The wait for the arrival of a certain package had the Knights of Favonius as a whole waiting in suspense. Noelle was curious. What were they waiting for? And why were they so anxious about it? She could think about that later, though. She had laundry to take care of.


AN: No beta we die like hilichurls


Carrying a basket of laundry with a bright smile on her face and a familiar Roomba walking alongside her by her feet, we see the resident maid and Roomba of Mondstadt, Noelle and Cookie, walking down the halls.

◤Good morning, Maestra Noelle.◢

Noelle smiled. "Good morning, Cookie."

◤What do we have to do today?◢ she beeped.

She looked upwards, thinking. "Let's see, we have the usual cleaning to do. Then I have a delivery to Springvale for eggs. Oh! And today is laundry day!"

Cookie thought her Master was a bit excited to say the last part. Was laundry day something important? ◤May I ask a couple of questions, Maestra Noelle?◢

Noelle raised an eyebrow. "Oh, has something happened?"

Cookie glowed green. ◤Not to worry. It is of nothing grave. I simply want to ask regarding the tasks.◢

"Ah," She smiled. "Sure, what do you want to know?"

During the past weeks that Cookie had been with Noelle, she demonstrated a constant curiosity in anything and everything she saw. That was a good thing, Noelle thought.

◤Why eggs?◢

"Oh, you mean the delivery?" she nodded."That's because eggs are used in a multitude of ways. They can be used as egg wash for fried foods, it can be in many broths as well," she told her. "Oh! And egg dishes. Don't forget those.

◤Acknowledged. Updating database…◢ his light spun yellow in dotted lines.

"You have any other questions for me?"

After a while, the spinning stopped and Cookie beeped green. ◤What is laundry?◢

"Ah, Laundry," she nodded. "It's… I can show you instead, how about that?"

◤Show me?◢

She nodded once more. "Yeah. That's why I have this pile of dirty clothes, or most people call it, laundry!

Cookie beeped yellow. ◤The act and the pile of clothes you are holding are both called laundry?◢

"Yes."

◤Acknowledging. Inquiry, why?◢

Noelle raised an eyebrow. "Why what?"

◤Why are they both called laundry?◢

"Ahh that," Noelle sweatdropped. "I… I have no clue."


Weird.

The common room, which Noelle had to go through on the way to the laundry room, was normally where everyone would sit down, read a book, or take a quick nap. It was always bustling with activity at any time of day. Sure, sometimes it would be a bit quiet, but it was never without ambiance.

This was weird.

But right now, all she could hear were her footsteps, the clunking of her armor, the vision's soft hum, and the whirring of Cookie's gears.

This was really weird.

And it wasn't because there weren't many people in the common room. Quite the contrary, almost everyone that wasn't important personnel was in there. They were all hunched over, with a glazed look on their face. Sighing every minute. If anything, Noelle thought they were waiting for someone, or maybe something?

This was extremely- oh dangit.

"H-Hi? Mr. Huffman?" Noelle slowly approached the knight, who seemed to be in a trance like the rest of them. "Is there something going on?"

Huffman would provide her with a concrete answer, right? That is if whatever was going on wasn't above her paygrade.

"It's coming…"

Eh? "W-What's coming? Is there danger?"

Huffman shook his head softly. Noelle didn't think it was dangerous either. Otherwise Master Jean would've stepped in. This seems to be something less life-threatening yet still important?

"No danger, Noelle." Joyce was surprisingly solemn today.

"No danger at all." That sounded like Bruce.

"Why would there be danger?

"It is only what we've been waiting for."

"All this time…"

"It's finally coming."

"It's finally here."

"It's finally here."

"It's finally coming."

All sorts of voices called out to Noelle. To say she was slightly disturbed was an understatement. She'd never seen any of them act like this. And the fact that she didn't know what it was about terrified her even more.

◤Maestra Noelle, what are they talking about?◢

Noelle shook her head. "I have no clue, Cookie," nevertheless, she stood up straight and bowed. Without saying anything else, she resumed walking toward the laundry area.

She could brainstorm about what was happening with more clues later. But for now, laundry time.


"I wonder what's happening?" Noelle thought out loud.

◤Cookie wants to know the same.◢

She pursed her lips. "It isn't like them to be like that…"

Seeing the change in heart rate and the facial expressions of her Master, Cookie beeped orange. ◤Is everything alright, Maestra Noelle? How can I help?◢

Noelle looked at Cookie, then she smiled. "Don't worry. I'm fine, I can think about all of that later. We have laundry to do," she opened a door into a room. Cookie immediately went inside, and Noelle followed. "Welcome, Cookie. To the laundry room!"

A sizeable white room, with a couple of laundry baskets stacked upon each other. It had two machines with big circular see-through glass in the middle of them. Various bottles and sachets of laundry utilities were seen on shelves. Cookie wouldn't notice, but there was a nice, fresh smell in the room as well. This was the laundry room.

"Time to work," Noelle told herself as she proceeded to do what she needed to.

On the other hand, Cookie was amazed. The room was so clean. So white. The Roomba could tell that Noelle's mood had already improved upon stepping inside the room. Not to mention the two huge machines she could see. With buttons and dials that Cookie could make out even though she was significantly smaller.

She wondered what they were as Noelle all but chucked the clothes in the hamper into the machine- wait what?

◤Are you not going to fold them first, Maestra Noelle?◢

Her master had always been an orderly person. Always seeking to make everything around them clean, and easy on the eyes. To see her suddenly throw the messy articles of clothing into some machine haphazardly seemed nothing like her at all.

The maid turned towards Cookie. She raised an eyebrow. "Hm? Ah, you mean the clothes that went into the washing machine."

◤Wachine… machine?◢

Noelle nodded. "Yes," she gestured for Cookie to come closer. She put a hand on top of the machine. "This here is a washing machine. A washing machine is a machine that is used to clean soiled garments. It has a barrel in which the garments are stored," she pointed toward something inside the machine. "This barrel is filled with water and then rapidly spun by a motor to let the water remove dirt from the garments."

Cookie beeped yellow. ◤Acknowledged. Updating database…◢ she then beeped green. "But what about the clothes?◢

"You can't fold them when you're going to put them in the washing machine," she told Cookie. "For the clothes to be well washed by the distribution of water and cleaning materials inside the machine, they need to be as loose as possible. Folding them will only be more difficult, not to mention the effort will be wasted since the machine swirls the clothes around once you start it."

◤I see,◢ she then moved toward the other identically shaped machine right next to it. ◤And this is also a washing machine? Why did you not use it? Is it broken?◢ It seemed a shame not to use it. Two washing machines would surely be more efficient than one, right?

To Cookie's surprise, Noelle shook her head in denial. "Not at all. This one is a dryer. It serves to dry clothes from the washing machine by using a similar process."

Upon closer inspection, Cookie did find that the labels on the buttons on this machine were different from the washing machine. ◤Understood. Updating database…◢

Noelle turned back to the washing machine and pressed a button. The machine whirred to life. The clothes inside suddenly started moving ever so slightly. It sped up and sped up until they could see the clothes inside being tossed around with water and other things spraying it from the inside as they peeked through the glass in front of the machine.

Noelle smiled. "Laundry is my favorite task to do here in Headquarters. Don't get me wrong, I also like cleaning, mowing, brushing, and all of that. But laundry day is when I can watch the clothes go-'round and 'round." she sighed. "I wish I could be here to see this all day, but I have things to do." she said.

◤It is Maestra's favorite?◢

"Yes. It's… therapeutic for me. I'm sure that's not the case for others. But laundry is one of the most relaxing of all the chores I like doing," she said. "Though, this Washing Impact 2.6 is quite efficient. It doesn't take long before the clothes are done being washed and then they have to go into the dryer."

◤Washing… Impact… 2.6?◢

"Oh right," Noelle chuckled. "I forgot to mention that. We get a new and improved washing machine every 6 or so weeks. I don't know how Fontaine manages to outdo themselves every time but they do!" she told Cookie. "Though, it's been a while since the new one though. It's already been 6 weeks. I wonder what happened-"

"YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

A very loud cheer interrupted her. Noelle immediately went to fight more. Thinking the worst, she summoned her claymore from nothing and rushed out of the door.

Her mind going a mile a minute, she still managed to let Cookie know what she was doing.

"Cookie, I'll be back. Don't open this door for anyone that isn't me."

◤Order received. Be safe, Maestra.◢

Noelle nodded, and she was off.

Cookie was alone in the laundry room. Watching the spinning of the washing machine. She went closer to the two machines.

◤You two must be my seniors. Greetings, I am Cookie the Roomba. The Favonius Cleaning Companion. A pleasure to meet you.◢


"What's going on?! What happened?!" Back in the common room, Noelle rushed in, sword brandished. Ready to apply her shield at a moment's notice.

However, as she surveyed the area. There wasn't any danger at all.

"U-Uhm," she slowly put down her sword. But the shocked expression never left her face. "W-What is this?"

"This? This is what we've been waiting for."

"This is it!"

"It's here!"

"It has come!"

"It's been so long since!"

All the knights present were huddling around a box about as tall and wide as Noelle. Nothing special about the box that Noelle could see. It was brown, it had the tape, and a small fragile sign on the side.

The knights that were around it were crying tears of joy! Just what was in this box?

She stuck around, waiting for someone to finish their revering for the contents of the box. But no one did. Feeling surprisingly impatient due to a deep curiosity, she carefully stepped closer.

"What is all the fuss about?" she thought out loud. Coming a bit closer, she was finally able to make out the name on the tag of the package.

'Washing Machine 2.7?'

"This is what got everyone like this?"

Joyce put a hand on her head and ruffled her hair. "Yes, Noelle," she could hear the tears flowing down his face. "The manufacturers had difficulty this time, and they had struggles putting out a new version this month but they still managed it! Hip hip, hooray!"

"HIP HIP, HOORAY!"

Noelle sweatdropped. "O-Okay," she replied.

Personally, for Noelle, it was a new washing machine. It was just that. She didn't know why everyone was so excited about a washing machine. Sure it took longer than the usual 6 weeks for every version to come out, but that was fine. She could wait.

No seriously, what was with this washing machine-

'Oh dear, I should get back to Cookie.'

The moment she remembered, she hastily said her excuses to the knights, not that they paid her much attention.

"Cookie! It's me, Noelle. Everything is fine. Just a small misunderstanding," she opened the door. Expecting Cookie to still be there, with the washing machine running. "Cookie?"

And she was right. Well, she was half-right.

There in the laundry room was Cookie along with his robotic limb. Taking clothes from the open Dryer and folding them on a small table right next to it. Cookie had taken the clothes out of the washing machine once they were done, learned how to use the dryer, and had folded more than half of the clothes in the basket.

The Roomba heard the door open as well as the voice accompanying the action. She spun around and bowed as she'd seen Noelle do multiple times using only her robotic limb. She beeped green.

◤Welcome back, Maestra. The Washing Machine has been very obedient.◢


AN: Shorter chapter this time around. I could throw around all the excuses I could, but I won't bother.

This chapter was supposed to come out last week right when 2.7 just hit, but that was Paimon's birthday so it got pushed a week later. The subject of this week's chapter devolved into becoming a metaphor for the rather extended wait for 2.7. I found no reason to fix it, so I rolled with it.

To whoever out there who has washing machines, I envy you, but not your electricity bill.

PS. Should I leave the chapter summary up there at the top? Ao3 has an option to include one for every chapter, but not FF.