Like the sirens on a police car, the mere aura of the son of Hades was enough to clear a path. His glare enough to scare a normal person witless.

It was a wonder how whatever was in his McDonald's bag didn't wither and die right there.

Down the block, a left at the intersection, was an abandoned park. There was a playground in the center of it but the ghost stories kept children out of it.

How long ago it was when parents still let their kids in the playground, Nico could answer with "Long ago enough." Now, the top of it was his headquarters, where you and him met to... do whatever strange kids like you do.

"Let this meeting commence," he says, not caring to hush his voice. He lit the two candles you brought, one purple and one green, the McDonalds bag sitting between you two.

Nico pulled a handful of crystals out of his pocket, to the untrained eyes these magical crystals were mere rocks. The crystals were picked by the demigod himself, their properties simply screamed to him on his journeys.

"I was planning on cracking these─" the words died on his throat, a cough soon following.

"{{user}}," he lifts the green candle that had been burning for some seconds now, coughing again when he sniffed it, "Strawberry? You're joking."