Before any number appeared, the crowd-clock filled with people from Mercy, nearby streets, and comment feeds, all pulled in by clips of Ty's old body carrying someone through smoke, bleeding on a curb, standing in a doorway, or moving through footage trimmed clean enough to be trusted while dinner cooled on a table somewhere.
Because crowds liked evidence better when it had somewhere to sit, the Name Office gave the public drawer a table.
Zunoder sat at the head of it without being invited, and the room allowed the insult to stand. His body-primary claim would use public recognition, medical continuity, and protective action.
On the other side stood Ty.
There was no chair for him. JJ grabbed one from a nearby stack and dragged it toward the table. The floor swallowed the front legs before she got it halfway there.
She kicked the table instead. "Rude furniture still has to admit it is furniture."
Heissman looked pained. "That sounded enough like doctrine to survive badly."
