It's all AU.

The Master had planted himself in from of a cafe, with a pot of tea. He was watching people go by, and drinking said tea, in his black gloves. He was pretty expressionless and outwardly calm, but then. Most people didn't wear gloves while having tea.

His encounter with the Doctor left Koschei disturbed and worried more for his Theta than he was quite willing to admit to the world at large, and he started walking around the city without any particular destination in mind. He knew he would find his way back to his TARDIS eventually, but right now, he needed to be outside and moving.

He wasn't paying as much attention to his surroundings as he normally would, not even enough to notice the presence of another Time Lord, at least not immediately.

"What do you mean you don't want to come home?" he said into his phone.

He did not look happy. He looked even less happy when he was (apparently) hung up on. He turned his phone off and managed, though just barely, to put it into his pocket instead of threw it. He also snarled and cursed.

He'd been wandering around the city in his TARDIS, smiling a bit when she finally decided that perhaps she ought to pretend to be something other than a dumpster. Even if he wasn't sure that being a wall across an alley made it any easier to find the door.

Humming, he turned toward the street, and blinked before breaking into a broad smile.

"Lady Romana!"

He wandered, after leaving the cafe, humming to himself as he watched people around him. Idly watching for anyone who looked familiar, though he didn't have nearly as high an expectation that he'd actually meet anyone he did. Not in a city the size of New New York, even if this wasn't the real place.

Running into another version of himself wasn't exactly planned, but he smiled when he saw a familiar face anyway, pausing in his humming to call out a friendly, "Hello!"

Koschei settled at a table at an outdoor cafe with a book, needing the time away from his TARDIS to clear his mind. He was trying very hard not to think about what might have been with Theta, and more watching the people that passed by than reading his book. One face in particular caught his attention, and he paused a moment, staring. He really should have expected younger versions of himself here.

He'd given up looking for a version of Theta, heading back towards his TARDIS instead. He stopped abruptly, frowning, when he saw a sword leaning against a building. Covered in blood.

Crouching down, he studied it for a long moment without reaching out to touch it, looking up when he heard footsteps. "Hello, there. Do you know how fascinating it is to actually find a weapon in this place?"

Koschei whistled softly to himself as he strolled down the street, looking for the hotel, and idly wondering if Theta had shown up here again. Or maybe one of his other regenerations. A nostalgic smile curled the corners of his lips at that thought.

"Now, those would be regenerations to run into again," he murmured, chuckling quietly.

The instant River Tam blammed into fake New New York, she *screamed*. Reeled back from the people all around who felt wrong, and tried to scramble into an alley way.

"It's very very loud in here," she whimpered, cowering and mentally flailing for the solid mental presence that had been shielding her, when her barely existent natural defenses had failed her for the last few months. Too. Much. Input.

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.

Koschei hummed to himself as he unrolled the poster he'd put together, smoothing it over the message board in the hotel lobby before taking the brush and paint he'd toted along with him and signing his name at the bottom with a flourish. After a moment, he added a little doodle under it that at least vaguely looked like his face.

Nodding, he headed out of the hotel with a bounce to his step, before thinking of something, and spinning around to add a post-script, crammed in tiny script with a pen along the bottom. He smiled a moment before making a bee-line for the lake to do another check of the fireworks. That part of tomorrow evening's festivities, he hoped, would at least go off without a hitch.

( Poster Text )

Rose sat down by the lake, head resting on her crossed arms braced on top on her knees. When she heard footsteps she said without looking up, "'M probably not good company right now."

Harry woke in the same hotel room he'd gone to sleep in.

He was surprisingly un-worried by this. He was annoyed at missing the celebrations last night, and itching to get going on the business of ruling Great Britain, but this was the most exciting thing ever to have happened to him and he was eager to explore.

He got up, washed with products amazingly similar to his own at home, dressed in a suit he was positive had come straight from his own wardrobe, and wandered out into the hall, impatient to see what was outside. He walked straight past the note Lucy had left in the lobby without even noticing it and wandered out into the sunlight.

Koschei hummed to himself as he pulled on the oars of the little boat, watching the platform in the middle of the lake recede as he headed back for shore. He hadn't quite finished putting together his little project, but it was shaping up nicely. And at least this place had given him a nice little bit of secuity for the platform he was storing the finished product on.

"Can't have someone using them to blow up anything, after all. Would be just a waste." He looked up at the dock as he brought the oars up, the little boat gliding in next to the pier. And smiled cheefully at the person standing there as if he hadn't said a thing about explosives. "Hello! Lovely day for a row about the lake, isn't it?"

Koschei collected his box of firework materials from under the table where he'd left it, and took it up to the store room above the shop he'd found most of the materials in. Safer, at least, even if they were useless without some sort of propellent and powders for the colored lights. He sighed, giving them a wistful look before heading back outside, hands in his pockets as he wandered along the row of shops.

Spotting someone ahead, he called out a cheerful, "Hello there!"

Rose left the hotel, hand in her black leather jacket. She'd hadn't forgotten the Doctor's warning that certain people might be dangerous, but she reasoned this place wasn't actually any more dangerous any other place they landed. Maybe safer. Time to look around.

"The weather's pretty much perfect, at least?" she said casually to the next person her path crossed.

Koschei woke slowly, first aware that the bed only held two, not the three it had when he fell asleep. Soft curves pressed against his left side, a head pillowed against his shoulder. His arm wrapped around a slim waist, holding her close. He opened his eyes slightly, turning his head to look at Romana, leaning in to press a soft kiss to the top of her head after a moment.

Walking away from the cafe, Koschei worried a hangnail between his teeth as he studied the buildings along the street, trying to decide which to check first. "If I were Romana, where would I be?" he murmured to himself, shoving his hands in his pockets, slowly strolling along the street. "Daylight, so not the hotel. Library or a shop?"

He paused at a shop window with a familiar selection of rather silly headdresses. Rather pointless to shop for one of those, when the people to impress them with weren't here. Though they were rather amusing. He chuckled, shaking his head. "I don't think. Hmm. Something with hats, perhaps?"

He glanced up at the sky as he wandered further, raising an eyebrow at the wash of light before looking where he was going again. And stopping short before he ran into a familiar figure.

"Lady Romana." He tilted his head towards her, a small smile on his face.

Leaving Theta to the rest of his breakfast, Koschei wandered out of the hotel, tilting his head back to look at the sky, a broad smile on his face. It had been a long while since he'd last seen a sky over his head, though how long, he wasn't entirely certain. Only that it had been too long.

Taking a deep breath, he started down the street, hands in his coat pockets, a cheerful smile on his face. Spotting someone coming out what looked like a library, he crossed the street, smiling at them.

"Hello there!"

Theta was yawning, holding a bear by the foot and wearing a Victorian era sleeping shirt, cut down to his size. It was early in the morning and that was probably the excuse for his attire, if not for the way he climbed onto a lap in the hotel restaurant, yawning and asking, "Can I have coffee?"