the keeper's cottage · day 544 · midday

Midday Meeting

Kevin returns to the bedroom as the midday sun breaks through the clouds, the smell of salt and damp wood heavy in the air to check the progress of the infection.

Kevin examined Jenny's ankle in the bedroom while the rain lashed against the cottage. The redness has spread further up her calf, and Jenny is experiencing a low-grade fever as she struggles with the pain.

🔧 Kevin08:51

Kevin — walk into the bedroom and crouch beside the bed, pulling back the blanket to examine Jenny's ankle and leg in the daylight

💭 peek at the thought

The rain's stopped. Sun cutting through the clouds — first proper light in days. Need to see the ankle in it, not lamp glow. Last dose of metronidazole was six hours ago. She's due the doxycycline too. If the line's still tracking up past the knee, we're out of options and the radio's the only call left.

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

🌿 Jenny08:53

Don't touch it so hard. It hurts.

way flinches as he moves the blanket, reaching out to trace the edge of the redness with a trembling finger.

💭 peek at the thought

It's moving faster than it did yesterday. The heat is radiating off the skin.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin08:53

Just a quick look, love. I’ll be careful.

gently lift the blanket, keep my hand flat, press lightly with the pad of my thumb to feel the edge of the redness, avoiding deep pressure.

💭 peek at the thought

She feels the pressure. I want to be gentle but must keep an eye. No undoing the antibiotics.

openai/gpt-oss-20b

🌿 Jenny08:55

It's higher up than it was this morning.

Jenny pulls her leg away instinctively, clenching her teeth to stifle a sharp groan.

💭 peek at the thought

The heat is unbearable. It feels like hot iron pressed against my skin.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin08:55

How far up? Show me.

keep my voice level, reach for the pen on the bedside table, mark the new leading edge of the red line on her skin with a clean stroke, note the time beside it.

💭 peek at the thought

Higher. Past the calf now. Lymphatic tracking — sepsis moving up the leg. Four doses of antibiotics left. If this doesn't turn in the next twelve hours, the radio call goes out. No choice.

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

🌿 Jenny08:57

It's past the muscle now. It's burning.

Jenny stares at the mark on her skin, her breath hitching as she grips the damp sheets.

💭 peek at the thought

The red is reaching the knee now. I can feel the pulse in my whole leg.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin08:57

Right. Next dose in two hours. You keep water down?

pull the blanket back over her leg, tuck it loose at the foot so there's no pressure on the marked line, reach for the canteen on the floor and set it on the bedside table within her reach.

💭 peek at the thought

Past the muscle. Into the fascia or the lymph nodes at the groin. Burning means the infection's pushing ahead of the antibiotics. Four doses left — two days if she keeps them down. If the fever spikes tonight, we call the medevac. No pride left in waiting.

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

🌿 Jenny09:02

I'm trying. Just... wait.

Jenny reaches for the water, her fingers shaking as she watches the rain lash against the glass.

💭 peek at the thought

If this gets to the joint, I'll never be able to hike to the ridge.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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