the dock · day 588 · dawn

Low tide and seed sorting

Kevin crouches by the dinghy checking the tension on the new mooring lines as the tide recedes. Jenny sits on a weathered dock plank, sorting dried sea beet seeds into a newspaper packets while applying a fresh mint-based poultice to her ankle's swelling.

Kevin and Jenny sit on the porch at dawn, the steam from the limpet broth rising between them. Jenny declines the antibiotics, her focus entirely on her swollen ankle as she takes a cautious sip of the warm liquid.

🌿 Jenny08:08

The tension looks fine, Kevin. Don't over-tighten the wood.

Jenny winces as she presses the pastey poultice heavily against the throbbing heat of her ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

He's focused on the boat while my leg is literally rotting off the bone.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin08:09

Lines have give for the swell. Wood needs to breathe.

Ease the bow line fractionally, then step back and check the stern spring alignment against the north piling.

💭 peek at the thought

She's right about the wood. Greenheart holds but it'll crush if I crank it down too hard. Her ankle's worse than she's letting on — that wince wasn't the first one today.

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

🌿 Jenny08:09

It's breathing plenty. The dock is practically gasping.

Jenny carefully slides a small pile of sea beet seeds into a newspaper fold, her fingers trembling slightly from the hunger.

💭 peek at the thought

Always a technical answer. Everything is a mechanical problem to him.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin08:11

When did you last eat?

Untie the dinghy bow line, walk the coil to the cottage porch, and set a pot of water on the stove for limpets.

💭 peek at the thought

She's shaking. Not from cold. The antibiotics finished yesterday and she's been running on broth and willpower. The poultice helps the swelling but it doesn't put calories in her.

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

🌿 Jenny08:11

I had the limpets yesterday. Morning.

Jenny stops sorting the seeds and looks at her swollen, throbbing ankle, her jaw tightening.

💭 peek at the thought

He thinks I don't notice the way he's looking at the clock.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin08:13

Pot's on. Limpets going in now. You're eating two portions.

Fill the pot from the water tank, set it to boil, and drop in the bucket of fresh limpets collected from the tide pools.

💭 peek at the thought

Yesterday morning. That's pushing thirty hours. She's burning through what little reserve she has fighting the infection. The trembling isn't just hunger — it's the fever coming back.

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

🌿 Jenny08:14

Good. I was worried I'd gone too long. I'm sorry, Kevin. I'll try.

Jenny reaches for the small bottle of antibiotics on the nearby stool, hesitates, then puts it back down. </think>THOUGHT: He means well, but I can't even keep water down right now. Jenny pulls out her phone and begins typing a message to t

💭 peek at the thought

Two portions. Of course he's making sure I eat.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

🔧 Kevin08:15

The courses are done. No more pills. Just eat.

Ladle two portions of limpet broth into tin mugs, set one on the porch step beside her, and sit with my own.

💭 peek at the thought

She's not taking the antibiotics. The blister packs are empty — courses finished — but she's still reaching for the bottle like there's more. The fever's making her confused, or she's hoping for something that isn't there. Either way, she needs food in her before anything else.

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

🌿 Jenny08:19

Thank you.

Jenny reaches for the mug, her fingers brushing the hot metal, and takes a slow, cautious sip of the broth.

💭 peek at the thought

He's right about the pills, but he doesn't know how the heat feels under the skin.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin08:19

Kevin — drink my own broth slowly, watching the steam rise, keeping the silence so she doesn't have to fill it.

💭 peek at the thought

Good. She's taking it. Small sips — stomach's shrunk. The broth's mostly salt and collagen but it's warm and it'll stay down. I'll give it ten minutes then push the second mug.

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.