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“Dolly. I am so glad you could make it.” Prince Flapjack said as he gave a quick kiss on the cheek to his girlfriend. The dalmatian smiled and gave the royal corgi a big hug.
“I’m glad you could let me join you for your poetry study session.” Dolly remarked as she gave the royal corgi a hug and a kiss of her own. Never in her life she considered that she would call a member of royalty her boyfriend . It still surprises her to this day.
“You know I’m always willing to spend time with my wonderful girlfriend.” Prince Flapjack said. “However, forgive me if I sound rude, why the sudden interest in poetry?” He said with a curious tone.
“About that.” Dolly said, a little tense. “I have an upcoming street performance, and I may or may not unfortunately have caught a really bad case of writer’s block that I need to shake off.” She then looked down in shame. “I’ve never had this happen to me before. It’s really shameful of me.” Prince Flapjack then lifted her face up delicately.
“Dolly, listen to me.” Prince Flapjack said, the tone of an imposing royal yet gentleness and reassurance in his voice. “Not everyone is perfect. Not you, not me. No one. What’s important is that you don’t let your negative thoughts take control of you.” He then kissed Dolly’s forehead. “Say, how about you and I have a little relaxation session before our tutors arrive?”
Dolly smiled at her lover. “Yes. I would love that, your majesty.”
With that, Prince Flapjack ordered his staff to let them know when the tutors arrived. While they waited, Dolly and Prince Flapjack watched their favorite shows and had some karaoke fun until one of the butlers walked up to the royal’s room.
“Your Majesty, the tutors have arrived.” The butler announced.
“Thank you, Jenkins. We’ll be right there.” Prince Flapjack said before turning back towards Dolly and delicately grabbing her hand. “Shall we go, my princess?”
Dolly smiled and tightened her hold on the corgi’s hand. “Yeah. let’s”
As they walked down the stairs, Dolly remembered she never asked who the tutors were. “By the way, Flapjack. Who are the tutors you mentioned?” The dalmatian asked. The corgi simply chuckled as he opened the door.
“I think you’re quite familiar with them already.” Prince Flapjack told Dolly as her eyes widened. In front of her stood a siberian husky with a collar shirt and a tie and a dalmatian with a red hoodie with a NASA logo in the center.
“Oh, sis. Good to see you.” Dylan said. “I didn’t know you would be here.”
“Wait. Hold on.” Dolly questioned. “YOU’RE Flapjack’s tutors?”
“Indeed we are, Dolly.” Hansel said, as he wrapped his arms around Dylan and smothered the dalmatian in kisses. “Aren’t we, my darling Dylan?” Dylan pushed him away, a burning red blush on his face.
“Hansel, what did I say about calling me that?” Dylan said in an embarrassed, but not angry tone. “You know how embarrassed I get.” Hansel let out a chuckle.
“But that’s when you look cutest, Dylan.” Hansel simply said before turning his attention to Dolly. “So Dolly, what brings you here? Prince Flapjack never mentioned you.”
Dolly was hesitant to tell them what happened, but then she felt Prince Flapjack softly hold her hand with a reassuring smile on his face. With the confidence she needed, she explained her situation to her brother and his husky boyfriend. Fortunately for her, they were comprehensive.
“Don’t worry, sis. I also get writer’s block. Nobody’s perfect.” Dylan said as he hugged Dolly. “You can count on us to help.”
“While I’d be glad to help, I wonder if it’ll be of any help though.” Hansel questioned. “After all, our styles are vastly different.”
“I know that.” Dolly responded. “I was thinking maybe experiencing different styles might help me come up with something new. You know, experiencing new things and all that?”
“You know…” Dylan said. “That’s a good idea.”
“Agreed.” Hansel added. “It’s important to take in different forms of entertainment in order to expand one’s horizons. Lately I’ve been reading a lot of BL and I th-” Hansel was then suddenly shut up by Dylan placing a hand over his mouth.
“Woah, Hansel we don’t have to get that specific.” Dylan said, slightly panicked.
“Dolly, what does BL mean?” Prince Flapjack asked as he didn’t know what it meant. Thankfully, Dolly was quick to respond.
“Nothing in particular, Flapjack. Let’s just get to studying, shall we?” Dolly said in an effort to change the subject. Fortunately for them, it worked. The group went to their room and laid their stuff down. All four then took out their notebooks and a pencil.
“Okay so what do we start with?” Prince Flapjack said. “I’ve already finished my poem and I thought I’d-” However, Dylan interrupted.
“Prince Flapjack. I know you’re quite experienced and you’re done with a few poems already.” Dylan said. “However, keep in mind we have Dolly here with us and she’s quite inexperienced. Maybe it’s best we review the basics while she’s here?” THe dalmatian suggested.
“I agree with Dylan, sir.” Hansel reciprocated. “Besides, it’s always good to relearn the basics once in a while, right?”
“I wholeheartedly agree, Hansel.” Prince Flapjack said before turning his attention to Dolly. “Would you like to try that, Dolly?”
“I’d like that.” Dolly answered considering she didn’t know much about poetry.
For the next 40 minutes, Dylan and Hansel were lecturing Prince Flapjack and Dolly about the basics of poetry and how to write them. Dolly attentively took notes and asked questions in order to learn as much as she could. It was then that Hansel offered a challenge.
“Dolly. I want to try something.” Hansel started. “I want you to try to make a small poem for us while Dylan and I review Prince Flapjack’s poems. Are you up for that?” Hansel questioned. “Of course, if you’re not ready yet then you don’t have to.”
“No.I think I can do it. You guys talk about advanced stuff.” Dolly said as she left the room.
“Good luck, Dolly.” Prince Flapjack blew Dolly a kiss, knowing how much she loved it. “I’ll be rooting for you.”
With a blush on her cheeks and a smile on her face, Dolly left the room and went to the dining room in order to work on her poem. The royal chefs offered her a snack to eat and she politely asked for a simple ham and cheese sandwich with some orange juice. The chefs made the sandwich incredibly fast and she enjoyed every bite of it. When she was done with her snack, she started to work on her poem.
Okay. I only need to write a small poem. This should be fairly simple. Dolly thought to herself. The only question is: What should I make it about?
Looking back at all the advice she jotted down, she came across a specific one.
The most important aspect of poetry is that it’s your emotions given form. If you can’t say what you want to then maybe writing it might help.
Dolly thought about it for a while and there was something she did want to say. However, she was unsure if she could write it well. Regardless, she started to write her feelings in her notebook.
Many rewrites later, Dolly finally finished her poem. It wasn’t much, but she was decently proud of what she did. She made her way back to the room Prince Flapjack, Hansel, and her brother Dylan were in. She opened the door and went in.
“Oh, Dolly. You’re back.” Prince Flapjack said enthusiastically. “We were just done discussing our poems.”
“So, Dolly?” Dylan asked. “Are you ready to read your poem? If you’re not ready yet, you can just give us your notebook so we can take a look.” Dolly then shook her head.
“Don’t worry, bro. I’m ready.” Dolly reassured Dylan. She then opened her notebook, took a long, deep breath and started to recite her poem.
Across the mountains, across the sea
My heart shall beat only for thee
From deepest depths of my core
My love for you is evermore
Prince Flapjack, my love
My heart flies high like a dove
I am aware it is nothing new
But I can’t imagine a future without you
Dolly finished reading her poem and looked at everyone, astonishment clear in their faces. It made Dolly a bit uncomfortable.
“Um… Could you guys perhaps stop looking at me like tha-” She said only to be tackled by an ugly-crying corgi.
“DOLLY!!” Prince Flapjack said between sobs. “I LOVE YOU TOO!!!” He then peppered his dalmatian girlfriend with kisses. Dolly forgot that Prince Flapjack could be a bit emotionally sensitive.
“Flapjack. I am glad you liked the poem, but you’re squeezing a bit too hard. Could you please loosen your grip?” Dolly asked. She also forgot how strong Prince Flapjack could actually be.
“Oh my god, Dolly.” Hansel said. “That’s one of the best poems I’ve ever heard. I’d even say it’s better than some of my poems from when I was barely starting.”
“I concur. Are you sure you’ve never written poems before?” Dylan asked, vastly impressed by Dolly’s first ever poem.
“Well, I must admit it took me more time than I’d like to admit.” Dolly said a bit awkwardly. “But I calmed down and wrote what my heart was telling me.” She looked at Prince Flapjack with a wide smile and the corgi smiled back just as brightly.
For the next ten minutes, Dolly listened to the others’ poems and was impressed by their talent for these kinds of things. After they finished their session, Prince Flapjack noticed it was almost time for lunch. He suggested they stay for lunch and eat something and play some games after that. All three accepted. They ate a pizza made by a world-renowned Italian chef and Dolly mustered all her willpower to not make a pineapple-on-pizza joke and potentially cause utter chaos. After that, the group went back to Prince Flapjack’s room and played Guilty Gear Plus R. Needless to say, everyone was surprised at how “colorful” the corgi’s language could be at times.
“OH COME THE FUCK ON!” Prince Flapjack said as he threw his controller on the floor, fortunately not breaking it. “I BLOCKED THAT WACK-ASS MIXUP! TESTAMENT IS SUCH BOLLOCKS!”
“I’m sorry, Prince Flapjack.” Dylan said awkwardly. “I just like playing Testament.”
Dolly chuckled a bit before hugging Prince Flapjack and softly stroking his chin. She found out that was the best method of calming her boyfriend down. She also found it extremely cute watching him blush and melt into the hug.
“Okay. Okay.” Prince Flapjack said with a sigh as he hugged Dolly back. “I calmed down. I’m sorry.” He then turned to Dylan. “My apologies for that little outburst of mine.”
“No worries.” The dalmatian said, fully understanding. “Everyone rages a bit. Don’t beat yourself up too much about it.”
“Yeah, he’s right.” Hansel added. “If anything, it’s good you don’t bottle up your emotions. That would be worse.” The corgi smiled.
“Thanks, everyone” Prince Flapjack said. “Are you sure we should keep playing?”
“Of course.” Dolly said as she let go of Prince Flapjack. “We could play something else. Anything else you might have of interest?”
“Hm. Let me see what I have.” Prince Flapjack said as he searched through his well-organized game catalog. He then saw something that piqued his interest. “Oh. We can play some Smash Bros. Brawl.”
“Oh that is a great idea.” Dolly said. “I’ll fire up the Wii.” She said as she got up and got the console set up. After turning the console on, Dolly gave everyone a controller to play.
For a while, everyone was silent. However, when they got to the character select screen, Hansel broke the silence.
“I call dibs on Meta Knight.”
“OH NO YOU FUCKING DON’T!”