# Chapter 04 Cover-the-Names Voice Test

- DISTINCT — Sam/Dee/Theo cohort opening — evidence: Sam `"The corner, if that's legal"` uses practical room-solving plus mild joke; Dee `"You'd better"` is service bluntness; Theo's interior `"carrying things was his best method of standing still"` pins the focalizer as logistics under pressure. Weakest swappable line: `"Eight"` is content-only, but the following legal/chair promise fixes Sam.
- DISTINCT — Priya/Ben/Mara/June food-and-train exchange — evidence: Ben `"I've done the math on it becoming a habit"` owns schedule arithmetic; Priya `"Grilled cheese. It comes with soup and it's two meals"` is care-through-practicality; Mara `"He'll say it himself by week four"` is social prediction; June `"Separate check for mine"` is debt boundary. Weakest swappable line: `"Not since one"` is plain by design and supported by Priya's care response.
- DISTINCT — Mara/June/Theo how-met exchange — evidence: Mara `"I have fries coming. Expand"` presses with comic hospitality; June `"Openings are for standing near art so other people can see you doing it"` has dry gallery contempt; Theo `"It was a soft pencil"` deflects into object logistics. Weakest swappable line: `"At the gallery"` is intentionally bare but immediately corrected in June's register.
- DISTINCT — Ruth/Theo/Sam comped-slot exchange — evidence: Ruth `"Is it comped?"` and `"I didn't ask what she owed"` are exact institutional pressure; Theo's `"Full rate... nontransferable"` overanswers in ledger voice; Sam `"Pie first, Ruthie"` reads and defuses the chair. Weakest swappable line: `"I'm having pie"` is plain but uniquely Ruth because it refuses Sam without argument.

Chapter verdict: VOICES-HOLD.

REVISION ORDERS: none.
