It's all AU.

The Master settled into a comfortable chair near a window in the library, an original copy of Machiavelli's The Prince in one hand, and a bottle of wine and glass in the other. He carefully poured a measure of the deep red porto into the glass, taking a sip and smiling. Perfect. An amusing book, a good wine, and some quiet. Excellent way to spend an afternoon, if not his favorite. Hard to spend the afternoon moving pawns around in an elaborate game when one was trapped in a pocket universe, after all.

He'd only been reading a few minutes when he heard the soft tread of someone moving around, looking up from his book, waiting, watching, his hands deceptively still on the book. "Is there someone there, or am I starting to hear things?" he called out, letting a hint of sardonic amusement slip into his tone.

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.

Rhia darted through the door as soon as there was enough room to do so, calling out cheerfully, "Uncle Jack!"

Only to skid to a stop, rolling her eyes at the wooded area she'd ended up in instead.

"Oh, very funny Gran, Uncle Jack's so going to have a fit at you." She paused, waiting for a long moment, the grin on her face fading as there was no response. "Gran?" Nothing. "Dad, there's something...." She stopped, staring over her shoulder at more woodland, and no door, no dad, no mom, nothing but more of the same trees as in front of her.

"This isn't funny. Uncle Jack? Dad, mom? Gran? Anyone?" She bit her lower lip a moment, reaching into her pocket to curl a hand around the book of photos there. "Dad? Uncle Jack? Doctor? Please, guys, this isn't funny anymore, you can come out now. Really."

Exploring was always fun, even when he was doing it alone. Koschei had been crawling through the bushes and grass all morning, pouncing on any bugs that he would find and studying them thoroughly before letting them go again. He'd suppressed the urge to rip them in half more than he'd like to admit in the last few hours. It was an odd feeling, the drums taking over his mind and pushing him to do something. It gave him a terrible headache when he pushed back. Which was why one side of his head was throbbing constantly right now.

But Koschei was ignoring it. He hadn't finished exploring yet.

Martha wasn't exactly lost. She wasn't certain it was possible to be lost when she didn't know where she'd been to start with, but she was probably as close to lost as possible.

She'd headed out of the hotel to try and get some idea of how big the town was, maybe get some fresh air (though the air seemed as still as ever), and following along one empty road should have made it easy to get back. Except heading back, she was sure she'd not seen those buildings before.

Thinking hard, she stopped, sat down on the nearest seat, and looked around. There had to be something recognisable. Or maybe some one.

This...wasn't Gallifrey. This wasn't the banks of the Lethe. This was the middle of a street in...Rassilon only knows where. Glancing left and right in confusion, Koschei bunched his hands at his sides, gritting his teeth together as his hearts pounded in his chest. This wasn't right. This wasn't where he was supposed to be. How'd he get here? It didn't make any sense. How'd he... Where was Theta?

He'd had been right behind him. He'd been RIGHT BEHIND HIM! There wasn't any way that they could have gotten separated with barely three feet of leeway. Koschei raised his hands, pressing them against his temples to try and calm the pounding that had been provoked by his confusion, "Theta?" Koschei called weakly at first. That was, until the anger set in. "Theta! Where are you? You said you wouldn't leave! You said you wouldn't leave me alone! YOU PROMISED!"

But he was clearly alone. Alone and lost. Alone, lost, and confused. Three feelings that he absolutely hated.