Jan shrugged again, the collar around her neck itchy and unpleasant. Her entire body felt heavy, and she could hardly utilize any of her powers. Mere telekinesis, as any regular Umbreon could do, was significantly taxing. 

However, the unpleasantness of the collar was much more preferable to the cage. While the collar sapped her strength in much the same way, it did so with much lower intensity.

She looked around the room she was in carefully, alone now that Holhollanis had gone to do... something. Much of this building was particularly dark, but now that she was out of the cage, she could at least brighten things up with her own luminescence enough to see. Washing the room in a gentle blue glow, her rings revealed that she was in a sort of parlor, fitted with drywall and furnished comfortably, though everything was scaled up closer to the Furfrou's size. Jan hopped up on the couch, finding it to be soft and comfortable. It was upholstered with some sort of fluffy material. Jan sniffed it carefully, and practically leapt off, back onto the carpeted floor.

Holhollanis padded back into the room, looking down at her. "Something spook you?"

"Wh-who's skin did you use for the couch?!"

Holhollanis cocked his head to the side in confusion, then nodded slowly.

"It's not a pelt. It's collected fur. When I or my fellows lose our fur, we collect it. It might seem strange to you, but its useful. And you must admit, the furniture is very comfortable."

Jan woofed softly, staring at the couch. It was pretty comfortable, but knowing it was his fur was offputting.

"Your... fellows...?"

Holhollanis nodded slowly, and woofed. Out from another room came two more Furfrou, with their fur trimmed in the Kabuki and the Dandy style. Each of them was similarly massive, not quite as big as Holhollanis, but still double the size of Jan. The Umbreon goddess shrunk back a little, getting nervous. She was usually the largest and strongest creature in any room. Now, she felt tiny and helpless. The two new Furfrou looked down at her with much less kindness than Holhollanis did. After a moment, she realized it was the kind of look that Abuja would use on potential trespassers walking along their road.

"This is Razia," Holhollanis said, indicating the Kabuki. Her face was in a sort of smirk, as if she knew what power she had over Jan, and was glad to see it was affecting the smaller creature. 

"And this is Jan, Jan Jansen." Jan's ears perked up slightly, having not met another individual yet who shared her name. This Jan, however, was not nearly as amused, and he looked like he would like nothing more than to see what the Umbreon's guts would look like in his paws.

Holhollanis flicked his tail, and the other two Furfrou departed. Jan trembled, keeping herself low, humbled by the experience.

"Th-they s-s-seem nice..."

Holhollanis chuckled. "Don't worry love. They are here to protect you."

Jan's eyes widened slightly at the Furfrou's words. He had called her "love." 

"Why did you bring me here...?"

Holhollanis looked down into Jan's wide eyes, and he pressed his nose gently against hers.

"To get to know you better."

"That's not a full answer..."

"Very well. To get to know you better, so we can wed."

Jan trembled a little, and pulled back slightly. "Wh-what? How do you know I want to...?"

Holhollanis curled up around her, holding her close, and he licked her face softly. "You spent your days alone in your cave before this, no?" he asked. "I know it wasn't a pleasant life for you. It was a punishment you didn't deserve, eternal loneliness you didn't want. On your own you would never see for yourself that the punishment was too severe. I wanted to rectify that."

"Of course, it would be no good to bring you out from there to be lonely all over again. So, I brought you here, so we may fall in love and be happy together."

Jan woofed softly, staring at her paws. "But I had Austin again..."

Holhollanis shook his head, holding her close. "A relationship with Austin will not go any better than it did before if he is afraid of what you are. If you cannot be yourself without traumatizing him, is it worth dealing with that pain again?"

"But you're afraid of me too, aren't you?" Jan countered. "That's why the cage. And the collar... to keep me down." She shrugged, reminded of it now. What with everything else happening, she had actually managed to forget she had it on.

Holhollanis nuzzled her gently on her cheek. "The collar isn't meant to keep you down, love. It's to free you. At last you can live like a normal Umbreon, without all the temptations of being a deity. It may feel unpleasant for the time being, but you will soon find it to be relieving."

"How do you know?"

Holhollanis did not respond, and looked at her. "Don't worry."

--

Angel and Austin had searched all night and day for Jan, only ever finding vague whiffs of her scent, usually mixed in with some other scents that were too indistinct for even Angel to make sense out of. The adrenaline of fear that had fueled Austin's endurance had been exhausted, replaced with an intense depression and sadness that sapped the strength from him. Angel looked back at him as he kept falling further behind.

"Okay. We're stopping," she said succinctly. It was the first thing she had said since they had left Jan's home. Austin's ears pulled back even further.

"Sorry..."

Angel huffed, and made her way into a cave. It was large as caves went, tall and dark. Surprisingly, no other creatures' scents could be detected within.

Angel padded in a short way, and laid down. Austin laid down opposite her, keeping close to the wall and near the mouth of the cave. He could feel Angel's anger, and her hurt. It broke his heart to know he had made her feel so terrible, but he knew it had to come out eventually.

Even if it meant she would never talk to him again.

Austin fluffed up his fur, his skin crawling. The cave was completely devoid of other creatures' scents. It was unnatural.

But it was a place, and it was covered, and as storm clouds began to roll in, the Flareon became more thankful to just have a dry place to sleep.

Rain began to pitter down outside, and Austin woofed softly as it splashed on his fur. He was just too close to the outside to avoid the water. Angel was already asleep, and seemed not to mind the rain. Austin shook himself, and padded further into the cave to stay dry. And just as he laid down, he felt something wrap around his body, and swiftly pull him inside.