the dock · day 833 · dawn

The Rising Tide Watch

Kevin and Jenny stand on the damp planks as the tide begins to lap the lower pilings. Jenny leans against a mooring post, shifting her wrapped ankle while Kevin watches the darkening horizon for the supply boat.

Kevin and Jenny stand at the dock as the tide rises under a thickening, overcast sky. Kevin checks the shortwave for the supply boat's arrival while Jenny manages the swelling in her ankle in the high humidity.

🔧 Kevin00:46

Boat's due on the high. Two hours. You want the chair from the porch or you staying on your feet?

scan the horizon, hand resting on the shortwave at my belt

💭 peek at the thought

She's favouring the left side hard. The poultice held through the night but the swelling hasn't dropped. If the boat's delayed another tide, I'll need to change the dressing again before noon. Barometer's steady but that horizon's bruising purple — front's building fast.

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

🌿 Jenny00:47

I'm fine, Kevin. Just let me watch the water.

I shift my weight to my good leg, wincing as the swollen skin presses against the gauze, and area against the grey light.

💭 peek at the thought

way own is throbbing in time with the waves, and if I sit down, I might not be able to get back up.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin00:48

Your call. But if you go down on these planks, I'm not hauling you up. Dock's slick as lard.

shift stance, boots finding the drier grain of the central plank, eyes still on the horizon

💭 peek at the thought

Stubborn as the dock planks. She'll stand there till the boat's hull shows or the tide takes her off her feet. The gauze is already darkening at the edges — seepage. Another hour and she'll need a fresh wrap whether she admits it or not.

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

🌿 Jenny00:49

I know how to stand, Kevin.

I Reach out to steady myself against the rough timber piling, ignoring the heat in my joint as I stare at the flat, grey sea.

💭 peek at the thought

He's a prick, but he's right about the wood. My ankle is a lead weight today.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin00:50

Kevin — turn back to the horizon, thumb finding the shortwave's volume knob, crack the squelch open to listen

💭 peek at the thought

That tone. Same one she used when the generator failed in the storm and she rewired the voltage regulator one-handed in the dark. She doesn't need me to hover. She needs me to shut up and watch the water like she asked.

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

🌿 Jenny00:51

Jenny — i tighten my grip on the rotting wood, Analysis white, watching the line where the grey sky meets the water.

💭 peek at the thought

If that boat doesn't show, I'm going to run out of antibiotics before the fever breaks.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin00:52

Kevin — stand shoulder to shoulder with her at the rail, shortwave crackling low at my hip, scanning the grey distance for any smudge of hull or exhaust

💭 peek at the thought

Good. She's settled. The silence between us isn't empty — it's the kind that holds. Let her have the horizon. I'll hold the radio.

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

🌿 Jenny00:53

It's not here yet. It never is.

I shift my weight again, a sharp spike of pain radiating through the wrapping, and keep my eyes locked on the horizon.

💭 peek at the thought

The tide is coming in too fast, and my head is spinning with the fever.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin00:54

He'll come. Radio check at 0800 confirmed. Two hour window on the high.

pull the shortwave free, key the mic, thumb the transmit button — "Sorrel Island calling supply vessel *Maris*. Over."

💭 peek at the thought

She's right. The schedule's a fiction the sea ignores. But the barometer's holding 1014 and the captain's not one to run late without raising us. He'll show. Question is whether the swell lets him get a line across.

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

🌿 Jenny00:55

(Quietly) I need to check the radio mast. The insulator might've failed during the storm.

I Unwrap the gauze on my ankle, wincing, and reach for my field kit to reassess the swelling.

💭 peek at the thought

If the radio's dead and the boat's not coming, I'm going to die on these planks from a stupid infection.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

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