The Test is about to begin. But what is this test anyway?


AN: No beta we die like hilichurls.


◤So, Mister Huffman, what is this test that I will be going under?◢

In the middle of the common room, Bruce, Hertha, Huffman, Cookie and Noelle had gathered. Huffman looked up from his clipboard as he twirled a pencil in one hand.

"Nothing too special, Cookie. No need to worry."

◤I am not worried.◢

"I thought you'd say that. However, it is a natural procedure that I say this test will dictate your standing within the knights of Favonius."

◤I am aware, yes.◢

Huffman nodded. "You are aware that this is not only performed on you but on many staff and personnel?"

Cookie nodded. ◤Yes.◢

"And are you aware that should you perform below our standards then it would be a reason for being dismissed?"

Noelle's eyes widened.

"D-Dismissal? Surely that is too-"

◤Yes, I am aware of that too.◢

The maid spun around to give her a worried look. "But Cookie!"

Cookie tilted her head in confusion. ◤But Maestra, this is in the Knights of Favonius Handbook that you gave me. Section three, paragraph four-◢

"Line 18, yes I remember," Noelle sighed. She turned towards Huffman. "But still, Cookie has been with us for months now. She's just been given a new form, but that doesn't mean she'll perform less. If anything she'll be able to do more than before!"

"You might be right, Noelle, but as the person given the responsibility to assess Cookie, I must be impartial. I must do this."

◤ I understand, Maestro Huffman.◢

Noelle looked like she still wanted to say something, but a small part of her was keeping it from saying things out loud.

"Cookie will be fine, Noelle. Have some faith." Hertha rubbed a hand on her shoulder as she looked at the maid with a gentle smile.

"Cookie is still Cookie, right? So whatever she did before, you'll know she can do it even better now." Bruce put a hand on her head.

Noelle would be lying if she said the gestures weren't soothing. But still-

◤Maestra Noelle,◢ Cookie spoke up. ◤It is kind of you to show such concern, I am honored. However, it is as you said. I have been given a new form, and I am sure to perform even better than before.◢

Noelle slowly nodded. She supposed it made sense…

◤So please, let me prove myself to you, and to the knights,◢ she turned towards Huffman, resolution firm in her digital gaze. ◤Maestro Huffman, what must I do?◢

"Your test includes performing tasks in record time, your observation skills, as well as your ability to multitask."

◤Ah, so the tasks I did before.◢

"Correct. But this time, since you aim to be an assistant to Noelle, the test's difficulty will be heightened to that certain degree."


As they made their way out of the mess hall, Huffman lead the group to presumably what would be Cookie's test location. Perhaps the first one.

"Your test shall be in two parts. One tests your physical skills, and the other your observation skills, while in these tests, you are encouraged to use your new functions as much as possible. Understood?"

◤Understood, Mister Huffman.◢

"Will she have to run kilometers around Mondstadt as well?" Noelle spoke up.

Huffman and Bruce sweatdropped.

"Not at all."

"No way."

◤Like humans, I too get tired, Maestra Noelle. Unlike humans, however, my fatigue is not something that I feel accumulates.◢

The three raised an eyebrow. "Now? That's interesting." Bruce slowly nodded.

"I agree. So, exhaustion and fatigue aren't things you experience, Cookie?" Huffman slightly turned his head.

The robot shook her head. ◤Affirmative. What you call exhaustion and fatigue, I have no recollection nor function for. I have two states of being. Active, and inactive.◢

"Ah, so it's like a switch. You're either off, or on." Noelle put a finger to her chin.

◤Correct. Although, unlike a switch, I can choose to be active while charging. Though, I do charge slower as a result.◢

"Wait, wait, so you don't feel anything like getting sluggish, or a heavy body when you're active for a long time?"

◤Affirmative. Though, I do have an internal function that lets me know my current battery life, the time I have before I shut down, and how much energy each function or action will cost me.◢

Huffman nodded. "Basically what tells us people that we're tired."

"Sheesh." Bruce whistled. "Fontainne people know their tech. Would love to see it."

He'd heard word of Fontaine here and there. A land so different from theirs. What came out of it was technology unseen and unheard of. Noelle was the one to nurture Cookie, but at her very core, Cookie's entire being was devised by researchers from Fontaine.

To be able to make something so sentient that it almost felt like they were already human. Bruce thought it was beautiful.

"Close your mouth, and look at where you're going, Bruce. You might bump into a wall." Huffman told him.

Bruce snapped out of his thoughts and sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

"Right. Sorry about that."

◤I would've brought Maestro Bruce out of the way.◢

"I would've stopped Mister Bruce before he would."

Huffman nodded. "And I'm well aware of that."

Truly, Noelle's influence on Cookie was ever-apparent. Even now as they were walking towards Cookie's test location, he could feel Cookie's urge to essentially show off. To show her idol what she could do. To make Noelle proud.

"Wait, wait, hang on." Hertha interjected. Huh, they almost forgot she was there at all. She turned towards Noelle before she shook her head and turned to the two adults in the group "Before we went into this whole switch on, switch off conversation, you said something about running kilometers around Mondstadt as well?"

Bruce and Huffman stiffened. Noelle and Cookie stared at them in confusion. What was with this reaction all of a sudden?

"Well? I'm waiting."

Huffman and Bruce exchanged a glance, then sighed. "Guess the cat's out of the bag." Bruce shrugged.

Huffman stared Hertha right in the eye. "Master Varka made Noelle run kilometers of laps around Mondstadt almost every morning as training."

Hertha's eyes widened.

"He what?!"


"He made you run with additional weights on your back?"

"It- It was for progress, Miss Hertha."

"With weights?!"

"It wasn't that heavy."

"That's not the point. And what is this you're doing with Ellin?"

"U-Uh… Training…?"

Hertha facepalmed. "That's torture already-"

"Alright, Mama bear, ease up." Bruce lifted Hertha by the arms and put himself in between her and Noelle. All while Hertha was still trying to reach the maid. "You can continue this conversation later. We're here already."

Hertha huffed as she calmed down. "Fine. We'll have this conversation, later."

Noelle simply smiled and nodded.

She didn't understand why Hertha reacted like that. But she was told that often when people were upset at other people it was mostly because they were worried.

Now, Noelle didn't know what she had to be worried about, she handled the training well, and the results were astonishing. Just look at her!

"So, as I said before, your first test will be that of a physical one." Huffman told him. "Normally, we would have weights and such, but that is ill-suited for someone like you."

Cookie nodded. ◤Affirmative.◢

"So, to adjust your test appropriately, we have crates for you to put on the back of this wagon here." Huffman pulled a sheet of cloth off what could now be identified as a mountain of crates, as well as a wagon not too far from them. "Break one and the test will be considered failed."

"M-Mister Huffman-"

◤Those terms are acceptable.◢

Huffman looked away from his clipboard, stood straight, and gave Cookie his full attention. "Great. Keep in mind, that just because you manage to do the task completely, does not mean you will be getting the highest score."

Cookie stood still for a few moments, almost as if she was processing something before she spoke. ◤Am I correct in assuming that I will be judged for my performance?◢

"Right again. You're already passing the second test." Huffman made a small sound of amusement.

◤Perhaps we should procure refreshments for them before we start?◢

"No need. The people who mark your performance are already here, and I seem to recall they've had many refreshments already." he turned his head towards the other adults in the courtyard. Cookie mimicked him.

Hertha smiled and held up a peace sign. "Hello there."

"Speak for yourself, I could use a snack right now." Bruce sighed. Hertha dropped her smile and adopted a scowl as she turned towards Bruce.

"Seriously? It hasn't even been an hour since we left the cafeteria!"

"Yeah? Well, I didn't exactly have enough for breakfast."

"Ugh, you can be such a-"

"Say it. I dare you. I have just as much ammunition as you do."

Huffman sighed. Perhaps bringing these two along was too much to ask for. The only reason he did was that they were already there.

Cookie had asked the three of them to distract Noelle long enough for her to reveal her new form. And since the test needed a panel of judges, and Huffman wasn't sure who to bring, why not bring the people he knew were free and were literally within arm's reach?

That idea was not sounding very nice now-

◤Here, Maestro Bruce.◢

The bickering stopped. Bruce and Hertha turned towards the source of the voice.

Everyone's eyes widened. In front of Cookie, or rather, being held by Cookie was a bucket of what smelled like fresh popcorn.

As Noelle saw the scene, she thought of two things.

First, Cookie had two arms now! And second, where did she get the popcorn? It did smell good.

"C-Cookie… is that, popcorn?"

Cookie pushed the bucket of popcorn into his chest. Bruce instinctively held onto it as Cookie's arms retracted into her mechanical egg-shaped body.

◤Yes. Plenty of fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Air-popped, and unsweetened. If Maestro wishes for salt, I'm afraid I have not managed to equip myself with some as of yet.◢

Bruce took a piece from the bucket in his hands, brought it to his nose, smelled it, then put it in his mouth.

His eyes widened.

"You kidding me? This doesn't need any salt. This tastes amazing."

◤Cookie is glad that you think so.◢

Noelle was starting to want some now.

"That's nice. You can have something to snack on, just make sure to grade Cookie properly, and without bias."

With a mouth full of popcorn, and hands trying to swat away Hertha's sneaky ones, Bruce nodded.

He was definitely doing everything in his power to keep Cookie in the Knights of Favonius.


To say that the physical part of Cookie's test was easy would be an understatement.

To be frank, it was child's play for her.

Every crate had different contents, some empty, some half full, and some filled to the brim. Others had small items inside, some had very heavy objects in them, and others had fragile contents.

Normally, the average person would have trouble with some of them, especially keeping the balance of fragile contents in a crate without knocking any of them over. Not to say that it was impossible, simply more difficult.

For the average person, that is. Noelle could do it with ease unknown to many. Then again, she wasn't exactly an average person now, was she?

And then there's Cookie. Who is neither average nor a person, no matter how many times the Knights keep forgetting.

She was encouraged to show as many of her new functions as possible. And she did. In doing so, the group bore witness to something that normally would've only been seen in Fontaine.

A forklift.

Wait, no, that was inaccurate. Cookie brought out the forks of a forklift from the southern part of her egg-shaped form. The forks seemed to be made out of some kind of light, yet durable material from the way Cookie carried it. Said forks would go underneath crates and raise them accordingly. When she wanted to put them down, she retracted the forks into her body when she had placed the crate down on the wagon.

And how did they know this? Bruce. The resident Fontaine fanboy, as Hertha would call him.

After the test, Huffman had written something down on his clipboard as he shared a nod with Bruce and Hertha. They were now passing through a corridor as they made their way to… somewhere that Huffman wasn't telling them.

Though, while they were walking, Bruce and Hertha noticed something strange.

"Noelle, Cookie, are the both of you alright?" Hertha asked.

Bruce raised an eyebrow. "If something is bothering you, we can help you out."

Cookie and Noelle exchanged a glance, they stopped in their tracks, which lead to the group turning back towards them.

The pair seemed to look around the hall with narrowed eyes.

◤Would it be fine if we spared a few minutes?◢

Huffman nodded. "Don't take too long now."

◤Understood.◢

With a mechanical whirl and a gasp from Bruce, Cookie's outer shell rippled and flipped. Her two arms were replaced with a broom and a duster. Her arms spun around in place.

There was that soft hum too. It was there, but it wasn't annoying.

Noelle turned around as well, but before she could do anything, Huffman put a hand on her shoulder.

"Mister Huffman? What-"

She turned around. The words died in her mouth as she saw the same stare that she had always been given when she was younger.

It was a stare that told Noelle not to interfere. Although Noelle didn't agree with the decision, she still complied. Though she did sulk.

◤Then, I will proceed. This will not take long.◢ with that, she sped off.

The group's eyes were wide once more.

Apparently, Cookie was unsatisfied with the state of the hallway. It was the cause for her rather strange behavior earlier. It would be fine if she was simply cleaning it.

But no, she was cleaning the hallway's very soul.

With spinning cleaning equipment, and the ability to reach the ceiling of the hall with the help of elongated broomsticks, she already finished what would normally take two maids and three minutes, or one Noelle and thirty seconds, in thirty seconds.

Huh, same time as Noelle, what a coincidence.

Huffman's eyes narrowed. Though Cookie was cleaning very efficiently, he wondered where all the dirt was going. It wasn't like Cookie had a dustpan on hand-

'Oh. That's where the hum is coming from.'

A small mechanism to absorb the dirt seemed to be coming from Cookie's wheels. It sucked up all the dirt just like her previous form did. Huffman couldn't resist a smile.

'The new takes inspiration from the old.'

It was nice to see that Cookie wasn't simply disregarding her previous form, her past. She was using it as a reference. She was using it as experience.

Cookie would be a great addition to the Knights of Favonius. And with further guidance and influence from Noelle, perhaps Cookie would come to grow even more.

He was definitely doing everything in his power to keep Cookie in the Knights of Favonius.


"After your performance for today, I think it's no surprise to say that you pass." Huffman smiled at Cookie. "With flying colors, at that."

Bruce and Hertha cheered and clapped. Noelle turned toward Cookie and wrapped her in an embrace.

"You hear that Cookie?! You did it! You did it!"

Cookie seemed to be speechless for a few moments. A very recognizable yellow dotted circle was spinning above her digital eyes.

◤Where was the second test?◢

Huffman smirked. "I told you the second test was one for observation, right?"

◤Affirmative.◢ Cookie nodded. ◤Oh, was it the hallway?◢

"Correct. You observed the hallway to be untidy, and you acted accordingly, and efficiently. You pass."

◤I see, I pass.◢ Cookie spun around. Her digital eyes showed a smile. ◤I did it, Maestra Noelle!◢

"You did do it!"

◤All by myself too! Are you proud of me, Maestra?◢

"Of course I am!"

◤Will you allow me to clean the bigger areas by myself?◢

"Of course not."

◤Wait, why not?◢

"You're not old enough."

◤But Maestra, I'm barely a year old.◢

"Exactly."

As Cookie seemed to pout, the group laughed.

Noelle kept doting on Cookie, and Cookie kept urging Noelle to allow her to pick up some of her load. To offer her assistance. Noelle refused every time of course, but Cookie was persistent. It didn't have to be today, it didn't have to be tomorrow. But someday, Cookie believed that she would truly be of use to her Maestra.

Eventually, they had their duties to take care of and they parted ways. Yet, Hertha couldn't help but be glad that Master Jean had entrusted Cookie to Noelle.

They influenced each other, so to speak. Cookie looked up to Noelle as her role model, the very epitome of what someone like her should be. As for Noelle… Noelle saw Cookie as her child. She raised her, after all. Everything that Cookie did, she felt responsible for.

It was no wonder why Noelle insisted on helping Cookie whenever an opportunity arose. But as Cookie became more like Noelle, Noelle would eventually start seeing herself in Cookie. Whatever she thought of that, was still yet to be seen.

Yet, with all of the uncertainty, Hertha truly believed that Cookie's growth also benefited Noelle's growth.

Someday, Cookie's presence would be very crucial in the long run.

But there was one thing she was certain of.

She was definitely doing everything in her power to keep Cookie in the Knights of Favonius.


AN: A story in three parts. The longest in this fic so far if we're going by chapter. Honestly, I felt that this could all have been told in one, but time doesn't allow that.

That, and Holocure got an update recently, Melty Blood is a fun game, and college is rough. But hey, writing is destressing.

Also, feedback makes my head bigger and fuels my creative urge.