She'd returned to the meadow where she'd left the marmot and gained her first wounds in the wilds, the gashes on her cheek and above her eye fairly healed, causing her only mild discomfort when she spoke. She returned in the light of day, now, leery after Murdock's talk of cannibals and wanting to make sure she didn't encounter one of them in the dark. 

The sky was fairly clear, but it was bitterly cold in a way that had her wish that she'd never come all the way out here. She shivered as she trotted back and forth across the meadow, a habit picked up over her travels that kept her fairly warm, trotting in the manner of a haughty horse, picking up her limbs almost comically high. She searched for signs of the marmot that had evaded her last time, but besides a few faint trails in the snow, came up empty.

The cold was not dissuaded by her prancing, and it seemed to find a home within her very bones, settling there in the form of a dull ache. She really ought to return home to Murdock; the promise of a warm den sounding quite tempting, but it was the tiny flicker of marmot scent that had her linger around the clearing a little longer. She wouldn't call it vengeance, no, merely that, if given the chance, she'd greatly enjoy eating the audacious thing. 

When the wolf appeared, she could not suppress the tiniest of gasps; for he was quite different than most of the wolves she'd seen. His pelt was of the palest cream and gray; near white, unflawed. She'd seen dogs with pelts that neared a pure white, but never before seen a wolf quite like this one. It was this awe that had her approach, with a small smile, chirping a quick "hello!"  As she drew near, before abruptly stopping. Illecebra's warnings and Murduck's teachings flashed to the forefront of her mind, and quite abruptly, she blurted, "you're not the kind of wolf that eats dogs, are you?" She didn't think this wolf looked particularly like a cannibal, but then again she had no prior knowledge to place her guess upon.

His answer was not the most relieving, but she took it for a good sign that he seemed blunt about it, and her tail wagged slightly in appeasement. He sat, which put the last of her worries at rest, and she plopped down into the snow a short distance from him, tail thumping the snow behind her before coming to a rest and curling around her. His question was different from what she'd heard before, and she answered with a careful nod. "I look like some of them. others are bigger even than wolves, I've heard, and some are only about the size of your head." She was reminded of one of the little dogs she'd seen on the back trail, trotting along with its owner with a little set of things on its paws. She wasn't one to judge, most of the time, but the thing had been a little odd. "some don't have any fur." She added, canting her head as she recalled the memory. Perhaps it hadn't even been a dog, but it had certainly yapped and smelled of one.

Her head tilted as he offered his own thought on the hairless sort. They hadn't looked especially itchy, rather, they'd been proud, angry little things, but she didn't have a better explanation for their lack of fur. Placing the thought in the back of her mind for later inspection, he focused next on his question. It was certainly a change to be asked how she came to be here and rather what exactly she was doing here, and she answered truthfully. "I left the prairie to come here a few months ago. I met a man - Murdock - who took me here; Easthollow." She gestured vaguely back in the direction of the territory, gaze leaving him a moment as she squinted back towards it. "it's the pack with the big rocks." She elaborated, though they weren't exactly visible through the distance that separated her from the territory.

She blinked when the male labeled her as neighbor, wondering if he made his home near Easthollow. But, it seemed,  he was not a loner after all. A recent joiner, then, one Poppy hadn't noticed; nor had she picked up his scent around the pack lands. She ought to be more vigilant, surely, and she responded with a surprised, "oh!" 

He asked next for a description of Murdock, on which she thought for a moment before complying. "he's big and brown - like a tree. and his eyes are different colours, though it's hard to see unless you really look." She offered, hoping it would be a fitting description of the man. She wasn't sure exactly when it had been that she noticed his eyes; perhaps when she felt comfortable enough to look at them for more than a fleeting moment.

For some reason, she was mildly dissatisfied when the male moved on to different things; she supposed that would have rather enjoyed discussing Murdock. Still, her happy mood could not be dented by such a small thing as this, and she replied after a short moment. "I'm good at smaller prey - I'm quick." She supplied this with a flick of her oversized ears and a slightly curious expression, wondering if he proposed a hunt.

A grin flashed across her muzzle as he made his invitation, tail waving like a banner as she fell in behind him with a quick agreement to his proposal. Whether or not they were successful, Poppy was nonetheless thrilled with her newest friend.