200 word drabble: On the Building of a Fortune

[attackfish]

Written for avatar_500 prompt #62, Anonymous.

Summary: Other people worked hard to put him where he is.

On the Building of a Fortune

She sucked in a breath and made the flames as hot as she could.  Metal melted and fused together as each half-finished satocycle passing her got an exhaust pipe welded into place thanks to her firebending.  When the break bell sounded, she grabbed her lunchbox and joined the escaping throng.

~*~

The healer bent the water low, close to the burn on his client's chest.  The water glowed blue as it soothed the pain.  "Try to keep it clean, Mr. Sato," he said with a bow when he had finished.  "That's a nasty burn.  You don't want it to get infected."

~*~

"So, boss," one of the earthbenders said as she bent the rubble into the underground wall.  "Why you been having us clear out this hole under your place?  Wine cellar?  Laboratory?"

Hiroshi's expression slammed closed.  "That really isn't any of your business, is it?"

"Okay," she said.  "Just curious, sheesh!"

~*~

He almost left the arena twice.  It just wasn't right for his kids to see that kind of cheating.  He worked hard, had a good job at the power plant, that was the right example.  But when the Equalists stormed the arena, he felt his own lightning crackling in their gloves.

Comments

[meganinhiding.livejournal.com]

I really liked this. There were several benders in Sato's life but the only one that counts is the one who murdered his wife. All of these people probably found themselves in line to have their bending taken away.

This piece is also a good counterweight to Sato's assertion that he is a self made man who only had help from the person who lent money for his business.

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Sato to me is such a paradoxical figure, because is probably never occurs to him not only that other people worked towards his rise, but that he was almost certainly using bending to aid the anti-bending revolution. He's not a bender, so bending has never been useful to him, oh no. It's a little like people who use the internet to talk about how we all need to go back to nature, but with more power.

[lavanyasix.livejournal.com]

Mr. Sato is an interesting fellow, isn't he? In a roundabout way he's arguably Amon's equal in terms of being the show's Big Bad. Without his financial backing and scientific genius, the Equalists would have been a much less potent foe.

Also seconding this drabble. I like it a lot.

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, no revolution is complete without a benefactor. They wouldn't have any cool toys without one.

Thank you!