No way a normal animal clawed him up. They're too big for anything normal or mortal, first of all. And if Tatsumaki's seen lycan marks, or would be familiar with such things, then she might recognize them. A lupine creature did this to Ben.

If she's reaching out to Ben's mind, it's - surprisingly blank? There are thoughts, but formulating them into actual human words is a slow and sludgy process. The words don't so much appear as much as they rise slowly from the blackness inside his head, forming from blobs of tar.

"No appointment," he says with a shrug. "A man can't visit his nephew?"