Writing prompt #9: Lucky day!

[Crystal Dragon]

Holy carp! You struck it lucky! A lotto ticket dropped into your hands following a fire rescue out in Brickstown. Only thing is, you gotta decide what to do with about 3 million in influence dropped into your very lap.

 

Knowing my dragon, she'd likely just donate the whole thing to the local human services department as a Christmas gift. Those people work for peanuts compared to some of the folks she's rubbed elbows with, and they could really use the extra funding to get those orphans from Galaxy City into good healthy homes. 

[Greycat]

Cat:

 Cat isn't rich. She'd still likely be torn by it for a bit while she tries to figure out what to do with it. After all, *someone* lost this ticket, probably, and it's possibly one of the people who are affected by the fire. Or one of the fire fighters. She's also realistic enough to know walking around going "Hey, did you lose a winning lottery ticket?" isn't going to get her the real owner. So after talking to friends, her parents and her priest, Cat would put aside a chunk for taxes, see if there's any fund for the people who may have been displaced by the fire and donate to that, catch up on bills and give the business (and her apartment) a three to four month buffer of cash, start a little fund to help Pri out, replace the toaster that somehow burns one side of her toast while seeming to refreeze the other, put some in the plate at church, find a few charities to donate to, especially shelters with weather getting colder, and with what's left get herself a nice sandwich and coffee downstairs.

 

Pri:

"What's this?"

Fortunately she does have friends to explain the lottery. And money. And help figure out what to do with it. She'd send some discreetly back the Ballroom's way, and hold on to the rest for later use. She's used to stashing things. And would likely have several actual stashes of physical cash hidden around the city. Not the whole amount, but still.

 

Rez:

"Sweetie? I know we just moved in here a few months ago, but how do you feel about a house? Or is there anywhere you want to go for a vacation?"

 

Ishku:

Would turn it over to her mom. Well, one of her moms, Lily, the one she lives with, who's good with money and finance. There are a couple of places that would get donations, but otherwise it's school - though, of course, some "fun funds" are available. And they'd have a nice Christmas.

[chase]

Tabby's thinking fits GreyCat's "Cat"- the money's not hers, so as tempted as she'd be to get ahead of student loans or her phone plan,  she'd first want to use it in some way to assure the people affected by the fire are "made whole" afterward.  After that, before she takes a penny, there are a few other debts she'd want to clear out:

1. In young Tabitha's desperate attempt to thwart/counter a demonic transformation, she took a lot of desperate acts- one that culminated in breaking into a church.  The centuries-old massive oaken doors shipped over from the "old country" and covered in brass-bas relief depicting every book in the bible proved no match for the lockpicking techniques made possible through the front bumper of a partially-restored '72 duster.  
   
   Even if Tabby wasn't judicially ordered to pay restitution for the restoration, she wants to.  Feels like she needs to.
    
2.  Then there's the officer that found and woke Tabby post-transformation.  The panicked girl grabbed his forearm tightly, unaware her now-catlike claws would shred right through flesh.   He holds no grudge against her and is content with his pension, but she's determined to do better for him and his family.  She could not let herself live a more luxuriant lifestyle than someone who she impacted so badly.

Finally, after all that is paid out and she's left with very little, if any...  maybe enough to reward herself with a nice dinner... her trademark terrible karmic backlash has to hit:  Next tax day she learns that the lottery winnings were taxable and she never gave uncle sam his cut.

 

[A Cat]

I'm going to treat it as 3 million bux instead, since as I understand it, there's some controversy as to what inf even is. 

 

Vampire Bro: blows it on a huge trip for him and his bros in Vegas where he loses almost all his money on bad bets and $18 beers, then buys and crashes a Lambo. He's actually in a huge amount of debt after this since he didn't leave any aside for taxes. 

[TigerEmperor]

Raphael Firestar: "Student debt doesn't go away just because you get possessed by an ancient Egyptian priest and become a villain. Then other debts, taxes, and investments. After that... A house with a big library. I have to put my texts, notes, and comics somewhere."

 

Ra-Akhnaten would probably skip the taxes part where he could, strategically invest in areas like parts he needs for his suit, research materials [books and reagents, etc], and several secure hiding places. You need a good place to keep under the radar and a few decoys or alternatives. Not to mention places to keep his magical artifacts, research, and the like.

 

Raphael Firebane would likely just be more "do his civic duty, pay taxes to keep Praetoria/Paragon going" and invest in a very detailed, diverse asset portfolio that's guaranteed to not only keep him going with minimal management/oversight on his part but also do good things for the city. Not that he'd go full Bruce Wayne, maybe more like Thomas Wayne in Batman Begins in that he owns enough of a place/series of places but works in a specific area of it [after giving the directors some basic guidelines on what he expects, of course]. He does need a day job when he's not busy busting heads to support his Emperor or, come Paragon, helping out the heroes.

 

Carmilla de Borgia, however, would definitely be more interested in increasing her wealth so that she could support the Carnival of Blood and the girls she converted. She may be converting them but she's still responsible for them so that means safe, cozy housing, food [read both normal food and people to drink from], new clothes for various situations, employment... Should she go heroic eventually, her 'experience' running such 'sanctuaries' would be useful in setting up housing and improvement for the gals she helps.

Edited December 15, 2021 by TigerEmperor

[Placta]

For Cat, it'd be a blip. She'd make some big donations to her favorite charities. Most of my characters would either do the same or use the money to improve the supergroup's equipment and facilities.

 

At the other end of the spectrum, there's Rachel. Rachel's never had money and has no idea what to do with it. There's a very good chance she wouldn't have a clue what she found, assume it's nothing important, toss it in the trash, and never think of it again. On the off chance she realizes what it is, and learns it's a winning ticket, she'd still have no idea what to do with it, and after praying on it she'd put the ticket, unclaimed, in her church's collection basket (in an envelope, so none of the other parishioners are tempted to take it) and let them deal with it.

 

Fel would have a long chat with her mirror about which one of the crooks at the poker game set fire to that building to lure her out so they could give her the ticket. They paid up, after all; ain't right to keep them on the list after that.

 

Ivy would shoot a super-low-budget (three, maybe four figures) commercial for her "psychic reader" business and use the rest to buy advertising time until it ran out.

[Nerva]

For Tiltowait, he'd do a couple things!  First thing's first, well it's not quite his.  As much as it would be nice to use it, stealing is wrong even if it's little things, and there needs to be an effort made to return it to its owner.  But if it can't be returned or the owner were to give it to him...

First, a sizeable donation to the Paragon P.D., specifically for the purposes of researching quicker and more thorough bomb defusal techniques.  Seems like every villain under the sun's trying to blow up something with a bomb, and while explosions are fun, explosions that hurt innocents are the absolute worst and thoroughly infuriate Tiltowait.  Bomb defusal is something Tiltowait takes very seriously as a result.

 

Second, a donation to the Steel Canyon branch of the Paragon City Fire Department.  Buildings in Steel Canyon get firebombed more than any other place in Paragon City, and that would be fine if the stupid Hellions would stick to buildings condemned for demolition or something, but nooooo... those cretins gotta use their explosives for evil!  Anyway, he'd hope the PFD would put those resources to use super-empowering some firefighters to put out burning buildings and put the Hellions on ice in the process.  As fun it as it is to blast Hellion arsonists, his powers don't exactly lie in the area of firefighting and there's only so much extinguishers can do.

 

With whatever's left?  Oh man he's going to stage the biggest fireworks show Paragon's ever seen.  Turn night into a kaleidoscopic daybreak for at least ten minutes!  People are gonna see it all the way to space!  Blowing up stuff is fun and it should be fun for everybody!  Might just satisfy his explosive urges for at least half an hour, which would be a new record honestly.

[Itsyagirl]

For LGBT Plus Ultra, any unexpected windfall would be a lifesaver. She’s in debt to her landlord, the owner of the rooms for the youth group, her student loans, and even her healthcare provider (seriously, how is capitalism still clinging to life with all the super science and technology we have going on??); they’ll get pretty much everything she finds. 

 

If the amount is big enough to pay off all those debts, then first off, holy shit her life is changed, oh my lord Jesus or Satan or whoever sent this money thank you thank you I am in your debt. Anything left over would probably go towards helping out any of the kids who are in dire financial straits.

 

Mental Killness is also in debt, but to the kind of very bad people in the Rogue Isles with whom you can’t ever settle your obligations. Any money she has goes straight to them; no matter how much that was, she still has to do some dirty work for them to cover the rest… and that ends her up in debt to someone else. It’s a vicious cycle that repeats itself every day all over the Etoile isles, and the villain who was once a hero is now irrevocably trapped in it.

 

Within two days of receipt, Screamin’ Eagle has already spent everything on whatever took his whim at the time. Voucher for one hundred Mariachi lessons? World’s largest water bed? A solid gold trophy that says “Paragon’s Bestest Hero”? All this crap and more is already on its way to the bridge he lives under.

Edited December 16, 2021 by Itsyagirl

[Chrono-Bot]

Quickfrost would spend it on her business. Wages, better security, nicer warehouse. 3 million doesn't really go that far all said but it'd be a nice windfall and she cares about her group. She would also splurge on that calculator she's been eyeing. Chronic Burn-Out can recite the specs in Quickfrost's voice, Just starting with "Printing Calculator with Double Check Function, Tax Calculation and Currency Conversion!" sets off the rest of the girls into peals of laughter.

 

Blazed would buy a spa day and then have a breakdown about what to do with the rest.

 

Alce, and probably the other Warriors too, would probably exchange the money for items that are worth something on their own and stow them away for a rainy day. Myrine would see about getting a glass eye. A nice one.

 

Lykossia would have no idea what he'd found and be promptly tricked out of it and never realize what he'd lost.

 

Chrono-Bot would get someone to explain it to her fully, every detail, then give it to the explainer as payment for helping add to her data collection. Money doesn't mean anything to her and she wants for nothing now that she's stolen those flamethrower parts off that Warhulk.

[Grey-Ghost]

Grey-Ghost (Robert)

would be ecstatic. He would probably use some of the money to buy a nice house with his girlfriend. He would also put money aside for eventually buying an engagement ring and for planning a wedding.  He would use any extra money to start a home security business and invest money in research to help his girlfriend.

 

Brick.Wall (Richard)

He'd move out of the postage stamp of an apartment he's currently living in.  He'd use some of the money to provide some good equipment for the average police officer in King's Row to use against high powered individuals. He'd donate a lot of the money to helping Praetorian refugees and he would also donate a large chunk of the money to help fund a community center in King's Row (the precinct where he works), so that the kids of the neighborhood could avoid getting involved in gangs like the Skulls.