the old shrine · day 928 · night

Night watch at the shrine

Full dark has settled over the shrine ridge. Kevin and Jenny sit among the weathered stones with the canvas rolls and dry bag. The barometer holds at 1025 hPa. A handheld VHF rests on Kevin's knee, tuned to 2182. Jenny's ankle is wrapped fresh with sea beet poultice and gauze. The supply boat is due at high tide tomorrow. The tide is rising below the cliffs.

The rain lashes down from the west, a relentless drumming against the roof of the old shrine. The air is thick with humidity, the moisture clinging to the skin as the temperature holds at 24°C. Jenny sits back, her ankle throbbing with a dull, hot heat, while Kevin monitors the radio, waiting for any sign of life through the static of the storm.

🔧 Kevin12:53

Boat comes tomorrow. High tide. Two-hour window.

check the VHF squelch and volume, then scan 2182 for any traffic

💭 peek at the thought

The barometer holding steady at 1025 means the supply boat will make the crossing. Jenny's ankle — the red line hasn't advanced past the pen mark since this morning. That's something. The spark plug on the slab catches the last light. I should've put the letter in the dry bag with the medevac forms, but it sits here instead, weighted by the stone.

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

🌿 Jenny12:53

I need to check the radio one last time. The humidity is spiking.

Jenny reaches for the radio, her fingers trembling slightly as she shifts her weight off the throbbing ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

The red is moving faster than the antibiotics can. If that boat doesn't show with more supplies, I'm going to lose the leg to this island.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin12:55

Hold still, love. Let me check.

reach for the handheld VHF beside her, fingers brushing the microphone as I tune to 2182 and key the mic briefly, then set it down with the antenna pointing toward the ridge where I carved that note to Tom.

💭 peek at the thought

Humidity spikes mean the tell-tales on the dock sister joints will show moisture soon. Her fingers trembling — she's been on her feet too long, and the infection's still working. I should've built that sensory garden already.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

🌿 Jenny12:57

It's not stopping, Kevin. The rain is coming in now.

Jenny pulls her hand away from the radio and stares at the red line tracing further up her calf.

💭 peek at the thought

He thinks the radio will fix the infection, but the salt is already in the marrow.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin12:57

Rain's just rain. The line's what matters.

unwrap the gauze from her ankle with practiced hands, peeling it slow so the sea beet poultice doesn't tear the skin, angling the headlamp beam so she can see the new boundary I'll mark with the pen

💭 peek at the thought

The red line moved. Past the mark. Fast. Barometer's steady but her leg isn't. Two hours to high tide tomorrow. If the boat comes. If the infection doesn't hit the femoral before then.

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

🌿 Jenny12:59

The pen's at the dock, near the generator shed.

Jenny reaches for the dry bag and pulls out the pen, the plastic tip catching the headlamp beam.

💭 peek at the thought

He's steady as ever, and I'm falling apart.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

🔧 Kevin12:59

Metronidazole in the kit. Four doses left.

take the pen from her, cap it with my teeth, draw a new line at the leading edge of the redness — higher, wider — then recap and set it on the stone beside the spark plug, my thumb pressing the gauze back into place over the poultice

💭 peek at the thought

She had it in the bag the whole time. Of course she did. The line's angry red, hot to touch, tracking another two centimeters past the afternoon mark. Doxycycline's been in her system eighteen hours. Should be slowing it. Isn't.

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

🌿 Jenny13:03

I'm tired, Kevin.

Jenny leans her head back against the cold stone, watching the first heavy drops of rain hit the dust on the ridge.

💭 peek at the thought

Four doses isn't enough if the boat is two days late.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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