It's all AU.

The Master sat at a picnic table, doing a bit of jiggery pokery on his laser screwdriver, absently singing -

"Help of the helpless, Oh abide with me.
Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim; its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see..."

Memory is a funny thing.

Rose peered at a bright blue lizard on tree limb. Caught the familiar figure out of the corner of her eye and asked the Doctor, "That color is more a tropical thing, isn't it? Seems like bad camouflage. Well, guess this place didn't exactly evolve."

Reinette had been here a few days and was starting to get a feel for her new surroundings, and how different they were from home. She wasn't at all homesick: she had her own bedroom, her own clothes, and her own doll, who was currently tucked up in bed while Reinette went exploring.

Her excitement only grew when along the street she spotted someone she actually knew.

"Fireplace Man!" she cried, launching herself towards him elatedly.

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.

"Oh. Oh that just can't be normal."

He was squatted down, elbows resting on his thighs and hands half over his face, peering at the tree he and the Master had turned silver. It was a bit more silver that it had been, gleaming in the sunlight. It wasn't the problem. The problem was the squirrell that was sitting, upright on it's haunches, a few feet away from the Doctor, chattering angerily. It was a problem because it was orange - really, really, orange- and its tail was rainbow striped.

The Master caught sight of some Doctor casually sitting on park bench, nose in a book. The Doctor looked fairly relaxed, which was a good sight. He gave the Doctor a sunny smile, and small wave, but wasn't sure if he shouldn't disturb him further. So, he didn't immediately stop.

He was flat on his back under a tree, looking up at the sky through the leaves. He was also chewing gum and blowing bubbles. The bigger, the better.

Romana was headed towards the library to return a book, and pick out some new ones, when she spotted the Doctor from behind. A Doctor, at least, the tall thin incarnation in the suite, that seemed to correspond with after the war. Well, she could try to talk to him without the ghost effect. She hurried to come up beside him, and tilted her head back to beam up at him. "Hello, Doctor," she said, in fairly good cheer.

The Doctor was standing in the middle of the park, head cocked to the side and staring at an oak tree that was gradually turning into something else entirely - something glistening and silver.

"Did you know," the Doctor said, without turning to look at whoever had just approached, "I think if we gathered everyone here together, and had them think as hard as they could, all at once, about Gallifrey, we could just about raise a citadel. I can't imagine why we'd want to mind - but I think we could."

Jack's sleeves were rolled up, his coat and jacket on the couch behind him. He tapped his wristband with a frown, staring between a picture of himself on the screen and the stuffed bunny in a cage transmitting the image.


"Well. That's... Odd."

After The Doctor got his unconscious, future-self (and rightful owner of this TARDIS) settled in bed and was quite sure he was neither going to wake up or die, The Doctor left him the hell alone. He went to the TARDIS wardrobe, exchanged his clothes to ones a bit more fitting with this regeneration - comfortable shoes and no wool, thank you very much.

He stepped out of the TARDIS, pocketing the key with one hand and flipping his coat's collar into position with the other. He made sure the door was locked firmly before he pocketed his key and walked away from it, and back toward the hotel. He'd made it about half-way when he spotted someone walking toward him. He waved, cheefully, and squinted.

"Hello!" he said, brightly. "Looking for someone?"

He was sitting in the lobby with a newspaper. There was a lamp on the table near his elbow, providing his reading light, and an empty tea-cup under it. When he heard footsteps moving toward him he folded the paper. "Did you know the library here has periodicals spanning nearly 200 years?"

The Doctor spent most of his morning in the room he'd arrived in, walking in and out of the wardrobe in the hope that it might send him back home.

Eventually, he gave up in disgust, went downstairs, picked up an apple from the dining room and wandered out into the street, munching.

He hadn't got far before he saw a very familiar face coming towards him. "Ah! You must be the elusive other me!" he exclaimed jovially, ambling forwards.

Susan had contented herself in this place. She'd almost forgotten that there was even somewhere that she needed to return to. Almost. She was starting to get a little homesick. Just enough that the idea of looking for an exit back was starting to strike her. Of course, she'd worry about that a bit later. Right now, there were much more important matters to attend to.

Carrying two cups of tea, Susan slid in next to the familiar individual and smiled up at him, offering him one of them, "You look like you need this."

It was what passed for night, and he'd woken from very strange dreams to an even stranger reality. He spent a bit of time looking out his window, at the swirl of stars stretched across the sky. He rubbed his eyes and wandered out, thinking that maybe a cup of tea would be a good idea.

He found his way to the dining room, procured his tea, and then looked about. When he saw someone already there, he smiled faintly and walked over. "Hello," he said, pleasantly. "Would you mind a bit of company?"

He hadn't been here long. Just long enough to lose his watch, really.

He assumed at first that he was having another fantastic dream, filled with impossible things, and wandered aimlessly about the town for a bit, and the more he walked and more he saw the more he was sure that it was a dream. It was certainly impossible.

Eventually he made his way into the dining room. He stopped in the doorway and looked around with a faint frown before making his way over to a table. When he spotted someone looking at him he smiled and waved vaguely.

"Impossible," he muttered. "Fantastic but impossible."