "...wings!"

The arrow struck home, tearing through the target and several more before it came to a halt, vibrating in a tree.

"Not bad," said Reimi, lips twitching up in a smile as she calculated the damage.