When the woman before him turned, the reaction he received was one to be expected.
The datapad clutched within her grasp dropped and smashed into debris upon the ground. Her face became characterized by an expression of disbelief. Silence, horrendously awkward in nature, then befell the room. As the seconds rolled by, those who had accompanied the Mandalorian as an escort thought it wise to simply close the door. With a resounding thud, privacy was afforded to the estranged couple. However, even with this change, Phoebe appeared to be petrified with disbelief. 'Twas almost ironic...Isley met her when she was frozen, and now she freezes upon their reunion.
After several minutes of silence passed, Phoebe moved. Furious steps bore her closer to Isley, her first drew back, and an angry punch was launched directly at his face. Sure, Isley could have moved out of the way or done something to defend himself; but for some reason he felt that taking the blow was necessary. He deserved her outrage after he had disappeared. He deserved her anger after his infidelity. The fact that she didn't attempt to obliterate him on sight, however, was a "good" sign.
The punch did more than Isley expected. Perhaps it was the angle, perhaps she was backing it with the Force, or perhaps she just got "jacked" during their time apart. Whatever the case was, her fist collided with his face rather heavily. While, fortunately, his nose did not break from the impact, Isley found blood on his hands upon recoiling and seizing his face. "What the ka-" he began, seething, but quickly swallowed down his sudden frustration. "No, no. I deserved that. Three minutes? Fine."
Drawing a deep breath, the Mandalorian then attempted to ignore the blood pouring down his face. He collected his thoughts and took a few seconds debating where to start...before just letting it all rush out.
"Why did I leave? Simple. Seemingly overnight everything went belly up. The whole Confederacy spontaneously combusted and I was the one fingers were jabbed at in blame. I left so that you, Anastasia, Adela, and Ginnie wouldn't have to deal with any persecution. I left with the intent of protecting you, my family. Obviously that must have had some meager sum of success, seeing as though three of the four of you are alive. I've no clue where Anastasia is..." he began, before racking his brains. "Why did this all happen in the first place? Not so simple."
"The Dark Side corrupts. You know this much better than I. In my desperation to grow stronger, I dove into the Darkness headfirst. When I came up for air, I wasn't myself anymore. I was...It was like being a spectator, watching your life from afar. I had no control over anything anymore. I...It's hard to put into words what it was like...but it wasn't me Phoebe. I wasn't me. The person who got you out of that Carbonite and the person who was scheming in the shadows were completely different. I honestly don't expect you to believe a word of this, but it's the honest truth."
"And even though it wasn't me...Every action 'Darth Metus' committed is my fault. If I wasn't so eager to gain power. If I hadn't allowed the Darkness to corrupt me, then He wouldn't have been born."
With that said, Isley looked away momentarily and attempted to tend to his face...which pretty much amounted to wiping the blood onto the back of his hand. As he did so, the Mandalorian got a glimpse of what had been occupying his estranged spouse. Documents? Filing cabinets? Was she...was she running a business or something? "There's...There's no way." he breathed, almost in disbelief. She had the gall to punch him in the face for leaving...yet was she any better? Here she was, conducting business as if their children weren't out there in the Galaxy somewhere. Alone.
"You know, I found Adela." he began, facing Phoebe once more. "She was on Mandalore. As was Ginnie. Y'know, I was under the impression that, as a Mother, you'd have made sure our little one was alright. She's just shy of two, Phoebe. A two year old clone. And what did she tell me? That when poodoo hit then fan, she came looking for you: her Mother. And where were you? Nowhere to be found. She thought you were dead. She thought both of us were dead." As each and every word fell from his lips, Isley could feel himself growing furious. While he did not have much right to be angry with Phoebe over anything, this was the one exception.
"Adela was left to the wolves. Anastasia could be dead, and you...You're here filing papers? You should have looked high and low for our children. You know good and hell well there was only three places in the whole of the Galaxy they could have gone, and yet Adela says you were nowhere to be found. I left so that I could protect all of you; and I left under the assumption that you would do your karking job as a mother. It was your responsibility to keep them safe while I was gone, and you failed. Adela was alone for so long, she couldn't even speak BASIC correctly!"
Yelling wasn't helping. Swearing wasn't helping. Every word only seemed to make the anger worse and worse. There wasn't a good way to end this conversation; and there wasn't a good way to repair the damage that was done. Forgiveness wasn't something that Isley deserved, not by a long shot, but in those moments he felt as though Phoebe didn't deserve it either. "I...I have a daughter to protect and another daughter to find. Coming here...was a mistake." he said. Turning, Isley made for the door, yet said his final piece before departing.
"I hope whatever the kark you were doing was worth it."
[member="Phoebe Draclau"]