Meet Me Halfway || Myles & Jango
Plotted starter for @galaccias
If he closed his eyes long enough, Myles could still feel the arid winds of Mandalore on his skin, the smell of the sporadic storms in his nostrils, and the warmth of another's body against his own. That'd been so long ago. His life before slavery felt like a dream– a beautiful dream that kept him sane through all the hardships he faced in the Zygerrian arena. Zygerria wasn't Mandalore, it might share the type of hot and dry climate, but it was not his home. Myles refused to die anywhere but in his home, and then, once he managed to flee, he refused to die altogether. He had a man to find.
Jango Fett had made quite a name for himself.
The best bounty hunter in the galaxy, that's what people called him. Myles didn't doubt that was the truth, he'd heard plenty of stories, but most importantly, he heard about what happened on Galidraan when he paid a visit to the Governor, intending to retrieve his armor, only to find out —through a cathartically violent interrogation— that it'd been stolen from the Governor years ago by Jango himself.
He briefly returned to the Mandalore System to get a new set of armor, painting it the same as he did his old one, and soon, he became The Copycat. It was ironic. The armor Jango now wore was Myles' first, the color pattern was of his own making and yet, HE was the copycat. If it wasn't for the fact that it was Jango, Myles would really mind the misunderstanding, he would have killed his copycat– and Jango would have, too. That's why Myles' plan would work. Just like the stories about the great Jango Fett spread like wildfire, the stories about Jango Fett's copycat travelled through the galaxy faster than any ship thanks to holos and comms.
All Myles had to do was stay on one planet, and let it be known he was staying on that planet. But he wasn't always in the same place– he was a Mandalorian, a slave on the run, and there were more people than Jango after him.
Nar Shaddaa had a lot to offer when it came to hiding in plain sight and entertainment. Few people stood out there, and those who did did so in a way that told others not to mess with them. That is what Myles believes without a shadow of a doubt– or he did, until he came across the CHILD while walking around the crowded streets full of eye-sore inducing holos and neon lights.
At first, Myles was certain he was hallucinating. Then, as he watched people knock into the kid and it became clear that was a tangible, REAL child, he began blaming his age, the thousands of lights, even entertained the possibility of not being as mentally sound as he believed himself to be because that child looked exactly like Jango when Myles met him. To the point it caused what Myles could only describe a whiplash-like effect on a mental and emotional level. However, it didn't last long, because the kid was in trouble and every pinch of Mandalorian DNA in Myles' veins burned with rage as he watched some thugs shove the kid around.
He approached with the quiet yet intense stride of a seasoned hunter, shoved past one and grabbed the one closest to the child, punching the guy in the throat and shoving him towards his buddies. Myles' blaster was out in a moment, aimed with one hand, while the other went to grab at the kid's arm so he wouldn't run off. He might not be okay with strangers roughing up a child, but he needed answers.
"The kid's with me," he said. "And I don't take kindly to strangers putting their hands on my kid."
Whether it was because of the very real threat of the blaster or because they, like many others, fell for the idea that he was Jango Fett, they stepped back. Myles didn't care. Either option worked for him, because they stepped back and dragged their still recovering idiot away with them. Myles' expressionless visor remained on them until he lost sight of them. Then, and only then, did he turn his gaze to the child.
"Are you okay?"