A soldier made their way to the front desk of the armoury administration, their metal boots and biomechanical armour whirring and whining with every step. The room was filled with soldiers outfitting and testing armour replacements, screws, skullbusters, arms and various torso pieces, It was also a place for them to relax, well … as much as you could if you knew they would eventually have to go back to the hellhole that is war.

The desk was empty and the weaponised soldier delicately drew forth their mechanical hand and pressed the bell. A monocled grizzled man in his fifties came up, dropping crates of old armour, gun attachments and various gizmos and gadgets behind the desk.

His exposed arms rippling with dense muscle. “What can I do for you, you want limb repairs, ammo refills, ocular enhancements or perhaps new biochemical renal filters” He asked in a grizzled voice. His monocle glowing and scanning her armour. After a moment, the soldier replied their voice distorting and sounding mechanical through their helmet.

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“Do you have any paints?”

“Yeah, we got plenty of armour paints, even some thermal proof ones, completely invisible to thermal imaging.”

“Uhm no, never mind, “ The soldier hesitated for a moment.

“Do you have any … skirts or … dresses.”

You could hear a pin drop in the room, She glanced around her and saw that everyone was staring at her. If her face had been visible, everyone would have seen that it was bright pink.

“Excuse me, what?” Replied the man stunned. He had worked their for 32 years and in all that time he had never gotten an order like that.

After a long awkward silence he slapped his hand to his forehead.

“Oh, I see!” He exclaimed. “You mean gauze, or bandages to dress wounds and battle clothing, we have the finest bullet resistant synthetic fibres, you want kevlar or metallic based material, you should have just said so in the beginning.”

The tension dissolved and the buzz of the crowd returned back to normal as they went back to their own business.

“Yeah.. that’s exactly what I meant, silly me.” She said weakly.

“I should have just said so.”

She sighed in disappointment, she was beginning to wonder if she would ever be able to paint and wear cute outfits like she had always wanted.