When she'd opened up her shop Eloise hadn't really been thinking about how it would impact her life. She just wanted a place where she could go and work on spells and teach herself more magic while also helping anyone else who might want to do the same by providing valuable resources. Sure, she might have looked like the quirky twenty-two year old college student with a weird obsession with the occult to anyone outside the supernatural community but that was fine with her.

Now she's got all sorts of supernatural creatures and the occasional human in the loop that comes in to buy this or that. Sometimes they even request specialty items. Which is how Eloise finds herself grinding dried vervain into a fine powder one stormy Saturday afternoon.

The shop's empty, the last customer having left with a bag full of candles and a container of scented oil nearly an hour ago, leaving Eloise with nothing but her thoughts and the task at hand.

Eloise is startled out of her work when the phone hanging from the wall behind the register begins ringing, the sharp metallic shriek ripping apart the serene quiet that had fallen over the shop while Eloise had worked. Wiping her hands on her thighs Eloise sighs and makes her way over to the phone.

She flips her hair over her shoulder before taking the phone off the receiver and holding it up to her ear, "Thank you for calling Dispel and That Spell, this is Eloise speaking how may I help you?"

"Dispel and That Spell? Are you shitting me, Ellie?"

"Miranda thought it was a nice name so don't you fucking judge me."

"You and your roommate are idiots."

Eloise smirks as she leans back against the counter, eyes on the door to make sure she doesn't accidentally ignore any customers that might wander in while she's on the phone with Damon. She probably won't get any customers right now considering the fact that it's raining pretty badly outside and most of Eloise's customers don't tend to come during lunch hours anyway. Which means she has basically all the time in the world to talk.

But still, better safe then sorry.

"What do you want, Damon?" Eloise asks, smiling a bit when her vampire sputters theatrically.

"Why do you always assume I want something?" Damon demands, sounding mildly offended.

Is she didn't know better Eloise might have thought he was being serious.

"Because I know you... If you just wanted to talk you would have waited until after hours to call."

"Fine, you got me," Damon's voice is playful but Eloise can hear the tension. "What do you know about Klaus Mikaelson?"

Eloise purses her lips, hums thoughtfully, and says, "Well, not that much to be honest. I just know what I hear through the grapevine... Why?"

There's a long pause on the other side, muffled whispers barely audible, and Eloise drums perfectly manicured fingers against the lacquered wood of the counter as she waits for Damon to finish whatever argument he's having with... Probably Stefan. And if Eloise had to guess she'd bet good money on their argument revolving around the Petrova Doppelganger the two of them are so hung up on.

"Look, can you just come to Mystic Falls?" Damon asks softly over the line.

"Um, why?"

"Because I need my witch."

"What happened to the witch you have?" Eloise demands, though it's nice to know that Damon prefers her over the Bennett witch.

"Bennett's great and all but you're my witch. My rock. My fucking quarterback."

"Quarterback? Really?"

"Ok fuck you too, I'm trying to prove how important you are to me and how much I need you, so could you not act like a raging witch?" Damon asks.

"Har har, you're so funny," Eloise pinches the bridge of her nose. "Look, I can't just drop everything and come out there, ok? I have orders that need to go out this week and shipments coming in."

"Have Miranda take care of it."

Eloise runs her fingers through her hair, not caring that she's messing with the curls she's taken so much care with early that morning.

She could ask Miranda to run the shop. There's plenty magical residue in the shop for the Siphoner to use should she need it and Eloise can always reinforce the magic woven into the walls. It's not like Eloise doesn't trust her roommate, she trusts her with her life. It's just that this shop is her baby, it's her life. And Damon's just asking her to drop everything and come to Mystic Falls.

Which is odd in and of itself because Damon has never once in the four years they've known each other asked to her come to his home town.

"Is it really that important that I come?" Eloise asks, gnawing absently on her lip as she looks around the brightly lit shop.

"I wouldn't be asking you to come out if it weren't."

Eloise nods her head and says, "Alright. I'll ask Mirdanda if she can watch the shop."

A huff of breath escapes Damon and she can hear him turn away to tell someone that she's coming out before he turns his attention back to the phone, "You're seriously the best ever. I owe you one. When do you think you'll be out?"

"I can maybe leave tomorrow? I have to get all my shit together and make sure Miranda has everything she'll need before I cane actually leave." Eloise replies.

"Ok, just come straight to the boarding house, you can crash there."

"You totally owe me one Damon." Eloise says but she's not actually expecting anything from the blue eyed vampire.

Eloise hangs up before he can say anything in response.

Damon owes her a lot of favors, she's been doing spells for him and keeping an eye on Mystic Falls since they met all those years ago. Never once has Eloise ever asked for anything in return, but she likes dangling it over the vampire's head. Likes to watch him squirm. Besides, Eloise's birthday is in a few weeks and Damon always gets her something nice.

The little chunk of raw garnet dangling from her neck is testament enough to that.

Humming softly Eloise returns to her previous task of grinding dried vervain into powder to be mixed into a lotion. It had been ordered by a young woman with soft green eyes and Eloise hadn't asked questions. Eloise never asks questions. It's probably why people like her so much. Eloise likes to think that her customers place a certain amount of trust in her and she prides herself on not breaking that trust.

With steady hands Eloise measures up the vervain and carefully stirs it into the sweet smelling lotion as she mumbles under her breath.

She almost doesn't hear the bell above the door chime, almost doesn't catch the whiff of the incredibly expensive french perfume Miranda likes to wear, almost doesn't smile when the siphoner wraps her arms around Eloise's waist and rests her chin on her shoulder.

Almost.

"I brought you lunch." Miranda says, chin digging into Eloise's shoulder for a moment. "It's on the counter."

"You didn't have to."

"Course I did, you're my person. I like to feed my person."

"Damon was right, you're an idiot."

Miranda scoffs as she pulls away, red hair dancing around slim shoulders as she moves to stand in front of Eloise's work table. The girl's nails, sharp and matte black, click as she drums them against the wood.

"What did he want?" Miranda asks, eyebrow raised.

"I need to take a week or two and head out to Mystic Falls. Would you mind watching the shop?"

"That's fine but why are you going to Mystic Falls exactly?"

"I don't really know. Damon asked about Klaus Mikaelson and then asked if I'd come out."

If Miranda's sudden stillness weren't a big indicator of just how badly her statement had affected the girl, her strangled choking noise sure as fuck is.

"Wait, wait, wait. Hold up. Klaus Mikaelson? As in the original vampire... That Klaus Mikaelson?"

"So you know him?" Eloise asks a bit sarcastically, because everyone who's anyone in the supernatural community knows who Klaus Mikaelson is... Even if just through rumor.

"Fuck, Eloise, everyone in the supernatural community knows, at the very least, not to fuck with him and you're literally prancing off to some podunk town in the middle of ass crack nowhere to do exactly that!"

Eloise casts the other girl a look as she caps the bottle of lotion and sets it off to the side before gathering her dirtied supplies for washing.

"I take it he's dangerous then."

Honestly, Eloise has her suspicions about how dangerous the original is but seeing as she's never actually met him and doesn't ask people to go into details when they mention him... Well, her information is limited.

"If a complete fucking megalomaniac counts for such." Miranda retorts bitterly.

"Well, it's a good thing he is then. I find people obsessed with their own power tend to make the biggest mistakes." Eloise remarks as she makes her way to the beaded curtain hanging in the doorway at the very back of the room where the kitchenette is.

Eloise dumps the dirtied dishes into the sink, turns on the tap, and pours a bit of palm olive into the stream. Miranda enters the small space just as suds begin forming in the bottom of the sink.

The redhead sighs tiredly and pushes Eloise out of the way so she can do the dishes herself. Eloise goes to lean on the door frame where she can keep an eye on the front door and on her thoroughly aggravated roommate. Neither of them say anything for a while until Miranda finishes up and wipes her hands down with a cloth. She opens her mouth to say something but the happy chime of the bell stops her before she can utter a word.

Smiling broadly Eloise makes her way back to the front of the store to help the gaggle of teens who've just come in with their damp clothes and wide smiles. Mostly she's just keeping an eye on them as they giggle and make fun of her things. When one of them, a boy with big eyes and blonde hair, tries to climb the stairs to the second floor where Eloise keeps her more dangerous artifacts the young witch halts him, telling him that there was nothing upstairs he needed to be looking at.

He grumbles, calls her a "Fucking cunt." under his breath, and then he and the rest of the group amble off.

Eloise pretends not to know about the crystals and other less valuable trinkets hidden in their pockets. It's not like they stole anything truly important. Most of the items found on the first floor of the shop aren't nearly as valuable as people seem to think. Trinkets mostly, set up to be viewed and bought by the mortals that come into her shop for nothing more then the aesthetic.

But while they might not be valuable Eloise still has spells on all of her items should someone actually attempt to rob her. In a few hours the objects taken will reappear on Eloise's shelves and the teens will be none-the-wiser to the location of their stolen goods.

Glass beads click together as Miranda pushes aside the strands of the curtain separating the kitchenette from the main part of the shop. She flips wild red curls out of her face, brushes invisible lint off of her shirt, and makes her way to the stairs which she takes two at a time before disappearing from view.

Eloise sighs and glances at the door before following after the other girl.

Miranda is stuffing her bag full of various items when Eloise sees her next. Grimoires, herb bottles, whatever she can get her hands on. By the time she notices Eloise standing behind her the bag is near to bursting.

"I have to go," Miranda says when she finally notices Eloise, "but when you get off work come straight home, ok?"

"Are you going to return those?" Eloise asks.

"If they don't suit my needs."

"Dude, I have grimoires at home."

"Yes, but there might be something in these that your grimoires don't have... Don't worry, I'll return them when I'm done."

Eloise nods hesitantly before she glances at Miranda's hands as she plucks another object from the shelf. Her fingers glow red as she siphons Eloise's magic from the book. She'll have to put the spells back before she goes or make sure Miranda has enough magic to siphon to do so herself.

"Are you leaving then?"

"Yeah, I'm going to go home and do some homework... Think you can close early?"

"Maybe, we'll see."

Miranda gives a brisk nod then turns to leave, her beaded bag thumping heavily against her thigh as she goes on her way and the soft clink-clink-clink of glass bottles tapping against each other can be heard rather clearly. Eloise finds herself wondering just how much Miranda has taken of her herbs but decides that it really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

The auburn haired siphoner pauses at the door and turns to smile at Eloise, a soft thing that reveals the dimples in her cheeks, before grabbing her umbrella and making her way out into the rain, her figure a blur of color as she passes in front of the large windows at the front of Eloise's shop. When she disappears from view Eloise glances at the clock hanging on the wall and frowns.

She's got four hours.

And by the time those four hours have passed and Eloise is finally able to close up her shop there have been three non-supernatural customers, two witches, and a vampire. Eloise tended to them all with a gentle smile but hadn't been upset to see them go. The moment the last customer slipped through her door and into the rain Eloise had waited for him to begin walking away before locking the front door and flipping the sign to inform any stragglers that the shop had closed for the evening.

Cleaning is simple and straightening up the supplies is even easier, it only takes her a few minutes to get everything situated. Then she grabs her raincoat off of the coat hanger behind the counter and her umbrella from the little tin sitting on the floor. Once she's bundled up Eloise makes her way to the door, flips the light switch, unlocks it briefly to step out into the rain, locks the door back up, opens her umbrella, and steps out into the rain.

~X~

Miranda is sitting on the floor in front of the coffee table when Eloise enters the apartment, auburn hair bundled up on the top of her head and held in place with a chip-bag clip, mascara smudged from the number of times she's rubbed at her eyes, tattoos a vibrant contrast to the milky paleness of her skin.

"You're soaked." Miranda remarks as she glances up from the spell she's likely memorizing, "Put your jeans in the tub, I'll deal with them."

"Thank you, Miranda." Eloise says as she toes off her shoes.

She pulls her socks off before walking across the apartment to the bathroom when she strips out of her wet clothes and throws them in the tub. Her shoes end up flipped over and placed above the vent to dry a bit. Next she heads to her bedroom where she digs out a pair of fluffy purple pajama bottoms along with a white tank top which she changes into before making her way to the living room.

"How's the research?"

Miranda shrugs as she pulls a sticky note from the pad lying by her hand and sticks it to the page she's reading, "It's going. How was work."

"Dull."

The siphoner nods slowly before closing the book and setting it off to the side to join the pile.

"What are you looking for?" Eloise asks as she drops down to sit beside her roommate.

"Anything that'll help you with your little original problem."

Eloise moves to rest her cheek on Miranda's shoulder.

"I don't think there's anything in those books, Miranda." She says, causing the other woman to sigh.

"No, probably not, but these are old books and there are some pretty intense spells." Miranda taps her finger against a composition notebook that Eloise hadn't noticed earlier. "I've written a few down for you."

"Thank you... I think you deserve a treat."

"Yeah?"

"Oh hell yeah. What do you say to me making you dinner?"

Miranda shoots her an amused look, "As much as I'd love to get high with you, I have to work tomorrow."

"I was thinking more along the lines of mac and cheese." Eloise intones dryly.

"Mac and cheese is good." Miranda says but her eyes never leave the page she's copying down.

Eloise smiles fondly as she stands and pads into the kitchen to start on dinner. She nearly trips over Miranda's St. Bernard Cujo, a truly terrific name really, but manages to step over the lovable pooch before anything bad can happen to either of them. The dog watches her through heavy eyes as Eloise goes about gathering up everything she'll need to make mac and cheese. It's a very strategic way of begging and even though Eloise knows better then to fall for it... Well, she still ends up tossing him a slice of turkey normally used for sandwiches.

After she's satisfied Cujo is perfectly content to savor his turkey Eloise begins filling a pan with water.

Twenty minutes later Eloise is curled up on the couch watching The Office and nursing a rather unfortunate, and completely accidental, burn while Miranda cleans up her books so she can eat. Most of the books she took from the shop end up in a pile at the end of the coffee table, but some of them she slips into a book bag for Eloise to take with her to Mystic Falls.

"Are you going to take the train or book a flight?" Miranda asks after she's finished putting everything away and has curled up on the couch beside Eloise.

"I'm going to take the car."

"You hate driving."

"I mean, yeah, but it's faster... Besides, if I get bored I can call Damon and he'll just keep me company."

"Won't he be busy chasing Doppleganger tail?" Miranda wonders around a mouthful of mac and cheese.

Yeah, Eloise thinks, probably.

"If all else fails I'll call you and ask about the shop."

"Please fucking don't."

Miranda's eyebrows pull together as she scowls at Eloise.

The siphoner has watched the shop many, many times for Eloise and nothing's ever happened to the shop. Eloise trusts Miranda to handle anything that might come her way when behind the counter but that doesn't mean she doesn't enjoy giving the red-haired woman shit.

With a snort Eloise finishes off her bowl, nudges Miranda with her elbow, and rises to make her way to the kitchen to clean up her dirty dishes.

"Get me a pop!" Miranda calls as Eloise dumps her bowl into the sink for washing.

"You drink too much pop!" Eloise calls, dishrag cleaning away the leftover cheese from her bowl and spoon. "You're gonna rot your teeth out!"

"But at least I'll have you to mash my food for me!" Miranda calls back.

Eloise rolls her eyes before moving to rinse and dry off her dishes. Each is put in their respective spot in the cupboards and drawers while the damn hand towel Eloise had used gets folded up and put on the counter.

She makes sure to grab a Diet Dr. Pepper for Miranda as she leaves the kitchen.