THE RELUCTANT BOBS

Lyrics

[Intro — distant voice chat, low machinery, solitary guitar] They called it survival. Maybe that was the first mistake. Max and Moe— two names behind two names: Krayleos and Lumpy Pooterboots. The world said, “Become the danger before the danger becomes you.” We said, “Let’s see what happens if we don’t.” [Verse 1] We woke up naked on a hostile shore, Stone in our hands, heard a distant roar, No law but hunger, no judge but force, Every frightened tribe on the same old course. Wood became walls, walls became fear, Fear made a weapon, then kept it near, Metal meant progress, progress meant guns, Guns meant somebody would eventually come. So we stayed small where the tall grass grew, Picked berries and fiber like fools would do, Max said, “We could rule this place alone.” Moe said, “Brother, I just want to get home.” Every fortress had a reason to rise, Every rifle was peace in its owner’s eyes, Every neighbor armed because the neighbor armed— Everybody defending, everybody harmed. [Pre-Chorus] We thought we were learning how kingdoms survive, But we were watching what keeps fear alive. Build enough walls and you’ll never be free— You’ll spend your whole life guarding what you used to need. [Chorus] We were the Reluctant Bobs, Living beneath the guns, Watching little kings become What they were hiding from. They said, “Conquer or be conquered. That’s the law beneath the sun.” But no game could make us bad men Just to prove that we had won. Max and Moe on a hostile shore, Trying not to feed the machine, While the whole world called it weakness To remain what we had been. [Verse 2] The alphas slept while the young hands fed Every infant monster beside the bed, Ten days growing what a child maintained, Human hours hidden in a creature’s name. Meat in the troughs, ammunition stacked, Every beast represented a life they couldn’t get back, Kids in the Discord, waiting for war, Hoping that killing might open the door. You needed a name if you wanted inside, A history of bodies, a talent for raids, Hop to a server, erase what it made— Thousands of hours gone before daybreak. And somewhere above them, nobody knew Who first gave the order or whether it was true, The founders moved on, but the banner remained, New hands inherited the old campaign. Faction was feared like a beast in the night, But pull back the curtain—just children online, Repeating the customs that power preserved, Becoming the monsters they thought the world deserved. [Pre-Chorus] The throne had no master, the system had needs: More hands for the harvest, more mouths for the creed. When fear wears a crown and calls labor its own, Even the king is a slave to the throne. [Chorus] We were the Reluctant Bobs, Living beneath the guns, Watching little kings become What they were hiding from. They said, “Conquer or be conquered. That’s the law beneath the sun.” But no game could make us bad men Just to prove that we had won. Max and Moe on a hostile shore, Trying not to feed the machine, While the whole world called it weakness To remain what we had been. [Verse 3 — beat hardens] I was frightened to make metal tools, Thinking power would notice what the powerless do, One rifle cost more hours than the trigger deserved, One death took everything the labor had earned. And I couldn’t see well in the chaos anyway, Combat moved like mud while the screen turned gray, If it fought like Battlefield, maybe I’d defend, But I wouldn’t grind all night just to lose it again. So I gathered fiber no empire required, Picked useless berries while the war drums fired, Sometimes I stopped watching, let the motion repeat, Thinking of the stars while the world fought beneath. Galaxies turning beyond tribe and name, Beyond every server and territorial claim, While men built forever from things that decay— Then destroyed someone’s month in an afternoon raid. “It’s therapeutic,” I said with a laugh, While dinosaurs guarded the imperial path. A fool in the garden, no medals, no rank— Too busy considering creation to command a tank. [Bridge — stripped to piano, guitar and heartbeat] What if strength is refusing What fear says you must become? What if safety isn’t having The most ammunition? What if all that we possess Begins possessing us? What if winning means escaping What the winners call success? We met one of the monsters. He spoke to us like a man. He carried names from vanished kings And helped us understand: The faces change. The banners stay. The frightened teach the young their ways. And every generation says, “We arm ourselves so peace remains.” [Verse 4 — real world enters] Then Max and Moe went quiet, Because the screen became a glass: We had seen this same arrangement In the empires of the past. Children tending giant weapons They would never get to own, Workers feeding beasts of war While rulers slept at home. Nations building bigger arsenals Because the others might, Calling every first strike “defense”