2020-11-23 - The City vs the Citizens: Free Your Mind

Isolde had been trying and failing to complete that paper she was supposed to get in today. It was impossible to concentrate because of this weed cloud hanging all over town. She was laying on her bed in the Murder Motel, trying to get up the energy to either concentrate on this paper or order pizza. And then she wasn't.

She must have fallen asleep or something because next thing she knows she's in a tunnel - on her feet and slightly disoriented. Isolde is on high alert, a little tense - those base instincts kicking in. She's not alone...and that's a good thing. Though she doesn't recognize any of these people right away. Especially not this ornately dressed child.

So for now? She remains quiet, alert, and ready for...whatever it is they're supposed to be doing.

The good news about being Grant Baxter is never worrying about being dressed appropriately for anything. He's not going to be and he's embraced it as much. He was watching television and working on drawings when this shit. Getting his senses together he looks up wiping the sleep from his face and sadly memory blunted from the harbor being turned into the world's largest blunt. Too much of a good thing can be a thing. "Ohhhh sup. You're okay. Good this is... where's Vyv? also woah. More Maestros... and the guy." He's noticing. Taking a deep breath there's so much going on he looks to the other Earthlings, "Hey kid's cool. We can like vouch for her. Where is everyone? Our people okay? What's our... whatever. The situation?"

Lilith has gained four lbs this week and she insists all of it is in her ass, but she doesn't really care either. She's also been insanely chill and lazy instead of getting worked up, stressed, or hyper/agitated, no rushes of house cleaning, she made PIZZA ROLLS for dinner one night, and she keeps forgetting she fed the cat and it's getting fed like four times a day on accident now, on top of whatever Byron does out of habit. The cat has gained one pound, almost two, and it keeps throwing up for SOME REASON.

Also, Thanksgiving is coming and she needs to go grocery shopping, she doesn't feel like working, so she doesn't! She parks and gets out of her car at the Safeway, then gets distracted by one of those little vending machine blocks to the side of the automatic doors and is digging for change because she wants a bouncy ball. Then everything changes and her purse is left on the trash can she was using as a support for digging when she disappears. Whoops. Hopefully that's still there and she's alive when she gets spit out of this Dream.

After orienting, though, instead of panic, she seems a little fascinated at first... then agitation, then... Oh. She's not alone. Good. But she's not sure who's coming up on them waving, so she steps back a pace or two to squint warily.

One minute, Vyv was lounging on his couch, enjoying a day off in more than usual laziness thanks to that lingering green cloud, and the next he's still halfway through a text to Hyacinth but now standing, and this is definitely not his living room's decor. Particularly the-- yes, of course it would have to be the child. Sigh. At least this one seemed reasonably coherent and not particularly sticky, last time. And that cloak is actually rather stunning.

He, of course, cares quite a bit more than Grant about being appropriately clad, so he's not entirely thrilled with his current situation. At least he has slippers on today to go with the silk pyjama trousers and dressing gown. The latter is nicely embroidered, so maybe it's actually close to in style. One never knows. He slides the phone away into a pocket (thank goodness for sleepwear with pockets) and glances further around. Okay, Grant is a good start. And the others...? "Oh. Hello, not seen you about in a while," he remarks to Isolde. The others are much more the usual suspects. "Late, are we?" he asks Naoith. "Where are we headed this time?"

The thick haze hanging over the town makes work almost impossible to do, but Byron's at his office at the casino anyway, looking out at the beautiful bay view from his wall-sized office window. He's on a speaker phone call with someone from out of town and everything this other person says, the entrepreneur finds pretty darn hilarious. He starts, popping a Dorito into his mouth and crunching aloud much the confusion of the person on the other line. Before he can blurt out something else that might, uh... come back to bite him, however, thankfully, the call is cut short mid-chip bite..

And Byron finds himself in the thick of things. Not in the a cloud of weed, but in some tunnel alongside several others. Here, is where he starts to quickly sober, whatever divide there is between his reality and this City, it tends to clear his mind. He's dressed in a suit, but his tie is mostly undone and the jacket is worn open. His lips part, then shut, as his mind shifts from high as fuck to what's considered the norm. If anything, he wasn't expecting to get the call this soon after the last time. Many of the faces were familiar, they were all in this together, but that's when he notices Lilith is back.

Just great. "Are we nearing the end of this journey yet?"

Eleanor was reorganizing all of her research. The haze and her caffeine and sugar highs resulting from it. As such, she's in yoga pants and a loose, slouchy sweater and tennis shoes, her hair pulled back in a messy braid, and her glasses perched on her nose. She blinks at the change of scenery, wondering if she fell asleep. But she recognizes those lamps on the walls. She exclaims, "I'm back!"

Isolde's breath is stolen away as that tidal way of emotion physically causes her to stumble backwards. Those emotions resonate with her so strongly. Pain, grief...the fear. The anger at...everything. Tears run down her face like someone turned on a faucet. "I see. I see." The words are strangled, whispered as she talks to something. Herself? Hard to say.

She's not a useless emotional mess at the very least. There's still tears that she's trying to get under control but she's angry. Determined. She uses her sleeve to wipe her eyes. I'm here now. We're going to help you. Her mind reaches out towards the Creature. "Let's GO!" She seems to find her voice, nearly shouting at the group. "We have to help it!"

Amazing how quickly a tidal wave of emotion can sober you up.

"... we might have to cancel my credit cards." Lilith tells Byron lowly as a greeting because that's just what he wants to hear right now while she stops backpedaling and eyeing the new arrival. Sobriety is also quickly easing on her, along with the general sobering of danger and the relative Unknown that comes with these situations. Her words are distracted and come with a touch along his arm before noticing some of the others around seem to be acquainted with this new arrival, so... it might be fine.

Honestly, while she's wary and generally not real inclined to fight other things' battles on this side for the sake of being nice, at this point... Lilith's catching on some aren't so bad, and if it gets them off the list of yankage into Dreams to aid this fight, well, great. She has to stop suddenly, though. Hissing through her teeth, the brunette woman's eyes close and she puts her hands down to grip against her knees with bend forward, hair falling about her face. It's almost like she's been gut-shot, but the gutting is emotional in a physically manifesting way she only barely gets a grip on. While insisting she's okay on straighten to the inevitable concern from Byron is perfectly typical, what else comes out of her is not.

Concern. Concern for a Dream Thing. Like... a lot of weird sentimental concern. Lilith doesn't even really quite know who They are or the motivations, but she knows what she felt. Her. Whoever she is. The mind? The... it doesn't matter, they have to move and she starts to once she's able.

"... good god, yeah, let's go, we have to help HER."

There is that feeling and the colour fades from Grant's face leaving him a bit peaked and green. The lip is the first to go and there is that wave of hysteria that takes him "Oh god...ohgodohgodohgod FuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuck Veeee Vee we need to get them the map now. NOW now!" There's a map? He turns in one direction and then the other looking at a loss for how to progress, face wet. "We can't let them do this there's a- Naoith we found a place for people to go. We gotta talk to the lady and the fancy dude where are they?" It's Byron's words that sharpen a wounded look that way but no time for that now "We are too close to fail now- NO dammit."

Eleanor gleefully accepts the cloak from the girl. "Ursula is safe then? What about the Kingdoms?" she asks with concern as she puts the cloak on. She seems totally comfortable in it, even with lazy clothes instead of a leather bodysuit beneath it. She lets the pain and emotion of the City split like a river around a stone, knowing it's there, but not being overwhelmed. She reaches a hand for Naoith, to try and steady the girl.

She looks to the others, all recognized faces, blinking. Yep, she knows all these folks. "This is a Dream, right? Not just a side effect of that weed cloud?" she whispers to Lilith and Byron in a low tone. "At least the harvesters are down, those things are scary."

Slowly making his way over to the others, Byron watches Naoith rattle on about the current events and whatever it is that Ursula may have said. The important thing in his mind was that the Core was offline. That's what they dealt with the last time he was here and it was good to learn what all that had accomplished. A look is given to the others, many who he's been on this adventure with on several occasions as it were, though he doesn't recognize Isolde out of the group. When he hears Eleanor's whisper, he flashes her a semblance of a smile, "This is /something/, but yeah, I guess it's a Dream."

"More credentials? I'm surprised they are even letting people move to and fro at this rate." He says just as he comes to a stop near Lilith, hovering around her protectively, just as she's telling him that they might need to cancel her credit cards. "...Why? What did...?" Before he can even complete that question, that one unfamiliar face has a bit of a crisis, freaking out over something or other, but then so is Lilith now too.

Jesus... Reaching a hand to keep her steady, there's this flash of annoyance in his eyes when he realizes just what is going on. "We're already here to help." He looks up, calling out sternly, "You can stop this nonsense... before you give everyone a freakin' breakdown before we've already moved on our way." There's a part of him that wants to reach out to calm the damn thing, but he knows that it's a tricky situation and what he doesn't want happening is to be emotionally burdened by the same thing almost everyone else is currently.

His dark eyes settled on Naoith, he calls out, "Lead the way, so we can break her out of... whatever it is that's holding her."

Vyv isn't a particular fan of his own emotions washing over him, let alone anyone else's. Thus far on these visits, Her feelings have washed around him without movement; this time's nearly the same, but he can feel the press more strongly. His shoulders tense as though fighting it off, but Grant's reaction is a pretty strong distraction. "Bax. Breathe." The tone is firm, but he reaches over to catch the skater's shoulder more gently. There's no disagreement with his claim of having found a place, notably. "How do we need to link up? With her or just each other? And is there someone we can tell about the spot?" Matter-of-fact; there are things they need to get done, therefore, he's currently inclined to do them.

Isolde feels better as they get moving. She still hangs near the back since she's been gone so long she has no idea what is really going on. But her determination is there and even a little anxiety - wanting to just hurry up and get things done already! She wiggles her fingers in a wave to Crassi before her fingers lace together to try and still herself. She looks on with a pensive curiosity.

"I'm alright. Maybe I needed to feel that to better... understand what I'm doing here, I don't know." Lilith insists to Byron quietly after a helpless shrug to Eleanor before... well, nodding along with the fiancé because he clearly knows better and his assurance is her assurance. She's only been to a few of these Dream-interloping affairs in the 'City' and while she does have some grasp of what should be the directive and a little knowledge of why it might be best, she's only really useful when it comes to her particular skillset. This seems much more cerebral, which makes her wary as a non-mentalist with limited understandings of how all of it works.

However, she's okay with that. It lets her watch for physical danger while everyone else is working with their minds, and she's great at playing destroy and conquer as a bodyguard. While eyeing the nudibranch, though, she doesn't much look like it. Wearing her little skinny jeans and flip flops (in Autumn, weed cloud is a thing ok) and a bright pink t-shirt reading NOPE in cursive on the front under her hoodie, she's very dressed down and suddenly awkward while lifting an awkward, delayed wave to the creature's hello.

But then she looks at the door and waits for others far more equipped to progress. She's still residually anxious, and breathing a little quickly from her moment of feelings that weren't her own, though, no matter how she's controlling it. The adrenaline surge of emotions is taking longer to wear off.

Grant seems somehow to focus when a- Byron of all persons seems to be on board with The Plan(tm) and when Vyv rallies him. The walk is urgent and silent in bare feet and flannel pants and a t-shirt. Not...ideal. Been in weirder. The sight of Crassi does warm a look of relief on his face. He signs to Isolde being nearby as he approaches, "That is Crassi. Crassi's super cool. It's okay. These are the good guys." There's a moment to catch his breath trying not to shift from one foot to the other with nervous energy. He waits at Vyv's shoulder, though there is a recognition as the cylinder comes out. As if to answer he murmurs, "Quix did..." Is that a bit of awe/ Yes, yes it is.

Eleanor seems relieved that the Kingdoms aren't completely decimated, and she lets out a breath. Following the girl through the tunnel, she blinks at the sight of the adorable nudibranch because it's so cute. In a weird, sea-slug kinda way. She waves hello to the creature, then adds a "nice to meet you too! In spite of the circumstances. What do you need for us to do?" She is all about helping, even more so when fueled by mystical pot clouds. Poor August has likely been 'helped' nigh to insanity in the last few days.

"Without?" Byron asks in regards to Naoith's amazement that several of them weren't affected by whatever trauma went through the others, but he doesn't expect to get response. Though he does give Eleanor's fancy cloak a curious look now too.

When Lilith tries to explain what she had felt to Byron in such vague terms, he's already experienced the same several times before. Usually, right before they are sent home with very little that he could do about it. And that hasn't stopped him from feeling cranky about the whole intrusion! Yet, the man's annoyance, at least, starts to subside for now, though he keeps one hand at Lilith's back, stroking fingertips down her spine reassuringly as they follow Naoith further down the tunnel.

The Nudibranch is another thing, but just as he tends to be polite in the presents of bizarre creatures such as The Archivist, he'll offer the same to this thing. "Hey." There. It's not professional nor is there a handshake, nor would he even want to attempt shaking that thing's hand, but it's there. Then he hears about what their credentials are. Master engineers? Greeeat.

Scanning the doors on their approach, he asks the same question that's probably on everyone's mind, in fact it's already come up. "So this linking thing?" See, whenever just the idea of linking minds is brought up, Thorne becomes incredibly wary of it all. Linking minds with another person was usually just asking for trouble, but linking minds to odd creatures, especially something that's going through a lot of trauma right now, that did not sound like good time to this mentalist. "What do you need for us to do?" His question is laced with that wariness.

Vyv mns at Naoith's gesture; it confirms part of his expectations even if it doesn't answer the rest of the question. The sight of the nudibranch as they arrive seems to come as a faint surprise, though not an unpleasant one. The "Hello again," positively counts as friendly, even. If he keeps light hold of Grant's shoulder, that could as well be intended to calm him as, say, make sure various beings are aware that the skater is still not available to be adopted as anyone else's pet, thank you. The credential gets an interested look just for its appearance, and more so when it's mentioned just what sort of credentials those are. "Well, that sounds potentially useful."

Isolde's eyes find Crassi again as she feels it in her mind, accepts it's montage of 'Last Time In The City' and there's a subtle little nod of thanks. Free the city. Free the creature. Stop the bad guys. Seems simple enough. She relaxes just a touch, straightening her posture and trying to prepare herself for what lies on the otherside of the door. She watches Eleanor then when Naoith gives her the cylinder and asks her to man the door opening, such as it was.

Lilith works her bottom lip between her teeth and largely keeps her silence, looking between the nudibranch, the other people present, Byron most notably, then the door. She's come down from the rush of strong emotional conducting given time and the man's soothing hand at her back and is visibly thoughtful while taking stock of exactly who all is present. After a few moments, before the door is opened, she informs all and sundry.

"I don't have mindbanger capabilities. Whatever you guys need to focus on to do... mind-freeing stuff, do it and if anything attacks, I'll get it. Or I can break whatever is pointed at, you just tell me because I can't sense things. Okay?"

Eleanor's magnificent cloak swirls around her, making her seem more important than she likely feels. But with how tall she is, she looks downright majestic, until she pushes her glasses up on the bridge of her nose with a finger like an absolute nerd and chews on her lower lip, nodding to Naoith. She takes the cylinder in her hands, and she moves to the hole, thankful for once for those ridiculously long legs of hers. She slides the cylinder into the hole. "Here goes nothing..." she mumbles.

Protection against empathy powers? If Byron was interested in that cloak before, he's more interested in it now that he's told this. Not that he'll try to steal it off Eleanor or anything. "Who produces these cloaks? Out of curiosity." His eyes face forward as he studies the door, the nudibranch and just this section of the tunnel as a whole. Though when Crassi reaches out to them in a non-verbal way, there may be some resistance on Byron's end (look, he can't help it!), but he'll hear the thing out. Or feel it. Or whatever it's doing.

He doesn't respond to the creature's inquiry, figuring that it was a rhetorical question. However, to be in the presence of other mentalists, that always leaves him uneasy because mentalists were the worst kind of people, if you asked him...

Just as Eleanor places the cylinder into the hole, the man turns to Lilith, feeling uncertain as what's about to happen. I mean, they were told, so if anything, he has to mentally prepare himself for what is probably going to be intrusive and uncomfortable.

Grant looks up up at that hole. He squints faintly though his focus is arrested by the question of Greg. There's a wry, lucid grin "Maaan he shared it with the whole town. It was amazing. Thank you. Truly." He almost moves but there's a hand on his shoulder and he remembers that verbal bartering when the bug guy offered to buy him last time. Oooooh yeah. Whoops. To the 'adults' at the gate he refocuses, "WE found a solution. For the city and everyone in it. We have a plan Q that might work and no one has to be brain-killed or ya know die or be homeless."

Vyv's brows lift at the remark about the cloaks, and he takes another look at both Naoith's own and Eleanor's as well, this time likely for more than appreciating the fabric and embroidery. "I wasn't aware there was such a thing," he admits, "Are they widely available?" Hey, Byron isn't the only person less than entirely a fan of other people prodding at one's feelings. Sharing or trying to read.

"I had the impression that was the main aim of them, yes," he says to Naoith's remark about the credentials getting them in, though 'magic-proof' is definitely noted. "But it seemed like a set that could perhaps become useful in other ways as well. Are many things magic-proof? How is that done?" Grant's assertion of a solution gets another small nod of confirmation, though he leaves any specification to him.

Eleanor steps through the doors, and her eyes narrow as she studies the creatures at the points of the diamond, then she sees the two scenes, both overlaid, and her expression changes to one perplexed. "I'm seeing...two different things, doctors helping, and technicians harming..." she whispers. She frowns, and opens up her mind, projecting to those creatures, trying to suss out if they are truly there to help, or to harm.

Lilith seems a touch amused and would joke about getting Byron a magical cloak for Christmas if she wasn't so worried on the sly about what's on the other side of the doorway. She does, however, lift her brows when it's spoken that such things are birthrights, duh. Honestly, she kind of wants one now too, on principle and starts to study, but then it's time to open the door and step in. She stays close to Byron in doing so, but puts herself pretty front of the line for quick entry in case something needs attacked or broken to clear the way.

But that's not the case. Lilith sees doctors, she doesn't see the vivisection setup at all. She sees the stations, the center placement, she knows they're being questioned for intentions, and she is at least placated enough by the initial imagery to look around like... 'Look guys, someone's already on top of it!' But then she does a double take and goes pensive in the eyes, and maybe that beat of time slowed her mouth down enough not to blurt the more crass version of what she's thinking. Instead, she phrases it politely and deliberately.

"Hello. You have to keep a body alive to use the mind inside, don't you? Or shut the mind off to use the body, I don't know which it is you're aiming for, but... I don't think we like that. Would you mind explaining?"

... dead in her mind, a husk of a being...

Of course they have to keep it alive if they want to feed. Gradually, Lilith changes the way she's standing, maybe knowing she's not prone to like the answer. But she did give diplomacy a shot.

The nudibranch's amusement to his question has Byron arching a brow, only to have the reason explained to him by Naoith who also gives him this quizzical look. "Lucky you." Is all he has to say about that.

When the door is open and they see just what is happening in this room, the man takes pause to try and assess their situation here. Looking between the various doctors, or technicians, then down at their patient or whatever that he can see of the thing, there's already something triggering his distrust of the entire scenario. They were here to stop people from shutting the City's mind down and if he could hazard a guess, this is exactly what these individuals are trying to do: Turn her off? Kill her mind?

The City, from what he'd witnessed from the others, was in anguish, so these technicians weren't here to help her were they? Just as with Eleanor, he reaches out with his mind to try and pick up any emotion or stray thought, in a sense. He's also not going to beat around the bush, in the hopes that if they need to thwart this operation, that those present might be distracted to follow through with what they are in the process of doing. "We're here to help her. The City." His gaze looks on each of the technicians before dark eyes settle on the bee person with suspicion.

However, what he does pick up from the vivisectionists has him weighing the pros and cons of this whole endeavor. In truth, he might have been okay with this, if he didn't make a promise earlier. "I can't let you do this. This isn't what she wants. She wants to be free and that's what we're going to do. Free her." If they're not going to stop, Byron will try to tap into their minds to give them second thoughts and confusions as to what it is they are doing.

Grant tries to assess with the hell is going on. All the information conflicts and the tic is visible. He is confused and somehow not shaking like a leaf. His ability to communicate has been somewhere interrupted and it's the hands that do most of the talking: clean, swift, and demanding a different solution. <<Solution>> He looks to Vyv murmuring "I... I Don't... know... "Guys we found a way to help the people in this city life safely independent of it. The place where this is? On the edge of the well is doomed and if we don't turn her lose she's going to die. We have a safe way to move her and to move you. There's a map and... and a means... and... pleeeease stop hurting her. She's scared shitless, guys." Looking to Lilith he boggles, "Are you serious it's one or the other? You... sure or...? Vyv help me out here?"

What Vyv sees when the doors open is not what Vyv expected to see. Doctors, preparing for important surgery. A medical procedure with all the proper airs of First Do No Harm. He hesitates, brow furrowing. It doesn't match what he's seen or heard before; it doesn't match what he's felt the edges of not long ago today. He opens his mind and reaches out, exploring what he can of the minds already in the room, and judging by the settling of his expression, it slots things more clearly into place.

"Ah," he says, looking between them, and he gives a small nod at Grant's murmurs. His posture shifts slightly, shoulders a touch farther back and chin faintly higher, already good posture becoming intentionally more noteworthy. "I understand," he says, the gaze moving between the doctors(?) at the podiums, then the one in the center, "that your intentions here are to ease her suffering. However. She clearly does not consent to this procedure. If you're honest, I don't imagine any one of you would wish to be in her place and have it done either, would you?" A brow arches.

"We have an alternative which can allow everyone to have what they require. She can be free and retain her mind. Others can live freely in another suitable spot, one that does not live and think and object to it. And, one that will almost certainly not have what is on it destroyed in any case when the waters return. There will not be a need to panic and try to save the denizens again at that time. It's not only the kindest solution for all, but the most logical. And no one needs to get hurt." Merely a statement of fact. About the City and the citizens. Certainly there's not even the ghost of a suggestion that anyone in the room might be in danger of such otherwise! This is simply a reasonable solution best for all parties.

Eleanor steps forward, Please, you need to stop. Don't do this. You are killing her. You think you are helping, but you are being misled. She holds both hands out, imploring them as a Maestro. You want to be remembered as the heroes of this story, don't you? she asks them, looking from one to the next in turn. Right now, your actions are those of the villain.

Isolde took a shallow breath as she took in everything going on. It was a little much for her to process - the sight of the doctors doing a good thing when she knew it was a bad thing happening. The conflicting information - Some of the group seeing both things. Some of them seeing what Isolde had seen earlier. She tries to refocus and be some kind of useful.

The surgeons seemed convinced or mostly convinced so her attention set on Sikorax. She reached out with her mind, trying to show her flashes of what the Creature showed her. The way she perceived what they were doing to her. <<Can't you see how terrified she is?! She doesn't want this. There's a better way! Please just listen to us and stop this.>> Isolde feels a little desperate. <<She doesn't have to get hurt, no one has to get hurt.>>

Grant reaches into his pocket and pulls out a piece of paper in quarters. Vyv has the room under control with Byron's backing (thinking too hard on that may cause day drinking). He walks over, carefully in the clean room to unfold the schematic and present it without letting go so the Queen Bee can see it. What comes out of his face next is a lot of... math??! There's coordinates and relays and talk of a great mechanical device (good luck there spelling that). "Here, by bypassing the need for the city we actually can move you to a self-sustaining locale. It's uninhabited and accounts for the bio-needs and environs of all your citizens." There is a pause and he adds, "The Marquis and I had to do battle in a library to research this but the Librarian there informs me that the space stands without resident to contest it. It will work. It can work, and we just got back laying out evac plan so literally no one has to die. Moving sucks, I get it, but this is highly more stable and sustainable. Look here, it's got its own lighting. It's quite neat." The funny thing is there is an actual astronavigation blueprint from fuck knows where, and a map this time without stick figures!

"How many will be lost when the waters return, if the chance to move ahead of it isn't taken?" Vyv counters, head tilting, "It is unfortunate that your ancestors settled here, yes. But you have the opportunity not to repeat your ancestors' mistakes -- or to compound them."

He falls quiet as Bax steps forward to explain things, glancing sidelong at the painter while the plan's laid out. There's a bare hint of an upward curl at the edges of his lips, clearer at the corners of his eyes, as he watches that, a small nod agreeing with the conclusions, even if the more mechanical portions... well, there might be reasons this is Grant's department and not his. Whether or not the details are in his bailiwick, he seems entirely confident in the bigger picture. Both figuratively and literally. "There's always an inconvenience in moving, yes. That's true. But the results should be worth it, and you can be confident of doing the right thing. She who has been enslaved can be freed, with no further harm, and those who have relied on her will have another, better, and more long-term option. It's the most reasonable choice. And it will work."

When Byron is satisfied that the surgical team isn't about to start work on their 'patient' again, having the group of them working together to try and dissuade these supposedly compassionate civil servant types, he turns his mind City-ward, trying to reach out to her to Her in a soothing way. At first, he expects to be met with some resistance. He's tried tapping into Her mind before, to keep her calm or something, he can't remember now. This time, he finds the way in to be effortless, like they were beyond her firewall, so there was nothing stopping him.

His brow creases when he makes contact. <<Can you hear me? We're the Maestros trying to set you free. We have them confused, hesitant right now, but I'm not sure if we can fully convince them to stop what they are doing. And I don't want to wait for that. Tell me, what can we do to start breaking you out of your prison? Before they try to fight us again?>> He's not been too sympathetic about the City's plight this whole time, though he has felt her pain a number of times.

Byron reaches out to the City, and she reaches back. He's there, in that lab, with her on the table; one of her hands snakes out and grabs his wrist. She stares at him. "The Grid." He feels it, pulsing under their feet. ...the fluid, under the glass, roiling. "Overload it." She's been trying to--that lightning is her, fighting, always fighting. Tears well in her eyes. "Please. Hurry."

<<Understood.>>

Scanning the various faces in the room, Byron can't help but arch his brow at this whole presentation that Grant and Vyv put on to explain what they plan to do for... he's not quite sure, only half-listening. But it looks like the surgical team is listening to. Around the time they finish with their spiel, he looks to Sikorax dead on now, trying to mentally persuade her, though he certainly looks like he means business, "The grid below us. Shut it down." Out of politeness, he adds a, "Please. She wants us to shut it down now. All you're doing is hurting her." By the looks of it, if the surgeons don't agree, Thorne's hands are already crackling with electricity, but he doesn't act immediately, allowing them to make their call before attempting to overload the thing.

Lilith tried diplomacy. The cloaked creature stepping near her and Eleanor to make disappointed commentary gets a glance aside and a moment of consideration with her blue eyes before she nods solidly. It's a bit like she's taking it as a permission, seeing Naoith with her own doubts about diplomacy despite entering intentions. The brunette woman stands still and looks around at the others that she's noticing are... pretty much all mental capable in their various forms of verbal and what seems like non-verbal communication given certain expressive fixations on the bee-creature. She watches it respond with... bee faces or whatever that don't seem favorable to start.

So while she's standing there waiting for others to take different tacts that are less forward, abrasive, and destructive than the tendencies she tends to leap toward, she plans with a slide of eyes around. Mostly, she's fixating on the podiums as if she's trying to take their mettle for sturdiness. Then she starts to stare between the two 'doctor' creatures that look pretty similar and related. When everyone else present has had a moment to exert their influences or make their pleas, Lilith offers what's on the table as alternative.

It's highly unpleasant and she sounds like venom, cold steel, and promises, very unlike her spoken words prior. That 'way' about Lilith that attracts attention with her general beauty, vivaciousness, and wit changes entirely and it's... intimidating. For a moment, it looks like she's focusing on the podium central as she flexes wrist and hand and fingers slowly, like winding up for aim. She's not acting on it, but laying it out might be... unnerving in and of itself because she sounds so sure.

"Icepick lobotomies will take away all kinds of pain, but that's not life. Do you want to know pain? Do you want to know what it feels like to be chipped away and eaten in gouges and chunks while rendered helpless? It can be managed." Lilith looks to the two 'doctors' of likeness and smiles a little, and it's cutting in a way that isn't a smile at all, "And you. Do you want to watch this one die? He will die screaming, I assure you." Her head ticks toward the central podium then, "I will break your tools first. Then I will break your bodies. And they will break your will. This is your alternative. Right now, you have options. I would consider very carefully."

Lilith is upping the ante for mutiny now that some very unpleasant OTHER options are on the table. Are they all willing to die for something they aren't even certain is right? Do they want to tempt her to tear it all down when there are other options? Tilting her head a little, Lilith stares and waits expectantly. There's one word all over her that never gets uttered, but it's there. Oh, it's there as she stares at the bee creature with the lead and say. They've all presented their cases now.

Decide.

With their concerted effort, the group of Maestros, Naolith and the other things summon up all of their power to shut The Grid down. He can feel the burn beneath his skin, thanks to Crassi, which also helps to boost their powers despite the discomfort. Then... it was over. The Grid was breaking beneath them. Dropping down into the dark fluid, he tries to swim and stay afloat, eyes searching the darkness for Lilith and he's about to open his mouth to call out for her, before they are shown an image in the light.

Byron feels that swell of emotion, mostly exhaustion and relief, but then the vision of the hermit crab thing, The City, is gone.

Then he's falling once again. Falling right back into his office chair, his clothing and flesh slick with... some thing substance, his hair dampened, bangs falling into his face. The call that he was on had long since cut off. Probably pissing the person on the other line off, but it could've saved him from making far more worse decisions as he was operating while high as fuck. His mind is reeling and he just stares out at the ocean once more.

Was it really finally over?

Lilith isn't able to do much once the tide shifts. And once she's made her '... or else' alternative method statement, the moment she sees the decision start to happen, she immediately starts to backpedal toward the edges of the chamber on the glass, because she's not a mentalist, there's lightning under her feet beyond the glass, and she's not sure what actually happens when they do whatever they need to do to effect. Then the arcs of lightning in the chamber itself flare up and she knows beyond breaking things they might actually need that she's out of her element.

Mostly, she tries to not get electrocuted and gets a little alarmed when the nudibranch kicks in to help with a buzz of transfer power that locks her jaw and teeth on edge with vibration. But she can try to do one little thing, at least, she knows Byron is going to pitch in to this... freedom attempt. She helps in the only way she can possibly know how, and even that's not fully explainable with words, even though it's something she does.

With force of power and will, she tries to favor the conditions under which Byron is operating with his powers and capacities, trying to share power via luck and amplify his exertion to whatever effect. It's hard for her to really know if these kinds of things work, but it feels like something and that matters, because it's better than nothing. She's about to ask if there's anything she can do to help, or if it's working or...

Doesn't matter. She doesn't get time for that. The floor is no more, she's falling, she feels the mystery slick of substance while sliding through the miasma of darkness, light, and fury, she feels the relief and freedom and even though she really didn't do much more than stand around and 'grr' at some creatures as backup, she feels a little bit proud knowing it's... what? Taken flight?

She's laying on the concrete on the sidewalk outside of the supermarket, staring at the sky and sticky while dazedly trying to figure it out. Quickly, though, she sits up and looks at herself with a screw of her nose. Her purse has fallen off of the top of the trash can she left it on and seems to have everything intact and there's change on the ground that fell out of her wallet zipper while she was snared mid-dig for it.

Bouncy balls remind her of Tobin. She wants a bouncy ball. She has the change now, she's done with weird, she's getting a damn bouncy ball. The machine jams. She does not get a bouncy ball.

... but after breaking the hell out of the machine, she gets five and the rest bounce around to a five year old's delight as he walks out of the store with his mom. Lilith is already walking to the parking lot and her car at that point, though. She texts Byron on the way.

"... don't have to cancel my credit cards, nevermind."