Work Text:
Muriel had a mission.
Granted, that mission was a little more confusing now.
Muriel did their best in their new and unexpected role of running a bookshop, with firm instructions from the new Supreme Archangel (strongly reinforced by the demon Mr Crowley) to not actually sell any books. Which left them with quite a bit time to fill.
They didn't let that distract them from their original mission: to verify whether the twenty-five lazarii miracle made Nina and Maggie across the road fall in love.
So Muriel, when they weren't selling any books, spent quite a bit of time in the coffee shop staring at Nina while she worked. At least until Nina firmly told them to go back to the bookshop.
Then they would go to the record store. Maggie was more patient with questions than Nina. Nina was always busy and cranky. But after Maggie answered all their questions, she would also politely let them know it was time to leave when she had to close the record store for the day.
On days when Maggie went to the coffee shop to help Nina, Muriel would go over and order a cupperty to look at, and secretly watch Nina and Maggie to see if they had fallen in love yet.
It was really, really hard to tell. They spent a lot of time in the bookshop, trying to read books on love to better understand the subject, but that left them even more confused.
They decided that Mr Crowley was right: humans are weird.
But apparently staring at them all day and asking them questions was working.
Maggie and Nina started inviting them over more, which helped quite a bit with Muriel’s secret mission. Nina and Maggie seemed to understand how confusing life was on Earth, so they took Muriel out to try different things. They had read a lot in books and in the archives in Heaven when they were a scrivener, but experiencing things in person was an entirely new and exciting experience. There were all kinds of different drinks to look at, and exciting things called parks and beaches and museums and zoos and pubs to explore. Nina and Maggie even took them to see something called a film, and Muriel quickly became addicted to them. Maggie helped Muriel get their own television so they could watch films at the bookshop. Muriel loved the spy films best, and tried to take notes while catching up on human history through film. The love stories left Muriel feeling confused, because there was so much lying and miscommunication and everyone seemed mad at everyone else right up until the very end.
Maybe they didn't understand human love enough to verify it officially.
But the more time Muriel spent with Nina and Maggie, the more they were starting to understand family. Their new, found, family. A family where they felt cared about, and comfortable, and accepted, in ways they had never experienced before.
And maybe that was miracle enough.