Progress on the Home Front
"Really? You finished it?"
Akul was always tinkering, she noticed, always hunched over some surface working on one big project or another. She didn’t mind the silence most of the time — she had been living alone long enough to get used to it, and besides, just his presence was enough most of the time - but he had been working so much that it made her honestly wonder if he was going to complete it anytime soon. Maybe it was a mean thought, but..
"Wow, that looks really good!" Ruri inspected the watch on the counter, resisting the urge to simply pick it up and give it the once over. Inventors were really particular about those things, she had soon learned.
She placed her bag down on the floor carelessly - nothing important was inside - propping her elbows down on the counter as she leaned in excitedly, smile widening.
Akul's neutral expression didn't shift, but there was an unmistakable glow in his cheeks, and he slid his glasses back up his nose-- a habit he had picked up when buying time to direct his thoughts and plan his speech-- and he sidled in next to Ruri, mimicking her elbows on the counter, holding the watch in his hand to show her. He pressed a button on the top, and the cover opened to reveal a very intricate face.
"As you can see," he explained softly, due to his closeness to his roommate, "In addition to the time of day, I have a marker for the day of the month, as well as a lunar phase marker here, and here." He began, pointing to the various icons that glided smoothly across the watch-face in time with every little tic of the machinery inside.
"I'm thinking of marketing to waterbenders," he explained. Their bending grows more powerful in time with lunar cycles... and I've already drawn up blueprints for another watch that counts down to solar eclipses so firebenders are never caught off-guard..." he trailed off, unsure of how Ruri, a firebender herself, would react to something like that. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye; hoping he hadn't misspoke. There was a little lurch in his stomach as he did so, whether it was from fear of misinterpretation or something else, he couldn't say.