Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hello Sciencers, and welcome back to another thrilling edition of the Evolving Item Report! Before we get to the report proper, I do want to apologize to you all for the delay with our AEI friend, Hero's Journey. You see...my last attempts at perfectly safe and ethically acceptable experimentation did not go so well. Perhaps that's a bit of an understatement. I may or may not have lit part of my house on fire in the process. Everything is fine though, I promise! My house is currently being rebuilt, and I have relocated our AEI friend so that the experimentation can continue in a more safe location. However, in the process of moving everything from the remains of my house to their current location, two things occurred to me: first, I realized that I would not have time to finish my experimentation on the AEI to present to you all this week—again, my apologies—and second, I discovered this brand new gem of an REI!

Monster! Project (designed by sterek):

You tap your pen against the edge of the table. Your coffee is getting cold, but you don't let your eyes leave the teenager's face. You can't say you're surprised by the way he looks; "quirky" might be the nice word for it, but only because you don't know the proper term to describe a strikingly short and visibly socially awkward vampire whose braces give a slight lisp. He's exactly the way you pictured someone who would have exclusive information on Monster! Project. (What a stupid band name!)

"This," he whispers, solemnly holding your gaze, "is my prized possession." He places a thick binder on the table between the two of you. It's only when you notice a crumpled ticket stub peeking out from between the pages that you realize—it's a scrapbook. Oh. Oh no. Oh no, this is bad. The kid you convinced your boss was a serious source you found online...is a superfan.

"Fanclub president," he corrects you, reminding you that you were thinking out loud again. It's the exact moment you become convinced that you can kiss your career in journalism goodbye.

Off to a rocky start already, but can our protagonist turn this situation around? It will certainly be interesting to see what awaits us in the next installment! I must admit that I would really like to take this project home and experiment on it right when I get there, but given that parts of my house still have singe marks, that is probably an ill-advised decision on my part. Nonetheless, science progresses ever onward, and I intend to be at the forefront of discovery, so I'm going to figure something out to make it work. Until next week, Scienteers!