tvk | [video]

Mkay, let's give this a shot. My turn, huh? Let's see what we've got.

--

*The video shows a ten-year-old girl with pink hair in jeans and a T-shirt, a definite contrast from the white-haired, short-shorts-wearing adult Mila. She's got her hands on her hips, staring down a boy in the kitchen.*

You ate all the Fruity Ice again!

*The boy shrugs.* Yeah, so? Consider it punishment.

Punishment? I did nothing!

Mom and Dad are making me babysit you when I could be going to Cole's party. That's your fault.

That's just because they're too cheap to find someone they actually have to pay to watch their kid. What did I, as in me, not Mom and Dad, ever do to you?

*He shrugs.* You were born.

Fine. *Mila turns around.* I guess you won't be missing your special folder.

What are you blabbering about?

*There's that smirk of hers.* Don't worry, Babe Bonanza 17 is safe and sound and you will never find it. But Mom and Dad might. Your fault for thinking you could hide your stash on the family computer. Oh, and your magazines under the floorboard are gone, too.

*The boy turns red. He gets up from the table, screaming in rage, and chases a laughing Mila out of the kitchen.*

--

*Back in the present, Mila is doubled over laughing.*

And here I thought it was going to be something bad. You go, Prospero. You go.

--

*The city has apparently taken this as a cue for another memory. Here Mila's about twenty-one or twenty-two, not too much younger than she is now. She does have the white hair and ridiculous outfit you've come to expect from her, and she's on the phone, wandering through what looks like an old abandoned building.*

Psh, you owe me a hundred when this is over. It's not like the place is actually haunted or anything.

*The voice on the other end of the phone is about her age, too.* Yeah, but there was something weird in there and no one could get it out. In any case, you're welcome to try.

*Mila opens a wardrobe; there's a small hole in the back leading to a tunnel in the wall. She climbs and twists through.* You realize I was a gymnastics champion in high school. In space.

Like I said, you can try. *Mila hears something dull and loud through the phone.* What's that...?

I was about to ask you the same thing. *She emerges from the tunnel into a dark room. Jumping down a hole, she lands on her feet and looks over at a small, dusty crater. A red jewel -- the one she's always wearing in the present -- is in the middle.* Guys, I think I've found your artifact.

Just a second, Mila. There's something weird in the water.

The water's, like, five clicks out. How can you see?

It's coming out of it. It's like... Whoa, what are those things?

*Mila kneels down, grabs a small hammer and chisel from her bag, and starts chipping the rock around the jewel.* Hold on, I'll be right there. Just gotta get this thing.

It's a... Whoa. Mila. Mills. Come on, we gotta go. I swear it's, like, some kind of monster movie going on here or something. It just--

*There's a big crashing sound after that. Mila looks up, chiselling the last bit of rock, with her phone on speaker lying beside her.*

What's wrong? I'm coming, I've got it!

Mila, get out of--

*The last thing you see is wood, stone, and brick crashing down as Mila grabs the jewel, and a bright flash of red as the building collapses with her underneath it.*

-

*Back in Prospero, Mila is silent for a moment.*

...and this has been Tempting Fate with Mila Kawena. *She sighs and rubs her head.* I'll be here all week.