Roll for -

Can you please just tell me what you’re hungry for? Ari scolded his own body. He’d been standing in front of the open fridge for easily five minutes; staring at, digging through, and staring again at everything that was in his and Mosaic’s shared fridge. He was craving… Something… And that seemed to be all the information he was going to get. 

“Seriously? That can’t taste good.” 

Ari turned towards Mosaic’s voice emanating from his room as well as the soft sounds of whatever Mose was watching. He sighed, finally admitting defeat. Ari closed the fridge and wandered towards his littermate’s room. “Can I come in?” 

“Oh, sure.” 

Mosaic was sitting on his bed , propped up on several pillows with his laptop in front of him. Whatever he’d been watching was paused, but it looked like somebody was in the process of making a sandwich. 

“What are you watching?” 

Mosaic pulled his blankets over, a clear invitation for Ari to join him. Ari climbed up; Mosaic’s bed was low to the ground, so it was easy to get on even in his bun form. Ari snuggled in next to Mosaic, who waited until he was comfortable before restarting the video. 

The video showed the doll rolling different kinds of dice, then looking at a numbered list of ingredients, and building themselves a sandwich. Bread, cheese, vegetables, sauce, and then a ‘wild card’. When the sandwich was made, the video’s view switched from the doll’s hands to a short clip of them eating the sandwich and giving their honest review.

“It’s called ‘Random Sandwich’. Usually they’re a lot weirder than this; the last one I watched had a spicy sauce with blue cheese and chocolate syrup.” Mosaic made a small gagging sound. 

Ari was only half listening. He felt like a lightbulb had lit up in his head. Pulling out his phone, he opened up the delivery app for the closest grocery store and began filling his cart. 

Mosaic glanced over and groaned when he saw what Ari was doing. “Ari, noooooo…” 

“Ari, yesssssss…” Ari copied Mosaic’s light-hearted complaint. “My cravings today have been somehow super vague and very specific at the same time, and the thought of one of these weird sandwiches is the only thing intriguing me right now.” He held his phone out to Mosaic, the grocery app open to the sauces section. “Now are you going to help me or not?” 

Mosaic sighed, resigning to the direction his day had gone. “Fine.” He took the phone from Ari and started scrolling thoughtfully. “I’m not promising to eat anything, though.” 

~ 

About forty-five minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Ari opened it, thanking the delivery driver from the grocery store (and choosing not to elaborate at the other bun’s questioning and slightly afraid expression). He brought the groceries in, placing the bags on the kitchen counter. He called out to Mosaic to join him as he began taking things out one by one, sorting them into the same five categories that the ‘Random Sandwich’ bun had used. 

Mosaic came into the kitchen, holding his phone, a small pad of paper, and a pen. He began writing out the categorized lists, numbering them as he went. “I couldn’t find any dice, so I’m just going to use a virtual one, okay?” He pointed at his phone which was open to a six-sided dice rolling website. 

“That’s fine, it shouldn’t make a difference.” Ari’s stomach growled, but he wasn’t sure if it was still just hunger or if there was now a tinge of apprehension. Either way, Ari wasn’t one to quit anything halfway, especially when it came to trying something new. 

“Are you ready?” Mosaic asked, lists complete and ready to go. 

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” 

~ 

Ari stepped back, looking over the products of the last twenty minutes of randomness. 

“Okay…” Mosaic looked down at his paper and back up to the sandwiches, shaking his head as if he regretted taking part in this experiment. “So, sandwich number one. We’ve got watermelon, sriracha, and dried mushrooms on white bread. No cheese.” Mosaic tilted his head slightly. “Huh, that one might not be half bad.” He turned to the next one and immediately wrinkled his nose in disgust. “Sandwich two: pimento cheese, green onions, horseradish paste, and sweet heart candies? And why did you decide that cinnamon buns would be okay to use as bread?” Mosaic shivered as if his whole body was rebelling against being so close to the monstrosity the dice had created. 

“Yeah, I’m worried about that one too.” Ari admitted. The smell of the horseradish alone had the fur on the back of his neck standing on end. “And our third?” 

“Don’t… call it that.” Mosaic held up the paper again. “Blue cheese, kimchi, peanut butter, hard boiled eggs, and garlic bread.” 

“Okay, hear me out.” Ari picked up the top piece of garlic bread and looked closer at the fillings of the third sandwich. “The… heaviness? Of the peanut butter and the egg yolks feel like they could balance out the zing of the blue cheese and the kimchi.” He put the bread back down. “This one could actually be good.” 

Mosaic stared at him in silence for a few moments. “That’s the hormones talking, Ari. Don’t trust it.” He put his pad of paper down and pushed the three sandwiches to one side of the counter, looking over the remains of their grocery haul. “I’m going to make myself a normal sandwich, but you let me know how those go.” 

“C’mon, Mose, you considered the first one for a second.” 

“Fine.” The blue bun grabbed the plate with the least offensive random sandwich and met Ari’s eyes as he took a bite. His expression quickly softened to one of pleasant disbelief. “Huh. It’s actually not that bad. The dried mushrooms are a bit weird texture wise but I think the flavours work together?” 

“You can have it!” Ari’s tail curled happily at the sign of Mosaic having fun with this game he’d put him up to. “It’s not like I can eat three sandwiches by myself, anyways.” 

“Okay.” He smiled at Ari, then his gaze flicked back to the two untouched sandwiches and curled up his nose. “I’m not sticking around to watch you eat those, though. You can tell me how they are later.” Mosaic took his sandwich and retreated into his room. 

Ari cast another apprehensive glance at the horseradish monstrosity and decided that it wasn’t worth it. But as he picked up the third sandwich, whatever part of him that had been so indecisive earlier decided that something about this is what it had been craving for.