White Villa~

Zane returned to the room, saving her from having to come up with a simple answer about the knightmares right away.

She took a bite of cake, and had to try hard not to inhale the rest of. It was so good.
Anisette voiced the thought that had just been in Alessia's head. Except it was about the tea.

"I'm glad you like it. I made it, actually," she answered her, beaming.

"As for your previous question," she paused and glanced at Zane. This would be news to him, too, and the last thing she needed was to make them suspicious of her. "I do a lot of mechanical work and I've seen a couple knightmares. I can't help but wonder what makes them tick."

"Hm," Zane thought to himself. How'd they end up talking about knightmares?
He didn't really need to talk, and he wasn't supposed to. But there was Anisette anyway to do it for him. If he really needs to, he'll find a way. But for now, he was satisfied with just listening. He wanted the answers to be eased out from Alessia on her own. Not that he suspected her. She was just very withdrawn. Well, of course. We just met.

Anisette blinked. "You made it?" She covered her mouth with a gloved hand to hide her surprise, more in fascination. "You mean you grew this? That's amazing," she said, genuinely astonished and suddenly, felt great admiration for Alessia. "And they are of such high quality, too."

Looking at Zane and seeing his almost- but not quite surprised expression, then a smile on her way, she relaxed. "My! I never would've thought, my apologies. But I think that's quite accomplishing," she said, trying to imagine her guest working on Knightmares. "How long have you been into Knightmares, lady Alessia?"

Blushing slightly now, from so much praise, she raised her cup and took a large sip, burning her tongue in the process. That'll teach me to get carried away, won't it?? "Thank you, really. I learn from the best, I suppose."

Alessia laughed. "Why would you apologize?? It's fun, isn't it?? Finding the one thing that could be making a huge machine go haywire! It's hard work but..." she trailed off. Looking at this lovely, pristine woman in her equally lovely, pristine house - she got the feeling that Anisette may have never had grease on her slim hands in her life. Not that it mattered. She seemed enthusiastic enough.

Zane smiled, stifling his laugh. "My apologies," he said for laughing a bit, closing his eyes, a smile in place.

She asked, worried, if Alessia was all right, seeing her burn her tongue - she supposed - from drinking hastily. "My, learn from the best? Who did you learn to grow this from?" She raised the cup and took a sip, savoring the taste.

Smiling, she laughed a bit too. "Rather fun, yes," she replied, happily. Because she was really having fun, even at the moment. "But...?" she pressed on, not quite hurried but excited. :3

She nodded, meaning that yes, she was fine. "A priest, actually, taught me to do this," she replied fondly, "I modified it a bit, though." Alessia looked up and noticed them both looking at her. She took a sip as much to hide any discomfort she felt, as to collect her thoughts.

"But.. Well-" She was unsure how to phrase what was in her mind without seeming rude, which seemed strangely important. "Do you know much about knightmares??" she asked, instead.

Oh? A priest, hm? That's rather peculiar, or maybe not. I know too little about them and only met them during charity...

He supposed he had enough of knowledge of Knightmares, to the point he could operate them just fine, but not without a struggle or two.

So he opted to let her speak her thoughts because he was sure Anisette knew nothing about them at all.

"Oh my, that sounds lovely!" she smiled sweetly. "A priest, is that so? I have met a few of them, and they're such kind people - more so that I believe now with your expression. So serene," she had to say it, because Alessia looked so happy when she said it.

"But no, I am not knowledgeable about Knightmares."

Serene, huh??

It would be hard to explain the mechanics of a frame to someone who didn't know anything about them, but her enthusiasm had been roused and she dove headlong into her explanation. "Knightmares have so many pieces! There's the huge plates you see on the outside that obviously need to be lifted by machine, and even some of the interior pieces are that big. But the really good stuff is inside. The small parts in the core. They all work together in just the right way, so if something is wrong - even if it's tiny," she held her thumb and first finger close together to emphasize, "then the whole thing goes kaput. There's not too many things more satisfying then laying under a giant machine and going on a scavenger hunt for the part that's not working correctly. A greasy, hot scavanger hunt. Fixing the problem is more satisfying, I suppose," she added.

Well, now that she had gone on a rant shortly after arriving... She glanced around the room for a way to change the subject if she needed to, when her gaze settled on Zane. She had nearly forgotten he was there - which, she supposed, may have been a desired quality in a butler - but now that she thought about it, it was a little awkward. She had just been speaking with him at her stall and there had been a sense of equality. She thought, again, about just how much the subservient role did not fit.

Zane closed his eyes and listened carefully. She certainly knew a lot of things about Knightmares - more on the technical side as per how she described it. But someone who knows so much about it that way can operate those robots just fine, most likely.

He wondered briefly if she did, or if she works as a technician or anything. But he kept to these thoughts. Right now, he was a butler and she was a guest.

He smiled her way, however, when she looked at him.

"Wooow," she blinked, unable to stop herself but quickly composed herself when she remembered Zane was by her side and would've scolded her about it. "That's quite impressive! I would've never known~ although Zane here would know a bit, surely," and she glanced at him, and saw in his expression what he wanted to say. "Oh! Since you seem to like those, are you a technician of some sort?"

She blinked at Anisette a few times before recovering from her stupified stare. She scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "Not really. It's just sort of a hobby, I guess. But I'd be very interested to know anything either of you could tell me about them," she finished.

Why would they have knowledge of a knightmare??

He sighed to himself. He wasn't familiar with them, really. He just knew about it a bit. Just a bit.

"There's nothing much to tell, lady Alessia," he said, sure that he would end up explaining anyway so he decided to act on it, at least to clear up on things. He'd let Anisette deal with the other details. "I've only operated a Knightmare once."

And poured tea for them again.

Anisette beamed. "A while back, we were attacked," she started. Then thought of what had happened, humming.
"By some luck, Zane was able to take hold of a Knightmare and he was forced to learn to operate it on the spot!" She clapped her hand. "I was there too, but I was passed out. So, teehee."

She took hold of her cup and sipped some. "Oh, but it took a while and the Knightmare ended up battered," she continued. "But it saved us."

Well, if that story isn't full of holes... I bet something like that would have been in the news, though.

"That sounds fairly awful. Good thing for your quick learning, it seems," she said inclining her head toward Zane.

He smiled. Well, it was a rather broad explanation - leave it to Anisette to make things look suspicious. "It took a while; in all honestly, had it been a later more, the Knightmare probably wouldn't have lasted," he said.

"We were in Japan then."

"We were in... unofficial business," she added, hesitant at first but smiled. "And because of that, it was made that it wouldn't make it to the news." Or rather, I made sure to alter their beliefs...

She snapped out of her thoughts and smiled. "I'm sorry we can't tell you much more about Knightmares. That's all about it."

She was about to say that she was glad the media hadn't harrassed them, when she noticed her tea rippling as it sat on the table. She stared at it for a moment, thinking she or Anisette may have bumped the table accidentally. But it happened again. Then again. The third time, she heard a faint rumble with it and looked up at the two across the table.

"I don't suppose this is normal??"

A huge explosion rang by the east wing of the villa and Zane quickly spoke up.

"We're being attacked," he said. Again. "You must hide, my lady," he took Anisette's hand and pulled her to stand.

Then he looked at Alessia. "You must come and hide as well." This is bad. We cannot get her involved. They move too fast.

She quickly stood up, successfully avoiding from tripping as Zane pulled her up. "Lady Alessia," she said in a frantic voice. "Please, we have to go!"

Anisette didn't feel scared at all, but she worried for Alessia. This wasn't usual - noblemen are always targeted.

"You might get hurt." :<

Alessia had shot to her feet when the explosion rang out somewhere in the building. She strode across the room to peek out one of the large windows, hoping to be able to see something that was happening. Outside was quiet, no sign of anything... Until another exposion blew a section of wall out of the house. Massive chunks of mansion wall flew through the air.

She spun back towards Anisette and Zane, eyes wide on an otherwise unperturbed face. "Your house- I'm sorry."

An unkind thought had occurred to her. She hoped they were the target. Why?? Because that would mean whatever it was, wasn't after her. Which would then mean that the danger was not because of her, either. She hadn't brought something terrible after someone.

"Where do we go??"

Zane held Anisette close enough and held her wrist firmly. "Underground, my lady," he answered Alessia.

"Don't worry about the villa," he smiled, reassuring both of them, if not to ease the tension. "Please follow me and watch your step."

He brisked walk, almost running, out of the room but made sure Alessia kept up with them. Down the hall they went, and as they passed some of the servants, he barked orders at them.

"Stall them, make sure ojou-sama's location must not be found out - also, we have no guest, understood?"

They entered a new room, at the first floor.

Anisette nodded as she let him lead the way.

As they enter the new door, she recognized this room. She was headed to the secret door when the wall suddenly was broken into, and several men held guns pointed at them.

O.O Anisette felt scared, squealing and hid behind Zane.

She had hurried along behind them, not wanting to get lost on the winding path they were taking. Then, suddenly a wall collapsed and revealed three people.
With guns.
She used her geass.
The man closest to her froze in his tracks.
It took a moment for the man to his left to notice that his comrade had stopped all motion.
By the time he started to react, Alessia took action again, and he froze as well.
She wouldn't make it in time for the last one. Having seen the other two, he had a bit more warning - too much warning. He had already aimed his gun, though he couldn't know which if them it had been.