...this is... highly irregular... but it is not, altogether, ambiguous.

"As My Lady wishes," he murmurs to no one, and goes to send back a response.

Captain Dunn Smith exits his office at around three in the morning, looking more than a little puzzled. He just got the transcription of the latest telegram from the Holy Cathedral, and. Possibly needs to take some kind of walk to clear his head? Because. What.

When Elaine Moretti requested the Empyrean promotion, it was clear she was expecting it to take a while. Dunn himself warned her as such, though as her captain he did his best to represent her interests properly and argue in her favor. (Also a Diviner on the team would be really useful.) Sometimes people are given their requested potions when they ask them - especially for paths besides Sleepless - but usually this is with those who have been employed for at least six months, with the potion reagents already on hand on location.

Elaine Moretti, recent new hire of the Nightwatch, has had her request accepted. Within twenty-four hours. Furthermore, the reagents for her potion are being shipped from Backlund by train, and will arrive... this afternoon.

Yeah. A little after midnight walk sounds like what he needs...

James was patrolling the streets until just now, and is on his way to the Chanis Gate to relieve Royale Reideen and take his shift guarding it when he runs into his captain, who is looking, well...

"Anything amiss, Captain? You look troubled."

"The Holy Cathedral has approved Ms. Moretti's application to be a Diviner. And requested Backlund send the reagents for her potion by train. They will be arriving this afternoon," he says, just a little faintly.

"Ms. Moretti—"

Wow, that barely lasted a day! Here he goes, James can have his memories unsealed.

"—oh! That was... fast." His happiness about finally getting a Diviner on the team is more than tempered by that observation. "That was fast?" he repeats, a bit more uncertainly. "Do you know... why?"

"No. I gave her a good recommendation, but -" Usually they would have urged caution. Usually they would have pushed back. Usually they'd have put it on hold, response pending at least six months of employment, but probably at least a year. Usually they'd at least have Tingen sort out its own potion reagents instead of having Backlund literally hand them everything to make it the very next day.

He retrieves his pipe. Little human habits, the ordinary smell of tobacco and mint, to ground him in reality. Tricks of the trade.

"- But this is very irregular." And he does not have any idea how he feels about it, or in fact, how he should feel about it.

... Frightened for Elaine, probably? This quick approval means that there are larger forces at play here, and that she is going to be involved in them. 'Irregular' or 'odd' is another term for 'dangerous' or 'risky,' for Empyreans. It would have been safer for her if she had instead wrestled with the mundane horrors of a ponderous bureaucracy. That entire system being sidestepped means she is expected to be - something. He's not sure what. Needed? Useful? Pivotal?

Whatever it is, it will certainly be dangerous. And, like the notebook that took her memories and the lives of her classmates - above his paygrade. This isn't good for any of them, frankly.

"It might have something to do with that damn notebook," he muses, soothing himself further with the comforting reality of logic and correlation.

"...yeah. And—well, I suppose that could be all there is to it, but..." He glances at his shadow, more overtly than he ever does, because the only one who can see them is his Captain, here.

That's really jumping to conclusions.

...

Which doesn't mean they're wrong.

He looks back at Dunn. "This is very irregular," he agrees, rather than directly voice his thoughts. Yeah, he really is jumping to conclusions, here, and this conclusion would be substantially more consequential. It feels like saying it might make it real, and it would be pretty bad if it were real. Or, at least, pretty big.

Dunn glances between James and his shadow, and raises an eyebrow.

"Something your intuition is telling you?" The way he uses the word is a little dry. It can be either his intuition or his "intuition," either would be fine by him.

"...it's just, there's... Someone who isn't limited to telegrams, and proper channels, who can see the bigger picture better than even the Holy Cathedral can, and... if that Someone is involved this is really big.

"And, ah... I really don't think Ms. Moretti is an ordinary civilian. Even aside from the notebook. My," glance at his shadow, "intuition agrees. I don't know what it is, I couldn't begin to tell you. But there's just something about how she moves, how she thinks, how she carries herself. Even if we can't see anything with the Sight, even if Daly and you never found anything when you looked inside her head, my gut is telling me there's a lot more to this story."

"I've come to the same conclusion," he agrees, with a nod. "Something about this is very odd, and I'm increasingly convinced that the ritual that killed Mr. McGovern and Ms. Bannister was somehow successful. But if Our Lady trusts her enough to give her this kind of power... I suppose we should, too." His lip twitches. "Within reason."

Fortunately(?) for them, it tends to be fairly obvious when Empyreans lose their reason.

"Within reason," he agrees. "I'll let you return to your night. Now it is my turn to do the second most exciting assignment a Nightwatch can have."

This earns a little snort from Dunn. "May it be boring and unremarkable."

Because that is in fact a good day (or night, in this case), for a member of the Nightwatch. Even if James personally doesn't like it much.

Yeah, yeah. At least he's almost sure to get to see another night.

"I need to get the alchemy lab ready for use for potion making?" confirms Elaine, when she comes in at around dawn. Unfortunately for her, she has about thirty percent of an idea of how to do that. Probably getting the books out of the way is going to be a lot of that. "For - making, specifically, my potion?? My Diviner potion, that has been approved already???"

"Yes. ... But you are still free to back out now, or even just delay, if you'd rather." It's kind of still too fast for Dunn, even after several hours to digest the implications.

This earns a little smile from Elaine. It's nice to know he cares.

"No, I'm - I'm okay. I'm just. Surprised?"

"I am as well. We haven't had an Empyrean approval this fast in... decades, at least. Certainly before my and my predecessor's time."

"Well. I'm honored to be trusted this much, this quickly, and I'll do my utmost to live up to it."

Dunn gives a slightly wooden nod. Just please focus on the 'live' in that sentence most of all, he thinks but doesn't say. Instead he gives her a gentle clap on the shoulder, and goes to leave -

- then stops, and remembers something. Wait, wait, Empyrean also means -

"Oh, and you'll start combat training tomorrow."

"... I'm already doing firearms training?" Elaine says, a little blankly.