Project: Socialize (Chapters 1-197)

124. Intermission

After we crossed the road, it wasn't long before we entered through the automatic doors of a modernly-furnished department store. The store employee dressed in uniform greeted us at the entrance, but we continued walking without stopping. To either sides of the road in this department were areas with clothes on clothing racks. It would appear that on this floor, there were only clothes being sold because that was all we saw as we made our way to the back and entered the car retrieval area.

The car retrieval area was simply a large hallway with paved roads that allowed for cars to drive out and towards the city streets of Palisia through the opening from the side of the building. How it works was that there were five sectioned off areas against the right wall were the floors were controlled mechanically by robot arms. In front of each of the five booths were a scanning machine where one would simply scan the ticket on their phones so that the program would identify where the user's car was located in the parking lot and bring it up to the booths. Then, one would simply enter their car and drive off. 

Loriana approached the open machine closest to us and scanned her phone. Then, on the digital display over the booth showed the ticket number as well as what step the machinery was on. It probably took about two minutes for the system to identify where her car was located and bring it up, which was pretty efficient and saved us the time that it would take to look for our car and then drive it out of a traditional underground parking lot.

Once we boarded Loriana's car, we were then on our way home. She drove out of the building and pulled onto the main road of Nocsinis where many other cars were already driving on. Because of the large population of car owners and us being in one of the busiest districts in Palisia, traffic jams were to be expected. Progress was slow as she drove through the city streets, but I didn't mind. 

In the air within her car, there's the pleasant and soothing smell of her. In addition, the radio station was playing a soft soothing hip-hop type jazz music, and when that music was combined with the comfortable black leather seats that was extremely comfortable to sit on, waiting in her car was no longer a tormenting experience. Rather, it was quite a soothing one as I sat there and gazed out the window, watching the people as they walked about in the brightly illuminated nighttime streets of the city.

Loriana didn't speak much during the drive, but on her face was a content smile. She wasn't bothered by the fact that the car moved by only a little after waiting for about a minute, and instead, she appeared to be in a decent mood. That I believe was caused by her being happy to see me and the fact that tomorrow is a holiday and she will have tomorrow off as well.

When our vehicle escaped from the heart of Nocsinis and got on the highway, the traffic congestion eased up as the cars increased in their speed. Since the highways in Palisia were all elevated, often times even higher than the railways for the elevated rails, when looking out the window I could see the beautiful skyline of Palisia as well as the city streets from an elevated angle. It was quite pretty and mesmerizing to see the beautiful skyscrapers dotted with bright lights as well as the many landmark buildings in Palisia in the background. In fact, I could even see the Palace, the tallest building in all of Palisia. The view was even better when we drove onto the Holfen Bridge, which was illuminated at night with bright varying colors that seemed to change every second. As we drove over the Helliger River, I could see the Nocsinis skyline behind me and the Lumina skyline in front. In addition, the bright lights on both sides were both reflected in the river's surface.

Even though it was faster if I were to return home by using the train, riding in a car was more comfortable and relaxing for me since I'm guaranteed a seat and don't have to carry around my luggage. In addition, having some alone time with Loriana's always a pleasant ordeal.

When the two of us finally entered our home, I stretched my back and took a deep breath, breathing in the familiar scent of my house. With a satisfied sigh, I quickly walked over to my room to set my stuff down and place all the dirtied clothes in my hamper to prepare for laundry.

"I'll make dinner tonight," Loriana said as she put on an apron around her. "You can go bathe for now."

I did as she suggested and retrieved my comfortable indoor wear from my room and quickly made my way to the bathing room that was pass the washroom. Immediately, I went up to the smart screen by the bath and tapped on it gently with my finger to wake it. Then, I navigated through the options to the saved section, and pressed on the one that had my name on it. Then, the water started flowing and into the bathtub. Since I had chose the preset water amount and temperature that I had saved, everything will be just as I like it.

I then moved over to the shower and tapped on the smart screen. I want to quickly rinse my body and apply soap and shampoo before entering the bathtub. To be honest, a bath is for soaking purposes to relax one's body. I generally prefer my bath water to not have soap or bubbles floating on its surface, which explains why I like to shower first before entering.

After rinsing away the bubbles that formed from my shampoo as well as my body wash, I walked over to the bathtub and entered feet-first. I let out a huge sigh of relaxation as I leaned back against the slope surface of the bathtub and rested my head on the headrest. With my eyes closed and my body feeling extremely relaxed, I lazily moved my right hand up to the wall and tapped on the smart screen once again. This time, I pressed the option for the blinds on the bathing room window to be opened. I opened my eyes and gazed out at the beautiful nighttime sky, admiring the moon and starry sky above as well as the skyscrapers nearby.

Author's Note:

So for this chapter, I wanted the general feeling to be one of like... making your way home in the city and relaxing afterwards? I don't know how to explain it in words, but... let me know if you like get the feeling from reading this chapter. Like one of the main things I would like to do with this story is focus more on the casual daily life parts of life. I hope you all would enjoy this life in a futuristic city that I present to you.

And Intermission as the chapter name once again.

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