The boot gate learns about the profile: skeleton plaque, locked splash, a 4s cap

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

src/main.js

@@ -906,8 +906,12 @@ document.getElementById('stModes').addEventListener('click', e => {
 });
 refreshSplash();
 // the profile mirror: adopt a server copy that is ahead (a wiped phone, a second device), then
-// let the strip show whatever came back. Fire-and-forget — the menu never waits on the network.
-profile.pull().then(refreshSplash);
+// let the plaque show whatever came back. The BOOT GATE holds the splash locked (skeleton
+// plaque, no buttons, no keys) until this settles — capped at 4 s, because a dead network must
+// never park the player on the title (the sprite loader's own rule).
+let profileDone = false;
+profile.pull().then(() => { profileDone = true; refreshSplash(); });
+setTimeout(() => { profileDone = true; }, 4000);
 
 // THE BOOT GATE. render.js fires all ~230 sprite requests at import; this only watches them and
 // keeps the splash's buttons out of reach until the last one has landed and both faces are ready.
@@ -925,7 +929,7 @@ const loaded = () => !splash.classList.contains('busy');
 const tick = setInterval(function watchLoad() {
   const frac = LOAD.total ? LOAD.done / LOAD.total : 1;
   bootFill.style.width = (frac * 100).toFixed(1) + '%';
-  if (frac < 1) return;
+  if (frac < 1 || !profileDone) return; // sprites AND the profile mirror (or its 4 s cap)
   clearInterval(tick);
   // fonts.ready resolves once nothing is pending — including the three faces warmed above — so the
   // first canvas frame is never the system serif.
@@ -950,6 +954,7 @@ addEventListener('keydown', e => {
   if (!menuUp()) return;
   menuMusic(); // a key is a gesture too — unlock the theme on a desktop that never taps
   const stage = intro.dataset.stage;
+  if (stage === 'splash' && !loaded()) return; // the boot gate holds the keys too
   if (e.key === 'Escape') return go('splash');
   if (stage === 'splash') {
     if (!loaded()) return;               // the boot bar hides the buttons; a key must not walk past it