Loki tried to remain calm as he followed Tara through the ship. He believed what he had said earlier but that didn’t stop himself from second guessing himself every step of the way. Every instinct he had developed growing up as a Zoner was telling him he was making a mistake.
However, in the end he ignored the voices in the back of his mind telling him to turn around a run and kept on going and followed Tara into the new room where he saw a new woman who obviously had Kusarian features. She held something in her hands but Loki couldn’t make them out. He put on his best carefree smile, unsure if he was fooling anyone, and introduced himself, “Howdy, name is Loki Valmir. Nice to meet you.”
"Loki Vladimir? That's an interesting name. Now, now. I won't be bombarding you with questions, i'm sure the Snows have done enough with that. Put simply, i'm here to grant your with."
Slowly drawing her hand back from near his face. Smirking slightly. She reaches onto a chain which was clipped to her waist, slowly unclipping it and holding it up. On the end was a slightly glowing stone. "Loki, do you have any idea of what this is?"
Tilting her head curiously, wondering what kind of knowledge he had of the Nomads and the related subjects.
Loki refrained from letting any of the surprise at the kusarian woman’s forwardness and simply continued to smile and said, “Actually it is Valmir not Vladimir but I can understand the confusion I don’t have a very common last name”
In response to her question he slowly started to look over the strange glowing stone she held up to him. His smile faded away and look of intense curiosity replaced it as he thought about the possibilities of the what the object quite be. It seemed to resemble descriptions of active nomad artifacts that he had heard about but he had no idea what the objects use might be as he had never encountered an object like it in person. After a few moments of staring at the object he looked back up at the woman and replied, “Honestly my best guess would be some sort of Nomad artifact and since it is glowing I would assume it is active and not one of the useless conversation starters some rich folks are fond of. I wouldn’t even begin to guess at what it does though since I really don’t have much first hand experience in the matter. I am sure whatever it does is fascinating."
Izumi slowly brings her hand up and presses it against her chest. Balling the stone in her other hand. "Fascinating..? Well, that's a very good way to put it. You look so innocent too.. Be gentle with me, it's m-.." Being cut off by Tara who groans from the other end of the room. "Izzummii, could you not?"
Izumi gives the other female a sly grin. "Hey, hey, I gotta have some fun while I can! I never get to do this too often!" Tara sighs. "To think that 'you' of all people would be saying that. Don't you have enough fun back at Altiar?
The Kusarian merely sticks her tounge out at the female. "Ah, sorry about this." With a swift motion, she presses the stone against the back of his neck. The male could slowly feel his conciousness begin to fade away into a very deep sleep. Tara and Izumi slowly set him on the ground, pulling him up on a couch with some effort in the room. Izumi sitting sideways on his chest, pressing the stone against him once more. Closing her eyes as she begins to concentrate.
Feelings. Targeting the Nomad memories. The artifact and female slowly began to 'warp' his feelings towards the Nomads, making them stronger by a longshot. Attempting to assure complete loyalty. By the time she was done with his mind, any doubt was completely erased, with enough added in where he wouldn't do such even if people tried to change his mind. That was what he signed up for afterall.
Izumi gets up once she finished, stretching out her arms. Letting him rest on the couch, leaving the room to find something else to do, throwing Tara a slight smile. Tara stayed in the room, getting comfterable on a chair as she waited for him to come to.
The moment the strange stone touched him Loki a wave of calm flood over him as his consciousness slipped away. Soon after he felt the influence of the stone again as foreign ideas flowed into his sleeping mind. Even in his unconscious state he fought the invading thoughts at first....
Do not question your path. I don’t plan on turning my back but I will not follow blindly. Remain loyal to the Nomads. I am loyal to both Humanity and Nomads, I chose this path because it is the best for both. You must pick a side, chose the side of the Nomads.
However it slowly grew harder to distinguish between the foreign thoughts and his own…
I do not have room to falter from the path I have chosen as hesitation could mean death. That does not mean I follow blindly but I must commit to one side so that one day the possibility of peace between Nomads and Humans. Until that day I serve the Nomads.
***
After the process was over his memory of the process had faded he felt at peace… which was strange to him as he had never truly felt at peace. He was always one to question his actions even when he had been committed. Slowly his peaceful mood faded, ironically, he started question whether he should be calm right now or not. However, he never did question the path had chosen anymore though. He slowly sat and saw Tara sitting not to far off. “Did I fall asleep?”
![[Image: NlHBsye.png]](http://i.imgur.com/NlHBsye.png)
