Earnest stared long and hard at the application form before him. He had taken a bit of a liking to Django despite the fact that he was a vampire. Sometimes he caught himself thinking of Django as a vampiric and more mature Aaron. There was a short and very emphatic chapter in the Gunslinger's Guide about friends who got turned undead. Every paragraph in that chapter was basically, "Don't trust that bok/skeleton/ghost/vampire. We mean it." Rare exceptions to the rule did not last for long before their souls succumbed.

Django was an exception among exceptions. It had not taken long for Aaron and Django to become friends after Django finished paying his latest debt off. It was hard to say no to a kid who was, while quieter than Aaron, just as enthusiastic about life, guns, red scarves, taking advice from flowers, and how cool his vampire hunter dad was. Lucian was dismayed that the two Solar Boys became friends so quickly. He caught Aaron and Lisbeth taking Django out for solar fruit sundaes.

The reason Earnest was looking at the application wasn't that he was thinking of rejecting it. There was an excellent resume with references from the Messenger of the Sun and the Moon Guardian. He, Bea, and Kay simply didn't know what they would do with Django. Alice had a suggestion that while initially rejected for just being stupid, was now under serious consideration.

"Have him be Dumas' parole officer. It isn't like Dumas is going to turn him into a vampire, right? Plus, how many other people can spend more than five minutes in the duke's presence without snapping and killing him?" There was a significant drawback in that Django was too nice of a kid to be stuck with Dumas. He was well aware who killed Trinity, Sartana, Ellen, and countless unnamed NPCs. Alice wanted to use Black Django for PR in continuing the rebellion. Kay, Bea, and Earnest still were going back and forth about if it would be better to keep Django's human/vampire dual identity secret. Letting Django be undercover as a human would make grocery shopping easier.

Alice had some hilarious footage of Django heckling Duke Dumas when he was speaking to a crowd. He'd been talking about how fantastic vampirism was and Django disagreed on a number of points. Finally Dumas had snapped and insisted there was no way this weird smelling human could understand what it was like to be a vampire. The look on Duke Dumas face when he finally recognized Django as the vampire kid was priceless. It might bring a smile to Lucian's face

The more Earnest thought about it, the more it made sense. Django was trustworthy, reliable, capable of taking on vampire lords solo, and not going to be put in more danger of losing his humanity. He knew how to operate a Pile Driver. Dumas seemed to have, much to Django's growing annoyance, decided they were going to be friends. Dumas and Perrault would be much more likely to share their secrets with a fellow vampire. They'd already shared several hours of slideshow before they'd even learned the kid's name

Django was the only Solar Gunner who did not have a first-hand loss of a loved one to the jerk. Lucian was one of many, many people who refused to let Duke Dumas get away with everything. Still though, that would be a big problem to pass on to Django and he'd suffered a lot already. It would be meaner than asking him to take on Solar Tree care. (It wasn't the boredom, but the watering schedule that made that job unpalatable for a hydrophobe.)

Earnest decided to let Aaron tell Django he was accepted into the Guild. Then he went right back to thinking how interesting it would be to have Django hired as permanent killjoy for vampire recruitment speeches.

Silver was helping Django sort through the armory for a new sword that morning. (Lucian had no plans to return the silver broadsword after the Pile Driver destroyed the Vanargand Blade. It held elemental charges incredibly well.) Silver was quite proud of the young adventurer for his deeds. The Dark Loans debt called for a short reproving mention before the Knight told Django how very proud he was. Django had new friends and allies in the world. The boy was now saving up to pay the rest of the price tag on an old and broken gun he saw in the Twin Butterfly after he put a down payment on it.

Django was not destined for taking the mantle of the Moon guardian. He simply had too much living to do and there would be more battles to fight. While Django had been gone, Dumas and Perrault had shown up twice to check if Django was back and wanted to provide constructive feedback. They didn't enter the tower last time, which meant they weren't stabbed. Eventually they'd have to deal with the knotty moral issues at hand that came with Dumas.

While examining a katana, Silver sensed dark power entering the tower. He didn't bother to properly view his visitors before teleporting downstairs, sword drawn.

"Perrault, I ought to-Wait. You are not Perrault." There was a flying cat, yes. This one was black with little red wings. This was definitely not Dumas, either. There was a dangerous level of dark power on this swordsman, but he was at least somewhat human.

"Sorry to have startled you. I sensed dark terrenial power and thought that an unwelcome visitor had returned. Would you be Nero and Lucian?" Django had forgiven Lucian for trying to kill him; The Silvery White Knight could respect that decision. It was best not to mention that Silver initially thought Lucian would be Duke Dumas. Aaron had now come in behind Lucian with a box and a smile.

"I am indeed Nero, the darkness terrenial helping Lucian. I see Toasty has told you about me."

Lucian asked, "Did you say Dumas was here?"

"The tyrant is a frequent... visitor." He could see Lucian considering becoming a frequent visitor too.

Aaron grinned at Silver. "Is Django here? He's officially part of the Guild now! He can earn bounties and we might get assigned missions together!" Aaron hoped Lucian and Django would get along. He really wanted his friends to be friends.

Silver nodded. "My liege will be overjoyed. He just left an hour ago. He is assisting the scientist, Sheridan, with an alchemical experiment. The researcher wanted to test a sol barrier with a vampire."

Aaron and Lucian paid a visit to Sheridan and Carmilla again. Much to Lucian's dismay, they did encounter Django there. Lucian now was used to seeing Django around town. Watching Black Django run into invisible barriers was a good time. It was like watching a bat fly into one of those giant windows. Lucian decided to go inside for a few minutes to take a break from the overwhelming enthusiasm. Him and Nero took a seat at the table to wait with Carmilla after they helped her with some chores around the lab.

Django and Lucian shared an uneasy truce. They had a mutual agreement that if the other lost themselves to darkness, the other would be there to stop him and spare Aaron having to fight them. They both agreed that there one was more than enough undead Solar Boys in the world and they did not want to risk Aaron getting infected with the darkness. Aaron did not need to suffer having to kill his friend either. Part of the mutual agreement was that no one was telling Aaron about this; He would be very upset.

Nero stretched and stopped cleaning himself the moment he sensed Toasty coming. Sure he was a cat, but he did not want to be seen cleaning himself. Aaron needed reminders that Nero was not an actual cat and if he saw this behavior, Aaron might start to think it was okay to try petting Nero. That would be undignified. Toasty arrived but then minutes passed without the cheerful chatter of the kid.

It was something of a surprise to see Toasty without Aaron around. The two friends had become almost as inseperable as Nero and Lucian. There were less dire consequences if the solar duo were parted than if Lucian lost Nero, but the strangeness remained. Toasty looked nervous but it couldn't have been some danger to Aaron or he would have said something immediately.

Nero had to ask, "Where is Aaron?"

"He's still with Tove, Django, and Sheridan outside."

"Why are you in here? Shouldn't you be babysitting Aaron?"

"Well..."

Nero and Lucian gave the guilty-looking sunflower a long stare. Toasty didn't last long.

"They asked me which of their fathers was cooler."

Lucian put down his cup. "So now you are hiding here instead of giving them a proper answer? Coward."

"I mean really what am I supposed to tell them? How do I choose a favorite? The most feared solitary vampire hunter? The one that brought back vampire hunting from the dust? Plus, I don't want to let either of them down and, well, I don't know how much Trinity exaggerated to Aaron so I'm worried I'll contradict something Trinity told Aaron because of his stor-Oh no."

Aaron and Django had arrived at the door door. They headed right to the Dark Swordsman. Django looked a touch more irritated than Aaron. Nero thought the smell of darkness which clung to Django was more pronounced than usual.

"Lucian, have you seen Master Otenk-Oh there you are." Lucian reached for his glass of water.

"It wasn't cool of you to run away like that." Aaron said. Lucian took a long sip of water and looked Django in the eye. Django suddenly felt very nervous.

"I'm sorry. I can't pick a favorite Solar Boy. They were both the best in different ways!" Nero snorted but said nothing. Lucian rolled his eyes and did not put down his glass of water.

"Me and Django forgive you, but only if you tell us stories about them!" Aaron said grinning. Lucian and Nero rolled their eyes even harder.

Django nodded in agreement and took his eyes off Lucian for one second. Lucian flung the glass of water at Django. Django fled as if he'd just woken Zazie from a nap. The "AAUGH!" of terror made Carmilla turn to see Django fleeing.

Aaron said, "That was mean."

"Why are you complaining? I didn't push him into the canal this time." Django fought down his panic and went to seek out a towel in the bathroom.

Notes: I might at least go back and fix capitalizations sometime. I hear Lunar Knights has a release anniversary today so that is as good an excuse as any to finish and declare this done. I don't like this story as much as "Cats and Coffins" but it was kind of a fun writing assignment to myself.