2009

"Checkmate."

The bronze-scaled beast of a mutant chuckled a little and leaned back in her chair, looking from her cornered black king to the petite redhead sitting across from her.

Beaten in chess by a twelve-year-old. That would be embarassing if that twelve year old weren't her baby sister. Sorcha always won at chess, had since she was seven, but Kiva kept right on playing, week after week. Their wooden peices had paint scratched off in numerous places from the mutant's claws, even though she tried her hardest to be careful while handling them.

She casually plucked the peice from the board that meant so much to the game. "And so the king lay dead, not having died an honourable death at the head of troops, but having cowered in his castle until the enemy soldiers found him and cut him down. They rode through the streets, displaying his head for all who could see. The black-hearted man who had made a pact with a terrible dragon finally paid for his crimes in blood."

Sorcha giggled a little, but then rolled her bright green eyes. "You always have to narrate," she said as she got up to gather the board and peices. "And you're not terrible."

Kiva pretended to look offended. "Am so. Very terrible." She raised the clawed hand not holding her king chess peice and gave a small growl.

Sorcha laughed. "Whatever you say, big sis." The laughter faded, however, and soon the child frowned, toying slightly with the white knight she was holding. "This...is our last game, huh? You're heading off to New York with Auntie Finola..."

Kiva frowned as well, and she reached out to gently touch her sister's shoulder. "Hey, no way." Sorcha looked up, and the dragon-like woman gave her preteen sister a big smile. "We'll set up some kinda online thing so you can burn my castle to the ground over the internet. I'm not giving up our chess games that easily."

Sorcha smiled back, but it faded when she looked at the peice she was holding again. "Don't know what I'm gonna do with the old board..."

Kiva chuckled. "We can store it and break it out whenever I come home for Christmas. How's that sound?"

"I guess..." Sorcha said quietly, but she still didn't look happy.

Kiva sighed and pulled her baby sister into a tight hug. "I'll miss you too," she said. Sorcha didn't say anything in return, but she hugged back.

2010

Kiva squeezed her eyes shut and quietly laid her head down on her desk. Well, this was going nowhere fast. Turns out schoolwork sucked even when you were going to art school. Go figure. It didn't help that she was pretty sure the instructor didn't like her. Like that was a shock; she'd expected to get slapped in the face with prejudice around here, and she'd still gone.

Sometimes she seriously wondered if she was masochistic. It would explain a lot of the decisions she made.

There was a faint 'plink' sound from her computer, and she reached over to wiggle her mouse to get the monitor to light up again. She looked at the screen, and the little message that had popped up on it from a familiar username.

Game time?

Kiva sighed softly, looking from her schoolwork to her computer, then started typing. The ends of her recently-filed claws clicked the keys as she sent the short reply.

Can't. Art project.

She barely got the chance to look away before there was another 'plink.'

You promised.

Kiva sighed. Thirteen years old and still playing the 'you promised' card with her older sister. Though, really, what was she actually doing? Attempting to bludgeon artist block into submission and failing miserably, that's what. Maybe she did need a break.

Okay, fine. I'll start it up and invite you.

She smiled as the virtual chessboard came into view. At least she couldn't accidentally wreck these, though her keyboard and mouse weren't exactly in the best of condition, so maybe she was just trading damaging one thing for another. She found her tense muscles relaxing as Sorcha entered the same and made her first move, and she silently challenged herself to last just one move more than she had the last time before the inevitable fall of her army.

2011

Sorcha was a half-hour late.

Kiva frowned. Sorcha was not late for their games. It just didn't happen. Her baby sister was always punctual, practically to a fault. The value of such had been one of the things their parents had always tried their best to drill into their minds, and Sorcha had always taken it to heart. No amount of teenage rebellion would make her not be on time, especially for something fun.

Sorcha did still find these games fun, right? Of course; her little sister lived for chess. She was queen of her school's chess club, and she even had one of those fancy three-dimensional boards.

So what was wrong? The empty chat window on her computer stared back at her as she drummed her claws uneasily; Kiva was very close to grabbing the phone and calling home, just to make sure her sister was alright. After all, if she really couldn't play due to something, it wasn't like her not to at least let her know.

A 'plink' of a message showing up nearly made the scaled mutant woman jump in surprise.

Sorry. Internet's been off all day. Finally got it back on. Game still on?

Kiva sighed in relief, sinking in her computer chair. She started chuckling to herself and she gave a swift shake of her. head. Right. Of course. Just Internet troubles. Way to let the paranoia get to her.

No worries. Sure, I'll set it up.

As the virtual board popped into existence on her screen and she sent the invitation, Kiva smiled. She stretched her wings, then folded them as sher gently grasped the mouse in her clawed hand and went to move one of her pawns. And so the weekly war began again.