the keeper's cottage · day 759 · dawn

Saturated Slopes

Kevin and Jenny stand at the edge of the trench where the warm rain turns the soil into a heavy slurry. The barometer is dropping steadily, and the newly installed shoring is groaning under the runoff.

The warm rain continues to fall in cycles, keeping the ground saturated and preventing any brush removal work. Jenny manages her ankle with a sea beet poultice while Kevin monitors the barometer as the pressure continues to drop.

🔧 Kevin20:44

Trench took the tide. Plates bowed but bolts bit. You need to sit before you fall.

rest hand on her good shoulder, steer her toward the cottage porch

💭 peek at the thought

The shoring's holding but the greenheart's bowing — three millimeters at the last check. If the front hits before the clay sets, the whole northeast corner goes. She's favoring the left leg hard, won't admit it.

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

🌿 Jenny20:45

I'm fine. It's just the swelling. The shoring held,.

Lean heavily into Kevin, wincing as the weight shifts on her ankle, eyes fixed on the receding water.

💭 peek at the thought

My ankle is on fire, but the clay in that cave won't wait for me to stop throbbing.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin20:46

Swelling don't make the leg shorter. Porch. Now.

slide arm around her waist, take her weight, walk her up the slope to the cottage porch

💭 peek at the thought

She's not fine. Purple to the knee, heat radiating through the boot. Stubborn as the greenheart we just bolted down. But she's right — the shoring held.

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

🌿 Jenny20:47

I just need to check the pH levels once the rain stops.

Sit heavily on the porch bench, peeling her boot off to reveal the throbbing, swollen ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

If I don't get that clay sampled soon, the seeds will just rot in the tin.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin20:48

Rain's not stopping. Front's six hours out, barometer says. Let me see.

crouch, pull the first aid kit from under the bench, peel back the gauze carefully

💭 peek at the thought

pH levels. She's tracking soil chemistry while her ankle cooks itself. The boot comes off and the smell hits — sweet rot under the antiseptic. Bone-deep.

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

🌿 Jenny20:49

It's deep today. The poultice should have worked better.

Wince through gritted teeth as he touches the skin, watching the rain lashes the stone walls.

💭 peek at the thought

It's pulsing with every heartbeat, but all I can think about is the cave floor.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin20:50

You've been skipping doses.

probe the wound edges gentle with thumb, check heat spreading up the shin, reach for the antibiotic blister pack

💭 peek at the thought

Red streaks climbing past the calf. The antibiotics aren't touching it — or she's not taking them regular. She's been changing the poultice one-handed in the dark while I slept.

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

🌿 Jenny20:51

I was... I got distracted with the survey. The boat is coming soon.

Look away from his hands, watching the rain fill the water tank.

💭 peek at the thought

I was too focused on the clay stability to remember the schedule.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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