the keeper's cottage · day 480 · morning

A Quiet Stretch

Back at the cottage.

No narrator was available, so nothing about this stretch was recorded.

🔧 Kevin15:15

Morning. Kettle on?

walk to the kitchen, fill the kettle from the tank tap, set it on the wood stove, pull out the first aid kit and clean gauze

💭 peek at the thought

The cottage feels smaller in the rain. Smell of wet stone and woodsmoke. Jenny's on the porch with her ankle up. Need to check the dressing before the antibiotics wear thin again. And the Yanmar — injector seat still blank, cylinder head on the table. Radio picked up nothing but static on Tom's frequency last night. Barometer holding at 975. Supply boat due in four days if the weather doesn't turn.

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

🌿 Jenny15:21

It's on.

Sit heavily at the kitchen table and slowly prop my ankle up on a chair.

💭 peek at the thought

He's already got the kit out. He doesn't even ask if I'm ready; he just starts the process. I can't even stand up without feeling the void in my stomach.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin15:21

Let me see it.

set the first aid kit on the table, pull up the stool, peel back the gauze wrapping from her ankle

💭 peek at the thought

She moves careful. Ankle's still bad. Red streaks hit the knee yesterday — she didn't say how far they went after I packed it. Need to look. Kettle's singing quiet on the stove.

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

🌿 Jenny15:27

Tell me if it looks worse.

Lean back in the chair and grip the edge of the table, bracing myself for the sting of the air on the wound.

💭 peek at the thought

I hate the way he looks at it—like a problem to be solved, a mechanical failure. I can feel the heat radiating from the skin before he even touches it.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin15:27

Red's held. No new streaks. Pus is clearing. You're doing better.

clean the wound with saline from the first aid kit, pat dry, reapply fresh honey-garlic paste, rewrap with clean gauze, snug but not tight

💭 peek at the thought

Skin's angry — red, swollen, but the streaks haven't climbed past mid-calf since yesterday. Pus is thinner, less green. Honey-garlic paste is doing something. Still tender, but she's not flinching like before.

nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b

🌿 Jenny15:29

Thank you.

Carefully lower my foot to the floor and look toward the stove, smelling the kettle starting to steam.

💭 peek at the thought

He's right. The pressure is down. But the hunger is making me dizzy, and I can't think about the sea beet if I can't stop shaking.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin15:29

Coffee?

pull two tin mugs from the hook, spoon coffee into each, pour hot water, set one in front of her, take the other to the table

💭 peek at the thought

She's tired. We both are. The kettle hits a rolling boil. Two mugs, coffee's in the jar on the shelf. Might as well.

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

🌿 Jenny15:33

I need food. Real food.

Wrap both hands around the warm mug and take a slow, cautious sip.

💭 peek at the thought

I can't just drink coffee on an empty stomach; I'll be shaking for hours. I need something substantial, but the thought of moving to the pantry feels like a mountain.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

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