[quote=@Host]
<Snipped quote by Mammalia>

How likely is it that the flickering indicates a comatose state irrespective of his likelihood of being in said state?
[/quote]

The flickering occurs regularly. Rarely, but regularly. I find it unlikely that Vie has either developed a special method for communicating comas which she has not told me about or that a coma should cause his soul to flicker between existence and nonexistence on a regular basis.