Chapter 9 - Sera
It had been a strange day for the Inquisitor. His days were often strange, but not often like this one. For one, since the beginning of the day Sera had been relentlessly following him about the whole of Skyhold. He hadn't even realised until Leliana had come up to have a quiet word about the legitimate potential risks this could cause to the Inquisitor's health. He hadn't been blind to how his companions and advisors had been acting in recent times, and it seems that they were not blind to their own actions either. From what the Inquisitor had gathered, Sera had been acting strange and downright creepy since earlier that morning when he had bent down to greet some of the smaller children that had recently begun arriving at Skyhold. By itself, this event wasn't so strange; Sera often took to following various members of the Inner Circle around Skyhold for some reason or another. Possibly to discover some form of blackmail.
The primary reason the Inquisitor's infinitely small self-preservation instincts kicked was the way everyone else was also acting. The moment the Inquisitor would come into view, various people around Skyhold would go completely pale, eyes widening in what seemed like terror before dropping whatever they were holding. Even those who weren't holding anything at the time would pick something up as fast as they could, before dropping on the ground in front of them immediately. The first few times this occurred, the Inquisitor was naturally worried and quickly picked up whatever item they had dropped before checking to see if they were all right. The moment he began to leave, they all seemed to completely relax. This process had been repeating itself for seven hours before the Inquisitor finally gave up and locked himself in his room for the inevitable paperwork run as it had been aptly named by his friends. Almost immediately he ran into a problem, requiring the dreaded research in the extensive library within Skyhold. The Inquisitor jogged up the stairs, intent on finishing his research, and subsequently the paperwork in as little time possible. He raised his hand to push the large door to the library open, but froze when he heard the unmistakable sound of Dorian and Sera scheming. Frowning he lowered his hand and stood in place for a moment, contemplating simply leaving the research until later. Finally, curiosity won out and he found himself pressed up against the door, eyes closed and listening intently.
"-tely the best use for all the blackmail I've been gathering." Sera said in an accomplished voice. Dorians laugh came easily through the door.
"You're telling me that the blackmail you've been gathering for weeks, for your own protection I might add, has all been wasted just so you could watch the Inquisitor bend over all day?" Dorian's voice was filled with amusement.
"Not all of it." Sera responded, a smile in her voice. The Inquisitor stared at the door, mouth literally dropped open, completely stunned. Slowly he stepped back from the door, thought processes completely wrecked. He walked slowly down the stairs, turning vacantly into the great hall towards his rooms. He was intercepted by a slightly worried looking group of advisors. Cullen, Leliana and Josephine had been searching for the Inquisitor since he became ten minutes late for the war council. When he couldn't be found in his usual places, they had begun to get worried and the empty expression the lay on his face did little to dash their concerns.
"Inquisitor?" Josephine asked, reaching out the touch his arm gently. "Are you alright?" The Inquisitor stared at her for a moment before shaking his head and walking towards the war council.
"It's like a disease. It just keeps spreading." He grumbled to himself thought processes beginning to function once more. He completely missed the anxious looks his advisors shared.
"Cullen, you go set up a quarantine base, Leliana find out who has been affected. We need to stop this now!" Josephine ordered, running off after the Inquisitor to try and prevent him from becoming infected.
"Inquisitor wait! It's not safe!"
TBH this isn't great. I haven't written one for a while now, for which I apologise, so I'm a bit rusty.