Loyal Old Demon, Brave Little Human.

New Year!!

There were always some human customs Shane didn't understand humans celebrating. Easter? Where the fuck did the bunny come from? Thanksgiving? Why the hell does anyone want to be around family just so they can eat your food and leave? Shane kinda got Christmas, since this was his first one. He noticed that people were just generally nicer around this time. They seemed genuinely happy to help and smile at Shane as he passed with gifts in his arms. Shane had gotten presents for his friends, after Ryan had accidentally left a sheet out with Shane's present pictured on it. Shane had also gotten his family something, and had flown to Chicago (his way this time) to see them. After Christmas, Shane returned only to see Ryan and some others planning a New Year's/Christmas party. Shane had an invitation on his desk, and RSVP'd through Ryan. Now, he walked towards Ryan's to celebrate his first New Year's. He had looked into it before coming, and was a bit confused about its significance. He had thought that at first about Christmas, but he had found it to be rather enjoyable, maybe New Year's would be similar. Shane had finally been getting the hang of keeping his powers up. He had discovered that the news was a constant source of tension, and so whenever Shane felt low on energy, he would go to a place where the news was always blasting: near older people. He discovered that it helped his power recharge quickly, since most of them seemed very happy with the election, which just made everyone else even more frustrated. So he was also caught up on the news, which was admittedly insane, and even though he knew better than to mention it in front of his friends, it absolutely could come in handy if he needed a quick recharge. He had told TJ, as the two of them were getting rather close, and bad been given permission to piss him off if he needed a charge. TJ was awesome. Shane walked up the stairs to Ryan's apartment, and knocked. A drunk Steven opened the door. "Heya Shaneee..." Steven said, opening the door wider and leaning on it to let Shane in and keep his own balance. Shane said hello and walked inside with his gifts, setting them under a full tree. Andrew was following Steven around cautiously, as if nervous he might hurt himself, and Shane saw Sara and Helen talking in the corner. TJ, Mark, and Ryan stood by his TV, which was turned off, taking. Shane made his way over to them, since they seemed the least drunk. Ryan was chatty this evening, but it quickly occured to Shane that was probably the alcohol. TJ seemed to be listening calmly, and Mark was holding a water in one hand, and was holding Ryan's drink in his other, since Ryan was currently gesticulating wildly. He was telling some story about his childhood, and his family, but Shane wasn't able to listen for long, since TJ noticed him walking up and pulling him to the drinks. "Hey." Shane said simply, trying to gauge if his friend was drunk or not.
"Hey, I need your help with something." TJ pulled him to the kitchen, and Shane could clearly tell he was sober. He showed Shane two containers, both full of liquor. "Okay, I brought some drinks for tonight, because Ryan always keeps shitty drinks, and I really don't drink, so I need you to taste these and tell me how bad they are."
"Okay? Why me?"
"Simple. Steven is wasted, since he is a lightweight. Mark doesn't drink either. Helen doesn't make decisions like this. Sarah would suggest putting them all out. Andrew is preoccupied with Steven. Then Ryan-"
"Has poor taste, got it." Shane finished, and TJ nodded. He reached down for a cup, and poured a bit of the first drink for Shane. He sipped it. It burned his throat like whiskey, which Shane was fond of. He was given the second one, which tasted a bit more like beer. A hopps beer, but a beer nonetheless. Shane pointed at the second one. "Unless you are planning on making everyone sleep here, that one is better."
"Yeah?"
"Very much so." Shane said, and poured himself a glass from the first one. TJ snorted a laugh, and moved the container back. Shane took another sip of his drink, grateful that there was no buzz in his head. "So, any reason why you aren't just giving both of them and calling it a day?"
"One: look at them" TJ gestured, and Shane saw his point. "Two: they are gifts from my uncle. Whatever I don't use today, I'll save for another time."
"Makes sense." Shane said.
"How was your family?"
"They were okay. It was my first Christmas."
"And?"
"I suppose it wasn't too bad."
TJ laughed and bumped his arm. They walked back into the party and celebrated for a while longer, before opening presents and watching the ball drop. Shane was the last to leave the party, leaving both a drunk Ryan and Helen as he walked out the door. The next morning, Shane saw a text from Ryan telling him when their next episode day was.

•••••••

"Look, I'm not saying this is what happened, I'm just saying that it's a possibility. Can you say, definitively, that this is not a possibility, that she wasn't abducted?"
"I definitively cannot." Shane answered as they sat in their car, entertaining the theory of alien involvement in Gloria Ramirez's death.
"It's a theory then." Ryan said, acting as though he had won the whole argument.
Shane pushed him further. "Well, get into the theory then."
"That is it...that's it-"
"That's it?!" Shane asked, causing Ryan to do his wheezing laugh. "Fuck you, that definitively did not happen." Ryan wheezed more, leaning onto the window as he laughed. "Cause the theory then is just, uh-"
"Maybe it was aliens."
Shane put on a cartoonishly bad voice. "Maybe Aliens."
"After all these years, the story of Gloria Remirez at the General hospital endures the test of time. Was it a case of mass hysteria? Was this an improbable chemical reaction gone wrong? Perhaps this was a coverup of poor hospital conditions, or is this proof of something beyond science? Possibly extraterrestrials? Regardless, no theory has been definitively proven, and the case of Gloria Ramirez remains...unsolved." Ryan finished reading.
"You know what probably happened. The aliens probably abducted her." Shane began.
"I can't wait to see where this is going."
"And they were like. 'Alright, let's do our stuff! Let's do all our little tricks on her! Let's put a little probe up her butthole!' Or whatever they do. And then they probably started throwin up, and then then were like, 'Holy shit!' And one of them is probably like, 'we should evacuate the while ship.' And one of the other's were like, 'Fuck that, drop her off at a hospital!'" Shane joked as Ryan laughed beside him. He smiled as he listened to Ryan's laughter, and as the cameras shut down, and they began to drive back, Ryan and Shane chatted about the episode. It was a couple of weeks after the party, and Ryan and he really hadn't met up since then. They chatted on the way home, and it wasn't until Ryan dropped Shane off at his apartment, that he told Shane his next plan. "Next week, we got approval to go to Savannah, Georgia to visit the Whaley House."
"Oh, cool." Shane said, a bit startled. He felt confident he could handle this trip better than the last one, but he still felt his chest tighten in nervousness. Shane waved a goodbye to Ryan and walked inside his home. It was now fully furnished, a nice kitchen, with a small hallway leading to a bathroom and Shane's bedroom. He liked it here. It was small, but it was home for Shane. Shane texted TJ about next week to see if he was coming too, and thankfully, he was. Shane couldn't help feel better knowing that.