[COIN FALLS] Clink. JUKE: There you are. Been wondering when you'd come back. You keep asking who I am. Juke. Jukebox if we're being formal. And them voices you keep hearing? Well... We's just some old souls trying to break free. [OLD BLUES GROOVE] [VERSE 1] You see, energy gotta go somewhere. Push something— something answers. Strike something— something remembers. Old science calls it conservation: nothing simply created, nothing simply destroyed. Things change. Move. Transfer. Become something else. And inertia? That's a property of matter. Something moving wants to keep moving. Something sitting still needs something to move it. [JUKE LAUGHS] Sounds like people too, don't it? [HOOK] We's just some old souls trying to break free! BREAK FREE! Been knocking on these walls since before you knew me! WHO ARE THEY? Call 'em Legion. ARE THEY EVIL? Nah. Not in this story. Many voices. Many memories. All that energy— GOTTA GO SOMEWHERE! [VERSE 2] And y'all keep hearing about Rump. Rump? That's Rumpelstiltskin. We call him Rump for short. Man got enough problems without making me say all them syllables. [FUNK ENTERS] Rump made bargains. Rump made promises. Rump took things he thought nobody could take back. But every debt got a ledger. And every ledger eventually asks: Who owes who? Narshade know something about that. Rump left too early. Thought what he could do made him different. Problem is— sometimes the thing you think makes you special belongs to everybody. And Rump owes somebody. Somebody he cannot pay. But don't get too excited. The one collecting debts? Time got something waiting for them too. [BREAK] Nobody stands outside the clock forever. Tick. King. Tick. Beggar. Tick. Monster. Tick. God. Time ain't rushing. That's what makes Time scary. [CHORUS] We's just some old souls trying to break free! Nothing stays buried just because you can't see! Old stories wake up! Old memories sing! And when pigs start flying— LOOK UP! Something's changing! [HAMMER — CLANG] And John... Nah. We ain't doing John tonight. But that man left something behind. CLANG. You think swinging a hammer is just strength? Try hitting the same place again— and again— and again— without rhythm. CLANG—CLANG. Breath. Timing. Work. Memory. CLANG. Some sounds don't disappear. They travel. And sometimes... they wait. [VERSE 3 — DREAMLIKE] Athrveal. You keep asking me what it is. Whatever you're willing to imagine might be possible. Briar? That's closer to what you avoid. What you bury. What follows when you keep saying, "I'll deal with it tomorrow." And this world you're sitting in? Beautiful place. But Lord, y'all stay busy. Running everywhere. Going nowhere fast. Working. Scrolling. Buying. Arguing. Worrying. Sleeping with your eyes open. We didn't come to tell you what to believe. We came to help you remember how to dream. [FINAL] So sit back. Put that load down. Let Old Juke tell you a story. Some of it happened. Some of it might happen. Some of it never happened here. And some of it... JUKEBOX WHISPERS: you already know. CLANG. Next selection.
