# Initial Draft Assessment - Chapter 07

Target: raw Claude draft `output/drafts/claude/chapter_07.round_01.md` and integrated text `output/chapters/chapter_07.md`.

## Raw Draft Strengths

- Claude hit the chapter card's core engine: June tries to paint a safe Theo and the remembered details make the panel intimate anyway. Evidence retained in final text: glasses correction at final line 26, collar/mouth detail at line 40, hidden roll temptation at line 42, and the gray-eye blank at line 60.
- The reciprocal portrait works: Theo's panel has the scarf knot, door-angled feet, and honest blank where the scarf blocked his view. Evidence retained: lines 68-72.
- The close externalizes the irreversible change instead of announcing it: Theo hides his panel, June writes `THEO BRENNAN` without checking the class list, racks her own panel face-out, then eats Priya's clementine. Evidence retained: lines 112-120.

## Blocking Raw Issues Found

- Mechanical gate on raw draft failed with 4 open hits: one-sentence paragraph gravity, em-dash density, and two banned echo-line poetic structures. Report preserved at `output/critiques/codex/mechanical/chapter_07_raw_quality_gate.md`.
- Claude-tic audit found 10 tic families, especially shimmer/gloss lines and book-specific subtext-caption risks. Orders are in `output/critiques/codex/chapter_07.claude_tic_audit.md`.
- Dialogue Doctor round 1 later found three blocking issues in the integrated text: delivery caption, quip carousel, and subtext-caption clause. Repaired and verified clean in `output/critiques/claude/chapter_07.dialogue_doctor.md`.
- Comedy Doctor round 1 found three blocking comic/figuration ownership issues: pre-spent `apology`, portable meter simile, and stock scarf-radar tag. Repaired and verified clean in `output/critiques/claude/chapter_07.comedy_doctor.md`.

## Integration Decisions

- Removed the raw code fence around the assignment card/title.
- Cut the raw banned-word near miss (`it's load-`) entirely and replaced it with Mara's plain scarf ruling interrupted by Priya's clementine.
- Kept Claude's base prose and object sequence; Codex repairs were line-level: syntax de-density, tic removal, dialogue/comedy/figuration ownership, and subtext-caption cuts.
- Preserved the highest-value Claude material: acrylic gouache class mechanics, June's private legal/evidence register, scarf-knot/feet portrait, Theo hiding his panel, June's final name/rack/clementine action.

Verdict: usable Claude base, integrated through targeted Codex repair. Proceeded to full gate/audit stack after final mechanical pass: open=0, allowlisted=0, WATCH=61.
