A Wonderful End to the Day }{ [Ask Krae]

[Silvarn]

"Where is she?" Edward asked a flitting nightingale, who tweeted in answer. "Over the hills and far away?" he sighed from boredom, wondering when she would return, preferably with food. He should have asked his master when he had the chance if he still had to play nice with her; or, indeed, if they had even killed the right akuma --

Edward froze, his bleak eyes widening in disbelief. Could there have been another akuma, and they had attacked the wrong one? Had they infuriated another devil by accident?

Edward buried his chalky face in his equally pallid palm and groaned, "And that would be the perfect end to this day."

Calling upon his master's gift, he set himself aflame in blackness and blazed across the landscape, a bolt of midnight across the horizon. He had to find Krae, and fast, in case the other akuma was lurking about.

[Lujayn]

Krae's lip curled back in disgust. So he was one of those. She snatched at his hand with her free one, grasping his wrist tightly and twisting it to just the breaking point, but no farther. "Ignorant words, little man," she said to him dryly. "A man who does not truly know what the darkness holds."

She leaned close, staring straight into his eyes. "Tell me, have you ever been to the very pits of Hell? Have you seen what lurks there? If you had, you wouldn't be telling me that darkness is more comforting than light."

Abruptly, her weight was gone, leaving him lying on the roof on his own, as she walked towards the opposite end of the roof. "Well, what does it matter? You probably don't care, and I don't want to take my time to explain to a fool." She looked back at him. "Holler my actions to the heavens, if you wish, I doubt I could stop you, besides killing you, and I don't really feel like it."

Laziness, Krae?

Shut up, Kæs.

She turned her back on him then, a foolish move on a human's part, but her hearing would warn her if the man behind her were to make a move. She readied herself to jump from the roof, and search out something to appease Den with, since she'd been gone for quite some time now.

[Sokuro]

Veryan's wrist had cracked loudly in protest, the fluid of the joint forced from its confines, though Veryan's expression never changed. A quiet, almost mocking chuckle escaped his lips at her comment to darkness, though nothing more seemed obvious save for his eyes glinting with shadow once more. As the woman came to her feet and slipped off, she would indeed hear Veryan's cloak sift through the air- though it was not toward her. Veryan's hands once again grasped the lip of the rooftop as he tossing himself backward over it, dropping down into the alleyways once more.

Landing nimbly on his toes and grunting, he worked the recently wrenched wrist with a few more audible pops before making his way back around to the murdered man. Walking half-way around the man, Veryan knelt down and leaned his face close, peering into those lifeless, glazed orbs with curiosity. Oh come now, intrigued by woman's work again, Veryan? You really should find a better hobby..... "Be silent, Khiiroon, I no more need your input now than I did before." Veryan whispered, a hiss to his words that lifted to the rooftops. Silent? Now why would I grant you such a blessing? After all, it was you you trapped me here..... Again, Veryan hissed as he brought his left hand down to the deceased's throat, standing and lifting the body with ease. Tilting his head as he eyed the body, the patter of spilled blood whispering down the alley and the ears of those passing it, Veryan gave it only a moment before tossing the corpse aside with a crash of splintering wood from nearby crates that it barreled into.

A young woman stopped and turned, peering into the darkened path as she caught sight of entrails, and a cloaked figure. With a shriek, the woman's voice echoed over the busy streets. "Guards! Guar--" A sickly gargle eescaped the woman's throat as Veryan snapped about, burying a rather jagged edged kunai into the woman's jugular with practiced care. Really... some people should know not to speak up... Hissed the voice as Veryan turned back into the alley, sprinting off into the city's winding maze before others could see the woman fall to the floor.

It took little time for a pair of city guards to find their way to the source of commotion, raised shouts as they spoke between others nearby, though barely discerned were the words "....that's the fourth one today! Find him!" As Veryan bolted along the alley's, snapping on a heel with each turn, that clawing annoyance in his mind crept forth. You really do love causing trouble, don't you? Veryan replied simply with a grin, stopping near the center of town to slip behind a large crate and sink lazily onto his backside- head tilted back to stare at the dusk-kissed sky.

[Lujayn]

Guards, guards, everywhere, and scarce a place to hide... Krae was going to KILL that annoying little man if she ever saw him again, yes she would. Because of his... meddling, or whatever one could call it, the body had been discovered, and since she'd been the last person seen with the man she had murdered... well, she didn't have time to provide herself an alibi that would hold up long enough to get her out of the bloody town.

"May pestilence fester in your shoes and rot out your eyeballs," she muttered darkly as she crouched in the dark shadows of another alleyway. After her descent from the rooftop such a short time ago, she'd soon discovered that the backways, as convoluted and confusing as they were, were the only way to walk about more-or-less unnoticed by the guards.

One wondered why they didn't try checking the backways, but Krae wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so she stayed where she was and thanked whatever force was responsible for their oversight.

And now, to make haste towards her antagonistic comrade, before he complained of her being absent for too long.

She took a moment to snitch some decent wine from a vendor, then hurried her way to the outskirts of the town, humming lightly once she was sure there were no guards about to question her. She was definitely unique in appearance, so she'd stand out in memory and be well described. She sighed; why couldn't her Master have given her a more nondescript form?

Because he was a bloody fool, that was why.

Once within the trees standing a short distance away from the town, a rather large crow dropped from a branch and onto her shoulder. Krae blinked at it for a moment. "Akraw. This is a little far from your usual feeding grounds, isn't it?"

The crow gave a harsh caw in answer and began preening her hair.

"I know you're concerned and all, but I can take care of myself. And stop that, my hair is clean." Another few caws from her crow friend. "Just because I can't fly doesn't mean I'm helpless. Shoo, now, I have things to do."

A few more caws, and a flurry of feathers, and the crow was gone. "Silly boy," she murmured to herself, then continued on her way as if naught had occured, before stopping suddenly after noticing something in the sky. "What the Hell is that?"

[Silvarn]

Edward came to a screeching halt, churning up slabs of charred sod, the flames licking his clothes and flesh dying away. He stared upward not in slack-jawed disbelief; but, rather, in contempt, another hindrance to this day.

No matter, he should find Krae before it was too late, before either the thing in the sky or the other akuma had their way with her. Luckily, he had not far to go.

He spied her from afar as a crow groomed her, then flew away.

"Just a stupid crow." he growled, aggravated that he had worried about something so trivial.

He put on a burst of speed, not enough so to cause the black flames to erupt, but he took a diving leap at her, snatching the bottle in her hand. In one fluid motion, he rolled along the ground, uncorked it, rose to his feet, and drained the contents in one, long gulp. As the final red drops trickled down his gullet, he shivered with mild ecstasy. He smacked his lips unnecessarily, then turned to Krae, "Not bad. I would've liked it better if I had stolen it myself, but the gesture is appreciated -- "

He finally caught sight of what Krae was staring at.

And it certainly was not a crow.

[Lujayn]

Krae jumped as a flaming Den snatched the bottle of wine, caught off guard by her rapt study of whatever was in the sky- it had yet to get close enough for her to tell what it was. She stared at him with an incredulous expression as he quickly drained the bottle, her hair swaying in a light breeze the only movement coming from her.

"... what in Hell was that?" she asked with a voice a half octave higher than normal. "You came charging here.... and then... why?! Were you worried I was going to drink that all for myself or something?!" It did not occur to Krae that her safety might have been the cause for his concern. Seeing as how they disliked each other and all. And he'd probably have denied it anyways.

It was probably highly amusing seeing her so confused... or, rather, it would have been, if he had actually been looking in her direction. "What are you looking at..?" She turned, and found that what she had been looking at before had gotten much, much closer, and she could tell what it was now.

And her blood ran cold.

Expressions are an interesting thing. Many times they can be mistaken for something else by different people. In Krae's case, however, her expression was clear to anyone:

Absolute stark terror.

Den (and anyone watching...) wouldn't have much time to observe this phenomenon, however, as she quickly gathered her wits and bolted, managing to take time to grab him by the arm- fire or no- and drag him along. One thing was for certain, that little demon could move when motivated.


Funny how Fallen Angels had that effect on people.

"Bank those damned fires as much as you can, if you can," she hissed, "And don't make any more noise than you have to. Trust me, you do not want to meet that thing."Dragging people around is fun! -

[Sokuro]

Bell tolls echoed over the nearby land while, within the village, residents were forced to their homes- clearing the once busy streets to not but a whisper of death; Save for the guard patrols mucking about. Two guards posted at the southern road carried out a conversation of their own, speaking of a young woman and cloaked man among the rooftops, and paid little attention to what ever they should be keeping watching over.

However, within the village was another story. The alleyways were no longer so wondrous a place to hide and had otherwise forced any dark-dwellers to keep on the move. Patrol guards of two to three made entwining circuits of the winding pathways both alley and street- Each offering a shout to others should they find something of interest. One would hope it not catch the attention of said skyward guest.

Veryan had kept on the move indeed, exchanging his path from alleys to rooftops, though never lingering in plain sight atop them for more than a moment. Archers had been placed at intervals along the rooftops in such places to grant vantage points of even the nearby forest line.

A wondrous mess you made of things, Veryan. Really ought to think about killing people in their homes for once....

Veryan chuckled to himself as he dropped down behind a closed up street shop and pulled the leather canvas aside before creeping behind the veil. "Oh bloody hell..." He muttered, upon realizing he'd come to rest in one of the more peculiar vendors. An assortment of relics, charms, and more, dedicated to following Sol's guidance, rest within, bringing a nasty sneer to crawl along Veryan's cloaked expression.

Oh, wonderful. Not only are we stuck in a city where they want our head, but you've decided to slap us into a bloody fanatic's hut. Genius my friend, Genius.

Veryan shook his head, careful not to utter a word as a patrol slipped by, bickering among themselves as to who would find him, and something about a paid friend from the loser.... really, such childish behavior for the people charged to protect this town.

[Silvarn]

He followed Krae's lead without resistance, bolting along side of her. Though, he dismissed her idea. If he summoned the black fires, he would outstrip her and leave her behind for whatever was in the sky. He could scoop her into his arms and dash that way, but that would make them a single target. Instead, he drew Lucid Edge, an action silent as mist over the water. Now properly armed, Edward continued running beside Krae, glancing over his shoulder frequently, trying to figure out what in the Blue Blazes this thing was.

Something starting scratching at his throat, then several other somethings joined in. Edward gripped his throat with his free hand, repressing the dire urge to cough and clear his throat. He swallowed several times, quick and hard, but the demons continued scrabbling frantically. Obviously, his master believed he was doing something incorrectly. But, he ignored the demons and grimaced through the pain their little claws were causing.

Then he hacked horrendously, spewing black bile all over his torso. He stumbled as the sensation took the feeling out of his legs, and he massaged his throat, trying to the alleviate the pain from the outside, but to no avail. He coughed up one last clot of bile, then the demons ceased antagonizing him. He wiped his mouth quickly, then took off again, ignoring whatever expressions Krae might have thrown his way. The demons began clawing at him again, but he ignored them, though a foreboding sense of insurrection snaked through his veins.

[Lujayn]

She had stopped as he had started coughing up some strange black substance, eyes furrowed in concern, as well as irritation. A quick glance over her shoulder showed that the fallen angel hadn't yet given chase- quite possibly, he hadn't noticed her at all.

Either that, or he was toying with her. Again.

As they started off again, she realized that they had headed back towards the town- or, at the very least, another part of it. It was a little more deserted than the area she had left, and she noted a nicely deserted building that would be good for hiding in.

There was a stand, too, and it looked like there might be someone there... but she paid it no heed. The fallen angel in the air was a little more pressing.

She grabbed Den, and literally threw him into the building- the door was open- and then darted in after him, shutting the door as quickly and quietly as she good, before leaning against it and slowly sliding down to the ground in semi relief.

A moment of silence. And then, slightly hysterical laughter escaped from her mouth, before she clapped a hand over it and stifled the sound. The hand trembled slightly... in fact, the arm and the body it were attached to were all trembling.

"Well. This has been a wonderful few days, hasn't it?" She asked the air. She looked at Den. "Oh, right. You don't know what that was, do you?"

Of course he didn't. They hardly ever came to the human plane.

"That, my darkly flaming friend, was a Fallen Angel," she continued with false cheer. "Even the most powerful Devils fear them. With good reason, I suppose." Another laugh, this one more self mocking. "I suppose? I know first hand why! Ha! You might suggest to your little inner demons to stay moderately quiet, unless they relish the idea of being smote into dark oblivion in the most painful way imaginable."

A few breaths, and she managed to control the trembling. A few more, she was completely composed. You could scarcely believe she'd been on the brink of insane terror.

"Hopefully he'll go away. There's a slim chance he didn't see me. If he did, though... well, I suggest bolting." She gave him a look, then. "And, please, don't try to kill him. His power is only slightly less than Lucifer's, and you'll be decimated."

She seemed to think he was stupid or something.And, yes, Sokuro, she was looking at the little thingy YOUR character was in. Just so you know :3 -

[Sokuro]

Veryan lingered within the closed street-shop and simply listened, biding his time til darkness took the lands and hoping none would find it necessary to re-open the town. Ears tensing with a quick perk, Veryan heard the approach of two who took no heed to the obvious lockdown of the streets. He'd listened carefully, not making a sound nor disrupting the shop as the door nearest him shut with haste.

Oh more to play with! Come come Mr. Fearless, let's have some fun!

Veryan sneered at the sarcasm apparent in Khiiroon's tone and hissed beneath his breath- though quickly silenced as the patrolling guards returned. To his abysmal luck, they came to rest against the shop, nearly tearing the leather veil from it's bindings and continued on with their ramblings; Speaking of a black comet or perhaps demon bird. Clearly both being clueless to what it was they could see, and neither the more willing to agree to disagree. Bickering on and on with such disregard to their duty it made even a rogue such as Veryan lick his teeth in disgust. Honor... something so few had these days.

Finally having listened to enough, Veryan drew both short blades from either side with the quiet ring of crystal goblets, causing the two guards to silence and turn faces to eachother. With the setting sun as it were, their shadows cast had shown Veryan his time was short and so he rose his left blade, held with the blade along the back of his arm, and with a snap of his wrist, lashed the razor sharp edge through the leather sheen, catching each guards spine with a single strike.... although this had not got quite as planned. Both guards crumpled to the ground with rather audible clangs of steel to steel, catching the attention of multiple patrols nearby.

"We've got him! Don't let him escape!" The guards shouted over the city as pair by pair, they closed in on the street-side shop.

Oh that was positively brilliant my friend! Now we'll be hung by the neck and gutted. Left out for the beasts to--

"Be silent!" Veryan snapped, caring little for his tone now that he was discovered, as he lunged from the canvas from the left side. Arrows whipped through the air and embedded into the doorway that strange woman and her companion had tucked away behind as Veryan curled into a ball, rolling a single full pace before his feet met the earth with a heavy thud. With a grunt, Veryan found his right arm pinned to his side, an arrow having caught him and pierced clear through- stopped only by meeting a rib. Without a moment to fix this little issue, Veryan whirled about on his left foot and ducked into the nearest alley, leaving a rather obvious trail of blood behind.

One by one the guards followed suit, those nearest hurling their pikes and archers giving chase along the rooftops. Bloody hell... since when did this country protect a simple village so heavily? Veryan thought to himself as he put a touch of distance between him and the guards; Just long enough to wretch the arrow from his arm, snapping the shaft first so as to save tearing more flesh with the arrowhead. He'd given just enough time to himself to round yet another corner as he dipped his left hand into a pouch at his waist, pulling out a pinch of what looked to be a sickly green clay. With a hiss beneath his cloak, Veryan spread the substance over both the entry and exit wound on his arm as he ran, teeth clenching as his wound flared pain up his shoulder... twas the price he payed for slacking.

Another rounded corner and Veryan found himself only paces away from a rather bulky guard, clearly the muscle to their other brain, who simply grinned with a near ogre-like stupidity. Fantastic, a Bruiser... He muttered as he leapt forth, placing his left foot to a barrel and bounding higher, from building to building he climbed; Or at least, so he'd tried. After three bounds Veryan found his right ankle caught by the brute's meaty hand, wrenching him down to the earth with breath-stealing slam.

Veryan groaned in distaste as darkness stole his vision.. a bloody oaf had caught him. It took little time before the other guards had caught up, hooting in delight and some even showing gratitude to the Bruiser's triumph before hoisting the unconscious man into binding, hauling him away to the stockades.

[Silvarn]

"One of the Fallen?" Edward echoed as a groan. She was right...the Fallen were the right hands of Father Lucifer, beings of immense power not to be trifled with. While had been able to hold his ground against the angel previously, he was certain the Fallen would tear him to fleshy shreds. As this realization dawned upon him, the six demons bound inside his throat ceased their clawing and were uncharacteristically silent. Edward merely nodded in affirmation, then peeked out the door.

He swiftly slammed it shut, just in time for several arrows to embed themselves into it, thudding harmlessly against the door, though the shafts penetrated through the door. "Well, what a lovely surprise. Apparently, we're still not welcome here." he crept over to a window and peeked outside, searching for the Fallen.

The Fallen descended in black majesty, an infernal aura emanating from it and permeating the surrounding landscape. With grave steps, it strode forward with an utter inhuman grace, aimed directly for their location.

"He seems dead set on hunting you down." he grumbled. "And even if he isn't stomping his way here to kill us, I'd still like to put some serious distance between us and him, more than just one building."

Without waiting for her response, he grabbed her wrist and drug her to the opposite of the building. With hardly a loss in velocity, he slashed out a triangular exit in the wall with Lucid Edge, knocking through it easily with his shoulder. He leapt through the opening, bringing Krae after him.

"Really, we should just get out of this town." he suggested, slicing his way into another building. "And, the sooner, the better."

[Lujayn]

She jumped went the arrows thudded the door, and then frowned when she heard a commotion outside. "What on Earth is going on out there?" she grumbled. "It's like a war zone- ack!" She hadn't noticed his hand and was caught slightly off guard when dragged off in the direction of the back wall.

She was getting a little tired of being caught off guard and surprised. It wasn't doing much for her assassin's ego, and she was very tempted to kill something to make herself feel better.

"Of course he wants to hunt me down. He wasn't able to finish his "game" last time I saw him- Kæs blindsided him before he could finish." She muttered. "And I have to agree. I've been in more welcoming places... Hell being one of them."

Still being dragged, she mulled a thought over. "And I'm pretty sure I know who's responsible for all of this, too... a certain annoying little nut case I met a little while before..." she trailed off when she caught notice of a few guards carting an unconscious man away.

She blinked. "Oh. There he is." She said, pointing. Then smirked. "Ha, serves him right, the little prick."

Krae could be extraordinarily unsympathetic.

[Sokuro]

Unaware of the other visitors it seemed the guard payed little attention to anything other than their recent little fugitive catch, hooting and hollering out things such as "We'll hang the crafty little bastard before he wakes!" or "I say we cut him up and feed him to the swine!" needless to say, very little of it played to Veryan's favor, and for good reason. As the guards passed by to the stockade, there lie a pile of around ten bodies, some in more than once piece.

With little more than a moment's glance back, the last guard to enter the stockade shut the fine oak door with a heavy slam, obviously without a care to being proper. Inside the stockade, however, Veryan was not tossed in a cell.. no... they had special plans for him. One of the taller guards, carrying a rather scruffy tone spoke up to the Bruiser.

"Morden! Fetch the irons, and for Sol's sake don't forget the damned locks this time! We don't need another escapee."

Turning on his right heel, he came to face another, more pudgy and, by looks assumed, more worthless of the guard.. probably here in favor of the town's more wealthy families.

"Lontis if you don't get off your swine-stuff backside and do some real work or I swear I'll feed you to father's dogs! Now get the damned whip! I never know where you hide that bloody thing!"

Around the time he'd even begun to speak to the second man, the Bruiser, Morden, had already hobbled off into a cell, shortly returning with a proud look on his face and irons in hand... The moronic, so easy to please..

Lontis was quick to his feet, though apparently it took a good deal of effort and snapped his right hand up, curled to a fist, to cross his chest in a single clang of rusted iron to rusted iron.

"Yes Sir, Captain Ionur!"

With waddle and sway, Lontis hobbled off down the steps in the back, to the cellar of the stockades. No daylight.. in fact, hardly any light at all.. and the slosh of Lontis' boots were clear evidence that, either the ground was soaked in water, or something more, although the wretched, and to most, stomach-churning scent that followed the pudgy guard was near clear statement to what went on down there.

"Here you are, Sir."

Lontis held out a rugged, tattered, over-used whip; Wrapped in cow hide and lined with what one could assume to a finely threaded wire. Ionur snatched the whip without even so much as a thanks and turned to the other guards, who still held Veryan's unconscious body.

"String him up toward the wall and gag him. The town doesn't need to hear this street-rat's cries." Ionur barked, the guards quick to obey. After binding Veryan's wrists to the loops in the ceiling, Ionur unraveled the whip with a snap, to which the other guards stepped back in confusion. Ionur grinned... that sadistic little grin a guard captain should, by rights, never have, and snapped his arm forth, along with the brand of the whip, tearing through Veryan's cloak like butter and bringing with it, a near perfect shred of flesh.

Veryan's senses came to like an arrow to the eye, an inescapable pain washing over his back as a quick howl of pain echoed from him and around the guard hall, though quickly silenced by one of the guards cramming a foul scented cloth in his mouth.

"Oh this is just fantastic Veryan! They're going to shred us to pieces! Wonderful end to the day, wouldn't you say?" Echoed Khiiroon, though barely noticed within the burn of pain that lapsed over Veryan's thoughts. Lash by lash Ionur cracked the whip against Veryan's back, each crack of the whip echoing from the open windows of the hall, until ten visible wounds slowly oozed down the cloth of his garments; Leaving Veryan in a limply hanging figure, driven once more to the brink of falling unconscious.

Satisfied for the moment, Ionur motioned to the two guards beside Veryan, who's faces were clearly rather ill from the sight of such flesh strewn across the floor between Ionur and Veryan... Perhaps Ionur had earned his place by fear instead of right? The two guards, though with distaste, unbound Veryan and hauled him off to a cell in the back, dropping him face-first to the cold stone floor before exiting and shutting the door behind them. Veryan could hear only one voice before the sliver between freedom and death slipped shut. "Let him rot." Ionur muttered... Now Veryan had an idea on who he was to gut first, if ever he escaped. But for now.. darkness claimed him once more.

[Silvarn]

"Well, isn't that just dandy? I would've liked to meet him, but I'm afraid the circumstances are non-permitting. Another time, perhaps when we aren't running for our lives, so to speak?" Edward growled in his finest sarcasm.

As the two barreled down the streets, Edward bodily knocking people out their way with his shoulder, another figure came charging into view. The Fallen literally smashed through a stone building, spraying the debris into the streets. Guards ran from him, weeping for their gods to save them, only to have his hands answer for them.

"Is there no eluding this guy?" Edward grumbled. He resumed running, then he noticed a shift in the stone. Rather, the sound they made as he pounded along. Instead of being the typical, flat, hard sound, the noise was now -- hollow?

Being his impulsive self, Edward slashed a crude triangle into the street around himself. Almost comically, the triangle hovered for a moment, then plummeted beneath the stone. They crashed through into another stone floor, causing a torrent of dust rush through the chamber. Edward, and his demons, spent a good moment hacking up the dust. When he finally recovered, he took his bearings.

"Oh, not again." he groaned, wedged his head in between the iron bars comprising his temporary prison. Temporary, because within a moment, Lucid Edge had carved the bars away.

Then he heard breathing.

"What have we here?" he asked the near-darkness, swaggering towards the source of the sound.

[Lujayn]

At his sarcastic comment, Krae gave him a rather rude hand gesture behind his back, before being dragged off once more through the streets, attempting to keep as far out of the way as the people they were hurtling through as possible- she didn’t exactly relish the idea of smacking her face into someone’s armour. Especially, since bits of stone debris were already tapping her head.

“I can only think of one place safe from the fallen, but I don’t think either of us are going to be going there any time soon… or at all,” Krae remarked dryly, “They have a rather one-track mind, too. It’s one of their fail-”

She was cut off as they fell through the street and crashed down to the level below, a nicely sized rock smacking her in the knee shortly before she fell onto her rear. In short, not a very spectacular or graceful landing on her part.

She was beginning to wonder which was more bruised: her body, or her ego.

Krae glowered at her perpetually glowing companion through the dust with a look that could have set boulders to flame. “I know this might be hard for you to understand,” she hissed, “But I don’t suppose you could try warning me before you- oh, Hell, what are you looking at now?”

She peered around him, looking at the limp, rather bloody body on the floor. “Hmm. That form looks awfully familiar…"

Pushing Den out of her way, she strode past him, stopping before the limp form. She tilted her head, then turned the body over with her foot- which was probably extraordinarily painful for the man on the floor- and sighed as she saw his face. "Maledictio vita."

She was beginning to tire of running into people she disliked continuously.Krae desperately needs a redeeming moment. Her reputation is in tatters. -