Warnings: blood, moderate description of injury, stitches, hypothermia | Notes: PoV third person, past tense.
@clonexocweek
I’m not 100% sure if I’ve done this right, so I guess I’ll find out.
I’ve been debating changing the PoV of Same Heart to that of an OC rather than a reader, and I figure this can be a kind of test run or soft introduction to that. If you haven’t read Same Heart (please do! I’m very proud of it.) the general idea is that the reader/ Ionne loses Echo and copes by taking an assignment as the medic of clone force 99.
At this point in the timeline, between chapters 13 and 14, Ionne has been with the Batch for a handful of weeks; long enough to get familiar with the guys, and long enough to realize that Crosshair is an asshole. What she doesn’t know is that he’s got a thing for her, but has no idea how to handle it. This is one of many conflicts between the two.
Thanks for reading and/or reblogging! I’ve got more like this one planned, if it’s received well enough.
~3100 words
Crosshair/ F! OC
Things go wrong during a mission, and despite her dislike of Crosshair, she does her job, whether he likes it or not.
————
The attack was bad, but would be survivable if Ionne moved quickly enough.
She rushed to Crosshair’s side, kneeling beside him in the snow that was rapidly changing from white to red. A cursory glance over his left calf showed that his armor had been cracked in multiple places; whatever the animal was, it was strong enough to break through his armor, which did not bode well. The broken pieces stopped her from being able to see the extent of the injury, so she quickly discarded them. It was too dark to really tell if anything else happened, but it was obvious that his leg was bleeding freely. Ionne went into a pouch on her own leg and brought out a length of thick material, wrapping it quickly and tightly around his calf, tying it off behind his knee as an emergency tourniquet.
Ionne turned to take her medic’s pack off, but before she could move completely, a loud, low growl cut through the air. Glancing around, she had no idea where it was coming from. Crosshair, though dazed, was conscious, which was a small blessing; they needed to get out of there and she wasn’t quite strong enough to carry him on her own. He sat up and tried to stand, moving his leg in the process, which sent a bolt of pain through it that was bad enough for him to fall onto his side, cursing. Despite the two of them wearing their helmets, Ionne instinctively held her hand over Crosshair’s mouth. He sat up again, but before he could say anything, she held her finger up in the universal “be quiet” gesture.
They both stayed as silent and still as possible, and when the growl rang out again, it was far too close. The hair on the back of Ionne’s neck stood on end, and she felt a pair of predatory eyes staring into her back. As she slowly reached for one of her blasters, holstered to her hips, the snow behind her crunched under a heavy footstep, and her breath caught in her throat.
The next thing Ionne knew, Crosshair had roughly knocked her out of the way before firing off a single shot from his rifle. She wasn’t sure if he had hit the creature or just scared it, but the two of them could hear it retreating into the nearby tree line. After about two seconds she let out a long breath that steamed when it hit the cold night air after going through her helmet’s mouth vent.
“Thanks,” she said, trying to get her heart rate back down.
“Shut up, there are probably more,” Crosshair hissed. She nodded at him, then got to her feet. She bent down and held a hand out to him, but he huffed and waved her away. He tried again to stand, and despite keeping his weight off his injured leg, he still collapsed before he could stand upright.
Ionne rolled her eyes, then crouched down and took his right hand, pulled his arm around her shoulders, and allowed him to lean his weight into her. He used his rifle as a makeshift crutch in his other hand, and although it was slow going, the two of them were able to get away from the area.
After a grueling ten minute uphill walk that normally would have taken just three, Ionne and Crosshair came to a stop outside the mouth of a small cave. Before going in, she looked over at him and found he was scanning over the space with the sensor attached to his helmet.
“We’re clear, there’s nothing in there,” he said, as quietly as possible. Ionne nodded at him again and she half-carried him inside.
After they both turned on their attached headlamps, Ionne and Crosshair went as far back into the cave as possible, stopping at the rear wall. She guided him into a sitting position, then knelt beside his injured leg before she removed her helmet and pointed its light directly at the wound. The improvised tourniquet seemed to have done its job, and when Ionne cut it away, Crosshair still bled, but nowhere near as heavily as he had been. Ionne took her med pack off of her back, grabbed a pair of rubber gloves, and swapped them with her regular ones.
“I need to feel for anything I can’t see,” Ionne said. Before Crosshair could react, she started to gently but firmly run her hands over his leg, pressing deeply into his skin. Crosshair grit his teeth and grunted, but was otherwise still and quiet.
“Well, whatever the fuck it was, it didn’t bite deep or hard enough to break any bones,” Ionne said. “However, there is skin and muscle damage that I need to take care of as soon as possible.”
Crosshair watched her grab a bottle of bacta spray and mist it over his torn skin, and he hissed through his teeth at the sting. He reached up and wrenched his helmet off, a sheen of sweat on his forehead despite the surrounding chill. Ionne then prepared a suture and he tried not to show how anxious he was.
“This is gonna hurt, but I have to do it now, so I need you to stay as still as possible,” Ionne said, and something about her calm but firm tone soothed his rising panic, though he’d never admit it. She looked up at his wide eyes and he nodded at her.
She wasn’t lying; it did hurt, a lot. Crosshair grit his teeth and clenched his jaw, barely able to contain a shout. Adrenaline kicked back up, dulling his pain, and he was able to control his breathing again. Ionne looked back up at him apologetically, then pulled the stitches taut, more or less forcing the torn muscle back into place.
Crosshair couldn’t stop himself from crying out as this happened, which echoed through the cave. Breathing heavily, he looked down and saw Ionne preparing another suture. He whined and instinctively tried to back farther away from her, but only succeeded in clenching the freshly stitched muscle in his calf and sending another bolt of pain through his body. He slumped back against the cave wall, panting for breath as tears of pain and exertion escaped the corners of his eyes.
“Crosshair, look at me!” Ionne said, her commanding tone grabbing his attention. “You need to let me close the skin. It fucking hurts, I know, but you’ll be fine, I won’t let anything happen to you,” she continued, maintaining unbroken eye contact with him.
“I thought you hated me,” he said, then groaned when he shifted his leg again.
“I wouldn’t go that far, though I certainly don’t like you,” Ionne admitted. “But I’d be a pretty shitty medic if I let that stop me from taking care of you. Now hold still, this is the last few stitches.”
“Just do it,” Crosshair said, speaking through clenched teeth. Ionne pierced his skin without warning and he was barely able to hold back a shout as his eyes watered over. Ionne worked as quickly as she could, and the wound was tightly closed a minute later. Crosshair was left panting for breath and grimacing against the pain.
“Hey, you’re okay; that was the worst of it, I promise,” she said, having seen this. Her voice was softer, and she rested her hand on his knee, dragging her thumb back and forth over his armor and calming him further. He couldn’t actually feel her touch, but he shivered nonetheless. To his relief, she didn’t seem to notice.
“I’ve just got to clean and bandage it up, then I’ll fuck off, okay?” she continued, and Crosshair felt a surge of guilt over her phrasing. Flustered and trying to hide it, he snapped at her.
“Good, now hurry up,” he spat.
She didn’t flinch at this, and in fact barely reacted to his harsh words in general anymore. Soon enough, her work was done. After pulling her soiled gloves off, she went into her pack one more time and shuffled forward with her canteen and a few small tablets in her hand.
“Here, take these. It won’t kill the pain entirely but it’ll be better than nothing,” Ionne said as she handed the items to him.
“That's not my canteen,” he said, but took the pills with a deep swig of her water regardless.
“I know. Yours is empty,” Ionne said, then took the much lighter container back from him. Crosshair's guilt surged again, but he said nothing.
“You should get some rest, I’ll keep watch,” she continued, her voice now tired, and got to her feet. She walked towards his rifle and he snapped at her again.
“Don’t touch that,” he spat, and she glared over her shoulder at him.
“Wasn’t going to,” she said coolly, passing it as she moved toward the mouth of the cave. “You’re welcome, by the way,” she said without looking at him, though she knew he was scowling at her. He always was.
She sat down near the cave entrance, just out of sight of the outside. She activated her distress beacon, then kept a lookout for both the thing that had attacked them and the rest of the squad.
Less than five minutes had passed before Ionne heard Crosshair softly calling for her. After a cursory glance around outside, she got to her feet and hurried over to him.
“What is it?” she said, keeping her voice low as she knelt beside him.
“Answer your kriffing comm,” he said, pushing her helmet towards her. She held back an irritated sigh, then detached the small, beeping device from the side. She clicked a button, and a wavering image came into view, lighting up the dark cave.
“Ionne, we got your distress call, is Crosshair with you? Are you two alright?” crackled through the static, but despite this she could hear the worry in Hunter's voice.
“Yeah, he’s here; I’m fine but he’s not.”
“What happened?”
“We were arguing, I don’t even remember what about, and something ambushed us. It bit through the armor on his left leg before he was able to shoot at it and scare it off.” Ionne said, and Hunter cursed.
“Shit… How bad is it?”
“No broken bones, but I had to stitch up some tears in the muscle and skin.”
“Better than dead I guess. Where are you?” he asked, and Ionne hesitated. “Ionne… where are you?” Hunter repeated, sounding worried again.
“I… don’t entirely know,” Ionne admitted. “But we can’t be more than a few clicks from where we all split up. We’re in an empty cave halfway up a hill. Can’t you trace the distress beacon?” she asked. Tech moved into view and spoke next.
“Typically, yes, but there’s a fault in the system that is causing it to malfunction. I’m surprised that you were able to send out a signal of any kind,” he said. Ionne’s heart sank, and in the background, she heard Hunter make a sound of frustration.
“God dammit Tech! The second we get back on the ship you’re fixing that; I can’t believe you didn’t say anything!” he snapped.
“My focus was on collecting data on this planet for the mission. Which, by the way, included a map of the area with landmarks like caves noted.” Tech fired back.
“Really?” Ionne said. “Do you think that’ll help?”
“The map is rudimentary, but I’ve worked with less information in worse circumstances.” Tech said, then paused for a moment. “That said, I don’t know how long it will take for us to find you. Are you somewhere safe?”
“Safe is a stretch,” Ionne said. “But we’re sheltered and there’s only one way in or out.”
“That will have to do,” Hunter said, taking over again. “Better buckle down, it’s supposed to drop into the negatives tonight.”
Ionne thanked him, then clicked off the holo-comm. Crosshair, having heard everything, huffed, getting her attention.
“And just how are they going to know which cave we’re in? You can’t expect them to wander blindly into the dark, hoping they find us and not another pissed off animal,” he said, narrowing his eyes at her. Ionne thought for a moment, then went back into her pack. She rummaged around for a few seconds, mumbling to herself, before finding a large chemical light. She took it, and a roll of adhesive bandage tape, and returned to the mouth of the cave. She cracked the light and shook it, activating it, then used the tape to hang it up outside.
Ionne turned back towards Crosshair, illuminated by the bright yellow-green of the chemical light. As she walked deeper inside, the light seemed to form an aura around her, giving her an almost otherworldly appearance. She met his eyes, and he had to focus in order to keep his heart rate steady and his face neutral.
She went into her pack a third time, then sat down next to him on his left, close enough for their bodies to touch, with two things in her hands. One was a ration bar that she broke into two uneven pieces, before she handed him the larger portion.
“You’ll need the energy to heal,” she said, her voice still soft, like it had been just before she applied the second suture to his leg. Her calm tone eased his faint anxiety, and he mumbled out a ‘thanks’ before eating it.
Once Ionne had finished her share of the ration bar, she showed Crosshair the other thing she’d taken out of her pack; an emergency thermal blanket, folded tightly into a bag about the size of a datapad. She opened it up, then flapped it out. It was large enough to cover two or three people, and she draped it over him, tucking it between his back and the wall, but left nothing for herself.
With that done, Ionne leaned back against the wall, crossed her arms, and pulled her knees close to her chest in an attempt to hold in as much body heat as she could. Crosshair watched her shiver for about a minute, then sighed, and she glanced over at him.
“Do you need something else?” she asked.
“Yeah, I need you alive, so shut up and come here,” he said, untucking half the blanket from himself and holding it open, clearly showing the space he’d made for her. She looked at him, confused.
He rolled his eyes at her.
“I’m not about to let the one who’s taking care of me freeze to death,” he said, then flapped the blanket at her. She watched him for a few seconds, then shrugged. She took off her upper kit and set the armor pieces aside, then told Crosshair to do the same. He gave her a withering look, and she rolled her eyes before explaining herself.
“It’ll be easier to keep each other warm without the plastoid in the way. Skin on skin would be better, but I know that’s not gonna happen,” she said with a smirk.
“Tch. Fine,” he huffed, then followed her lead. With the two of them down to just their blacks up top, Ionne moved in close to him and tucked herself tightly into his side before pulling the blanket back around them both.
Neither of them spoke, and in fact avoided each other's eyes. Ionne was trying not to enjoy Crosshair's warmth too much, and he was focused on how nice her hair smelled.
Eventually, Crosshair fell asleep first, slumping over and inadvertently settling his head into the hollow of Ionne’s shoulder. She froze, startled, but when he didn’t move, she relaxed. She positioned his legs over hers, being careful around his wound, pulled his right arm across her torso, then wrapped her arms around his shoulders and lower back, holding him closely. Once she relaxed, she also fell asleep, her cheek resting on his head.
Ionne was awoken some time later by familiar voices.
“You’re recording this right?”
Ah, there’s Hunter.
“Always. Why?”
And Tech, obviously.
“You know he’s gonna deny this ever happened,” followed by a snort of barely contained laughter.
And that’s Wrecker.
Ionne slowly blinked as she opened her eyes and adjusted to the change in lighting. It looked like she and Crosshair had spent the entire night together in the cave. She yawned and shifted her weight, and Crosshair unconsciously pressed himself closer to her, mumbling something nobody could make out. She smiled softly at him despite herself, shaking her head, then shifted her attention to Hunter, who was smirking.
“Cute. Now get him up, there’s a storm coming and we need to get back to the ship before it hits,” he said. Ionne nodded at him, then addressed Tech.
“I want a copy of this,” she said, gesturing to Crosshair and herself, which made Wrecker laugh loudly, which in turn, woke Crosshair. He grunted as he sat up, and when he saw everyone watching him, he quickly let Ionne go and tried to shift away from her. He only succeeded in clenching the freshly-stitched muscle in his leg and cursing loudly from the pain.
After about ten minutes, once he and Ionne had their armor and helmets back on, she changed his bandages, then tucked everything neatly back into her pack.
She held her hand out to Crosshair in a silent offer to help him to his feet, but, in a repeat of his actions in the snow the night before, he just scowled at her and waved her away. Annoyed, but not surprised, Ionne simply sighed and moved next to Hunter at the mouth of the cave. Predictably, when Crosshair tried to stand, he couldn’t put any weight on his injured leg, and would have collapsed again if Wrecker hadn’t caught him.
As everyone left the cave, Wrecker carried Crosshair bridal-style, and while he cursed and grumbled Ionne tried not to laugh at him.
Some gods from Ieshana. In order, we have:
Opada, the goddess of beauty, motherhood, royalty, and rebellion. She’s known for adopting orphans and also creating insectoid horrors to hunt those who harm children. Also for sticking her antennae in everyone’s business because she’s a gossipy soccer mom.
Ionne, the goddess of dreams, intellectual pursuits, and weaving. She and Opada frequently argue, often about who stole the concept of weaving from the other. Her favorite hobby is naps, her second favorite hobby is being obtuse.
Aryula, the gods of rebirth, the arts, and prophecy. They usually cause problems for The Drama TM because they’re a messy bitch. They’re also the one most qualified to keep an eye on the ever-present cosmic horror trying to engulf the world, and keep everyone else informed of it so they can stop that before it gets too far.
Aflora, the goddess of nature, the cycle of death, and plants. She mostly likes to keep to herself and isn’t completely clear on why mortals find it disturbing for her to use a skull as her “head”. (Her actual center of consciousness is her geode core.)
Calynos, the god of navigation, the ocean, storms, and the lost. He actually has not one but two cities situated on his back (one on the surface of his shell, one in the lake in the middle of it) and he gives very little fuck about them, to be quite honest. Often hangs out with untold horrors from the depths.
There’s a few more I haven’t drawn yet, but.
Warnings: Canon-typical violence, harassment, sprains, broken bones, regs are jerks here | Notes: Female OC, third person, past tense
1187 words
I’ve had this finished for a while but kinda forgot about it until now. This is the first in a series of vignettes about how Ionne first met everybody or got to know them. I think Tech will be next.
No relationship, neutral/platonic
Ionne makes it to Kamino to start her assignment with Clone Force 99 and already finds trouble.
Ionne stepped out of the troop shuttle and into hangar C on Kamino, keeping her head down and not looking around too much. This place was full of ghosts too, and although it wasn’t where Fives died, it still felt wrong to be here.
It didn’t take long for her to gather her few remaining possessions from the droids in the cargo bay. With an oversized duffel bag on either shoulder and her medic’s pack on her back over her armor, Ionne moved to the side of the connecting hallway and checked her comm again for her instructions from General Tii.
Greetings Ms Caresh.
I cannot thank you enough for agreeing to this assignment with Clone Force 99; they have gone far too long without a medic. The men’s barracks are in area H, sub-hall B, room number 8. Your quarters are one door down on the right, that being room number 9. You will have your own refresher and shower, though your rooms are connected by a lockable door.
Good luck and may the Force be with you.
Ionne sighed heavily and tucked the comm back into a pocket. She wasn’t sure what to expect, now that she was here, but she knew the squad was currently out on a mission. Hopefully, she thought, her first night here would be a quiet one.
As she moved through the halls, glancing around in an attempt to find her way, all of the identical, interested faces (some with a specific kind of interest) staring at her were grating on her nerves.
Overwhelmed by how populous and sprawling the place was, her already low energy shrank with each step, and her patience was not far behind it. When she heard another loud wolf-whistle aimed in her direction, she stopped short and turned on her heel towards the sound. She found three clones, fresh out of the academy, if their shiny new armor was any indication. Ionne held back an irritated growl and took a few steps towards them, guessing that the man looking panicked was the one who had whistled at her. The other two were laughing at him.
“Well, you got her attention, now what?” one of the men said. The whistler stared at her, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. When he didn’t speak, Ionne raised an annoyed eyebrow at the group. Another man stepped forward and spoke instead.
“You’ll have to forgive my brother, we call him Freeze for a reason. I’m Dash,” he said, his tone cocky as he extended his hand.
“Caresh,” Ionne said, giving only her last name, and not offering her own hand. Dash seemed undeterred and kept talking.
“So what’s a lady like you doing in a place like this?”
“I’ve been assigned here,” she said, keeping her tone neutral as best as she could.
“Ooh, nobody told us we were getting bunk bunnies! Cute costume, it almost looks like real armor,” the third clone said.
“This is area H, right?” Ionne said, not acknowledging him.
“Yeah. Who’s the lucky unit that gets you?” Dash said, a smirk on his face. Ionne ignored this too.
“They’re in sub-hall B, I’m looking for number 8.”
“Really? The freaks?” The third man said, both surprised and disgusted. Dash pulled a sour face and shook his head.
“You don’t want to be stuck with them,” he said, then the smirk returned as he leaned in closer to her. “We’ll take better care of you.”
“Not interested,” she said flatly, then turned around to leave. Before she could take a single step forward, however, Dash reached out and caught her elbow.
“Aw, don’t be like that baby,” he said. Ionne whipped her head back toward the group.
“I said ‘no’,” she said, then tried to free herself from Dash’s grip. He tightened his hold on her, his smirk darkening into a scowl.
“Don’t be such a bitch,” he said, then tried to drag her closer to him. Ionne sighed heavily.
“Seriously? Let me go,” she said, sounding tired.
“What are you going to do about it, precious?”
Resigned, Ionne dropped her duffel bags, freeing her hands.
”Good girl,” Dash purred, smirking again, before turning back toward the others. “Now-,” he started, but didn’t get a chance to finish.
Once he turned his back on her, Ionne was able to quickly turn and push her shoulder into him before using his weight and grip on her against him; she flipped him over and onto the floor. He was surprised for just a second before rage took over, and when he let her go to try and strike up at her, she caught him by the wrist. With a sudden jerk of her own wrist, there was an audible popping sound, followed by a howl of pain. She released the man and he scrambled to his feet, breathing heavily. He took a step towards her, but Freeze held him back.
“Come on Dash, let it go,” he said, obviously nervous. Dash wrenched himself out of his brother's grip with a snarl.
“Not until this whore tells me who the fuck she is!” He spits, then lunges at Ionne.
She side-steps him easily, trips him, and when he hits the floor again, chest down this time, she grabs his same wrist and twists it up and behind his back, making him cry out.
“I’m a fucking combat medic,” Ionne said, her voice deathly calm, though loud enough for the small crowd that had gathered around to hear. “Which means I can break all of the bones in your body while naming them. I think I’ll start with your radius and ulna,” she continued, then twisted her hand. Dash’s wrist made another loud snapping sound, then Ionne abruptly let him go. He scrambled to his feet, his wrist held awkwardly against his chest, shot her a final glare, and stormed away, the onlookers quickly dissipating not long after.
Ionne huffed and shook her head, dusting herself off. She then went to pick up her duffel bags, but found that someone had beaten her to it. She opened her mouth to speak, but her voice caught in her throat when she noticed how big he was. She had to crane her neck back to see his face. A bald, scarred head and wide grin greeted her. She immediately recognized Wrecker from the files on Clone Force 99 she had been given.
“Damn Regs. You alright?” Wrecker asked. His voice was gravelly and deep; everything about the guy was intimidating. Ionne stuttered in surprise for a moment before shaking herself and nodding. “And him? You break his wrist?” Wrecker continued, squinting down the hall toward where Dash had retreated.
“Dislocated, to help get the point across. I thought you were supposed to be on a mission, what are you doing here?”
Wrecker laughed in a booming voice that made Ionne flinch and her ears ring.
“Nah, we finished that two days ago! C’mon, I’ll take ya to your room.”
Ionne, taken aback by, well, everything, followed him, jogging slightly to keep up with his long strides.
Warnings: Echo is insecure, stitches, fluff | Notes: PoV Third person, past tense
Set shortly after the ending of Same Heart volume one, with /reader becoming /OC. I had this idea ages ago and finally managed to write it down.
1,133 words
F! OC Ionne Caresh/ Echo (background/Crosshair, possible /Tech)
Echo worries too much
Echo couldn’t say what, but something was off. He had seen Ionne talking animatedly with Tech, who was nodding along and giving her his undivided attention. This was itself unusual, but became even more so when Echo approached to see what was so interesting about their conversation; once he was close enough to hear their voices, they both went quiet and watched him until he felt awkward enough to retreat.
This happened again two more times within the same day, and it began to gnaw at the back of Echo’s mind. When Ionne eventually joined him to go to sleep before her turn on watch, he asked her about it.
“Oh, that?” she said. “Tech’s been helping me track down some old files, that’s all.”
Echo was about to point out that her answer did nothing to explain why the two of them were behaving oddly around him, but before he could say anything else, Crosshair entered the room, hijacking Ionne’s attention as he slipped into bed on her other side. After a few short minutes, the lights were out and they had fallen asleep.
Despite being physically tired from the recent battery of tests from the Kaminoans, Echo’s mind was racing, keeping him awake.
Tracking down some old files. Is this another Force thing? Echo didn’t think so, and, as far as he was aware, Tech didn’t know about Ionne’s Force abilities, though he was bound to figure it out soon enough.
Crosshair snorted and rolled over, and Echo was suddenly reminded of the conversation they had about Tech’s interest in Ionne a few weeks ago back in the hotel on Coruscant. That at least explained Tech’s total focus on her lately, but something was still missing. Was Ionne starting to see Tech the same way she did Crosshair? Insecurity bubbled in Echo’s gut, and he worried himself with increasingly unlikely scenarios involving Ionne and Tech until eventually falling into a fitful sleep.
When Ionne woke for her shift on watch, she unintentionally roused Echo and Crosshair too. She apologized with a quick peck for each of them before slipping out of the room. Before Crosshair could fall asleep again, Echo got his attention.
“Crosshair, can I ask you something?” he said, and the other man grumbled under his breath.
“If it’s about her, then no, ask her yourself.”
“I did already,” Echo said, then quickly explained what had been going on that day.
“And what did she say?” Crosshair said. Echo quickly filled him in on what their shared partner had told him.
”Then that’s all it is,” Crosshair said, annoyed. “Now go the hell to sleep,” he continued before rolling over to face away from him, abruptly ending the conversation.
Echo spent the rest of the night chasing sleep and failing to catch it.
—
Echo didn’t have time to worry about whatever Tech and Ionne were doing over the next day or two, as they were just as involved in the newest mission as everyone else and didn’t have any time to converse amongst themselves. However, once the mission was completed, and he was stuck in bed with healing stitches in his side and a busted mechanism in one of his replaced legs, all he did was wonder about the two of them.
When Tech came in to service Echo’s ‘broken’ leg, Echo asked him about it, but got the same answer:
“Ionne asked for my assistance in finding a number of old and lost files.”
With that, and with Echo’s permission, Tech removed the damaged leg and left the room to retreat to his workbench with it.
Ionne came in a few minutes after that with some painkillers that quickly pulled him into a heavy sleep.
—
Echo awoke a few hours later, though still groggy in the haze of what was left of the painkillers. He was abruptly pulled into complete awareness however, when he heard Tech and Ionne speaking, the door cracked open just enough to let their voices drift into the room.
“You managed to find everything?” Ionne said.
”Always with the tone of surprise,” Tech said sardonically. “I’ve downloaded all of them into the new datapad, as you asked.”
Sounds like it really was just some old files, Echo thought, internally admonishing himself for letting such a small thing bother him as much as it had.
“I really can’t thank you enough Tech,” Ionne said, her tone soft.
“No need, you should know that I’m willing to assist you whenever you need me,” Tech responded, though Echo can pick up on a slightly flustered air in his words. Before he could really start to think about this, Ionne pushed the door aside, opening it completely and stepping into the room. Echo noticed the datapad Tech had just mentioned in one of Ionne’s hands.
“Didn’t you just get yourself a new one?” he asks, gesturing to it with his scomp link.
“I did,” Ionne said with a smile that seemed out of place. “But this one’s for you!”
“Ionne, you really didn’t have to-,” Echo said, but Ionne interrupted him with a quick kiss as she pushed the object into his remaining hand.
“Oh hush,” she said, chuckling at him before sitting at his side. “I wanted to. Now open it up!”
Echo shook his head at her in a good-natured way, then turned his attention to the device she had just given him. He unlocked the screen with a long swipe of his finger, and found a document reading application open while Ionne watched him expectantly.
”What is this?” Echo asked.
“It’s the reg manual!” she said, beaming at him. He glanced up at her, confused.
“Has it gotten longer?”
“No,” Ionne said. “I thought you might want to read the backlog of older versions you missed out on. That’s what Tech was helping me with. Sorry for being kinda cagey the last few days, I wanted to keep it a surprise for you.”
Echo let out a single, relieved laugh and shook his head at her again.
“So…?” Ionne asked.
”This is very sweet,” Echo said, leaning forward enough to rest his new cybernetic hand on Ionne’s knee. “Thank you, riddur,” he continued, pleased to see Ionne’s face flush slightly at his use of the Mando’a word. She then took a moment to examine Echo’s stitches.
“Well, if nothing else, it’ll keep you occupied for a few days while these heal up,” she said, placing a soft kiss to his side that made him shiver. “I’ll be just outside if you need me,” she continued before exiting the space.
Before the door slid shut again, Echo caught a glimpse of Tech looking in at him, and gestured at him with the datapad and a nod. Tech nodded back just as the door closed.
Since my first attempt at this was flagged almost immediately, I’ll try again.
Finally showing off my OC, Ionne “Meds” Caresh. You’ve seen her in “Per Regulations,” “Damn Woman”, and all the posts I made for ClonexOC week 2025. Anything “Same Heart” related that I post from here out will be from her PoV, rather than/reader. Here we find her with Echo, not long after they met.
Warnings: four men see a woman in her underwear | notes: PoV third person, past tense
I’m fudging this one a little, as it isn’t their first meeting, but instead their first mission together.
~175 words (a very short one!)
The Bad Batch/ F! OC (Ionne Caresh)- neutral/platonic
In the Same Heart timeline, Tech reflects on the first (but not only) time he had seen Ionne undressed.
————
As the ship was moving through hyperspace, Crosshair, Tech, Wrecker, and Hunter were discussing plans for the upcoming mission when Ionne suddenly walked out of the refresher and into their midst. She loudly whistled at them, catching their attention, then kept it when they looked up and found her freshly showered with her damp.
She was wearing nothing more than a simple bra and plain cotton panties, both black, but the sight had made Tech’s heart race and his mouth go dry. He knew he wasn’t the only one; a quick glance at the others found them all staring openly at her with different levels of shock on their faces.
Ionne set her hands onto her hips and said “Quarters are tight, so I’m getting this out of the way now,” then spun around once on her heel to give them all a good look. Before any of them could say anything, she just as abruptly returned to the bunks, leaving behind a stunned silence and the faint floral smell of her body soap.
(skipping the tag list this time since it’s so short)
This is another piece of Same Heart that changes the /reader perspective to /OC. I’m getting more comfortable with the idea of staying with the OC angle for the rest of the series, but I’m still not sure if I’ll actually do it. SH spoilers: Ionne goes poly with Echo and Cross; she was injured on Anaxes and something went wrong during her bacta tank treatment a few days later.
~2200 words
Echo/ F! OC (Ionne Caresh)
Crosshair/ F! OC (Ionne Caresh)
Not long after Ionne and Echo fall asleep, Crosshair sits straight up, gasping for breath and sweating. He looks around wildly, unsure of where he is until he hears Ionne unconsciously turn toward him and mumble something. The soft sound of her voice grounds him, and he glances over to find Echo on her other side, also asleep. Crosshair slouches forward, hiding his face behind his hands as he fights to stop shaking and control his breathing.
As he regains awareness, the grip of fear he feels weakens, though some of the nightmare’s imagery does not. Most of it is already fading away, but the sound of Ionne screaming and the sight of her falling to the ground is etched into his mind; he can see the fear in her eyes whenever he closes his. He presses the heel of his palm against the side of his head, trying to ward off a headache forming there.
Crosshair notices how dry his throat feels, and, careful not to wake anyone, slips out of bed and goes over to the kitchenette for a glass of water. He gulps it down and leans heavily onto the counter until his breathing returns to normal. This takes a minute before he lets out a shuddering breath and turns around. When he does, he isn’t expecting to find Ionne standing less than a foot away from him and watching him closely.
“Ionne!” he says in a strangled whisper. “Fuck, don’t sneak up on me like that. What are you doing awake?”
“I was going to ask you the same thing,” she says, her voice low.
“I’m fine. Go back to bed,” he says, terse. She crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow at him, lips pursed.
“Bullshit. I’ve never been able to startle you before,” she says sternly. He doesn’t respond, but can’t hold her gaze. Ionne relaxes herself and softens her tone, quietly saying his name as she steps forward and rests a hand on his chest.
“Cross, please. Was the nightmare that bad?” she asks. He tenses, suspicious.
“How did you know?”
“Call it a natural skill after having so many of my own,” she says. Crosshair sighs heavily, his shoulders drooping as he leans back against the counter and crosses his arms.
“Fine,” he says, giving in but still not looking at her. “I don’t remember everything, but you were scared of me, you screamed and hit the ground. I had to have done something to you,” he says. To anyone else listening, he’d sound unaffected, but after so much time, Ionne knows him well enough to pick up the subtle rise in the pitch of his voice.
“It was just a dream baby, I know you’d never hurt me,” she says. It was the first time she’d called him that, and it seems to have helped calm him down, at least a little. He’s able to look at her again.
“You’re still thinking about the fuckup with the tank, but I’m okay,” Ionne says. She moves her hand up from his chest and gently cups the side of his face.
“Thank the Maker,” he says, his voice cracking. He dips his head down and hides his face in her neck, catching her off guard. He shudders and she wraps her arms tightly around him, moving her hand from his face to the back of his head while the other brushes across his shoulders.
“I know baby, I know. I’m not going anywhere, I promise,” she whispers.
“You’d better not,” he says thickly, holding her just as close.
After a few minutes, Crosshair stops shaking and his grip on Ionne loosens. He steps back and she asks if he’s alright now. He stares at her for a moment, then shifts his hands to her shoulders.
“Not yet,” he says softly before pulling her flush against him and crashing his lips into hers. She melts into him and when she opens up, their tongues dance as they both desperately taste each other.
As this continues, his hands slide from Ionne’s upper arms to her waist before grabbing a handful of her ass and making her moan against his mouth. In turn, she slips a finger into the waistband of his blacks and teasingly drags her nail across his heated skin, barely brushing over the base of his cock. His hips jerk forward into hers as he groans.
Holding his waistband like a tether, Ionne takes a few steps backward and steers Crosshair toward the room's single armchair before pushing him down into it and climbing into his lap, straddling his legs. Her lips meet again, and she slips her hand between his thighs to palm his cock over his blacks. He groans again and starts to tug at her leggings.
Ionne knows what he wants and happily shimmies out of the garment before aiming carefully and tossing the leggings across the room, where they land on the bed with a soft ‘fwump’. Now fully bare, she grinds her wet cunt down against Crosshair's straining cock, moaning softly into his ear. He hisses through his teeth and smacks her ass, but not hard enough to make a noticeable sound. Still, she arches her back and cries out his name, paying no mind to her volume.
“Careful kitten,” Crosshair says, leaning forward to purr into her ear. “You’ll wake him.” she laughs.
“Bit late for that,” she says, giggling.
Crosshair glances across the room to find Echo, wide awake and sitting up to face the two of them on the nearest edge of the bed. Crosshair immediately lifts his hands away from Ionne, but she laughs again as she continues to grind herself against him.
“Oh no, don’t let me stop you,” Echo says, freeing his own hard cock from his blacks and stroking himself lazily as he watches the two of them.
“Pervert,” Crosshair says with a smirk. He smacks Ionne’s ass again, this time with an audible ‘crack’ that makes her whine.
As she does, she feels his cock twitch against her bare pussy and moves backwards enough to grab his waistband again. She starts to tug his blacks down, and he leans forward to kiss her before he slaps her ass a third time, using the sound to mask his voice.
“Have you two-?” he asks, quietly enough that only Ionne can hear him.
“Not yet,” Ionne says, just as quiet. Crosshair nods, seemingly to himself, then tells her to stand.
Ionne complies, and he strips naked before taking a moment to turn the chair so that it’s directly facing Echo. He leans over and grabs her by the hips, pulling her into his lap with her back against his chest, then slips his cock, leaking precum, against her dripping pussy, slotting himself cleanly between her lips and rubbing perfectly against her clit. After this, he cups one of her breasts with a firm hand, and wraps his free arm around her waist, holding her tightly in place against him.
Ionne’s body clenches around nothing, and Crosshair begins to thrust his cock along her cunt, being careful not to slip inside. He rests his chin on her shoulder, breathing heavily into her ear and occasionally sucking at her neck. She moans, and he responds by rolling her nipple between his thumb and forefinger, the stimulation making her shiver and gasp his name. He picks up the pace and she starts to feel that familiar coil wind tight in her lower belly.
“Oh fuck,” she gasps, and Crosshair moves his hand from her tit to her clit. While he brings her closer to the edge, his hips never lose rhythm and his breathing grows ragged against her skin. Ionne whines again when he rubs against her clit just right, and she makes eye contact with Echo, who is still watching her and jacking himself off with purpose now. Crosshair bites into her shoulder and Ionne moans his name again.
“Go on and give him a show, kitten,” he says.
Her thighs clench and she does as she’s told. Ionne grabs onto the arms of the chair before arching her back and allowing herself to freely vocalize her pleasure, all the while holding Echo’s gaze.
“Fuck, you look gorgeous like this,” Echo croaks, his hand moving faster.
“God damned right you do,” Crosshair growls into her ear before doubling his efforts with her clit. Her entire body spasms and Ionne feels her orgasm approaching like a runaway train as Echo says her name.
“Eyes on me as you come, understand?” he says, and the sudden, unfamiliar dominance in his voice sends a thrill through her.
“F-fuck, yes sir!” she shouts, locking eyes with Echo as her peak washes over her like a tidal wave. Upon hearing Ionne call him ‘sir ’, Echo curses loudly and cums hard enough to hit her in the chest.
“That’s our good girl,” Crosshair pants as his own cum spills between her thighs. She suddenly clenches her legs at his words, trapping his cock between them, and whimpers.
“Aw, you like it when I praise you, kitten?” he asks, and Ionne can practically hear the smirk on his face.
Normally she’d bite back with a snarky comment, but in the haze after her orgasm, Ionne instead turns her head and breathes ‘god, yes ’ into his ear.
“Yes, what?” Echo says, suddenly much closer to Ionne, his breath breezing across her skin as he speaks. She looks and finds him standing at an angle over the two of them, holding his scomp on the back of the chair and his hand on her knee, watching her closely.
After the two men exchange a glance, Crosshair slips away from her clit, but before Ionne can protest, Echo takes his place, starting to finger her and making her gasp as she stretches around him. He begins to move, quickly rubbing tight circles around that specific place inside of her that she can never reach on her own. her hips involuntary jerk forward and at the same time, Crosshair takes hold of her jaw and turns her head to face him.
He kisses Ionne again, but where before he was hurried and desperate, this time he’s much softer, though no less energetic. Echo, now moving at random between penetrating Ionne and working her sensitive clit, angles himself down further and kisses her along her neck and collarbone, equally soft. The intense feeling of adoration blowing from the two of them makes her shiver in the best way.
Echo touches her just right and as her hips jerk forward again, she turns her head to gasp. His lips meet hers and Crosshair takes his turn at mouthing along her neck, occasionally nipping at her skin. He finds where he’s bitten her earlier and sucks at the mark, making Ionne whimper into Echo’s mouth. Echo greedily drinks up her every sound and uses more pressure as he circles her clit.
Ionne breaks away and moans his name, noticing how the sound makes his cock twitch towards her. She tries to reach a hand out to him, but finds herself unable to move. Crosshair has pinned her wrists to the arms of the chair with his hands. Ionne moves against him and he quickly loosens his grip on her. He quickly asks if she’s okay, and when she says yes he resumes holding her down and lavishing as much of her skin as he can reach with his mouth.
When Ionne feels his teeth graze her bruised shoulder, she immediately finds herself on the edge of another orgasm. Echo says her name and gets her attention.
“Can you be a good girl and come for us again?” he asks, his voice deepened by lust.
“Yes, yes sir, please,” she begs, giving up on her pride entirely.
“What do you think?” Echo says, shooting a glance at Crosshair.
“Well, she did say ‘please ’,” Crosshair purrs.
Echo focuses entirely on fingering her while Crosshair’s thumb returns to her clit and continues to rub tight, fast circles into it. Her hips jerk forward and her whole body spasms. Oversensitive and overstimulated, Ionne comes with a loud cry as she soak Echo’s hand and Crosshair's legs.
The two men carefully lift their hands away from her, and Echo ducks into the refresher for a moment before coming back with a warm, damp towel and cleaning her up. As he does, Ionne relaxes her muscles and lays her head back against Crosshair's shoulder, panting for breath. He gently cups the side of her face and kisses her.
“I love you so fucking much, kitten,” he whispers.
Struck dumb by the intensity of her second orgasm, all she can do in response is grin at him while she grips his hand.
“He’s not the only one,” Echo says, tossing the soiled towel aside and kissing her softly as he kneels before her. Still gasping for air, Ionne cups the side of his face with her free hand.
“Come on,” he continues, “let’s get you back to sleep.”
Ionne nods and stands on legs that feel like jelly before stumbling forward onto the bed. She has enough energy left to crawl under the duvet before falling into a heavy, fucked-out sleep almost immediately.
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