#elihal | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

merlot-and-chardonnay · 10 months ago

Text

A Night of Liberation- Elihal

I'm honestly a little surprised I haven't seen many one-shots written for this character from Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. True he didn't have much screen time in the game overall, but I find myself attracted to him, or more specifically I'm very attracted to his confidence and shamelessness in being who he is.

I also have this headcannon that Novigrad is like New York City and the non humans have their own spaces, especially for the ones that would be considered queer, not unlike how black and Latine queer communities carved their own spaces as seen in the show Pose (something I may have touched on in a previous one-shot where the reader is a trans woman witcher and found a community among non-humans who were much like her). I firmly believe that as a gender non-conforming elf, Elihal would be involved in those types of scenes when he's not busy being a tailor.

Plenty of fluff and a raid somewhere in the middle that's hate based in case that's traumatizing. And maybe some suggestive content too.

It was a sweet moment, one you've shared many times with the man...or elf in front of you. There was really no special occasion, it was a merely a moment between two lovers, a random moment that came in the middle of the day when you went to see the elven tailor over some torn dresses that needed mending.

He took his fingers under your chin and lifted it so you could stare into his eyes before he leans in to give you a passionate kiss.

You always admired the way Elihal worked with his hands, the care he put into each stitch and the passion he put into this profession. It was something you've come to admire about the elf ever since you first met him. He truly had a talent in designing and making clothing, from the sharpest doublets to the softest dresses. You had been fond of Elihal for a rather long time, since you've first met him in fact. His occupation wasn't considered conventional at least for a man, or even an elf to a certain extent. Still, it made him happy, and he didn't care what others thought of him. Something else you also admired about the elf.

Honestly, you weren't sure what he saw in you, but it came as a shock when he asked seemingly out of the blue to court you. It came even more shocking since you were human and not many elves engaged in romantic relations with humans; to be fair, not many humans did either.

So, when he asked, you nodded and your visits to his shop became more frequent, whether you needed clothing fixed or not. And many of those visits would last overnight as well. You've never inquired of Elihal's age, but you figured he was old enough to know a few tricks to please a woman in the bedroom.

You've also stood in as his model on several occasions whenever he had an idea for a clothing design and wanted to work on it. Some of the stuff you liked, others not so much, but you didn't mind being his muse, whether it was for a dress or a doublet, as long as you got to spend time with him and as long as it came with passing kisses every now and again.

On this particular day, it was a doublet you were modeling for the elf. You didn't really wear doublets out in public...actually you've worn a doublet in public...actually before courting Elihal you've never tried a doublet on before, not even as a child. Though to be fair, you never were encouraged to try different clothing that wasn't considered conventional for women; if anything, it was heavily discouraged in your family during your formative years. Ladies wear dresses and heels, and wore make-up, and all that other shit. Anything else would make you be seen as less then a woman.

Yet, here you were, wearing men's clothing, and the man you love was here giving you a kiss.

"What...what was that for, Elihal?" you inquire of the elf once he finished, "not that I'm complaining." "You just looked beautiful in this light, I couldn't help myself," Elihal admits.

You felt your face heat up. "You don't believe me?" "No, I do," you assure, "I don't quite feel beautiful wearing this." "I think you look rather stunning," Elihal counters, "with a matching pair of trousers and shoes, it would be perfect." "Ha, yeah that sounds like me," you laugh a little, "I don't suppose you would compensate by wearing a dress?"

It's worth noting that even though you've known Elihal for a while now even before courting him, you didn't know about his hobbies outside of his tailor business. The elf gave a small knowing smile, knowing what he what he had planned for tonight. "I know that look," you tell him as you take the doublet off and put on your regular clothes, "you're up to something." "Meet me back here at dusk," Elihal merely says, giving you a quick peck on the cheek, "I'll make it worth your while."

You weren't sure what to expect, but you give the elf a kiss back before you leave. You had errands to run in the city, so it would take some time. By your reckoning, by the time you were done, it would be near dusk.

-------------------------------

You head back to Elihal's shop around dusk as he had asked. During this time, you've been going over in your head what you elven beau had in stored for this evening. However long you've known Elihal, he could be something of an enigma sometimes. Though it was still one more trait of the elf you admired.

"Elihal?" you knock on the door to announce you were walking in. The lights were still on, but no sign of your lover. "You called?" you turn around to see the elf you love step in from his bedroom.

Your eyes widen in surprise when you see his attire. Elihal was dressed in...well a dress. Blue with red patterns and even heels to match. And when looked closer, you could see Elihal was even wearing makeup. "Elihal?" you finally manage to say, one the shock passed, "you're...you are...?"

"Stunning? Beautiful? The prettiest sight you've ever seen?" Elihal suggests. "It's...well it really is something," you say, tilting your head a bit, "it's a perfect fit, though that should come as no surprise. I've never seen you wear this before." "I made it two days ago," Elihal tells you, "I was planning to show it off tonight in a sort of debut. Along with the doublet that you were modeling this morning." "You....want me to wear the doublet?" you realize, "outside?" "Why not?" Elihal shrugs, "it suits you rather well."

"But...what would other people say?" you ask, feeling a sense of shame from even asking this question. Both from being scared of the idea of being out in public and not being as open minded about this as Elihal clearly was. The comfort he was currently sporting being dressed the way he is definetely suggested he has done this before. "What people? Mere strangers?" Elihal points out, "what does it matter what they think that you don't conform to their rigid ideals of what men and women can and cannot do? Should what they think matter so much to you when they don't even know you and you don't even know them?"

You avert your gaze lightly, knowing Elihal had a point on that. You look at the doublet the elf had in his hands and take them from him. You hold it out, thinking it over. It felt so forbidden that you were considering trying it out, but at the same time, it felt so exciting. Much as you enjoy wearing dresses and being feminine, the thought of crossing social gender lines did sound enticing. The thought of defying society and giving it the middle finger as Elihal clearly was doing just for dressing the way he was right now.

You make a small smile, and it felt like a barrier you had kept up, or more specifically had been built around you was starting to crumble. You take your dress off and place the doublet and trousers on. You take a hair tie and pull your hair up in a bun.

"How do I look?" you turn to face the elf. "Quite handsome, i dare say," Elihal nods in approval. "So where are we going?" you ask after you get your matching shoes on. "You'll see," Elihal says rather cryptically as he puts on a cloak and hands you one. You and Elihal head to the city.

Once further inside, you see a couple priests of the Church of the Eternal Fire preaching to a group of men. Ironically enough, the sermon was on the importance of the difference between women and men and how sinful it was in the eyes of the Eternal Fire when those lines were blurred and mixed around, resulting in confusion and leading weary minds astray into believing that up is down and bad is good and so forth. You noticed the look on Elihal's face when you and him passed the crowd.

Several patrons turned to see the two of you walking by, not quite paying attention at first, but there may have been some stares of condemnation when they recognized what was going on.

You pushed the elf to walk faster, not really feeling safe with how charged up the crowds was from both the priests' fervor in their sermon.

"Where are we going?" you ask. "You'll see," Elihal assures. Once closer to the docks, he leads you towards a path he's clearly taken before. The path lead a what at first seemed like a dive of sorts. Not quite an impressionable looking establishment from the outside from what you could see. But you trusted the elf, and let him lead you inside.

It wasn't all as shady as you admittedly was expecting.

It was actually quite colorful and lively as non-humans congregated and conversed amongst one another, some laughing, others drinking cups of wine or mugs of ale. Looking around, you see a symbol of a green mermaid decorating the walls. You recognized what this place was.

A safe place for people who were different. People like Elihal. Non-humans who didn't conform to the dominate 'normative' culture and in fact exist outside of said culture openly and often in defiance, even if it cost them social status or even their very lives. You've heard of this place before as whispers from others in Novigrad, those whispers mostly coming from overly pious followers of the Eternal Fire who saw places such as this as alters for decadence and moral decay, especially where non humans were concerned. In fact, those same people would use these places as further evidence that beings such as elves, dwarves, and dopplers could not be trusted and were an affront before the light of the Eternal Fire itself.

You didn't really think much of it before, as you've made friends with plenty of elves and dwarves before you ever met Elihal. They were just people trying to live their lives to the fullest. They weren't hurting anyone just for simply existing.

"Is this what I think it is?" you ask of your lover. "It very much is," the elf nods in confirmation, "What do you think?" You look around some more. The patrons were just doing their own thing, hardly even giving you any attention, unlike back in the city when you passed those priests and their followers. Here, no one seemed to care what you were wearing or what you looked like. You were just being yourself...or someone else. It didn't matter, all that did matter was that you were here with the man you loved and you were going to enjoy yourself.

"It is...I'm not sure how to describe it," you admit. Elihal heard his name being called, getting both your attention to a group of elves and half-elves who were dressed similarly to the way the both of you were. These must be Elihal's friends, at least the friends who were also part of this community. Elihal waves back and guides you over so you could meet his friends.

The conversation flowed as smoothly as the wine you drank from. Apparently Elihal had told his friends a lot about you, a few even voicing they were surprised you had actually accepted his invitation to come here, especially dressed the way you were. You felt a little shame at first, thinking maybe they were under the impression you were some prude that preferred things to be folded neatly and kept in little boxes like every other human in this city.

The embarrassment went away, however, when they began to complement your clothing and you in turn gave the credit of the design to Elihal, whom you felt to be one of the best tailors in Novigrad. As the night carried on, you felt you were slowly being accepted into your lover's social circle, the shame you had felt earlier in the evening starting to fade away from being in a place where no one would judge you for being a non-conformist.

Later you and Elihal step out briefly for some fresh air, while also sipping the last of your wine. "I have to admit, I'm actually having fun here," you tell him, face feeling flushed at this point, "I wasn't sure what I was getting into, but I really enjoy myself." "I'm had a feeling you would," Elihal says with a smile, "I had a feeling since we met you would be open to new experiences." "Whatever gave you that impression?" you scoff, "I'm anything but open minded." "...you're here in this place, are you not?" the elf points out, "have you ever been here before?" "No," you shrug. "What was you first impression?" "I supposed it was...different any other establishment I've been to before," you admit, "it just felt so...normal, I guess. Here I am dressed in a doublet and no one even batted an eye. Unlike when we walked past that crowd and those Eternal Fire priests, they looked at us like we were the worse kind of criminal. People like them, I've known my whole life since I was a child. They always had such a rigid view of the world. But these people in that tavern, they were so...liberated. And confident. I wish I was more like that."

"You could be," Elihal points out, "it's never too late to learn."

"I guess that's true," you say, about to sip your wine again but realize your cup is empty, "I'm glad you should me this world, Elihal. I would like to come again. I really like your friends. Also," you take his hand, "I wouldn't object to seeing you in this dress again. You do look rather ravishing," you give the elf a knowing grin. "Oh my, into a little role playing are we?" Elihal grins back, "that, good sir, is hardly anyway to treat a lady." "Would be gentlemanly of me to at least request a kiss from the lady?" you ask to which he obliges, or at least he was about, but then pulls back in a teasing manner. "Oh, so now you're playing," you feign exasperation before getting serious, "you really do need to show me how you do your eye shadow. It's better than mine."

Elihal chuckled a bit. Before either of you could share that kiss, however, the two of you hear soldier's shouts. Sure enough, you turn to see the familiar armor of the Temple Guard, one of them shining a torch your way, "you there!" "Arrest these perverse deviants," the commander orders. "What for? We didn't do anything!" you protest. "A man in a dress, even an elven one is an affront to the Eternal Fire," the Temple guard commander says, "same goes for a woman in a doublet." "Fucking freaks," one of the guards mutter.

"I believe you must be mistaken good sir," Elihal says, facing the guards, placing his hands on his hips, "isn't obvious I am lady. You should be treating me as such." "Oh I'll treat you like a lady alright, you cocksucker," the guard sneers, fixing to pull out a dagger, "you want to be a woman so badly, I'll make you one." You react and kick the guard in the groin before he could proceed to hurt Elihal, "you stay away from my lover's parts, they belong to me!" you exclaim, "yeah, that's right. I coupled with an elf, and I'm not ashamed of it. What are you going to do about it?"

The guards draw their swords in response.

"I think now would be a good time to warn the others," Elihal says, grabbing your arm as the two of you run inside to warn the patrons of the impending raid. They were quick to scatter as the Temple Guards broke in and raided the place, arresting and/or killing anyone they could get their hands on.

Luckily though, most managed to escape out the back or through some other secret entrances that have built into this place for just such an occasion, which based on quickly everyone reacted, it was clear this was something that did happen unfortunately rather often.

You and Elihal were among the lucky ones to escape, heading back into the city, away from the docks.

Once out of sight from the Temple Guards, you and Elihal stop and catch a breath, then you notice Elihal start to giggle. "What's so funny?" you ask in confusion. "Just thinking about what you did back there," Elihal tells you, "defending my honor and such. I am quite flattered." "Well, it wouldn't have been gentlemanly of me to leave a defenseless woman to take on those brutes," you retort back before you get serious, "they could've hurt you, Elihal." "...you're probably right about that," Elihal admits, "and they had hurt many of the patrons over there at the Green Mermaid. All because they wanted to live their most authentic lives." "They...you lot still manage to thrive," you nod, "you thrive and resist and still manage to find joy in the littlest things. Not letting anyone force them to be hiding underground or living lives that don't fit them. You're more liberated then any of the Eternal Fire's followers. I want to be liberated too."

Elihal nods in understanding, "let's go home."

"Say, Elihal," you say as the two of you walk back to his place, "any chance we could do this again? Dressing up and going out and painting the town red, I mean? After you mend these trousers that is. They got torn back during the raid." "Of course, we can do this anytime you wish," Elihal answers, "and I'll be sure to have the trousers mended. In no time, they'll feel like you're not wearing anything at all."

"Hmmm, I wouldn't mind actually not wearing anything at all when we get home," you give the elf a suggestive grin. "Now am I supposed to work on my thread and needle if you're laying around in what you humans call a birthday suit? It'll do nothing but distract me from my mending." "That's the idea I was going for."

Masterlist

#the witcher #witcher 3 #elihal

3 notes · View notes