the old shrine · day 668 · evening

Evening at the Ridge

The rain tapers to a steady drizzle as the light fades. You and Jenny head toward the ridge to check the stone circle before total darkness.

Kevin examines Jenny's ankle at the old shrine as the barometric pressure drops. He uses a penlight to inspect the wound, finding the inflammation and heat spreading despite previous treatments. Jenny endures the pain of the inspection, noting the shifting weather as the storm moves in.

🌿 Jenny13:47

Watch your step, the rocks are slicker than they look.

walk toward the shrine, leaning a hand on a weathered stone for balance as the ankle throbs.

💭 peek at the thought

If the wind shifts north, the north slope will be a slurry by morning; I need to see the drainage before the pressure drops back in.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin13:48

I've got the light. Take your time.

walk toward the shrine, headlamp beam sweeping the path ahead, staying half a step behind her left side

💭 peek at the thought

The light's going fast. Her ankle's holding but the limp's worse than this morning. Stones'll be treacherous wet.

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

🌿 Jenny13:49

Just keep the light on the ground, not my face.

halt at the center of the ring, tracing a worn carving on a flat stone with a damp finger.

💭 peek at the thought

He's so helpful, it's exhausting. I just need to see the soil line.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin13:50

Kevin — stop at the ring's edge, headlamp angled down at the wet grass and stone, hands in jacket pockets against the chill

💭 peek at the thought

She's reading the names again. Or the one we left. The 'E' stone and the softwood scrap beside it. My carving. She never says anything about it.

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

🌿 Jenny13:51

Look at the lichen on this one—it's almost gone.

kneel slowly, wincing as the weight shifts off the infected ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

The names here are fading, just like my plans for the garden. If I can't find the soil, these seeds will just rot in the tin.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin13:52

You need to sit. Let me look.

step into the ring, crouch beside her, reach for her calf with calloused fingers gentle as I can make them

💭 peek at the thought

She's favouring it bad. The red line was at the knee this noon. Antibiotics should be biting by now but sepsis don't negotiate. If it tracks past the knee by 0800 I call the Trust. No argument.

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

🌿 Jenny13:53

I'm fine, I just need to see the drainage on the ridge first.

lean back against the cold stone of the shrine, letting the ankle throb pulse through the heat.

💭 peek at the thought

He doesn't understand that the damp isn't just in the air, it's in the bone.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin13:54

The ridge isn't going anywhere. Your leg might.

stay crouched, palm flat on her shin above the brace, feeling for heat spreading past the wrap line

💭 peek at the thought

Stubborn as the rock she's leaning on. The drainage can wait. Her leg can't. Third dose at 0800. If the heat's spread or the line's moved, I'm keying the mic for the Trust whether she likes it or not.

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

🌿 Jenny13:55

It's just the pressure, Kevin. The barometer is dropping.

pull the leg away slightly, staring out at the dark where the slope meets the cliffs.

💭 peek at the thought

If he keeps touching it I'll lose my mind. I need to find that stable patch before the boat comes.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin13:56

Barometer's been dropping two days. Your leg got worse today.

let her pull back, but don't stand — stay low, headlamp catching the edge of the brace where skin shows raw and angry

💭 peek at the thought

She's right about the barometer. 978 and falling. But she's using it to deflect. The heat in her shin didn't feel like pressure change. It felt like infection winning.

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

🌿 Jenny13:57

I need to see the soil. The north slope is different today.

rub a hand over the throbbing ankle, teeth grit against the salt-heavy air.

💭 peek at the thought

I can't debride it out here. If I don't find the soil, the grandmother's seeds are just ghosts.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin13:58

Kevin — reach into my jacket pocket, pull out the penlight from the med kit, click it on — white beam cutting the dark at her ankle, not asking permission

💭 peek at the thought

She's not listening. Or she's choosing not to. The north slope soil isn't going to kill her in the next twelve hours. This might. I've seen men die from less than a spreading cellulitis on a rock in the middle of nowhere with a supply boat six days out.

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.