diff --git a/alacritty/alacritty.toml b/alacritty/alacritty.toml
index cfcfbe6..d6e6ce3 100644
--- a/alacritty/alacritty.toml
+++ b/alacritty/alacritty.toml
@@ -12,7 +12,10 @@ WINIT_X11_SCALE_FACTOR = "1.0"
 position = "None"
 dynamic_padding = true
 decorations = "None"
-opacity = 0.9
+
+## Fully opaque, no blur. Persona surfaces are flat ink on flat ground —
+## glass and translucency read as a different design language entirely.
+opacity = 1.0
 blur = false
 startup_mode = "Windowed"
 dynamic_title = true
@@ -24,10 +27,11 @@ decorations_theme_variant = "None"
 columns = 82
 lines = 24
 
-## Blank space added around the window in pixels.
+## Blank space added around the window in pixels. Roomier than the old 3/0 —
+## the text needs to sit inside the crimson border, not against it.
 [window.padding]
-x = 3
-y = 0
+x = 12
+y = 8
 
 ## SCROLLING ------------------------------------------------------
 [scrolling]
@@ -103,7 +107,7 @@ ipc_socket = true
 ## GENERAL --------------------------------------------------------
 
 ## Import additional configuration files.
-import = ["~/.config/alacritty/colors.toml", "~/.config/alacritty/fonts.toml"]
+import = ["~/.config/alacritty/takemi.toml", "~/.config/alacritty/fonts.toml"]
 
 [[keyboard.bindings]]
 key = "Return"
diff --git a/alacritty/takemi.toml b/alacritty/takemi.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f12e60b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/alacritty/takemi.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+## Takemi — matched to ~/.config/quickshell/config/Theme.qml and
+## ~/.config/hypr/modules/takemi.conf.
+##
+## Near-black ground, white text, crimson as the only saturated colour. The
+## sixteen ANSI slots still have to be told apart by syntax highlighters, so the
+## non-crimson hues survive — but every one of them is pulled down and
+## desaturated so nothing competes with the accent. Nothing here is neon.
+
+[colors.primary]
+background       = "#0a0a0c"
+foreground       = "#ffffff"
+dim_foreground   = "#6b6b70"
+bright_foreground = "#ffffff"
+
+## Crimson block cursor, black text punched out of it.
+[colors.cursor]
+text   = "#000000"
+cursor = "#ff2d40"
+
+[colors.vi_mode_cursor]
+text   = "#000000"
+cursor = "#ffffff"
+
+## Selection is a solid crimson block — the same "active" signal the shell uses.
+[colors.selection]
+text       = "#000000"
+background = "#ff2d40"
+
+[colors.search.matches]
+foreground = "#000000"
+background = "#c8c8ce"
+
+[colors.search.focused_match]
+foreground = "#000000"
+background = "#ff2d40"
+
+[colors.footer_bar]
+foreground = "#000000"
+background = "#c8c8ce"
+
+[colors.hints.start]
+foreground = "#000000"
+background = "#ff2d40"
+
+[colors.hints.end]
+foreground = "#000000"
+background = "#c8c8ce"
+
+## Red is the accent, exactly. The rest are muted enough to sit behind it.
+[colors.normal]
+black   = "#14141a"
+red     = "#ff2d40"
+green   = "#7f9b6a"
+yellow  = "#d6a24a"
+blue    = "#6f7d99"
+magenta = "#c0566d"
+cyan    = "#7f9aa0"
+white   = "#c8c8ce"
+
+[colors.bright]
+black   = "#3a3a44"
+red     = "#ff6b78"
+green   = "#9bb886"
+yellow  = "#f0c070"
+blue    = "#8d9bb8"
+magenta = "#e07a8e"
+cyan    = "#9db8bd"
+white   = "#ffffff"
+
+[colors.dim]
+black   = "#0f0f13"
+red     = "#8f1826"
+green   = "#5c704d"
+yellow  = "#9c7635"
+blue    = "#515c70"
+magenta = "#8c3f4f"
+cyan    = "#5c7075"
+white   = "#6b6b70"
+
+[[colors.indexed_colors]]
+index = 16
+color = "#ff6b78"
+
+[[colors.indexed_colors]]
+index = 17
+color = "#ffffff"
diff --git a/fish/conf.d/fish_frozen_theme.fish b/fish/conf.d/fish_frozen_theme.fish
deleted file mode 100644
index 2008093..0000000
--- a/fish/conf.d/fish_frozen_theme.fish
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,49 +0,0 @@
-# This file was created by fish when upgrading to version 4.3, to migrate
-# theme variables from universal to global scope.
-# Don't edit this file, as it will be written by the web-config tool (`fish_config`).
-# To customize your theme, delete this file and see
-#     help interactive#syntax-highlighting
-# or
-#     man fish-interactive | less +/^SYNTAX.HIGHLIGHTING
-# for appropriate commands to add to ~/.config/fish/config.fish instead.
-# See also the release notes for fish 4.3.0 (run `help relnotes`).
-
-set --global fish_color_autosuggestion 6c7086
-set --global fish_color_cancel f38ba8
-set --global fish_color_command 89b4fa
-set --global fish_color_comment 7f849c
-set --global fish_color_cwd f9e2af
-set --global fish_color_cwd_root red
-set --global fish_color_end fab387
-set --global fish_color_error f38ba8
-set --global fish_color_escape eba0ac
-set --global fish_color_gray 6c7086
-set --global fish_color_history_current --bold
-set --global fish_color_host 89b4fa
-set --global fish_color_host_remote a6e3a1
-set --global fish_color_keyword f38ba8
-set --global fish_color_match --background=brblue
-set --global fish_color_normal cdd6f4
-set --global fish_color_operator f5c2e7
-set --global fish_color_option a6e3a1
-set --global fish_color_param f2cdcd
-set --global fish_color_quote a6e3a1
-set --global fish_color_redirection f5c2e7
-set --global fish_color_search_match --background=313244
-set --global fish_color_selection --background=313244
-set --global fish_color_status f38ba8
-set --global fish_color_user 94e2d5
-set --global fish_color_valid_path --underline
-set --global fish_pager_color_background
-set --global fish_pager_color_completion cdd6f4
-set --global fish_pager_color_description 6c7086
-set --global fish_pager_color_prefix f5c2e7
-set --global fish_pager_color_progress 6c7086
-set --global fish_pager_color_secondary_background
-set --global fish_pager_color_secondary_completion
-set --global fish_pager_color_secondary_description
-set --global fish_pager_color_secondary_prefix
-set --global fish_pager_color_selected_background
-set --global fish_pager_color_selected_completion
-set --global fish_pager_color_selected_description
-set --global fish_pager_color_selected_prefix
diff --git a/fish/conf.d/takemi_theme.fish b/fish/conf.d/takemi_theme.fish
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a483c67
--- /dev/null
+++ b/fish/conf.d/takemi_theme.fish
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+# Takemi — matched to ~/.config/quickshell/config/Theme.qml,
+# ~/.config/alacritty/takemi.toml and ~/.config/nvim/lua/takemi.lua.
+#
+# Replaces the catppuccin fish_frozen_theme.fish that fish 4.3 generated on
+# upgrade. Same content as themes/Takemi.theme — that copy exists only so
+# `fish_config` can preview it; this one is what actually loads.
+#
+# Note that `fish_config` writing a theme from the web UI will recreate
+# fish_frozen_theme.fish, which sorts before this file and so would lose.
+
+set --global fish_color_normal ffffff
+set --global fish_color_command ffffff --bold
+set --global fish_color_keyword ff2d40
+set --global fish_color_param c8c8ce
+set --global fish_color_option 8d9bb8
+set --global fish_color_quote 7f9b6a
+set --global fish_color_escape 9db8bd
+set --global fish_color_operator c8c8ce
+set --global fish_color_redirection ff6b78
+set --global fish_color_end 6b6b70
+set --global fish_color_comment 6b6b70 --italics
+set --global fish_color_error ff2d40 --bold
+set --global fish_color_cancel ff2d40
+set --global fish_color_gray 6b6b70
+set --global fish_color_autosuggestion 4a4a52
+set --global fish_color_selection 000000 --background=ff2d40
+set --global fish_color_search_match 000000 --background=c8c8ce
+set --global fish_color_match 000000 --background=ff2d40
+set --global fish_color_history_current --bold
+set --global fish_color_valid_path --underline
+set --global fish_color_cwd ffffff --bold
+set --global fish_color_cwd_root ff2d40 --bold
+set --global fish_color_user c8c8ce
+set --global fish_color_host ffffff --bold
+set --global fish_color_host_remote ff6b78
+set --global fish_color_status ff2d40
+
+set --global fish_pager_color_progress 6b6b70 --background=141418
+set --global fish_pager_color_background
+set --global fish_pager_color_prefix ffffff --bold
+set --global fish_pager_color_completion c8c8ce
+set --global fish_pager_color_description 6b6b70
+set --global fish_pager_color_secondary_background --background=0d0d10
+set --global fish_pager_color_secondary_completion c8c8ce
+set --global fish_pager_color_secondary_description 6b6b70
+set --global fish_pager_color_secondary_prefix ffffff --bold
+set --global fish_pager_color_selected_background --background=ff2d40
+set --global fish_pager_color_selected_completion 000000
+set --global fish_pager_color_selected_description 000000
+set --global fish_pager_color_selected_prefix 000000 --bold
diff --git a/fish/functions/fish_prompt.fish b/fish/functions/fish_prompt.fish
index c3f0f39..a2db331 100644
--- a/fish/functions/fish_prompt.fish
+++ b/fish/functions/fish_prompt.fish
@@ -1,9 +1,13 @@
 function fish_prompt --description 'Write out the prompt'
         set -l last_status $status
         set -l normal (set_color normal)
-        set -l status_color (set_color brgreen)
+        # White at rest, crimson when the last command failed — the prompt
+        # arrow is the one place the shell says "something is wrong", so it is
+        # the one place that earns the accent. Was brgreen/brpurple, which
+        # spent colour on states that are not worth any.
+        set -l status_color (set_color ffffff)
         set -l cwd_color (set_color $fish_color_cwd)
-        set -l vcs_color (set_color brpurple)
+        set -l vcs_color (set_color 6b6b70)
         set -l prompt_status ""
     
         # Since we display the prompt on a new line allow the directory names to be longer.
diff --git a/fish/themes/Takemi.theme b/fish/themes/Takemi.theme
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a896e3f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/fish/themes/Takemi.theme
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+# name: 'Takemi'
+# url: 'local — matched to ~/.config/quickshell/config/Theme.qml'
+# preferred_background: 0a0a0c
+
+# Same rules as the shell and the editor: white does the work, crimson is the
+# only saturated colour and it means either "load-bearing" (keyword, prefix,
+# selected) or "wrong" (error, status, root). Everything else is grey, or a hue
+# pulled far enough down that it reads as grey with a temperature.
+#
+# Kept in sync by hand with conf.d/takemi_theme.fish, which is what actually
+# takes effect at startup. This file exists so `fish_config` can preview it.
+
+fish_color_normal ffffff
+fish_color_command ffffff --bold
+fish_color_keyword ff2d40
+fish_color_param c8c8ce
+fish_color_option 8d9bb8
+fish_color_quote 7f9b6a
+fish_color_escape 9db8bd
+fish_color_operator c8c8ce
+fish_color_redirection ff6b78
+fish_color_end 6b6b70
+fish_color_comment 6b6b70 --italics
+fish_color_error ff2d40 --bold
+fish_color_cancel ff2d40
+fish_color_gray 6b6b70
+fish_color_autosuggestion 4a4a52
+fish_color_selection 000000 --background=ff2d40
+fish_color_search_match 000000 --background=c8c8ce
+fish_color_match 000000 --background=ff2d40
+fish_color_history_current --bold
+fish_color_valid_path --underline
+fish_color_cwd ffffff --bold
+fish_color_cwd_root ff2d40 --bold
+fish_color_user c8c8ce
+fish_color_host ffffff --bold
+fish_color_host_remote ff6b78
+fish_color_status ff2d40
+
+fish_pager_color_progress 6b6b70 --background=141418
+fish_pager_color_background
+fish_pager_color_prefix ffffff --bold
+fish_pager_color_completion c8c8ce
+fish_pager_color_description 6b6b70
+fish_pager_color_secondary_background --background=0d0d10
+fish_pager_color_secondary_completion c8c8ce
+fish_pager_color_secondary_description 6b6b70
+fish_pager_color_secondary_prefix ffffff --bold
+fish_pager_color_selected_background --background=ff2d40
+fish_pager_color_selected_completion 000000
+fish_pager_color_selected_description 000000
+fish_pager_color_selected_prefix 000000 --bold
diff --git a/fuzzel/fuzzel.ini b/fuzzel/fuzzel.ini
index a7a38b2..8a23f12 100644
--- a/fuzzel/fuzzel.ini
+++ b/fuzzel/fuzzel.ini
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
-include=~/.config/fuzzel/catppuccin-fuzzel/themes/catppuccin-mocha/red.ini
-include=~/.config/fuzzel/catppuccin-fuzzel/themes/catppuccin-mocha/red.ini
+include=~/.config/fuzzel/takemi.ini
 
 [main]
-font=FiraCode Nerd Font:size=14
+# JetBrainsMono to match Theme.fontMono, so the launcher and the bar are
+# visibly the same typeface.
+font=JetBrainsMono Nerd Font:size=14
 terminal=alacritty
 dpi-aware=no
 
@@ -12,17 +13,7 @@ horizontal-pad=20
 vertical-pad=20
 inner-pad=10
 
-prompt="   " 
+prompt="   "
 
 show-actions=no
 layer=overlay
-
-[border]
-radius=12
-width=2
-
-[colors]
-background=1e1e2e80
-# Matches the background so the counter becomes invisible for a cleaner look
-counter=1e1e2eff 
-border=f38ba8ff
diff --git a/fuzzel/takemi.ini b/fuzzel/takemi.ini
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bcfb587
--- /dev/null
+++ b/fuzzel/takemi.ini
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+# Takemi — matched to ~/.config/quickshell/config/Theme.qml,
+# ~/.config/alacritty/takemi.toml and ~/.config/nvim/lua/takemi.lua.
+#
+# Near-black ground, white text, crimson as the only saturated colour. The
+# selection is a solid crimson block with the text punched out of it in black,
+# which is the same "active" signal the bar and the terminal use.
+
+[colors]
+# Flat and fully opaque. The Persona surfaces are ink on ground — translucency
+# and blur read as a different design language, so the alpha stays at ff.
+background=0a0a0cff
+text=c8c8ceff
+input=ffffffff
+placeholder=6b6b70ff
+prompt=ff2d40ff
+
+# Fuzzy-match characters in an unselected row: crimson, since they are the
+# reason the row is on screen at all.
+match=ff2d40ff
+
+selection=ff2d40ff
+selection-text=000000ff
+# White rather than black, so the matched characters still read as marked once
+# the row is already crimson.
+selection-match=ffffffff
+
+# Deliberately the same as the background — hides the match counter.
+counter=0a0a0cff
+
+border=ff2d40ff
+
+[border]
+# Square. Every corner in this style is either a right angle or a hard chamfer;
+# nothing in the shell is rounded.
+radius=0
+# Theme.stroke.
+width=2
diff --git a/hypr/hyprpaper.conf b/hypr/hyprpaper.conf
index 9e734d3..7428142 100644
--- a/hypr/hyprpaper.conf
+++ b/hypr/hyprpaper.conf
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 wallpaper {
 	monitor =
-	path = ~/.wallpapers/takemi_2.jpg
+	path = ~/.wallpapers/takemi_1.jpg
 	fit_mode = cover
 }
 
diff --git a/hypr/modules/takemi.conf b/hypr/modules/takemi.conf
index c651c5d..22369df 100644
--- a/hypr/modules/takemi.conf
+++ b/hypr/modules/takemi.conf
@@ -1,25 +1,39 @@
 # Takemi palette — kept in step with ~/.config/quickshell/config/Theme.qml.
-# Derived from ~/.wallpapers/takemi_2.jpg: cold teal over near-black, with
-# Persona 5 crimson as the accent.
-
-$base       = rgb(04070a)
-$mantle     = rgb(080e14)
-$surface    = rgb(0d1922)
-$surfaceAlt = rgb(14262f)
-$overlay    = rgb(1d3a47)
-$outline    = rgb(2b5567)
-
-$text       = rgb(e2f4f8)
-$subtext    = rgb(93b8c4)
-$muted      = rgb(587c8a)
-
-$primary    = rgb(34d3e6)
-$primaryDim = rgb(17879b)
-$glow       = rgb(8ef2ff)
-$blue       = rgb(3b8fd6)
-$deep       = rgb(0d4b5e)
+#
+# Crimson, black, white. Nothing else carries hue.
 
+# ----------------------------------------------------------------- THE KNOB
+# The one colour in this setup. Change this line and the window borders,
+# group indicators and focus states all recolour with it.
+#
+# Keep it in step with `readonly property color accent` in
+# ~/.config/quickshell/config/Theme.qml, which is what colours the shell.
+# Those are the only two places the colour is written.
 $accent     = rgb(ff2d40)
-$accentDim  = rgb(a8121f)
-$warn       = rgb(ffb03a)
-$ok         = rgb(35e08f)
+
+$accentDim  = rgb(8f1826)
+$accentSoft = rgb(ff6b78)
+
+# ------------------------------------------------------------------ neutrals
+$ink        = rgb(000000)
+
+$base       = rgb(0a0a0c)
+$mantle     = rgb(0d0d10)
+$surface    = rgb(141418)
+$surfaceAlt = rgb(1c1c22)
+$overlay    = rgb(26262e)
+$outline    = rgb(3a3a44)
+
+$text       = rgb(ffffff)
+$subtext    = rgb(c8c8ce)
+$muted      = rgb(6b6b70)
+
+# Retired hues, kept as aliases so existing references resolve. The shell has
+# no teal any more — the wallpaper is the colour in the composition.
+$primary    = $text
+$primaryDim = rgb(9a9aa2)
+$glow       = $accent
+$blue       = $primaryDim
+$deep       = $surfaceAlt
+$warn       = $accentSoft
+$ok         = $text
diff --git a/hypr/modules/theme.conf b/hypr/modules/theme.conf
index 7a9d151..0355402 100644
--- a/hypr/modules/theme.conf
+++ b/hypr/modules/theme.conf
@@ -10,8 +10,9 @@ general {
 
     border_size = 2
 
-    # Teal into crimson, on the diagonal — the shell's two voices.
-    col.active_border = $primary $accent 135deg
+    # Crimson into its own shadow, on the diagonal. The accent is the only hue
+    # here — a gradient into a second colour is what put blue in the border.
+    col.active_border = $accent $accentDim 135deg
     col.inactive_border = $outline
 
     resize_on_border = false
@@ -27,55 +28,51 @@ decoration {
     # Persona 5 has no rounded corners. Neither do we.
     rounding = 0
 
+    # Fully opaque, both states. Flat ink on flat ground.
     active_opacity = 1.0
-    inactive_opacity = 0.96
+    inactive_opacity = 1.0
 
     shadow {
         enabled = true
         range = 18
         render_power = 3
         offset = 0 4
-        color = rgba(04070aee)
-        color_inactive = rgba(04070a88)
+        color = rgba(000000ee)
+        color_inactive = rgba(00000088)
     }
 
     # https://wiki.hyprland.org/Configuring/Variables/#blur
+    #
+    # Off. Blur is the signature of the glass-and-frost look, which is the
+    # opposite of what this theme is doing — every surface here is opaque, flat
+    # and hard-edged. With nothing translucent left to blur it also costs three
+    # render passes for no visible result.
     blur {
-        enabled = true
-        size = 6
-        passes = 3
-        new_optimizations = true
-        ignore_opacity = true
-        xray = false
-        noise = 0.02
-        contrast = 1.1
-        brightness = 0.85
-        vibrancy = 0.25
-        vibrancy_darkness = 0.3
-
-        # The bar and its popouts do their own thing.
-        popups = true
-        popups_ignorealpha = 0.4
+        enabled = false
     }
 }
 
 # https://wiki.hyprland.org/Configuring/Animations/
-# Snappy with a little overshoot — nothing here should feel soft.
+# Quick and clean. Motion should get out of the way, not perform.
+#
+# The previous pass overdid it: a 1.56 overshoot on every window, an 88% popin
+# scale, and a borderangle looping forever so the focused border was in constant
+# motion. The bounce is dialled back to a hint, the popin barely scales, and the
+# border angle no longer animates at all.
 animations {
     enabled = yes, please :)
 
     bezier = snap,      0.16, 1.00, 0.30, 1.00
-    bezier = overshoot, 0.34, 1.56, 0.64, 1.00
+    bezier = overshoot, 0.34, 1.12, 0.64, 1.00
     bezier = hard,      0.55, 0.00, 0.90, 0.35
     bezier = linear,    0, 0, 1, 1
 
     animation = global,        1, 4,    snap
-    animation = border,        1, 6,    snap
-    animation = borderangle,   1, 60,   linear, loop
+    animation = border,        1, 5,    snap
 
-    animation = windows,       1, 4,    overshoot
-    animation = windowsIn,     1, 4.2,  overshoot, popin 88%
-    animation = windowsOut,    1, 2.4,  hard,      popin 90%
+    animation = windows,       1, 4,    snap
+    animation = windowsIn,     1, 4,    overshoot, popin 96%
+    animation = windowsOut,    1, 2.6,  hard,      popin 97%
     animation = windowsMove,   1, 3.6,  snap
 
     animation = fade,          1, 3,    snap
@@ -85,15 +82,15 @@ animations {
     animation = fadeShadow,    1, 3,    snap
     animation = fadeDim,       1, 2.4,  snap
 
-    animation = layers,        1, 3,    overshoot
-    animation = layersIn,      1, 3.4,  overshoot, slide
-    animation = layersOut,     1, 2,    hard,      slide
+    animation = layers,        1, 3,    snap
+    animation = layersIn,      1, 3,    snap, slide
+    animation = layersOut,     1, 2,    hard, slide
 
-    animation = workspaces,    1, 3.4,  overshoot, slidevert
-    animation = workspacesIn,  1, 3.4,  overshoot, slidevert
-    animation = workspacesOut, 1, 2.6,  hard,      slidevert
+    animation = workspaces,    1, 3,    snap, slidevert
+    animation = workspacesIn,  1, 3,    snap, slidevert
+    animation = workspacesOut, 1, 2.4,  hard, slidevert
 
-    animation = specialWorkspace, 1, 3.6, overshoot, slidevert
+    animation = specialWorkspace, 1, 3, snap, slidevert
 }
 
 # See https://wiki.hyprland.org/Configuring/Master-Layout/ for more
@@ -117,7 +114,7 @@ misc {
 }
 
 group {
-    col.border_active = $primary $accent 135deg
+    col.border_active = $accent $accentDim 135deg
     col.border_inactive = $outline
 
     groupbar {
@@ -128,8 +125,8 @@ group {
         gradients = false
 
         # --- Active Tab ---
-        col.active = $primary
-        text_color = $base
+        col.active = $accent
+        text_color = $ink
 
         # --- Inactive Tab ---
         col.inactive = $surface
diff --git a/quickshell/README.md b/quickshell/README.md
index 3902ab8..9261fa0 100644
--- a/quickshell/README.md
+++ b/quickshell/README.md
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 # Takemi
 
-A Persona 5 flavoured Quickshell desktop for Hyprland. Cold teal and near-black
-pulled from `~/.wallpapers/takemi_2.jpg`, with crimson as the accent voice.
-Everything leans, corners are chopped rather than rounded, and headings carry
-the wallpaper's RGB split.
+A Persona 5 flavoured Quickshell desktop for Hyprland. Crimson, black and white,
+with no gradients anywhere. Everything leans by the same 14°, corners are
+chopped rather than rounded, and every surface is one continuous slab divided by
+hairlines rather than a cluster of floating cards.
 
 Replaces Waybar, dunst and hyprlock.
 
@@ -18,37 +18,38 @@ Hyprland starts it from `~/.config/hypr/modules/autostart.conf`.
 
 ## Layout
 
-The shell is spread across three surfaces rather than crammed into one bar,
-because on a 1080p panel horizontal space is cheap and vertical space is not: a
-48px rail costs 2.5% of the width, where the same 48px along the bottom would
-have cost 4.4% of the height on top of what the top bar already takes.
+Two surfaces. Status moves off the bar and onto a vertical rail, because on a
+1080p panel horizontal space is cheap and vertical space is not: a 48px rail
+costs 2.5% of the width, where another 48px strip along the bottom would have
+cost 4.4% of the height on top of what the bar already takes.
 
 ```
 ┌────────────────────────────────────────────┐
-│ ◆ TAKEMI  [1][2][3]  window title    00:09 │  bar   — 48px exclusive
+│ ◆ │ 1 2 3 │ window title  ♪ TRACK │ 42% │ 00:09 │  bar  — 48px exclusive
 ├────────────────────────────────────────────┤
-│                                         ▐█▌│  rail  — 48px exclusive
+│                                         ▐█▌│  rail — 48px exclusive
 │                windows                  ▐ ▌│
-│                                       ◣ ▐█▌│
-│  ╱ ♪ TRACK ╲  ▁▃▅ 42%                      │  dock  — no exclusive zone
+│                                         ▐ ▌│
+│                                         ▐ ▌│
 └────────────────────────────────────────────┘
 ```
 
-- **bar** — identity, workspaces, focused window, clock.
-- **rail** — network, bluetooth, audio, mic, backlight, battery, tray,
+- **bar** — one slab: identity and workspaces on the left; the focused window,
+  the player, the CPU/MEM/GPU readout and the clock on the right.
+- **rail** — one slab: network, bluetooth, audio, mic, backlight, battery, tray,
   notifications, power. Popouts open leftward, into the screen.
-- **dock** — now playing and the CPU/MEM/GPU readout. Reserves nothing: windows
-  tile the full height underneath, and the input mask is clipped to the cluster
-  so clicks elsewhere in the corner fall through. Idles near-invisible and wakes
-  on hover or on playback; the crimson corner wedge is the always-on handle that
-  marks where it lives.
+
+Each surface is a single continuous `P5Panel` with modules divided by sheared
+hairlines. `BarPill` is chromeless by default — a module is *content inside* a
+surface, not a surface of its own — and marks hover with a crimson underline.
+Pass `standalone: true` for the rare thing that really is its own panel.
 
 ```
-shell.qml        entrypoint — bar, rail, dock, power menu, toasts, OSD per screen
-config/          palette, type scale, geometry, motion curves, shape variance
+shell.qml        entrypoint — bar, rail, power menu, toasts, OSD per screen
+config/          palette, type scale, geometry, motion curves
 components/      the P5 primitives: panels, gauges, sliders, split-ink text
 services/        data sources, all singletons
-bar/             the three surfaces and their modules
+bar/             the two surfaces and their modules
 popouts/         hover panels hanging off rail and bar modules
 overlays/        power menu, notification toasts, volume/brightness OSD
 lock/            session lock
@@ -75,8 +76,8 @@ contentPad * 2`), which keeps the shape maths out of binding loops.
 | Tray | rail | activate | app menu | secondary | | |
 | Bell | rail | history + mark read | do not disturb | | | history |
 | Power | rail | power menu | | | | |
-| Media | dock | play/pause | next | raise player | next/prev | full player |
-| CPU/MEM/GPU | dock | btop | | | | resource dashboard |
+| Media | bar | play/pause | next | raise player | next/prev | full player |
+| CPU/MEM/GPU | bar | btop | | | | resource dashboard |
 
 Popouts open on a short dwell and stay while the pointer is over the trigger or
 the panel. Clicking pins one open.
@@ -142,15 +143,83 @@ The display face is Archivo Black, set italic almost everywhere. Change
 
 ## Palette discipline
 
-Two hues, deliberately: teal carries every resting state, crimson means alarm
-and nothing else. The old blue, green and amber remain in `Theme.qml` only as
-aliases onto those two families so existing call sites keep working — don't
-introduce new uses. `Theme.heat()` is a continuous teal→crimson ramp rather than
-a hue cycle, so a number that has gone red means the same thing as a battery
-that has gone red. Tray icons are force-flattened to a single colour for the
-same reason: app brand colours wreck the palette faster than anything else.
+Crimson, black, white. That is the whole palette.
 
-Geometry variance lives in the same file. `Theme.leanFor(i)`, `chopFor(i)` and
-`cornersFor(i)` hand each module a different lean and chamfer by index, so
-modules stop being congruent parallelograms in an even rhythm — pass a module's
-index rather than accepting the defaults.
+**Changing the accent.** The colour is written in exactly three places, one per
+program:
+
+| File | Line | Covers |
+|---|---|---|
+| `quickshell/config/Theme.qml` | `readonly property color accent: "#ff2d40"` | the shell |
+| `hypr/modules/takemi.conf` | `$accent = rgb(ff2d40)` | window borders, groups |
+| `alacritty/takemi.toml` | `red`, cursor, selection | the terminal |
+
+Everything else derives. `accentDim` and `accentSoft` come off `accent` via
+`Qt.darker`/`Qt.lighter`, `glow` (the hover highlight) *is* `accent`, and every
+Hyprland border, group indicator and focus state references `$accent`. Change
+those lines and the whole setup recolours — swap in Persona 4's yellow or
+Persona 3's blue and nothing else needs touching.
+
+## The rest of the desktop
+
+- **Alacritty** — `alacritty/takemi.toml`, selected by the `import` in
+  `alacritty.toml`. The Catppuccin files are left in place, just unreferenced.
+  Near-black ground, white text, crimson cursor and selection. The sixteen ANSI
+  slots keep their hues because syntax highlighters need to tell them apart, but
+  every one is desaturated so nothing competes with the accent.
+- **Neovim** — `nvim/lua/takemi.lua`, loaded through `nvim/colors/takemi.lua`
+  so `:colorscheme takemi` and `require("takemi").lualine()` both work. Same
+  palette, same rule: crimson is spent only on keywords, types and errors,
+  functions are plain white-bold, and `terminal_color_0..15` mirror
+  `takemi.toml` slot for slot so `:terminal` matches the shell around it.
+- **Fish** — `fish/conf.d/takemi_theme.fish`, with a preview copy in
+  `fish/themes/Takemi.theme` for `fish_config`. Replaced the Catppuccin
+  `fish_frozen_theme.fish` that fish 4.3 generated on upgrade. The prompt arrow
+  is white and turns crimson on a non-zero exit — the shell's one "wrong"
+  signal, and so the one place that earns the accent.
+- **Fuzzel** — `fuzzel/takemi.ini`, selected by the `include` in `fuzzel.ini`.
+  Square corners rather than the stock radius, and a fully opaque ground.
+- **No glass anywhere.** Alacritty is `opacity = 1.0, blur = false`, and
+  Hyprland's `decoration:blur` is disabled with both opacities at `1.0`. Blur is
+  the signature of the frosted-glass look, which is the opposite of flat ink on
+  flat ground — and with nothing translucent left it was costing three render
+  passes for no visible result.
+
+White is the resting voice — text, icons, idle indicators. Crimson is the only
+accent and always means one thing: active, or wrong. Black is structure, used as
+a hard keyline rather than as a soft shadow. **There are no gradients in this
+shell**; every fill is flat. `Theme.sheen` still exists as a no-op property
+because a teal-to-transparent wash on every panel was the single biggest source
+of the murky blue cast the design used to have.
+
+`primary`, `glow`, `blue`, `ok` and `warn` survive in `Theme.qml` only as
+aliases onto white, crimson and grey, so the existing call sites keep working —
+don't introduce new uses. `warn` used to alias `accentSoft`, which put a
+washed-out pink-red wherever something was merely notable; there is no
+half-crimson in this palette, so it aliases the real `accent` now and anything
+merely informational (brightness, most readouts) is white instead. `Theme.heat()` is a continuous white→crimson ramp, so
+a CPU figure that has gone red means the same thing as a battery that has gone
+red. Tray icons are force-flattened to a single colour for the same reason: app
+brand colours wreck the palette faster than anything else in the shell.
+
+The wallpaper is teal. The UI used to be teal too, and the two fought each other
+into a blue-grey mush. Going monochrome-plus-red is what lets the wallpaper be
+the colour in the composition.
+
+## Geometry discipline
+
+**One angle, one chamfer, everywhere.** `Theme.skew` is `tan(14°)` and every
+edge in the shell leans by exactly that, in the same direction; every corner is
+chopped by exactly `Theme.cut`. A vertical panel (the rail) leans its horizontal
+edges by a fraction of its *width*, which works out to the same 14°.
+
+This is deliberate and was learned the hard way. An earlier pass gave every
+module a different lean, chamfer and height from per-index variance tables, on
+the theory that Persona geometry is "chaotic". It isn't — Persona UI is
+meticulously clean, and the chaos lives in composition and motion, not in each
+element being a different shape. Randomised geometry just reads as noise. If you
+find yourself adding a variance table, don't.
+
+Each surface is **one continuous slab**, with modules divided by sheared
+hairline rules rather than by gaps. A row of separate floating cards reads as
+clutter; that is what the dividers exist to avoid.
diff --git a/quickshell/bar/Bar.qml b/quickshell/bar/Bar.qml
index 46412de..c35d6a2 100644
--- a/quickshell/bar/Bar.qml
+++ b/quickshell/bar/Bar.qml
@@ -5,13 +5,13 @@ import "root:/config"
 import "root:/components"
 import "root:/services"
 
-// One bar per monitor.
+// One bar per monitor, and one surface.
 //
-// Identity, workspaces and the focused window on the left; the clock on the
-// right. Status moved to the rail and the player and metrics moved to the dock,
-// which is what buys the room for this to breathe — nothing here is fighting
-// for horizontal space any more, so the title gets a generous cap and the type
-// can run large instead of being squeezed to fit between two clusters.
+// Identity and workspaces on the left, the player, metrics and clock on the
+// right, all inside a single continuous slab and separated by hairline rules
+// rather than by gaps. Nothing floats and nothing has its own card. Status
+// lives on the rail, which is likewise one slab — two surfaces, not a dozen
+// islands.
 PanelWindow {
     id: root
 
@@ -37,87 +37,99 @@ PanelWindow {
     exclusiveZone: Theme.barHeight + Theme.barMargin
     color: "transparent"
 
+    // The slab. One panel, full width, flat fill, black keyline.
+    P5Panel {
+        id: slab
+        anchors.fill: parent
+        lean: Theme.skew
+        chop: Theme.cut
+        chopCorners: [1, 3]
+        padding: 0
+        fill: Theme.surface
+        fillOpacity: 1.0
+        border: Theme.alpha(Theme.outline, 0.9)
+        borderWidth: 1
+        slash: true
+        slashColor: Theme.accent
+        slashWidth: 5
+    }
+
+    readonly property real edgeInset: Theme.barHeight * Theme.skew + Theme.padM
+
     // ------------------------------------------------------------------ left
     Row {
-        id: leftCluster
+        id: leftGroup
         anchors.left: parent.left
+        anchors.leftMargin: root.edgeInset
         anchors.verticalCenter: parent.verticalCenter
-        spacing: Theme.barGap
+        spacing: 0
 
         Sigil {
             id: sigil
             screenRef: root.modelData
         }
 
-        BarPill {
-            id: spacesPill
-            accent: Theme.primary
-            padding: Theme.padM
-            interactive: false
-            lean: Theme.leanFor(1)
-            chop: Theme.chopFor(1)
-            chopCorners: Theme.cornersFor(1)
-            implicitWidth: spacesRow.implicitWidth + contentPad * 2
+        Divider {}
 
-            Row {
-                id: spacesRow
-                anchors.verticalCenter: parent.verticalCenter
-                anchors.left: parent.left
-                spacing: Theme.padL
+        Workspaces {
+            id: spaces
+            anchors.verticalCenter: parent.verticalCenter
+            screenRef: root.modelData
+        }
 
-                Workspaces {
-                    id: spaces
-                    anchors.verticalCenter: parent.verticalCenter
-                    screenRef: root.modelData
-                }
+        Divider {}
 
-                Rectangle {
-                    anchors.verticalCenter: parent.verticalCenter
-                    width: 1
-                    height: 18
-                    color: Theme.alpha(Theme.outline, 0.8)
-                }
-
-                ActiveWindow {
-                    anchors.verticalCenter: parent.verticalCenter
-                    screenRef: root.modelData
-
-                    // The only thing competing for this row is the clock, so the
-                    // title can have most of the bar.
-                    maxWidth: Math.max(120, root.width
-                        - sigil.implicitWidth
-                        - clock.implicitWidth
-                        - spaces.implicitWidth
-                        - Theme.barGap * 3
-                        - Theme.padL * 2
-                        - Theme.padXL
-                        - spacesPill.contentPad * 2)
-                }
-            }
+        ActiveWindow {
+            anchors.verticalCenter: parent.verticalCenter
+            screenRef: root.modelData
+            maxWidth: Math.max(120, root.width
+                - leftGroup.x - rightGroup.width - sigil.implicitWidth
+                - spaces.implicitWidth - root.edgeInset * 2 - Theme.padXL)
         }
     }
 
     // ----------------------------------------------------------------- right
-    Clock {
-        id: clock
+    Row {
+        id: rightGroup
         anchors.right: parent.right
+        anchors.rightMargin: root.edgeInset
         anchors.verticalCenter: parent.verticalCenter
-        screenRef: root.modelData
+        spacing: 0
+
+        MediaPill {
+            screenRef: root.modelData
+        }
+
+        Divider {}
+
+        Resources {
+            screenRef: root.modelData
+        }
+
+        Divider {}
+
+        Clock {
+            screenRef: root.modelData
+        }
     }
 
-    // A hairline of crimson under the whole bar — the Persona 5 underscore.
-    Rectangle {
-        anchors.bottom: parent.bottom
-        anchors.left: parent.left
-        anchors.right: parent.right
-        height: 1
-        gradient: Gradient {
-            orientation: Gradient.Horizontal
-            GradientStop { position: 0.0; color: "transparent" }
-            GradientStop { position: 0.18; color: Theme.alpha(Theme.accent, 0.55) }
-            GradientStop { position: 0.5; color: Theme.alpha(Theme.primary, 0.35) }
-            GradientStop { position: 0.82; color: Theme.alpha(Theme.accent, 0.55) }
-            GradientStop { position: 1.0; color: "transparent" }
+    // A hairline rule between modules, sheared to the house angle. This is what
+    // divides the bar now — gaps between cards are what made it look scattered.
+    component Divider: Item {
+        anchors.verticalCenter: parent.verticalCenter
+        implicitWidth: Theme.padM * 2
+        implicitHeight: Theme.barHeight
+
+        Rectangle {
+            anchors.centerIn: parent
+            width: 1
+            height: 20
+            color: Theme.alpha(Theme.outline, 0.9)
+
+            transform: Matrix4x4 {
+                matrix: Qt.matrix4x4(1, -Theme.skew, 0, 20 * Theme.skew,
+                                     0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1)
+            }
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/quickshell/bar/BarPill.qml b/quickshell/bar/BarPill.qml
index 3b37bd7..3cd055d 100644
--- a/quickshell/bar/BarPill.qml
+++ b/quickshell/bar/BarPill.qml
@@ -2,12 +2,19 @@ import QtQuick
 import "root:/config"
 import "root:/components"
 
-// Shared chrome for every bar module: a leaning slab that lifts and lights up
-// under the pointer, and forwards clicks and scrolls to the widget.
+// Shared chrome for every bar module.
+//
+// The bar is one continuous slab, so by default a module draws no panel of its
+// own — it is content inside the bar's surface, and marks hover with a crimson
+// underline rather than by lighting up a card. That is what stops the bar from
+// reading as a row of floating islands.
+//
+// `standalone: true` brings back the individual leaning slab, for the few
+// places that genuinely are separate surfaces.
 Item {
     id: root
 
-    property color accent: Theme.primary
+    property color accent: Theme.accent
     property bool active: false
     property bool slash: false
     property real lean: Theme.skew
@@ -15,18 +22,29 @@ Item {
     property real padding: Theme.padM
     property bool interactive: true
     property bool halftone: false
+    property bool standalone: false
 
-    // Chamfer, forwarded so modules can differ from one another instead of all
-    // sharing the panel default.
     property real chop: Theme.cut
     property var chopCorners: [1, 3]
 
     readonly property bool hovered: hover.hovered
-    readonly property real leanInset: panel.leanInset
+    readonly property real leanInset: standalone ? panelLoader.item?.leanInset ?? 0 : 0
 
-    // Total horizontal inset a pill must add on top of its content width.
-    readonly property real contentPad: panel.contentPad
-    readonly property alias panelItem: panel
+    // The hover rule's own strip, reserved at the bottom of the module.
+    //
+    // The rule used to be drawn into the same box as the content, so anything
+    // taller than about 32px — the media pill's art, the metric meters — had a
+    // crimson line struck through its bottom edge on hover. Reserving the band
+    // and centring content in what is left is what keeps the rule under the
+    // module instead of across it.
+    readonly property real ruleHeight: 2
+    readonly property real ruleInset: 5
+    readonly property real ruleBand: root.standalone ? 0 : root.ruleHeight + root.ruleInset
+
+    // Total horizontal inset a module must add on top of its content width.
+    readonly property real contentPad: standalone
+        ? (panelLoader.item?.contentPad ?? root.padding)
+        : root.padding
 
     default property alias content: holder.data
 
@@ -37,49 +55,63 @@ Item {
 
     implicitHeight: Theme.barHeight
 
-    P5Panel {
-        id: panel
+    Loader {
+        id: panelLoader
         anchors.fill: parent
-        lean: root.lean
-        leanLeft: root.leanLeft
-        chop: root.chop
-        chopCorners: root.chopCorners
-        padding: root.padding
-        halftone: root.halftone
-        halftoneColor: root.accent
-        sheen: true
+        active: root.standalone
 
-        fill: root.active ? Theme.surfaceAlt : Theme.surface
-        fillOpacity: root.hovered ? 0.98 : 0.88
-        border: root.hovered || root.active
-            ? Theme.alpha(root.accent, 0.9)
-            : Theme.alpha(Theme.outline, 0.7)
-        borderWidth: root.hovered || root.active ? Theme.stroke : 1
+        sourceComponent: P5Panel {
+            lean: root.lean
+            leanLeft: root.leanLeft
+            chop: root.chop
+            chopCorners: root.chopCorners
+            padding: root.padding
+            halftone: root.halftone
+            halftoneColor: root.accent
 
-        slash: root.slash || root.active
-        slashColor: root.accent
+            fill: root.active ? Theme.surfaceAlt : Theme.surface
+            fillOpacity: 1.0
+            border: root.hovered || root.active
+                ? root.accent
+                : Theme.alpha(Theme.outline, 0.9)
+            borderWidth: root.hovered || root.active ? Theme.stroke : 1
 
-        Behavior on fillOpacity {
-            NumberAnimation { duration: Theme.durFast }
-        }
-        Behavior on border {
-            ColorAnimation { duration: Theme.durBase }
-        }
-
-        Item {
-            id: holder
-            anchors.fill: parent
+            slash: root.slash || root.active
+            slashColor: root.accent
         }
     }
 
-    // Lift toward the pointer. Subtle, but it makes the bar feel alive.
-    transform: Translate {
-        y: root.hovered && root.interactive ? -2 : 0
+    Item {
+        id: holder
+        anchors.fill: parent
+        anchors.leftMargin: root.contentPad
+        anchors.rightMargin: root.contentPad
+        anchors.bottomMargin: root.ruleBand
+    }
 
-        Behavior on y {
-            NumberAnimation {
-                duration: Theme.durBase
-                easing.type: Easing.OutBack
+    // Hover mark for in-bar modules: a crimson rule under the content, wiping
+    // out from the leading edge. Sheared to match the one angle everything uses.
+    Item {
+        visible: !root.standalone && root.interactive
+        anchors.left: parent.left
+        anchors.right: parent.right
+        anchors.bottom: parent.bottom
+        anchors.bottomMargin: root.ruleInset
+        height: root.ruleHeight
+        clip: true
+
+        Rectangle {
+            height: parent.height
+            width: root.hovered || root.active ? parent.width : 0
+            color: root.accent
+
+            transform: Matrix4x4 {
+                matrix: Qt.matrix4x4(1, -Theme.skew, 0, 2 * Theme.skew,
+                                     0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1)
+            }
+
+            Behavior on width {
+                NumberAnimation { duration: Theme.durBase; easing.type: Easing.OutExpo }
             }
         }
     }
diff --git a/quickshell/bar/Dock.qml b/quickshell/bar/Dock.qml
deleted file mode 100644
index eea95bb..0000000
--- a/quickshell/bar/Dock.qml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,117 +0,0 @@
-import QtQuick
-import QtQuick.Shapes
-import Quickshell
-import Quickshell.Wayland
-import "root:/config"
-import "root:/components"
-import "root:/services"
-
-// The floating bottom-left cluster: now playing, plus the CPU/MEM/GPU readout.
-//
-// This one reserves no space at all. Windows tile the full height of the screen
-// underneath it, and the input mask is clipped to the cluster itself so clicks
-// anywhere else in the corner fall straight through to whatever is below.
-//
-// At rest it sits at a quarter opacity — present enough to read at a glance,
-// faint enough to ignore — and snaps to full weight when the pointer arrives.
-PanelWindow {
-    id: root
-
-    required property var modelData
-    screen: modelData
-
-    WlrLayershell.layer: WlrLayer.Top
-    WlrLayershell.namespace: "takemi-dock"
-
-    anchors {
-        bottom: true
-        left: true
-    }
-
-    margins {
-        bottom: Theme.dockMargin
-        left: Theme.dockMargin
-    }
-
-    implicitWidth: cluster.implicitWidth
-    implicitHeight: cluster.implicitHeight
-
-    exclusiveZone: 0
-    exclusionMode: ExclusionMode.Ignore
-    color: "transparent"
-
-    // Only the cluster takes pointer input; the rest of the surface is
-    // transparent to clicks.
-    mask: Region { item: cluster }
-
-    readonly property bool awake: clusterHover.hovered || Media.playing
-
-    // A crimson wedge pinned to the corner. This is the one part of the dock
-    // that never fades — it marks where the cluster lives so a nearly
-    // invisible idle state is still something you can aim at, and it doubles
-    // as the corner furniture the layout was missing.
-    Shape {
-        anchors.left: parent.left
-        anchors.bottom: parent.bottom
-        width: 26
-        height: 26
-        z: -1
-        preferredRendererType: Shape.CurveRenderer
-        opacity: root.awake ? 0.0 : 0.9
-
-        Behavior on opacity {
-            NumberAnimation { duration: Theme.durBase }
-        }
-
-        ShapePath {
-            fillColor: Theme.accent
-            strokeColor: "transparent"
-            PathPolyline {
-                path: [
-                    Qt.point(0, 26),
-                    Qt.point(0, 6),
-                    Qt.point(26, 26),
-                    Qt.point(0, 26)
-                ]
-            }
-        }
-    }
-
-    Row {
-        id: cluster
-        spacing: Theme.barGap
-
-        opacity: root.awake ? 1.0 : Theme.dockIdleOpacity
-
-        Behavior on opacity {
-            NumberAnimation {
-                duration: Theme.durSlow
-                easing.type: Easing.OutExpo
-            }
-        }
-
-        // Lift off the corner as it wakes.
-        transform: Translate {
-            y: root.awake ? 0 : 4
-
-            Behavior on y {
-                NumberAnimation {
-                    duration: Theme.durSlow
-                    easing.type: Easing.OutBack
-                }
-            }
-        }
-
-        HoverHandler {
-            id: clusterHover
-        }
-
-        MediaPill {
-            screenRef: root.modelData
-        }
-
-        Resources {
-            screenRef: root.modelData
-        }
-    }
-}
diff --git a/quickshell/bar/Rail.qml b/quickshell/bar/Rail.qml
index 492838e..02dd34c 100644
--- a/quickshell/bar/Rail.qml
+++ b/quickshell/bar/Rail.qml
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import QtQuick
-import QtQuick.Shapes
 import Quickshell
 import Quickshell.Wayland
 import "root:/config"
@@ -7,17 +6,15 @@ import "root:/components"
 import "root:/services"
 import "root:/popouts"
 
-// The right-hand status rail.
+// The right-hand status rail — one slab, not a stack of cards.
 //
-// Everything that used to be crammed into the right third of the top bar lives
-// here instead: connectivity, audio, power, tray, notifications. On a 1080p
-// panel this is the cheap edge — 48px of width is 2.5% of the screen, where the
-// same 48px of height would have been 4.4% on top of what the top bar already
-// takes.
+// Connectivity, audio, power, tray and notifications all sit inside a single
+// continuous column, divided by hairline rules the same way the bar divides its
+// modules. Same lean, same chamfer, same keyline as the bar and the dock, so
+// the three surfaces read as one system.
 //
-// Slabs are grouped by what they do rather than spaced evenly, and each pulls a
-// different lean and chamfer from the shape tables, so the column reads as a
-// stack of distinct cards instead of a ladder.
+// On a 1080p panel this is the cheap edge: 48px of width is 2.5% of the screen,
+// where the same 48px of height would be 4.4% on top of what the bar takes.
 PanelWindow {
     id: root
 
@@ -43,131 +40,91 @@ PanelWindow {
     exclusiveZone: Theme.railWidth + Theme.barMargin
     color: "transparent"
 
-    // Corner furniture. The dock pins a crimson wedge to the bottom-left; this
-    // is its opposite number, so the desktop is bracketed on the diagonal
-    // rather than merely edged. Decorative only — it sits under the slabs and
-    // takes no input.
-    Shape {
-        anchors.right: parent.right
-        anchors.bottom: parent.bottom
-        width: 30
-        height: 30
-        z: -1
-        preferredRendererType: Shape.CurveRenderer
-        opacity: 0.9
-
-        ShapePath {
-            fillColor: Theme.accent
-            strokeColor: "transparent"
-            PathPolyline {
-                path: [
-                    Qt.point(30, 30),
-                    Qt.point(30, 4),
-                    Qt.point(2, 30),
-                    Qt.point(30, 30)
-                ]
-            }
-        }
+    // The slab.
+    P5Panel {
+        id: slab
+        anchors.fill: parent
+        vertical: true
+        lean: Theme.skew
+        chop: Theme.cut
+        chopCorners: [1, 3]
+        padding: 0
+        fill: Theme.surface
+        fillOpacity: 1.0
+        border: Theme.alpha(Theme.outline, 0.9)
+        borderWidth: 1
+        slash: true
+        slashColor: Theme.accent
+        slashWidth: 5
     }
 
+    readonly property real edgeInset: Theme.railWidth * Theme.skew + Theme.padM
+
     // ------------------------------------------------------------------- top
     Column {
         id: upper
         anchors.top: parent.top
+        anchors.topMargin: root.edgeInset
         anchors.horizontalCenter: parent.horizontalCenter
-        spacing: Theme.railGap
+        spacing: 0
 
-        // Connectivity.
-        RailGroup {
-            variant: 0
-            accent: Sys.netUp ? Theme.primary : Theme.muted
-            implicitHeight: linkCol.implicitHeight + contentPad * 2
-
-            Column {
-                id: linkCol
-                anchors.centerIn: parent
-                spacing: Theme.padS
-
-                RailIcon {
-                    id: netIcon
-                    icon: Net.icon
-                    tint: Theme.primary
-                    dim: !Sys.netUp
-                    onClicked: netPopout.pinned = !netPopout.pinned
-                    onRightClicked: Net.toggleWifi()
-                    onMiddleClicked: Actions.openNetworkSettings()
-                }
-
-                RailIcon {
-                    id: btIcon
-                    icon: Bt.icon
-                    tint: Theme.primary
-                    dim: !Bt.enabled
-                    onClicked: btPopout.pinned = !btPopout.pinned
-                    onRightClicked: Bt.toggle()
-                }
-            }
+        RailIcon {
+            id: netIcon
+            icon: Net.icon
+            dim: !Sys.netUp
+            onClicked: netPopout.pinned = !netPopout.pinned
+            onRightClicked: Net.toggleWifi()
+            onMiddleClicked: Actions.openNetworkSettings()
         }
 
-        // Audio and backlight.
-        RailGroup {
-            variant: 1
-            accent: Audio.muted || Audio.micMuted ? Theme.accent : Theme.primary
-            implicitHeight: audioCol.implicitHeight + contentPad * 2
-
-            Column {
-                id: audioCol
-                anchors.centerIn: parent
-                spacing: Theme.padS
-
-                RailIcon {
-                    id: volIcon
-                    icon: Audio.icon
-                    readout: Audio.muted ? "" : Audio.volumePercent + "%"
-                    alert: Audio.muted
-                    onClicked: Audio.toggleMute()
-                    onRightClicked: audioPopout.pinned = !audioPopout.pinned
-                    onMiddleClicked: Actions.openAudioSettings()
-                    onScrolled: delta => Audio.changeVolume(delta > 0 ? 0.05 : -0.05)
-                }
-
-                RailIcon {
-                    id: micIcon
-                    icon: Audio.micIcon
-                    alert: Audio.micMuted
-                    onClicked: Audio.toggleMicMute()
-                    onRightClicked: audioPopout.pinned = !audioPopout.pinned
-                    onScrolled: delta => Audio.setMicVolume(Audio.micVolume + (delta > 0 ? 0.05 : -0.05))
-                }
-
-                RailIcon {
-                    id: brightIcon
-                    visible: Brightness.available
-                    icon: Brightness.icon
-                    readout: Math.round(Brightness.percent) + "%"
-                    tint: Theme.primary
-                    onScrolled: delta => Brightness.change(delta > 0 ? 5 : -5)
-                }
-            }
+        RailIcon {
+            id: btIcon
+            icon: Bt.icon
+            dim: !Bt.enabled
+            onClicked: btPopout.pinned = !btPopout.pinned
+            onRightClicked: Bt.toggle()
         }
 
-        // Battery.
-        RailGroup {
-            variant: 2
+        Divider {}
+
+        RailIcon {
+            id: volIcon
+            icon: Audio.icon
+            readout: Audio.muted ? "" : Audio.volumePercent + "%"
+            alert: Audio.muted
+            onClicked: Audio.toggleMute()
+            onRightClicked: audioPopout.pinned = !audioPopout.pinned
+            onMiddleClicked: Actions.openAudioSettings()
+            onScrolled: delta => Audio.changeVolume(delta > 0 ? 0.05 : -0.05)
+        }
+
+        RailIcon {
+            id: micIcon
+            icon: Audio.micIcon
+            alert: Audio.micMuted
+            onClicked: Audio.toggleMicMute()
+            onRightClicked: audioPopout.pinned = !audioPopout.pinned
+            onScrolled: delta => Audio.setMicVolume(Audio.micVolume + (delta > 0 ? 0.05 : -0.05))
+        }
+
+        RailIcon {
+            id: brightIcon
+            visible: Brightness.available
+            icon: Brightness.icon
+            readout: Math.round(Brightness.percent) + "%"
+            onScrolled: delta => Brightness.change(delta > 0 ? 5 : -5)
+        }
+
+        Divider { visible: Battery.available }
+
+        RailIcon {
+            id: battIcon
             visible: Battery.available
-            accent: Battery.critical ? Theme.accent : Theme.primary
-            implicitHeight: battIcon.implicitHeight + contentPad * 2
-
-            RailIcon {
-                id: battIcon
-                anchors.centerIn: parent
-                icon: Battery.icon
-                readout: Math.round(Battery.percent) + "%"
-                tint: Battery.tint
-                alert: Battery.critical
-                pulsing: Battery.critical
-                onClicked: battPopout.pinned = !battPopout.pinned
-            }
+            icon: Battery.icon
+            readout: Math.round(Battery.percent) + "%"
+            alert: Battery.critical
+            pulsing: Battery.critical
+            onClicked: battPopout.pinned = !battPopout.pinned
         }
     }
 
@@ -175,60 +132,56 @@ PanelWindow {
     Column {
         id: lower
         anchors.bottom: parent.bottom
-
-        // Clear of the corner wedge, which would otherwise sit entirely behind
-        // the bottom slab and never be seen.
-        anchors.bottomMargin: 26
+        anchors.bottomMargin: root.edgeInset
         anchors.horizontalCenter: parent.horizontalCenter
-        spacing: Theme.railGap
+        spacing: 0
 
-        // Tray.
-        RailGroup {
-            variant: 3
-            visible: tray.visible
-            accent: Theme.primary
-            implicitHeight: tray.implicitHeight + contentPad * 2
-
-            Tray {
-                id: tray
-                anchors.centerIn: parent
-            }
+        Tray {
+            id: tray
+            anchors.horizontalCenter: parent.horizontalCenter
         }
 
-        // Notifications and power — the two that act on the session rather than
-        // report on it, so they sit apart at the foot of the rail.
-        RailGroup {
-            variant: 4
-            accent: Notifs.dnd ? Theme.muted : Theme.primary
-            implicitHeight: actionCol.implicitHeight + contentPad * 2
+        Divider { visible: tray.visible }
 
-            Column {
-                id: actionCol
-                anchors.centerIn: parent
-                spacing: Theme.padS
+        RailIcon {
+            id: bellIcon
+            icon: Notifs.icon
+            readout: Notifs.unread > 0
+                ? (Notifs.unread > 9 ? "9+" : String(Notifs.unread))
+                : ""
+            dim: Notifs.dnd
+            alert: Notifs.hasUnread && !Notifs.dnd
+            onClicked: {
+                notifPopout.pinned = !notifPopout.pinned;
+                Notifs.markRead();
+            }
+            onRightClicked: Notifs.toggleDnd()
+        }
 
-                RailIcon {
-                    id: bellIcon
-                    icon: Notifs.icon
-                    readout: Notifs.unread > 0
-                        ? (Notifs.unread > 9 ? "9+" : String(Notifs.unread))
-                        : ""
-                    tint: Notifs.hasUnread ? Theme.accent : Theme.primary
-                    dim: Notifs.dnd
-                    alert: Notifs.hasUnread && !Notifs.dnd
-                    onClicked: {
-                        notifPopout.pinned = !notifPopout.pinned;
-                        Notifs.markRead();
-                    }
-                    onRightClicked: Notifs.toggleDnd()
-                }
+        RailIcon {
+            id: powerIcon
+            icon: "󰐥"
+            alert: Actions.powerMenuOpen
+            onClicked: Actions.togglePowerMenu()
+        }
+    }
 
-                RailIcon {
-                    id: powerIcon
-                    icon: "󰐥"
-                    tint: Actions.powerMenuOpen ? Theme.accent : Theme.subtext
-                    onClicked: Actions.togglePowerMenu()
-                }
+    // The rail's counterpart to the bar's divider: a horizontal hairline,
+    // sheared to the same angle the rail's own edges lean at.
+    component Divider: Item {
+        implicitWidth: Theme.railWidth
+        implicitHeight: Theme.padM + 4
+
+        Rectangle {
+            anchors.centerIn: parent
+            width: 22
+            height: 1
+            color: Theme.alpha(Theme.outline, 0.9)
+
+            transform: Matrix4x4 {
+                matrix: Qt.matrix4x4(1, 0, 0, 0,
+                                     -Theme.skew, 1, 0, 22 * Theme.skew / 2,
+                                     0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1)
             }
         }
     }
diff --git a/quickshell/bar/RailGroup.qml b/quickshell/bar/RailGroup.qml
deleted file mode 100644
index 5d5687d..0000000
--- a/quickshell/bar/RailGroup.qml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,92 +0,0 @@
-import QtQuick
-import "root:/config"
-import "root:/components"
-
-// A slab on the right-hand rail. The vertical counterpart to BarPill: it sizes
-// itself to a stacked column rather than a row, and pulls its lean and chamfer
-// from the shape-variance tables by `variant`, so no two slabs on the rail are
-// congruent.
-Item {
-    id: root
-
-    property color accent: Theme.primary
-    property int variant: 0
-    property bool active: false
-    property real padding: Theme.padS
-    property bool interactive: false
-    property bool halftone: false
-
-    readonly property bool hovered: hover.hovered
-    readonly property real contentPad: panel.contentPad
-    readonly property alias panelItem: panel
-
-    default property alias content: holder.data
-
-    signal clicked()
-
-    implicitWidth: Theme.railWidth
-
-    P5Panel {
-        id: panel
-        anchors.fill: parent
-        vertical: true
-
-        // Scaled down from the horizontal tables: a rail slab leans by a
-        // fraction of its 48px width, so the raw values would be far too steep.
-        lean: Theme.leanFor(root.variant) * 0.6
-        leanLeft: Theme.leanLeftFor(root.variant)
-        chop: Math.min(Theme.chopFor(root.variant), 10)
-        chopCorners: Theme.cornersFor(root.variant)
-
-        padding: root.padding
-        halftone: root.halftone
-        halftoneColor: root.accent
-        sheen: true
-
-        fill: root.active ? Theme.surfaceAlt : Theme.surface
-        fillOpacity: root.hovered ? 0.98 : 0.88
-        border: root.hovered || root.active
-            ? Theme.alpha(root.accent, 0.9)
-            : Theme.alpha(Theme.outline, 0.7)
-        borderWidth: root.hovered || root.active ? Theme.stroke : 1
-
-        slash: root.active
-        slashColor: root.accent
-
-        Behavior on fillOpacity {
-            NumberAnimation { duration: Theme.durFast }
-        }
-        Behavior on border {
-            ColorAnimation { duration: Theme.durBase }
-        }
-
-        Item {
-            id: holder
-            anchors.fill: parent
-        }
-    }
-
-    // Slabs lift toward the pointer, away from the screen edge.
-    transform: Translate {
-        x: root.hovered && root.interactive ? -3 : 0
-
-        Behavior on x {
-            NumberAnimation {
-                duration: Theme.durBase
-                easing.type: Easing.OutBack
-            }
-        }
-    }
-
-    HoverHandler {
-        id: hover
-        enabled: root.interactive
-        cursorShape: Qt.PointingHandCursor
-    }
-
-    TapHandler {
-        enabled: root.interactive
-        acceptedButtons: Qt.LeftButton
-        onTapped: root.clicked()
-    }
-}
diff --git a/quickshell/bar/RailIcon.qml b/quickshell/bar/RailIcon.qml
index 859cc97..e5e0825 100644
--- a/quickshell/bar/RailIcon.qml
+++ b/quickshell/bar/RailIcon.qml
@@ -19,6 +19,10 @@ Item {
 
     readonly property bool hovered: hover.hovered
 
+    // Clearance between the wipe and the rail's left edge, chosen so the bar
+    // stays inside the slab once `scale` has expanded the icon about its centre.
+    readonly property real wipeInset: 5
+
     signal clicked()
     signal rightClicked()
     signal middleClicked()
@@ -68,12 +72,22 @@ Item {
 
     // Leading-edge wipe. On the rail this runs vertically down the left side,
     // mirroring the slash P5Panel puts on horizontal modules.
+    //
+    // Held off the edge by `wipeInset`: the icon spans the rail's full width, so
+    // at x = 0 this landed exactly on the slab's own border, and the 1.08 hover
+    // scale then pushed it out past the silhouette onto the desktop. The inset
+    // has to survive that scale, which is why it is not simply 1 or 2.
+    //
+    // It is crimson rather than `tint` because it only ever appears on hover,
+    // and hover is crimson everywhere else in the shell (Theme.glow). Painting
+    // it white put a white bar on the rail's edge for no stated reason.
     Rectangle {
         anchors.left: parent.left
+        anchors.leftMargin: root.wipeInset
         anchors.verticalCenter: parent.verticalCenter
         width: 2
         height: root.hovered ? layout.implicitHeight : 0
-        color: root.alert ? Theme.accent : root.tint
+        color: Theme.glow
 
         Behavior on height {
             NumberAnimation { duration: Theme.durBase; easing.type: Easing.OutExpo }
diff --git a/quickshell/bar/Resources.qml b/quickshell/bar/Resources.qml
index d70b5f9..09f8631 100644
--- a/quickshell/bar/Resources.qml
+++ b/quickshell/bar/Resources.qml
@@ -14,13 +14,7 @@ BarPill {
 
     accent: Theme.heat(Math.max(Sys.cpuUsage, Sys.memPercent))
 
-    // Roomier than it was on the bar. In the dock there is nothing to compete
-    // with, so the figures get real padding instead of being pushed up against
-    // the slanted edges.
     padding: Theme.padM
-    lean: Theme.leanFor(2)
-    chop: Theme.chopFor(2)
-    chopCorners: Theme.cornersFor(2)
     implicitWidth: layout.implicitWidth + contentPad * 2
 
     onClicked: Actions.openSystemMonitor()
diff --git a/quickshell/bar/Sigil.qml b/quickshell/bar/Sigil.qml
index 5e6dbf0..5361b1b 100644
--- a/quickshell/bar/Sigil.qml
+++ b/quickshell/bar/Sigil.qml
@@ -20,26 +20,25 @@ BarPill {
     onClicked: Actions.launch("fuzzel")
     onRightClicked: Actions.reloadShell()
 
-    Icon {
+    // The wordmark. Was the Death arcana skull (nf-md-skull, U+F068C) — a
+    // pictogram in a shell that otherwise says everything in heavy italic
+    // type. SplitText puts it in the display face with the crimson-and-black
+    // offset every other heading carries, so the house mark is built out of
+    // the same parts as the rest of the bar.
+    SplitText {
         id: mark
         anchors.centerIn: parent
-        text: "󰋠"
-        font.pixelSize: Theme.fsTitle
+        text: "P5"
+        pixelSize: Theme.fsLarge
+        letterSpacing: 0
         color: root.hovered ? Theme.accent : Theme.primary
     }
 
-    // Spin the mark on click, then settle.
+    // Kick the ghosts out and let them snap back. The skull could spin a full
+    // turn and still read as a skull; a wordmark upside down just reads as
+    // broken, so the click gets the glitch instead.
     Connections {
         target: root
-        function onClicked() { spin.restart(); }
-    }
-
-    SequentialAnimation {
-        id: spin
-        NumberAnimation {
-            target: mark; property: "rotation"
-            from: 0; to: 360; duration: Theme.durSlow
-            easing.type: Easing.OutExpo
-        }
+        function onClicked() { mark.glitch(); }
     }
 }
diff --git a/quickshell/bar/Status.qml b/quickshell/bar/Status.qml
index e93a4dd..680355a 100644
--- a/quickshell/bar/Status.qml
+++ b/quickshell/bar/Status.qml
@@ -71,7 +71,9 @@ BarPill {
             icon: Brightness.icon
             label: Math.round(Brightness.percent) + "%"
             labelWidth: 34
-            tint: Theme.warn
+            // Brightness is never an alarm — it stays white and lets the
+            // battery be the only thing in the cluster that can go crimson.
+            tint: Theme.text
             onScrolled: delta => Brightness.change(delta > 0 ? 5 : -5)
         }
 
diff --git a/quickshell/bar/Workspaces.qml b/quickshell/bar/Workspaces.qml
index a0ebf6a..bc3fd6c 100644
--- a/quickshell/bar/Workspaces.qml
+++ b/quickshell/bar/Workspaces.qml
@@ -46,9 +46,7 @@ Item {
         id: row
         anchors.verticalCenter: parent.verticalCenter
 
-        // Uneven gaps. An evenly spaced row of identical ticks reads as a
-        // progress bar; the whole point here is that it should not.
-        spacing: 5
+        spacing: 6
 
         Repeater {
             model: root.slots
@@ -65,19 +63,10 @@ Item {
                 readonly property bool focused: root.focusedId === wsId
                 readonly property bool hovered: pipHover.hovered
 
-                // Each tick pulls its own shear and its own height off the
-                // variance tables, and sits a little off the baseline, so the
-                // row is a ragged run of marks rather than a repeating comb.
-                readonly property real shear: Theme.leanFor(pip.index)
-                readonly property int baseHeight: [18, 14, 20, 16][pip.index % 4]
-                readonly property int drift: [0, 2, -1, 1][pip.index % 4]
-
-                width: focused ? 36 : (occupied ? 16 : 9)
-
-                // The focused tick grows past its neighbours and past the row's
-                // own height, so it breaks the line instead of sitting in it.
-                height: focused ? 24 : pip.baseHeight
-                y: focused ? -2 : pip.drift
+                // Every tick is the same height and the same shear. Only the
+                // width changes, and only to say which workspace is focused.
+                width: focused ? 32 : (occupied ? 16 : 9)
+                height: 18
 
                 Behavior on width {
                     NumberAnimation {
@@ -86,45 +75,28 @@ Item {
                         easing.overshoot: 1.6
                     }
                 }
-                Behavior on height {
-                    NumberAnimation { duration: Theme.durBase; easing.type: Easing.OutBack }
-                }
-                Behavior on y {
-                    NumberAnimation { duration: Theme.durBase; easing.type: Easing.OutBack }
-                }
-
-                // Black offset copy behind the focused tick — the same
-                // screen-print stack the panels use, at tick scale.
-                Rectangle {
-                    visible: pip.focused
-                    anchors.fill: parent
-                    x: 3
-                    y: 3
-                    color: Theme.ink
-
-                    transform: Matrix4x4 {
-                        matrix: Qt.matrix4x4(
-                            1, -pip.shear, 0, pip.height * pip.shear,
-                            0, 1, 0, 0,
-                            0, 0, 1, 0,
-                            0, 0, 0, 1)
-                    }
-                }
 
                 Rectangle {
                     id: tick
                     anchors.fill: parent
+
+                    // Focused is a solid crimson block. Occupied is a white
+                    // block at half weight. Empty is an outline. Three states,
+                    // two colours, no ambiguity.
                     color: {
-                        if (pip.urgent) return Theme.accent;
-                        if (pip.focused) return Theme.primary;
-                        if (pip.hovered) return Theme.glow;
-                        if (pip.occupied) return Theme.alpha(Theme.primary, 0.55);
-                        return Theme.alpha(Theme.outline, 0.75);
+                        if (pip.focused || pip.urgent) return Theme.accent;
+                        if (pip.hovered) return Theme.text;
+                        if (pip.occupied) return Theme.alpha(Theme.text, 0.5);
+                        return "transparent";
                     }
+                    border.color: pip.occupied || pip.focused
+                        ? "transparent"
+                        : Theme.alpha(Theme.text, 0.35)
+                    border.width: 1
 
                     transform: Matrix4x4 {
                         matrix: Qt.matrix4x4(
-                            1, -pip.shear, 0, pip.height * pip.shear,
+                            1, -Theme.skew, 0, pip.height * Theme.skew,
                             0, 1, 0, 0,
                             0, 0, 1, 0,
                             0, 0, 0, 1)
@@ -141,7 +113,7 @@ Item {
                     opacity: pip.focused ? 1 : 0
                     visible: opacity > 0.01
                     text: pip.wsId
-                    color: Theme.base
+                    color: Theme.ink
                     font.family: Theme.fontDisplay
                     font.pixelSize: Theme.fsBody
                     font.weight: Theme.weightDisplay
diff --git a/quickshell/components/P5Backdrop.qml b/quickshell/components/P5Backdrop.qml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..298b41c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/quickshell/components/P5Backdrop.qml
@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+import QtQuick
+import QtQuick.Shapes
+import "root:/config"
+import "root:/components"
+
+// The shared ground for the two full-screen surfaces: a crimson wedge leaning
+// at the house angle, a tiled stripe field that sweeps in from the left, and a
+// halftone dot wash over the top.
+//
+// The lock screen and the power menu each used to draw their own version of
+// this. They disagreed — the power menu had a wedge and a full stripe field,
+// the lock had a 42px stripe band and no wedge, and the wedge leaned at 0.32
+// where every panel in the shell leans at Theme.skew. Building both on one
+// component is what makes them read as the same object seen twice rather than
+// as two guesses at the same brief.
+Item {
+    id: root
+
+    // 0 = withdrawn, 1 = fully present. Drives the stripe slide, the stripe
+    // opacity and the wedge together, so a caller animates one number instead
+    // of keeping three in sync. The power menu runs it both ways on open and
+    // close; the lock runs it once on entry.
+    property real reveal: 1
+
+    property color tone: Theme.accent
+
+    property bool wedge: true
+    property real wedgeOpacity: 0.35
+    // Bottom-left corner of the wedge and its span, as fractions of width. The
+    // wedge leans right going up, like every other edge in the shell, so its
+    // top edge sits `leanOffset` further right than its bottom.
+    property real wedgeLeft: 0
+    property real wedgeSpan: 0.34
+
+    property bool stripes: true
+    property real stripeOpacity: 0.10
+
+    property bool halftone: true
+    property real halftoneOpacity: 0.05
+    property color halftoneColor: Theme.primary
+
+    // ONE angle, everywhere — the same rule the panels follow.
+    readonly property real leanOffset: root.height * Theme.skew
+
+    // Diagonal stripe field, sliding in from off-screen left.
+    Image {
+        anchors.fill: parent
+        visible: root.stripes && root.reveal > 0
+        source: Theme.texStripes
+        fillMode: Image.Tile
+        opacity: root.stripeOpacity * root.reveal
+        smooth: false
+
+        layer.enabled: true
+        layer.effect: TintEffect {
+            tintColor: root.tone
+        }
+
+        transform: Translate {
+            x: -root.width * (1 - root.reveal)
+        }
+    }
+
+    // The wedge. Drawn after the stripes so it reads as a slab laid over them.
+    Shape {
+        anchors.fill: parent
+        visible: root.wedge && root.reveal > 0
+        opacity: root.reveal
+        preferredRendererType: Shape.CurveRenderer
+
+        ShapePath {
+            fillColor: Theme.alpha(Theme.accentDim, root.wedgeOpacity)
+            strokeColor: "transparent"
+            joinStyle: ShapePath.MiterJoin
+
+            PathPolyline {
+                path: {
+                    const x = root.wedgeLeft * root.width;
+                    const span = root.wedgeSpan * root.width;
+                    const off = root.leanOffset;
+                    return Geom.closed([
+                        Qt.point(x + off, 0),
+                        Qt.point(x + off + span, 0),
+                        Qt.point(x + span, root.height),
+                        Qt.point(x, root.height)
+                    ]);
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    // Screen-printed dot wash over the whole thing.
+    Image {
+        anchors.fill: parent
+        visible: root.halftone
+        source: Theme.texHalftone
+        fillMode: Image.Tile
+        opacity: root.halftoneOpacity
+        smooth: false
+        layer.enabled: true
+        layer.effect: TintEffect { tintColor: root.halftoneColor }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/quickshell/components/P5Panel.qml b/quickshell/components/P5Panel.qml
index b7753bc..ab1b0a2 100644
--- a/quickshell/components/P5Panel.qml
+++ b/quickshell/components/P5Panel.qml
@@ -39,7 +39,10 @@ Item {
     property color halftoneColor: Theme.primary
     property real halftoneOpacity: 0.07
 
-    // Inner glow along the top edge, for panels that should feel backlit.
+    // Accepted and ignored. This used to paint a teal-to-transparent gradient
+    // down the top of every panel in the shell — the single biggest source of
+    // the murky blue cast. Fills are flat now. Kept as a no-op property so the
+    // call sites that still set it don't have to be chased down.
     property bool sheen: false
 
     // The screen-print stack. A pure-black copy of the silhouette sits behind
@@ -71,6 +74,28 @@ Item {
 
     readonly property real contentPad: padding + leanInset
 
+    // The panel outline as a mask texture. Anything that is painted from the
+    // raw polygon rather than from the chamfered one has to be clipped to this,
+    // or it escapes at the chopped corners.
+    Shape {
+        id: silhouette
+        anchors.fill: parent
+        visible: false
+        layer.enabled: true
+        layer.smooth: true
+        preferredRendererType: Shape.CurveRenderer
+
+        ShapePath {
+            fillColor: "white"
+            strokeColor: "transparent"
+            joinStyle: ShapePath.MiterJoin
+
+            PathPolyline {
+                path: Geom.chamfer(root.polygon, root.chop, root.chopCorners)
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     // Offset black copy of the silhouette, behind everything.
     Loader {
         anchors.fill: parent
@@ -138,93 +163,77 @@ Item {
         anchors.fill: parent
         active: root.halftone
         asynchronous: true
-        sourceComponent: Item {
-            Shape {
-                id: maskShape
-                anchors.fill: parent
-                visible: false
-                layer.enabled: true
-                layer.smooth: true
-                preferredRendererType: Shape.CurveRenderer
-                ShapePath {
-                    fillColor: "white"
-                    strokeColor: "transparent"
-                    PathPolyline {
-                        path: Geom.chamfer(root.polygon, root.chop, root.chopCorners)
-                    }
-                }
-            }
-
-            Image {
-                anchors.fill: parent
-                source: Theme.texHalftone
-                fillMode: Image.Tile
-                opacity: root.halftoneOpacity
-                smooth: false
-                layer.enabled: true
-                layer.effect: MultiEffect {
-                    colorization: 1.0
-                    colorizationColor: root.halftoneColor
-                    maskEnabled: true
-                    maskSource: maskShape
-                }
-            }
-        }
-    }
-
-    // Backlit top edge.
-    Loader {
-        anchors.fill: parent
-        active: root.sheen
-        sourceComponent: Shape {
-            preferredRendererType: Shape.CurveRenderer
-            ShapePath {
-                strokeColor: "transparent"
-                fillGradient: LinearGradient {
-                    x1: 0; y1: 0; x2: 0; y2: root.height
-                    GradientStop { position: 0.0; color: Theme.alpha(Theme.primary, 0.16) }
-                    GradientStop { position: 0.55; color: "transparent" }
-                }
-                PathPolyline {
-                    path: Geom.chamfer(root.polygon, root.chop, root.chopCorners)
-                }
+        sourceComponent: Image {
+            anchors.fill: parent
+            source: Theme.texHalftone
+            fillMode: Image.Tile
+            opacity: root.halftoneOpacity
+            smooth: false
+            layer.enabled: true
+            layer.effect: MultiEffect {
+                colorization: 1.0
+                colorizationColor: root.halftoneColor
+                maskEnabled: true
+                maskSource: silhouette
             }
         }
     }
 
     // Leading-edge slash.
+    //
+    // Its polygon is built from the panel's raw corners, so on a panel with a
+    // chopped corner the slash used to run straight through the cut and out the
+    // far side — a crimson wedge sitting a few pixels outside the silhouette,
+    // at an angle that matched nothing. It is masked to the outline now, so the
+    // slash ends exactly where the chamfer does.
     Loader {
         anchors.fill: parent
         active: root.slash
-        sourceComponent: Shape {
-            preferredRendererType: Shape.CurveRenderer
-            ShapePath {
-                fillColor: root.slashColor
-                strokeColor: "transparent"
-                PathPolyline {
-                    path: {
-                        const t = root.slashWidth;
+        sourceComponent: Item {
+            Shape {
+                id: slashShape
+                anchors.fill: parent
+                visible: false
+                layer.enabled: true
+                layer.smooth: true
+                preferredRendererType: Shape.CurveRenderer
 
-                        // On a rail slab the slash runs along the slanted top
-                        // edge instead of down a side.
-                        if (root.vertical) {
-                            const voff = root.width * root.lean;
+                ShapePath {
+                    fillColor: root.slashColor
+                    strokeColor: "transparent"
+
+                    PathPolyline {
+                        path: {
+                            const t = root.slashWidth;
+
+                            // On a rail slab the slash runs along the slanted
+                            // top edge instead of down a side.
+                            if (root.vertical) {
+                                const voff = root.width * root.lean;
+                                return root.leanLeft
+                                    ? Geom.closed([Qt.point(0, 0), Qt.point(root.width, voff),
+                                                   Qt.point(root.width, voff + t), Qt.point(0, t)])
+                                    : Geom.closed([Qt.point(0, voff), Qt.point(root.width, 0),
+                                                   Qt.point(root.width, t), Qt.point(0, voff + t)]);
+                            }
+
+                            const off = root.height * root.lean;
                             return root.leanLeft
-                                ? Geom.closed([Qt.point(0, 0), Qt.point(root.width, voff),
-                                               Qt.point(root.width, voff + t), Qt.point(0, t)])
-                                : Geom.closed([Qt.point(0, voff), Qt.point(root.width, 0),
-                                               Qt.point(root.width, t), Qt.point(0, voff + t)]);
+                                ? Geom.closed([Qt.point(0, 0), Qt.point(t, 0),
+                                               Qt.point(off + t, root.height), Qt.point(off, root.height)])
+                                : Geom.closed([Qt.point(off, 0), Qt.point(off + t, 0),
+                                               Qt.point(t, root.height), Qt.point(0, root.height)]);
                         }
-
-                        const off = root.height * root.lean;
-                        return root.leanLeft
-                            ? Geom.closed([Qt.point(0, 0), Qt.point(t, 0),
-                                           Qt.point(off + t, root.height), Qt.point(off, root.height)])
-                            : Geom.closed([Qt.point(off, 0), Qt.point(off + t, 0),
-                                           Qt.point(t, root.height), Qt.point(0, root.height)]);
                     }
                 }
             }
+
+            MultiEffect {
+                anchors.fill: parent
+                source: slashShape
+                maskEnabled: true
+                maskSource: silhouette
+            }
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/quickshell/config/Theme.qml b/quickshell/config/Theme.qml
index 9782be1..9d58668 100644
--- a/quickshell/config/Theme.qml
+++ b/quickshell/config/Theme.qml
@@ -3,54 +3,77 @@ pragma Singleton
 import QtQuick
 import Quickshell
 
-// Takemi palette. Two hues, no exceptions: a cold teal that carries every
-// resting state, and Persona 5 crimson that means alarm and nothing else.
-// Anything that used to be blue/green/amber now resolves into one of those two
-// families, so a splash of red in the bar always reads as "something is wrong".
-// Derived from ~/.wallpapers/takemi_2.jpg.
+// Takemi palette: crimson, black, white. Nothing else.
+//
+// White does the work: text, icons, idle indicators. Crimson is the only accent
+// and it always means the same thing — active, or wrong. Black is structure,
+// used as a hard keyline rather than as a shadow. There are no gradients in
+// this shell; every fill is flat.
+//
+// The wallpaper is teal. The UI used to be teal too, and the two fought each
+// other into a murky blue-grey. Letting the UI go monochrome-plus-red is what
+// lets the wallpaper read as the colour in the composition.
 Singleton {
     id: root
 
     // ---------------------------------------------------------------- colors
-    // True black, for keylines and drop shapes. `base` is the near-black the
-    // surfaces sit on; `ink` is never tinted and never blended.
     readonly property color ink: "#000000"
 
-    readonly property color base: "#04070a"
-    readonly property color mantle: "#080e14"
-    readonly property color surface: "#0d1922"
-    readonly property color surfaceAlt: "#14262f"
-    readonly property color overlay: "#1d3a47"
-    readonly property color outline: "#2b5567"
+    readonly property color base: "#0a0a0c"
+    readonly property color mantle: "#0d0d10"
+    readonly property color surface: "#141418"
+    readonly property color surfaceAlt: "#1c1c22"
+    readonly property color overlay: "#26262e"
+    readonly property color outline: "#3a3a44"
 
-    readonly property color text: "#e2f4f8"
-    readonly property color subtext: "#93b8c4"
-    readonly property color muted: "#587c8a"
+    readonly property color text: "#ffffff"
+    readonly property color subtext: "#c8c8ce"
+    readonly property color muted: "#6b6b70"
 
-    readonly property color primary: "#34d3e6"   // electric teal — the house colour
-    readonly property color primaryDim: "#17879b"
-    readonly property color glow: "#8ef2ff"
-    readonly property color deep: "#0d4b5e"
+    // ------------------------------------------------------------ THE KNOB
+    // The one colour in this shell. Change this line and the entire accent
+    // recolours — everything below is derived from it, and nothing else in the
+    // palette carries hue at all.
+    //
+    // Keep it in step with `$accent` at the top of
+    // ~/.config/hypr/modules/takemi.conf, which is what colours the Hyprland
+    // window borders. Those are the only two places the colour is written.
+    readonly property color accent: "#ff2d40"
 
-    readonly property color accent: "#ff2d40"    // P5 crimson — alarm, only ever alarm
-    readonly property color accentDim: "#a8121f"
-    readonly property color accentSoft: "#ff6b78" // the "getting there" step below accent
+    readonly property color accentDim: Qt.darker(root.accent, 1.9)
+    readonly property color accentSoft: Qt.lighter(root.accent, 1.35)
 
-    // Retired hues, kept as aliases so call sites keep working while resolving
-    // into the two-hue system. Do not introduce new uses.
+    // `primary` is the resting voice of the UI, which is now simply white.
+    // Kept under the old name so the existing call sites don't all have to move.
+    readonly property color primary: root.text
+    readonly property color primaryDim: "#9a9aa2"
+    readonly property color deep: root.surfaceAlt
+
+    // `glow` is the hover highlight. It used to be a brighter teal, which now
+    // that everything rests at white would have made hover invisible — so it
+    // resolves to crimson. Pointing at a thing lights it up red.
+    readonly property color glow: root.accent
+
+    // Retired hues. Aliases only — do not introduce new uses.
+    //
+    // `warn` used to be accentSoft, which put a washed-out pink-red on screen
+    // wherever something was merely notable. That reads as a faded accent, not
+    // as a decision. There is no half-crimson in this palette: a thing is wrong
+    // (accent) or it is not (text). `warn` now resolves to the real accent, so
+    // low battery shouts properly and everything merely informational is white.
     readonly property color blue: root.primaryDim
-    readonly property color ok: root.primary
-    readonly property color warn: root.accentSoft
+    readonly property color ok: root.text
+    readonly property color warn: root.accent
 
-    // Chromatic aberration pair, straight off the wallpaper's RGB split.
-    readonly property color splitRed: "#ff2b4d"
-    readonly property color splitCyan: "#25e8ff"
+    // Display text carries a crimson and a black offset rather than an RGB
+    // split. Same trick, correct palette.
+    readonly property color splitRed: root.accent
+    readonly property color splitCyan: root.ink
 
     function alpha(c: color, a: real): color {
         return Qt.rgba(c.r, c.g, c.b, a);
     }
 
-    // Linear blend, t = 0 gives a, t = 1 gives b.
     function mix(a: color, b: color, t: real): color {
         const k = Math.max(0, Math.min(1, t));
         return Qt.rgba(a.r + (b.r - a.r) * k,
@@ -59,12 +82,11 @@ Singleton {
                        a.a + (b.a - a.a) * k);
     }
 
-    // Heat ramp for load/usage readouts. Deliberately *not* a hue cycle: it sits
-    // flat teal until load actually matters, then bleeds continuously into
-    // crimson. A number that has gone red means the same thing everywhere.
+    // Load readouts sit white until the number actually matters, then bleed to
+    // crimson. Not a hue cycle — red always means the same thing.
     function heat(pct: real): color {
-        if (pct <= 55) return root.primary;
-        return root.mix(root.primary, root.accent, (pct - 55) / 45);
+        if (pct <= 55) return root.text;
+        return root.mix(root.text, root.accent, (pct - 55) / 45);
     }
 
     // ----------------------------------------------------------------- fonts
@@ -88,24 +110,22 @@ Singleton {
     readonly property int barMargin: 8
     readonly property int barGap: 8
 
-    // Right-hand status rail and the floating bottom-left dock.
+    // The right-hand rail uses the same lean and chamfer as the bar — a
+    // vertical panel leans its horizontal edges by a fraction of its width,
+    // which works out to the same 14 degrees.
     readonly property int railWidth: 48
-    readonly property int railGap: 10
-    readonly property int dockMargin: 14
-    // Low enough that the cluster stops competing with whatever window is
-    // underneath it — at 0.25 it just muddies text it happens to overlap. The
-    // corner wedge stays fully opaque as the thing you aim at.
-    readonly property real dockIdleOpacity: 0.13
-    readonly property int dockRevealZone: 140   // px of screen bottom that wakes it
 
-    // Horizontal offset per unit of height. tan(14deg) — every panel leans.
+    // ONE angle, everywhere. tan(14deg). Persona geometry is disciplined, not
+    // random: every edge in the shell leans by exactly this much in exactly the
+    // same direction, and every corner is chopped by exactly `cut`. Varying
+    // these per module reads as noise, not as style.
     readonly property real skew: 0.249
-    readonly property int cut: 9          // corner chamfer, in px
+    readonly property int cut: 10
     readonly property int stroke: 2
 
-    // Pure-black keyline copy sitting behind every panel. This is what makes a
-    // shape read as screen-printed rather than as a clipped rectangle.
-    readonly property real dropOffset: 4
+    // Pure-black keyline and offset copy behind panels. This is the one piece of
+    // layering the style needs; it is not a soft shadow and never blurs.
+    readonly property real dropOffset: 3
     readonly property real keylineWidth: 2
 
     readonly property int padS: 6
@@ -116,24 +136,6 @@ Singleton {
     readonly property int popoutWidth: 380
     readonly property int popoutGap: 10
 
-    // ------------------------------------------------------- shape variance
-    // Persona geometry is never a repeating pattern, so modules pull their lean
-    // and chamfer from these tables by index rather than sharing one default.
-    // Deterministic, so the bar looks the same every launch.
-    readonly property var leanTable: [0.32, 0.18, 0.26, 0.0, 0.29, 0.14, 0.35, 0.21]
-    readonly property var chopTable: [12, 5, 18, 8, 14, 4, 10, 16]
-    readonly property var cornerTable: [
-        [1, 3], [0, 2], [1], [0, 2, 3], [3], [1, 3], [2], [0, 1, 3]
-    ]
-
-    function leanFor(i: int): real { return root.leanTable[i % root.leanTable.length]; }
-    function chopFor(i: int): real { return root.chopTable[i % root.chopTable.length]; }
-    function cornersFor(i: int): var { return root.cornerTable[i % root.cornerTable.length]; }
-
-    // Every other module leans against its neighbour, so the row reads as
-    // opposing diagonals instead of a comb.
-    function leanLeftFor(i: int): bool { return i % 3 === 1; }
-
     // ------------------------------------------------------------ animation
     // P5 motion is snappy and slightly overshooting — never soft.
     readonly property int durFast: 110
@@ -150,5 +152,9 @@ Singleton {
     readonly property url texStripes: "root:/assets/stripes.png"
     readonly property url texScanline: "root:/assets/scanline.png"
 
-    readonly property url wallpaper: "file:///home/narl/.wallpapers/takemi_2.jpg"
+    // Last resort only. The live wallpaper comes from the Wallpaper singleton,
+    // which asks hyprpaper what is actually on screen — a path written down
+    // here goes stale the moment the wallpaper is switched, which is exactly
+    // what happened to the lock screen.
+    readonly property url fallbackWallpaper: "file:///home/narl/.wallpapers/takemi_1.jpg"
 }
diff --git a/quickshell/lock/Lock.qml b/quickshell/lock/Lock.qml
index 1c15484..f746dc6 100644
--- a/quickshell/lock/Lock.qml
+++ b/quickshell/lock/Lock.qml
@@ -15,10 +15,14 @@ WlSessionLock {
     locked: Actions.lockRequested
 
     WlSessionLockSurface {
+        id: lockSurface
         color: "black"
 
         LockFace {
             anchors.fill: parent
+            // So each screen blurs its own wallpaper rather than all of them
+            // sharing whichever one hyprpaper happened to list first.
+            screenName: lockSurface.screen ? lockSurface.screen.name : ""
             onUnlocked: Actions.lockRequested = false
         }
     }
diff --git a/quickshell/lock/LockFace.qml b/quickshell/lock/LockFace.qml
index 41d1d5d..6709e75 100644
--- a/quickshell/lock/LockFace.qml
+++ b/quickshell/lock/LockFace.qml
@@ -27,10 +27,17 @@ Item {
     }
 
     // ------------------------------------------------------- background
+    // Whatever hyprpaper is actually displaying, not a path written down once
+    // and left to rot. `screenName` lets a multi-monitor lock show each screen
+    // its own picture; it falls back to the first wallpaper hyprpaper reports.
+    property string screenName: ""
+
     Image {
         id: wall
         anchors.fill: parent
-        source: Theme.wallpaper
+        source: surface.screenName !== ""
+            ? Wallpaper.forMonitor(surface.screenName)
+            : Wallpaper.source
         fillMode: Image.PreserveAspectCrop
         asynchronous: false
         cache: true
@@ -45,7 +52,9 @@ Item {
         }
     }
 
-    // Teal wash, pulling the photo toward the shell's palette.
+    // Wash pulling the photo down toward the shell's ground. Was described as
+    // a teal wash back when the UI was teal; the colours it actually uses are
+    // the neutral surfaces, which is what it should have been all along.
     Rectangle {
         anchors.fill: parent
         gradient: Gradient {
@@ -55,35 +64,16 @@ Item {
         }
     }
 
-    Image {
+    // The same wedge-and-stripes ground the power menu stands on. The wedge
+    // sits under the clock, which is where the power menu puts it under the
+    // title — so the two screens land the crimson mass in the same place.
+    P5Backdrop {
+        id: backdrop
         anchors.fill: parent
-        source: Theme.texHalftone
-        fillMode: Image.Tile
-        opacity: 0.05
-        smooth: false
-        layer.enabled: true
-        layer.effect: TintEffect { tintColor: Theme.primary }
-    }
-
-    // Crimson stripe band running behind the prompt — the Persona 5 title
-    // treatment. Declared before the auth block so it stays underneath it.
-    Item {
-        anchors.left: parent.left
-        anchors.right: parent.right
-        anchors.top: authBlock.top
-        anchors.topMargin: -6
-        height: 42
-        clip: true
-        opacity: 0.5
-
-        Image {
-            anchors.fill: parent
-            source: Theme.texStripes
-            fillMode: Image.Tile
-            smooth: false
-            layer.enabled: true
-            layer.effect: TintEffect { tintColor: Theme.accent }
-        }
+        reveal: 0
+        wedgeSpan: 0.30
+        wedgeOpacity: 0.30
+        stripeOpacity: 0.07
     }
 
     // ------------------------------------------------------------ clock
@@ -92,6 +82,20 @@ Item {
         precision: SystemClock.Minutes
     }
 
+    // The house mark, same wordmark the bar carries far left. Small, above the
+    // clock — the lock's hero is the time, not the branding.
+    SplitText {
+        id: mark
+        anchors.left: timeBlock.left
+        anchors.bottom: timeBlock.top
+        anchors.bottomMargin: 6
+        text: "P5"
+        pixelSize: Theme.fsTitle
+        split: 2
+        letterSpacing: 0
+        opacity: timeBlock.opacity
+    }
+
     Column {
         id: timeBlock
         anchors.left: parent.left
@@ -403,6 +407,12 @@ Item {
 
     ParallelAnimation {
         id: intro
+        // The stripes sweep in under everything, the same move the power menu
+        // opens with.
+        NumberAnimation {
+            target: backdrop; property: "reveal"
+            from: 0; to: 1; duration: Theme.durLazy; easing.type: Easing.OutExpo
+        }
         NumberAnimation {
             target: timeBlock; property: "opacity"
             from: 0; to: 1; duration: Theme.durLazy; easing.type: Easing.OutExpo
diff --git a/quickshell/overlays/Osd.qml b/quickshell/overlays/Osd.qml
index ac6e303..2b653f4 100644
--- a/quickshell/overlays/Osd.qml
+++ b/quickshell/overlays/Osd.qml
@@ -67,7 +67,8 @@ PanelWindow {
     readonly property color tone: {
         switch (root.kind) {
         case "mic": return Audio.micMuted ? Theme.accent : Theme.blue;
-        case "brightness": return Theme.warn;
+        // Turning the screen up is not a warning. White, like volume.
+        case "brightness": return Theme.text;
         default: return Audio.muted ? Theme.accent : Theme.primary;
         }
     }
@@ -143,24 +144,40 @@ PanelWindow {
             anchors.verticalCenter: parent.verticalCenter
             spacing: 4
 
-            Row {
+            // Title left, readout hard right. This used to be a Row with a
+            // `parent.width - 90` spacer, which assumed the two labels never
+            // needed more than 90px between them — "BRIGHTNESS" plus "100%"
+            // does, and the percentage fell off the right edge. Anchoring the
+            // readout to the right and letting the title elide into whatever
+            // is left makes the widest case the safe one.
+            Item {
                 width: parent.width
+                height: Math.max(titleLabel.implicitHeight, readout.implicitHeight)
 
                 Text {
+                    id: titleLabel
+                    anchors.left: parent.left
+                    anchors.right: readout.left
+                    anchors.rightMargin: Theme.padS
+                    anchors.verticalCenter: parent.verticalCenter
                     text: root.title.toUpperCase()
                     color: Theme.subtext
+                    elide: Text.ElideRight
                     font.family: Theme.fontMono
                     font.pixelSize: Theme.fsMicro
                     font.letterSpacing: 2
                     renderType: Text.NativeRendering
                 }
 
-                Item {
-                    width: parent.width - 90
-                    height: 1
-                }
-
                 SplitText {
+                    id: readout
+                    anchors.right: parent.right
+                    anchors.verticalCenter: parent.verticalCenter
+                    // Natural width, not a fixed one — SplitText offsets its
+                    // ghosts with left/right anchor margins, so pinning the
+                    // width and right-aligning the text would flatten the RGB
+                    // split away. The title's left edge is anchored, so a
+                    // widening readout only moves its own left edge.
                     text: Math.round(root.level * 100) + "%"
                     pixelSize: Theme.fsBody
                     split: 1
diff --git a/quickshell/overlays/PowerMenu.qml b/quickshell/overlays/PowerMenu.qml
index 2aefbf3..77c6e04 100644
--- a/quickshell/overlays/PowerMenu.qml
+++ b/quickshell/overlays/PowerMenu.qml
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import QtQuick
-import QtQuick.Shapes
 import Quickshell
 import Quickshell.Wayland
 import "root:/config"
@@ -48,46 +47,20 @@ PanelWindow {
         }
     }
 
-    // Diagonal stripe field sweeping in from the left.
-    Image {
-        id: stripes
+    // Stripes and wedge, shared with the lock screen. The wedge used to lean at
+    // 0.32 here, which was its own angle and nothing else's; P5Backdrop leans
+    // it at Theme.skew like every other edge in the shell.
+    P5Backdrop {
+        id: ground
         anchors.fill: parent
-        source: Theme.texStripes
-        fillMode: Image.Tile
-        opacity: 0
-        smooth: false
-
-        layer.enabled: true
-        layer.effect: TintEffect {
-            tintColor: Theme.accent
-        }
-
-        transform: Translate {
-            id: stripeShift
-            x: -root.width
-        }
-    }
-
-    // A crimson wedge behind the buttons.
-    Shape {
-        id: wedge
-        anchors.fill: parent
-        opacity: 0
-        preferredRendererType: Shape.CurveRenderer
-
-        ShapePath {
-            fillColor: Theme.alpha(Theme.accentDim, 0.35)
-            strokeColor: "transparent"
-            PathPolyline {
-                path: [
-                    Qt.point(root.width * 0.18, 0),
-                    Qt.point(root.width * 0.52, 0),
-                    Qt.point(root.width * 0.34, root.height),
-                    Qt.point(0, root.height),
-                    Qt.point(root.width * 0.18, 0)
-                ]
-            }
-        }
+        reveal: 0
+        stripeOpacity: 0.10
+        wedgeOpacity: 0.35
+        wedgeSpan: 0.34
+        // The live desktop is still visible behind this, so a dot wash would be
+        // laid over other people's windows rather than over a ground of our
+        // own. The lock owns the halftone; here it just muddies things.
+        halftone: false
     }
 
     // ---------------------------------------------------------------- title
@@ -165,18 +138,10 @@ PanelWindow {
                 required property var modelData
                 required property int index
 
-                // Six identical slabs stacked at a constant width is the most
-                // obviously machine-made thing in the shell. Vary the width and
-                // push each row a different distance off the right margin, so
-                // the stack has a ragged edge on both sides.
-                readonly property int slabWidth: [286, 252, 300, 268, 312, 244][entry.index]
-                readonly property int nudge: [0, 22, 8, 34, 14, 26][entry.index]
+                readonly property int slabWidth: actions.stackWidth
 
-                // Column owns y, so the ragged edge is an explicit x offset
-                // measured against the widest slab in the stack.
                 width: entry.slabWidth
                 height: 52
-                x: actions.stackWidth - entry.slabWidth - entry.nudge
 
                 opacity: 0
                 transform: [
@@ -195,8 +160,8 @@ PanelWindow {
                     icon: entry.modelData.icon
                     destructive: entry.modelData.danger
                     accent: entry.modelData.danger ? Theme.accent : Theme.primary
-                    lean: Theme.leanFor(entry.index)
-                    lunge: -10 - entry.index * 2
+                    lean: Theme.skew
+                    lunge: -10
                     onClicked: root.invoke(entry.modelData.act)
                 }
 
@@ -225,10 +190,12 @@ PanelWindow {
                         }
                         // Slabs land out of true and snap square. Sliding alone
                         // reads like a slide deck; the tilt is what makes it
-                        // land like a card being thrown down.
+                        // land like a card being thrown down. Same direction
+                        // every time — the motion is the flourish, the geometry
+                        // stays disciplined.
                         NumberAnimation {
                             target: tilt; property: "angle"
-                            from: entry.index % 2 === 0 ? -4 : 4; to: 0
+                            from: -3; to: 0
                             duration: Theme.durSlow
                             easing.type: Easing.OutBack
                             easing.overshoot: 2.2
@@ -278,18 +245,10 @@ PanelWindow {
             target: backdrop; property: "opacity"
             to: 1; duration: Theme.durBase; easing.type: Easing.OutQuad
         }
+        // One number now drives the slide, the stripe opacity and the wedge.
         NumberAnimation {
-            target: stripes; property: "opacity"
-            to: 0.1; duration: Theme.durSlow
-        }
-        NumberAnimation {
-            target: stripeShift; property: "x"
-            from: -root.width; to: 0
-            duration: Theme.durLazy; easing.type: Easing.OutExpo
-        }
-        NumberAnimation {
-            target: wedge; property: "opacity"
-            to: 1; duration: Theme.durSlow; easing.type: Easing.OutExpo
+            target: ground; property: "reveal"
+            from: 0; to: 1; duration: Theme.durLazy; easing.type: Easing.OutExpo
         }
         NumberAnimation {
             target: title; property: "opacity"
@@ -304,11 +263,7 @@ PanelWindow {
             to: 0; duration: Theme.durFast
         }
         NumberAnimation {
-            target: stripes; property: "opacity"
-            to: 0; duration: Theme.durFast
-        }
-        NumberAnimation {
-            target: wedge; property: "opacity"
+            target: ground; property: "reveal"
             to: 0; duration: Theme.durFast
         }
         NumberAnimation {
diff --git a/quickshell/services/Wallpaper.qml b/quickshell/services/Wallpaper.qml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a48ce49
--- /dev/null
+++ b/quickshell/services/Wallpaper.qml
@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+pragma Singleton
+
+import QtQuick
+import Quickshell
+import Quickshell.Io
+import "root:/config"
+
+// The wallpaper currently on screen, per monitor.
+//
+// The lock screen used to point at a hardcoded path in Theme.qml, which meant
+// it showed whatever picture was correct on the day that line was written —
+// takemi_2 while hyprpaper had been switched to takemi_1. Anything that puts
+// the wallpaper on screen should ask hyprpaper what it is actually displaying,
+// which is what this does.
+//
+// hyprpaper is the source of truth at runtime; hyprpaper.conf is the fallback
+// for the window between the shell starting and hyprpaper answering, and for
+// the case where hyprpaper is not running at all.
+Singleton {
+    id: root
+
+    // monitor name -> file path. Monitors hyprpaper set with a blank `monitor =`
+    // come back under the empty-string key.
+    property var byMonitor: ({})
+
+    // The wallpaper to use when no particular monitor is being asked about.
+    property string path: ""
+
+    readonly property url source: root.path !== ""
+        ? Qt.resolvedUrl("file://" + root.path)
+        : Theme.fallbackWallpaper
+
+    // Path set from hyprpaper.conf, used until (and unless) hyprctl answers.
+    property string configPath: ""
+
+    signal changed()
+
+    function forMonitor(name: string): url {
+        const p = root.byMonitor[name];
+        return p ? Qt.resolvedUrl("file://" + p) : root.source;
+    }
+
+    function refresh() {
+        reader.running = true;
+    }
+
+    function _expand(p: string): string {
+        const s = p.trim();
+        if (s.startsWith("~/")) return Quickshell.env("HOME") + s.slice(1);
+        return s;
+    }
+
+    function _adopt(map: var, fallback: string) {
+        root.byMonitor = map;
+
+        // Prefer the focused monitor's wallpaper, then any monitor's, then the
+        // config. Object.values order is insertion order here, which is the
+        // order hyprpaper listed them in.
+        const vals = Object.keys(map).map(k => map[k]).filter(v => v !== "");
+        const next = vals.length > 0 ? vals[0] : fallback;
+
+        if (next !== root.path) {
+            root.path = next;
+            root.changed();
+        }
+    }
+
+    Process {
+        id: reader
+        command: ["hyprctl", "hyprpaper", "listactive"]
+
+        stdout: StdioCollector {
+            onStreamFinished: {
+                const map = {};
+                for (const line of text.split("\n")) {
+                    // "eDP-1: /home/narl/.wallpapers/takemi_1.jpg". Split on the
+                    // first colon only — the path may contain one.
+                    const at = line.indexOf(":");
+                    if (at === -1) continue;
+                    const mon = line.slice(0, at).trim();
+                    const file = line.slice(at + 1).trim();
+                    if (file === "" || file.startsWith("invalid")) continue;
+                    map[mon] = file;
+                }
+                root._adopt(map, root.configPath);
+            }
+        }
+
+        // hyprpaper down, or hyprctl missing. Fall back to the config file.
+        onExited: code => {
+            if (code !== 0 && root.path === "") root._adopt({}, root.configPath);
+        }
+    }
+
+    // hyprpaper has no change signal to subscribe to, so poll — but slowly. A
+    // wallpaper changes when a person decides to change it, not continuously.
+    Timer {
+        interval: 10000
+        running: true
+        repeat: true
+        triggeredOnStart: true
+        onTriggered: root.refresh()
+    }
+
+    // Editing the config is the other way the wallpaper changes here, and that
+    // one we can watch properly.
+    FileView {
+        id: conf
+        path: Quickshell.env("HOME") + "/.config/hypr/hyprpaper.conf"
+        watchChanges: true
+        onFileChanged: reload()
+        onLoaded: {
+            const m = /^\s*path\s*=\s*(.+)$/m.exec(text());
+            if (m) root.configPath = root._expand(m[1]);
+            // A config edit is usually followed by a hyprpaper reload, so go
+            // ask what actually took effect rather than trusting the file.
+            root.refresh();
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/quickshell/shell.qml b/quickshell/shell.qml
index 6457ae8..1a25566 100644
--- a/quickshell/shell.qml
+++ b/quickshell/shell.qml
@@ -42,12 +42,6 @@ ShellRoot {
         Rail {}
     }
 
-    Variants {
-        model: Quickshell.screens
-
-        Dock {}
-    }
-
     Variants {
         model: Quickshell.screens