# Synthesis Memo - Phase 8 Batch 2 Ensemble Expansion

Scope: Chapters 05, 06, 19, and 24. Goal: repair the Anti-Default finding that Mara/Luis were a stable warm couple without an arc, add one non-comic Ben pressure beat, and preserve the compressed 24-chapter architecture.

## Drafts and audits used

- Claude broad insert draft: `output/drafts/claude/phase8_batch2_mara_luis_ensemble_inserts.round_01.md`
- Claude Ch05 plant draft: `output/drafts/claude/phase8_batch2_ch05_mara_luis_plant.round_01.md`
- Claude Dialogue Doctor: `output/critiques/claude/phase8_batch2_ensemble_dialogue_doctor.md`
- Claude Ch24 repair verification: `output/critiques/claude/phase8_batch2_ch24_dialogue_repair_verify.md`
- Codex Claude-tic audit: `output/critiques/codex/phase8_batch2_ensemble_claude_tic_audit.md`

## Accepted

- Ch05 accepted the narrow Claude plant as base: Luis's blind contour catches Mara and fails from the side; Mara translates him; June recognizes the maneuver from standing in front of her own work at openings.
- Ch06 accepted the Ben seed as a pressure beat, adapted to the existing Vestibule scene rather than the broad draft's wrong anchor. The calendar/boxes/van-quotes beat makes Ben's planning fear visible before the later Suffolk decision.
- Ch19 accepted Claude's hinge structure: Luis names the count and the half-measure, Mara starts to correct him and stops, and Theo's attempt to repair the painting becomes visible. Codex heavily line-edited the passage to remove over-captioning and keep Luis's verdict material.
- Ch24 accepted the blue-dish payoff: Mara fills the dish, Luis places it in room traffic, and Mara does not translate him. The current repaired version also lets Sam and Ben take empanadas while looking at the work, verifying the placement through action.

## Rejected or modified

- The broad call's missing Ch05 insert forced a narrow Ch05 call; no invented substitute was written by Codex alone.
- Cut raw Claude over-captioning: "warm paragraph loaded," "the whole machinery," "whole business," "That was the sentence," and "the opposite of everything Mara did to a room."
- Rewrote raw Ch24's repeated "without deciding to" after Claude Dialogue Doctor marked it blocking.
- Rejected raw Ch06's explanatory Theo aside about having numbered boxes for keys that never came; it widened the beat away from Ben and duplicated Theo's usefulness/backstory pattern.
- Normalized speech to existing voice cards: Luis remains short and material; Mara's change is action under pressure, not a speech about marriage.

## Resulting arc

- Plant: Ch05 shows Mara translating Luis's direct spatial care before the room can meet it.
- Hinge: Ch19 forces Mara to stop smoothing because the absence is too visible to host away.
- Payoff: Ch24 lets Luis's placement work publicly and lets Mara choose not to explain him.

Disposition: accepted into current chapters; no open prose order from Batch 2 ensemble work.
