Ten themes of Beat and Rhyme
001. Beginnings
“It’s nice to meet you, Beat,” she said with a pleasant smile. She held out her hand in greeting, tilting her head a bit to the side out of habit. “I’m Rhyme. I’m sure we’ll be great partners. Please take care of me!”
Despite the sharp pain shooting though his heart, he gulped loudly before nodding and shaking her hand. “Back at’cha,” he forced out, drawing a blank at anything else to say in reply. He bit his lip as his sister turned and began skipping away. “Let’s do our best, okay?” she called back.
He awkwardly nodded, putting his feet into motion to catch up. “Y-You got it!”
002. Middles
“Beat, that was really stupid, you know?”
Beat gave a small, half-hearted laugh. “Yeah, yeah, don’t lay-off the preachin’ or nuthin’, like I ain’t feelin’ lousy enough already…” he muttered half-heartedly. He let out the rest of his exhausted breath and slowly tried to breathe in, failing miserably as he shuttered with pain. He let out a hiss before forcing the breath out of his body and trying again. He felt Rhyme stop, giving him a chance to try and recover for the moment. She held the arm slung around her shoulders a little tighter as he felt his knees start to give a little.
“Mom told you to stop getting stuck in the middle of things, Beat,” Rhyme continued to scold, wincing as her brother spat some blood on the ground beside them.
Beat chuckled, shrugging his shoulders a bit and wincing immediately afterward. Yeah, he confirmed, that still hurt. “Better me th’n you…” he said, so sure of his reasons that Rhyme almost didn’t want to contradict. “Those punks…think’n they’re good ‘nough to mess wit’ my sista…wait’ll I get my hands on ‘em, they’ll think twice before breathin in yo’…” he paused, letting a small ‘uhh’ escape as his mind drew a blank.
“…Direction?”
“Tha’s the one…” he muttered again before attempting a step forward. Rhyme sighed, stepping beside him. Only sixteen blocks until home.
003. Ends
“Beat…”
Hearing the soft, pained voice made him force his eyes open. His vision was blurry, but he could make out the orange and red puddle in front of him, and knew with dread that the voice had come from there. He tried to call out to it, but he couldn’t muster up the energy to find his throat…he couldn’t even feel it. In fact he couldn’t feel anything in his body…did he have a body? He tried to ask, but trying to find his voice took more energy that he had. He stared ahead, squinting to try and focus on the form in front of him. He stared and stared until yellow and blue spots became apparent, barely sharpening as he felt his eyebrows furrow (well, at least he had eyebrows…)
“Beat…” his sister’s voice whispered from the form in front of him. “I…” he heard a shaky breath being taken, and something wet began falling on his fingers (Huh…he had fingers, too…Come to think of it, what were they doing near Rhyme?). “I’m sorry,” she whispered, a painful choke soon following.
If Beat could find his mouth, he would’ve frowned. “S’not yo’ fault…” he tried to say. Because it wasn’t Rhyme’s fault…he couldn’t think of what, his head was fuzzy...but he knew it wasn’t her fault. It was never Rhyme’s fault…she never did nothin’…
He could hear something vaguely resembling…a siren? Maybe? But it sounded pretty far away…he tried to reach for Rhyme, tried to tell her it was okay, but he was so tired…His vision blurred again, taking his sister back out of focus…maybe he could sleep it off. He didn’t even feel his eyes close as he drifted off to sleep.
He’d tell her in the morning.
004. Insides
Beat didn’t understand Rhyme’s obsession (or, in Rhyme’s words, “Curiosity”, a word one-too many syllables for his dictionary) with Lapin Angelique. He’d been inside the store with her enough to know which racks had the best quality and which were just hot glue and lace, and that to him was a scary thing. Honestly, the dark, dreary walls of the store weren’t Rhyme-like at all.
The store with Jupiter of the Monkey gear was brighter and the stuff was more comfortable. What was wrong with that? He’d asked Rhyme, and she’d said something about brand names. He’d blinked and looked at her like she’d grown another foot. Since when did she care about brand names? She’d just giggled and attached a mini-hat to his head.
Girls…
005. Outsides
Rhyme sighed as let her toes tangle above the mulch. The bell for Recess had already rung, but she didn’t want to go back inside yet. Kousuke had thrown paint at her during art, and everybody had laughed at her. Then he got yelled had, and he didn’t let Rhyme play tag because she’d gotten him in trouble (It wasn’t like it was her fault. Her favorite shirt was all covered in orange paint now, so of course she had to tell Mrs. Yashiro!). So she’d sat on the swing all recess, and no one had come to play with her. She let her hair fall in front of her eyes and sniffled.
All of a sudden, she felt a pair of hands push against her back and move the swing. She looked up as she swung back and felt the same pair of hands propel her forward again. Careful to hold onto the chains, she looked back behind her to see a familiar mop of messy blond hair.
“Didn’t your recess just end?” Beat asked as he pushed her forward again, sending her higher. Rhyme blinked, before seeing a small group of fourth-graders walk behind her brother to reach the monkey bars. Her brother’s class had just been let out.
“…don’t tell, okay Dai-kun?” she finally said, scared she would get in trouble.
She didn’t get a reply, just a “Hold on tight!” as Beat pushed her and ran under the swing. Rhyme squealed in delight as her toes brushed the leaves above the swing set.
006. Hours
“Beat…”
“One more round, ‘kay sis? Tha’s it, I promise!”
Rhyme sighed. “That’s what you said seven rounds ago,” she chided, quickly choosing her character on the screen in front of them.
“Yeah, but this time I mean it, yo!” he assured as he picked a giant lizard with brass knuckles to fight for him. “I’m totally gonna squash you this time, yo, you wait ‘n’ see!”
“Okay, Beat…” Rhyme murmured, unconvinced as she selected her tiny gypsy-like character. Seeing them stand next to each other on the TV screen was almost comical.
The screen blinked with color before a countdown started and the battle began. The siblings instantly began punching combinations onto their controllers. Beat’s shoulders hunched out of habit as he frantically moved the controller at every angle imaginable, as if it would somehow give him an advantage. Rhyme, on the other hand, sat cross-legged with the controller in her lap, her shoulders relaxed as her older brother let out one curse and taunt after another.
Much to his disappointment, Rhyme had whittled down his HP and executed her finishing combo in practically nothing flat.
“What the hell?!” he practically whined as Rhyme’s character threw his giant lizard out of the arena. “I totally had you!”
Rhyme let out a loud yawn and rubbed one of her heavy eyes. “Beat, we’ve been playing for four hours, can we please go to bed now?”
“Don’t wuss out now, man!” he shot back, quickly running through the menus to pick another character. “I’m gonna get you this time for sure…”
“But Beat, I already-”
“A win’s a win, sis, now c’mon!” he said, anxiously forming strategies (if you could call them that) in his head. Rhyme sighed, yawning once more before picking another character.
007. Days
“…Only three days, man…” he muttered to himself, dangling the bell in front of his face. He slouched on the floor in the back corner of Wildkat, staring with empty eyes at the memento his sister had unintentionally left behind. A breeze came by as a customer left the shop, causing a small jingle to sound in front of him. “…I couldn’t even do that, yo…”
He hiccupped before he could stop himself, and moved his arm to cover his face in case anyone was to talk by.
008. Weeks
“Happy birthday, yo!”
Rhyme blinked as the dull-colored present was placed in her hands. Newspaper had been attached rather messily around something that…well, it could have been a box…between the built-up masking tape and tears in the sports section, it was a bit hard to tell its exact shape. She almost smiled at the pink ribbon that was tied in a knot at the top (a bow would be a little too high an expectation), but her brow was crinkled in confusion.
She looked up at her brother, who seemed extremely proud of his accomplishment. “…Beat…” she said softly. “My birthday is next week…”
…
…
…
“UWAAAGH, you fo’ real!?!”
She let out a small sigh as the almost smug expression dropped from his face like a rock.
009. Months
“You don’ okay, right sis?”
“Yes, Beat, I’m fine.”
“You sure? Those kids bein’ nice to you? Them councilors ‘r’ givin’ you ‘nough to eat, right? I gotta come up there ‘n’ rough anybody up for ya? ‘Cause I will, yo, you jus’ say the word, ‘n’ I’ll-”
“Beat, I’m fine, I promise,” Rhyme assured, smiling against the mouthpiece of the phone. “It’s only another month, I’ll be fine. Besides, we get to go home and visit next weekend, I’ll see you then, okay?”
A sigh made its way through the speaker. “Yeah, I hear ya,” her brother muttered in defeat. “Miss ya.”
“You too,” Rhyme replied with a smile her brother could probably hear on the other end. “I have to go, we’re going canoeing in the lake. I’ll call you tomorrow, ‘kay?”
“…A’ight. Have fun, yo.”
“Thanks, Beat.”
“’n’ Rhyme?”
“Yeah?”
“You kick those other wimp’s asses at canoeing, ‘kay?”
Rhyme giggled when she heard a loud “Daisukenojo!” shouted in the background, followed by a list of Beat’s horrible attempts at keeping out of trouble. “Bye, Beat. Say hi to mom, okay?” She vaguely heard a ‘don’t-you-use-that-tone-in-this-house’ lecture begin and hung up the camp phone, skipping off to join her fellow campers.
010. Years
It had been three years since they’d won the game.
Beat still didn’t let her walk across the street without holding his hand.
Judging by the set expression of his jaw, she vaguely wondered if he ever would…
Well, there you go ^^ Hope you enjoyed...I figure I'd to 10 at a time, just to do it...hope this isn't too much of a TL;DR haha.
Miss everybody already ;)
“It’s nice to meet you, Beat,” she said with a pleasant smile. She held out her hand in greeting, tilting her head a bit to the side out of habit. “I’m Rhyme. I’m sure we’ll be great partners. Please take care of me!”
Despite the sharp pain shooting though his heart, he gulped loudly before nodding and shaking her hand. “Back at’cha,” he forced out, drawing a blank at anything else to say in reply. He bit his lip as his sister turned and began skipping away. “Let’s do our best, okay?” she called back.
He awkwardly nodded, putting his feet into motion to catch up. “Y-You got it!”
002. Middles
“Beat, that was really stupid, you know?”
Beat gave a small, half-hearted laugh. “Yeah, yeah, don’t lay-off the preachin’ or nuthin’, like I ain’t feelin’ lousy enough already…” he muttered half-heartedly. He let out the rest of his exhausted breath and slowly tried to breathe in, failing miserably as he shuttered with pain. He let out a hiss before forcing the breath out of his body and trying again. He felt Rhyme stop, giving him a chance to try and recover for the moment. She held the arm slung around her shoulders a little tighter as he felt his knees start to give a little.
“Mom told you to stop getting stuck in the middle of things, Beat,” Rhyme continued to scold, wincing as her brother spat some blood on the ground beside them.
Beat chuckled, shrugging his shoulders a bit and wincing immediately afterward. Yeah, he confirmed, that still hurt. “Better me th’n you…” he said, so sure of his reasons that Rhyme almost didn’t want to contradict. “Those punks…think’n they’re good ‘nough to mess wit’ my sista…wait’ll I get my hands on ‘em, they’ll think twice before breathin in yo’…” he paused, letting a small ‘uhh’ escape as his mind drew a blank.
“…Direction?”
“Tha’s the one…” he muttered again before attempting a step forward. Rhyme sighed, stepping beside him. Only sixteen blocks until home.
003. Ends
“Beat…”
Hearing the soft, pained voice made him force his eyes open. His vision was blurry, but he could make out the orange and red puddle in front of him, and knew with dread that the voice had come from there. He tried to call out to it, but he couldn’t muster up the energy to find his throat…he couldn’t even feel it. In fact he couldn’t feel anything in his body…did he have a body? He tried to ask, but trying to find his voice took more energy that he had. He stared ahead, squinting to try and focus on the form in front of him. He stared and stared until yellow and blue spots became apparent, barely sharpening as he felt his eyebrows furrow (well, at least he had eyebrows…)
“Beat…” his sister’s voice whispered from the form in front of him. “I…” he heard a shaky breath being taken, and something wet began falling on his fingers (Huh…he had fingers, too…Come to think of it, what were they doing near Rhyme?). “I’m sorry,” she whispered, a painful choke soon following.
If Beat could find his mouth, he would’ve frowned. “S’not yo’ fault…” he tried to say. Because it wasn’t Rhyme’s fault…he couldn’t think of what, his head was fuzzy...but he knew it wasn’t her fault. It was never Rhyme’s fault…she never did nothin’…
He could hear something vaguely resembling…a siren? Maybe? But it sounded pretty far away…he tried to reach for Rhyme, tried to tell her it was okay, but he was so tired…His vision blurred again, taking his sister back out of focus…maybe he could sleep it off. He didn’t even feel his eyes close as he drifted off to sleep.
He’d tell her in the morning.
004. Insides
Beat didn’t understand Rhyme’s obsession (or, in Rhyme’s words, “Curiosity”, a word one-too many syllables for his dictionary) with Lapin Angelique. He’d been inside the store with her enough to know which racks had the best quality and which were just hot glue and lace, and that to him was a scary thing. Honestly, the dark, dreary walls of the store weren’t Rhyme-like at all.
The store with Jupiter of the Monkey gear was brighter and the stuff was more comfortable. What was wrong with that? He’d asked Rhyme, and she’d said something about brand names. He’d blinked and looked at her like she’d grown another foot. Since when did she care about brand names? She’d just giggled and attached a mini-hat to his head.
Girls…
005. Outsides
Rhyme sighed as let her toes tangle above the mulch. The bell for Recess had already rung, but she didn’t want to go back inside yet. Kousuke had thrown paint at her during art, and everybody had laughed at her. Then he got yelled had, and he didn’t let Rhyme play tag because she’d gotten him in trouble (It wasn’t like it was her fault. Her favorite shirt was all covered in orange paint now, so of course she had to tell Mrs. Yashiro!). So she’d sat on the swing all recess, and no one had come to play with her. She let her hair fall in front of her eyes and sniffled.
All of a sudden, she felt a pair of hands push against her back and move the swing. She looked up as she swung back and felt the same pair of hands propel her forward again. Careful to hold onto the chains, she looked back behind her to see a familiar mop of messy blond hair.
“Didn’t your recess just end?” Beat asked as he pushed her forward again, sending her higher. Rhyme blinked, before seeing a small group of fourth-graders walk behind her brother to reach the monkey bars. Her brother’s class had just been let out.
“…don’t tell, okay Dai-kun?” she finally said, scared she would get in trouble.
She didn’t get a reply, just a “Hold on tight!” as Beat pushed her and ran under the swing. Rhyme squealed in delight as her toes brushed the leaves above the swing set.
006. Hours
“Beat…”
“One more round, ‘kay sis? Tha’s it, I promise!”
Rhyme sighed. “That’s what you said seven rounds ago,” she chided, quickly choosing her character on the screen in front of them.
“Yeah, but this time I mean it, yo!” he assured as he picked a giant lizard with brass knuckles to fight for him. “I’m totally gonna squash you this time, yo, you wait ‘n’ see!”
“Okay, Beat…” Rhyme murmured, unconvinced as she selected her tiny gypsy-like character. Seeing them stand next to each other on the TV screen was almost comical.
The screen blinked with color before a countdown started and the battle began. The siblings instantly began punching combinations onto their controllers. Beat’s shoulders hunched out of habit as he frantically moved the controller at every angle imaginable, as if it would somehow give him an advantage. Rhyme, on the other hand, sat cross-legged with the controller in her lap, her shoulders relaxed as her older brother let out one curse and taunt after another.
Much to his disappointment, Rhyme had whittled down his HP and executed her finishing combo in practically nothing flat.
“What the hell?!” he practically whined as Rhyme’s character threw his giant lizard out of the arena. “I totally had you!”
Rhyme let out a loud yawn and rubbed one of her heavy eyes. “Beat, we’ve been playing for four hours, can we please go to bed now?”
“Don’t wuss out now, man!” he shot back, quickly running through the menus to pick another character. “I’m gonna get you this time for sure…”
“But Beat, I already-”
“A win’s a win, sis, now c’mon!” he said, anxiously forming strategies (if you could call them that) in his head. Rhyme sighed, yawning once more before picking another character.
007. Days
“…Only three days, man…” he muttered to himself, dangling the bell in front of his face. He slouched on the floor in the back corner of Wildkat, staring with empty eyes at the memento his sister had unintentionally left behind. A breeze came by as a customer left the shop, causing a small jingle to sound in front of him. “…I couldn’t even do that, yo…”
He hiccupped before he could stop himself, and moved his arm to cover his face in case anyone was to talk by.
008. Weeks
“Happy birthday, yo!”
Rhyme blinked as the dull-colored present was placed in her hands. Newspaper had been attached rather messily around something that…well, it could have been a box…between the built-up masking tape and tears in the sports section, it was a bit hard to tell its exact shape. She almost smiled at the pink ribbon that was tied in a knot at the top (a bow would be a little too high an expectation), but her brow was crinkled in confusion.
She looked up at her brother, who seemed extremely proud of his accomplishment. “…Beat…” she said softly. “My birthday is next week…”
…
…
…
“UWAAAGH, you fo’ real!?!”
She let out a small sigh as the almost smug expression dropped from his face like a rock.
009. Months
“You don’ okay, right sis?”
“Yes, Beat, I’m fine.”
“You sure? Those kids bein’ nice to you? Them councilors ‘r’ givin’ you ‘nough to eat, right? I gotta come up there ‘n’ rough anybody up for ya? ‘Cause I will, yo, you jus’ say the word, ‘n’ I’ll-”
“Beat, I’m fine, I promise,” Rhyme assured, smiling against the mouthpiece of the phone. “It’s only another month, I’ll be fine. Besides, we get to go home and visit next weekend, I’ll see you then, okay?”
A sigh made its way through the speaker. “Yeah, I hear ya,” her brother muttered in defeat. “Miss ya.”
“You too,” Rhyme replied with a smile her brother could probably hear on the other end. “I have to go, we’re going canoeing in the lake. I’ll call you tomorrow, ‘kay?”
“…A’ight. Have fun, yo.”
“Thanks, Beat.”
“’n’ Rhyme?”
“Yeah?”
“You kick those other wimp’s asses at canoeing, ‘kay?”
Rhyme giggled when she heard a loud “Daisukenojo!” shouted in the background, followed by a list of Beat’s horrible attempts at keeping out of trouble. “Bye, Beat. Say hi to mom, okay?” She vaguely heard a ‘don’t-you-use-that-tone-in-this-house’ lecture begin and hung up the camp phone, skipping off to join her fellow campers.
010. Years
It had been three years since they’d won the game.
Beat still didn’t let her walk across the street without holding his hand.
Judging by the set expression of his jaw, she vaguely wondered if he ever would…
Well, there you go ^^ Hope you enjoyed...I figure I'd to 10 at a time, just to do it...hope this isn't too much of a TL;DR haha.
Miss everybody already ;)