Okay, so guys I got some good news. I got a new job starting on the 4th. I'll be doing warehouse work full time. Sure its not what I saw myself doing. But in my opinion its okay because this will be my first civilian job out of the army, it should help me get my foot in the door for the civilian employment sector. Do I want to be a warehouse worker? Not exactly, but the way I see it, this is just a means to an end. Besides the pay and benefits are good, and eventually if I save enough up I can move out of Illinois and to Alaska or Texas.

That and with all the shutdowns happening, I'm glad I found a job, because I'll be damned if I'm not working. Because I would rather be doing something productive then sitting on my ass all day doing nothing.

Also I have started wood carving as a new hobby, and I'm also starting bagpipe lessons, because I figured I needed new hobbies.

Oh also Happy New year! Now heres an unpopular opinion, I didn't find 2020 that bad on a personal level. Don't get me wrong, did a lot of crazy shit happen? Yeah, but overall, personally I did well. Student loans are gone, I saved up a lot of money, and above all, I learned about whats important in life. I suddenly realized friends are a lot more important. I lost one of my soldiers this year in the army and you all remember I wrote the chapter dedicated to him. And after that, I have friends who are too scared to come out of their houses and have cut off contact with everyone out of fear. But the true friends stick around and don't let something like fear of a virus stop them from seeing you.

I used to think I was an introvert, but honestly its only now that I realize, I'm more of an extrovert than I thought, and on top of that, it does no good to sit in a room bored out of your mind without talking or seeing anyone, that just leads to very poor mental health and thoughts.

Either way, its 2021, and as much as I hate the new year new me bullshit, I'm feeling pretty positive about the future.

Winter

Winter was jumping rope in Jems home gym, she may have admitted he was a bit loopy, especially with how he sometimes wore crocs while working out. But she admitted it was peaceful to have all this equipment to herself. Jem was really good about finding cheap gear. Course, according to him, he was able to get a lot of it for free because all the people who bought up gear during some kind of crisis not too long ago bought up gear but didn't want to keep it after it was over. So he was able to get really good equipment for dirt cheap if not free.

Jem was currently during deadlifts in the other corner of the shed gym. For once he was using his headphones, which meant that Winter could use the wireless speaker to play her own music. She didn't really know what she would like at first. After all, this was a new world, and her scroll wouldn't connect to the speaker, so she had to search through all of Earth's music and find something she liked. She did enjoy classical just like her sister, but she also found she was fond of folk music, and while some may have found it odd, she found herself to be a big fan of 'Celtic Woman' and various other celtic themed singers. Traditional Gaelic singing just spoke to her.

While some would consider it an odd choice for gym music, she liked the feeling of being calm at mind when she worked out. Versus when Jem had the speaker, and he had music blaring about vikings pillaging and gods rampaging. His music taste wasn't just limited to Viking and pagan metal, even if he did listen to a lot of it. She knew he enjoyed classical, various types of metal, classic rock, folk music and traditionalist music. Hell she even caught him listening to a few pop songs. Course, he begrudgingly admitted that even though at his old gym on base, he absolutely HATED hearing 'Sweet but psycho' play over and over again on the radio, it was also playing when he hit one of his deadlift PRs, so sadly it stuck with him.

Jem however was listening to podcasts as he was working out today. Today was Thursday which meant it was the day he switched his playlist up to something more educational and thought provoking. Grow the brain while growing the muscles. It was fun. Right now he was learning about the history of pagan gods, and how the stranger in the house was an honored guest, for you never know if its actually Odin in disguise.

Whether or not you believed it that was up to you. But Jem had a very simple feeling when it came to superstitions. Whats the harm in doing small things just to avoid disaster. He remembered one time when he was in Hawaii, someone said to be nice to strangers in need in case they turned out to be a goddess testing you. The principle was the same when it came to honoring guests. So Jem not wanting to risk anything, would help out in small ways. Just in case it was some test. After all, what was the harm in it? That being said, that rule did not apply to the crackheads outside the Mobil gas station, because if a god tried to disguise themselves as a crackhead asking for help, then no way in hell was Jem helping them, because nobody liked crackheads.

Jem was currently looking for a new job, right now he was at a temp agency which was basically him trying out different jobs until he found one that was willing to hire him full time. Which it got him out of the house at least, so he was happy for that. He couldn't imagine being cooped up inside all day with absolutely nothing to do. It would drive him insane. He had to take a trip out of the house every now and then so he could remember there was a world outside the mundane.

Winter wiped off the sweat from her face as she finished jumping rope. She was dressed in a pair of yoga pants and a sports bra. Not her usual choice of fitness attire, as she preferred something that covered more of her midriff, but sadly this was the only thing they had in stock that was in her size when they went shopping. And Jem refused to keep lending her his gym shirts and tank tops. So here she was with the sports bra and pants. Granted she would admit, she took a look at herself in the mirror and did like how she looked. She was starting to understand why Jem spent so much time admiring himself in the mirror. Because she was really liking what was looking back at her.

"YEEEAAAAHHHH BUDDDDDDYYYYYY LIGHTWEIGHT!" And there went the moment.

Jem wasn't old enough to experience Ronnie Coleman in his prime, and even though he didn't look up to him Physique wise, if you could honestly not get pumped hearing Ronnie Coleman screaming, then there was something wrong with you.

She turned to see him doing squats, she didn't bother to count the plates, but if she had to guess, Jem was somewhere around 320 right now. He had admitted his squat wasn't the best, and he was struggling to get that up. So something told her he wasn't as strong in squats as he was in deadlifts. Course, he also wasn't trying to be a powerlifter or a strongman, so she figured she could let it slide.

"Oh fuck that was heavy." Jem said as the holidays had messed him up.

He tried to keep up with his exercise routine over the holidays, but needless to say he did not have any luck with that. He didn't completely gorge himself on food like he usually did, he still enjoyed the feast, but he did it proportionally. So at the very least, he didn't get fat. But he did also lose strength from not doing anything for two weeks.

"Then why did you yell lightweight?"

"Because if you yell that out, it tricks your brain into thinking its lightweight." He said as he sat down as his legs felt rubbery.

"You could also get that same effect if you lifted harder." She smirked as Jem looked insulted.

"Did...Did you just call me small?" He said as he couldn't believe that.

"I didn't say that." She said as she got an evil smirk on her face.

"I just said that you look like you don't even lift." And with that, Jem could have sworn he felt his soul die.

"...Ouch..." He said as he felt his childhood innocence die a little.

"Relax I'm joking." Winter figured that would get to him.

"I know, but damn that hurt." He said chuckling a bit hiding the pain he felt inside.

He reached into the mini fridge he had in the corner of the gym and pulled out a gallon of water and got his blender out.

"You want some protein?" He asked as she nodded.

"What are my options?"

"Well, we have Vanilla, Peanut butter cereal milk, and Pancake batter flavored." He said listing off the different proteins he had.

"PB Cereal milk please." Winter said as Jem nodded.

"PB Cereal it is." He said as he put two scoops into the blender along with some of the water and blended them up.

He then reached into a small cabinet he had, and pulled out two cups and poured out an equal amount for both him and Winter.

"Cheers." He said as they clinked the cups together.

Jem looked over to see Nala playing in the corner of the shed gym with Zeus and Kirby. She wanted to spend more time with them for some weird reason. Jem couldn't quite figure it out, but he figured it was just because she saw the two as safe to be around, especially since Jem was the one who found her. After all, its not like she could possibly have any other motives.

Nala meanwhile was thinking back to the plan the weird feminine guy had told her.

Flashback

"Hey Nala!" Alex said as Nala was taking a break from playing with her cowboys and indians toys.

"Yeah?" She asked as she knew him as Jems weird friend.

"Do you want to help me do something that will help make Mr. Jem really happy?" He said as she got all excited.

Jem had given her a home, a room of her own, and a very loving environment to be around, of course she wanted to help return that happiness.

"Of course!"

"Splendid! Well, I'll ask you this, have you noticed anything about him?" He asked as she got confused.

"Well, he really likes hiking and fishing and hunting and-" She was cut off.

"No I mean besides that."

"Well, he also doesn't like how you look more like a girl and-"

"No I mean besides that." Alex rolled his eyes at that one. Jem for some reason while he didn't have a problem with Alex being more feminine, he did however have an issue with him practically being a trap.

"Well, he says at no point am I to look up what a furry is because I'll be scarred for life." She said as Alex smirked.

Perfect, that meant Jem would no way risk Melania finding out about Nala, which helped his plans even more.

"Nooooo, I mean have you noticed something about his...lack of a relationship?"

Nala tilted her head confused.

"Wait, you mean he's not married to Winter?" Nala said as Weiss passed by and heard that.

"PFFFFFTTTTT! KOFF! KOFF! WHAT?!" Weiss said as she couldn't believe what she just heard.

Alex meanwhile got an evil smirk. This child was sure to help him with his plan.

Operation thawing snow.

Or something like that, to be honest, he came up with so many code names, he used them interchangably.

"Nooooo, but don't you think they would make a good couple?" He said as she nodded her head.

"Mhmmmm! Mr. Jem is really nice and gives me steak! Ms. Winter is really nice and gives me salmon!" Nala remembering on how sometimes the two would take turns cooking that night, and Winter was more of a fan of Salmon, while Jem was more of a beef man.

"Wait, they cook for you!"

"Mhmm! I still like to spend time with them a lot, so we have dinner together each night!"

Alex was just thinking about how this was getting better and better.

"And how do they like these interactions?"

"They get along fine! Its weird, sometimes she seems annoyed by him, but they seem to enjoy being around each other!" Nala said as it made her happy.

"Goooooooddd." Alex said like a mad genius.

"But you're saying they're not married?" Nala tilted her head in confusion.

"Nope."

"But why?"

"Why is not the question, the question is how Little one." Alex said pulling her aside.

"Heres what we're going to do..." He said twisting the little girl to the dark side.

And the dark side is shipping.