Thanatos was very loyal to his family. He loved every single brother and sister and offered his dedication and loyalty quite blindly. That being said, he didn't necessary like every single one of his siblings. There was a lot of teasing that went on in a family this large, and Thanatos was sensitive. Being a sensitive death god led to more teasing. It was a rather unfortunate cycle. Not quite a vicious one, but an unpleasant cycle all the same. Whenever possible, Than tried to sneak out of Nyx's temple without being seen. It made his days a great deal easier. He was much better company to a soul when the Keres hadn't already spoiled his mood.
As far as sneaking went, Thanatos was quite terrible at it. Atrociously bad, honestly. He always tried, but there were just too many gods and goddesses running around. Than wasn't stealthy. He wasn't the god of mystery and intrigue. He was death. He was unavoidable. He didn't need to be sneaky. And this was precisely why he got caught so very often.
On this day, however, Thanatos was doing rather well. He hadn't been caught yet. And he was close to the door, which nearly brought a smile to his face. And then the sound of sandals shuffling against marble filled his ears, and Than froze. He looked to his right and realized that little Philotes was heading right for him without even bothering to look up. This could've annoyed Than, if not for the fact that Philotes seemed like his only sister who simply could not annoy Than. She was immune to his scowling. She was sweet.
She had obviously been switched at birth, but until there were tests to prove as much, Thanatos loved her unconditionally. Her enthusiasm and friendly demeanor and overall lightness confused him, but that wasn't her fault. Not really.
Once again, Than nearly smiled, and he did his best to appear somewhat warm. This rarely ended as intended, but Thanatos didn't think he looked pained this time. He studied the handful of mud Philotes seemed so proud of, grateful for the excuse to stop trying to make an actual expression. "Hm."
Than tilted his head to the right slightly, then slightly to the left. He cupped his chin thoughtfully. Thanatos was undeniably terrible at being friendly and showing warmth and generally being anything aside from awkward, but nobody could accuse him of being a bad brother. He did his best to make a real show of assessing the mud, and then he nodded firmly.
"You realize what you've got there, don't you?" Than asked. He dropped down to crouch so Lottie wouldn't need to crane her neck for eye contact. "A proper masterpiece. Did you show Mother?"
He needed to get to work, but shipping Philotes off to show Nyx her mud seemed like a nice way of leaving without blatantly abandoning his sister.