"Who's this then?"

Great, the redhead again. The one he'd seen before. Sort of pretty, better than the last one anyway. But he didn't understand the Doctor's love of redheads. And his odd wish to be one himself.

"No one," The Doctor told her "Just, a, stranger, homeless, guy, followed me, what are you doing here homeless man?"

The Master sighed "If you're going to use the word homeless, you realize it also applies to you?"

"No it doesn't, I've got my home, right here, the TARDIS. You don't. So, you're homeless."

"Doctor-" The redhead started to talk again

"While he's being an idiot, I'm the Master. I'm going to assume your one of his pets?"

"Hey-"

"Sorry, companions. But really, pets, apes, companions, it's all the same."

She just looked a little confused "How, exactly do you know the Doctor?"

"None of your business ginger, I'm only here to get off this stupid rock."

"I'm not leaving you on your own, you'll, blow up a planet or something." The Doctor said, not really paying them much attention anymore. Flipping switches and pressing buttons at random.

"More than nine hundred years and you still can't fly this thing right." The Master muttered, leaving the redhead and following the Doctor's path, pressing other buttons and pulling levers until the Doctor stopped and pushed him away.

"Now your just being childish-"

"You're not flying my TARDIS, you cannibalized her, so you leave her alone." His expression had gone very dark, so the Master stepped away. So he'd let him continue flying the ship wrong. Maybe he'd get to have some fun with it later.

"So, Amy, our trip is going to have to wait a while, as I do have to figure out what I'm doing with him."

"Amy, nice name, and your Scottish aren't you?"

"Yeah..." She stepped a little farther away from him and whispered something to the Doctor. Although she wasn't quite quiet enough for him to not hear.

"Doctor, who is this guy?"

"No one, for once, I agree with him, it's none of your business." The Master smirked, watching the exchange as the first at all interesting thing he'd seen in decades.

"Doctor!"

"Amy!" Rather funny, this new Doctor, much more...Hyper. He moved his arms a lot when he talked, and couldn't seem to stand still. And as interesting as it had been the first few minutes, the Master was getting bored, and decided to see exactly how long it would take to drive the Doctor insane.

At first it was just a manner of tapping against the dash of the TARDIS in a beat he now found comforting rather than maddening. He knew it was working from the annoyed looks he was getting every so often. But it quickly became more than that. After the tapping, he stood up and started following closely behind the Doctor wherever he moved. A few feet away at first, but getting closer and closer until he was practically breathing down the Doctor's neck. Finally:
"Just stop!"

"I'm bored." The Master complained "Never would've taken this long in my TARDIS. You just had to steal some ancient discontinued-"

"Enough! I'm just, trying to find some place, where I can-..." He trailed off, and then, turning to Amy "I'm going to bring you home, I'll come get you after I've found somewhere safe for him."

"Doctor-"

"Amy, this is important, he's dangerous, I'll be back in, ten minutes, well, for you, well, I hope, that hasn't exactly worked out so well the last few times."

So Amy left. Not that she was happy about it, though she didn't end up shouting at all, which the Master would have quite liked to have seen.

"So, now that ginger is gone, where are we going?"

"Don't think I was lying to her."

"Never said you were. Although now that you've said something, maybe you did." The Master said, smirking. "Anyway, have you got a mirror? Haven't really had the chance to see myself, new face and all."

"What number is this exactly?"

"Let me think, no."

"What do you mean, no?"

"I mean, I have absolutely no idea. Sixteen, seventeen. Exactly how many times have I died? I can't remember. Everything gets more fuzzy the farther back I go."

The Doctor frowned "Well that makes no sense."

"Don't care, mirror?"

"Just use the monitor."

So he did. Like he'd noticed before, his hair was black again, and longer than it had been in quite a while. It needed cutting, but again, he hadn't exactly been living large, or had time for something as trivial as a haircut. His eyes were darker, sort of greenish-brown. And his face was cut sharper, less rounded than it had been. Much better than last time. And not blond. He really didn't like being blond. Or short, he had been quite short last time as well. He didn't like the Doctor, or many other people for that matter, being taller than he was.

"Need a haircut."

"Says the man who has girl hair." The Master muttered "Personally I'd take your cricket outfit over your current one. Why tweed? And the bowtie? You look like a fifty year old dressed you."

"The bowtie is cool. And there were limited options, it just sort of stuck. Your one to talk, exactly how long have you been wearing those clothes?"

The Master shrugged, he was still dressed in the hoodie and dark jeans. It wasn't like they hadn't been cleaned. He'd just been wearing them a while. And he was several inches taller now, making them rather small.

"Am I allowed to use the wardrobe?"

The Doctor hesitated "Nowhere else! If you aren't back here in five minutes I'm coming after you."

...

Chapter two

Enjoy

- JM