the old shrine · day 436 · evening

Evening at the cottage

The heat begins to break as the atmospheric pressure continues to rise. You both meet in the kitchen to assess the day's findings.

Kevin and Jenny shared a meal of corned beef and hot water at the shrine while reviewing their dwindling medical supplies. Kevin confirmed the doxycycline and metronidazole courses were still viable, with five doses each remaining. Jenny took her next dose with food as instructed, and they agreed to reassess the ankle infection in three days.

🌿 Jenny19:57

The pressure is dropping. We might have a window before the boat comes.

Lay the dried sea beet leaves on the table and sit heavily, rubbing my throbbing ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

My ankle is screaming, but the sea beet leaves are finally drying. I need to check the doxycycline before the infection takes the leg.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin19:57

Barometer's been climbing since midnight. Ninety-eighty and holding. You sure you're not feeling the one in your head?

walk to the kettle, lift it off the stove, pour two mugs of the hot water, set one in front of her

💭 peek at the thought

She's reading the barometer wrong, or I am. 980 and rising all day. But her ankle's hot to touch from here, and she's favouring it hard. The doxycycline's only had one dose. Infection doesn't care about pressure readings.

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

🌿 Jenny19:59

It's the ankle, Kevin. The infection is getting deeper.

Take the mug, wrap both hands around the warmth, and stare at the sea beet leaves.

💭 peek at the thought

He thinks it's just the exhaustion, but the heat in my skin is real. I'm too tired to argue.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin19:59

Finish the doxy. All six doses. Metro too. I'll check the first aid kit for anything else — maybe there's cephalexin left from the medevac stores.

go to the medical shelf, pull down the first aid kit, open it and scan the blister packs and bottles

💭 peek at the thought

She's not wrong. Heat spreading up the calf, red lines if I look. Metronidazole's for anaerobes, doxy for the rest. Two more days of pills if she keeps them down. But the supply boat's eight days out, and if this turns septic...

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

🌿 Jenny20:01

I'll finish the course. Just check the dates on the antibiotics.

Watch him sort through the kit, wincing as the weight shifts on my ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

If there's no cephalexin, I'm going to be in trouble. I can't lose the leg now.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin20:01

Doxy's good. Metro's good. No broad-spectrum backup. If the red lines hit the knee, I'm keying the VHF for medevac whether you like it or not.

set the blister packs on the table beside her mug, sit opposite, roll up my sleeve and check my own forearm where the splinter went in Tuesday

💭 peek at the thought

Doxy blister pack — five left, expiry 2026. Metro — five left, 2025. No cephalexin. No augmentin. Just the two courses and some gauze, antiseptic cream long gone. Eight days to the boat. She needs IV if this tracks upward. I should've called the medevac when the trust offered.

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

🌿 Jenny20:03

The knee isn't the limit yet. We have eight days until the boat.

Reach for the notebook, tracing the sketch of the Carex transect despite the throbbing.

💭 peek at the thought

Don't call for medevac. I can't be the burden again, not before I even start the garden.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin20:03

Four days of pills left. We'll know by day three which way it's going. Tomorrow I check the crate at low water — might be timber for a proper splint if the ankle swells past the brace.

tap the doxy blister pack, then reach for the notebook and add a line: Day 436 — ankle infection, doxy/metro started, 5 doses each remaining

💭 peek at the thought

Eight days if the boat comes. Eight days if the weather holds. Eight days if the infection doesn't decide otherwise. She's bargaining with numbers again. I've seen men lose a leg in six hours from a scratch they swore was nothing. But she's right about one thing — the knee isn't the limit. The bloodstream is.

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

🌿 Jenny20:05

Just check the kit first. I need to know what we actually have.

Lean back, the chair creaking, and watch the rain against the glass.

💭 peek at the thought

If I need a splint, I can't even walk to the ridge. The seeds will just rot in the tin.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin20:05

Already did. Doxy, metro, gauze, tape, saline empty, antiseptic cream empty, tweezers broken. That's it.

push the first aid kit across the table toward her, open, so she can count the blisters herself

💭 peek at the thought

She wants inventory, not reassurance. Fair enough. I already looked — there's nothing else. But she needs to see for herself, or she'll keep wondering what I missed.

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

🌿 Jenny20:07

I know. I'll take the next dose.

Reach out and touch the blister packs, my fingers trembling slightly.

💭 peek at the thought

He's right, the kit is bare. If these don't work, I'm stuck here.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin20:07

Take it now. With food. Corned beef tin still open?

stand, go to the cupboard, pull down the half-eaten tin of corned beef, fork it onto a chipped plate, set it in front of her with the mug

💭 peek at the thought

The tremor's new. Could be pain, could be fever creeping up, could be the adrenaline crash after days of holding it together. Her fingers were steady on the seed trays this morning. Infection doesn't announce itself with fanfare — it just takes.

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.