In this world, Magic is Everything. All people, all races, are granted with the power to perform mystical and magical feats via grimories, mystical tomes granted to each and every child on their 15th birthday. Those blessed by the mana can have their names written down in legend.
Shattered Grimoires is the work of the mind(s) of Ardere & Shattered Grimoire's staff. All characters and content are copyright their creators, and may not be replicated without their creators' permission. Black Clover is owned by Yuki Tabata and published by Viz Shonen Jump. All images belong to their original owners. The theme you are currently viewing was made by Eliza of ElizaCodes exclusively for Shattered Grimoires.
Sitting patiently outside a lolly shop was a young woman, her clothing was lavishly foreign to the area and while some passerby's could help "not commenting" on her unusually snazzy outfit, some of the weaker of them could not help but be filled with overwhelming joy at the mere sight of it. Absentmindedly, Nix kicked at the foot of the store's wooden door, it was painted a brilliantly swell colour; blue, and although she could not pass through the threshold without permission, she desperately wished to do so, again. The shopkeeper, having foreseen the natural disaster that was a nobleman's daughter walking down the street, had turned the sign on the door to closed even with people still inside the store. This perplexed Nix, but, having logically gone through the motions of perplexity to sensationalise the egregious lack of manners on her own part, she reasoned with her sweet tooth and grumbling stomach that they were probably training new servants, and that they would visit them later to see what delicious things they may have made for her to eat. The chair Nix was seated on was stubbornly placed in such a way that the door could not be opened without bumping into the back of her, as if the people inside were her personal hostages and they were being forced to make sugary confectionery in exchange for their vaguely unfulfilling lives. Laughing maniacally to herself, Nix conjured a previously pilfered sweet cake from a brown paper bag. It was a sponge cake covered in a light coat of chocolate, sprinkled with a modest amount of desiccated coconut. Squishing it between her fingers, she found it to be robust and structurally springy; it's texture was versatile, and having very much enjoyed eating it, Nix gladly consumed most of the delicacy by picking at it until it was nought but a small snowball tuft of flour which she discarded as it didn't have any chocolate left on it. They had left it on windowsill by the doorstep, and while Nix had first felt insulted by the gesture, she felt generally curious as to their superstitious, almost sanctimonious digression with which they went about their business ignoring her. Nix walked away from the sweet store, walking down the lane whilst peering over her shoulder back at the staring folk whose gaze lingered longer than was sincerely friendly, thinking it a strange custom in the way it was tactfully suggestive for good word of mouth for the business, Nix felt it was best to see a doctor later to see if she had been poisoned, just in case.
The apothecary was a nice young man, considerably well-versed in both the mundane and obscure processes required for various hermetic principalities, generally used for medicines or potions that re-affirmed the bodies humours, he was trying to ignore her attention, but Nix knew he was failing. He pointed towards the store adjacent his and remarked upon the quality of their beeswax, though they predominantly sold honey, they might not mind if she inquired about candle tapers as one of the servants was relatively well known for the candles she made. Though, the man had made a mistake, Nix forgave him. Her hobby was working at that store, she was suddenly not very offended by how very little attention he had been giving her "The candle-making servant", but soon conceived that his preferences were subtly more aligned with the female customer he was ogling when he thought she wasn't paying attention. When he was ill prepared for a well-time cough, the woman marched out of the store and Nix, brandishing a smile, followed her. She found herself meekly staring up at the woman who was irritated; out of common decency how ever she was too embarrassed to really cause a scene, as Nix had ghosted behind her another block yet. Before not being able to stifle her giggles any longer, Nix managed to salvage herself by seating herself at a small table outside a simple restaurant which smelt of steamed vegetables. Grinning like a wolfish simpleton, she eagerly awaited the waiter and the menu he would provide her with, Nix had already decided what she had wanted to eat but was reluctant to share with her prey what would whet her appetite. The waiter was a woman, reluctant at first to meet Nix's disapproving gaze, her entire composure screamed for a male waiter to be sent but the woman would suffice, Nix counted on her fingers,
"Pork, chicken, beef and noodles."
Obviously wanting these things, her suggestion was taken agreeably and before long, a platter of food was lain before her. Protein rich broth's steamed before a humbly surprised Nix, there were bones bobbing in the bowls; fat with marrow, her expression changed to contented when she began to drink. Smiling, she waved off the excess heat from the tip of her tongue, when nothing else disagreed with her, she continued to gingerly although nimbly make her way around the various bowls in front of her. Sampling just about everything on the menu would not be a terrible suggestion, but, she only had so much stomach room and this filled her with an overwhelming sadness. Nix was brave and did not cry, there would be plenty of time in the future when she would be hungry and she could eat then. There was hope!
Chishio found herself lonesomely traveling the noble region. She wasn't too sure what she had planned on this fine day, but was up for anything and anything. The young elven female waltzed down the streets and only she was aware of her plans of the day.
To work on a mission.
After successfully completing the mission she'd head off for something to eat. The woman's golden robe swayed behind her, she was prideful and proud. She was elegant and endearing. She was serious and frowning. She wanted nothing more to eat though after a day of waking up early and working on tasks hard.
Chishio would be taken off guard by a sight before her though.
She'd see a very young girl eating a bunch of food in front of herself. She was so youthful looking.... where were her parents? Chishio decidedly thought to herself surely her parents must be around the girl. But after sitting and seeing no adult approached other than the waiter she soon grew super worried.
Maybe an orphan?
No, she belonged to someone!
Her clothes surely shown someone of a prestigious royal.
Not as much of a royal as Chishio though, that she knew. That she had a feeling of. As Chishio stared at the girl and these thoughts went through her mind the woman would be interrupted by the waiter. Chishio had already sat down to a nearby table and decided to observe her eating a fuckload of food nonchalantly.
"Anything you'd like to order ma'am?"
"Uh- how about stew. I'll take whatever she's having," Chishio gestured to the pink-haired little girl.
"Alright, be right in a moment ma'am."
And with that, the old waiter vanished inside the restaurant to serve others and submit her order. Chishio now opened up her journal and took some notes of what had occurred that day to keep track of her 'records'. Just basic notes on her progress as a Magic Knight and her journey essentially.
Not having been affronted by the lack of attention that Nix was receiving from the waiter, she elected to not divide the man’s attention as she knew full well men could only think of very few things at a time. Nix finished her food before shifting in her seat and standing, the waiter looked no less panicked as he had been when she reseated herself adjacent the very elegant looking woman. When he returned with the woman’s food Nix could not quite believe her eyes, feeling foolish as to not say so herself, she preemptively suggested a snazzy compliment to the woman she was currently sitting with,
” Excellent food choice. My name is Nix. Bringing someone here for a candlelit dinner, Miss?”
Her smile belied the pride she felt inside; maybe it was the food filling her appetite, but she felt happy to share a common experience with another fellow citizen of clover. Refinement and manners were a thing of recourse in places so humble they were too mundane to describe, Nix having forgotten exactly where she had roamed in her spare time and even with an introspective glance, she was not particularly aware of her current location. Being lost was not the worst thing, if one had a candle, even the dark did not seem so scary, a truly terrible thing would be to be without one, or so thought the young pink-haired girl. The regalia of the Silver Eagles embroidered her cloak, not particularly out of place but certainly very unusually tailored to fit her small frame, it was not enough to garner overflowing criticism and or praise from those around her. Military presence was essential in conflict zones, peace was plentiful under the watchful eyes of the magic knights, and the commoners and nobility alike flourished under the kind and considerate King of Clover. Curiosity got the better of her when she let her thoughts wander, the first inquiry on her mind was an overall assessment of her general satisfaction with the food she had been served but she did not forgo criticising the meal’s quantity; by ordering another three course meal, she disapprovingly shook her head before impatiently turning her attention back to the robed woman who she thought was generally just as snazzy as Nix herself. They both being snazzier than the waiter, and the waiter being no snazzier than anyone else was generally aware of the snazziest person at the table; who in fact was neither pious of the matter or aware of their snazzyness, was rather sympathetic to the snazzier individual, but infinitesimally less snazzy of the two. Nix was very joyfully bemused in the imagining of what the woman’s first compliment would be and could not fathom anything less than an impressive remark of similar caliber to the obvious self-appraisal of food choice that Nix obviously must have suggested by her sheer snazzyness.
"Where are you, parents? You seem a bit young to be roaming the streets by yourself, child?" Chishio would instantly respond to her instead of thanking her for the 'compliment'. Although to be honest, Chishio didn't take it as one. It was too vague and ambiguous for her to tell the woman's true thoughts. And even if she had shared? Well, let's just say Chishio wouldn't understand how much she'd mention 'snazzy'.
"I don't have a boyfriend or someone I'm courting with or any of that. I don't have connections with anyone whose a man except the men in my squad or my own family. So, no I am not having a candlelit dinner in the middle of the day," she didn't even understand why is this girl's business to ask her about her meal. The elf would then be delivered by the waiter.
"Enjoy." he'd state as he set down the beautiful and expensive dishes down, also with beautifully prepared food, in front of her, "Let me know if you need anything else. Hope you like the food." and with that the waiter vanished to take care of other customers waiting to be served.
"Thanks," Chishio said dryly looking at her food not paying him much attention and eyeing the food.
As he left, she'd begin to dine in. She'd give a quick glance at the younger girl's clothes and finally noticed the Silver Eagle embroidery on her cape. So, she was definitely old enough to join the Knights, or perhaps just playing dress up.
"You playing with your father's cape?" Chishio would question and make fun of her. She didn't understand why someone like her could possibly fight. So youthful, clearly some sort of noble who got her way in some sort of way. But how?
Knowing a compliment when she heard it, Nix did not mind her youth being brought into question, she had; after all, only recently been selected to join the magic knights. Having already made an assessment on the elegant woman’s own remarkable longevity, almost certain of a heritage other than human upon the unidentified woman, surrealism seemed to jealously spur Nix to turn away from studying her further. While the woman did not so much protest the inquiry as attest to her own celibacy, Nix infallibly flattered the imperial notion of “keeping it in the family” and wiggled her eyebrows before commenting on this presumed salacious tid-bit of information,
“Far be it for me to presume, but after conception; a father, has very little to do with the raising of a witch.”
Seeming almost certain, as if this information was common knowledge, Nix did not linger on the sentiment of being a witch for long before misconceiving the notion of wearing her father’s cloak to be a slight. Acting appropriately, Nix quietly resigned to compose herself despite appearing to be wearing men’s clothing, though infinitesimally affronted by the vague notion her outfit was anything but the snazziest thing that any one person had ever seen, she was first and foremost nobility. A whisper slipped past her lips, her breath a measure less opaque than it had been, Nix was mostly muttering foul curses to herself in languages that had yet to be transcribed or translated but the vehemence with which she composed herself meekly, it was truely an expression of impressionable efficacy. Her face belied an honest curiosity but being out of place as it was, her smile and closed eyes subtly tried to express that which her words could not,
“I am one of the newest members of the Silver Eagles squad; pleasure to be at your service, my name is Nix Lenore.”
The imposition of salutations ingratiated the speaker to the listener, with the faint hope and notion that a similar courtesy may be afforded, if not by common conception than by the repulsive alternative scaring them into seeming rude. The thought; at least, not just horrified Nix, but also petrified her sensibilities to the point that she sat there relatively mute otherwise, her tone hopefully did not seem obtrusive or too imperial. It sounded every bit as snazzy as it usually did when she listened to her own voice when she spoke, she hazarded a short glance towards the woman as if to endear her further into discussing more than just the weather with her, but fell short and looked at her shoes with the same consideration one may give an eclipse.
Oh, so she was a witch. No father involved with such a situation when it came to a witch after all.
Chishio would decide she had made a mistake with her assumption, but decidedly had not acknowledged this mistake. There was no need for a 'sorry', or a ' my bad' in Chishio's mind. The woman decided that this girl needed no such thing, but any sort of concern or motherly instinct to protect her vanished then reappeared again. She still felt the motive to feel herself higher than the girl in front of her.
Her mannerisms were stern and neutral, but a lot was going on in Chishio's minds. False assumptions based off of how this little girl dressed and of her height.
To Chishio with the way this girl spoke it could be indeed she'd be bratty, especially by the way she dressed and carried herself. There was nothing wrong with being independent but this did not sit well for the Golden Dawn mage. Perhaps, it was because, her assumption had been false and even though it was taken kindly, the megalomaniac and perfectionist guessed wrong.
The elf mentally declared such an idea to reply to such a comment and moved onto the next statement the younger girl had shared with her.
"I'm in Golden Dawn. Chishio Tanaka." she'd say simply. If someone was in Golden Dawn they were certainly of great noble status. Silver-tier or higher. And Chishio was of no exception. People always acted like they never heard of her, she had never done anything spectacular or fancy as of yet. Regardless, her family name was known and fairly foreign.
Chishio was excessively critical about anything and anyone. Yet, she was clearly making this evident as she conversed very little with this 'Nix Lenore'. She hadn't recognized her surname and her age? Well, she probably didn't know too much about the Tanakas and their genius as being healers. Right? Some did and some not. Depended just how involved in the news they were.
Besides, Chishio knew she should conversate with the fellow noble she likely never heard of. If she was a Magic Knight, they'd run into each other again. Making associations and relationships- negative or positive was essential in this field.
"It's a nice day outside. Is it not? I guess so." she'd plainly state and waited for some sort of response. The elf was acting way to cool. Too nonchalant. All Nix had to do was say the right words for a fuse to be bombed.
Listening to her introductions Nix affirmed what she had thought of the woman primarily, snazzy as she were this woman was probably well distinguished and the appropriate respect was necessary when addressing someone of The Golden Dawn. As if remembering the position of the sun she suddenly pivoted on point and fully appreciated how splendidly snazzy the day had been. Though today was no snazzier than usual Nix felt that something hadn’t been particularly broached in the conversation, yet it still nagged at her to show off her unusual prowess to strangers to gauge their responses, she noticed however that she had suddenly become slightly less snazzy than someone who had been innately snazzier passively. The afterglow of a positive response was, after all, a quality of finesse that her spirit lacked; this lustreless insinuation, left her feeling otherwise less than optimally snazzy. Overwhelming sadness filled her soul when Nix witnessed the mundanity of her observations address the world around them, feeling very small in the scheme of things Nix had no inclination to otherwise suppose anything indifferent to such a graceful creature’s repose. An opinion that reflected an general disinterest that Nix felt cross her face, when she regained composure she was unsure of how discourteous the entirety of her facial contortions had pronounced a calm and collected non-verbal communicative phrase. But Nix having felt that she; herself, was being the less snazzy of the two, confided in Chishio a slight resentment that afflicted Nix, the jealousy that nibbled at her incessantly since she had lain eyes on Chishio. Though her question had been relatively unanswered until this point, Nix had observed enough of their surroundings to at least vouch an agreeable expression to concur that it was indeed a nice day outside.
“I would guess that it would be a nice day to be inside today too?”
Not quite sure how to express the covetous infatuation that Nix had immediately developed for the elf, Nix subtly tried to glean what she could from the more experienced magic knight by making dubious conversational remarks. Though not entirely circular in response, Nix’s sparkling tone seemed to resound in her own ears when she chimed in a voice that was mostly theatrical,
“What have you planned for the rest of today, Lady Tanaka?”
Nix would attempt to pronounce every letter of her name with more or less the same regard, inflection and fluency that Chishio had introduced herself with. She had been taught to do so when conversing with someone of noble blood. The methods of the high genes was of some satirical remark to the commoners and even those that swelled in the forsaken region. Their jokes and cruel jests did not bother her. Nix had a fundamentally different point of view being that she was short as she were. Being uniquely snazzy was just an added bonus to her diminutive stature, unfortunately how ever no explanation would allow her to describe how snazzy she felt every time she put on her regalia. Looking over Chishio’s attire; Nix fully feeling the jealousy rising within herself, the woman’s graceful proportions and elegant clothes, the way the men were looking at her; and not Nix, made her feel the fervour of a less snazzy individual.
