It's all AU.

The Master had eaten at a rooftop terrace cafe with a fantastic view out over the city, and was now relaxing with the rest of his bottle of wine, gazing out at the lights of the city.

When he heard someone approaching him, he beckoned them over jovially. "Come and join me? It's a shame to spend the evening on my own."

The Master had got tired of waiting in the TARDIS eventually and started wandering aimlessly about the town. He'd spotted a couple of other TARDISes in his travels, but no-one had answered his knocks so he'd wandered off again.

He'd calmed down anyway, after a few days, and stopped actively looking for a Doctor. Which didn't mean he wasn't pleased to see one, when he glanced up from his beer and sandwich at table in the garden of an English-style pub overlooking the river and saw a Doctor pausing in the doorway, glancing round at the garden.

The Master grinned and waved.

The Master left the snooker hall and went looking for a TARDIS. His encounter with River had shaken him more than he'd expected and he was looking for help in the place he knew best.

He had no idea whose TARDIS it was, but he knocked anyway. And waited.

The Master had found a huge games hall, with pool and snooker tables, darts boards, table tennis, and other smaller games like dominoes and cribbage, and a bar all along one wall.

And rather lovely picture windows overlooking the river - obviously designed to distract the players.

He was currently playing snooker rather intently, concentrating hard on angle and power and potting the balls smartly down the centre of the pocket. He was actually pretty good at it.

He potted the black in the far pocket and straightened, pleased with himself, and noticed someone watching him. "Not bad, eh?" he grinned.

He'd been keeping an eye out for Doctors - he'd got over the feeling of wanting to get away from the Doctor once he'd been in the nexus a couple of days without one - but it was still a few days before he saw one.

He'd just come out of a sweet shop, so it was perfectly natural to wander over to the Doctor and hold out the paper bag in his hand. "Jelly baby?" he offered, chewing.

"You've got something to work on!" the Doctor said, sounding rather desperate. "You've got you to work on! Us!"

The Master flicked his fingers impatiently, pacing restlessly up and down the carpet of the TARDIS library. "I need more than that. I've done weeks – months – of talking and theorizing and I need to put it into practice. I need to find a good problem to solve and do it on my own. I'll never know if I can until I try!" He reached a bank of bookshelves and turned sharply back towards the Doctor and said cuttingly, "And I need my own space. I can't stay here with you forever. It's frustrating both of us."

The Doctor was uncharacteristically silent, which probably meant he agreed, but just didn't want to admit it.

The Master nodded abruptly. "Right then. Find somewhere to land and just let me be by myself for a bit. I need to be by myself, Theta. I need to try!"

"All right, if you insist," the Doctor said miserably, setting co-ordinates. "But I really don't think it's the right decision."

"Well, it's my decision," the Master said. He knew he was being cruel to the Doctor but right now he didn't care. He needed to get out!

He felt the TARDIS materialise and crossed impatiently to the door. "I'll keep in touch," he said shortly, pushing the door open and glancing back. "I've got my mobile. I promise I'll call you if I need you."

And he walked out the door. He didn't even really care where the Doctor had landed. Just as long as it was out. He could feel pressure releasing just at the thought of not being cooped up with the TARDIS and with the Doctor.

He didn't, however, expect to end up in the lobby of a hotel. He glanced around, puzzled, and even more so when the TARDIS seemed to have disappeared behind him without making a sound.

Then memories started too flood back into his brain and his eyes widened. "Oh! Well, that makes a lot more sense!"

Koschei peered over the shoulder of the server he'd coaxed out to the lake, nodding to himself at the charcoal, and the plates of meats waiting to grill to the demands of party guests. He grinned as he turned away, watching the path leading towards town for anyone who'd come down for the party.

The Master was digging a hole beside his counterpart's original one. It was surprisingly satisfying. He was feeling a lot better already.

Though still disappointed in himself - and anxious because of that.

John had finally managed to get his hands on one of the hotel bar droids. So to speak.

He was currently sat cross-legged up on the bar, brow furrowed, muttering to himself around the screwdriver he had between his teeth, hands inside the droid's back. Out on the bar in front of him was his useful little bunch of metal toolkit pieces, his wriststrap, several random bunches of wires, and a bottle of an odd-looking pink spirit. 

He jumped back suddenly, narrowly avoiding a large electrical spark from inside the droid. The screwdriver dropped from his mouth, and he cursed loudly.

An orange did not quite a meal make. Especially when the body was still finishing regenerating. First up was more food, and then he could get started on other things.

The Master breezed into the hotel dining hall, thought for a minute, ordered some pasta primavera, and sat down at a table, beaming at the first person who wandered by.

The newness, and his happiness with it, wasn't wearing off anytime soon.

Somehow, Rose had convinced him to seek out the Professor. He wasn't sure how, but he was sourly convinced that the Master who was actually involved with her was in for rather a shock once he realised how firmly she was going to wrap him round her little finger.

He headed for the hotel lobby and got himself a pot of tea. Everyone came through the lobby eventually. He sat down to wait.

The Master had found a hill. Or made a hill. Whatever. A hill had appeared, and he'd walked up it. Now he was sitting at the top, enjoying being able to look down on the town from outside it.

Not exactly the lord of all he surveyed, but he did like feeling on top of things.

The Master was in his (black) shirt sleeves, slowly filling in the hole he'd dug - weeks ago or years ago, depending on how one looked at it - shovelful by shovelful.

Dig a hole. Fill it back up. It was a metaphor.

The Master was feeling rather at peace with himself and the world. It wasn't a feeling he was very used to these days and he was making the most of it, wandering along beside the lake, on the other side to where he normally went, enjoying the sunshine (or what passed for it) and the sound of the wind in the trees, water lapping at the shore, and, well. Being thoroughly sentimental.

When he heard footsteps coming in the other direction, he didn't even tense up. He greeted Jack with a happy smile. "Good afternoon, Captain! Lovely day, isn't it?"

The Doctor sat in the middle of the park under a tree, cross legged, head dropped a little, intently focused on something right in front of him. His breathing deep and even.

He was wandering in the park, enjoying the peace and quiet and pondering on his meeting with his former self. It had been rather eye-opening in a number of ways.

When he saw Jack - a Jack, a mortal Jack - in the distance, he couldn't help but head towards him. He'd never met a mortal Jack before. He was curious.

The Master had left the tea shop and gone straight back to his TARDIS, to see for himself what happened if he tried to leave. Once he'd worked out that short hops in space were possible, he'd moved his TARDIS close to the perimeter.

He was standing by the barrier and trying to figure out the best way to analyze it, when he heard someone approach. Well, not just someone--another version of himself. Oh, this day was just getting better and better.

The Master somewhat belatedly realised he probably ought to let the citizens know it was safe to wander the streets at night once more.

He wrote out a notice and stuck it on the board in the hotel lobby, next to a rather interesting chart asking questions of the various versions of Jack.

The vampire has been neutralised
It no longer wants to hurt anyone - neither Time Lord nor human
The Master

He'd have liked to find a way to sign his name that showed which version of the Master was responsible for quelling this threat - but 'the one who used to be insane' didn't really have the right ring to it.

Still. Job done. He was officialy a hero now.

He stepped back to admire his notice from a distance - and stepped right into someone.

The Doctor went to get something to eat, and well, he wasn't surprised to see the Master in a body he didn't recognize. It was how very different he looked from his usual style. No beard, blond, almost boyish. He crossed over to stand in from the Master and greet him with a solemn, "There you are."

Maybe a reformed one. Maybe not. Definitely worth talking to him to see.

Lane was enjoying the cool night air, seated on the same bench he'd been at before, when he'd run into The Master. It may or may not have been intentional, last time.
This time it was most intentional.

Leaning his head back and closing his eyes, he waited, trying not to imagine his posture with bared throat as that much of an offering to anyone else who happened by.