The doorknob of a locked door rattled. A mildly irritated voice could have been faintly heard from the other side if anyone had been inside the small house the voice's owner was waiting outside of. A moment passed in silence before a key was forced into a lock on the door. The voice arose from the other side again when the door still refused to open. Another few seconds later, a second key was used, and the door's lock clicked open. The doorknob turned, and two people entered.

"The wrong key, Simon… c'mon, you've been in here before, haven't you?"

Athena Cykes stepped into the entryway of the small house, her face obscured by two rather large cloth bags, both filled to capacity with groceries.

"I have, but remember that this is Aura's house, not mine."

Simon Blackquill was the second to enter, carrying a bag of his own. He set his aside to close the door behind him. Athena was already several steps into the kitchen beyond the entryway when he picked the bag back up to continue following her.

"I haven't had to unlock the door myself more than once or twice before." Simon went on as he found Athena shifting various scattered objects around on the little kitchen table to set her two bags down.

Letting out a small grunt of exertion as she set down the bags, Athena turned to him. "Well, it's gonna be your house for a while, Simon." she replied. "You'd better get used to remembering which key to use."

Simon didn't respond, so Athena began to dig through the first of the two bags.

"Maybe I ought to congratulate you." she said, a smirk cracking her expression. "You went grocery shopping for yourself for the very first time, at the young age of twenty-eight."

Simon chuckled. "I hope you haven't somehow managed to lose your memory of the reason for that, Cykes-dono." he replied. "There's been little opportunity for someone in my position to do so in these past seven years."

Athena rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Well, you're gonna have to be a grown-up now, Simon. You've got your own house and everything."

The house the two were occupying was small, with only a single bedroom and fairly little floor space beyond. It belonged to Simon's older sister, who had chosen to leave it to him now that she was going to be in prison for the immediate future. Aura Blackquill's trial had concluded two days prior. The three attorneys of the Wright Anything Agency had stepped in to represent her at Simon's behest, and while there was no hope of securing an acquittal in light of the roboticist's actions, they had successfully earned her a relatively lenient sentence. Still, this left her house empty for at least a few years, meaning that until Aura's eventual release, Simon was the small home's new owner.

Athena and Simon spent several minutes sorting away the contents of the three grocery bags. Athena was down to the very last item she'd carried in, and was just checking it over when Simon spoke up again.

"Athena." he said. She looked over.

"Yeah?"

Simon met her eye for a moment, but didn't immediately say anything. His steely gaze was probably intimidating to most people, but Athena knew him much better. She waited patiently, guessing that he wasn't sure of how best to word whatever it was he was going to say.

"I'm certain you've gotten the gist of it already," he began at last, glancing away from her, "But it occurs to me that I never properly thanked you. For taking on my sister's case, I mean."

Athena raised an inquisitive eyebrow. This was a surprise.

"Well, you're welcome, Simon." she said. "Aura didn't make the best decisions she could've, but that was no reason to just leave her to her fate. She deserves a proper defence, like anyone else."

Simon exhaled slowly, still not looking properly at her. When Athena tilted her head a bit, trying to prompt a response from him, he said, "That was all I needed to say. If you're expecting any more, you'll be standing there for quite some time."

Athena crossed her arms and laughed to herself.

"Aww, Simon. You talk so gruff and mean, but you're never gonna trick me."

She set the last item from the grocery bag away in its place and stepped over to him. With a smile, she gave him a sudden teasing jab in the ribs with one fist. She laughed again when Simon's eyes shot open wide and he gave a startled yelp of surprise.

"C'mon." she said. "We've got a lot more to do before you're settled in."

This feels a bit familiar. Here goes another series of short and shippy pieces. Enjoy, and leave a review if you feel so inclined!