# Claude-Tic Audit: Chapter 02

Target: `output/drafts/claude/chapter_02.round_01.md`

WATCH input from raw quality gate: `reddit1-repeated-descriptor=42`, `wp-aititlecase-headings=1`, `aiisms-2.25-transition-verbs=1`, `fieldguide-one-sentence-paragraph-gravity=OPEN scene 1: 5 > cap 2`, `reddit2-emdash-dialogue-good=1`, `writing-jargon-defaults=1`, `aiisms-2.6-gaze-look-descriptors=1`, `watch-qs-trailing-participle=3`, `tells-2.1-hands-body-watch=1`, `aiisms-2.33-overused-verbs=2`, `legacy-uncontracted-casual-dialogue=2`, `qscan-25-familiar-usual-rhythm-routine-ritual=2`, `ruleset-three-part-cadence=1`.

- FOUND — tic 1 em-dash overuse / rhythm-crutch — 1 instance plus one interruption — line 35 "convincing — which is actually required?" is June's email voice and can stand; line 23 "If she withdraws—" is interrupted speech and can stand. ORDER: no em-dash removal required, but do not add any during synthesis.
- CLEAR — tic 2 shimmer prose — checked descriptive passages and gallery/studio setup — nearest miss: line 3 "guest book closed on its ribbon" — concrete cleanup detail, not atmosphere drift.
- CLEAR — tic 3 recurring sentence-mood verbs — checked `mattered/earned/weighed/carried` family — nearest miss: line 173 "the record should be accurate" — a Theo-value sentence, not a mood verb cluster.
- FOUND — tic 4 default-elegant noun phrases — 2 instances — line 27 "the whole shape of the thing"; line 169 "the way it was his every night, which was to say on loan." ORDER: simplify line 27; cut or recast line 169's elegant summary.
- FOUND — tic 5 habitual qualifiers / softeners — 3 instances — line 31 "one more time"; line 37 "never once"; line 55 "exactly one brand." The first two are functional emphasis; line 55 is Odile precision. ORDER: no global purge; preserve where character-specific, avoid adding more.
- FOUND — tic 6 narrator-as-philosopher intrusion — 1 instance — line 27 "That was the reasoning, and it held up as long as he kept it moving. At rest it showed its other face..." ORDER: rewrite into plainer Theo self-recognition without aphoristic "at rest" framing.
- FOUND — tic 7 theme-explanation gloss — 1 instance — line 171 "All the signature did was agree." ORDER: may stay only if the ending remains action-bound; if final ending feels stamped, cut this line.
- CLEAR — tic 8 recursive negation — checked full text — nearest miss: line 39 "No details past that, no performance" — contractual email syntax, not false-profound recursion.
- CLEAR — tic 9 self-aware meta-clauses — checked "word/if that was" family — nearest miss: line 31 "which was not a typo" — practical clarification, not self-conscious diction.
- FOUND — tic 10 over-balanced parallel structures — 2 instances — line 37 "One... Two... Three..." is the required email order; line 165 "tins, roll, list, cards" is packing action. ORDER: keep line 37; consider simplifying line 165 if gate flags cadence.
- FOUND — tic 11 single short profundity stamp / paragraph gravity — mechanical OPEN — lines 29, 33, 45 and many isolated dialogue beats contribute. ORDER: combine/expand isolated one-sentence paragraphs until the gate passes.
- CLEAR — tic 12 default lovely/quiet/small register — checked diction — nearest miss: line 137 "clementines... like paperweights" — comic/studio object specificity, not generic loveliness.
- CLEAR — tic 13 physical-reaction default instead of thought — checked for heartbeat/throat/tightness/body flinch patterns — nearest miss: line 71 "went still" describes June's observable reading pause and is plot-functional.
- CLEAR — book-specific tic: forbidden romance physiology (`breath`, `flutter`, `air changed`, etc.) — checked by `rg`; no hits.
- CLEAR — book-specific tic: `Winter Kitchen` overuse — no invocation.
- CLEAR — book-specific tic: first snow — no snow/weather invocation.
- CLEAR — book-specific tic: Ch01 device repetition — checked straightening/program corner/vent/moved wine/six-years; no hits.
- CLEAR — book-specific concealment: nephew relation — checked aunt/nephew/family/mother/sister; no hits.

WATCH-count reconciliation: the raw gate's one open finding corresponds to tic 11 and is blocking. The high `reddit1-repeated-descriptor` count is mostly common functional words such as "already," "still," and repeated class nouns; it does not create a prose tic by itself, but line edits should reduce needless repetition where painless.

Chapter verdict: TICS-FOUND (5). Blocking orders are tic 4 line 169, tic 6 line 27, tic 11 paragraph gravity, and the travel-assumption repair from the assessment.
