diff --git a/src/client/usage.c b/src/client/usage.c
index 51f96d7..c393766 100644
--- a/src/client/usage.c
+++ b/src/client/usage.c
@@ -282,8 +282,8 @@ void print_usage(void) {
   printf("  --partial           Keep partial files on interrupted transfer\n");
   printf("  --partial-dir <dir> Directory for partial files\n");
   printf("  -T, --temp-dir <dir>  Scratch dir for temp files before atomic install.\n");
-  printf("                      Relative dirs resolve below the destination root; absolute\n");
-  printf("                      dirs are used as-is (rsync semantics).  The dir must\n");
+  printf("                      Confined to the receive root: a relative dir resolves below\n");
+  printf("                      it and an absolute/traversal dir is rejected.  The dir must\n");
   printf("                      already exist; a different filesystem falls back to a\n");
   printf("                      non-atomic copy instead of aborting\n");
   printf("  --fastsync-server-path <path>\n");
diff --git a/tests/integration/test_output_parity.py b/tests/integration/test_output_parity.py
index 83f54bb..81a4efb 100644
--- a/tests/integration/test_output_parity.py
+++ b/tests/integration/test_output_parity.py
@@ -534,22 +534,10 @@ class TestWireStatsParity:
 
     @requires_rsync
     @pytest.mark.ci
-    @pytest.mark.parametrize("mt", [
-        False,
-        pytest.param(
-            True,
-            marks=pytest.mark.xfail(
-                reason="known gap: the --threads dry-run delete path does not "
-                       "consume the receiver's STATUS_STATS delete list yet, so "
-                       "`-n --delete` emits no *deleting lines (tracked by the "
-                       "parity-blockers STATUS_STATS fix)",
-                strict=False,
-            ),
-        ),
-    ])
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize("mt", [False, True])
     def test_dry_run_delete_lines_match_rsync(self, mt):
         """-n --delete emits transfer-relative `*deleting` lines like rsync
-        (single-threaded; the --threads variant is a documented xfail)."""
+        (single-threaded and --threads)."""
         source = os.path.join(TEST_DATA_DIR, "wire_del_src")
         dest = os.path.join(TEST_DATA_DIR, "wire_del_dst")
         rdst = os.path.join(TEST_DATA_DIR, "wire_del_rdst")
diff --git a/tests/integration/test_parity_selection.py b/tests/integration/test_parity_selection.py
index 68e68b7..0d240bd 100644
--- a/tests/integration/test_parity_selection.py
+++ b/tests/integration/test_parity_selection.py
@@ -101,8 +101,15 @@ class TestRelativeGeneral:
                 fs = os.stat(os.path.join(dest, rel))
                 assert (rs.st_mode & 0o7777) == (fs.st_mode & 0o7777), \
                     f"mode mismatch for {rel} with {extra}"
-                assert int(rs.st_mtime) == int(fs.st_mtime), \
-                    f"mtime mismatch for {rel} with {extra}"
+                if extra == ["--no-implied-dirs"]:
+                    # The implied parent directory is created at run time (no
+                    # metadata applied), so rsync's and FastSync's separate runs
+                    # can differ by a second; compare with a tolerance.
+                    assert abs(rs.st_mtime - fs.st_mtime) <= 2, \
+                        f"mtime mismatch for {rel} with {extra}"
+                else:
+                    assert int(rs.st_mtime) == int(fs.st_mtime), \
+                        f"mtime mismatch for {rel} with {extra}"
 
 
 class TestDirsOneLevel: