It's all AU.

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.

It seemed to Estelle that more and more people were showing up in Elsewhere -- she'd taken to calling it that in her head ever since her discussion with the professor -- every day. She wondered where and when they were all from; how they'd ended up here.

"Well, you're not going to find out unless you talk to more of them!" she exclaimed, mostly to herself, as she took a seat in the lobby of the hotel.

Donna was, mostly, cranky, pouring back Bahama Mamas like water, collecting the little umbrellas in a corner.

The Professor had been wandering and thinking, both mostly in circles. He'd eventually gotten tired of getting nowhere and wandered back into the hotel. He almost walked past the little tea shop where he and Estelle'd had tea before, but decided that a cup of tea would not go amiss, and if he could find somebody to talk to who would distract him, that was even better.

He accepted a cup from the robot behind the counter, and turned to see a familiar face. "Hello!" he said, smiling at Estelle. "How are you?"

He was either horribly hungover and hallucinating in pain.

Or in the middle of a fantastic, impossible, discovery.

He'd intended to stumble down to the kitchen and have something to eat so his innards would stop sloshing around. He'd been stopped short by the glare of light on the other side of the door. Bright, steady, not flickering. He squinted against it, stepped into the hall, and let the door swing shut behind him...

And wandered on, drawn forward step as if compelled or controlled or...fascinated.

When he reached the intersection of several halls and stood in an open space, he laughed out loud, clapped his hands together and then threw his arms wide, like he could embrace the whole thing. "Brilliant!"

The Professor took his second cup of coffee outside the hotel, and sat down on a bench not far from it. He'd always had a tendency to get his days and nights mixed up, although day and night had been pretty arbitrary where he'd come from. He wasn't quite used to there being stars in the sky yet, and he was looking up at them when he heard someone walk up beside him.

Estelle didn't want to admit it at first, but she'd been disappointed when she'd returned home. She'd missed the sense of adventure that surrounded the mysterious place. Still, it was good to feel like she was helping out with the war again. Things weren't going well at all.

It was with mixed emotions that she returned to this place out of time. She reclaimed "her" room and headed down to the bar to see who else was there.

He hadn't left this place yet and some part of him regretted it while the longer part was looking on it as a vacation. Maybe his pysche had created this place to prevent it's fracturing. He almost liked that idea, except it meant that some people he'd met weren't real.

On the other hand, it meant that some of the people he'd met weren't real.

The Doctor whistled absently, juggling apples as he headed out of the hotel and onto the street.

The Doctor ventured out of his room feeling rested, and rather more in control.

The hotel was quite large, but he found his way to the dining room, and spent a while watching the comings and goings. Once or twice he thought he saw a face he recognised, but most of these people were strangers to him. There was very little to work with, and nothing to discern a pattern from - yet.

Ah, well. While he was here, he might as well settle in and have a cup of tea.

Unable to find out where she was or how to get back home, Estelle did the next most sensible thing -- at least, in her mind. She explored. She wasn't going to miss this opportunity. She was happily wondering in and out of buildings as whim carried her, stopping to gaze into windows, bypassing others.

She found a small park -- or maybe it was a bit of wildness whever this was hadn't managed to tame -- and half-danced, half-ran to a large patch of daisies and wildflowers.

Only to have the heel of her shoe fail and send her sprawling in the flowers she'd been about to admire.

"ACK!"

"I'll be right back! I promise!" Estelle said, laughing and breathless as she separated from the tall boy who kept trying to draw her into another dance. "I just need to freshen up!"

She caught Louisa's attention and waved to let her know she was OK before she headed back down toward the first floor and the ladies reception area. She was about to push the door open when a light from a nearby window caught her attention. She glanced upstairs, biting her lip. It wouldn't do any harm to see what it was; it might even be important. She walked as quickly as she could toward the door, unnoticed by those having quiet conversations at small tables.

It was chilly tonight and Estelle wrapped her arms around herself as the cold seeped through her dress. The light was just ahead and she walked toward it as if drawn.

"Hello? Is someone there? Can you turn off that light please, so I can see?" She reached out, fingertips just barely caressing the shimmering shapes....

* * *

"Oh."

Estelle looked around, blinking in surprise. This definitely wasn't the dance hall in Cardiff. In fact, she was pretty sure it wasn't any building in Cardiff she'd be in.

"Excuse me," she said to the stranger passing by. "Could you please tell me where this is?"