In the Mansion.

[brainpanned]

Who: baby!river, baby!master, baby!rose, and veryoverwhelmed!doctor.
What: children!
When: Friday early morning
Where: the mansion

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[xx_doctorwho_xx]

The Doctor's initial thought still held true. This was very bad. The town was crawling with confused children with a few frazzled adults mixed amongst them. Whatever they had done, and it was as much his fault as Chloe's, time was turning around on itself.

He made a beeline for the Mayor's Mansion, needing to check on Rose, the Master and River. He popped his head into the Mayor's office, to find a child who looked very much like the Master's secretary being comforted by the maid.

The Doctor took the stairs two at a time up to the living quarters. He heard the squabbling before he even reached the Master's room.

Not good.

When he stepped into the room, he had to hold back a laugh. It wasn't funny, it really wasn't, but he couldn't help the huge grin.

"Well look at you lot," he beamed at all of them.

[brainpanned]

River was the first to turn and face him, long hair whipping about her as she stared up at the tall man, fiercely indignant -- resolute assertiveness in every inch of her.

"Excuse me, but do you know what has happened?" She looked down again at the baggy pajamas, then to the other two children. "We seem to have been displaced. Everyone's lost."

[teh_bad_wolf]

"River," Rose tightly admonished, staring at the man who seemed to know them with distrustful eyes. She'd never had a little sister before, and she didn't really know River beyond a brief hello, and hey! you don't own the place, but she still trusted her more than the bloke with wild hair.

Even if he was cute. "You don't talk to strangers, yeah? It's dangerous."

[master_reborn]

Koschei's eyes snapped away from the two girls to the man coming through the door. He knew he had been coming even before he had gotten there. The feeling of his mind was familiar and comforting. And he let his own mind drift outwards. It was a tentative brush. Not the sure and strong touch he would gain once he grew older.

"You're a Time Lord." Koschei scrambled from the bed, hiking up the legs of his silk pajamas so he could walk. "Did you bring me here to test me?"

[xx_doctorwho_xx]

The Doctor grinned down at River, curious at the silence of her mind. She was back at an age before Blue Sun had gotten their hands on her. His smile gentled at the thought. Perhaps he could take a peek in her mind, look at the paths before they were twisted by Blue Sun

[brainpanned]

Nudging Rose in the shoulder, River twisted her mouth skeptically. "He's not a bad person. He just wants to help." There was no way to explain exactly how she knew that -- River just did. Her dark eyes were wide, attentive, and curious, observing every detail of the interaction and cataloging words like "Koschei" and "Time Lord."

"We don't belong here." Clever girl that she was. "None of us. It's disconcerting and wrong. I must find my brother before he starts to worry."

[master_reborn]

Koschei pointed a finger at the older Time Lord. Sometimes he hated when they played all mysterious with the novices. It was annoying! "Come out with the test already."

Of course he knew that was no way to treat an elder, but he was in the unfortunate situation of being stuck on Earth. That would make anyone grumpy.

[xx_doctorwho_xx]

"I'm sorry, River, but Simon isn't here. You're right, things are wrong, but we're going to fix them, alright? My but you are a clever girl," he told her, a hope beginning to build inside of him that when he fixed things, her mind wouldn't be so broken. But it was a fools hope. Time was in flux and he had to return it to how it should be, even the painful bits.

He couldn't hold back a chuckle at the Master...Koschei's demand.

"Always were a bossy one," he said, shaking his head at Koschei. The Doctor thought far back, to the times when he and Koschei were still children by anyone's standards. He brushed against his friend's mind, bringing the memories to the forefront. "It's not a test, Koschei. You know me, just open your mind to it."

I'm right here.

[master_reborn]

Koschei could feel the elder Time Lord in his mind and for a moment he thought it was part of the test. He wanted to put the walls up around his mind, but then he was presenting him with memories. Memories he shared with one other.

Theta? Koschei let out curse in Gallifreyan that the TARDIS refused to translate since there were other young ears around.

"I'm in the future? Why can't I hear anyone else? I should be able to hear them." It was the first sign of fear or worry. Even if they were annoying, the soft buzz of their people had always been something of a comfort.

[brainpanned]

Simon wasn't here? For all her cleverness, that was something River simply was not about to accept. The way she and Simon went together, it was hand-in-hand. Together at all times, playing constant games. If this was a riddle, she'd find the answer.

Why can't I hear anyone else?

River felt a pang of sadness. It was brief, but she reached instinctively for Koschei's hand and clasped it in her own. "You won't like the answer to that."

[xx_doctorwho_xx]

The Doctor looked at River in surprise. She was still a bit psychic then? Interesting. He was so tempted to take a peek in her head to see what he would find.

"It's a long story, Koschei, and there's more important things we have to focus on, like getting you all back to where you should be. Or when you should be. Blimey that's confusing. Who and when you should be? The right ages anyway," he said, waving a hand in the air. "The town rather needs its Mayor," he said, rolling his eyes at the thought. "Oh, you're the Mayor by the way, though I probably shouldn't have mention that quite yet," he added, running his hand through his hair in agitation. That's all he needed, Koschei trying to wield the Master's power.

He glanced at Rose, then blinked. Why was she looking at him like that? And why was he suddenly reminded of Jackie?!

[master_reborn]

Koschei grit his teeth, refusing to let the emptiness in his mind overwhelm him.

"I'm the mayor? Well, there is an upside after all. I'm going to need new clothing." His pajamas were far too big and they wouldn't be acceptable at all.

[brainpanned]

River gave Koschei's hand another persistent squeeze before letting go. There was something here she wasn't a part of -- something that didn't quite match with the normalness of the Things-She-Was-Used to. And it wasn't the strange absence of Simon and her home. A quick prowl about the room proved several things: Koschei must not live here, the possessions therein belonged to a much larger man, and there was nothing of the familiar technology the buzzed so typically in her own house.

It took almost no time at all for her to slip out into the hallway, past the tall man and the girl who was so hopelessly enamored by his looks. River rolled her eyes. Older girls.

She padded down the hallway back to the room where she'd awoken, finding suitably warm clothing in the closet and tucking her small feet into boots approximately four sizes too large. Despite that they made her clunk horribly down the stairs, they'd keep her toes dry enough in the wet cold outiside.

River went exploring.

[xx_doctorwho_xx]

"Well you can't be the mayor now!" the Doctor said, rolling his eyes. "Honestly, Master. Koschei. Oh whatever," the Doctor cried, beginning to pace. "You didn't regenerate, you...de-aged!"

The Doctor reached out with his mind, seeking the familiar link he'd had with Koschei since they were boys. Everything was there, all of the Master's memories, but it was like they were locked behind a wall of time. A wall the Doctor couldn't breach.

You don't know anything about Earth's government. Just behave yourself and try and access the parts of your mind that are locked away. I need you, and you're of no use to me like this.

[teh_bad_wolf]

Rose hovered beside the door with a perfectly undecided expression. Part of her wanted to run after River to make sure she didn't get lost, and the other part knew better than to run. When you ran, even worse things happened to you, and this Koschei kid wasn't really fighting anymore, he seemed perfectly fine with the way things were, and with the funny-haired bloke before her. So, she stayed.

She just didn't want to leave.

And then there was silence, weird ringing silence and a flush took over her face as she moved further back toward the door so no one could see it.

[master_reborn]

"Master?" An eyebrow lifted upwards. Oh he did like the sound of that. "I become a renegade do I? Is that the name I choose." Oh it was perfect.

"I want you to call me that from now on."

Really, did the Doctor actually think he would let that pass?