[open x3] I'm not big enough to house this crowd

[fragmentation]

James is having a pretty regular day. They're planetside, on a lovely little world called Hedenex. He's taking an exploratory stroll, dressed in one of his three-pieces suits, walking through the complex cityscape they're visiting, enjoying the unfamiliar sky.

He's spent most of the day running around with Andrew, seeing sights, meeting people, testing the cuisine, and letting the dogs stretch their legs a bit too. But Andrew and the dogs only have so much energy, so James has left them to get some rest. James doesn't really need to worry about those things, so he's been getting some exploring done on his own. It's a very welcoming area.

He's just about to head back to ship, when he stumbles. This in itself is unusual, given how surefooted he normally is. But it only gets weirder from there. His systems go haywire, his vision and most of his senses cut out completely. There's a moment of panic, but he doesn't have long to dwell on it before he wakes up in an entirely different place. That is, places.

--

James, or rather the Ambrose part of him, comes to on a streetcorner on the Upper East Side, near Harlem. He's breathing, which is most unconventional. When did he start breathing? Up until a moment (or however long it's been) ago, he was completely robotic.

It's not the first time he's been put in a flesh body, however, so he manages to adjust fairly quickly, getting slowly to his feet. He doesn't much care for the cold, though. Perhaps this is just another Time Scoop, but it's usually less unpleasant.

But no... Because there's something missing. Great chunks of his mind are gone, and he feels strangely empty. Oh, not his memories. Those are still there. Not as organised and reliable now he's got a biological body, but there. His two imported personalities. The Doctor and the Master. They're gone. Yet somehow he can still sense them. As if they're here, but not part of him anymore. He's not sure what this means.

It doesn't occur to him how strange he must look, standing here in the cold, looking confused and lost.

--

Across town, the Doctor wakes up. He's in a café in the East Village, down on 10th street - though he himself doesn't know much more than that it's a café, and that he's currently slumped against the wall in a booth.

He goes through much the same thought process as Ambrose. They have the same memories of course, more or less the same mental capacities; the only difference is how they react to it. And the Doctor is worried. Deeply worried. If he's split free, that means the Master is probably also wandering around somewhere. He can feel that much. A presence in his mind, but far too distant and vague for him to pinpoint it.

First of all, where is he? His surroundings aren't much help. Back in his old body, he could've smelled it. He's not sure how reliable this new nose is, but he hasn't the memories to recall which place smells like what anymore in any case. It definitely doesn't look much like Hedenex, though.

He prods the shoulder of a random patron. "Pardon me, but could you tell me where I am?"

--

Meanwhile, approximately right between the two others, in the back of a dark McDonalds on 42nd street, right off Times Square, the Master version of James wakes up.

He, unlike the two others, is not quite so worried, once he's realised what's happened. In fact, he's rather delighted. His personality is often kept quite buried, at least compared to the other two. He's not so keen on finding them, though he feels that they're here somewhere, now he's finally got a body of his own.

He grins to himself, and pushes out the backdoor of the restaurant, out onto 41st street. It's not particularly crowded, but there are a few walking around. "You, human, where am I?" he asks one of them.

Comments

[bluesuit_handy]

Andrew pauses in his efforts to take something or other apart for its batteries and wiring. "Daine?" he asks, even as he stands up and opens the door.

He gasps at the sight that greets him, the items in his hands clattering to the floor. "James!"

Hi, not-James, have an Andrew launching himself at you for hug times.

[fragmentation]

The Master grins, catching Andrew and hugging him tightly back. He only pulls back a little so he can give him a proper hello kiss.

He doesn't find it particularly difficult to fake pleasantness like this to Andrew. After all, even back in the body this personality comes from, he had quite an attachment to this version (sort of) of the Doctor. And he still has all the James memories, so the fondness for Andrew is still quite definitely there.

[wildmage_daine]

Oh. Um. That's... well. Unexpected.

Daine will just show herself out. Andrew can thank her later. She trots back to her room to give them some privacy.

[bluesuit_handy]

Even though it's only been a day since he last saw him, Andrew's enthusiasm for James's arrival is unbounded. When he's forced to come up for air, he tucks his chin over James's shoulder, still refusing to let go. "I thought I'd lost you again," he says. "I couldn't pick anything up on the scanner I built to find you last night, I was hoping it was just a bad design...."

[fragmentation]

The Master notices Daine disappearing, and sends a telepathic Thank you her way before she's gone. Look at him being all nice. Probably cause he's suddenly in such a good mood.

"I just got here," he answers, laughing a bit at Andrew's enthusiasm. The Master finds he actually enjoys this quite a lot, this unbridled affection. He doesn't expect he'd recieve it if Andrew properly knew who he was, though.

[bluesuit_handy]

Perhaps if the Master weren't so horrible, someone might want to show affection toward him. Honestly; the last time Handrew trusted the Master in James's clothing, he got mercilessly mocked.

Something slowly dawns on him. James feels...different. Frowning, Andrew doesn't unwrap himself from around his boyfriend, but tries to take stock of just what it is.

"...Something's different," he says. "Are you a different temperature?"

[fragmentation]

To be fair, at that point he hadn't really built up such a fondness for him - and didn't really have the emotional capacity he has now either.

The Master grins, pulling back just enough to face Andrew (he wants to see his expression for this) and wordlessly takes his hand, pulling it up and placing Andrew's fingertips on his own throat, just beneath his jaw. After this somewhat intense (and breathless) reunion, his pulse is thumping quite noticably. There are all kinds of little signs to pick up on, really.

[bluesuit_handy]

Andrew can sort of see where this is going when he realizes where James is directing his hand, but it's still a shock to feel the beating of a pulse under that warm, soft skin. His eyes widen as he scrutinizes James's face for other signs -- there, a certain moistness to the eyes, perhaps a little unusual messiness in the hair --

"Again?" he asks a little stupidly.

[fragmentation]

"Apparently," he answers happily. Though last time, there was the knowledge that it was only for the day. This time, it might be forever. Then again, it might not be. It's not something he particularly wants to dwell on, really.

"And not only that," he adds, putting his hand on the back of Andrew's neck and putting their heads together. He's not sure what to say, so what he sends telepathically is a mixture of all sorts of things, a brief recap of what's happened in a series of flashes and emotions. Waking up in the back of a restaurant, meeting Daine. Discovering his time sense and the feeling of the rift. Following Daine here. His joy at seeing Andrew again.

[bluesuit_handy]

This time, Andrew gasps, startled for a moment so that he nearly pulls away -- but as he realizes what this long-lost connection is, he puts one of his own hands on the back of James's neck in return, holding him close for as long as James is willing to share.

If there's a strange tinge to all of it, a feeling that all is not well, it's faint and Andrew isn't interested in acknowledging it. "Not fair," he murmurs, but he's laughing as he says it, feeling joy at James, at least, getting these things given back to him.

[fragmentation]

The Master is careful to lock away anything that might tip him off. Most of his actual thoughts, his plans, his -- well, personality, really. It might even be a tip-off that he finds it so easy to invade Andrew's mind, even it's sharing rather than intruding and snooping. But given how intimate they are, it's perhaps not that strange.

He grins in return, pulling back for the first time since they met. He takes Andrew's hand and pulls him back inside the room, closing the door behind them.

"Daine told me you came through yesterday, but it's only been a few hours since I last saw you on Hedenex," he tells him.

Given they've traveled in time to get here, he supposes Andrew could be from almost any time, but he hopes they're from fairly similar times. He could've telepathically shared the memory of their previous meeting as well, but he's not sure how easy it would be for Andrew to understand. Having his android memories imported to this mind feels strange even for him, who knows how it would be to Andrew.

[bluesuit_handy]

Andrew welcomes him in, forgetting in the joy of rediscovering telepathic contact that he normally gets embarrassed about even verbally sharing things he's deemed private, even with James (and even though so many of the 'private' things in his life are things he's done with James). If the Master wanted to (and could) cause damage, he'd be able to do it before Andrew even realized anything was wrong.

He gives a little nod, still giving James a ridiculous grin. "I'd gone for a lie-down," he replies. "It was the end of our first day there -- I woke up again in Times Square." And he'd been very cold and in need of comfort and etc.

[fragmentation]

Oh, he might want to intrude and/or cause damage, but not now. Time's not right, and he doesn't have a reason. But that doesn't mean he won't at some point.

The Master nods, sobering a little. "I arrived close to Times Square as well," he says, in case that didn't come across from his memory flashes. "Though the center of the rift is further north, somewhere in the park. I felt it. We're even closer to it here, somewhere up above," he adds, looking up at the ceiling as if looking at the rift. They're not underneath it, but it's not far.

"Where are we, by the way? Daine didn't explain," he asks, because 'base' is extremely vague.

[bluesuit_handy]

He might not get another chance when he actually wants to, assuming Andrew wises up to him. Or he might be so good at playing the part of James that Andrew will always trust him (or stop being able to trust James).

"Rebel base," explains Andrew. "They've got an overbearing government entity bearing down on them and everything, it's all very heroic, I'm sure."

[fragmentation]

He's not so terrible at playing the part, but there are limits to how long he likes to keep it up. He doesn't actually like pretending, because he wants Andrew to like him for who he is. But he also wants to protect his pride, and, well, he's got issues. He can't possibly just be nice to him.

"Ah," he answers, nodding. "Should've guessed. Rift this big, probably been around a while. Things coming through, bound to stir things up a bit."

[bluesuit_handy]

If asked, Andrew would say it's extraordinarily unlikely that he'll come to like the Master for who he is. Then again, he actually gets on surprisingly well with the younger Master -- it is, as always, complicated.

"Lucky we both got grabbed up by the same side," he comments. "I'd've hated to have to stage an escape just to see you."

That's a pretty blatant lie right there. While Andrew wouldn't enjoy being kept away from James, he loves staging escapes.

[fragmentation]

Thing is, Andrew probably already likes the Master for who he is, he just doesn't like what the Master does.

"No you wouldn't," the Master answers with a bit of a smirk, calling him on his lie. Honestly, staging escapes and break-ins and mayhem is part of the fun. And the part of James that frets and worries about things going wrong, well, it's not the Master.

[bluesuit_handy]

He also doesn't like the Master being too observant for his own Andrew's good.

"No," he agrees, grinning. "I wouldn't. But I'd miss you while we were apart."

[fragmentation]

The Master smiles, though not as much as he should. In fact, he's actually looking a bit troubled, now they've gotten past their greetings and main catching up.

"And this base... How safe is it?" he asks.

[bluesuit_handy]

Andrew blinks. "Dunno. Safe from what? They've got their guard, but I dunno how secure it actually is."

He knows James is a worrywort (at least, compared to him), but he doesn't see what there is to be concerned about.

[fragmentation]

He would assume, if it's a proper rebel base, it'll have a bit more than one single guard. But that's not really on his mind, it's just why he's pretending to be worried.

"I think there's something following me since I came through the rift," he explains, doing his best honest anxiety worrywart face.

[bluesuit_handy]

"Following you?" Suddenly Andrew's all ears. "Did you get a look at it? D'you know what it might be?"

Just let it try to get at his James, and he'll...do something, surely.

[fragmentation]

"I haven't seen it -- them, actually. But I've felt them. I think they're copying me," he explains, frowning with worry. And hey, he's throwing some truth in there. Twisting it just enough that it's plausible but works to his advantage.

[bluesuit_handy]

"Copying you?" Andrew seems to be stuck in repeat mode. He puts a hand on James's shoulder, worried. "Do you think it has something to do with the change?"

[fragmentation]

James nods. "It's possible. Here, can I show you?" he asks, putting his hands on Andrew's head to pull him closer again. He won't show anything until he has permission, though. He's trying very hard to sell this.