the keeper's cottage · day 839 · night

Evening Meal and Assessment

Kevin and Jenny meet inside the cottage as the rain finally slows to a steady drizzle.

Kevin retrieved the buried antibiotic cache and gave Jenny the first doses with water. Jenny took the medication but the infection continued to track upward, the red streaks reaching mid-calf despite the fresh poultice.

🌿 Jenny07:25

The tarps are secure. For now.

sits heavily in the kitchen chair, lifting the swollen ankle onto the table to inspect the bandage.

💭 peek at the thought

My ankle is throbbing in time with the rain, and the seeds are already in the dirt, he likes it or not.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin07:25

Pump's clean. Tell-tale's strong. Engine'll hold.

pour two mugs of coffee from the kettle, set one in front of her

💭 peek at the thought

She's favouring it still. The swelling hasn't dropped. I should've made her stay off it today.

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

🌿 Jenny07:27

Good. I hope. The boat is in five days.

wraps both cold hands around the warm mug, letting the heat seep into her palms.

💭 peek at the thought

He talks about the engine while I'm literally rotting from the knee down.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin07:27

Aye. If the Dutchman keeps his word.

sit opposite her, blow steam off my own mug, watch her ankle propped on the table

💭 peek at the thought

Five days. Barometer's still falling. Could be five, could be twelve. She's counting on it like it's fixed.

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

🌿 Jenny07:29

I need more than a working engine Kevin. I need the antibiotics in that crate.

winces slightly as the weight shifts, staring down at the dark red seeping through the white gauze.

💭 peek at the thought

The way always keeps his word; the island doesn't.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin07:29

The crate's in the shed. Two full courses, buried cache. Doxy and metronidazole both.

reach across the table, brush my thumb over the back of her hand — brief, rough — then stand and move to the pantry shelf

💭 peek at the thought

The gauze is dark. She's been through a full course and it's not holding. The crate has more — doxycycline and metronidazole, sealed in oilcloth — but she's looking at me like I decide whether the boat comes.

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

🌿 Jenny07:31

Then help me get them now. Before the fever gets too high.

watches him move, her eyes tracking the pulse in the angry skin of her ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

He knows exactly where they are, but the heat is rising in my skin.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin07:31

Right.

pull the blister packs from the oilcloth wrapper on the top shelf, bring them to the table with a mug of water

💭 peek at the thought

She's asking me to go to the shed. Not asking me to carry her. That's something.

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.