Baaul: A Change of Heart

Chapter 9: No Thank You

***Disclaimer***

All images provided in this fanfiction are AI generated. Any likeness is purely coincidental. And don't come for me about using AI. I do not generate money off of these fanfics and as soon as I get to a point where I can publish my own original works, I'll be going to real artists. If you don't like it, then don't read. 

***END Disclaimer***

Renee's leg danced as she sat in her mandatory yoga pose. "Easy seat" or something was a beginner pose that is supposed to help ease into the more difficult ones that they were supposed to be doing.

Mandy gave a heavy sigh to her left again. Renee glared at her, warning her with a simple look that she was provoking her and if she was close to getting a reaction she wouldn't like. It wasn't like she could help it. She had wanted to go back to her room and continue reading into what she had discovered from the orb. Everything else was simply an inconvenience to her.

All night she had stayed awake deciphering and translating. By the time the sun started to lighten the sky, she had started to understand the text without having to reference her notes. The orb didn't just produce a map of the world. She managed to uncover data of other intelligent planets that she barely scratched the surface of learning about! These planets were capable of the tech like the orb, though so far, she hadn't managed to find the origins of it. Though she admitted to herself that she got distracted on a planet called Uir'jwa and studying the hovering cars they seemed to have there. It amazed her to know that there wasn't much stopping humans from obtaining the means to have such technology.

"What troubles you, Rene?" Marianne asked her. She was sitting in the front of the group, facing them to show them the proper pose.

"Nothing." Renee said.

"You're shaking like a leaf." Marianne said.

"You're driving me nuts is what you're doing." Carl grunted behind her. "I can't concentrate on these fairy poses-"

"Carl." Marianne chided. "We talked about the use of derogatory language."

Carl just rolled his eyes. "Whatever. The point is, she's distracting."

"You sucked at sitting still your first few weeks too, Carl." Markus chimed in. He spared Renee a sympathetic smile and winked at her. She found herself flushing at the gesture.

Markus had proven to be an unlikely ally in this place. He stood up for her when the others took cheap shots at her or excluded her from the team activities they were supposed to engage in. She had found that he was fairly knowledgable in a variety of things too. That impressed her most of all.

"Are you guys going to fuck already or what?" Hayden groaned, earning a giggle from Mandy. Not that it was funny, but she always laughed when it came to Hayden bullying someone.

"Hayden! That's quite enough!" Marianne scoffed. "Can we please get back to the exercise?

"If she stops fidgeting, we can." Mandy said in her best mean girl tone.

This time Renee sighed and stood up. "I didn't sleep well last night. Can I be excused to lie down for a bit?"

Marianne opened her mouth to possibly disagree, but then she thought about it and sighed. She nodded and waved Renee off. "Fine. I'll have someone check on you in an hour or two."

Renee felt a wave of relief that actually forced her to feel the fatigue she had been shouldering. She started to make her way toward the door of the exercise room. It was overly bright this time of day and she would be thankful to sit in her room on the opposite side of the sun. She had also found a nifty button that tinted the glass windows and darkened the room a bit. It didn't do the work of a blackout curtain, but it did help some.