A pang of nostalgia tickled his nose at the scent of a stranger meddling with the border's line he promptly adjusted to, inticing him to creep from the marsh shadows to investigate. Even if his eyes were clouded by a myopic film, deceiving themselves with false ants skittering up his arm and chewing away at decomposed flesh or a cricket orchestra in what little bedding he could sulk in or even miniature sharks swimming in puddles of murky water, he still had a nose to rely on. The scrawny feline would have made an excellent bloodhound if he could, disfigured snout pushing through mud and forming a meandering furrow splitting the swamp's foliage as he lazily followed the familiar scent of the female known as Arrow -- a name that struck fear into his chest just as her namesake did so many ages ago. The wafting scent of the stranger alone informed the poltergeist a handful of features: a child, female, an exotic species of big cat, and separate from any parents or siblings. Worrying to the everyman, yet nothing concerning to an orphaned street urchin. Or ex-street urchin, he couldn't exactly beg and mope around the slums anymore in the afterlife now, could he?

    With his focus glued to the ground, he nearly continued on past Arrow, only pausing to blink up at her dark-furred rear in confusion before violently shaking his face free of mud and sneezing. Beck allowed the adults to speak all their boring questions, flopping back to sulk on his haunches as he peered at the cub under interrogation. Why were they all fussing over mud? It was just harmless mud! The boy's face twisted into a dark sneer, freckles wrinkling as he interjected, "What's so ba-ad 'bout mud, huh?" Wobbling to his feet and scooping up the glorious filth in a bandaged paw, he cackled out with an uncontrollable jerk of his shoulders, "Mud's the best-t! It's good for ya or, or somethin' -- here, try it!" With his final wheeze, the boy lurched forward and shoved the sludge balled up in his paw into Enceladus' face, attempting to smear the mud over her features. Not that he had malicious intentions... he simply wanted to have some fun in these dull times.