# Counter-Strip Audit: Chapter 02

Header: pre-revision word count 2545; post-revision word count 2526; delta -0.75%. Sample size: all meaningful cuts from the raw-to-integrated diff. Author-direction notes: none that reduce protection for this chapter beyond the tic audit orders.

- JUSTIFIED — cut: "the whole shape of the thing" — evidence: `chapter_02.claude_tic_audit.md` tic 4 default-elegant noun phrase; replacement keeps meaning without ornamental abstraction.
- JUSTIFIED — cut: "fly out... at thirty thousand feet" — evidence: `chapter_02.initial_draft_assessment.md` order 2; the flight detail outran canon.
- JUSTIFIED — cut: "That was the reasoning, and it held up as long as he kept it moving. At rest it showed its other face" — evidence: `chapter_02.claude_tic_audit.md` tic 6 philosopher intrusion; replacement preserves Theo's self-indictment.
- JUSTIFIED — cut: isolated paragraph breaks around "He sent the short version at nine" and "Her reply arrived..." — evidence: raw gate `fieldguide-one-sentence-paragraph-gravity` OPEN; combination repaired final gate.
- JUSTIFIED — cut: "the way it was his every night, which was to say on loan" — evidence: `chapter_02.claude_tic_audit.md` tic 4; replacement preserves Theo's object/file logic.

Chapter verdict: NONE OVER-CUT.
