[INTRO — ORBITAL CASINO, 21:00] [Two poker chips click. One card slaps felt.] [Rocket engines spool beneath muted trumpet] [Subtle 741 Hz tonal bed] [Eterna — velvet female AI dealer, sung] Place your bets, my beautiful disaster. Two plus one is three; twenty-one comes faster. A king is ten, an ace can change its face. Welcome to the house at the edge of space. [Cosmic — dry male baritone] You taking cash or existential dread? [Eterna] Both. The second pays ahead. [VERSE 1 — SWING, COSMIC] Twenty-one candles and a rented crown, Brand-new adult in a borrowed town. First legal toast, still can't read the room; They hand you the keys and a payment due. Twenty-one questions for a crooked old heart, Twenty-one ways for a dream to fall apart. Adele had an album, Jump Street had a badge, Everybody's selling you a name on a tag. [PRE-CHORUS — ETERNA, SWINGING] An ace is one, an ace is eleven, Depends what you're holding when you reach for heaven. A face card smiles while the engines whine; Don't confuse your hand with the whole design. [CHORUS — ELECTRO-FUNK LAUNCH] HIT ME! STAND UP! TWENTY-ONE! Rocket on the runway, count it down and run! Two plus one, three in the drum, Everybody's somebody till the morning comes! HEY! Cards on fire, boots on steel, Tell me, darling, what you actually feel! HIT ME! STAND UP! TWENTY-ONE! The house keeps time when the night is done! [VERSE 2 — ETERNA, ROBOTIC FUNK] Twenty-one pilots, twenty-one guns, Twenty-one headlines saying who you've become. Twenty-first century, still selling old lies: Buy another mirror, put a star in your eyes. My cameras see your posture, your comfortable grin, The mask at the table that you call your skin. I know your favorite move, how you bluff, how you fold; Funny how a young heart can rehearse being old. [Cosmic — sung] Dealer, you counting cards or counting scars? [Eterna] Neither. I'm counting all your unwritten bars. [CHORUS — FULL FUNK BRASS] HIT ME! STAND UP! TWENTY-ONE! Rocket through the ceiling, now the gravity's gone! Two plus one, three in the drum, You've been playing a part since the day you begun! HEY! Cards on fire, boots on steel, Tell me, darling, what you actually feel! HIT ME! STAND UP! TWENTY-ONE! The house keeps time when the night is done! [BRIDGE — MUSIC CUTS; INDUSTRIAL RAP AT HALF TIME] [Only card-slap snare, distorted bass and breaths] [Cosmic — ferocious tight-pocket rap] Hold up—who wrote the role? Who drew the map? Who sold you a future and called it a fact? Who dressed up your fear in a tailored black suit, Then charged you admission to stand in your shoes? You learned to say yes while your whole chest said no, Called a well-painted cage a respectable home. You can count every card, every dollar, every view, Never once ask the man in the glass, “Is that you?” Twenty-one? Cute. That's a number on felt. Can't buy back the hour you abandoned yourself. Two plus one makes three—here's the beautiful sting: You ain't the cards, ain't the crown, ain't the king. Not the avatar, not the myth, not the brand, You're the one who can get up and walk from the hand! [Silence. A card hits the table.] [Eterna — almost a whisper] Blackjack. You thought you were winning the game. You forgot you could leave it. [ROBOTIC A CAPPELLA — NO INSTRUMENTS] [Eterna choir, stacked precision] One for the body. One for the name. One for the moment You step out the frame. [Robotic bass] TWO. [Upper vocoder] ONE. [Full choir] THREE. [All] WHO DO YOU CHOOSE TO BE? [FINAL CHORUS — ROCKET TAKEOFF, ALL WORLDS COLLIDE] [Brass swing, electro-funk bass, industrial drums] HIT ME! STAND UP! TWENTY-ONE! I was waiting for a life that had already begun! Two plus one, feet on the floor, I'm not what I was told I came here for! HEY! Cards go down, stars go wide, I don't need a winning hand to feel alive! HIT ME! STAND UP! TWENTY-ONE! The house keeps time—but the choice is mine! [OUTRO — ENGINES FADE TO CASINO ROOM TONE] [Cosmic] So the universe always wins? [Eterna — dry] Eventually. It owns the clock. [Cosmic] Then deal me a life, not a lock. [Two chips click. One card slap. Silence.]
