Thanatos was flying out to sea to gather souls after a shipwreck. He didn't understand how it could happen because most of the rocks in the middle of the ocean are quite visible. Unless Poseidon or a siren or some other sea deity interfered it just wasn't possible.

Thanatos really wished that they had left after the ship wrecked. He did not want to deal with a smug siren. That is, if he could see one. They were quite particulate about not being seen. If they were seen they disappeared within a blink of the eye.

He didn't exactly hate the ocean but it definitely wasn't in the top 5 locations to pick up departed souls. It was too windy and his wings always got wet. One time a mermaid managed to tackle him off a rock and into the watery depths. It took a few hours for his wings to be dry enough to fly again. He had to do his job on foot! He didn't get around even half a quickly and the amount of souls he had to find after they had wandered away.

It was annoying to say the least.

Huh, this is easy enough, probably a trap, Thanatos thought.

Flying down to one of the rocks. There was a cluster of them. The sea was calm, waves gently lapping at the base of the rocks.  A body lying on top of one of them.

Thanatos could only see his top half. His head lolled to the side, long dark blue hair fell from the top of his head. The sides a lot shorter. He was dripping wet. Tattoos ranged across his shoulders and arms. His skin slightly tinted green.

Poor guy, Thanatos thought. Looks like a siren got to him.

It was true, he sported some symptoms of a siren attack. Thanatos had become quite good at spotting them. Seeing as after most shipwrecks there was one or two bodies that would look like that.

1. The obvious one, dripping wet.
2. On full view on a rock, a siren likes to show off its prey. Especially if the day is sunny.
3. Green or blue tinted skin, an affect of where the siren brings the body before leaving it for all to see.
4. Unnaturally coloured hair, same reason as number 3.
5. Some bear markings, scrapes, red marks.
6. Some will have blood pouring from their neck. Always the same bite, thin sharp teeth, closely set together.

But this one's markings were different. The markings were usually brutal, as if burned on. Red circles were the skin had been raised. Always in a line, curving around a limb or waist.

This one had markings that looked like ceremonial. Like a status symbol or tattoos of a religon.

Sea folk are apparently big on status symbols.

Thanatos only knows this from some of the souls that he had retrived from shipwrecks. They were half out of their minds, their mortal minds unable to process seeing the divine. Speaking of men below the sea with two fish tails rather than legs. Women with one long elegant tail, with one or two fins. Some tails sparkled, some were slick, some were flowy. All of the tails ranging between 6-15 feet long.

Then the ones that were out of their minds, the siren victims. Spoke of being dragged down in the water by octopus tentacles of different colours. Black, blue, green, some constantly changing. Only to be saved and brought back to the surface by scaled men and women. Hefted onto a rock because the scaled beings believed they should see the sun in their final moments.

Though it is rather wrong to call them men and women. They should be referred to by their proper names. Sirens. Mermaids. Mermen.

Those that sing and lead mortals to their watery graves.

This shipwreck was odd however. The wrecked hull of the ship was broken among the sharper rocks among the bunch. Bodies clad in loose shirts and baggy bottoms lay dead, all heading in one direction. Towards the figure on the rock.

Curiosity overwhelming him, Thanatos flew over to the rock that the figure lay on. Up close he could see his chest rising up and down.

He's alive, Thanatos realised with wide eyes.

He climbed the rock, forgetting about his wings. Curiosity overriding his system. Making his head go blank. Making him put one hand above the next rather than flying up.

Thanatos reached the top of the rock, taller than he had expected. Looking down at the man he realised something. He didn't have ears.

Instead he had fins. His skin had a slightly scaled texture, sea green tinted. Hair unnatural blue, even for siren victims. The tattoos were definitely a status symbol, some words written in a language even Thanatos did not understand.

His eyes trailed down his bare torso. Unscarred green scaled skin stretched across muscle. Smoothly transitioning into dark green scales that split into two slick tails. The tails hung down off the side of the rock, finishing off with one fin on each. The fins were a lighter green than the tails themselves.

"Do you want to stare all day?"

Thanatos jumped back and fell off the rock. He climbed back up, the same curiosity overriding his system again. His wings folded against his back.

When he reached the top he saw the merman sitting up straight. His arms behind him, propping him up. Watching his every move.

His hair fell to the side of his face. Out of the way of his eyes, which Thanatos just simply stared at. They were a dark green, the same colour as his tails. Rather than white surrounding the circle of colour like mortals, they had blue around the circle of green. Spreading out like waves against the shore. There was no pupil in his eye, same as all divine beings had.

"I guess you are just going to stare then," it said. Making eye-contact with Thanatos. Not detered in the slightest by the aura of death that Thanatos had been told he had. He didn't try to move away to escape from him. Not caring that he had been seen.

Thanatos just play it cool, don't do anything stupid. Don't get soaked again, Thanatos told himself before attempting to reply.

"Um hi?" Thanatos said, looking away.

"Hi." The merman smiled, obviously amused.

"Do you want me to pretend that I never saw you?"

The way the merman's eyes bore into him made Thanatos feel like he asked a stupid question.

"What use would that be?"

"I don't know. Any other time I've seen a mermaid they always hid straight away."

"I'm a merman, not a mermaid."

"Sorry."

"Its alright, happens more than you think," the merman said, finally looking away from Thanatos. Choosing to look out at the waves instead.

Thanatos sat down hesitantly beside the merman, "So you really don't mind that I have seen you?"

"Not particularly, most merfolk are rather shy around those that are not of our kind."

"Did you cause the shipwreck?" Thanatos asked stupidly. It was obvious that the merman had caused it. All the dead bodies of the pirates were facing towards the rock.

The merman looked down at the bodies and at the ship, looking past Thanatos.

He hummed, "I guess I did."

Thanatos had no idea what to say. He had only asked the last question in hopes that it would spark a conversation. Or at least pave the way for one to start.

"I am guessing that you do not usually talk to anyone on your travels?" the merman said, looking back at Thanatos.

Thanatos drew one leg up to his chest and hugged it, "Not anyone that's alive at least. Mostly mortals that are half insane and they don't make much sense."

"So you are an angel of death?" the merman said eyeing his wings.

Thanatos shrugged, "Yeah, I guess I am."

"I do hope I am not holding you back from your work."

Thanatos' head snapped up, he stared at the merman who was patiently waiting for a reply. The merman wasn't repulsed by Thanatos admitting that his work was death.

"No, no you aren't. Are you not worried?"

"Worried about what exactly?"

"That I could kill you?"

"No," the merman said to Thanatos shock. "I'm not worried about that."

Thanatos stared, shocked by the answer. The only ones that were willingly in his presence, those that were not worried about death, were umderworld dwellers.

There was a giggle below them. When Thanatos looked down he saw a head vanishing below the surface.

The death god inched closer to the merman without thinking about it. Moving away from the edge of the rock. Hoping to lower to chances that he would get pushed in.

"You are wary of the mermaid?" the merman said, one tail flicking water up into the air.

"A little, I don't want to get soaked," Thanatos admitted.

"Is it because of your wings?" the merman said, trailing one finger down the arch of his wing. Surprisingly, the part of his wing that was touched didn't get wet. Rather staying perfectly dry.

Thanatos spun around with wide eyes and grabbed the merman's wrist." You can't touch me, you could die!"

The merman grinned, "I wouldn't worry about that love."

Thanatos' mind short-circuited when the merman called him love. Then his mind registered what he'd said before that after a few seconds.

"Why?"

"Because you broke your own rule." The mermans eyes darted to where Thanatos was still holding his wrist. "You can't hurt me darling, so stop worrying about what could happen. You'll never enjoy the pleasures of life that way."

Thanatos' met the merman's gaze, "What pleasures?"

Thanatos could feel the amusement radiating from the merman. It was odd. Being death he could feel the emotions of those around him, more than most gods. Usually everyone was wary, frightened, eager to get away. This merman was different. He wasn't afraid of him. Thanatos didn't know how to react to that.

"Guess you will have to find that out for yourself," the merman said.

"But I could hurt everyone! I could kill them!"

"Not if you don't want to, but you will hurt someone if you don't control your fear. If you let your fear lead then it will bleed into life. Death is not something to be feared, it is a necessity. See, I still breath, you haven't hurt me," the merman said, placing his spare hand on Thanatos' chest. Just over where his heart would be if he was mortal.

"How can you touch me?"

"Because I am not afraid of you." The merman lifted his hand from Thanatos' chest, placing it back behind him to support himself. Not even trying to remove his other hand from Thanatos' grasp.

Thanatos looked away from the merman's eyes, embrassed that he had shown such weakness. "Um thank you."

"I was just opening your eyes, its not something that needs to be thanked." The merman looked away too.

Thanatos scrambled to his feet, "I should probably get these souls to the underworld." After saying that he jumped off the rock and quickly gathered the souls.

"Until next time feathers," the merman said.

Thanatos raised an eyebrow, "Feathers?"

"I need something to call you."

"And what can I call you?"

"You can call me Tri, everyone does," Tri said, grinning over at the death god. He had flipped around onto his stomach, using one arm to hold his head up. The other just rested on the smooth surface of the rock.

"Guess I'll see you again Tri," Thanatos said hopefully.

"You can count on it," Tri said with a wink, before looking him up and down. "Wouldn't want to miss out on the view."

Thanatos short-circuited again before flying off, listening to the sound of Tri's laughter.