It's all AU.

Wandering the park, the Doctor had found a round pond with a fountain that he'd swear hadn't been there before. Since it was rather hot today, he'd taken off his shoes and socks, rolled up his trousers and was sitting on the low wall with his feet in the water, kicking and splashing a bit and idly watching the water from the fountain sparkling in the sun.

Theta had a copy of Ender's game in his hand and a pissed expression on his face. He grabbed the hem of the first adult he could find's jacket and tugged, demanding, "Have you read this book?"

Theta had an odd look on his face, slipping his hand into another, larger one. "Do we lose all sense of proper public behavior when we get older?"

The trip to PX8-49Y had officially been labeled "risky" because Carter had had to override some of the dialing protocols to get the gate to connect. And everyone knew what happened the last time the protocols had been jury-rigged.

But the MALP had made it through without incident and the feed back had revealed blue skies, trees swaying in a breeze, and a beach.

"Yes!" O'Neill cried in triumph. "Finally!"

But Hammond had waited for the various reports to come in before giving his favorite team the nod.

"SG1, you have a go. Report back in four hours."

"With pleasure, general." O'Neill hurried his team toward the gate. "Come on boys and girls, I can practically smell the ocean from here. The suntan oil, the shrimp on the ..."

He stepped through the gate, stepped out into a hotel lobby.

"...barbie. What the. Carter?" He looked around. No beach. No team. No MALP. No Stargate.

"CARTER! Where's my BEACH!?"

"No, K-9, no," Theta scolded, kneeling in the grass and scolding the tiny metal dog. K-9's head drooped and his beep sounded very sad. Theta modulated his tone instantly, "To the twelfth decimal, not the tenth."

The Master was sitting at one of the tables savoring a shot of whiskey as he waited for people to show up. He'd traded out of his usual politician's suit, for a longer, more closely tailored knee length jacket, and had actually lost the tie. The white rose remained pinned, of course.

Everything was set up. Tables, large enough for 4 or 5 people to sit comfortably, around the outside of the room. Food and open bar at the far wall from the doors. And still a fairly large space in the middle for dancing. It was going to be interesting to see how many people showed up, because frankly he wasn't sure what the population of the town was. He couldn't help but wonder, given the malleable and mind bending nature of the this place - if more people showed up then could really fit, would the room mysteriously seem bigger? It wasn't a completely absurd idea, here.

As predicted, there were no Doctors with red roses and black converses in sight, yet.

Finally, the Master was ready to post his notice for the party. He pinned it to a large bulletin board easily viewable in the hotel lobby. In careful flowing calligraphy it read,

"All are cordially invited

To an evening of conversation, food, drinking, music, and dancing

In the company of fellow visitors and semi-residents

Located at the hotel ballroom beginning at dusk tomorrow

Dress up is highly encouraged

Less than civilized behavior while in attendance not tolerated

With warm regards,

Koschei (who will be dressed in style) & Theta Sigma (who will probably be late)"

He was trying really hard not to laugh, as he stood back and looked at it. Ok, he laughed. And then wandered off, with a stupidly happy grin on his face.

Thete bit his fingernails nervously, walking backwards as a tiny robot dog followed after him on shakey wheels. "Come on, K-9."

Buffy swung through the door from the kitchens with a serving of peach pie, and stopped dead. The diner had... changed. It was still a diner, but it wasn't her diner.

She stood there, staring round her, a faint frown on her face. "Huh."

Theta had left the Master and the Doctor and had been intending to find Koschei, really he had, but he ended up face pressed against an aquarium, staring at the fish with fascination.

Theta wandered. It was a habit that was going to carry on for the rest of his lip. But right now he brought him to sitting on a table in the middle of a dining room, legs crossed under him with a plate of biscuits and a wondering expression on his face, like shock.

Technically, technically, Theta was not breaking any rules at this particular moment. That was, however, due to the absolutely unexpected event of not being in his dormitory at all. If he wasn't in the dormitory then he wasn't out of bed in the dormitory and no one could prove he'd gotten out of bed. He could have been swept out of his bed by a time wind! A time wind in the heart of the city, imagine that!

Theta peered around a corner into the lobby of the hotel, planning what he was going to say.