I'll be honest, I just wrote this to get something written down for the next chapter. Because I'm trying to incorporate new elements in this time rather than it being strictly WInter and Jem falling in love quickly. Going to try and write some more realistic scenarios and shit.

Jem got ready for his morning run. He put on a pair of Vanquish sweat pants, along with a t shirt and his hoodie with Perseus holding the decapitated head of Medusa on. It was a bit colder out today. But he figured Winter time eventually had to pick up, winter had been too nice in Illinois this year, so it was only a matter of time before they all had to choke on Wintertime's fat dick.

Also henonly realized how weird it was to refer to Winter now because they had the season and the lady staying with them. So whenever he said something like 'Man, fuck Winter.' He had to make sure he clarified he meant the season and not the woman.

"Are you ready to go?" He suddenly heard a voice as he saw Winter was standing there in her own set of jogging clothes.

"huh? What are you doing here?"

"What? I have to do morning PT same as you." She said as she started stretching.

"Well yeah, but why run with me?"

"You were already on the way out, and it would be better to jog with someone else versus by myself, especially since I don't know the area."

"But, can't you run much faster than me because of Aura?"

"No, believe it or not, Atlas prioritizes physical training without the help of Aura as we won't always have that option, so I'm sure you can handle a 7 minute mile pace." Jem breathed out a sigh of relief at that.

He could handle a seven minute mile pace, he was worried she was going to be going at least a 3 minute mile. Which would suck balls.

"I also want to go to the gym with you today." At this he groaned.

"What? Why?"

"Because I'm getting sick of staying here all the time and not doing anything productive! We've been here a week, and all I've done is sat around, watched movies, and read books!" She said as she unintentionally snapped.

"Oh I see…..you can't stay still for long can you?"

"…..No….No I cannot."

Jem could understand that, it was how everyone who worked for so long would feel. Hell, after being in the army for three years, he found out he couldn't stop waking up early in the morning to go and work out. The difference was it was on his own time and he could do whatever he wanted, something which he didn't have access to beforehand. And then of course as soon as he went on Terminal leave, he also found that he didn't like not being busy. He liked to work, you couldn't just go back to doing nothing when you had spent so long working.

It was funny, you spent most of your time at work wishing for free time, but then when It was over you spent most of your time wishing for work if you didn't have any hobbies to take up your free time.

"Well okay, just a light jog, and then we'll go to the gym." He said as he drank the last bit of his coffee.

"Can you talk while jogging?"

"Of course."

And with that, the two set out on a run. It was still January, so it was a bit cold out in Illinois. Jem was wearing his neck and face protector with the symbol of a phoenix on it as Winter kept in pace with him. He was honestly surpised, he didn't think she would want to exercise with him, nor did the think she would even want to talk to him. But seems like she was finally starting to chill out a bit. Granted, she still didn't like his habits nor his enlisted attitude, but she realized she would have to deal with it until they got home.

"So can I ask you something?" She asked as he nodded.

"Yeah sure go ahead."

"Well, I noticed that you had a dart board with Robyn Hill's face on it." She said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Honestly she just annoyed the fuck out of me." He said as went back to focusing on jogging.

"Why?"

"Because she's based on Robin Hood, and yet she has none of the charisma, and gave me stick up the ass vibes, rather than a witty outlaw." He said as Winter raised an eyebrow.

"But, would you agree that she's trying to do the right thing?"

"Everyone always talks about doing the right thing, doesn't mean you can't find them irritating as fuck. If anything, them bitching and complaining about how they're trying to do the right thing makes them even more annoying." Winter was honestly surprised at his attitude.

"Odd, I thought you were an optimist?"

"Oh I am, that being said, I also don't believe in solving the rest of the world's issues."

"But….hang on, I don't understand, are you saying you don't care about the world?"

"Yes and No."

"Explain."

"Well, lets say the world is mostly good, and your life is good, your family and friends are good, but then ou of nowhere, someone says 'Hey there are people halfway across the country who need your support because they're struggling financially.' In that case, I don't care, they're not my problem, now obviously when it comes to big stuff like another world war or a plague, that's a reason to care, because that's something important. But honestly, a lot of things I see happening in the world don't bother me enough to want to change."

"So…..you're completely fine with bad things happening?"

"In some regards, if you spend your life trying to fix every little problem with the world that you can't solve, you're going to be miserable, but if you can solve the problems youn face in your life, you're all set to go and live a happier life."

"I can't say I agree with that, especially knowing what I know now."

"Eh yeah, all I know is, most of the worlds issues, I don't care about, I mean yeah, I'm passionate about some things, like Environmentalism, health and fitness, and honor, but it doesn't bother me that there are some issues in the world I can't change. Sometimes you have to accept there are things you won't be able to fix in your lifetime, you can certainly alleviate some of them, but you won't fix them." Winter wasn't sure if she liked where this was going.

"Are you saying its hopeless for us to think of beating Salem?"

"I don't know. The show is still in progress, and sure theres hope for you guys, I mean come on, it's a web series about a fight between good and evil, while it may throw some heartbreaking moments in, Good will always triumph." That did make Winter feel better.

Until she remembered one thing.

"And what about here?"

"Oh, evil is always going to exist, you can't stop it, only defend yourself against it." He said as she guessed that made sense.

"But doesn't it bother you that somewhere in the world there is something you may hate going on?"

"Nope, because again, I'm not going to be able to solve everyone's problems, and to be honest, as long as my family and friends are safe, then I'm fine. That's my world. You don't have to agree with me, that's just how I see it." He said as they continued their jog.

To be honest, the reason Winter was asking him was because she knew this world was different. Plus finding out that in this world your whole life was a tv show was a bit unnerving. To think that people would view their lives for entertainment was actually appaling considering the horrors she saw. But then she remembered, to them it wasn't real. She felt the same way when she watched a movie. So she was not going to judge Jem for saying what he did. After all, as far as he was concerned, this was just a really odd time in his life.

"One more thing."

"Fire away."

"Why do people watch our show?" She asked as Jem looked at her.

"That depends, why do you watch movies."

"For entertainment."

"Okay, now I'll ask you this, is everyone on this planet like you?"

"OF course not, Aura doesn't seem to be prominent here."

"More like non existent unless some bullshit plot device comes up." He said as she looked confused.

"Never mind." He gathered his thoughts.

"The point is, we watch it because its entertaining and probably as a form of escapism or motivation." He started to being his long explanation.

"We live pretty boring and easy lives, literally humanity here has evolved so fast that we've become bored with our current state of existence, so we surround ourselves with stuff to fulfill our fantasies, it could be something like fighting monsters with bad ass weapons, having superpowers, or being sent to a different world or different time period, the fact is we day dream about stuff like that all the time, so of course someone will take an interest in your show, because it symbolizes something we can never have." He took a breath really quick.

"We won't ever get to fight monsters, we won't have superpowers, sure you can work on becoming stronger and more dangerous, but we will never have semblances, we won't be able to punch someone so hard they fly out a door, we want something that can give us that feeling.

Winter had to admit, it was interesting to hear his thoughts on everything, even if she didn't agree with everything he said. She admitted he had a point when it came to issues hundreds of miles away from him not being his problem, but she considered it kind of callous. That being said, he did seem to care about those he was close to, but again, seemed like an odd way to live life. It wasn't as if he was saying he wanted people to suffer, just that just because a stranger was suffering somewhere, it didn't mean it was automatically his problem. She couldn't even begin to understand that.

He drove them to the gym after chugging about two scoops of pre-workout. She couldn't believe he slammed that like a beer, but then again she had drank coffee to help her wake up who knows how many times, so she couldn't judge him for wanting an edge on a workout.

"JEMMY!" A long haired twink looking motherfucker hugged Jem as he walked in the gym.

"Goddamit Alex, how many times do I have to tell you not to call me that, and what the hell have I said about wearing more masculine clothes?" Jem said as he noticed Alex was wearing hot pink yoga pants that he was certain he borrowed from his girlfriend along with a tanktop with a bunny on it.

"But my girlfriend likes me in this!" Jem looked down and his eyes widened.

"Holy fuck, no wonder why, he's got a fucking horse cock...why do some people get all the luck?" Jem would be lying if he said he wasn't jealous. Sadly the tight yoga pants revealed a very LARGE object.

He was not small by any means necessary, but goddamit, why did such a feminine looking guy have such a big dick? It wasn't fair.

"Oh? Who is this?" Alex said as he shook Winter's hand.

"Jemmy! Did you finally get a girlfriend?" At this Jem groaned.

"No, this is an old friend from the military, and no she's not my type." Winter was about to defend herself but then she thought about the second half.

"Not his type? He called me a big tiddy cosplay girlfriend when we first met." Winter glared at him as Alex pouted.

"Oh such a shame, but I can tell, she's very fit!" Alex said as he looked her over.

"Oooohh giiirrrlll how do you get an ass that nice? I've been trying so hard!" Alex pouted again as he looked at himself in the mirror.

"Alex...please get back to your workout, this is my time to relax, I'll help you later." Alex smiled and left.

"Okey dokie!" He said as he flicked his wrist out and walked away.

Winter was honestly stunned.

"Yeah, thats Alex, he's-"

"Gay?"

"Surprisingly not." Jem said as he still thought Alex was gay but not out of the closet.

"He seems...energetic."

"He's a nice guy, but he can be a bit much, his girlfriend really likes feminine guys."

"Is she secretly a lesbian."

"Nope, just the only girl in a family of boys, so she enjoys someone more feminine. Can we please get to working out?"

"Uhm sure."

Little did both of them know.

"Oh my gaawwwddd Honey, they would be such a cute couple!" Alex told his girlfriend as she looked them both over.

"Are you sure? Jem's a bit too carefree, and she seems more dominatrix mixed with ice queen."

"Oh hunny, you know that ice queen exterior is waiting to be melted!"

"I don't know, I'm pretty sure the last thing Jem wants is a girlfriend like her."

"He doesn't know what he wants when it comes to women!"

"How do you know?"

"Babe, I may not know much about muscles, but I know a lot about women."

"Yeah I know, but I'm skeptical, why do you care so much about his love life anyways?"

"Simple! He was super depressed that he didn't get a chance with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Baabbbe, come on, you're a girl who walks up to a guy in the gym and asks him to help your BOYFRIEND work out, that shit HURTS."

"I didn't think much of it."

"Well it was still a dick move."

"So...let me get this straight, you want to try and help him get a date because you feel bad for him?"

"It's the least I can do for him helping me build up a more toned physique!"

His girlfriend rolled her eyes at that. But then again, she supposed she did owe Jem that much for helping her boyfriend get more of a swimmers bod. However, with that being said.

"I'm not helping you hook him up with that girl, I'm going to find him another girl."

"Oooohhh, competition! I like it!"

Meanwhile, Jem had the nervous feeling that someone was playing games with his life, and he didn't like it.