“All rise for the honorable Judge Fulton”
You are Sam, standing up quickly from the wooden bench you sat on in the courtroom. Next to you was Clover in the most professional attire you could find last minute at FluffMart, a teal button up shirt with rainbow shaped buttons down the front. You had to cut wing slits in it yourself, hemming them as best you could the night before the trial.
On the other side of him was Tara, standing behind the small table with her papers neatly stacked and organized. She had given you a basic rundown of the proceedings before you entered.
“We’re all going to be on our best behavior.” She said to the gathered hugboxers outside the courtroom. “No outbursts, no swears, no chuckles, no uncouth behavior of any kind.”
Dan had snorted at her word choice and she turned to address him specifically.
“You especially.”
“I know, I know.” He rolled his eyes.
“I will do the majority of the talking, if you are asked a question answer honestly.” She emphasized the last word. “Even if it hurts our case, tell the truth. The whole truth.”
“And nothing but the truth?” Dan added.
Tara replied in the form of a sharp look.
“I’ll keep him in line.” Cash added, putting a hand firmly on Dan’s shoulder. At his side was a fluffy carrier containing Surfer, covered with a light cloth.
Dan, Cash, and a handful of other members of the Hugboxer’s League sat on the benches behind you, gathered to show their support. You were uncomfortable sitting in front of them, it felt like they were all staring into the back of your head at all times but it wasn’t like you could keep looking back to check. You kept your eyes on the judge in his black robes getting to his seat in the high box in the middle of the room. In the center of the room sat the stenographer, a young man with his fingers poised over the keys of a strange keyboard. Behind him in the corner was the burly bailiff, hand resting on the pistol at his hip.
Your friends weren’t the only ones staring at you, you had caught Miss Carmine’s glare as you entered. She was in what seemed to be her finest gaudy sweat suit, overdone eyeshadow and caked on pink lipstick complimenting her hateful expression. She had whispered something to her lawyer, a scrawny man in a crisp suit next to her and he gave her a comforting smile despite his soulless eyes.
“You may be seated.” The judge stated calmly, sitting down himself. “Carmine vs. the state of Oregon, Mr. Bordeaux do you have an opening statement?”
“I do, Your Honor.” He stepped out from behind the table, beginning to pace as he talked. “My client is accused of improper disposal of hazardous materials and operation of a biotoy reproduction facility without proper licensing. These are things my client admits to, and does not deny the charges pressed against her. However.” He stepped back to the table, resting a hand on Nerissa’s shoulder. “These things were done out of ignorance, not malice. My client had no ill intent, this is a matter of simple ignorance of proper biowaste disposal protocol and forgetting to file paperwork by a deadline.” He smiled, gesturing widely around the room. “I don’t think anyone in this room could profess to never having forgotten to renew a license before it lapsed!”
He grinned in the silence, as if he expected cheers from the observers. After none came, he cleared his throat and continued. “That is why my client and I have come to ask for leniency, not dismissal.”
Nerissa nodded, dabbing at invisible tears with her sleeve.
“Alright. Prosecution?”
Tara smiled as the judge called her. “Your honor, ignorance of the law does not absolve one of guilt and intention does not change the simple fact that a crime was committed. However, I have reason to believe that the charges pressed against Miss Carmine have been improperly applied.”
“You do?” Judge Fulton narrowed his eyes at her.
“I do, Your Honor.” Tara stood tall, staring boldly forward. “I intend to prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Miss Carmine and her employees were knowingly and willfully committing animal abuse.”
“Objection!” Bordeaux stood up sharply. “My client had no animals at her place of work.”
The judge held up a single finger to the lawyer, not taking his eyes off Tara. “Do you have any evidence of this?”
“If the court will allow it, I’d like to call an expert witness to the stand.” Tara gestured to Clover standing on the bench next to you.
Judge Fulton’s brow furrowed, staring intently at Clover. You held your breath, hearing a small mumble from Dan behind you and what you presumed was Cash jamming his elbow into his side. The bailiff and the stenographer sitting at his little desk under the judge looked at each other incredulously.
“You… You can’t be serious?!” Mr. Bordeaux spluttered. “That’s a toy! That thing isn’t even-”
“Objection denied.” The judge said firmly. “Prosecution, call your witness.” He gestured to the witness box with one hand as a grin spread across Tara’s face.
“I’d like to call Clover to the stand.” She turned to him, gesturing him forward.
The bailiff stared at Clover as he approached, opening the small door and awkwardly helping him onto the chair in the box.
“Place your… uh… hoof on the book, please.” He held out a bible, and Clover laid his right hoof on it. “Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?”
“I do.” Clover replied.
The bailiff looked from him to the judge, then shrugged and stepped back to his place in the corner of the room.
“Can you state your name for the court?” Tara asked.
“Am Cwobah.”
“And Clover, can you tell us where you are right now?”
“In da cowt howse.” Clover said.
“And,” Tara began pacing herself. “Can you tell us the name of the case that was stated earlier?”
“It am Cawmine vewsus da state ob Owegon.” He replied calmly.
“As you can see, this creature is aware of his surroundings.” Tara said, turning towards the judge. “Now Clover, would you say you are above or below the average intelligence of a fluffy?”
“Hmm…” Clover put his hoof to his lip, thinking. “Cwobah tink… am abewage smawt. Nu am smawtew, nu am dummeh.”
“Objection!” Mr. Bordeaux shouted again. “Your Honor this… creature-” He sneered at the calm fluffy before him. “-has obviously been trained and fed answers.”
“I have gone through the trouble of recording my every interaction with Clover here in case the question of feeding lines to him came up.” Tara shuffled some paperwork, pulling out a large silver hard drive from the pile. “I am happy to add them as evidence if the defense has concerns about the veracity of Clover’s intelligence.”
The lawyer chewed his lip, staring at the large hard drive. “… Objection retracted.”
“You may continue.” Judge Fulton spoke calmly.
Tara nodded, setting the hard drive back down. “Thank you. Now Clover, can you tell us some things that fluffies like to do?”
“Fwuffies wike to pway, an’ fwuffies eat nummies an’…” He paused, looking briefly to the judge with a concerned expression.
“It’s alright, you can say anything.” Tara encouraged.
“Uhm, fwuffies gu’ poopies an’… hab spechow huggies.” Clover said, voice faltering slightly.
The bailiff stared blankly forward, but you could see the stenographer bite his lip as he tapped away at the keyboard.
“And all of these are animal behaviors.” Tara said. “Toys can imitate these behaviors, yes, but these are innate to fluffies just as they are to animals.”
“Prosecution, is there a point you are getting to?” Judge Fulton spoke cooly.
“Yes, Your Honor.” Tara smiled, but you could see the tightness in her eyes. “Clover here is more than a toy. Despite his species’ artificial origins, he was born like any other animal. I see no reason why he would be classified as less deserving of protections than a dog or a cat.” Tara turned to the judge. “As well, I intended to show to the court what a baseline fluffy looks like before we get to the evidence taken from Miss Carmine’s property.” There was a small noise from Nerissa, and you saw her lawyer pat her soothingly on her shoulder.
Tara stepped back behind her table. “No further questions, Your Honor.”
“Alright.” The judge pinched the bridge of his nose. “Defense, would you like to question the witness?”
“Absolutely, Your Honor.” Mr. Bordeaux stood, walking confidently towards Clover in the witness box. “Your name was Clover, correct?”
“Yus, nice mistah.” Clover said with a small smile.
The lawyer smiled back, a toothy shark-like grin. “I’m Will, it’s very nice to meet you. Can you tell me who brought you here?”
“Daddeh dwibe Cwobah in twuck.”
“Ah, did he? Can you tell me what his name is?”
“Daddeh’s namesie am Sam!” Clover replied.
“His full name, please.” The lawyer looked to you smugly.
“Samuew Bwookshiwe.” To the shock of most of the room, Clover recanted your full name. “Fwuffies caww him Mistah Sam, Daddeh’s fwends caww him jus’ Sam.”
“Is… is that correct?” Mr. Bordeaux turned to you, and you nodded. “Well… alright then.” He regained his smug air quickly, smoothing his already slicked back hair. “You are one smart fluffy, aren’t you?”
“Am nowmaw fwuffy.”
“Yes, you mentioned.” Mr. Bordeaux walked slowly in front of the box, hands in his pockets. “How did you meet your daddeh?”
“Cwobah am nu-home fwuffy, in hewd. Meanie Smawty make spechow fwend Wiwac gu fin’ nummies, fin’ Daddeh. He am nice hooman, take guud fwuffies in an’ make bad fwuffies gu ‘way.” He smiled at you as he recounted it.
“Oh, you have a special friend? This Wiwac?” He said her name in a mocking impersonation of a fluffy accent.
Clover’s smile faltered slightly. “Yus. She am bestest fwuffy.”
“I’m sure she is.” The lawyer continued. “So you have special huggies with her?”
Clover’s smile slid off his face as he stared at Mr. Bordeaux.
“Yes or no, Clover?” He said tauntingly.
You turned to Tara, silently begging her to stop him. She held up her hand to you, her jaw clenched.
“Yus.” Clover eventually replied.
“And has this Wiwac given you any babies?” There was a saccharine sweetness to his voice that set you on edge.
“Cwobah hab babbehs, yus…” He eyed the thin man warrily.
“So a no-home fluffy, as you called yourself, has babies with another no-home fluffy…” Mr. Bordeaux shook his head slowly. “Seems like you just made more worthless feral fluffies for the city to deal with.”
You started to stand, to protest but a firm hand from behind you pressed you back into the bench. You looked back to see Cash shaking his head. You gritted your teeth, fingernails digging into your slacks as you watched Clover practically vibrate with rage. His wings flared out behind him as he opened his mouth to retort, then paused. Closed his eyes. Took a deep breath. Lifted his head slowly.
“Cwobah nu am fancy fwuffy. Nu hab ped-uh-gee wike stowe fwuffy. Buh babbehs nebah wib wike Cwobah did.”
“Oh really?” The lawyer sneered, leaning on the edge of the witness box. “And how exact-”
“I think that’s quite enough.” Judge Fulton said firmly. “If you have a point to make with this, please get to it.”
Mr. Bordeaux stepped back, hands held up in surrender. “My apologies, Your Honor. The point I wish to make is that this is not something with sound logic. A biotoy acting on its programming alone, nothing more. No further questions.” He sauntered back to his table, sitting down next to Narissa.
You saw Tara nodding to herself, and looked up to see the judge watching Clover closely as he hopped down from the witness box and trotted back over to you.
“You did good, buddy.” You whispered as he climbed back onto the bench.
“Tankoo.” He replied flatly, staring straight forward.
“I’d like to call Miss Carmine to the stand, Your honor.” Mr. Bordeaux said, not looking up from his paperwork.
“Go ahead.”
Nerissa stood, clicking across the floor in overly tall high heels. After she was sworn in, her lawyer stood and began his questioning.
“Did you knowingly violate city ordinances regarding biowaste disposal?”
“No! I thought… I thought it was fine to go down the drain like any other waste!” She stuttered.
“A reasonable belief, of course!” He assured her. “And did you intentionally operate your biotoy breeding operation without the proper licensing?”
“No, I swear, I thought I only had to fill it out the one time!” She said.
“A simple mistake!” He said, throwing his hand into the air. “This is not a criminal before you, this is a woman doing her best to make a living in this world.” Nerissa nodded, brow furrowed in concern. “After everything she’s gone through, the public shame of being dragged out of her home and manhandled into a police car in broad daylight, in front of all her neighbors, I think she’s suffered enough.” Mr. Bordeaux gave a small sad nod around the courtroom. “No further questions.”
Tara stood quickly, before her opposition could even get back to his seat. “I don’t feel like I have a great understanding of what exactly you did in this business, Miss Carmine. Do you mind explaining it for the court?”
“Oh! Uh…” She thought for a moment, tapping her long nails against the railing of the witness box. “I bred specialty fluffies. Ones with proper confirmation, good colors, temperament, all that.”
“Specialty? Like… Alicorns?” Tara asked.
“On occasion, but my pride was my Flower Patch fluffies.”
“I can’t say I’m familiar.”
Nerissa lit up, smiling wide. “They’re only the finest fluffies money can buy! They have the most beautiful flower shaped spotting, I breed them mostly in blue and yellow but I have a few pink and yellow mares as well!”
“Oh that sounds beautiful.” Tara was really laying it on thick, nodding along with everything she said. “And you breed them, yourself?”
“I have a few part time employees that help out, but it’s mostly me, yes.”
“And what exactly does that entail? Breeding fluffies, that is.”
“Well…” Narissa flushed slightly. “Once you’ve identified a good pair, matching colorations and good confirmation you put a male and female in an enclosed space together and they, well… they do it like any other animal.”
Tara nodded. “And do you breed any other animals?”
“No, just fluffies.”
“The only animal you breed is fluffies, then. Correct?” Tara said.
Nerissa frowned. “Yes, just fluffies. I’ve said that.”
“Then you consider fluffies to be animals, correct?”
“That’s… I… no!” Nerissa spluttered.
“Could I get the record read back for me, please?” Tara asked, turning to the stenographer.
“OBJECTION!!”
“Overruled.” Judge Fulton said firmly. “Read it back, please.”
“Once you’ve identified a good pair, matching colorations and good confirmation you put a male and female in an enclosed space together and they, well they do it like any other animal.” the young man read off.
“So, the accused views these creatures as animals.” Tara said, continuing quickly before Nerissa could protest more. “And when fluffies under your care misbehaved, what was your way of handling that?”
“I- Normal fluffy training tactics!” She spat.
“Could you detail these normal tactics for us?”
“I… I mean, the sorry stick, time outs… that sort of thing…” Nerissa stammered, looking away.
“That’s all?”
She nodded, still not looking at Tara.
“Did all your employees, including a Mr. Colton Webber, do anything else as punishment for misbehaving fluffies?”
At the mention of her employee’s name her face blanched. “I… I allowed him to do what he wanted. He got… results. I never questioned it.”
Tara nodded again, stepping back to her table. “So you were unaware of the… let’s say compromising position Mr. Webber was found in when the officers arrived at your property?”
“I… don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Ah, here.” Tara pulled out a small stapled packet. “Let me read this to the court then, the officer’s statement from that day.” She cleared her throat before reading from the page. “Male suspect was found in a state of partial undress, bent over a biotoy and performing a sexual act upon it.”
Nerissa’s face faded from pale to a bright pink as she shrunk down into her chair.
“Now, Miss Carmine I’m sure this is very shocking to hear like this, as you stated you didn’t have any idea what he was doing as a form of punishment.” Tara handed the packet up to the judge who began to leaf through it. “As you are under oath, and wouldn’t lie to the court, right?”
“N…no…” Nerissa mumbled, hunching down in her seat.
“No further questions, your honor.” Tara smiled widely as she turned and sat down.
“Well.” The judge looked up from the paperwork, clearing his throat as Nerissa scurried back to her seat. “We can get to closing statements if there isn’t anything else.”
“Actually, one more thing, your honor.” Tara said, reaching behind the bench. “I have some evidence to present.”
“Go ahead then.” Judge fulton sat back in his chair, an inquisitive look on his face.
“I would like to present one of the biotoys seized from the property.” Tara set the covered carrier on the table in front of her.
“Objection!”
“Overruled!” The judge snapped. “Mr. Bordeaux you know very well you cannot just object to anything that challenges your case!”
The skinny man shrunk down as well, hanging his head. “Objection retracted.”
The judge stared at him sternly a moment longer, then motioned for Tara to continue.
“This is the fluffy mentioned in the report, he answers to the name Surfer.” She lifted the fabric from the front of the carrier and unlatched the door. “Can you step out here buddy? It’s safe, I promise.”
Very slowly a blue hoof extended from the carrier, then another, and slowly his speckled head peeked out. He froze when he saw Nerissa glaring at him, but with a little more gentle urging from Tara he fully exited the carrier and stood, shaking, in front of the court.
“This is the fluffy that was so horrifically abused by Miss Carmine and her associates.” Tara gestured to Surfer, his tail between his hind legs, hooves trembling so hard it was shaking the entire table. “This is nothing like the confident, well cared for fluffy that was called as a witness earlier. Surfer here can barely function. He cannot advocate for himself, he cannot voice his needs, he can barely speak.” Tara stepped forward, blocking Surfer’s view of his previous owner. “And why is that? What makes this fluffy different?” She held her arms out. “The same thing that would make me or you into a terrified, mindless creature. Abuse. Horrific, repeated, endless abuse. I urge the court to see this for what it is. This isn’t about a woman improperly disposing of the objects she owns, this is a case of an entire species of living, feeling beings regarded as having less worth than garbage.”
Judge Fulton nodded slowly, a finger under his chin. Surfer took the opportunity to slink back into the safety of his carrier.
“Is that all you have for me?”
“The prosecution rests, Your Honor.” Tara said, sitting back down.
“Defense, do you have a closing statement?” He turned to the other party.
“Your Honor, nothing the opposition has mentioned my client doing here is illegal.” Mr. Bordeaux began. “Even if the allegations are true, no laws were broken. My client may be guilty of a few small mistakes, but she cannot abuse a toy.” He shook his head chuckling. “There’s nothing more to it.”
The judge nodded pensively again. “I think I’ve heard all I need to. As this has run later than expected, we will reconvene at 8 am tomorrow morning. Court adjourned.”
You watched the judge stand and exit through the small door behind his box as Nerissa and her lawyer scurried quickly out of the room.
“What the fuck was that about ‘if the court allows’?!” Dan asked. “I thought you knew what you were doing?”
“First of all, you’re still in the courtroom, watch your language.” Tara replied, gathering her documents and holding one up. “Second, none of you asked if a fluffy was allowed to testify. A parrot was called to testify once, so I had some back up in case he refused to let Clover speak. Third,” She shot an exhausted look over her shoulder at Dan. “if I had told you our entire plan could have been blown out of the water right away, none of you would have even tried it.”
Dan grumbled to himself, but didn’t object further.
“You were so brave, buddy!” Cash said, leaning down to speak to Surfer. You could barely hear his reply as Cash closed the carrier and flopped the cloth back over the top.
“…Did Tawa win?” Clover asked.
“We don’t know yet. We’ll find out in the morning.” She said, packing her paperwork away.
