Sanctuary (Dunham)

Brody laughed silently at Dunham's flustered expression as he stood up to retrieve his book from the overhead compartment; getting him riled up was entirely too easy, it was hilarious. Lets see how nice Dunham thought he was now that he was getting a taste of Brody's antagonistic streak. If he did wind up getting stationed close to home, the odds were good Dunham would see a lot more of it, especially if he thought he could beat Brody at a game of Gay Chicken.

"Don't dish it out if you can't take it." He said as Dunham slouched in his seat, looking like an embarrassed teenage boy faced with girls for the first time.

There was a beat as his words sunk in.

"Barely. I don't feel all that grown up. Maybe when I move out of my dads place." Dunham said, not sounding entirely convinced by his own words.

Well, that was enough to cement Brody's idea that Dunham's claim of wanting to stay in his home district wasn't due to an aging father; he wondered what the real reason might be. Though with their exchange not moments ago, Brody was starting to suspect Dunham generally talked bigger than his game. He'd caught him off guard enough that it was looking more and more plausible the longer he thought about it.

"Besides the fact that you're a legal adult," Brody replied, "As far as I'm concerned, the moment you sign yourself into the military, you're a man. Children don't make it past Academy."

He'd seen those types of recruits slowly drop out over the course of the Academy; the ones who didn't expect to have to earn anything themselves, who saw no problems foisting their share of the workload off onto everyone else, or didn't expect to actually have to deal with the consequences of their actions. Dunham didn't strike him as the type at all; he'd been dealt a shit hand in the form of that stab injury, after which nobody would have blamed him for dropping out of the Academy. But instead he had apparently begged and fought and insisted loudly enough to continue that they had given him a second shot at graduating, which Dunham had been making full use of.

If people with less balls than Dunham expected to graduate, they had to grow up quickly.

"Better to sound confident and be wrong, than hesitant and right." Brody instructed him, taking a more instructor-esque tone without raising his voice in the crowded car, "What does Section B: Code 008 address?"

Dunham answered back, and Brody looked him hard in the face.

"Are you positive, Recruit Dunham?" He paused, letting Dunham think about it for a moment. "That is correct. Section B: Code 008 addresses the use of firearms in public."

Brody continued quizzing Dunham, until it became apparent that the week of training or the swaying of the train car was putting him to sleep.

"You sleep. I'll stay up." The coffee and personal security training wouldn't let him sleep; not unless someone was up to keep watch.

He doubted anyone would even look at Dunham funny after that blatant display of power before; any of the passengers that had boarded after the fact would find out quickly enough from the others who he was and that Dunham was under his protection. His recruit dozed off over a few stops, sleeping through even one of the stops as the train jerked to a halt at the next stop, and to resume course on the track; Brody looked around the car. It was much more sparsely populated now, though the two older women across the aisle from them were still there and avoiding looking their way. He stood up, stretching his arms over his head and yawning; Brody's badge was visible again, though this time without the particular intent of scaring anyone off. He touched the shoulder of the closer woman, who jumped to turn to look at him; he smiled sweetly.

"Would you ladies mind keeping an eye on my friend for a moment?" They nodded quickly, eager to end any potentially hazardous conversation with the Peacekeeper. "Thank you."

Brody went through to the next car, keeping his eyes peeled for the three would-be thugs that had been eyeing them earlier; they were nowhere to be found. Either they'd gotten off already, or had put as much distance between themselves and Brody as possible. Either way, it meant they wouldn't try anything funny in his absence... cowards that they were, they'd probably figure 3-against-1 were fair odds. Downstairs, thankfully, offered some kind of sustenance; Brody hadn't had anything besides coffee that morning, opting to grab a couple of sandwiches and various snacks for the trip. He thought about it for a moment, grabbing two more for Dunham; even dining car fare was better than galley food, and with all of the training Brody had put him through, he'd need the calories.

Dunham was still asleep when Brody returned to his seat, but not for long; he jerked awake in a cold sweat, looking around in a dazed panic. For a moment, Brody tensed, wondering if he was going to have to fight him again. Thankfully, no. The feral look in his eyes faded as he realized whatever he'd been dreaming of had been just that, a dream, and Dunham wiped his forehead, sitting back up in his seat and cursing under his breath. Brody nudged his arm, offering him a couple of sandwiches.

"Eat. It's still another hour before we arrive."