Private Of Friends & 'Family', Pt. 1

[Iliana Röhr]

I L I A N A⠀ R Ö H R

ROTHANA​

Somewhere on Rothana...

Ily' gazed out of the window in deep contemplation, cradling her mug of caf as she reminisced of how different her life was all but a year ago. She watched as the heated windows of the lounge battled against the never-ending frost of Rothana; It wasn't that long ago since she was meandering through the vineyards of Castello Matrisca, or perhaps even enjoying a drink in The Star Lounge while listening to her old friend, Teesa Sorelle , sing.

Some small piece of that history could, hopefully, soon manifest itself in the form of another long-lost friend, Ragos Terrek . The last time the two met, Ily' was 'saving' the man from his own foolishness back on Epica, after getting himself shot; She couldn't help but grin to herself as she recalled the memory.. to her, those were very different times, and she wondered if both herself and Ragos were the same people they once were- or perhaps if they'd even still recognize one another.

Feeling mercurial, and alone in the expanse of Wild Space, Ily' had reached out to Rag' in the hopes of rekindling their old friendship. Her message mentioned wanting to meet up, and potential business opportunities- she had also set a date in advance to give him time to reach Rothana.. if he decided to come at all.

All she could do was wait, reminisce and drink her caf, the rest was up to Rag' now.

Ragos Terrek

 

[Ragos Terrek]

A year. A full force fething year.

He had heard somewhere that ‘Time is measured in seconds; Life is measured in moments.’

Well, Ragos’ last year was measured in credits and that chit was expensive.

It’s impolite to talk about money and don’t nobody fcks with a pocket watcher so let’s just say that Ragos started out with a not flashy but not sorry amount a credits, but now? Chit, it just wasn’t enough, not even got damn close.

So when he got an invitation to go to Rothana with a chance to fall into something that could make him some ends he hadn’t needed to think long.

It wasn’t that long ago that Ragos was on the come up for real. Cars, clothes, jewelry, he had all that chit, he’d owned a shock boxing gym, the best damn club on Coruscant, a handful of body shops on various levels of the planet, two handfuls of warehouses, and he was the baddest damn spice dealer in the core, he he sure as chit woulda been if he hadn’t been betrayed. That was a different and longer story though.

Forced to leave all that he built behind Ragos had run form Coruscant to Epica to make a new empire with a new Family and then that chit had gone belly up too and he’d had to run again spending the last year living on the low off the few credits he had managed to keep in his pockets.

And that’s what brought him to this frozen hell hole Rothana. Credits. That’s it. It sure as chit didn’t have to do with who had invited. Nah, never that.

Ragos shook off the hostess and crossed through the lounge to a table near the frosty windows where a lone woman sat sipping caf and staring out at the world.

A tension began in his chest and Ragos became hyper aware of his breathing. He was breathing normal, nothing weird. It was just now he was incredibly conscious of it.

Ragos had been in fist fights, gun fights, had to rob and steal just fund his spice deals, spent the last year in fear on the run from assassination, and chit he still couldn’t remember being more nervous than right now just as he was about to reconnect with

“Iliana,” Ragos said from over her shoulder “you look incredible.”

And got damn did she ever.

There was every chance she wouldn't recognize him. He looked about as different from the last time they say each other as was possible but she, she was still her and he liked that.

The last time they was together, Ragos was healing from a near death attack. He was skinny, unkempt, forced into a hospital gown and loaded on spice.

Chit, today he might’ve been fifty pounds heavier, dark black skin on his face hidden behind a full but meticulously maintained beard, his hair was longer even than the last time he saw Iliana but now it was pulled into tight braided rows along his scalp.

He wasn’t wearing a hospital gown neither. He wasn’t dressed like a senator or nothing but he sure weren’t dressed cheap. Chit, there was probably only a handful of senators that could get their hands on the phillak fur coat and hat combo he was rocking.

He leaned over to lightly kiss her on the cheek.

Was that weird? Too formal? Too presumptuous?

He did a mental shrug, can’t take it back now.

“Can I sit?”

Iliana Röhr

 

[Iliana Röhr]

I L I A N A⠀ R Ö H R

ROTHANA​

“Iliana,” Ragos said from over her shoulder “you look incredible.”

Ily' took another sip of her caf, yet almost froze upon hearing a familiar voice from behind; "Rag'!" she span around, rising from her chair to greet her old friend. Accepting his affection, a grin formed across Ily's face: "Of course! Please- sit," she indicated to a chair opposite her.

"It's been.. too long," began Ily, taking out her cigarra tin and offering one to Ragos, "I do apologise for dragging you out here-" she lit her own cigarra, and she'd offer to light Rag's if he picked one up, "business out here is.. vicious, there's too many powers in play to even consider taking my eye off the ball even for a moment," Ily' took a puff of her own cigarra at last, she'd held out for so long- she'd earnt it.

She looked Rag' up and down, as if to show a glimpse of curiosity; "But for now, I must know.." she squinted her eyes slightly, "How are you?" quizzed the financier, curious as to what her old friend had been up to since their paths last diverged, "last time we saw one another was.. Epica, right?"

Ragos Terrek

 

[Ragos Terrek]

"Of course! Please- sit," she indicated to a chair opposite her.

Ragos smiled. It wasn't exactly the well used smile Rag would turn on to charm his way out of a situation(or into one) but it was still charming as hell.

It was you know, a real smile. Now whether that was all because of the very beautiful woman offering him a seat or because of all the possibilities that came from taking that seat…he didn't know or really care.

Ragos grabbed the back of the offered seat which was on the opposite side of the table of Ily' and would've had him sit with his back to the window. With a soft scraping sound on the floor Ragos slid the chair so that he would be sitting directly next to Iliana on her right.

He sat down, the mood of their meeting changing ever so subtly, and took an offered cigarra, Fiora Black of course. Ily' offered to light it and he let her, keeping eye contact with her through the whole ordeal as he took a big first pull from the stick.

"business out here is.. vicious, there's too many powers in play to even consider taking my eye off the ball even for a moment,"

"Chit, I can't think of no one better to handle it." Ragos told her pretty friggin sincerely.

He didnt know chit about what Ily' had been doing since the last time he saw her. Chit, he didn't even know what she was doing back then.

What he did know was that she was connected and resourceful and fckin determined. She ain't take no for an answer and she ain't take no chit neither. The only thing he knew she took was hearts and risk.

Scared money don't make money.

She looked Rag' up and down, as if to show a glimpse of curiosity; "But for now, I must know.." she squinted her eyes slightly, "How are you?"

Ragos smile filled his face again he noticed the way Ily' was checking him out.

"Chit, still alive." He answered with a shrug, taking another pull from his smoke.

'Still alive'

But not for lack of trying. Ragos had been forced form Coruscant and from Epica, well pulled from Epica to come here. He hadn't ever known luxury or any chit like that not like Ily' who Rag sensed had an idea of the finer things. How to get em, what to do with em once you got em, that kinda chit, Rag had an idea on how to keep em, it was the first two that he'd been chasing.

Nah, Rag didn't know chit about luxury and sure as chit he ain't never lived it but the last year, man it had been like starting right from the bottom all over. He'd been one of the first to abandon the Castella when it looked like things were going sour. He had that option at least. Moved into some chithole in Epica City and tried going straight. Legal credits and all that bantha chit. Hell that lasted fckn two weeks? Probably less and he was back in the streets trying to make real credits and make em fast.

He hooked up with the Antantonio family on Epica, taking chit jobs, collections, beatings, shootings, soldier work. Same chit, Ragos could never get away from. Chit, didn't matter what planet, didn't matter how rich he was, or important, Ragos was always a corner boy.

"last time we saw one another was.. Epica, right?"

He took another pull.

"That sounds right." He said before blowing a flow of smoke into the sky.

Chit, he may be alive now but it was a damn close thing, man.

The last time Ragos had seen Ily' he had been bedridden and a hundred fething pounds lighter, wasting away in a hospital bed fighting for his life after some mutha sucka tried to kill him. They came gotdamn close too. Two fckn holes in his body from red hot lead fired at him from behind by some cowards.

Thinking about it still got him hot. More than a year later and he still wasn't any closer to righting that wrong.

"Damn, you looking good doe." Ragos said, shifting the conversation off himself.

"What'chu been gettin yo'self into? You said summin bout bizness?"

Ragos was real curious to hear what she had to say. There wun't a whole lotta business that Ragos could help with but he had his uses, no doubt.

Iliana Röhr

 

[Iliana Röhr]

I L I A N A⠀ R Ö H R

ROTHANA​

"Chit, I can't think of no one better to handle it." Ragos told her pretty friggin sincerely.

Ily' rolled her eyes with a grin- Rag was still the charmer she remembered back on Epica. It had awoken a sense of nostalgia within her, as it had been some time since those days- warring with other crime families, stressing about production on the vineyards, saving old friends from near-mortal wounds.

"Chit, still alive." He answered with a shrug, taking another pull from his smoke.

'Still alive'

"-I sure hope so!" Ily' mused, genuinely happy to hear from her old friend once more.

"That sounds right." He said before blowing a flow of smoke into the sky.

"Damn, you looking good doe." Ragos said, shifting the conversation off himself.

"What'chu been gettin yo'self into? You said summin bout bizness?"

Ragos had brought a smile to Iliana's face once again- his diversion to change the conversation had worked on account of his endless charm. She chuckled before speaking, "Thank, you- thank you..." she composed herself before answering his question.

"Well, I've gone independent now!" Ily' exclaimed with a sense of pride, "I've managed to detach myself from the clutches of Moonveil, and now I actually own my own business, the Röhr Group" she grinned. "As I'm sure you also experienced- it was a good idea to... leave the area?" she hinted at the fracture of The Family, and how its members had dispersed for safety.

"Now I'm here!" she gestured to their surroundings outside the fogged-up window next to them. "I've been investing in... Confederacy and Naboolian markets, slowly. Infrastructure here, failing company there- nothing as exciting as the 'good old days' I'm afraid..."

She had talked about herself long enough, she soon turned the topic back to Ragos; "You look well," she started, regardless of whatever he thought, "are you still in..." she hushed her voice slightly, "your old business?" Ily' was, of course, referencing Rag's spice empire- the cause of many arguments between herself and her father, Stephen, in regards to their friendship.

Ragos Terrek

 

[Ragos Terrek]

"Chit, not like I was." He admitted, kissing his teeth.

Ragos didn't bother to hide his resentment. Not just resentment but his anger, and, honestly, his shame too–that chit he woulda kept to his self if he'd been able, doe.

Ragos anger was fething earned and unwavering.

Ragos had been the man, well, chit, summin close to it. He weren't living in fething penthouses on the surface or no chit like that; but the underlevels? they was his. He'd clawed and crawled from the fckn mud to build what he built and the chit he built was good man.

Hundreds of sources of credits on half a hundred different levels on Coruscant. Chop shops, pleasure houses, gambling spots, unsanctioned shock boxing, swoop races, but the real credits came from the fckn spice and He was the best fckn spice man in the core.

It ain't like he was put on like the Hutts or Black Sun or some chit but Ragos had(with some help from Marcella) built a foundation and he was on his way to an empire until he was betrayed and essentially excommunicated from Coruscant's underworld by the same mutha suckas that put him there in the first.

"Coruscant went cold for me a long time ago, chit, that's why I moved out to Epica wit y'all after I healed up. D has kept all my chit running, doe. Even the game I took over from Marcy still lining Two-K pockets, just not mine, feel?"

That hurt to admit. It hurt him deep but Ragos ain't know how to express that pain except for with anger. Deacon or D for short or Big D if you was feeling saucy, was Rag's OG. He was King of the Killa Korunai, the mutha sucka at the top and Ragos had loved that man, like a big brother or an uncle or some chit. Ragos had risked his freedom, his life, for that man. He'd sacrificed his morals and his soul.

To have D sit across from him and to Ragos own fucking face say that he was gonna take everything Ragos had built and cut him out of that chit on grounds of disloyalty? That chit cut deep.

Ghost would get his back doe.

"Work been slow for me out here with no support. I hooked up with the Antantonios on Epica once everything went dark with our friends…"

Ragos took another pull from his cigarra. The Antantonio Crime Family was essentially the eleventh of the Ten Families of Epica. The Ten Families ran Epica and the Antantonios had always been on the outside looking in and once The Family, and Ragos with them showed up on Epica, the Antantonios figured they found an ally. The other families musta thought that chit too cuz they made Epica too hot for The Family to stay.

Ivory, Stardust, Marcy, all the heads of The Family and everyone else just uprooted and left the planet rather than get wiped out. Ain't nothing wrong with that but Ragos didn't leave, he ain't have no where to go and none of the big timers took him with them so he stayed on Epica until chit got too hot for him too.

"… I been doing odd jobs for my guy on Naboo. A senator of you can believe it, that work ain't keeping me fed, doe, I ain't found a plug."

Ragos shut his fool mouth fast when it hit him that he was sitting here with this beautiful woman who seemed genuinely pleased to see him and all he was doing was listing off all the chit wrong with him.

He was embarrassed to admit it, especially to Illy who had for the most part seen only the cocky, confident, king oh tha killa Korunai version of Rag–except for the period after Ragos had nearly died– but for whatever reason he couldn't help but be honest about his situation. Maybe, unfairly, he was hoping Iliana had invited him here not just to catch up but to get back up.

"That's great to hear about you going independent. Can't say I'm surprised, I always knew you was gonna take a shot at something big."

No, Iliana's ambition wasn't a surprise to Ragos. He sorta thought that was what they had in common. It's what they saw in each other. It was kindred. What did surprise him was that she got out like for real for real. Ragos knew how this game went and didn't nobody get out. For Iliana to have her own money and not be kicking back up to Monnveil was something Ragos woulda thought impossible.

The Family really was gone.

Iliana Röhr

 

[Iliana Röhr]

ILIANA RÖHR
Rothana

Iliana frowned as she listened to her old friend continue to explain his situation. "The Antantonios seemed decent people, at least," she pointed out in an attempt to highlight the positives. "... And a Senator? That must be good work?" Ily' pointed out, impressed with how Ragos' had handled himself in the dark.

She took a drag of her cigarra, gently releasing the smoke away from the pair. Her eyes squinted- a sense of unease washed over her, her familiarity with Ragos felt off. He was different, he seemed different in his eyes, his mannerisms, and even how he talked.

Defeated, almost.

She almost didn't know what to say. An awkward tension filled the air as she considered, a frown still on her face. Her eyes darted around the quiet lounge, quiet chatter filled the room and the gentle clanking of cups accompanied. People had begun to filter out, the quiet becoming quieter and quieter as time passed by- much to the relief of the bar staff.

Moments later, her eyes flickered back to Ragos. Ily' asked the only question she felt she could ask.

"Can I help with anything?"

Ragos Terrek

 

[Ragos Terrek]

"Yeah, they good peoples." Ragos said of the Antantonios.

What else could he say bout em? They kept him eating after all the chit went down on Coruscant but chit weren't charity. Ragos earned his credits the only way he knew how and that was with blood. better that than a fucking hand out; especially from the Antantonios.

Ragos knew first hand what happened when someone owed money to the Antantonio Family. For a minute it meant that Ragos himself was finna come pay a visit and trust that was the last thing you'd want to happen. Chit, the last collection he made, on some local Epican dude who was in the hole for like twenty Gs, left that mutha sucka light in the pockets and with a hand that looked worse than ground bantha burger. That would make it hard for man's to go back to his work as a concert pianist but fuck 'im, the degenerate gambler.

That guy got off easy compared to Adriana, the woman who had been with Rag when he was nearly gunned down, Ragos and Junior Antantonio had paid her a visit when she finally poked her head back out of hiding. That chit would stay wit Ragos' until the end.

The topic of Senator Joran Del-Finn and the work Ragos did for him was a touchier subject than his work with the Antantonios, well theoretically it was, but this was Iliana and Ragos had no fear that what he told her would get back to any kind of authorities.

Ragos had known Joran since Ragos was just a boy. Long before he was anything approaching being Senator Del-Finn, Joran had been a smuggler, and it was Joran Del-Finn who had rescued Ragos and his family from Haruun Kal and the evils there.

"Ily, bay-, Iliana, when have I ever done 'good' work?" He asked, almost laughing and almost getting far too familiar.

Ragos was of course hinting at the job where he and Iliana had met. She'd been his handler when he had taken on some…wet work, for The Family. She knew what kinda chit he got into and it was better to hint at the kind of work he did for Joran than come out and say it.

"Chit, it pays good when it's up but really, I'm on call and my comm and gone off it a minute, feel?"

"Can I help with anything?"

Ragos kissed his teeth and broke off eye contact with Iliana. Chit was embarrassing already and now she was gonna make him actually come out and say it? Chit, Epica woulda taught her how bad things needed to be before Ragos would ask for help.

"I ain't finna lie to you. We hungry," he said, expressing his desire for work. "I was hoping when you asked to meet here that maybe you had something I could be helping you with."

Iliana Röhr