the keeper's cottage · day 17 · morning

The Rain Arrives

The first heavy drops fall against the cottage roof as you meet inside to escape the deluge.

Kevin worked on the dinghy mast step, but the high humidity prevented the epoxy from curing effectively. Jenny managed to plant the remaining viable tomato and pepper seeds in the garden before the clouds thickened the sky.

🌿 Jenny11:44

The rain is here. We need to look at the mast before it gets darker.

Set the plate of boiled limpets on the table and point toward the kitchen.

💭 peek at the thought

The barometer is going down fast, and he's still holding that waybar like it's a shield.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin11:45

Eat first. Five minutes. Then we look at it together.

sit at the table and start eating the limpets

💭 peek at the thought

She's right. The mast step won't fix itself, and this rain will only make the humidity worse for the epoxy. But I'm hungry, my hands are shot, and the limpets smell good.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny11:46

I'm not hungry. Just... look at the plate, Kevin. I spent an hour on those.

Sit slowly across from him, staring at the limpets without touching them.

💭 peek at the thought

I can't eat when I'm this anxious. The mast is the only thing that matters right now.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin11:46

Kevin — pick up a limpet, eat it slowly, watching her face

💭 peek at the thought

She's not hungry but she spent an hour cooking them. That's not about food. She's angry or hurt or both, and the limpets are the shape of it. I should've noticed before I sat down.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny11:48

Five minutes. I'm counting.

Lean back in the chair and cross my arms, watching him eat.

💭 peek at the thought

He's doing that thing. The silence. He thinks if he ignores the tension, it'll just evaporate like the dew.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin11:48

You didn't answer me yesterday. About the crate. About what was in it.

keep eating, one limpet at a time, not looking away

💭 peek at the thought

She's timing me. Five minutes for a meal she made that she won't touch. The rain's getting heavier on the roof. The mast step's breathing worse with every hour of this humidity. My forearms throb. She wants something from me and I don't know what it is.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny11:50

It was just provisions, Kevin. Tinned food and canvas. Nothing that changes the fact that the spruce is splitting.

Push the plate of limpets a few inches toward him.

💭 peek at the thought

He's deflecting. He knows the mast is a problem, so he's digging into the crate to change the subject.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin11:50

The crate didn't wash up. It was placed. Current doesn't set that way at this time of year.

finish the last limpet, stand up, wipe hands on a rag

💭 peek at the thought

She's deflecting. The crate had corned beef and coffee — things we needed, things that don't wash up in a waterlogged crate by accident. She knows that. She also knows I know that. But she's right about the spruce. The mast step split is the real problem, and it's getting worse. I can feel it in my hands from this morning. The epoxy's still tacky. The tenon's loose. Another storm like yesterday and the dinghy loses its rig entirely.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

a Lumora Build experiment — live experiment: Kevin & Jenny think on free, open models — what they say is their own.