FUBAR [Jack]

Brody was never much of a drinker, but he was inexplicably annoyed by the fact that his assignment as a drill instructor meant he couldn't drink; if he wasn't stone cold sober when he showed up in the morning, all of the smooth-talking, pressed uniforms and formalities weren't going to save all of his previous hard work from taking a hit. But that left Brody with relatively few options to blow off some pent-up frustrations, so in an impulsive moment he had put his uniform away and thrown on his athletic gear to go for a run.

Strength had always been Brody's forte, distance running not so much. He was already tired from the riot control training he'd subjected the recruits to earlier, so by the time he had ran the couple of miles around the perimeter of the Academy, he was sweating and breathless. He jogged to an easy stride, putting his hands on top of his head as he caught his breath. It was the middle of summer, just warm enough to be pleasant without being sweltering; Brody sneered remembering being deployed to District 12 on his first tour. Those sticky summer months were like living in a pressure cooker, nevermind the bugs...

He was wearing his issued physical training gear, so the civilians still out at this hour would recognize him as a Peacekeeper if they saw him; the badge tended to drive people one of two ways. More often than not, especially in the lower districts, the civilians would avoid eye contact or turn their backs. But in the higher districts, and especially the Capitol (though Brody hadn't had that pleasure yet), the uniform was considered incredibly attractive. Brody knew full well it would be a long time before he would be released from his contract and allowed to marry and have children (not that he had any plans), he certainly wasn't prohibited from having fun.

Brody almost missed it walking down the sidewalk wiping the sweat from his forehead; Dunham looking decidedly worse for wear with a phone cradled on his shoulder at the cafe set up just outside the Academy to cash in on the recruits that used their time off to call home. It wasn't considered professional to socialize with recruits outside of work, so he merely nodded in acknowledgement and continued onward.

God damn, Dunham was a chatty one. Brody had only barely stopped to catch his breath and stretch out the end of his run when his recruit approached him (thankfully not forgetting his etiquette out of uniform, Brody really wasn't in the mood to yell at him); he very nearly rolled his eyes at the fact that he was now referring to Dunham as 'his' recruit. He made a note to self not to ever volunteer as a drill instructor.

If Dunham had caught him at any other time, Brody might have at least snapped at him for trying to get friendly with him; etiquette or no, Dunham seemed annoyingly intent on learning more about his new instructor's personal life. But... now that he had slowed down, that runner's high was starting to creep in and make him the smallest bit more relaxed (and even a little happy). Hell with it, as long as Dunham didn't start trying to kiss his ass or be his buddy, it really couldn't hurt.

What he wanted to say was that the majority of the instructors had never been deployed anywhere besides the Capitol --usually as some kind of honor guard or security to some high-ranked official or exceptionally paranoid Capitolite-- and generally hadn't seen any action in the field. More often than not, they could only gush about how great the Capitol was; he had yet to meet such a person who had actually been in on some kind of political or social intrigue that might actually be worth listening to. Instructors were selected based on their knowledge about Peacekeeper tradition and military procedures; those based in the Capitol got the highest visibility by people who actually effected the system, so of course they were prime candidates.

"Because I can only listen to them talk about the Capitol for so long." Was what he really said. No use breaking the carefully-constructed image of the instructors as world-wise, hardened Peacekeepers.

Brody himself had been to half the districts, though he hadn't yet had the honor of seeing the Capitol for himself; he never wanted to see 12 again for the rest of his life. He wouldn't have minded being permanently stationed in 4.

Given the fact that Dunham already knew how to fight, to an extent Brody had sort of forgotten that the kid was still in the Academy. But his recruit side showed something fierce when he asked about the Capitol, all wide-eyed with anticipation about a bunch of largely nonexistent crime... and then stepping back into parade rest remembering that they were not, in fact, friends. But Brody was technically his teacher; and he was skeptical that his recruiter had been particularly honest about what it was actually like in the Peacekeepers.

"Not unless you count the honor guard, if marching around with flags is your thing," He said with a shrug, "The Capitol has very little crime to speak of. Their stories are all the same: 'The buildings are so grand', 'The people there dress so weird', 'I didn't get to meet the President, but I met some other less important person'. The other districts are where all the action is."

He wasn't just speaking of dealing with crime; if a Peacekeeper was talented enough to develop a repertoire with the locals, it was much easier to get immersed in the culture. If it were up to Brody, he would have gladly volunteered for a permanent station in District 4. Living near the water had been absolutely divine, both for the weather and the people; the majority of them made their living rowing boats, swimming and hauling in heavy nets. As such, the locals were tan and strong, and Brody had had his share of affairs while he was there; he still had a cord necklace with a piece of abalone strung between 2 black pearls from one such local tucked away in his barracks.

"I presume your recruiters told you... basically nothing?"

Well, I'll be damned.

Granted, Brody had joined the Academy after he'd been passed over for his last year in the Reaping, but his motivation hadn't been entirely different. The idea of letting the skills he had spent so much time perfecting atrophy was absolutely unacceptable; being able to travel and wield authority over others had played a bigger role for him than it apparently had for Dunham, but by and large their ideas weren't all that different. But, for the moment, Brody was becoming painfully aware of his body's need for water.

"Sit." He said, waving Dunham back towards the patio just a fraction of a block away from the payphone he'd found him at.

The fact that nobody had bothered to tell Dunham (and by extension, he guessed, most of the other recruits) what being in the Peacekeepers was actually like annoyed Brody something awful; granted, he had been fortunate enough to have a recruiter that had been fairly forthcoming about such information, but she had been the exception, not the rule. Since Dunham was expecting crime out of the Capitol, it was apparent what he had been told was essentially nothing.

Brody gave himself a moment to rehydrate before starting in on Dunham's questions.

"My recruiter was very straightforward. We're deployable to any district, at any time, for any period. It's possible to get stationed in the Capitol... I haven't been there yet myself, but I've read the statistics on crime in the Capitol; you might get the occasional domestic dispute, public drunkenness, traffic offenses, but not much else." Brody was positive there was political intrigue of some kind going on, but those things didn't go into reports for obvious reasons. "The districts are where most of the shit goes down, especially the lower ones."

"Sounds like it's not worth going there unless it's for PLEASURE rather than business." Dunham replies, sounded decidedly disappointed. Brody didn't know what he expected, but the Capitol wasn't the place to go if someone's idea of a career involved strong-arming criminals into handcuffs.

"Unless you're lucky enough to guard someone really important, pretty much." He replied.

It figures that Dunham would be interested in staying in his home district... most recruits were, not knowing what it would be like to be in other, unfamiliar districts. Those that did want it though, more often than not got what they wanted; it was rare for a fresh Cadet to go very far from the Academy.

"They're not gonna make you a drill instructor anytime soon... you have to have been in for a little while and demonstrated an 'intimate knowledge of military procedure and protocol', among other things... if you wanna make Drill Instructor you'll have to be my rank, at a minimum."

He considered Dunham's other ideas for a moment.

"They'll probably put you on patrol for your first assignment, have you in reserve for small assignments throughout the district. With any luck they might let you do some assignments in other districts... Districts 4 and 7 are nice, if you want an assignment with a view. District 1 if you're more of a city person."

God, with that question again. If Dunham tried to ask for his first name or something next, Brody would drop him again.

"Police division, mostly. Eventually I'm supposed to act as one of the interrogations officers."

Well, damn. Brody was trying very hard to remain professional, but as anyone who worked with him knew, he loved talking about his deployments to the districts (even the ones he didn't like). He had mentioned 4 and 7, of course, because they had been his favorites. The parts of 4 he had been to were basically tropical and sunny, and of course the fact that the ocean was right there made it all the better; 7 was cool and mountainous, and covered by great expanses of evergreen trees and meadows the came into full bloom throughout the spring and summer. Being used to a city, there was no question where his preferences lay.

"If they had permanently stationed me in 4, I would have no complaints." He said, "Though it's kind of hard to describe the ocean to someone who's lived in 2 their whole life... But being on the beach and seeing the entire horizon covered in water, is pretty damned cool."

He shrugged when Matt claimed his aging father was keeping him tethered to home; yeah, sure. He was well aware that as ballsy as many recruits made themselves out to be, many of them were afraid of the unknown, and with how little the districts generally knew about each other, deployments were one of the biggest unknowns about the job.

"I've been to Districts 1, 4, 7, 10 and 12." He replied, "Though I've heard enough stories about the other districts if you think you want to request an assignment away from home. That's half the fun of the job."

Well, not counting the perks that came with individual jobs, and wherever there was crime, an interrogator was a very useful presence to have. The hardest part of grooming interrogators, though, was finding someone with strong enough military bearing to have a good poker face, but also someone with the mental fortitude not to be (too) bothered by having to conduct torture. Brody personally didn't have much of a taste for physical torture; in his mind, the ideal interrogator was the type of person that could convince their target that they can read their mind. Many times, violence was what criminals came in expecting and ready to resist; very few come prepared to have their entire person picked apart and laid bare.

At the mention of a potential case, Brody perked up ever so slightly; the fact that Dunham had a name for him struck a suspicious cord.

"Why?"

The fact that Dunham stumbled on his reply to Brody's question came as a red flag; he was buying himself time to answer, which meant he was trying to cover something up (and doing an abysmal job of it), or the subject was a very uncomfortable one. He didn't really bother listening to the fluff Dunham threw in front of his reasoning for why he wanted to know; even if Brody knew, he wouldn't have told Dunham in any case. If he had a need-to-know, he would already. But when he did finally give up the reason, that this man was the one who had stabbed him, Brody bristled with anger. Where the hell had Dunham's instructors been when this happened? Even if he had wandered outside the small area the recruits were allowed when they were off base, it was the instructors' job to keep tabs on their recruits and make sure they were safe... or to deal with the aftermath if they did something stupid.

"What happened." He replied, his tone even but brimming with anger. Not at Dunham, but the fact that someone had been so negligent that it nearly got one recruit killed, and potentially 2 others depending who the girls in question were.

The body language made sense, at least; being successfully attacked was traumatizing even to seasoned Peacekeepers, and Dunham hadn't even graduated from the Academy yet when he was targeted. Whether it was for being a Peacekeeper or for some other reason wasn't particularly important. Evidently the assailant in question had already been detained and locked up, and with any luck had withstood a vicious interrogation for targeting Peacekeeper recruits. He listened for a moment to Dunham's explanation, still no less angry that it had escalated to a point that he'd been wounded.

"I didn't handle that case." He said, "Officially, I wouldn't be able to tell yout anything even if I had. Unofficially, it wouldn't have mattered what he said once he was convicted of assaulting someone, let alone a Peacekeeper (yes, even as a recruit you're categorized as a Peacekeeper)."

Brody paused; he wanted to ask what this Jins guy might have to say that Dunham was so worried about, but it really didn't matter at this point. If he really had anything truly damning to say, the odds he'd be believed anyway were virtually zero. He leaned in, lowering his voice so it wouldn't carry; there were many other recruits and instructors still milling about to overhear, and there were few things that annoyed Brody quite like eavesdropping.

"Look, I don't know what you think this Jins guy has on you, and I don't particularly care. I'm much more concerned with how your instructors handled it." Whether Dunham meant it or not, he seemed the slightest bit unsure what Brody was talking about. "Believe it or not, your instructors want you to succeed; we wouldn't have a military or police force otherwise. We generally don't mention it because you need to learn self-sufficiency. However," He continued, looking Dunham squarely in the eyes, "Any one of the instructors, regardless of who they're in charge of, would protect you with their lives; myself included. Yours obviously failed you, I don't intend to make that same mistake."

Brody leaned back in his chair and took a long drag of his water.

"Hopefully that won't turn out to be prophetic." He shrugged, letting the mood lighten a bit from what was obviously a very uncomfortable topic, "But my point stands."

Any of Brody's subordinates could say with absolute certainty that he was serious. While he was well-known for having a somewhat caustic opinion and an antagonistic personality, Corporal O'Rourke was the first person to come to his comrades' aid. His superiors already believed he was an extremely dutiful soldier and needed no convincing; his subordinates were often surprised to find their sarcastic, brutally honest supervisor was strikingly and unwaveringly protective of them.