Octavian stares at the cat in silence.
No passage of time... Vares silently casts a spell to measure the flow of Astrological time in their immediate area. It should progress, regardless of the distortion, giving some idea of what is happening here. The measurement he took before was years ahead of the rest of the world, but a new one can be compared to that, taken just the other day in the outside world.
Indeed!
[color=red] Not scared, eh? Perhaps you should be. You’re clearly on the lookout for something? Grownups? I’m not going to hurt you boy, or fall under this curse, or whatever it is. What happened here?
Interesting… Inigo will let the other two magi know this ASAP if they don’t already.
Just got it, but I haven’t had a chance to read much of it yet.
Astrological time does not flow in the immediate area. At least not in a way you recognize. Your reading f the stars was way off, mainly because the stars are not at all right here. Being closer, you can now realize this. The stars in the sky, or rather, the Vestiges that represent the stars, move very mechanically and serve simply to mark off the seasonss
What is the duration of your spell?
OOC: Diameter duration, I believe. Allowing him to measure it over a period in the immediate area.
He'll cast a second spell on the area where the next zone should begin to compare the two.
Okay. Your spell doesn't end when it should. In fact, it doesn't end at all 
To clarify: Momentary and Concentration spells seemingly work just fine. Diameter or longer goes on seemingly perpetually.
To clarify further, there isn't a next "zone". The stars (or rather, their symbolic vestiges) are apparently fixed and unmoving.
And a moment there after, you feel a rock "ping" off of the back of your head. Do you wear a helmet or anything? Two other children are right behind you, floating in the air. You turn around to look at them and they fly away. The child you met on the roof flys away also.
The cat stares back, wondering why you are staring at it (no Folk Ken, he has no idea what your body language implies)
"Please continue." He states casually.
Flying? 
Interesting. Inigo will fly after them, keeping an eye out for other kids, or for dangers. That explains why the kid wasn't bothered by me flying near him.
Yes, since I'm in the Wizard's Lance. I also have Wizard's Sidestep on me.
Noscur continues the stare off with Octavian, then suddenly looks up and away. He is in brief mental communication with Carles, who can both see and hear through his Familiar’s senses. Then he nods his head in understanding.
[color=green]Noscur: [color=red]Oh, okay. Metron. He was hiding out in Barcelona and had escaped detection for a number of years. He was at the Silver Rooster when Trentus found him there. Carles says the magi don’t know why he was there or how Trentus found him there. (What’s that) Carles said he babbled crazy talk about a vision. Anyway, they break out fighting right there in the tavern. Trentus starts a fire. Metron escapes. Carels is saying the reason he is so unhappy with the Iberia Tribunal is that they ruled Trentus innocent for it was collateral damage in a time of war. The fined him triple monetary damages for his carelessness. Oh, and they also fined him a rook because he broke into the lab space, claiming he was searching for Metron in there. He triggered a ward of some kind that Farusca had put in place against intruders. An alarm went off and Trentus fled in fear. And… (what’s that?). Oh great, now you have Carles all riled up and angry, frothing on about how that guy outta be banished from the Tribunal instead of just Barcelona; banished then marched…, he keeps going on and on.
Vares, I don’t understand the spell you are using. Divine heaven’s Aspect? Or a spont?
BTW, any magus can use Intellego Vim magic to tell time or discern other astrological factors. It is not a mystery, it is just more useful to those with certain mysteries. The spell doesn’t target the stars themselves, the target is a specific environment and the spell determines astrological factors of that environment.
There are some other details I should flesh out here. Things you didn’t notice right away because these were not your first concerns. No one has asked about it until now, and you are the only one currently being observant to the general environment.
It is as bright as noon on a cloudy day outside. But there is no sunlight. There is a really bright moon, full and high, with clouds passing in front of it and in back intermittently. And it has a face. A grim somber smile and sleepy eyes.
The Season is the end of spring (its been a long spring 
). The dominant sign is Gemini.
When his turn is over, he will walk off stage and let the next sign take over.
These aren’t the real stars. These are just vestiges, reflections of the astrological aspects of the mundane world.
Well, with the Sidestep then, the rock misses you.
As the children fly off you feel the Parma “ping†again. This time stronger, with more Penetration. Yet it still fails to pierce your protection.
[color=red]â€Grup! Grup! Grup!†the children chant as they fly towards an old house on a hill. If you take to the air, you get a pretty good look at the layout of the village. The main square is more of a triangle. The guest house you are in is at one point of the triangle, at each of the other points there is rubble. There is about a dozen houses scattered around the center of town, and roughly a dozen more further out from that. Then mists surround the village. Thick impenetrable silvery clouds of mist.
"Please communicate my sincerest apologies to Master Carles for causing him such consternation." He lowers his head in apology before giving quite an odd smile. "Also inform him that I know there is more to the story and that I am quite intrigued to hear it to its conclusion."
Affected by a perpetual awareness of the non-time around them, Vares informs the others, "Be very careful what magicks you use here. There is a noncongruety in experienced duration and the passage of time. Spells linked to the passage of heavenly time--the Sun's Diameter, its movement in the sky, and maybe a full cycle of the Moon--do not seem to be expiring."
Looking up at the sky and seeing the symbological versions instead of the physical, he is struck again by the resemblance of this Place to tales he has heard of Faerie. Which triggers another concern. "There's no way to tell how the passage of time here will affect us when we attempt to cross back through the portal."
Having been following the conversation with Noscur, Vares directs his next comment to him. "Does the Inn of the Silver Rooster have any fresh eggs? I want to bring one into this Place and watch to see if it develops or not. It might not here, but we then need to send it back through the portal to see if any of the elapsed time 'catches up' with it."
OOC: Vares was using the Astrological Time measure. It helps identify coordinates and prepare spells.
Which reminds me. I have to check the exact rules, however, Vares is going to conduct an experiment with set Astrological time expiration. He can use his Flexible Magic to set a Diameter spell to last a certain number of Minutes instead of a Solar Diameter. A simple spell, like a Creo Ignem light spell equivalent to a candle flame. Give it, say, a minute's Duration. It may or may not expire on schedule because it runs on a special "timer".
It won't expire. Anything of a duration than Momentary or Concentration will endure. Light a candle and the candle will burn and melt. But any magic set to Astrological factors (as most spells are) simply continues seemingly perpetually.
Vares immediately realises a risk posed by the current state of unending magic. "Everyone, this is important: be very careful what spells you cast. If those you cast on yourself or someone else fail to expire on time, then they might begin to start acting as cumulative Warping-generators, compounding the depth of the Aura in this Place."
Extremely sober, he notes, "There's a chance that any of the Magi who came here before us have all entered Final Twilight from those effects."
Where do you go when you enter Twilight?
OOC: Hypostasis, according to the Criamon. The Twilight Void/Far Lands according to some cosmological models. All of those are markedly less comprehensible than their immediate environment.
The cat stares at you blankly. Then he looks up, listens to the voice in his head (Carles), then back at you.
[color=green]Noscur: [color=red]Carles said he would be quite interested in hearing what more to the story there is to know. As for conclusion, he said the only conclusion he is interested in is hearing that Trentus was de-gifted somehow. (oh man!) now he is moaning on and on about it again!
Mayhaps Farusca keeps some secrets from Carles?
Interested in hearing what you may have deduced 