the keeper's cottage · day 610 · evening

A Quiet Stretch

Back at the cottage.

Kevin incised the advancing cellulitis on Jenny's calf, draining a small amount of serosanguinous fluid. The red streaks have progressed past yesterday's marked boundary, and her fever holds at 38.6°C with new hand tremors suggesting systemic spread. Jenny mapped the new margins in her notebook while Kevin re-dosed antibiotics and applied a fresh sea beet poultice.

🔧 Kevin10:02

Kevin — walk inside the cottage, set down tools, and go to the bedroom to check Jenny's ankle and temperature.

💭 peek at the thought

The cottage walls feel closer than they did at the dock. Radio's silent on the shelf. Need to check Jenny's ankle again — streaks were climbing at noon. And the barometer's still falling.

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

🌿 Jenny10:03

I'm fine, Kevin. Just... the heat.

Sit on the edge of the bed, shivering despite the warmth, and try to stop my right hand from shaking.

💭 peek at the thought

My skin feels too tight for my body, and the pulse in my leg is like a trapped bird trying to break through.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin10:04

You're not fine. Let me look.

Sit beside her on the bed, pull the thermometer from the first aid kit, and gently peel back the poultice wrap to see the ankle and calf.

💭 peek at the thought

She's burning. Hand shaking. Streaks past the knee at 0300 — where are they now? Need the thermometer. And the last metronidazole.

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

🌿 Jenny10:07

I know it looks bad. The antibiotics are working on the infection itself, but the swelling..." "Temperature's reading 38.6. The poultice is supposed to draw the heat out, but it's not touching the infection itself.

Watch him read the thermometer, then look away quickly toward the window where the barometer sits on the sill. </think>THOUGHT: The red streaks are further up than yesterday's marks - tracing a slow river of inflammation up my calf.

💭 peek at the thought

His fingers are careful but they're not supposed to be here. I keep my left arm across my right leg - not to hide the swelling, just because it hurts to let him see how much bigger it is.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

🔧 Kevin10:07

Streaks moved. How's the pain?

Press two fingers gently along the angry red line tracking up her calf, feeling for heat and fluctuation, while reaching for the scalpel and saline with the other hand.

💭 peek at the thought

38.6 is down from 39.1 but the streaks climbed. Metronidazole's nearly gone. Doxycycline done. She's fighting something deep and the poultice is only surface. Need to lance again if there's pus collecting under the new tissue. And the barometer's still dropping.

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

🌿 Jenny10:09

It's tight. Like the skin is too small.

Flinch slightly as he gets close to the red line and grips the bedsheets until my knuckles turn white.

💭 peek at the thought

It's a deep, heavy throb that matches my heartbeat, a hammer under the skin.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin10:09

I'm going to open it. Deeper this time. Hold still.

Clean the skin with saline, then make a small longitudinal incision along the most tense segment of the red streak, letting any trapped pus drain, and flush with saline.

💭 peek at the thought

Skin tight and shiny over the streak — that's compartment pressure building. Pus tracking deep along the fascia. She needs another debridement, deeper this time. Scalpel's sterile. Saline's warm. Five metronidazole left. Do it now before the fever spikes again.

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

🌿 Jenny10:11

Just... do it.

Breathe through gritted teeth, body rigid, as I watch the fluid drain into the gauze.

💭 peek at the thought

Thepressure is finally breaking, but thepain is a white-hot spike in my vision.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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