As Öde slogs his way through the underbrush, what parcels of his mind are not consumed by his agony instead wonder over the world he has been absent from. He finds it hard to believe it's truly been a year, and yet there is an unmistakable awareness of watching the seasons turn and finally fold back into each other. He wishes it were merely a dream, a phantom concoction of his depraved psyche, yet he knows better than to assume the greatest horrors lie in slumber. Still, something tangible to prove - ever a mortal's dilemma, this proof...

His train of thought is cut short as a scream berates his ears, and eagerly the red tips of them dive against his mane to muffle the cry. Bewildered his head jerks to the side, horns brandished instinctively, though he's blinking rapidly as he tries to discern what's happening before he gores it. He stares openly at the girl that's sitting square on her ass. She's adorned with butterfly wings, which seems uniquely terrible- butterflies aren't the most capable fliers and their wings are paper thin, surely being enlarged doesn't allow them to carry a horse when they struggle to carry a fuzzy insect?

He might ask her, eventually, but for now a rough laugh chokes its way from his strained maw as her query jabs perfectly on the bleeding scab of truth. The laughter cuts short with his words, "You've seen it then?" Öde asks with a wolfish smile that's all teeth and hunger. "Hell?"

She doesn't seem put off, which is saying something given his current appearance and odor. Instead she creeps forward, an offer on her lips, and soon thereafter her hips too. All this time he'd been playing a gentleman to lure the ladies, turns out all he had to do was roll around in the muck and the mire to get all the mares. Unfortunately her offer isn't appealing, least of all now when hunger and pain pervade his senses. He's a man, but he's also a horse and there are more needs than those of his second head to be met every day. That and Öde isn't much of a sex fiend to start with. He enjoys the hunt, the domination, the ravaging sensation of power, but these are lost on a dame that is more aggressive than him in the bedroom. Perhaps she'd be a choice in a moment of frustration, an easy victory, a warm release on a cold night, but it would likely only stain him with regret the next morning when he remembers all he accomplished was showing up.

Öde minds his manners though, because at least she is kind. "You're sweet to offer-" he pauses, an invitation for her name. "Cleaning up is the least of my worries though, especially in this season." If he gets back home he knows the Basin has hot tubs that he can wash off in, but anywhere else would be an invitation for frostbite. "Just looking to head north," he reassures her, nodding with a more conservative smile.

At her last question Öde's attention drifts instead to the monochromatic behemoth that pervades the scene. A swift grin languishes on Öde's maw and his neutral features brighten with the true joy he reserves for his family. "And you, brother Volterra," Öde extends in greeting, though is voice is more raw than Volterra would be accustomed to, jarring like rocks and coals from the year of disuse.
His gaze traces the movements of the similarly colored dragon. As always he is in awe of the creature, and reminded yet again of his lack. Where he was once jealous, now he only burns with a hot embarrassment. If it was truly a year he wasted away, how much further has Volterra grown now? He certainly looks more muscular, if Öde was really to think about it.

At his brother's question Öde grimaces. The humor he feigned for the girl withers beneath the truth of it all now that he shares with his kin. What happened? Nothing good.
"I was trapped," he rasps, his gaze distant even as it stares at Volterra, remembering his imprisonment. "Left to rot where no one goes, no one notices. So it has been since last Frostfall, by the grace of the gods." He snorts derisively, then shakes his head, the bloodied crown on his nape clear with the movement.

"Anything of note that transpired in my absence?"