OOC: Takes place some time after this thread.

As the long black limousine wound its way through the streets of the city, Aiden leaned against the window, watching as the towers of steel and glass and concrete slid by the view. His memory recalled holding the reins of a massive ebony chariot, with only his strength and will keeping the four coal-black chargers that drew it from careening madly out of control. The buildings passed the way the stone columns of the Underworld did, or the way the massive cyprus trees would on his rare excursions to the world above. Aiden was struck by how much the world had changed since the days when he and his kind were worshipped and feared.

But then, there were a few things that would never change. First and foremost were his duties. The cycle of life never slowed, never stopped. Thus there would never be a shortage of work for the Lord of the Underworld. Arguably second to his position in the pantheon was his unshakable love for his wife, Stefanie. The countless half-years he spent without her were torture, even to an immortal.

And at long last, Aiden's patience was beginning to run thin. He should never have believed that Deion would be able to sway Lucas and end the cycle, but Aiden had been desperate, and so had the God of Wine. Drastic measures needed to be taken.

The limousine came to a stop and Aiden exited. A young man in a conspicuously expensive suit trotted up, helping Aiden exchange his suit jacket and topcoat for a leather jacket and driving gloves. The operation had been planned to the second, the timer on Aiden's watch ticking away. At the precise moment, Aiden revved the engine of a black Jaguar XK convertible, launching the car into traffic without looking, like a shark diving into a school of fish. Exactly two minutes and ten seconds later, Aiden hauled sharply on the wheel, the car slewing to a stop in the middle of a crosswalk--

--exactly in front of Stefanie Demetrios, who had been walking from her office building to the closest gourmet coffee shop, as she did every day. The passenger door opened without a touch.

Aiden's voice was sharp and commanding. "In. Now"

01.) Full name? - Aiden Avernus. Originally, Hades.
02.) Best friend? - His only friend, really, is Stefanie/Persephone.
03.) Sexuality? - Basically straight, though he certainly experimented in the old days.
04.) Favorite color? - Black, of course.
05.) Relationship status? - Married to Stefanie modern-day. Soon to be officially married to Persephone in myth.
06.) Ideal mate? - Stefanie. No one else could understand and accept his weird combination of dominance and dependence. She brings his world light and life, and he worships her for it.
07.) Turn-ons? - Being authoritarian in bed. He likes giving instructions and correcting mistakes.
08.) Last sexual experience? - Just had sex with Persephone for the first time, really establishing the base of their romance.
09.) Favorite food? - Pomegranates for sentiment, but he'd rather watch Stefanie eat them than eat them himself.
10.) Crushes? - He pursued/ravished/whatevered two nymphs, Minthe and Leuce, both of whom ended up turned into plants by Persephone.
11.) Favorite music? - He tends towards dark, heavy classical composers like Berlioz, Grieg and Wagner, but does have some affinity for heavy metal.
12.) Biggest fear? - That Stefanie will stop wanting to come back to him.
13.) Biggest fantasy? - That Stefanie never has to leave him.
14.) Quirks in bed? - See #7 about being a dom.
15.) Bad habits? - Making Stefanie excuse his dominating behavior by making her feel good.
16.) Biggest regret? - Making the deal that keeps his wife away for half of each year.
17.) Best kept secrets? - Other people's. He knows who really killed Adonis, for example.
18.) Last thought? - "I never want to leave this bed."
19.) Worst sexual experience? - Raping Persephone.
20.) Biggest insecurity? - That he'll hurt Stefanie past his power to make up for it and he'll lose her forever.

OOC: This thread is a RP'ization of the myth, to be used as backstory for the 'canon' versions of darkness_unseen and lost_todarkness.

When the dust from the Titanomachy had settled, creation was divided among the brothers. Zeus claimed the sky, Poseidon the seas and to Hades had gone the underworld. Although Hades' dominion gave him power over all the lands of the dead, from the idyllic Elysian Fields to the hellish Tartarus... although the riches from beneath the earth such as gold and jewels were his as well... although he was respected, feared and worshipped by mortals... Hades had always found himself and his stone palace dark and cold of temperament.

He had heard the tales told by his fellow Olympians, stories of the daughter Zeus had sired with Demeter, and of how young Persephone was beautiful and precious, innocent and bright. She was flowering life itself, especially since beginning to approach young womanhood. Hades had gone to see, and a single undetected look at the girl had cracked the ice around his heart.

There was no question: he had to possess Persephone for himself.

Zeus himself gave tacit permission to the union, but had warned Hades that Demeter would never approve. And so, Hades took it upon himself to make sure that Persephone's mother did not have a choice in the matter.

Below the meadow where Persephone walked, Hades could feel the warmth of her life seeping through the cold rocks above him. It was as intoxicating a feeling as any of Dionysus' libations, and far more potent. He felt the girl stop moving, perhaps to pick one of the flowers that filled the land around her. Hades smiled and called upon the very foundations of the earth to do his bidding.

The ground beneath Persephone's feet was rent open, and the girl fell into the darkness, where Hades himself was waiting to catch her. Once the girl was secure in his arms, Hades fought the urge to have her in that first moment, closed the fissure above them and sped off for his palace in the underworld so fast that Persephone lost consciousness.

Laying the girl on the vast, richly appointed bed Hades had bidden be constructed for them, the Lord of the Underworld took a seat nearby and waited for Persephone to awaken.