"They've set it to run," Rita said. "Rails."
"Then we use levers," I said.
The floor manager's hand drew two slow circles at knee height. "Ninety," they said. "Hedge reset. window ready on replay. Control is 'considering' a couch after the break. Don't hit me."
"Addendum bars couch," Rita said without heat. "no unannounced intimacy, inside wide only, Consent on Record or silence. You can tell them bus stops read our font."
"Already did," the floor said, not unhappy. "They hate buses."
Boone paced the seam where lobby becomes lane and taught it a tone. "hands visible on the walk," he said. "Three feet. Shoulders open. If the press pen tests curiosity, we feed them manners."
Victor lifted his bag like a small weather system and listened to corners. "Wind is mild," he said. "If the HVAC coughs at :20, I'll turn its head. window is bright. Don't blink. Let the plate be the loud thing."
Vivian's bubble flickered on Rita's screen. T-60. Governance thread now saying 'we must do something'. Agent is waving the Consent on Record lower-third you sent. Two members are typing 'accessibility' like it's new vocabulary.
Aisha followed with her own rectangle. Sent notice: 'Queuing suspend unless clarify invites misleading. Standards will require window over any mention.' Re-upped pre-commit. Counsel acknowledged. They 'monitor sentiment' again. I monitor theirs.
The host came to his mark like a decent man comes to a shovel. "Six words warm," he said. "No couch in my pocket. If control tries to drag, I'll point at Addendum and go to break early."
Rita checked the window board the way people check a pulse. It glowed left of the replay with the modest pride of a safety device that likes being used. She looked at Evan, then at me. "Visible, not bait," she said. "If a crawl touches 'clarify' or 'mutual', we raise window and pin the misleading lower-third square."
"Copy," Evan said.
The press pen shifted like a field of tall grass when a wind thinks about ambition. Nolan rehearsed a throw in his head and made eye contact with his camera as if it were a horse he could cheat at cards. Boone's posture discouraged poetry.
The supervisor leaned a laminated sign another inch into honesty under the sprinkler head. no filming in hallway. The arrow pointed at the floor like gravity.
"Thirty," the floor said.
Rita tapped her phone twice. window guard pinned. Public Record Statement template staged: incident number, index isn't a record, no seal, no story, do not harass clerks. The square waited, patient as a librarian with a gavel.
Control pinged the floor like a child with a wet sleeve. "Friendly couch?" the message read, pretending to be candy.
The floor replied with a screenshot of Addendum and added: Accessibility. Somewhere behind glass, a man felt the unfamiliar sensation of being taught.
"Ten," the floor said.
We walked the three steps into wide. Palms visible. Geometry true. Evan stood half a pace to my right, heat present but not rehearsed. He glanced at my hand without stealing it. Later, the wire said. Nouns first.
The tally went red.
"Welcome back," the host said, voice calmly mechanical the way a nurse's is when needles are present. "Six words for lunch: seal, date, docket - or no story."
He let the sentence ring. The replay board slid window up a breath. Control tried to sneak a 'clarify?' in a wingdings whisper under the chyron; Standards rolled their weight onto it and made it flat.
"Thank you," the host said. "Back after the break."
"Cut," the floor said. "Eighty seconds. Control is sulking."
Vivian: T-40. Governance member wants to know if 'suspend' is reversible if 'clarify' later. I answered with your names, not vibes card. Agent says the seventh vote woke up cranky.
Aisha: Reminder: morals clause 12.4 — coercing 'clarify' for work is risk; I have that paragraph ready in a font Counsel respects.
Rita slid the misleading lower-third square into her holster and checked that it still fit. "If they post, we pin in under five seconds," she said. "Two lines. No adjectives."
Boone tilted his chin toward the pen. Nolan tried a question anyway, voice oiled. "If the Board suspends, will you finally say what everybody knows?"
"Credential," Boone said, gentler than necessary and therefore effective. Nolan's mouth forgot its next verb.
The host looked at us without making us content. "I can give you another six words if a crawl misbehaves," he offered. "Or I can give you silence. Your call."
"Silence," Rita said. "Six only on theft."
The floor counted like a drummer who prefers truth to tempo. "Thirty."
Agent ping: If they post at :22, I will reply in-thread with your misleading square and ask Standards to retweet. Vivian backing. Do not give them a new noun to eat.
"Twenty," the floor said.
Victor lifted his head. "HVAC thought about a solo," he said. "It changed its mind."
Rita's phone buzzed with a screenshot that made my stomach learn a new drop. A gray moon brightened on a governance panel. suspend unless clarify — publishing 12:22. Under it in small cruelty: auto-post to brand socials if no on-air 'clarify'.
"Rails," Rita said again, quieter.
"Levers," Evan said, and showed his hands to the room like a penitent who knows he's done nothing wrong.
"Ten," the floor said.
Behind glass, Control tried a new trick. The Brand Rep slid up to Vivian with a smile that imagined itself charming. "What about a 'values conversation' on the bench instead of a 'couch'," he said, pretending synonyms are not what they are.
Vivian did not move more than an eyelash. "Addendum," she said. "no unannounced intimacy. names, not vibes. We are allergic to furniture used as verbs."
"Five," the floor said.
The host's shoulders found a position that is neither defiance nor apology. The hedge performed plants. The lobby held its breath like a choir asked to sit on a high note until someone tells them the reason.
The governance moon flipped.
Vivian's text hit first. It's live.
Aisha's rode its back. misleading label applied in my note. Standards ready to pin window on any mention.
Rita's thumb had already risen. The misleading lower-third square went up with its two brutal lines: Consent on Record is verifiable; 'suspend unless clarify' is misleading without on-face consent. Public Record Statement: index isn't a record; check seal, date, docket; please don't harass clerks. The window plate sat in the corner like a small, sharp law.
"Back in ten," the floor said.
The host looked to us, not for permission, for map. Evan tilted his head the smallest degree: do the six and nothing else.
"Welcome back," the host said. "Quick education line: seal, date, docket - or no story. And a reminder from Standards: speculative labels are commentary. See our window for facts."
Control tried to throw a couch across the room with a last, exhausted flick of the wrist. The floor didn't even look at it. The floor said "break" and the couch became a word without a room.
"Cut," the floor said. "We have… thirty. Governance socials are foaming. Brand is panicking. Standards just posted window policy in plain English. It's doing numbers."
Rita's phone purred like a cat who knows it will be fed. "Pinned," she said. "Our square and Standards' window. No adjectives. No labels."
Nolan shouted a name that wasn't mine; he shouted all names until he found one he wanted to hate. Boone stood between the noise and us with the mildness of a man who farms silence.
Vivian again: Chair wants to know if you'll 'clarify' at 12:30 to avoid 'suspend'. Agent is telling them to go outside and read a bus stop.
Aisha: If they 'suspend', I will file a notice of retaliatory practice against morals clause and pre-commit misapplication. Also, I found three emails they don't want me to quote.
Rita met my eyes. "We can say two lines live with the host and call it a process note," she said. "Or we can keep silence and let window and Standards carry the minute."
Evan angled an inch closer, three feet still intact. His hand didn't reach for mine; it reached for the idea of mine. "Two lines," he said, under the glass. "Then quiet."
"Two lines," I agreed.
"Back in ten," the floor said. The tally light woke with the hunger machines have when they think they own attention.
We stepped into the wide we had paid for and decided not to buy something we couldn't return.