Appearance

Perhaps that’s why Danny practically leapt out of his skin as a man just appeared in the middle of the room, hands in his pockets as if he was casually passing through. No, appeared would imply that one moment he was gone and the next he was there. Even if that was the case, his presence carried a strange sense of permanence, enough to make Danny wonder if he had been there the whole time and everyone had just noticed him at the same time.

“WHOA!”

“HEY!”

“HUH?!”

“SWEET IGUANA OF BOTSWANA!”
The man sighed, fortunately more patient than annoyed. “Come on Hermes, I thought you’d gotten used to this.”

“S-sorry, sir,” Hermes said ashamedly, “It’s always a little bit startling.”

“Don’t worry about it,” the man said, brushing off the apology. “I understand.”

Since he appeared, Danny couldn’t take his eyes off of the man. He was like no other human being Danny had ever seen before. He was… nondescript. As if the definition of the word was just a picture of him. His hair was… hair, and his eyes were eyes. All of the pieces, limbs, and organs were in the appropriate positions, but the details just didn’t seem to coalesce, to define themselves. Even going so far to suggest he was absolutely plain in appearance failed to capture the truth of things, as even plain faces have features. It was as if he defied the concept of description as easily as breathing.

“Getting a little Suggsy in here,” the man said under his breath.

“Sorry, what?” Danny spoke up.

“Nevermind,” the man said, turning to face Danny and Yellow on the benches. He glanced between the two for a moment, sighed, nodded slightly, and moved to address the entire team. “Alright. I didn’t speak with you earlier, but that’s fine, this round was a gimme. I’m Celo Phane, Mr. Phane is fine with me. I’m the guy running this little tournament we call the Scramble. Well, it’s Scramblemania this season.”

***

Round 0, Season 6, FreestyleKneepad