Disclaimer: Star wars franchise belongs to many people and companies from Gorge Lucas to Disney, however I'm not among them.
A/N: this story is an afterthought of "medical supplies" - a chapter from my one-shot collection "medic-patient privilege"
Errand service
by Your-biohazardous-friend
Lina Ze yawned so hard, she heard and felt her jaw pop. She hated night shifts, as mostly there was nothing to do at the store: floor was clean, no merchandise to re-stock and no customers to serve - it was middle of the night after all. The young woman sighed, if not the caf dispenser and bunch of trashy romance novels downloaded to her reading pad, she would die of boredom. The shopkeeper was about to continue reading a love story of a clone trooper who went AWOL and simple twi'lek woman as they… a bell cut the silence.
Two men entered the establishment. They wore white, plastoid armours, painted in blue markings. They seemed to be of the same height and built but it could be because of the gear they were wearing. Were they infamous clone troopers, soldiers of the republic? Lina Ze wondered if they really were the same underneath all those layers. She had a hard time telling that now as the men didn't take off the helmets upon entering.
The men politely took shopping baskets and leisurely walked along aisles, snooping around the shelves, just as everyday men working the usual nine-to-five jobs.
Lina Ze slipped out of her station at the registry and, pretending to mop the floor, followed those, somewhat, suspicious men.
The solider with arrowhead painted on his breastplate contemplated on ingredient lists on some jars of baby food, shaking his head from time to time as if replying to some unspoken questions and inquiries. The other one, with cat ears painted above his visors, seemed to be more interested in colourful smiling creatures printed on the cereal boxes and chocolate bars. After a sharp nod from his fellow clone, the cat-ears helmet dumped two carton boxes of portioned, squeezable chocolate tubes to his basket. He weighted the container in testing manner then, after his colleague made another vague head gesture, he added another carton – that was a lot of chocolate treats. At the same time, the arrowhead breastplate, quite literally, swept a whole row of jars of baby food to his basket, followed by few packages of glucose, some oatmeal fixes, soup bases and several packages of animal themed band-aids. Eventually, for the first time since entering, they both looked at each other, and with a small shrug of their shoulders, glanced around the place, as if searching for something specific.
It was her que, Lina Ze sprung to the cat-ears helmet's side, her lips formed to well-trained smile of an up-beat shopkeeper.
"how can I help you, sir?" she asked.
"I'm searching for sanitary accessories," the man said flatly, with a slight undertone of urgency, as if he was passing on an important message from the frontline.
"if you're searching for condoms, they-"
"I'm not requiring those, ma'am"
"my mistake" Lina Ze apologized, more in conditioned reflex than from actual need "what do you requite then?"
The clone was quiet for a while and then the other one spoke.
"sanitary pads, ma'am" the man sounded professional, but Lina Ze worked with customers for far too long to not to catch certain nuances.
They were entering the no man's land.
"What kind?" both clones flinched… visibly surprised by her inquiry, "you know…" and they most likely didn't, "there are a lot of types and brands of those"
The men turned toward one another, another awkward silence filled the air.
"O-K" Lina Ze tried to fill the void and seize the situation "for whom the sanitary pads are for?"
"for our commander!" the cat-ears helmet replied.
"Anything specific besides that?"
"well, her periods are regular, ma'am" the arrowhead breastplate said professionally.
"that's oddly specific, but it's good to hear that your… commander has a healthy period cycle" the cashier replied professionally.
"she's a Jedi" the cat-ears helmet added in more of an afterthought manner.
"so she moves a lot I presume?"
"a lot, yes"
"ok, so maybe she prefers tampons then?"
Another pregnant silence, the men's body language screamed confusion.
"she didn't specified that, ma'am" Seriously, that commander of theirs must have never had men around her, like, ever.
Males had a very hard time grasping concept of sanitary… well, anything really, but that commander of theirs surely was lucky - those two men were really determined to get the grocery list to a trill – something Lina Ze had to teach her husband for months.
"maybe" the cat-ears helmet finally spoke "we will buy one of each"
"and commander would give us feedback at the barrack!" the arrowhead breastplate finished his sentence.
"good thinking, soldiers!" Lina Ze agreed with a wink.
Yep, those men were definitely brighter than her husband ever was.
Lina Ze could see as both men sighed with the relief as she finally started to scan prices of the items. Of course, as she suspected, sanitary pads and tampons were placed first on the counter. For those two soldiers those were the equivalents of war trophies worthy of medals for bravery.
As taught, she suggested the caf from dispenser. The clones refused. The credits were exchanged, groceries packed. The soldiers saluted stiffly at the doors; Lina Ze saluted back in more playful manner. With having nothing better to do, she came back to the romance novel, but upon meeting clones face to… helmet, the story lost it's initial impact.
To Lina Ze's boss' confusion, the GAR became the regular clientele. They never did big shopping thought. They mostly flickered through adult magazines and bought some lottery tickets, cups of caf, candies no bigger than pouches strapped to their utility belts and, of course, those small, one serving chocolate tubes. Sooner, rather than later, Lina Ze started to distinguish which colour coded battalions had female commanding officers.