diff --git a/DRAG-REORDER.md b/DRAG-REORDER.md
index c6a6f66..c7251f4 100644
--- a/DRAG-REORDER.md
+++ b/DRAG-REORDER.md
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ Lanes get this for free and the invariant is worth stating: a within-board lane
 Two stability rules on top:
 
 - **Exact-boundary tie** — a cursor resting on a boundary pixel keeps the current proposal when it adjoins that boundary; the shadow can never oscillate on a single pixel.
-- **Own-slot pickup** — zones derive from the resting layout, so picking an item up over its original spot proposes its own slot: a no-op, no reflow, and the store's commits refuse to write for it.
+- **Own-slot pickup** — zones derive from the resting layout, so picking an item up over its original spot proposes its own slot: a no-op, no reflow, and the store's commits refuse to write for it. The own slot is also **seeded at `begin`** (`DragSession.begin`'s `seed`), in the same transaction that lifts the run out, so "at drag start it replaces the item's original space" is true from the very first frame: without the seed the vacated gap closes un-animated and springs back open at the first `dropUpdated` — a shuffle carrying no information. The seed bypasses `propose` (a pickup is not a new landing spot, so no alignment tick), and the first real sample's re-propose of the same slot is the early-out's ordinary silence. A ⌥-pickup seeds nothing — a copy's resting layout keeps the originals in place, so there is no vacated space to hold, and the first sample answers as it always did.
 
 ## The lane strip's resting layout is arithmetic
 
diff --git a/Kanban/UI/Board/CardFaceView.swift b/Kanban/UI/Board/CardFaceView.swift
index e15a35d..3eebd9f 100644
--- a/Kanban/UI/Board/CardFaceView.swift
+++ b/Kanban/UI/Board/CardFaceView.swift
@@ -408,11 +408,39 @@ struct CardFaceView: View, Equatable {
             // span-cap (03-board-ui.md § Motion).
             heights: ordered.map { drops.registry.heights[$0] ?? drops.registry.nominalCardHeight },
             container: .board,
-            source: store
+            source: store,
+            seed: ownSlotSeed(dragging: ids, laneID: lanesByCard[card.id], in: snapshot)
         )
         return payload.itemProvider()
     }
 
+    /// The pickup's own-slot proposal (`DragSession.begin`): the grabbed card's position among its
+    /// lane's rendered cards with the dragged run lifted out — the same resting-layout index space
+    /// the retargets and `moveCards` count in, filtered by the same `LaneView.rendered` rules, so
+    /// the seeded shadow run stands exactly where the lifted cards stood and pickup moves nothing.
+    ///
+    /// **A ⌥-pickup seeds nothing.** A copy's resting layout keeps the originals in place, so there
+    /// is no vacated space for a shadow to hold; the first `dropUpdated` resolves the copy and opens
+    /// the run beside the originals, exactly as it does today (DRAG-REORDER.md § Resting-layout
+    /// zones — the modifier reflow is the feedback being asked for).
+    private func ownSlotSeed(
+        dragging ids: Set<ItemID>,
+        laneID: ItemID?,
+        in snapshot: BoardModel
+    ) -> DropTarget? {
+        guard !NSEvent.modifierFlags.contains(.option),
+              let laneID,
+              let laneCards = snapshot.lanes.first(where: { $0.id == laneID })?.cards
+        else { return nil }
+        let index = LaneView.rendered(
+            Array(laneCards.prefix { $0.id != card.id }),
+            hiddenByDrag: ids,
+            filter: store.searchFilter,
+            renaming: store.transient.renameEditor?.targetID
+        ).count
+        return DropTarget(boardRoot: store.rootKey, container: .lane(laneID), index: index)
+    }
+
     /// A trash card's drag out — **the restore**, and deliberately not special: an ordinary `.cards`
     /// session in the `.trash` container, which `BoardDropContext.commitDrop` hands to the same
     /// `moveCards`/`copyCards`/`receiveCards` every board card uses. "Restoring is an ordinary move
diff --git a/Kanban/UI/Board/DragSession.swift b/Kanban/UI/Board/DragSession.swift
index f31aff8..5f4a22e 100644
--- a/Kanban/UI/Board/DragSession.swift
+++ b/Kanban/UI/Board/DragSession.swift
@@ -611,17 +611,19 @@ final class DragSession {
     ///   - members: the dragged cards in flatten order (`SelectionGrammar.boardCards`, or the
     ///     trash's own order for a trash-card drag).
     ///   - heights: their measured heights, captured **before** the pickup transition starts.
+    ///   - seed: the run's own resting slot, proposed from the first frame — see `begin`.
     func beginCards(
         _ members: [ItemID],
         folders: [URL],
         heights: [CGFloat],
         container: ItemContainer,
         source: BoardStore,
-        mixesKinds: Bool = false
+        mixesKinds: Bool = false,
+        seed: DropTarget? = nil
     ) {
         begin(
             kind: .cards, members: members, folders: folders,
-            container: container, source: source, mixesKinds: mixesKinds
+            container: container, source: source, mixesKinds: mixesKinds, seed: seed
         )
         cardHeights = heights
         laneUnits = []
@@ -637,23 +639,37 @@ final class DragSession {
         units: [Int],
         container: ItemContainer = .board,
         source: BoardStore,
-        mixesKinds: Bool = false
+        mixesKinds: Bool = false,
+        seed: DropTarget? = nil
     ) {
         begin(
             kind: .lanes, members: members, folders: folders,
-            container: container, source: source, mixesKinds: mixesKinds
+            container: container, source: source, mixesKinds: mixesKinds, seed: seed
         )
         laneUnits = units
         cardHeights = []
     }
 
+    /// `seed` is the pickup's own-slot proposal — "at drag start it replaces the item's original
+    /// space" (DRAG-REORDER.md § The pieces), made true from the very first frame rather than from
+    /// the first `dropUpdated`. Without it the lift-out and the shadow's arrival land in different
+    /// transactions: the masonry closes the vacated gap (un-animated — `shadowRun` hasn't moved) and
+    /// then springs it back open when the first hover sample proposes the own slot, a shuffle for no
+    /// information. Seeded, the lift and the shadow are one transaction with identical geometry —
+    /// the run's frozen sizes at the run's own resting position — so nothing on the board moves at
+    /// pickup, which is what the own-slot fixed point always promised.
+    ///
+    /// Set directly rather than through `propose`, because a pickup is not a *new landing spot*:
+    /// the alignment tick stays reserved for genuine retargets. The first real `dropUpdated`
+    /// re-proposes the same slot and `propose`'s early-out makes it a silent no-op.
     private func begin(
         kind: DragKind,
         members: [ItemID],
         folders: [URL],
         container: ItemContainer,
         source: BoardStore,
-        mixesKinds: Bool
+        mixesKinds: Bool,
+        seed: DropTarget?
     ) {
         // A new drag's first `sinceLastMs` must not be the gap since the previous drag's last sample.
         #if DEBUG
@@ -669,7 +685,7 @@ final class DragSession {
         self.mixesKinds = mixesKinds
         self.sourceStore = source
         self.sourceRoot = source.rootKey
-        self.proposal = nil
+        self.proposal = seed
         self.operation = .move
         // The reload-resolved drag set: vanished members leave it silently, which is what
         // `survivors` reads and what "an emptied drag cancels itself" is stated in terms of.
diff --git a/Kanban/UI/Board/LaneView.swift b/Kanban/UI/Board/LaneView.swift
index d2e4083..310efa3 100644
--- a/Kanban/UI/Board/LaneView.swift
+++ b/Kanban/UI/Board/LaneView.swift
@@ -587,7 +587,17 @@ struct LaneView: View, Equatable {
             // The dragged items' own sizes, frozen at drag start — the one thing that is
             // (03-board-ui.md § Motion).
             units: members.map { LaneLayoutMath.displayUnits(of: $0) },
-            source: store
+            source: store,
+            // The strip's own-slot seed (`DragSession.begin`): the grabbed lane's position among
+            // the lanes with the dragged run removed — the strip proposal's own index space. A
+            // within-board lane drag never resolves to `.copy` (⌥ is ignored there), so unlike the
+            // card seed this one carries no modifier clause.
+            seed: DropTarget(
+                boardRoot: store.rootKey,
+                container: .strip,
+                index: store.snapshot.lanes.prefix { $0.id != lane.id }
+                    .count { !ids.contains($0.id) }
+            )
         )
         return payload.itemProvider()
     }
diff --git a/KanbanTests/DragSessionTests.swift b/KanbanTests/DragSessionTests.swift
index efb51e2..dfb4233 100644
--- a/KanbanTests/DragSessionTests.swift
+++ b/KanbanTests/DragSessionTests.swift
@@ -1047,3 +1047,116 @@ struct HapticTickTests {
         #expect(ticks() == afterFirstLanding + 1, "slot A to slot B is one new landing spot")
     }
 }
+
+// MARK: - The seeded pickup
+
+/// **The shadow replaces the item's original space at drag start** (DRAG-REORDER.md § The pieces):
+/// `begin` takes the pickup's own slot as a seed, so the lift-out and the shadow's arrival are one
+/// transaction with identical geometry instead of a gap that closes un-animated and springs back
+/// open at the first `dropUpdated`.
+///
+/// The seed bypasses `propose` deliberately — a pickup is not a *new landing spot*, so the
+/// alignment tick stays reserved for genuine retargets, and the first real sample's re-propose of
+/// the same slot is `propose`'s ordinary silent early-out.
+@MainActor
+@Suite("The seeded pickup")
+struct SeededPickupTests {
+
+    private static let lane1 = ItemID(rawValue: Ident.lane1)
+    private static let card1 = ItemID(rawValue: Ident.card1)
+
+    private func makeBoard() throws -> WriterFixture {
+        let fixture = try WriterFixture()
+        try fixture.item("", Item.board)
+        try fixture.item(Ident.lane1, Item.rich(order: "1024", title: "Todo"))
+        try fixture.item("\(Ident.lane1)/\(Ident.card1)", Item.rich(order: "1024", title: "First"))
+        return fixture
+    }
+
+    private func cardFolder(_ store: BoardStore) -> URL {
+        store.rootURL
+            .appendingPathComponent(Ident.lane1, isDirectory: true)
+            .appendingPathComponent(Ident.card1, isDirectory: true)
+    }
+
+    @Test("A seeded pickup proposes the own slot from the first frame")
+    func seedIsTheProposal() throws {
+        let fixture = try makeBoard()
+        defer { fixture.tearDown() }
+        let store = try BoardStore(rootURL: fixture.root)
+        let session = DragSession()
+        let seed = DropTarget(boardRoot: store.rootKey, container: .lane(Self.lane1), index: 0)
+
+        session.beginCards(
+            [Self.card1], folders: [cardFolder(store)], heights: [44],
+            container: .board, source: store, seed: seed
+        )
+
+        #expect(session.proposal == seed, "the shadow holds the vacated space before any sample")
+        #expect(
+            session.laneProposal(onBoardRooted: store.rootKey, laneID: Self.lane1) == 0,
+            "the lane reads the seed through the same accessor every retargeted proposal uses"
+        )
+    }
+
+    @Test("The seed is silent, and the first sample's re-propose stays silent")
+    func seedDoesNotTick() throws {
+        let fixture = try makeBoard()
+        defer { fixture.tearDown() }
+        let store = try BoardStore(rootURL: fixture.root)
+        let session = DragSession()
+        var count = 0
+        session.hapticTick = { count += 1 }
+        let seed = DropTarget(boardRoot: store.rootKey, container: .lane(Self.lane1), index: 0)
+
+        session.beginCards(
+            [Self.card1], folders: [cardFolder(store)], heights: [44],
+            container: .board, source: store, seed: seed
+        )
+        #expect(count == 0, "a pickup is not a new landing spot")
+
+        session.propose(seed)
+        #expect(count == 0, "the first dropUpdated re-proposes the seeded slot — the early-out holds")
+
+        session.propose(DropTarget(boardRoot: store.rootKey, container: .lane(Self.lane1), index: 1))
+        #expect(count == 1, "a genuine retarget still ticks exactly as before")
+    }
+
+    @Test("An unseeded pickup still begins with no proposal")
+    func noSeedIsTheOldContract() throws {
+        let fixture = try makeBoard()
+        defer { fixture.tearDown() }
+        let store = try BoardStore(rootURL: fixture.root)
+        let session = DragSession()
+        let seed = DropTarget(boardRoot: store.rootKey, container: .lane(Self.lane1), index: 0)
+
+        session.beginCards(
+            [Self.card1], folders: [cardFolder(store)], heights: [44],
+            container: .board, source: store, seed: seed
+        )
+        // A second begin without a seed — the ⌥-pickup's shape, and every trash pickup's — must not
+        // inherit the previous session's proposal.
+        session.beginCards(
+            [Self.card1], folders: [cardFolder(store)], heights: [44],
+            container: .trash, source: store
+        )
+
+        #expect(session.proposal == nil, "a fresh session before the first sample, exactly as documented")
+    }
+
+    @Test("A lane pickup seeds its strip slot the same way")
+    func laneSeedNamesTheStrip() throws {
+        let fixture = try makeBoard()
+        defer { fixture.tearDown() }
+        let store = try BoardStore(rootURL: fixture.root)
+        let session = DragSession()
+        let seed = DropTarget(boardRoot: store.rootKey, container: .strip, index: 0)
+
+        session.beginLanes(
+            [Self.lane1], folders: [store.rootURL.appendingPathComponent(Ident.lane1, isDirectory: true)],
+            units: [1], source: store, seed: seed
+        )
+
+        #expect(session.stripProposal(onBoardRooted: store.rootKey) == 0)
+    }
+}