*Rustles hir vines noisily, budding flowers sealing sharply* The rosebushes shift and sway beneath the shade of the oak tree. Hir form gathers from the mass of vines and thorny branches, coalescing inside the waistcoat, boots, tophat, and gloves, giving hir form and presence. The sinews gather together to present at first a vaguely female shape, but soon firm and pulse into the curvy body of plant life that shi remembers. A mask is passed from branch to branch, rising up to rest beneath a mass of amber curls, giving face to the name. Shi is The Great Masquerave.

"Okay, I've been sitting on this for too damn long now, and I'm sick of it. I know well enough not to be too specific until all parties involved say it's all okay and all, but there's only so much of this nonsense any person should take before anyone who is ACTUALLY their friend does something." *vines twitter, angrily*

"An ex of mine, a damn good friend at that, I should say- only ex in the sense that we aren't intimate, haven't been since she found her true love and got married and all, weeeeell.... *hir voice trails from beneath settling lockes* She's being treated like garbage, frankly. Her 'wife', and I use the term loosely, seems to love her and value her about as much as most people love a postage stamp. That is to say, whenever she feels the need to communicate on more personal matters, maybe to delete guilt over a lost connection or to actually feel something real, as in sending a letter, no electronica email online chicanery, she can just talk with my beloved friend for a day or two, then go back to neglecting her all over again for a few more weeks. Hir need is sated, she can go back to whatever other thing she was doing, the stamp has served it's purpose as far as she's concerned."

"To explain better, my dear friend fell in love deeply, and put her entire life on hold to bring her wife to her from overseas. SUPPOSEDLY, this girl was ready to just give up everything, she didn't have too much there anyways, abusive family, poor choices in companions, maybe a mortgage, but it was with one of those aforementioned abusive people, an EX of hers. Yep *claps hir hands dramatically* All grown up and ready to go tie the knot with the love of her life in Big Scary America. She even got a tattoo of my friend's married name on her belly. *shi seems to bristle at the mentioning* It matched the one on her lover.... Yes, that old cliche, even. Shows you how deeply they were committed to each other, yes?
But after only staying a couple of weeks, she makes up some story and flies off, promising to be back. My friend is devastated, and I mean BADly. For anyone who ever knew her IRL it was horrifying to see. She had always been so full of life, more maybe than anyone I'd ever known, from California to Canada, I'd never known anyone who lived and loved with such passion. To see her reduced to a sobbing mess, every day for the last few months is just beyond anything I've ever seen.
I say the past few months... *A vine trips along the surface of a nearby puddle in distant thought* It's been almost two years they've been together, off and on, I guess... But since that girl left here, she's been online again and again, promising to return, giving new finances, new plans and words of hope. Always telling my friend... my beloved friend... that she's coming back, her wife is coming home to her, and then they'll start their family like they'd always talked about.
Imagine that, will you. *shi plucks a blossom from the ground, fallen from it's branch and considers it* A family... A home, hearth, children, the continuing love of all that brings. That is what she has always promised my sweetest friend. I've seen them talk, I've heard the love in both their voices, so I know what I know... I've read her letters. I've seen her emials, read their chats. I've heard her speak the words 'my dear -name omitted- will you please be my wife?' and watched my sweet love sob in joy at the obvious love in her oversized heart...
But this... girl... *shi crumples the blossom fingers shuddering in rage* ..this person... this animalistic, selfish THING... she lies. She always lies, I think. Why is beyond me. How could she love my dear friend so much, and yet...

*shi casts the petals to the ground in anger, hir voice becoming a low growl* I see her online, stripping, showing off everything she promised in wedding vows to give only to her wife. STRIPPING! *shi adjusts the smooth features of hir mask, as a woman of flesh might do to correct make-up* I see her, on dating sites, on forums. She never uses her married name. She denies their love to the internet, time and again in conversation, flirting like a common whore. She denies her own wife in the same breath that she later consoles the girl for the sorrow she's causing by being so far away, pledging to be true to her vows... and to return to her wife.

She promises her all these things, and yet does none of them. And my sweetest friend... *shi swells, sighing* She sees all this, she knows her wife is a liar, a thief of dreams and a coward, no thing to be trusted, respected, not deserving of the gift of love she has been given.
And STILL, she stays true to her. *shi crumples the few remaining petals in hir grip in rage* She stays true to the one she knows to be unfaithful, the one who has betrayed her, time and time again. She gave up her social standing, her schooling, thousands of dollars - her financial freedom, damn near everything to begin her future with this thing that denies her every damned day.

In case you haven't noticed, I'm very fond of her, my friend. *shi grows listless, morose* She's beautiful, really, inside and out. So tiny, and girly, but strong and protective as any man when it comes to the things she loves. A drinker, a fighter, an amazing lover, so gentle and adventurous. Funny, brilliant, witty, an incredible dancer, an artist, an author, generous to a point I would consider stupid... my God... Once, I even offered myself to her, like a fool. I still would... And did.

Just a while ago, I did. And what she said made me so *shi grows still and silent, her vines resting still against the bushes and brambles* ...hatefully jealous.

"No. I can't. No matter what she's done, or what she does, she is still my wife, and I am hers and I love her, only her. I didn't sign on for 'as long as she makes me happy', I signed on for life. Even if she isn't true to her word, I'll be true to mine."

I know she's still out there, this 'wife' ...online. Still playing her juvenile games for attention and sympathy. On a few chat-sites, on Second Life even. And I know she's still pretty popular in the furry fandom as well, so I say this most earnestly, to her, and any with presence of mind to understand: This, is what you neglect. This is what you ignore. For the braying of TGfanboys and the cheap attention of the hormonally over-active, you cast aside the gift of true love, someone who has put aside her entire way of life to build the new one you promised to each other. And you still claim to wonder why you find nothing but unhappiness in life?"

Shi dissipates slowly back into the brambles and brush as ice melting in the summer sun. The clothing sinks and slides off into the undergrowth, emptied. Hir voice trails away in a whisper as the mask rests upon a single opening blossom...

"We all get what we deserve. So will you."