Content warning for sexual situations.
Sada was lucky. Of course, in her mind, this could just as easily indicate an overabundance of bad luck. Luck was luck, after all, and she had learned not to assume…
Her first impression of the six members of the RFA was the same as any tight-knit, incestuous, xenophobic social circle, and Sada had come to be wary of such groups over the years, as they tended to run on drama and shared history.
But, on the other hand, the members of the RFA took it for granted that she would stay at Rika's apartment if she opted to help them throw fancy parties, and Rika's apartment was most definitely a step-up from the shithole she'd been living in. Plus, apparently, she didn't even have to pay rent!
Yeah, she was lucky.
She checked the messenger sparingly at first, and she wasn't particularly verbose when she was signed on. They hardly noticed, though, as they seemed to have plenty to say, even if it was about the same things over and over and over and…
She stared at her laptop screen now, somewhat entranced by the exchange between the actor who was super into himself and the inaccessible rich one. It seemed like any time these two were in the chatroom together, the latter would say something completely out-of-touch with the common man and every single time the actor guy would lose his temper with him and waste all this energy getting all eggy about it. It did annoy Sada that the suit seemed incapable of empathizing with those of lesser means, but the aggressive use of caps lock certainly wasn't going to teach the guy to be more considerate of the less fortunate.
ZEN: I'll never understand this guy.
Jumin: And I'll never understand someone who does not appreciate the grace and elegance of Elizabeth III.
Ah, yes…the cat. Sada never realized such a benign thing could ever be such a point of contention between friends, or even acquaintances.
ZEN: Don't mention that furball now!
ZEN: My eyes are watering just thinking about it…
ZEN: Damn it!
Jumin: Sada, how do you feel about cats?
Sada briefly wondered whether she should answer or just pretend she was away from the computer.
Sada: Well…I'm also allergic to cats, but
Sada: I tend to like them, anyway.
Jumin: I knew V had a good eye for people.
ZEN: You're an animal-loving girl.
Sada: My family had some cats when I was growing up, but they mostly stayed outside.
Sada: We found out one of them had three different families feeding him every day!
Jumin: Letting Elizabeth III roam outside…
Jumin: Unthinkable.
Jumin: What if she got lost, or hurt, or rained on?
Sada: Er…I wasn't suggesting you leave a house cat outside.
Sada: She probably would get hurt if she's not used to it.
ZEN: You're very caring, Sada.
Sada: Not particularly…
Sada: But it's important to take good care of your pets.
Sada: If you can't care for your pet properly, you shouldn't have one.
Jumin: You're quite right.
Jumin: Caring for a pet is a responsibility not everyone is equipped to handle.
Jumin: And Elizabeth III
Jumin: is in another league entirely.
Jumin: Only a prodigious individual such as myself would be able to adequately care for her.
ZEN: Arrogant much?
Jumin: I feel as though you have no room to call me arrogant…
Sada was tired of the bickering. She excused herself and returned to her work. She managed to stay on-task for a couple of hours when her phone rang. She answered it distractedly. It was Jumin, calling to talk to her about the importance of good nutrition…?
No, it was the other guy: the hacker! Sada laughed. He'd caught her off guard, and his playful mannerisms were surprisingly disarming. He talked to her about his love for Elizabeth III, or, as he called her, "Elly," and his laughter was pleasant to hear.
He left again in a hurry, saying he had a lot of work to contend with. Sada remembered that she did as well, but she was sorry their conversation had to end so soon.
That one…Seven…he was intriguing. Sada had never known a hacker, but that wasn't really what interested her. It was his…strangeness. The members of the RFA had yet to encounter Sada's own strangeness. She tended to hide it in certain situations, particularly in precarious social situations that had the potential to affect her general well-being.
The truth was, Sada was "crazy." She was not a quirky hippie chick, an obsessive ex, or an eccentric genius. She was actually schizophrenic, and this was a significant contributing factor when it came to her wariness of others. Typically, others thought of people like her as mass murderers or serial killers, volatile and untrustworthy. Sada acknowledged that she had delusions, but so did everyone. Literally everyone in the world believed something crazy; she was convinced of that. As for the hallucinations, people took drugs to try to induce the kinds of things she saw involuntarily, but she was still the crazy one; she was singled out.
But someone like Seven…gave her the slightest hope that maybe…maybe there really could be someone out there who could understand her, or at least someone who might try.
Sada sighed. She was jumping the gun, and she knew it. She had a tendency to get attached to people prematurely, and it had landed her in trouble before. Seven was just a weird guy in a chatroom. There was really no point getting her hopes up. She just had to organize this party like they wanted, and keep looking for a way to get back home in the meantime.
Over the next several days, Sada watched the chatroom more and more. She thought of it as gathering intelligence, in a fashion, but truthfully…she kept catching herself hoping that he would be online.
Other members began to grow on her, too. Sada felt a lot of empathy for Jaehee. Sada certainly knew what it was like to work under an unreasonably demanding boss, but she personally felt that Jaehee possessed much greater patience and professionalism than Sada ever had. Now that Sada occasionally felt the urge to yell at Jumin for tormenting Jaehee, she began to understand Zen better as well. When it came to Zen, she didn't particularly mind that he was so into himself. Sada generally thought it was nice when people had good self-esteem, but he seemed to be under the impression that everyone should live more like he does, despite acknowledging that the others existed under different circumstances than he did. In that way, it was hypocritical for him to criticize Jumin for not being mindful of others. That was probably why they argued so much; they were too similar.
As for Jumin, it was hard for Sada to feel sorry for someone who lived in a mansion with hordes of servants and ate gourmet cooking for every meal while people living on the street were lucky if they could find clothes warm enough to prevent them from freezing to death…but she tried. He had a handful of legitimate grievances, namely the relatively recent suicide of his close friend…
That's right…they were all still coping with Rika's suicide in their own ways, and Sada had to be considerate of that. It sounded as though Rika was a very warm presence in all of their lives, and Sada knew that feeling of loss too well.
Yoosung: It's hard to believe someone like that
Yoosung: would take her own life…
Sada: I didn't know her
Sada: but it sounds as though she was very compassionate.
Sada: Usually, compassionate people like that
Sada: are able to understand others so well
Sada: because they know how it feels to struggle.
Yoosung: I know she had a hard time growing up…
Yoosung: I just didn't know it still weighed on her so much.
Sada: People who are used to being in pain
Sada: become good at hiding that pain.
Sada: It's not your fault that you didn't know.
Sada: You probably didn't know because she didn't want you to.
Sada: She probably didn't want anyone to know…
Yoosung: Thank you for saying so, Sada…
Yoosung: I just wish
Yoosung: things had gone differently.
Sada: Yeah…
Sada: I wish I could have met her.
Yoosung's grief was the most obvious, but a closer look showed that they were all still struggling, even this V person… Sada had a suspicion that he was struggling the most, considering his absence. He seemed to be cutting himself off from his friends, insisting upon suffering in solitude. He was a mysterious figure, and Sada did not feel comfortable asking the others about him in his absence.
So, Sada didn't bother with it. If he wanted to be alone, she could understand that. After all, he had found someone who loved and understood him, and then he lost her. Perhaps he had given up hope trying to find that again. Perhaps it was a chore now, trying to communicate with people who had no chance of understanding him the way she had.
This is how Sada's involvement with the RFA began.
