Undertow

My father, King Triton, married his childhood best friend, my mother, Athena, daughter of Zeus. Together, they had eight children. Seven daughters, who are widely known and loved: Andrina, Arista, Aquata, Adella, Alana, Attina, and least we forget Disney, Ariel. Then me, their one son, also named Triton. Named after my pretentiously proud father. I, however, was not destined for the history books, the poems, or the bards. I was hidden away, tucked securely under my mother’s bosom, so the male heir would never be in danger of aridification from any of the Gods my father pissed off. Triton Jr, as I dubbed myself sarcastically, was to follow in his father’s footsteps the same way Triton (Sr) followed in Poseidon’s. The only problem was the old man was going nowhere fast and I got tired of being told I couldn’t 'go outside and play.'

Let me not sound like a total prick here. I learned a lot from my mother. Fuck, she was Athena after all. Who wouldn’t learn everything they possibly could as they suckled at the teat of the goddess of battle strategy, and wisdom. My sisters were mostly mindless princesses. My mother cultivated the musical scene in Atlantica, and my sisters lived in the spotlights. Well, actually, they fought over the spotlights until they were damn near insufferable. Ariel always showed everyone up in every way. She had the best voice, the best stage presence, the best, the best, the best. I am not pulling a Marsha, Marsha, Marsha bitch session here. But when that is all you hear from six bitching beauty queens all day, every day, you kind of wait for the day the shit will land on the spoil brat's head.

The youngest of the daughters did not get shit on, though. She turned the entire kingdom on its head for a few days when she took off to see what it was like to bed a human male. Oh, I know that's not what the G rated version would lead you to believe, but it's the true version. Surprisingly, I was the one who went with her, not some overprotective crab. But I wasn't destined for the stories, so I was kept out of it. Kiss the Girl was my creation as my sister did her best to try and woo the dumbest fucking man on the planet. When a girl spreads her legs in front of you, that means she wants a special kiss! It took three days of effort, but she finally got him in bed and what happens...the idiot falls for her! Well, I have to go home and give the news to our father and what does he tell me to do? Stay up there and watch her. It got me out of the water, at least.

I didn't watch Ariel and her prince for long; I had other interests. Alcohol was fun and I was great at indulging in the debauchery of it. One night, I was playing cards and drinking more heavily than I never had before. I could usually go shot for shot with a human and still be able to walk as they were being carried out of the tavern. Not this guy! It was my turn to discover the unfriendly side of the drink.

I woke up on a ship that had already set sail. No, I wasn't kidnapped. It turns out I had signed up for the crew in the drunken stupor and was now the voluntary property of pirates. Thankfully, my first day on the ship I got into an intuitive conversation about whether it was better to navigate by the stars or the tidal patterns. It nearly came to blows as we were both so passionate in our opinions.

Next thing I know, I am being brought before the captain, who was the very man I had been drinking with the prior evening. The man I had been arguing with was the Quartermaster, Jax, and the one who did all their navigation to this point. It was his idea to make me the Navigation Officer for the ship as I had better knowledge of the tidal patterns than any man he had ever met.

Thus, I was now an officer upon one of the most infamous pirate ships afloat to date. Proudly, I like to think I had a hand in making us the best pirating crew to sail the seas. Now this might be cheating a little, but I would use my powers to control the currents, and the waves, and the winds. My trident, an exact replica of my fathers with all the same powers, was never far, locked away in my cabin for when I needed it. I had the shell too and I did use them to my advantage. So, sue me.

When Bandit, Captain Black Bones, came clean to me about more than half the ship being werewolves, I came clean about being a merman. It is an agreed upon pact that when the wolves have their monthly run, I get to head out into the ocean on my own transformation adventure and recharge my batteries in the sea. So, every full moon, if you see The Howling Tide docked, know that not far from you are both werewolves and a merman.