diff --git a/HANDOFF-MATCH.md b/HANDOFF-MATCH.md
index 8d31790..73fa12d 100644
--- a/HANDOFF-MATCH.md
+++ b/HANDOFF-MATCH.md
@@ -91,8 +91,13 @@ communicating its own rules. Model A only works if the player can see they are b
    only way in.
 
 6. ~~**Teaching**~~ **DONE** (2026-08-17). The ghost-hand lesson for the PLACEMENT FLICK, in the
-   same register as PULL DOWN and TAP AS IT ARRIVES: a dotted track out of the player, the hand
-   riding it, SWIPE AS YOU HIT, mimed both ways in turn so it never teaches one corner.
+   same register as PULL DOWN and SWIPE TO DODGE — because it is now literally the same demo: the
+   apron mime, played in the SERVE STANCE after a beat of standing still, mimed both ways in turn so
+   it never teaches one corner. **A gesture is read in a pause, not in a point** (Oliver: "it is
+   displayed mid-play.. please rather show it in one of the pauses"): the first cut rode the
+   incoming ball, over the shoulder, at the moment the player has the least attention to spare.
+   The words carry both halves — SWIPE AS YOU HIT TO AIM — because WHEN alone teaches nothing and
+   WHAT FOR alone gets tried at the wrong moment and read as broken.
    It rides the failure it answers — `G.flatStreak`, returns that left with no aim on them
    (`flatCount`, reset by the first aimed one) — and only after `TUNE.flickHintAfter` of them,
    because hitting flat is a legal shot and not a mistake. **One lesson at a time:** the tap hint
diff --git a/index.html b/index.html
index dbd9ea2..525b60e 100644
--- a/index.html
+++ b/index.html
@@ -659,6 +659,6 @@ if (location.hostname !== 'splatter-tennis.wuwi.one') {
     </div>
   </div>
 </div>
-<script type="module" src="src/main.js?v=279"></script>
+<script type="module" src="src/main.js?v=280"></script>
 </body>
 </html>
diff --git a/src/render.js b/src/render.js
index 95f85c5..f52bfc3 100644
--- a/src/render.js
+++ b/src/render.js
@@ -2140,26 +2140,22 @@ function drawHitHint() {
 // goes, and wrong-footing the body across the net is how points are actually won. It was taught
 // nowhere on touch: the placement ring shows the result of a flick, which is a receipt, not a
 // lesson — if you never happen to swipe you never get one, so you never learn there was anything
-// to learn. Same ghost hand as every other gesture in this game, over the same shoulder, riding
-// the same failure it answers (a run of returns hit flat — doHit resets flatStreak the moment one
-// leaves with an aim on it). It mimes BOTH ways in turn or it teaches one corner.
+// to learn.
+// IT IS TAUGHT IN THE PAUSE, NOT IN THE POINT. It first rode the incoming ball, over the player's
+// shoulder — which is the moment he has the least attention to spare for reading anything: "it is
+// displayed mid-play.. please rather show it in one of the pauses" (Oliver, 2026-08-17). So it
+// moved into the room this game already keeps for teaching gestures: standing still in the serve
+// stance, on the apron, in the very demo the slingshot lesson plays. Same clock, same mime, same
+// words slot — one teacher, three lessons, and nothing new drawn over live play.
+// Both ways in turn, or it teaches one corner, and away from whichever edge he is standing against.
 function drawFlickHint() {
-  const cyc = 1.4, t = G.idleT % cyc;
-  const dir = (((G.idleT / cyc) | 0) % 2) ? -1 : 1;
-  const slide = Math.min(1, t / 0.8), gone = t > 0.95;   // stroke, held a beat, lifted, repeat
-  if (gone) return;
-  const p0 = proj(P.x, 0, P.z);
-  const hx = Math.round(p0.x), hy = Math.round(p0.y) - 52;
-  ctx.save(); ctx.globalAlpha = 0.9;
-  ctx.fillStyle = UI.dim;                                 // the track the thumb travels
-  for (let d = 10; d <= 38; d += 7) ctx.fillRect(hx + dir * d - 1, hy, 2, 2);
-  drawGhostHand(hx + dir * (10 + 28 * slide), hy, 1);     // starts clear of his own sprite
-  ctx.font = F(10); ctx.textAlign = 'center'; ctx.textBaseline = 'top';
-  // ...and the words sit ABOVE the stroke and OPPOSITE it: below is the player's own feet and the
-  // BASELINE, and 10px type across a bright white line is the one place on this court it cannot be
-  // read. Clamped off the screen edges too — this rides the player and he stands in the corners.
-  shadowText('SWIPE AS YOU HIT', Math.max(52, Math.min(W - 52, hx - dir * 22)), hy - 26, UI.warm);
-  ctx.restore();
+  const n = ((G.idleHintT - TUNE.pullHintAfter) / 1.9) | 0;
+  const px = proj(P.x, 0, P.z).x;
+  // ...and the words carry BOTH halves, because either one alone is useless: WHEN (as you hit —
+  // a swipe at any other moment does nothing, and a player who tries one and sees nothing concludes
+  // the gesture is not there) and WHAT FOR (it aims). One line, the same imperative as PULL DOWN
+  // and TAP AS IT ARRIVES.
+  demoSwipe(px < W * 0.3 ? 1 : px > W * 0.7 ? -1 : (n % 2 ? -1 : 1), 0, 'SWIPE AS YOU HIT TO AIM');
 }
 
 // The modal: drawn LAST, over everything, and the world behind it is frozen (gameplay.update
@@ -2729,19 +2725,22 @@ export function render() {
     if (txt) shadowText(txt, W / 2, METER_Y(), UI.warm); // same slot the draw meter uses
     if (demo) drawPullHint(); // show the gesture instead of only naming it
   }
-  // the tennis struggle hints: both ride the exact failure they answer, and only one at a time —
-  // teaching the flick to someone who cannot get a racket on the ball is the wrong lesson, so the
-  // tap always wins.
-  // THE FLICK LESSON BELONGS TO THE RALLY MODES, which is what rallyFeel() already means: CLASSIC
-  // and ZOMBIE TENNIS. Not the gore mode, and not gore's OPENER either — that tennis is a prologue
-  // you play for one game before the court turns, and placement is not the skill it is asking for.
+  // the tennis struggle hints, each riding the exact failure it answers.
+  // The TAP lesson stays on the incoming ball: it is about a moment, and a moment can only be
+  // taught while it is happening. The FLICK lesson is about a gesture, and a gesture is read in a
+  // PAUSE — so it waits for the serve stance and mimes itself on the apron there, exactly like the
+  // slingshot's. Nothing new is drawn over a live rally.
+  // It belongs to the RALLY MODES, which is what rallyFeel() already means: CLASSIC and ZOMBIE
+  // TENNIS. Not the gore mode, and not gore's OPENER either — that tennis is a prologue you play
+  // for one game before the court turns, and placement is not the skill it is asking for.
   // (`G.mode === 'tennis'` covered classic AND that prologue, which is exactly the wrong seam; the
   // match itself is not mode 'tennis' at all, it plays under splatter's permanent interlude.)
   // Touch only: on a keyboard the aim is held keys and 'SWIPE' would name a gesture that does not
   // exist there.
-  const inRally = G.phase === 'rally' && ball.active && ball.lastHit === 'O';
-  if (G.mode === 'tennis' && inRally && G.passStreak >= 2) drawHitHint();
-  else if (IS_TOUCH && inRally && rallyFeel() && G.flatStreak >= TUNE.flickHintAfter)
+  if (G.mode === 'tennis' && G.phase === 'rally' && G.passStreak >= 2 && ball.active && ball.lastHit === 'O')
+    drawHitHint();
+  else if (IS_TOUCH && rallyFeel() && G.phase === 'pretoss' && G.idleHintT > TUNE.pullHintAfter
+           && G.flatStreak >= TUNE.flickHintAfter)
     drawFlickHint();
   // The free-floating register: no panel, one fixed slot, shouted. PERFECT, GAME N, DOUBLE KILL,
   // RETURNED, CHANGEOVER, weapon labels — everything that used to be plain white 12px text sitting