Monday DE: If I Were A Rich Man

[splash_of_blue]

Mlrgh.

Anyway, is there a specific-to-them way your character thinks about or understands the idea of 'being rich'?

For instance, it occurred to me (while attempting to move a flatpack that weighed several elephants) that to me, 'being rich' would mean (amongst other things) never buying furniture etc. from IKEA!





(I just... really hate shopping at IKEA, okay.)

Comments

[5ame_heart]

Fives - Owning something. Actually having property that's his. And not just stuff that's technically the Republic's and he's customised. He doesn't own anything.

Gamora - doesn't think in terms of wealth, so much as freedom. Freedom is wealth. (Wealth is freedom). So 'rich' is - 'anything that would give her the resources to escape her father.

Dick - He doesn't know what rich is, but he knows that Bruce (and by extension he himself) is.

Dinah considers 'rich' as 'never having to look at the prices on the menus.' (She doesn't. This is partly why she's in a lot of debt right now)

Obi-Wan - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ wealth is attachment.

[have_no_mercy]

It's a very abstract thing for Tess, who came from poverty to suddenly being a billionaire. And it's in her face a lot, going over finances for Luthorcorp etc. I guess she views it as a safety net, knowing that there's so much she can't really screw it up.

Kylo doesn't acknowledge being financially rich. To him, being rich is being at peace, which I suppose he is now.

Creed sees wealth as freedom to do what he wants. He could use his abilities to do that before, but the world has changed in the last 200 years, so he's had to adapt.

[bjornwilde]

Ahsoka: Wealth is attachment. From her point of view, most wealthy people seem to be senators, which is not her path.

Alustin: Alustin cares less about money than he does about knowledge. Based on this, he is already wealthy as he works for one of the largest libraries in his reality and even is responsible for going out into the world to get new books and knowledge. He's set as far as he's concerned.

Ben: Ummm, you know I'm dead right?

Jessica: Rich would mean not having to worry about bills or even think about them. She honestly wouldn't want to be Stark wealthy, but she wouldn't mind not having to worry about the rent.

Tybalt: Is already wealthy, due to being a king and also being long-lived enough to have some good investments in the mortal world. To him though he is only 'rich' as long as his people thrive. Monetary wealth only has meaning as far as it helps those he loves and cares about.

Viv: For Viv being rich would mean being able to bankroll the needs of the Champions. She and her father are well enough off that she does not worry about family, but her friends and team could use some help.

Wen Qing: Rich means being one of the top Cultivator clans. She does not wish to be rich any longer but would like the remnants of her clan to have proper food and clothing.

[zenigatcha]

Zuko: Wealth is being able to go home after years on a boat, then years struggling to survive on the road. It's full bellies, comfortable clothes, roof overhead and never worrying about it going away again. He's experienced poverty and being homeless, so returning to the luxury of his old life feels extremely weird, but he's grateful for it on several levels.

Lan Zhan: Wealth is attachment, and for Lan Zhan, only a means to an end, not something to seek. Doesn't mean that he doesn't see it's uses and powers, he just knows how it corrupts, too. (Lookin' at the Jin here.)

Zenigata: Zenigata grew up firmly upper middle class in a good part of town and had a rebellious phase and that was about it. During his time abroad he's seen abject poverty and what it does to people, and how wealth tends to carve people's heart out of their chest and replace it with an ever-hungering void. It's part of why he has his views that he does on the ultra-rich -- to him wealth is usually excessive, having too much -- he's a very wabi sabi, less is more kind of guy. Minimalist. For him to be wealthy, he'd have to have more than he needs to live comfortably. Wealthy for him is akin to 'not checking the prices on menus', adding on 'being able to provide for my daughter without relying on Lupin's support' which he currently can't do. (EXPENSIVE high-priced private school is a bitch.)

[abitofawildman]

Mike, Raph and Splinter lived under New York City for a loooong time.
I'd imagine you learn a lot about income disparity in that time, and under those circumstances.

Being Rich is more than just not having to worry about money, it's going out of your way to show off how much money you have. Which is a long way to say that none of them think very highly of wealthy people.

[feminine_menace]

YT actually is rich. Like, multimillionaire rich. But she was lower-middle-class until a few years ago. Now she and her mom live in a nice house, they don’t stress over bills, and they don’t have to be wage slaves. Being rich is weird but it’s better than the alternative.

Abe no Seimei knows that wealth is relative and class is complicated. But he is, by any measure, quite well-off - whether you’re going by contemporary standards or the standards of the Heian Era in which he was born and spent his mortal life.

For Murderbot, wealth means being able to afford a hotel room on a Corporation Rim transit station that doesn’t have surveillance devices in it. But Murderbot also just...doesn’t understand “being rich” on a fundamental level. Like it doesn’t understand why an expensive hotel room would have a bed big enough to comfortably fit six humans but only enough towels in the bathroom for one human.