Okay guys, So before we get into Jem as a politician, I want to write some more wholesome stuff first. Now you all know that Whitley is coming into the story. And I don't want to bash him like I originally did in the original OOP.

Jem was back at the house now. He had been told that he would be sworn into office in roughly three weeks. But until then, he was going to enjoy a nice vacation. He earned it after that whole mess. While he was happy he had won. He knew he was going to need this vacation since this job was bound to be stressful. He had seen the before and after photos of presidents leaving office, and they always looked like shit. Besides, he figured four years and he was out.

"So...I'm about to meet your brother." Jem said as Winter nodded.

"Indeed." She said as Jem was looking through a brochure.

"Whats that?"

"Well, I figured if I'm going to be representing Mantle, we might as well officially move down there. I mean I've been taking airships to and from the floating city, and I think the people would appreciate it more if I actually lived amongst them." Jem always thought that was an issue with politicians.

They would always remark about how great things were going under them. But they never actually saw the kind of damage they did to their people on the daily basis. They weren't going out and buying their own groceries, they weren't responsible for their own safety. They had nothing in common with the people that elected them. Jem would set the example by moving down to Mantle, so he would never forget what the people were dealing with everyday.

"I'm not sure if that would work. Ironwood wants me to live on base."

"Just say you're my security detail, that kind of BS." He said as Winter raised a brow.

"That would be lying."

"You never lied to your leadership about a detail?"

"No."

"Ugh, I'm going to have to teach you how to sham properly."

Jem already had a conversation with Ironwood about a security detail.

Flashback to a few hours ago

"Well Mr. Cotton...congratulations on your election." Ironwood couldn't believe he was actually saying this.

He was worried about this exact scenario, but there was nothing he could do about it. Jem was a wild card so he couldn't use the same tricks on him as he did on the other members of the council. And Jem knew about all of Ironwood's flaws and how to use them. So he was a deterrent against Ironwood. He supposed it could be a good thing since he had knowledge about what he became in the future. But at the same time he could also be a thorn in the side for some of Ironwood's ideas to bring positive change. Only time would tell.

"Geez, just call me Jem." He didn't like the formalities.

"As a member of the council, you will be assigned your own security detail." Ironwood gestured over to some Atlas soldiers.

"Mr. Cotton, we wi-" Immediately Jem cut him off.

"You're fired."

That sent them all for a loop.

"What? Jem you-" Ironwood was cut off.

"I won't waste the taxpayers dollars on private security when I'm perfectly capable of it myself, thats between me and Mr. Samuel Colt. And even so, I live with Winter, she already is in my general area at all times, why waste money on a security detail when these guys could be relaxing? Especially since its noon on a saturday, these boys don't want to be here anymore than I do." Jem said as he looked over to the grunts.

They may have been from different armies, but he recognized the look in their eyes.

"I want to go home and play video games." He recognized that look from long nights of being stuck at the company waiting to be released only to find out that the company commander had released everyone hours ago but nobody was tracking.

"You can't be serious..." Winter had just gotten the approval for a change of housing assignment.

It was marked as Pending until Jem picked a house.

"It will be good for you." He said as Winter didn't know how she felt about leaving the base.

It was a safe environment up here. Especially for Nala. While she had no doubts Jem would find a decent place in Mantle and wouldn't put them in the slums. She couldn't help but be a little concerned over the whole situation.

"Anyways, I already talked with your mother, if Whitley tries to pull any of that hoity toity nonsense with me, he'll find his ass on the street quick fast and in a hurry." He said as Winter sighed.

"I don't think negative reinforcement is what he needs."

"Well I got three weeks before I take the oath of office, in that time frame he's gonna know what hard work feels like." He said as he already had the perfect idea.

"Why do you have that look on your face?" She asked as she didn't like that.

"Trust me, he's gonna learn the same way I did." He said as he saw Willow walking up with Whitley.

"Jem...this is Whi-" Immediately Jem walked up and extended his hand and took Whitley's hand in his.

He saw the boy wince a bit at the strong grip.

"Rule number one boy...A firm handshake." Whitley had a limp handshake.

"I'm sor-" Jem squeezed his hand briefly to give him the signal.

"FIRM handshake." He repeated as Whitley got the idea.

Jem felt a little more pressure, but Whitley still had the soft hands of an aristocrat.

"Thats better, now lets put it this way, I hold no ill will towards you, but if you're going to stay with us, you're gonna have to get used to a whole new way of life. Because this is nothing like your mansion, and I am not Jacques." He said as he pulled his hand back.

"Be up by 5. Theres some clothes for you to change into tomorrow morning, and you and I are going to get to know each other." Jem said as he walked away to go visit Mantle for the day.

Whitley was left confused and slightly scared.

"What did he mean by that?" Whitley asked as he looked towards his mom and sister.

"I don't know..." Willow had no idea what Jem was planning.

He had been polite to her since she had arrived, and their relationship was slowly starting to improve. But he seemed to be a bit more gruff with Whitley? Was it because he was a man? Or was it because he was worried about Jacques influence.

The Next Morning

BANG BANG BANG!

"AAAHHH!" Whitley woke up with a scream to the sound of a aluminum trash can being hit with a club.

"Rise and shine! Up and at em!" Jem said as he was dressed in his rancher clothes again.

Whitley was confused. He set an alarm for 5! Why was he being woken up? He looked over at his clock.

4:00 AM

"You said 5!"

"I said up BY 5. Which means you should already be ready to go. Get changed into those and meet me in the kitchen, we're having coffee, eggs, bacon and some toast." He said as he walked out to the kitchen.

Whitley looked over at the clothes he was given and he could already tell this was not going to be the lifestyle he was used to.

Jem was outside in the living kitchen. He had already made his eggs, toast and bacon into a little breakfast sandwich. But what got to him was when he saw Whitley come out of his room.

There was Whitley dressed in a standard pair of black work pants, a denim jacket with sherpa lining, a baseball cap, and some boots. The only thing he kept on that was his was a white t shirt.

"You're going to regret wearing that t shirt." He said as Whitley was scared.

"Why?" He asked as Jem smiled.

"You'll find out, now get some breakfast and some coffee." He said as he already had a thermos ready to go.

"Uhm, do you have creamer?" Whitley asked as Jem rolled his eyes.

"You'll get to have creamer when you've earned it, get used to drinking it black until then." He said as Whitley poured himself a cup with a slight look of disappointment.

Whitley was being AWFUL receptive so far. It was confusing Jem. He had expected some backtalk at the least. But so far he just seemed to go along with whatever Jem was saying. Was he scared? No that couldn't be it, Whitley was maintaining eye contact with him throughout the whole time yesterday. So why was he going along with everything he said? Did Willow say something to him? Because it seemed out of character. Hell, Whitley in the show didn't get any character development until the end of the latest volume. Until then everyone just assumed he was a douche.

Was this just what Whitley was like? Or had the whole change in scenery still not him yet?

Well, it was about to hit him like a freight train.

Later on a farm outside the city

"Ah, Mr. Cotton! Didn't think I would be seeing you again! Not after that election." A faunus couple dressed in overalls said as Jem walked up.

"Nice to see you again Mr. Indigo. And well, I need to teach this boy a thing or two about hard work, so I figured this would be the perfect place for it." Jem said as he slapped Whitley on the back.

"Wait a minute isn't that-" Mr. Indigo recognized him.

"What the hell are you doing with him?" The farmer didn't seem to like Whitley too much.

"Well, he's living with me now, don't worry, he's not with Jacques anymore." Whitley didn't feel comfortable about this.

He knew his father wasn't exactly well received outside of Atlas, but he wasn't expecting this farmer to give him a dirty look just for being related to him.

"Is that a fact?" He said as he walked up to Whitley.

"Well then boy, hope you're not afraid to get dirty." Whitley felt a shiver go down his spine as the farmer walked away.

"What did he mean by that?" He asked as Jem smiled.

"Oh you'll see." He said as he walked behind Mr. Indigo.

"So how many bulls were born?" Jem asked as Mrs. Indigo chimed in.

"Just three bulls, and two cows." She said as Jem smiled.

"Well looks like Whitley will have his work cut out for him today."

Whitley did not know what they were talking about. He had never been on a farm before in his life. He wasn't so foolish as to believe meat came from stores. But he had never been up close and personal with the process. So all of this was strange to him. His father had always seen farm labor as beneath him and nothing to trifle with. And already Whitley was hoping to get out of here and run back to his father already. Because he did not feel comfortable with this place.

"Alright Whitley, so here's what we're going to do." Jem said as he came up holding some weird clamp device.

"This is a bander, so you see those calves over there?" He asked as Whitley saw there were three calves seperated from the rest of the group in a seperate pen.

"They're bulls, and to put it simply, this little device here is to make sure they don't end up having any kids when they get older." Whitley did not like where this was going.

"Wait, are you saying we're-"

"Yep, we're gonna castrate them."

"ARE YOU NUTS?! I'VE NEVER HANDLED A KNIFE IN MY-" Jem put his hand over his mouth.

"Easy there princess, we're not cutting anything off. This thing puts a rubber band around them and cuts off circulation, no blood, just a little discomfort." He said as he took his hand off of Whitley's mouth.

"And don't worry, you're not going to be the one grabbing the balls, you're gonna help us wrangle them." Jem said as Whitley could already feel his anxiety rising.

"In there?" He asked as he looked at teh ground.

Nothing but dirt and manure. He did not want to do this.

"Yep, you want my advice?" He asked as Whitley nodded hoping to get some sage wisdom.

"Button up your jacket if you don't want that shirt getting dirty." Whitley groaned as he reluctantly agreed.

So thats why he said he was going to regret wearing that shirt.

"Alright lets get in. You approach that side, I'll come from this side. Mr and Mrs. Indigo will help bring up the middle. WHen he runs towards you, I want you to grab him around the neck and midsection and use your weight to bring him to the ground."

"But, I've never done that." He felt scared right now.

"It's alright, you got the three of us here, just grab hold and don't let go." He said as they got in the pen with Mrs. Indigo holding the bander.

"Alright, get ready." Jem said as they went to cut off one of the calves from the three of them.

Whitley could feel his heart pounding. He wasn't scared of the calf, it looked small enough. But he had never done this! What if that things hoof came up and clobbered him! He had heard stories about people getting kicked by horses before and it worried him! Not only that but that thing was covered in dirt! What if some got into his mouth? He wasn't ready for this!

"NOW!" Jem yelled as WHitley snapped out of it and tried to lunge for the calf.

Only for it to slip out because he had a weak grasps and he fell to the ground.

Immediately he felt his one elbow go straight into something wet...and soft.

"Oh god! Ew! Ew! Ew!" Whitley said as he got up and went to brush it off.

Only to realize he was going to touch manure and he wasn't going to touch it with a bare hand.

"Oh just relax, its just a little cow pie." Jem came up and brushed it off with his gloved hand.

"I fell into it!" Whitley had never been so grossed out in his life.

"Yeah, all the more reason for you to take control of the situation, you need to be aggressive, that calf isn't going to go down without a fight, so you NEED to have a strong grasp." He said as Whitley scowled.

"I'm not made for this! This is so primitive!" Whitley said as Jem went silent.

"Mr. Indigo. If you could leave us for a moment." Jem said as both rushed off.

As soon as they were out of sight and out of mind. Jem turned back to Whitley and glared.

"Tell me Whitley, do you eat meat?" He asked as Whitley looked confused.

"Well of course I do-"

"Do you consider it primitive to eat a steak in front of you?"

"Well no-"

"So its not primitive to eat it, but its primitive to provide it?" Jem said as Whitley went silent.

"Believe it or not, this is the real world. And your daddy isn't here to protect you from it." Jem turned over to the little farmhouse.

"You see that over there? It doesn't matter what country or what kingdom you go to, that over there is the lifeblood of society. The farmer. He provides all the food not just for the people down here in Mantle, but even for the higher class people in Atlas." Jem said as he crossed his arms.

"You've probably been eating his food for years now and never known where it came from. Because you've been living a sheltered life, in reality, you have to work hard to get that food, and this is how you do it. It doesn't just magically appear on your plate without the help of hard working honest folks like this. So don't you DARE call them primitive if you're still willing to eat the meat they work hard to provide if you're not willing to do any work yourself, because if you think staying in my house is going to be like a stay at the Ritz, then we're going to have an issue." Jem said as he glared and Whitley gulped.

"Now, I'm going to bring them back, and we're going to try again, and I don't want to hear any complaints about this being 'primitive' because to these people its how they provide for their own family as well as yours." Jem handed him a pair of gloves.

"Here, this will help." He said as Whitley took the gloves.

While he wasn't sure they would help, he put them on so he didn't have to touch manure.

"Now remember! Take control! Be Aggressive!" Jem said as everyone got into position again.

Whitley was paying attention this time. Not wanting to get another lecture. The calf came barreing towards him trying to get past. And Whitley jumped at it. The Calf was still slippery but he managed to get his arms around its neck.

"Hey! I got-" Whitley was cut off as the calf swung its head out of his grip and headbutted him in the chest.

"KOFF KOFF!" Whitley coughed as he got the wind knocked out of him.

Jem walked over with a smile on his face.

"That was better! Good!"

"Good! KOFF!" Whitley had never been hurt like that before.

"You kept your grip on him, but heres some more advice, try to get as close to him as possible. You got your arms around him, but you held him almost like he was something gross and needed to be as far away from you as possible, don't be afraid to get down and dirty, as soon as you have your arms around him, make sure you're pressed up against him and using your weight to your advantage to take him down. Combine that with getting a tighter grip, and he won't be able to thrash as much." Jem said as Whitley was slowly getting his air back.

He considered what Jem said and he got ready to try again.

Sure enough, all of them got into position. And the calf started barreling towards Whitley again.

He took Jem's advice. He wrapped his arms around the Calf's neck and midsection while keeping his chest to him. He could feel the calf bucking trying to get out, but this time Whitley had more control. And he dropped to his knees and took the calf to the ground.

"JUST LIKE THAT! JUST LIKE THAT!" Jem yelled in happiness as he came up and took control of the calfs rear legs as Mr. Indigo helped trap the midsection.

And Mrs. Indigo came and slipped the band on. And that was that.

Whitley let go of the calf and Jem chased it back into a pen back with its mother.

Whitley felt his adrenaline going. He couldn't believe he just did that! He just took down a cow! Well it wasn't a cow, it was a bull calf, but still he had never felt this way before! As gross as it felt, how many could say they took down an animal! He then remembered Jem's praise about a minute ago. And he couldn't help but feel accomplished.

"Hell yeah! Thats what you need to do!" Jem said as he knocked him out of his thoughts.

"Thats how you do it each time! We still got two more to go, so think you can handle it?" He asked as Whitley thought it over.

"I...I think I could." He said as Jem smiled.

"Good, well get ready then."

Jem went back to the two remaining calves and got ready to cut one of them off.

"NOW!" Whitley heard a yell as he lunged.

SPLAT!

"AAHHH!" Whitley screamed as he missed that one.

Some time later

So that ended up taking longer than they thought. Whitley was sitting on the porch of the farmhouse exhausted. The second calf took him a few times to get him down to the ground. But that third one was a demon. He was viscous and he was not going to let Whitley take him down. But Whitley finally got him to the ground. The only bad part was he almost had the calf in a full nelson/rear naked choke. And what he didn't realize was that during the time he had been trying to wrangle the first one, the other two calves were walking around crapping all over the place. So he knew something was wrong when he was laying on his back and he felt himself starting to sink into the ground. He freaked out a little, but Jem told him to keep holding onto the calf because they had almost got him.

And now here he was sitting on the porch feeling like he just went a round with Mike Tyson.

"Here." Jem said as he gave him a coffee cup.

Whitley took a sip without even thinking about it. But he noticed something was off.

It wasn't the same bitter taste as before when he was drinking it pure black. He almost felt like he tasted some cream and cinnamon. He looked down and noticed the coffee wasn't the same black color as before, but was now a lighter brown.

"I said you could have creamer when you earned it, I say you earned it." Jem said as Whitley felt himself feeling grateful.

He happily sipped his coffee as the cup warmed up his cold hands as he looked out to the horizon and saw something he never noticed before. He had never actually been outside the city of Atlas, and now that he was. He was seeing a whole new place. You could still see the floating city in the distance, but it seemed so far away. Now he could see the hills and trees covering the sun as it slowly peaked out from behind them. When they arrived the sun hadn't even come up and now he was experiencing the sunrise. It was hard to believe he had been up since 4 and had already done more work than he ever had in his life. His father would still be sleeping at this time.

Suddenly everything felt peaceful. He wasn't thinking about how tired he was. He wasn't thinking about how that calf had knocked the wind out of him. He was thinking only about the warm soothing feeling he got not just from the coffee but from the sun coming out. And in that moment, nothing else mattered.

"Its great isn't it?" Jem asked as he sat down next to Whitley.

"Some people get so caught up with wanting the best technology or the best clothes, and they never stop to consider that the best things in life are the things you see everyday but don't pay attention to." He said as he pointed to the sunrise.

"When was the last time you saw something like that?" He asked as Whitley thought it over.

"I don't know if I have." He said as he honestly couldn't remember.

For as long as he could remember he was training to take over the company for his father. It didn't leave him with a lot of free time to just run around and enjoy things. So this was new to him. He could only imagine what his father was thinking right now.

"Thats a shame, Whitley, as you stay here and interact more with these people, you'll find that these are some good honest people out here who only want the best for their family and friends. Sometimes life can be a bit rough for them, its why I try to help out when I can, I grew up working on a farm, I know how challenging it can be, but I also know it can be one of the most rewarding things in the world. Because at the end of the day, you have food, and you have your family and friends. And you have to thank god for that." He said as he clapped Whitley on the back.

"I know this isn't what you're used to, but I promise you the more you do this, you'll find yourself having a new respect for the people who do this kind of work." Jem said as he stood back up.

"Anyways, you got ten minutes to relax and finish your coffee, because next we got to butcher a chicken...my advice...don't look at the head just throw it away." Jem said as Whitley was confused.

"What do you mean?"

"You'll see."

Alright thats a wrap. I wrote this chapter for people who are in Whitley's position where you're trying something new and you're scared, but sometimes you got to just jump in and adjust. Think of Whitley as yourself, you're struggling to find purpose in life, you're feeling lost, scared, alone, and sometimes what you need is just that realization that your fate is in your own hands and there are things in life that are absolutely amazing that are always there, but you haven't always been able to see them.

Sometimes it takes a long series of events to show you the path forward and to show that there are some things you need to change in your life to really see the big picture. That change may be uncomfortable, and you may fight it. But it will make your life better.