Weekend Entertainment

[fantasticfireferret]

From aberration:

What is your character's economic status (e.g., are they rich or poor or it doesn't matter because they're the only survivor in a post-apocalyptic world, etc.)? How has/does it affect them in terms of their personality, their day-to-day life, and their world? Or if this questions isn't really relevant to your character, explain why.

Comments

[psyched_you_out]

Fry... is semi-brokish, but it doesn't come up a lot in canon. It doesn't take much in the way of material goods to make him happy, so he seems to do okay.

Brisco does pretty well for himself, mostly because, as above, there's isn't really a lot he spends money on besides food and lodging (for him and Comet.) And as his partner would tell you, a good bounty hunter can make quite a nice living.

It's established in canon that Shawn pretty much lives by Gus's goodwill. To the point of being claimed as a dependent on his taxes.

Dean comes from a fairly wealthy family, but thanks to his father's general ineptitude, most of it's been squandered to the point where paying the bills is a frequent worry.

[bbq_platypus]

Jim has a good agent. He's not wanting for money.

Borgel has been retired for a good while. He doesn't own his own place, but he does seem to be able to afford to go for long drives in the Dorbzeldge from time to time.

Leela comes from a world without money. Resources aren't a problem in the TARDIS, at any rate.

Kane commands the market of the world's most valuable resource. The collective assets of the Brotherhood make him quite probably the richest man in the world by a considerable margin.

Atrus (as far as he knows) is among the last survivors of his race, and at this point in canon is confined mostly to one room (and a small island). Money isn't really a concern at the moment.

Tuco (in his current post-canon state) has $100,000 in gold buried in a cemetery. The question is whether he can get it before somebody else does.

Caius is a spy in the employ of the Emperor, and a fairly high-ranking one at that. It's a steady income, not that he's ever allowed to show it.

[cameoflage]

Aradia was on the lowest rung of the trolls' ladder of wealth and social privilege back on Alternia! Then troll civilization ended in a rain of meteors and a psychic shockwave. And then their entire universe of origin was destroyed some time later, although that hasn't happened yet at any of the Homestuck pups' canon points. The Sgrub players fled into the Medium to escape the first of those apocalypses, and then some time later Jack Noir showed up and did his one-man apocalypse song and dance through their session, wrecking all the planets he came across and murdering all the troll dreamselves.

Homestuck canon is really thorough about this apocalypse business.

[gavin62truck]

Tommy is a civil servant, and while a city paycheck is steady, it's not very much when you live in NYC and have a family to provide for. But being a firefighter definitely has financial benefits -- health care, overtime, salary increases depending on your rank, life insurance, pension. Tommy holds no rank despite his age and experience, but more than 5 years of service entitles him to the highest possible salary for a firefighter, which would put him at middle class status. Even then, sometimes he has to take on second jobs, usually off-the-book construction projects.

He and his fellow FFs constantly gripe about not ever getting raises when they do such a dangerous job and served during the worst tragedy the city has suffered. Budget cuts always loom overhead as Mayor Bloomberg threatens to shut down firehouses (this happens in real life, it's ridiculous). They can't go on strike because that would just be a shitty thing to do. Yet every one of them would say they'd do the job for free.

That being said, Tommy is pretty frugal and doesn't need fancy things or even a nice place to live. However, he does provide everything that his wife, children, and his cousin's widow and son need. When it comes to money, they are his first priority. He usually caves in to his teenage daughter's shopping sprees, mostly because it's easy to buy her love that way. He isn't above flat-out bribing his kids either. Yay parenting? Giving material things is fast and simple, but at least he isn't a deadbeat dad.

[master_bruce]

Gene's comfortable. He's a DCI, and they're not exactly kept on the breadline. Well-off, even, by 70's standards - probably a bit worse off by the 80's, what with alimony and living in London, but he still earns enough to keep him in whiskey and smokes.

Bruce Banner - poor. Very poor. That's what living on the run gets you, which he currently is. He used to be comfortable too, as an academic, but no longer.

Harry Potter - well-off, courtesy of his parents.

Bruce Wayne - stupidly, insanely rich. Billionaire! At least at the point he's currently at in canon.

[misslucyjane]

Bilbo starts the novel as a well-to-do hobbit, and finishes it with a small portion of a dragon's hoard. Money doesn't matter much, though, when you're in the middle of an enormous forest and about to be eaten by giant spiders.

Merlin is a peasant and a servant, but he has a safe place to sleep and only goes hungry when everybody is going hungry. He seems to be paid a decent wage, since when he does want to buy something he has the money for it.

Stuart is working-to-lower middle class in the course of his canon, and not above having a job when he's out of school. He's on the path to upward mobility, though.

Steve is paid an average US Army captain's salary with whatever applicable special forces bonuses. He doesn't spend much, though, being in the middle of a war zone most of the time and covered for food and housing by the military/SSR the rest, and he has no one to send his pay to at home.

[kd7sov]

Felix is pretty wealthy, but he doesn't particularly notice or care. For reference, the most expensive item in the game is the Mysterious Robe, which has the second-highest defense rating of any item, the highest HP-replenishment rate, and the third-highest MP-replenishment rate. It costs 36500 coins. I usually end the game - some ten or twelve years before Felix's "now" - with somewhere around half a million coins. But, as I said, it doesn't matter to Felix; he leads a nomadic life, without much in terms of stuff.

Kain... is probably reasonably well-off; he's the commander (below the king) of a military force, and is probably compensated accordingly. But he's all self-flagellant and also pining, so.

Fluttershy... I have no idea. She does seem to be aware of how much she's got, which suggests she's used to having to stretch it, but...

I don't even know about Cranky. He's got a bunch of souvenir-type things.

[lady_mary]

Well technically Lady Mary doesn't really own anything, and is pretty upset about learning that she can't inherit anything either. All the money is her father's. There's A LOT of it. This is huge for her character, because she's basically been raised to be a Countess and run the household at Downton, which employs dozens of servants, all while bopping around in high society. She finds the idea of having less unfathomable, which is why marrying a wealthy Lord is one of her top priorities right now.

Unlike many superheroes, Carol doesn't hold down a day job anymore, though when she got her start she was a magazine editor. She made a ton of money from one of her books, her fictionalized account of her time exploring the galaxy as Binary, and still brings in some royalties from her other book about her time in military intelligence. Plus, these days she draws a paycheck from the Avengers. She's not rich like Mary (or like Tony Stark) but she lives quite comfortably.

[saphyria]

Yrael was given a very large sum of money for his tab by a fellow patron and friend of his, and also has the profits from his music career(s) in New Orleans. He's more than comfortably well-off, enough to not have to worry about the rent on his room at Milliways or his tab, despite his fondness for Atlantean. If finances ever get tight, he'll just go back to raiding palace treasuries. :3

Sunshine is poor, but lives within her means. She didn't go into the family-run restaurant business for the hours (which are wretched) or the pay (which is meager). She's doing what she loves, baking good food for people. You'd think that with the side-job she has, fighting vampires on behalf of SOF, she'd have a nice second wage. But no. Her work there has to be kept secret from all the higher-ups in the organization, which means no documentation of her employment, and no pay.

Zelgadiss owns very little, but is reasonably comfortable in his lifestyle. When traveling with Lina and the others, Lina tends to charge their exorbitant food bills to the kingdom of Seyruun (much to Amelia's dismay), so there isn't much worry there. If he is traveling alone and runs short on funds, there are always bandits to rob.

[minkhollow]

Both Cata and Sam used to be a lot more well-off than they currently are. Cata's rebuilt a good portion of that, as she's had more chances for contracts and the steady teaching job besides; Sam hasn't been around to take as many contracts, but he does have a decent chunk of change from offing Mizzamir (though canon says that was actually a comparatively pitiful fee to the Guild's heyday).

Claudia technically didn't have to work before the Warehouse, thanks to a trust fund of what remained of her parents' stuff; her brother's material worth, such as it was, got lumped into that when he disappeared, so after she rescued him she gave him what was left. She did work so she wouldn't run out. Now, I have to imagine the Warehouse pays pretty well, and room and board is part of the setup besides, so she has a decent amount of discretionary income. If not for Milliways, she wouldn't have much to spend it on other than shiny new tech toys.

Apollo is a god. Your argument is invalid.

Imp has never had much money, but this was really only a problem when he went to Ankh-Morpork. He's been saving up as best he can, while in Quirm, and he's found the band's wrecked pile of gold, but he's doing his best not to think about how much that is until after he finds Glod and Cliff (if he can) to give them their bit.

The House of Black is filthy stinking rich, and Regulus stands to inherit that now that his brother's pulled a 'you can't fire me, I quit.' He's... aware that not everyone has the luxury of just paying for what they need up front, but sometimes it doesn't occur to him right away what the options are in that case. (The status also attracts a lot of people who only want to get close to said status. He's kinda sick of it.)

Red and her grandmother are cash-poor, but so far out in the woods that there's not much they'd spend it on anyway. I half suspect they barter for things when they need them, and Granny probably got the cloak from Rumpelstiltskin (and gods only know what he wanted as payment, but he tends to run on barter anyway himself).
Ruby, on the other hand? The B&B seems to have the only restaurant in town, in canon. Problem is, there's not much to spend money on in Storybrooke.

[innerbrat]

Mac is dirt poor and resents the upper classes. He'd like to be super rich and hob nob with the nobby people, but he's kind of stuck by lack of parentage, money, or anything beyond his team of raggedy street urchins. He doesn't trust rich people or the hereditary nobility, and believes they oppress the lower classes.

Teresa used to work for the only Organization on the continent with any money, as they used to charge considerable amounts for the slaying she did. Teresa never saw a penny of that, however, beyond a (very) small stipend she used for spending money. But as Claymores don't need to buy food, shelter or transportation, money means nothing to her.

Renee is what one would call 'independently wealthy' thanks to a sizable inheritance from Charlie. Having not worked since quitting the force, she needs this, and lives to fairly modest means with that money. I suspect Tot handles most of her finances.

Dinah never talks about it, but money is an issue for her. She and her mother live on the income from one small florist shop, that has to keep her in fishnets and health insurance as well. They make ends meet, but there's a reason Dinah as a job in Milliways as well: she needs the money. And all the hereditary billionaires/famous journalists/test pilots of her acquaintance can shut the hell up.

Marguerite is currently married to the Richest Man in England, and has any amount of his fortune at her disposal. She comes from a modest background, having been poor orphans with her brother and then a working actress, so there's been some culture shock. She manages it well, as it happens, playing the game of English high society skillfully. She likes being comfortable, and she loves society, but she's mindful of inequality.

Lawton is filthy filthy rich. Despite being disinherited by his millionaire parents, he gets paid a considerable amount of money to do what he does, and he's damn good at it. He hardly spends that money though, except on guns. About 80% of his income goes directly into a trust fund for his daughter.

Mel has more money than she knows what to do with, but it's all in bar, thanks to a friend giving it to her. Outside, she's dirt poor, lives in an abandoned library, steals for a living. In the bar, she has this ridiculous wealth that she pours entirely into the fund for kids.

She really doesn't know what to do with money.

Will and Death don't interact with property in the same way as mortals.

[newredshoes]

Bwahaha! Oh man, you don't behave like Harry Hotspur and not have tons of wealth to back it up. His family is wealthy enough that he's never had to think about thinking about it. I don't think he has much of a social conscience either -- sure, he's a soldier, and he'll happily mix with all types, but even the tenants he deals with in managing the Percy estate are the rich ones. How the little guy lives just never crosses his mind.

[knightoftheswan]

Mia is a civil servant, so she has a regular stipend that probably isn't much to speak of since Vane had to rebuild after it fell. But she's well off financially for three big reasons: 1)a person's party at the end of a video game is always INSANELY wealthy due to monsters giving up money long after you need it, 2)Vane's adoration of the Ausa family and Mia's status as one of the Five Heroes means they'll always take care of her, and 3)Draco doesn't mind spoiling her with his profits from the potions shop. Mia doesn't really care for excess, except perhaps special occasions when a little excess is to be expected. She would rather share what she has.

Lucas will go through every listed status in the parenthesis above. Tazmily starts essentially as a functioning model of communism. Everyone gives what they can and takes what they need. Once currency is introduced, Lucas is pretty much abandoned and in some pretty dire straights. Fortunately, being a farmboy means knowing how to take care of yourself, along with Milliways being there for him. By the end of the game, he'll naturally have more DP than he knows what to do with, but it won't really matter because of that last reason. Lucas would probably get into trouble with money post-canon from staying at Milliways if it wasn't for the fund for kids.

Lohengrin's financial status is whatever is most convenient for the story. But everyone seems to like the Prince in the story and it's much easier to like royalty when the economy is good. The Knight himself probably doesn't have much money on hand at any given time but also doesn't find himself wanting.

[vivien]

Ahahahaha... I pretty much only play characters who have serious wealth and means. This is because RP is wish fulfillment, man.

Seriously, though, Tom is loaded. Bela has lots o' cash. Gilderoy has a vault full of galleons. Ingress doesn't need to worry about spare change.

[genarti]

I kind of love the combination of this comment with that icon. *laughing*

<3

Edit: now with the icon I meant to use...

[a1enzo]

Enzo is still technically his sister's dependent, and she is filthy rich. However, responsibility is important, so for such personal expenses as he has (including, these days, his bar tab), he is restricted to a reasonable stipend. Dot's still his safety net, though, if and when it's really important.

When he graduates, he will be on a Guardian's salary, which really is not all that much. However, in the Supercomputer, a great many businesses offer discounts for "our sprites in cyan," and in the smaller systems, the local Guardian is a celebrity and can rely even more on discounts and even freebies, often in the form of endorsement deals. (This may mean commercials, or it may just mean the business gets to say "Guardian so-and-so eats/shops/lives here.")

[no_vampires_plz]

"I'm Guardian 452, and this is my favorite store in Mainframe!"

[a1enzo]

Exactly. The specifics depend largely on just how lacking in shame the Guardian in question is.

[cameoflage]

cameoflage liked your comment.

[mnt_mike]

Aang has no money to speak of, save for what people have given to him. I've always assumed that the Air Nomads worked more on a barter system than anything else. Religious rites and midwivery for hospitality and the like. There's a throw away line in the Library episode that the Air Nomad's major export is fruit pies, but I think that's more the Southern Temple.

The children live, and move between, the temples until they come of age, at which time they'd explore more of the world and bring their philosophy to the people.

Bumi makes quite a comfortable living indeed as a Commander in the United Forces. He takes what he needs to cover expenses, and then sends the rest to Republic City to help tend to the goings on at Air Temple Island. (And yes, "goings on" does include spoiling his nieces and nephew rotten.)

Ida is a soulless android from outer space masquerading as a cranky librarian, she needs not your money.

The Loompas were slaves to The Wonka, but now are free and live in their own Communist Utopia under the bar. The Rogues make a decent wage working for Milliways, and The Little Guy has all of Dr. Evil's resources at his disposal.

Mike, Raph, and Splinter used to be the poster mutants for dirt poor. They lived on what they could scrounge. As the boys got older, however, they began to find ways of making money. Mike would buy damaged second hand clothing, repair them, and then sell them to upscale consignment shops. Raph did the odd job for various and sundry unsavory folks.

These days Raph still does odd jobs, but it's in Tortall/Olau, and it's not for cash but for barter credit and reputation. Mike doesn't have to worry about money because as Barman he has all he needs. Someone gave him a gift of money ages ago and that he funnels directly into the Phil Fund for Underaged Wanderers.

[souffle_girlek]

Ace does fairly well for herself (and may or may not be aided by bank accounts set up in her name long before she was born) - not wealthy by any means since explosives and their requisite bits tend to be a bit pricey in bulk, but not bad.

Haymitch is filthy rich. It is all quite literally blood money, however, and given to him by one of the most sadistic men in existence. In the beginning he'd try to give it away, help people out - but either people were offended (District 12 pride is an awe-inspiring and horrible thing) or, if it was accepted, Snow found some way to ruin it. So now he spends his money on white liquor and squirrels while in the district, and All The Booze while in the Capitol.

Glorfindel has (had) funding worthy of a lord of Gondolin, but as it stands now he is of Elrond's household, and really doesn't bother about it one way or the other.

Katya is technically dirt poor, since she really doesn't work a human job - all of her funding comes through the Night Watch. So somewhere out there is an Other analyst who is deeply confused because Katya's account keeps re-activating and paying out to some place called 'Milliways'. She can, in a pinch, create human money - it's really not all that hard.

Shaz and Oswin are both young, working-class gals - there's a budget to keep to, but things aren't too bad off.

Bones gets a stipend from StarFleet, for use on shore-leave on planets that still require currency. He generally spends the bulk of it on presents for his daughter.

Balthazar is quite comfortable, thank you - one benefit for living for as long as he has is there are some positively ancient bank accounts accruing interest in his name all over the world. And he also has his little shop. That almost no one goes into. Or he did, anyway - one of his priorities after freeing Veronica and killing Morgana is getting his little shop back.

[gone_byebye]

Ray draws a good amount of money from his paycheck as a Ghostbuster, since the rising levels of paranormal activity across the New York City area meant they got busy years ago and the levels rising across the entire country meant the Ghostbusters were nationalized in the interests of national security back in 2007 or so. Plus, he holds several patents that have been revolutionizing American technology usage, mostly relating to power generation and small battery technology (the cells he designed to run his lightsaber, for the most part). The money comes in and promptly gets invested in long-term stuff since he knows he's going to be around for a while. Some of it goes to his daughters' allowances, which makes things interesting because Ecto has taken to online investing in a serious way and Jhalak, as a Jotok, has multiple brains and a phenomenal learning speed and has her own ideas about where her money ought to go and what acceptable risk is. It doesn't affect his personality much, since he trusts both Ecto and Louis Tully to be two of the best accountants in the mortal world and lets them take care of his money, for the most part.

Gordon's world is currently on a barter economy thanks to the Combine having less use for money than your average mountain goat. I have no doubt that as the human community grows and job specialization begins to increase again, the need for a common medium of trade will make money a requirement once more since barter chains to get what you want are a pain in the ass, but for now it's not a thing. He's preparing to take up politics as a daily endeavor, since people have already proven they'll fake being him if it gives them power over other people, so he's going to be working on founding the economic system as soon as he can.

Adrian is from Gordon's world, so a lot of what's been described above applies. The difference is that Adrian grew up in an economically depressed area where most of the work was either coal mining, lumber cutting, or small scale farming. His family was a little better off than most since his dad ran a satellite TV installation and repair business, and people in remote areas will do a LOT for their television, but he still views economic status and matters from the point of view of somebody on the lower half of the spectrum. He keeps a trapline at Milliways whenever he's here for more than a few hours so that he can bring in any demon bunnies he ensnares and tan the hides to trade to Bar so as to make a dent in his tab. Does the same with other animal hides, too, if they're not needed on his side of the door. It helps.

Zira is a well-paid scientist with a respectable position in a thoroughly modern and up-to-date city. She only worries about money when it comes to be grant time for the Institute for Advanced Biological Studies, and then it usually means a flurry of research gets peer-reviewed in a hurry and published even faster. (Yes, the apes in the book have a modern economy. You should see the stock exchange scene.)

Arcade is in the more economically developed part of the Fallout world; there are several competing economies in the New Vegas region. The NCR has infrastructure and paper currency that's currently full-faith-and-credit only; it used to be gold-backed before the Brotherhood of Steel blew up the NCR's gold mines during their war. Caesar's Legion has metal currency only because Caesar is deliberately trying to ape the old Roman Empire. The casinos of the Strip have chips that are essentially localized currencies. And everybody accepts bottlecaps, which are backed by the water merchants in the Hub, back in NCR territory. That being said, Arcade has a moderate personal stash of caps and tends to spend it more on supplies for work than for himself, because the Followers take care of his basic needs while he's working at the Fort and he has other things to worry about when he travels with Corazon.

Mordin has .... I don't know. I honestly don't. There's never been any real indication of his economic status, only his academic status. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that as a retired member of the Special Tasks Group he has the equivalent of a black American Express card that's only good in extremely specialized salarian fiscal venues, because STG can get pretty much anything they can justify needing.

Varric's family is a reasonably successful surface merchant family that used to be a decently established Orzammar noble family before his dad had to go and get involved in a Proving fixing scandal. (Don't mess with sacred gladiatorial combat outcomes.) He and Hawke are currently working on acquiring ridiculous amounts of money, or at least this is what he tells people who ask.

Medic gets paid very well by BLU and puts his money to good use, because he likes having quality stuff even if he does get blown up on a regular basis. He sends a portion of it to a Swiss bank account on a regular basis and the bank account regularly disburses a certain amount to another account that disburses to an account in Germany that belongs to his grandmama und grandpapa, who think that they get this money from a lottery Grandpapa won some years ago. (He didn't.)

Hektor is the oldest surviving son of the king and queen of the greatest city north of Babylon. Currency hasn't been invented yet in his world and won't be, even in China, for several centuries. However, the Trojan royal house has lots of gold and wine and oil and sheep and horses and weapons of all kinds, and that adds up to 'rich as you could ever want' in his book. He generally assumes by default that he should take care of his possessions so that they reflect well on him and his family, and makes a special point of acquiring the best quality horses he can for the royal stables because that's a point of personal pride to own and train.

Ellen is in a caps-only portion of the post-apocalyptic wasteland. I've millicanoned that the Capital Wasteland's bottlecaps are backed by water merchants and traders out of Canterbury Commons, since there's no mention in FO3 of whether the caps are backed by anything or just faith-and-credit currency. The Brotherhood of Steel's possession of the water purifier has resulted in some shifts in the local economy, since safe water is a much more common thing these days than it used to be, but things are settling out overall in that regard. The Brotherhood essentially possesses the equivalent of a gold mine and can pay its people fairly well as a result. Yes, I know in the game the water is being given away for free as of Broken Steel, but the fact is that you cannot run a relief operation of that magnitude in an area with no damn infrastructure on goodwill alone. The Brotherhood has established trade agreements with the Wasteland communities in which they provide water and a measure of armed protection for some of the communities' newly produced food or other commodities, and for recruiting rights. This keeps Rivet City Security paid enough to help with the water escorting and the Brotherhood fed enough to keep running the purifier and selling the extra water on the small-scale market.... but that's the system, not Ellen. Sorry. *cough*

Ellen has a nice personal stash of caps. Her seed money came from several major ventures. The Brotherhood gave her a massive reward for bringing them the holotaped archives of the entire Arlington Public Library, for one. She got people from Milliways to help her drive out Talon Company, and sold most of their armor, guns, and other equipment off immediately afterwards, but kept their pack Brahmin for herself. She led an assault on Rock Creek Caverns and on the National Guard Armory to net enough goods to sell for seed money to fund the restoration of the RobCo factory and keep it running for at least a few months once it was up. And there are always people who try to kill her, and their stuff gets sold shortly afterwards because Ellen doesn't need it... so along with a Paladin's pay Ellen has her own personal savings stashes and income streams, and probably is technically the second richest person in the Wasteland after Alistair Tenpenny. This has not occurred to her, since she only thinks of it as having enough money to accomplish certain projects and keep them going. (NB: her financial acumen has a meta basis. At the start of Fallout 3, you take an aptitude test and are told what your character's job in the Vault is going to be for the rest of their life. 'Chaplain' is the job you get assigned if your character's Barter score rises the most based on your test answers. I figured Ellen probably had a good head for that kind of thing as a result.)

[bjornwilde]

Ben Grimm is floating, though his wealth is reduced by building a community center on Yancy Street and donating the bulk of it to help rebuild what he destroyed during Fear Itself. He should be hurting, but he has one quarter of the business interests of Fantastic Four Inc. which is doing well. When he first discovered his wealth, he had a hard time with it, thinking he had to change who he was cause he was so rich. He learned his lesson though and moved on.

Val von Doom doesn't have any way of earning capital from resource hunting; i.e. bringing back to Milliways whatever valuables she comes across while adventuring. If I can ever get to the plot I have outlined with Enzo, she'll have some stable income coming from the ReBoot universe. This isn't the problem it could be as her Uncle Ben covers most of her costs within Milliways, though it is starting to bug her that she is not carrying her own weight.

Jessica seems to be doing okay. I think this is mostly due to being a full member of the Avengers so her housing, food and insurance of covered. I don't know that she has much spending money though I imagine she has some funds left from her PI days. She also gets funds from when she does things for SWORD. I may have to have her get back to PI'ing.

Palamedes, to quote canon, "I have been alive since before the time of Arthur. My wealth is incalculable. The hardest part is hiding it from the tax man." Granted this is a quote from his future, but I imagine as a knight and duke of Provence, he's pretty well off. He is not so comfortable with all the responsibility his wealth is forcing on him.

Thalia doesn't do wealth. She did have a pretty nice account when she first came to Milliways, given by her dad, but I am sure she has burned through the funds. In fact it is tempting to have her owe money when she gets back. Oh wait, she's underage isn't she?

Hank tends towards being thrifty as his family didn't have a lot,and now he's a public servant so doesn't earn a lot himself.

And lastly, Andrea is also essentially a public servant. She does live in a pretty nice condo and has a modest nest egg built up, but she tends to keep her costs low.

[balancingminds]

Mine tend to be on either end of this, well off enough to not have to worry or concern about money defines them.

Will grew up poor in Nottingham. His parents own a stall in the market, they have a roof over their heads but have always been on the edges. He stole food and coins when he was younger until Robin caught him and now he steals with Robin to help the rest of Nottingham who live on the edges. He considers himself a peasant and though Robin will raise him up by giving him land at the end of canon, he doesn't see himself as more. He's Robin's man at the end of it all. This has affected many of his interactions in Milliways, because more modern and especially American pups have trouble with how he views the world.

Charles at the other end of the scale has never lacked for anything and according to Marvel doesn't seem like he ever will. It's not clear where his family's money came from but they're solid enough to have a gorgeous mansion and land in Westchester, New York. I have this idea that over time, he uses some of his scientific knowledge for a few patents here and there and being an expert in his field to add his money to his family's. And with the school, there are rich mutants out there and that money helps, but its mainly there. His privilege defines a great deal of his character.

Sameth is another who's never lacked as he's the second child of the king and the Abhorsen in the Old Kingdom. One thing that I love about him is how his family tried to make sure that sense of privilege wasn't too much by having him and his sister do Perspective where they worked in various parts of the castle. Also he went to school at a nice boarding school in Ancelstierre, an Eton or Harrow type of place where being a prince didn't mean anything other than he was sort of important and strange. In Milliways, he feels embarrassed about being a prince as it changes how people see him. He would rather define himself by what he makes as he doesn't seem himself as being a good prince and duty, duty, duty to the Old Kingdom is a great part of his identity.

William is back on the other side of the spectrum as the Evans' family gets by but they're always on the edge of falling into debt and possibly losing their land. The story of 3:10 to Yuma comes about because Dan is trying to pay off a debt. Growing up his brother was sick and that took a good bit of money to treat him and then to move, then with the Civil War, that was also hard on them. After the end of canon, there is money but it mainly goes to paying off debts and land, so things are better but not easy. William is constantly thinking of money and as most of the other teens he meets in Bar are better off or from times where the difference between having and not having are different, he feels it. At the moment, the biggest part of this for him is schooling, he stopped going to school to work the ranch as his younger brother stays in school. He knows that to many people this is a bad choice but its what he has to do.

Moist grew up comfortably middle class in Uberwald as his grandparents bred lipwigzers, dogs known as fine guard dogs. Also there's an implication that his family might even have some nobility as there's a down called Lipwig. He ran away from that but it comes through in how he approaches life because he likes living well as well as living quickly.

Demeter is a goddess and lives quite well even when she walks the world, she always lands among caring and generous families.

Jane is in a more middle place than some of my others. Money is a great concern for her but she's not in great need of it. Her father is a vicar and from my reading, her family is middle class, lower middle class, but clearly respectable. They do well enough to have I believe one or two servants but also must do their own chores. Her concerns about marriage comes from where she sits in life as she has many siblings who need dowries and she and her sister must marry well to help the family. The story in the movie is that their mother married down and though she is happy, there is some bitterness there which she doesn't want her daughters to know. Jane's dream of being a writer is seen as selfish by her mother as is marrying for love, because she has a responsibility to her family. Jane is also from a time of greatly stratified society, she is aware of where she sits, so when she meets someone like Lady Mary that comes out.

Tumnus has a house and appears to be comfortable. I have no idea if money is even an issue in Narnia as its never really addressed. He's a royal advisor, so well off and money and place in society don't seem to be an issue in Narnia.

The Pirate King seems to do fairly well for all that his pirates have some stupid ideas. According to canon he grew up the son of a lord and left that life for pirating. He's confident in his own skin and I get the impression that he's pirate because he loves it not due to want.

[no_vampires_plz]

I suspect Twilight's family is fairly well-off, given that they didn't hesitate to send her to the most prestigious (and presumably the most expensive) magic school in the country. Regardless of wealth, she clearly has Connections--she was babysat by a freaking princess when she was a filly, for crying out loud. I suspect they're at the high end of the Equestrian middle-class--wealthy enough that they don't have to worry about money or status one way or the other.

...oh, Lord, she's basically a Romney, isn't she. ^^;

[inlovewithwords]

Henry was raised well-to-do, son of the Mayor/Evil Queen. Not exactly rich, but still. And he doesn't care much.

Lois is solidly middle class. Later in life she makes more money due to Famous Journalist, but still (again). She likes her Nice Things sometimes, but it's not a focus and she knows how to live off as little expenses as she can.

Tavi grew up secure-but-needs-hard-work-to-keep-that-up farm boy. And then, well, awkward state between college-student-esque and 'emperor'sr paying for everything for him and girlfriend.' Currently money's not an issue: he's busy fighting a war and has no special expenses. And later he's, y'know, emperor. He gets to know the whole spectrum, from both observation and experience, which plays a lot into his views and policy. As he puts it, he's comfortable on either end (though, frankly, he's never known abject poverty, so that's skewed)--and it affects his world a lot once he's running the show.

[death_gone_mad]

Slaying monsters is a great way to make money!

Now, a goddess pretending to be a slayer master who owns and operates a store? Money isn't a thing unless she is somehow cut off from her resources. But she also spends time pretending to be a lone, wandering nomad. I think, when she is wearing that disguise, she owns her tent and whatever is in it, plus some goats. Then there is also the wealthy crime lord who kidnaps princes. I don't know why she doesn't use that wealth to wreck economies, but perhaps all that accomplishes, without a prior animosity between to groups of people, is plain old misery and suffering.

Um. I am tempted to give up and say "Goddess, your argument is invalid," however... She has wealth but she won't spend it on getting drunk on Atlantean? Time and how it is spent and how it gets spent whatever you do is what is precious, not so much things. Even if you slip into dimension with a huge to infinite time differential, such as Milliways, time is the precious thing.

[sdelmonte]

Howard is wealthy, and getting wealthier, and was raised with money. And he acts like a man with money in a time when the wealthy aren't that common and when the Depression is just barely over. It doesn't make him popular with the average man but he can't be bothered to care. I think down the line, influenced subtly by Steve Rogers and his innate patriotism, he tones that act down.

Cy has a life insurance settlement from his mother's death and an unexpected nest egg from Lucius Fox's investment strategies. But it's off in a corner of Cy's mind. It does let him to go to a good college, but money isn't important. (Don't ask who funds the Titans. No one knows.)

Gibbs is dirt poor. Always has been, always will be. He sees this as something he wants to change, but he really doesn't envy the rich, sitting around in silly oversized houses and wasting money on frills.

Charlie died pretty rich. And didn't care less about the money. He is, without a doubt, totally non-materialistic. He doesn't care for the rich, and sympathizes with the poor, having been raised poor. But he's more or less outside the economy.

Kirk is from the wonder of the future, the moneyless economy. Don't ask.

And Knox...long ago, he was just a working stiff on a typical newsman's salary. And one fine November day, Rachel Grey gave him a gift. One with more zeroes than a no hitter. Knox is loaded. And can't really do a thing with it at home without drawing IRS notice. He's used bits and pieces of it in Gotham, and it gave him the chance to take chances in his career and life. If he could spend it like Bruce Wayne, he would have changed into a real jerk. But having it in the Milliways bank had a strange effect and made him a better person. He barely thinks about that money now. But it's nice to know it's there.

[genarti]

Oh, interesting question!

Trowa is solidly working-class. He's been dirt poor in the past; he was an orphan foundling, and then he was a child soldier with a mercenary troop (where I think they always had enough, but were never really flush, to judge by some hints in canon), and then he was an orphan on the streets (in space -- it's not really clear how long he scrounged his way along before he got the job as a mechanic with the Gundam project, but I tend to think a few months at least). And now he's with the circus, where they make enough, but they're not flush. He works for Preventers, too, but that's a very occasional thing. He and Cathy definitely tend to pay close attention to coupons and shop secondhand and stuff. Some of that's habit -- Trowa's got at least some kind of nest egg -- but it's habit they find sensible to keep.

This absolutely affects his outlook on the world. Trowa probably won't comment on other people's waste, but he absolutely notices; he'll eat whatever you put in front of him, and that's as much early food insecurity as early training in "fuel your body, soldier" talking. He doesn't tend to collect stuff for its own sake, for a lot of reasons. He's got the (ex-)poor person's awareness of what he's been given, and whether or not he owes an obligation in return, although he considers social rules optional enough that he won't always feel that obligation. (Like so much else about Trowa's outlook on the world, it's complicated.) Trowa doesn't have a lot of class-based anger, per se -- he grew up seeing himself as outside society, not on the bottom rungs of it -- but having been poor informs a lot of his attitudes towards money and consumption, if not necessarily towards the people who have money.

This is one of the longstanding points of affectionate mutual bemusement between Trowa and his boyfriend, who's always been extremely rich.

Thor, on the other hand, is a centuries-old prince of a society that makes entire rooms out of gold, as far as I can tell. Thor is basically swimming in money and privilege! He doesn't care about money, in the specific way of someone who has never lacked for it at all; he doesn't think about having it, about how much things cost, about paying for things, even to the point of carrying money around. He just assumes that he'll be able to afford anything without noticing, and usually that his people will arrange for payment without him needing to be in the loop for it. Even most other aristocrats of his society probably have more money-consciousness than Thor. Thor is aware of economics, but not of his own budget, because it's basically unlimited.

Clare, like Teresa and other Claymores, finds money largely irrelevant to her life. She barely eats, she barely drinks, she rarely needs new clothing, fashion and entertainment and lodging aren't really on her horizon -- what would she need with money? She has a stipend from the organization she works for, and they'll occasionally give her extra money for a specific mission purpose, but she doesn't use it much. Now that she has Raki, a human boy, following her around, she'll pay for his needs, and overpay whenever she thinks it makes sense to, because what else would she use the money for?

Regan is solidly well off -- upper-class for sure, and if she's ever been lower than that it was only upper middle class at the lowest. She's a successful businesswoman from a well-off family, and she married a man of that same social class, and now he's a Senator. So. Yeah.

River is... complicated. As Regan and Gabriel's daughter, she was always financially comfortable as a child; money was never really an object. Then when Simon got her out of the Academy, all his accounts were frozen, and they lived as fugitives on Serenity, whose crew was always scrabbling to make ends meet and taking jobs on both sides of the law -- whatever would pay and wasn't outright immoral by Mal's standards. Serenity's crew is doing a lot better now, though; they got money from Crowley, they got some Earth-That-Was artifacts from Quinn Abernathy at Milliways and sold them to antiquities dealers at an enormous profit, and they can take more legal jobs now that their fugitives aren't fugitives any more. And River and Simon are no longer estranged from their wealthy parents.

The thing is that during the hardscrabble years, River was... not exactly unaware of the financial struggles, but she was aware of them in an "I make life harder for you, and you work so hard to take care of me, Simon" way, not an "I shouldn't get this thing because it costs ___ credits" way. And at Milliways, Mal or Simon or Gabriel or even one of the other people who care about her would eventually come along and take care of her tab. So she's never really lost the privilege of not paying attention to what things cost, even during the years when that was very immediately relevant to Simon and the others.

[hey35andholding]

Clemmy is a poor as a church mouse. She got herself that way through debt and is trying to claw herself back out through hundreds of different means and ways.

Jules is well off enough to afford her animals, a car, and her own condo. She makes a decent living for a junior detective. Notice that she and Clem make the same money and Clem hasn't managed to save a nickle.

Dixie is a fairly well-renound singer, but lives above her show palaces. She can afford fancy clothing and antique furniture, yet robs a bank to help out her sister.

Pinkie probably gets paid a decent wage for a Ponyvillian. She lives above her bakery and has money enough for outfits and groceries, though this might be due to her haggling abilities.