The question landed like a neat little trap.
Before the trap could admire itself, I set the label where it belonged. "commentary," I said, calm. "See our window for facts. We speak when there is Consent on Record."
Evan kept it the size of law. "We will not answer relationship labels on demand," he said. "Treat edits as edits."
We stopped. Two lines, then quiet.
Standards moved first. A discreet tag appeared above the chyron: commentary. The window plate breathed larger by a finger width. Control's crawl tried to wake the word clarify under the host's elbow; it flattened under window like grass under a plank.
Rita's thumb sent up the square we keep for thieves. misleading lower-third: 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 host felt the question die in his ear and replaced it with something people can live with. "Six words for lunch," he said, friendly without lying. "Seal, date, docket - or no story."
"Cut," the floor said. "Eighty. Control wants a 'friendly couch' right now to 'process feelings.'"
Vivian's voice arrived like silk over a railing. "Addendum," she said, smiling at a man behind glass he could not see. "no unannounced intimacy. names, not vibes. Emotion isn't a contract."
Aisha's rectangle chimed in our sleeve. notice filed: conditioning access on 'clarify' risks morals clause 12.4. pre-commit reiterated: any status text runs with window or not at all. Counsel 'acknowledges'.
Agent: Seven is reading Standards' window policy aloud. Do not give them a noun. Your two lines are circulating in governance chat as 'calm'. Chair is typing something with teeth.
Nolan raised his chin above the press pen like a swimmer who wants applause for breathing. "If the Board suspends, are you still sleeping in the same—"
Boone didn't grant him a preposition. "Credential," he said. The supervisor tapped the laminated no filming in hallway with one honest finger. Nolan's camera recorded the sign again as if repetition could make it less true.
The HVAC decided to perform; Victor made a small adjustment to a nowhere dial and the gust reconsidered its career.
"Thirty," the floor said. "Control will throw back to you unless I cut. Your call."
Rita held our geometry with her tone. "We keep silence," she said. "If they sneak a label, we answer with window and the six, nothing else."
The host edged back into frame with us, sharing instead of consuming. "Welcome back," he said, tally red again. "A reminder from Standards: speculative labels are commentary; window carries facts. And, as always, six words: seal, date, docket - or no story."
He smiled at the bus stop inside his head.
Serena stepped into the vestibule line that wasn't ours and donated one clean syllable. "names, not vibes," she said, on-mic, then left her sentence to stand by itself.
"Cut," the floor said. "Sixty. Control is pouting. Brand wants the 'Green Room bench' for a 'values conversation' before you leave the building."
"Wrong door," Rita answered the air. "Our next furniture is a courthouse threshold. no unannounced intimacy still governs."
Vivian's bubble: Governance thread: 'suspend' can be flipped to 'hold pending process' if you don't give them fresh content and you exit the set now. Chair wants a picture of movement. Agent says he can sell 'mid-process' if I deliver silence plus an orderly exit.
Aisha: I'll add a line: 'Retaliatory suspension during pre-commit window = bad faith.' If they read it, they'll copy your quiet.
Rita met my eyes, then Evan's. "We walk to the door in wide," she said. "hands visible. No speaking. Host closes with education. If they try to ask again, he says commentary and points to window."
"Copy," Evan said.
The floor lifted both palms in surrender. "If you're leaving on my red, I'll give you a toss and then 'be kind to clerks' until the cameras remember they have other jobs."
The press pen sensed motion and decided to call it news. Boone raised a first-finger fraction and the pen remembered grammar.
"Thirty," the floor said. "Control will be furious off-air. That's a them problem."
We angled toward the glass. The hedge watched us like a green witness. Evan's hand hovered near mine, visible, offered, not taken. Later, my blood said, obedient to a rule we'd written ourselves.
The tally snapped to red. "Back with us," the host said. "We'll let our guests get to work. Before we go, six words: seal, date, docket - or no story. And remember, speculative labels are commentary. See our window."
Rita lifted the window card with quiet pride. Standards mirrored it on their own feed because policy can be pretty when it behaves.
Vivian: Chair stalled mid-keystroke. Seven typed 'hold'. If you move now, I can capture it.
Agent: Exit equals 'mid-process'. Thirty seconds of silence buys us 'no action' today.
"Move," Boone said gently.
We began the short walk in wide. hands visible. No adjectives. The floor manager shaded us from the lens without being seen doing it. The host kept his voice low so the clip would be about rules, not faces.
"Cut," the floor said, not to us, to Control. The tally cooled.
Control still tried to speak through a glass pane like a person tapping on an aquarium. "Bench," their message said. "Values."
Vivian sent back a photo of the Addendum clause that has saved more lives than technology: no unannounced intimacy. Under it she typed: Accessibility.
At the glass doors the supervisor held the handle like a friend, not a guard. Outside, noon had decided to be polite. The north ramp looked like a sentence with good punctuation.
Rita's phone thrummed once. Vivian's screenshot showed the governance panel: the gray moon had shifted. suspend unless clarify — hold pending process.
"It's on hold," Rita said, not smiling, exactly.
"Then we keep it there," Evan said.
"Back in five," the floor called from the hedge. "If you're still in frame, Control will ask again."
"We won't be," Rita said. "window guard stays. If they steal a noun, we send the square and the six."
Boone glanced at Victor. Victor nodded at the wind.
We took the last two steps toward the door.
The red light on the main camera woke again with a small, hungry sound.