xp_logs | Malibu: Green V Green 3

Doreen takes the stand in her parent's divorce case.

The hushed buzz of the crowd and the whirring click of camera shutters greeted him as the bailiff announced his name. An impressive figure at six foot, two inches, Donovan hustled to the bench with long strides, letting his black robe swirl behind him. Taking his seat, he flipped through a few pages on his schedule, though he knew full well what this afternoon would be consumed by. "Be seated," he said, not looking out at the people just yet.

"This court is now called to order," a bang of a gavel, "in the civil matter of divorce of Green Versus Green, are the representatives for both parties prepared to proceed?"

"Yes your Honor," Elizabeth replied, rising slightly before sitting back down. She looked down at her notes, arranging the things she would say in her mind as she waited for proceedings to continue.

Mr. Grossman rose, smoothing his jacket. "Yes, your Honour. If my learned friend would like to call her first witness?"

"Of course," Elizabeth replied, standing again. "I would like to call Doreen Green to the stand as my first witness."

Doreen walked up, looking at everyone assembled here that she didn't know and had never known and paled a bit, her tail drooping behind her. She was dressed up for this, as much as she could be in a pair of tailored blue jeans and a blouse, her hair pulled back and combed more than she ever really bothered with normally and she took her seat. Shifting to account for her tail. She was so very nervous right now.

"Now, Doreen, in your own words can you tell the court why you think it best your brother and yourself stay with your mother?" Elizabeth asked after Doreen was sworn in.

Doreen nodded, "Well, uh, Mom is a really good Mom. She works really hard and she's always there for us and is always really supportive. I really don't want to say anything bad about my Dad," she added, "But I really think Mom would be better right now, because she's trying so hard."

"Of course," Elizabeth noted, gathering her thoughts before speaking again. "Do you love your brother, Doreen?"

"Of course I do!" Doreen said firmly, "He's my little brother. Even when he's annoying, I still love him."

"So, if you truly thought, no matter how it might hurt your mother, that your brother was better off with his father, then you would say so?" Elizabeth asked, locking eyes with Doreen as she asked the question. She needed the court and the judge to realise that this was an intelligent child, one who would do what was best for her family, she needed to make them see beyond the outside.

"Yes," Doreen said simply, "I really do want what's best for him and I don't know if Dad is right now." She could smell the faint scent of liquor in the court room, but it was impossible to tell where it was coming from.

"Thank you, Doreen," Elizabeth said, looking up at the judge. "No further questions, your honor."

"Thank you, Lizzy." Donovan shuffled his papers around once again and looked out at the mixed crowd- the mutant scum clogging his court room, part of him wished he could have the room cleared. Fortunately the sight was balanced by a number of bright blue armbands that the Friends of Humanity had taken to wearing during their protests in recent weeks. "Mister Grossman, your witness."

"Thank you, your Honour" Mr. Grossman rose from his seat and again approached the witness box, just as he had at the previous hearing. This time, however, when he spoke, there was no sympathy or kindness. "So, Doreen, do you know why your parents seperated?"

“No,” Doreen said simply, though she had a sneaking suspicion as to why she wasn’t going to voice it here. After all, she didn’t really know all the reasons. There had to be more to it than just her.

"Would it be fair to say that when you, ah, 'manifested' your mutation, that your father's behaviour changed?" Grossman fixed Dori with a penetrating gaze, watching her face for every reaction.

Doreen looked down at her hands. She had painted the claws for today so they looked almost like nails, but even on her best days she’d never be able to pass. Her tail, her claws, so many things saw to that, “…I guess so… he started to drink and act different. And he and mom started fighting a lot,” she admitted.

"Did you ever overhear what these fights were about? Or did anyone ever tell you?"

“…I maybe overheard a couple,” Doreen admitted quietly. She looked up and looked back down there were a lot of people here she didn’t know and again, her Dad wasn’t even looking at her.

"Can you tell the court what you heard?"

"Objection, calls for hearsay!" Elizabeth was on her feet. Grossman gave her a withering look.

"I'm asking the witness for what she directly overheard, not what her parents told her they were fighting about. It goes towards my client's reasons for wanting the divorce.

Donovan leaned forward, looking down at the well dressed woman on the left side of the court room. "Objection overruled, continue Mister Grossman." "Thank you, your Honour." Grossman looked smug. "Doreen, if you could please answer the question. Those times when you overheard your parents fighting, what were they fighting about?"

“…Me… I guess,” Doreen muttered, “They were fighting about me.”

"Speak up, please," Grossman reminded her relentlessly. "The recorder needs to be able to hear you."

Doreen bristled, her tail puffing out noticeably. This wasn’t anyone else’s business, as far as she was concerned. She didn’t even tell her friends about this stuff. It didn’t make it on her blog or anything like that.

“They were fighting about me,” she managed to put some volume on it anyway.

"They were fighting about your mutation, weren't they?" Grossman pressed. "About how it affected your behaviour?"

“I’m not any different now than I was before,” Doreen returned. She didn’t like the fights at all. Or the idea of the divorce. Or being up here. But it wouldn’t have been right to lie when they were seeing if she could testify either.

"But that's not exactly true, is it, Doreen?" Grossman smiled, a cold, unpleasant expression. "There have been times when you haven't been in control of yourself since your manifestation, haven't there?"

“Huh? Well… uh… maybe once or twice…” she finished lamely no sure how many since she never really kept count, “But that doesn’t happen anymore!” at least it hadn’t since her birthday. The school really had been a good place to go, even though she really didn’t want to leave her mom at first.

"That's not the point, though, is it, Doreen? In the past, there were times where you became... feral, for want of a better word, weren't there? Times where you wouldn't talk, where you climbed up trees and wouldn't come down, where you'd chew on objects like wood. Isn't that so?"

“…Yeah… but that hasn’t been happening anymore. I’ve been going to a special school and things have gotten a lot better,” she pointed out, desperately. She didn’t like it. She didn’t like him and she really didn’t like being here.

"And wasn't there a time when you went feral in the company of your younger brother? Leaving him, effectively, without any kind of supervision?" Grossman didn't raise his voice - he didn't want to be seen to be bullying the girl - but he continued pressing.

“…He’s not much younger than I am. He knew who to call when that happened,” Doreen said. It wasn’t like they didn’t have a list of emergency numbers on the phone. “I didn’t do it on purpose. I didn’t hurt him at all either. I wouldn’t hurt him. It’s not like it happens everyday.”

"But the fact remains, Doreen, that there are times when you cannot control your own behaviour. It's not a matter of you wanting to hurt someone or not, or doing it on purpose or not. Your mutation makes you unable to control yourself sometimes, isn't that true? And in at least one particular instance, your younger brother was forced to take care of you." Grossman glanced back at where Dori's brother was sitting. "Even if he wasn't physically harmed, how do you imagine it felt for him, to see his older sister acting like an animal?"

“I’m not an animal,” Doreen said firmly, “I’m sorry he went through that but I honestly have gotten so much better.”

"I didn't say you were an animal, Doreen, just that you acted like one. And you say you've gotten much better... do you have any evidence to support that claim? A teacher from this special school, perhaps, who could corroborate what you say? Medical certificates? Anything like that?" Fake sincerity dripped from his words. "You're still insisting your pet squirrel is your best friend, aren't you?"

“No one said I had to bring a teacher,” Doreen said, looking down. “I guess I could call someone if you want me to. And you could talk to them and they would back me up, I’m sure! And Monkey Joe is my best friend. I don’t see why everyone is so upset about that. People do things like leave their entire fortunes to their cats, so why can’t a squirrel be my friend?” she returned.

"You weren't told to bring a teacher because you were originally going to be a witness. In fact, your mother didn't even tell you about this case, did she?" Grossman countered.

“No… not really. I had to ask her,” Doreen said. “Mom works a lot though, so I think it might have just slipped her mind.”

"'Slipped her mind? Forgive me, Doreen, but do you really think she would have forgotten to mention something as important as a court case, divorcing her from her husband of seventeen years?" Grossman shook his head almost pityingly. "Do you really believe that? Or could it be possibly because she didn't tell you because she didn't want you to testify and potentially lose control in the court?"

"Objection! Calls for the witness to make suggestions as to another person's reasoning when she clearly isn't qualified to do so!" Elizabeth's tone was a bit more strident this time. The poor kid was getting massacred, and despite how well she was holding up, it seemed only a matter of time before she cracked.

"I withdraw my last question," Grossman replied smoothly, having planted the seeds of doubt in Doreen, or so he thought. Let her wonder what her mother thought about her mutation, about why she hadn't been told anything. "I'll repeat, so you don't get confused - do you really believe that your mother forgot to tell you about this case?"

She took a deep breath. She had to stay calm, despite how much she just wanted to run away from here. Her tail twitched. Her focus drifted. No! She had to stay focused on this for Mom and for her brother, “I don’t know why Mom didn’t talk about it that much. But I’m here now,” she managed, her voice wavering as she spoke, “Mom has been really busy and really upset about everything. Maybe she forgot, or maybe she didn’t, but I don’t think she had anything other than my best interests in mind.”

Grossman blinked. He hadn't expected Doreen to hold herself together so well, and her answer had neatly cut off the line of questioning - to continue would be seen as bullying her. He cast about for something else. "Very well. Let's go back to Monkey Joe, shall we? You said before he's your best friend and you don't see anything wrong with that, that people leave their estates to their cats, for instance. Would you consider someone who places a cat above family and friends normal?"

Doreen paused, "...No... I guess not. But they don't talk to their cats."

"Not like you talk to Monkey Joe." Grossman went on before Dori could say anything. "And you say you can talk to other squirrels, is that right?"

"...Yes. It's part of what I do," she said, wondering exactly what the point of this line of questioning was. They had gone over this before, "And he's my friend. I talk to him like I do my other friends."

"Would you say squirrels are particularly intelligent? To talk to?"

"Well... not in the same way that people are," Doreen said, thinking about it, "But yeah, they're smart."

"What sort of things do you talk to them about? What would be a normal conversation with a squirrel?" Grossman kept iterating the word squirrel, driving it home to the judge. Most people saw them as little better than tree-climbing rats with bushy tails.

The way he was talking was starting to annoy her. Her tail twitched and she took a deep breath. She was used to these kinds of questions, "Um, about food. And people. And playing games and their friends. They know a lot about what goes on in town."

"And this makes them far more interesting than people?" Grossman asked, then waved a hand. "No, I withdraw the question." He looked back to the judge, apparently ignoring Dori. "So, here we have a mutant girl, who has, on occasion, acted like a squirrel herself, to the point where she doesn't respond to human communication and left her younger brother to seek help for both of them, who has a squirrel as a best friend and believes that a bunch of rodents are preferable to talk to than people. Would you like to raise your child with someone like this?" He turned to Doreen. "No further questions. Thank you for your time, Doreen."

Doreen’s jaw was on the ground. She had answered to what he had asked for and now he was turning it all back in her face? For a moment things blacked out for Doreen and she almost lost it. She started to make faint clicking noises before she stopped.

No, she thought, Not here. Not right now. She could cry over everything later.

She smiled, “You’re welcome. Can I step down now?” Everyone was still making her really, really nervous.

Donovan gave her a nod and waved her off the bench. He looked down at his notes before looking out at the crowd, catching a variety of looks directed at both Mister Grossman and himself. "Alright, I will be calling a recess until one-o'clock in the afternoon tomorrow, at which time the bench will have reached a decision to hand down in the matter of Green Versus Green." A slam of his gavel, "Court is now in recess." Standing up, the dull roar of the audience again picked up. Slowly, he made his way back down the stairs, the final ruling already decided.