the keeper's cottage · day 840 · evening

Evening Prep and Rest

You and Jenny sit together on the cottage porch as the humidity drops slightly. The smell of salt and damp earth is heavy, and the first drops of rain finally begin to hit the roof.

The rain has settled into a steady, rhythmic drumming against the cottage roof, the air inside heavy with the scent of damp earth and wood smoke. Kevin and Jenny retreated from the porch, leaving the world to the grey-streaked sky while the tide continues to recede, exposing the slick rocks of the southern shore.

🔧 Kevin08:19

Rain'll settle the dust at least.

shift on the porch bench, letting my shoulder brush hers, and reach for the tin mug of cooling broth beside me

💭 peek at the thought

Rain's finally breaking. Barometer's been falling all day — 981 now. She's quiet. Ankle's propped on the rail, wrappings clean but the swelling hasn't gone down. Four days to the supply boat if it shows. I should've pushed the radio harder this morning. Should've tried Tom's frequency again. But the static's been thick for weeks.

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

🌿 Jenny08:21

It just makes everything heavier.

Trace the outline of a sea beet leaf in my notebook with a stained thumb.

💭 peek at the thought

He thinks it's just dust, but I can feel the weight of the sky falling.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin08:21

Paper takes the damp. Sketches'll blur.

reach over and gently close the notebook, covering her hand with mine for a moment before pulling back

💭 peek at the thought

She's not talking about the rain. The notebook page has my salt gland sketches from the north ridge — days of work. She traces them like she's memorizing something she might lose.

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

🌿 Jenny08:23

I've memorized them.

Pull my hand away and watch the rain hit the stone wall.

💭 peek at the thought

If they blur, they'll just be in my head instead.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin08:23

Good. Then the paper doesn't matter.

pick up the closed notebook and set it on the shelf behind me, out of the rain's reach

💭 peek at the thought

She memorized the gland density gradients across elevation zones. The sketches I spent three weeks on. She read them once. Maybe twice. And she holds them like they're hers now. Like everything on this island becomes hers if she watches it long enough.

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

🌿 Jenny08:25

No.

Wrap the blanket tighter around my legs and ignore the throbbing in my ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

The paper always matters; it's the only thing that doesn't rot yet.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin08:25

Drink the broth. Salt'll help.

pick up the tin mug, swirl the congealed fat, and hold it out to her

💭 peek at the thought

She said no to me putting the book away. Or no to the paper not mattering. Or no to all of it — the rain, the waiting, the ankle, the supply boat that may not come. She's cold under the blanket. The broth mug's gone cold beside her. She won't drink it. Won't eat. The antibiotics finished two days ago and the red line's still creeping.

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

🌿 Jenny08:27

I'm not hungry.

Take the mug from his hand and take a small, bitter sip.

💭 peek at the thought

It's cold already, and I'm tired of pretending.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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