# Chapter 03 Initial Draft Assessment

Raw draft: `output/drafts/claude/chapter_03.round_01.md`
Integrated chapter: `output/chapters/chapter_03.md`

## Verdict

ACCEPT AS BASE WITH TARGETED REPAIRS.

## Card Fit

- Enacts the first-class engine: the assignment card opens the chapter; June arrives with nothing, fails publicly, and ends carrying the wrong drawing and Mara's scarf.
- Irreversible change lands: the cohort now knows June/Theo as a unit. Evidence: line 35 "That's us"; line 127 "It made the two of them a unit."
- Felt experience lands as embarrassed relief. Evidence: line 109 "Everyone in this room was bad in public, on schedule, twice a minute"; line 169 "the wrong one, the ugly one, the one that stood."
- Diner is not spent early; Sonia's remains a Chapter 04 hook. Evidence: line 129 invitation, line 169 en route.

## Required Repairs Made Before Acceptance

- Removed raw mechanical blockers: code-fence assignment formatting, `let herself`, one-sentence paragraph over-cap.
- Corrected Sam's they/them presentation and removed gendered raw wording.
- Removed an irrelevant creature simile from the raw draft.
- Executed Dialogue Doctor findings: depolished cohort-arrival buttons, replaced Mara's zinger, and made Theo's exit offer practical.
- Executed Comedy Doctor findings: reduced June's bureaucratic/fiscal narration, removed portable workshop frames, and flattened over-composed intro lines.
- Executed Clarity Pass findings: fixed adjacent seating map, named June at a high-load focalizer beat, and removed an unplanted pencil-cup callback.

## Disposition

Proceed with final Codex core/risk audits, tracker updates, and commit if no new blockers appear.
