# Claude-Tic Audit - Phase 8 Batch 4 Middle / Tasker Repairs

Audited material: Claude repair candidates in `output/drafts/claude/phase8_batch4_middle_tasker_repairs.round_01.md` and the integrated Batch 4 passages in Ch06, Ch18, Ch20, and Ch23.

Mechanical WATCH input: Ch06 65, Ch18 29, Ch20 25, Ch23 66 from `output/critiques/codex/mechanical/chapter_*_phase8_batch4_quality_gate.md`.

- FOUND - tic 1 em-dash overuse - 0 unresolved instances in accepted repair material; 1 nearest pre-existing non-issue - checked changed passages and current lines Ch06:45-69, Ch18:91, Ch20:151, Ch23:91. Nearest miss: Ch18:69 "`Mara —`" and Ch18:77 "`I don't think I—`" are pre-existing interrupted speech, not Claude repair rhythm. ORDER: none.

- CLEAR - tic 2 shimmer prose - checked for over-poetic adjective stacks and atmospheric drift in changed passages - nearest miss: Ch18:91 "the job was exactly as good as it had been on the F" - why it passes: plain causal/money pressure, not atmosphere replacing action.

- CLEAR - tic 3 recurring sentence-mood verbs - checked `mattered`, `earned`, `weighed`, `carried` in the changed passages - nearest miss: Ch20:151 "Asha was already three moves into a building June had just declined" - why it passes: no mood verb; concrete process state.

- CLEAR - tic 4 default-elegant noun phrases - checked for `a kind of`, `something like`, and `small / quiet / careful` defaults - nearest miss: Ch18:27 "the way you'd itemize before a job you meant to bid" - why it passes: concrete labor-register phrasing, not default elegance.

- CLEAR - tic 5 habitual qualifiers / softening adverbs - checked changed passages for drainers like `mostly`, `probably`, `basically`, `exactly` - nearest miss: Ch20:151 "`probably a stripped set screw`" and "`basically the interview`" - why it passes: Asha's text-message register and the uncertainty of a sight-unseen gripper diagnosis require the qualifiers.

- CLEAR - tic 6 narrator-as-philosopher intrusion - checked whether the batch adds wisdom inserts mid-scene - nearest miss: Ch18:91 "that fact would be inside it" - why it passes: it is June's immediate decision logic tied to the open email draft, not an abstract maxim about love or agency.

- FOUND - tic 7 subtle theme-explanation through narrator gloss - 1 pre-repair instance - quoted with line ref from pre-repair snapshot Ch20: `There was nothing to fix and nothing to hold. Asha was already three moves into a building June had just declined, walking toward the press on her own feet.` ORDER: executed. Current Ch20:151 now reads "June set the phone beside the sent W-9 and left Asha's thread unanswered. Asha was already three moves into a building June had just declined." This lets Asha's texts carry the independence instead of explaining it twice.

- CLEAR - tic 8 recursive negation patterns - checked `not X, not Y, not even Z` family - nearest miss: Ch23:91 "not because I felt bad" / "not sorry" - why it passes: two separate June assertions in one speech about guilt and refusal, not a recursive decorative negation.

- CLEAR - tic 9 self-aware meta-clauses - checked for `if that was the word`, `if there was a word`, and hedging self-commentary - nearest miss: Ch06:47 "to the not-asking" - why it passes: focalized description of Priya's wordless food check, not self-conscious diction apology.

- CLEAR - tic 10 over-balanced sentence structures - checked for parallel clauses that make ordinary action feel composed - nearest miss: Ch23:91 "I put her name in because she's good, not because I felt bad" - why it passes: balanced because June is making the exact ethical distinction Asha required in Ch20.

- CLEAR - tic 11 profundity-stamp final sentences - checked endings of changed scenes and the Ch20 insertion - nearest miss: Ch18:27 "She left it in drafts and closed the laptop." - why it passes: plain action after the Dialogue Doctor repair, not a one-line profundity stamp.

- CLEAR - tic 12 default lovely / quiet / small register - checked whether repaired scenes soften hard money/rupture beats - nearest miss: Ch06:45 clementine care beat - why it passes: it is practical food control and fatigue-reading, not an all-purpose "quiet care" glaze.

- CLEAR - tic 13 physical reaction beats replacing thought - checked for heartbeat/throat/tightening/body defaults in changed passages - nearest miss: Ch23:91 "She scraped the brush on the palette, too hard" - why it passes: an art-action pressure beat in a painting scene, not generic body reaction.

## Book-Specific Tic Additions

- CLEAR - `Did you eat?` formula - checked Ch06/Ch18 batch targets - nearest miss: Ch06:47 "`I had a sesame stick`" - why it passes: the direct question is gone from Ch06 and Ch18; Priya/Mara care is varied through object/action.

- CLEAR - `Not symbolically` formula - checked Sam Ch06 target - nearest miss: Ch06:69 "`Stand here. It's the one spot where you can see all three at once.`" - why it passes: the room-making function remains literal without repeating the phrase.

- CLEAR - Tasker column repetition - checked Ch18 and Ch20 - nearest miss: Ch18:25 "She didn't recopy the terms; she knew them cold, both sides" - why it passes: the edit explicitly avoids another full terms list and relies on Ch15/Ch20 for numbers.

## WATCH-Count Reconciliation

The WATCH counts remained non-blocking: Ch06 65, Ch18 29, Ch20 25, Ch23 66. The highest relevant WATCH patterns are repeated descriptors, trailing participles, body/hand terms, and occasional em-dash/dialogue markers. These counts do not map directly to the repaired Claude-default issue, which was judgment-based theme gloss in Ch20 rather than a registry hit. The Ch20 prose was repaired with snapshots `before_phase8_batch4_claude_tic_repairs` and `after_phase8_batch4_claude_tic_repairs`.

## Chapter Verdict

TIC-CLEAN after executed repair. No remaining Claude-tic orders are open.
