A/N: I'm really not sure if it's that interesting to read, but I'm having fun putting the Master's perspective into this scenario. Bear with me, we'll return to the TARDIS soon ;P
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"Alright, I might be the tiniest bit impressed." The Master tipped his head to the side, taking in the environment outside. "How did you get him to land here and what in the universe have you told him that he's not running around out there this second?"
"Oh, you know. Shopping." The Master raised a brow and Donna gave a nonchalant shrug. "Told him I wanted to see the era's fashion live and in action and see if I can get my hands on something handmade. TARDIS makes good stuff, I have to leave her that, but 's not the same. Speaking of, what ya think?"
"About what?" It was hard to keep his mind focused on whatever that woman was blabbering about. How could anyone talk so much?
"The dress, idiot." She smoothed her hand over a sleeveless whatever. It was brown or dark grey and adorned with fine floral patterns. Not much better than a decorated potato sack.
The Master wrinkled his nose. "Not what I would wear."
"Why, of course not. It would look rather ridiculous on you."
"Hey, I look great in dresses!" he protested. "Given they have style. And we'll…" he added, contemplating his current looks, "maybe not in that body. Most of those aren't cut for a good fit in a… huh? Did you break now?"
Somehow what he had said had actually silenced Donna. She stood there, with her mouth formed into a silent 'o' and her mind seemed to be busy processing something until the process was done with an almost audible pling.
"You… wearing dresses."
"Not now, obviously. I enjoy the fashion they have for my current body type way too much. But I used to, sure. They won't fit you though, or else I would have given you something that is… well, that's not whatever you're wearing here."
"Well… okay then. Whatever. You do you." Donna shrugged and seemed to get herself out of her stupor. "I'm looking good, though! You just have bad taste."
"If you say so." He wasn't going to argue any further. And he definitely had style. This body looked quite dashing in the almost all black suit. Only his dress shirt under the waist coat was blood red.
During their bickering they had finally managed to walk the few hundred steps towards the mansion on the hill. Their destination. According to history, Agatha Christie herself was supposed to be present here by this time. Given the Doctor hadn't messed up the coordinates again. And really, they stumbled right into a bunch of rich snobs who seemed to be preparing to do rich-snob-stuff.
The Master wrinkled his nose at the sight of those people, all thinking they were something special only because they had been born into high status. Or had stolen it.
Whatever. He was used to putting on a mask. And this time was no exception. With the stolen psychic paper from the Doctor and the charming smile he had practised far too much during his time as politician, he had an easy time convincing everyone they belonged here.
"Forgive me, but who exactly might you be, and what are you doing here?" asked an elderly lady.
"Ah, Lady Edisson. It's a pleasure to meet you again. I'm Emil Keller and this is Donna Noble of the Chiswick Nobles."
Donna did a curt nod and suddenly put on a funny accent. "Good afternoon, my lady. Topping day, what? Spiffing. Top hole."
The Master nudged her in the side and growled, "Stop that nonsense."
That woman would get them into trouble in no time. It had been a bad idea to take her along. But for now the Master saw no opportunity to get rid of her and instead focused on the human in front of him, flashing the psychic paper once again.
"We were thrilled to receive your invitation, my lady," he purred. "We met at the Ambassador's reception."
"Mister Keller, how could I forget you? But one must be sure with the Unicorn on the loose." Lady Edisson took a sip of her drink.
The Master tilted his head, raising a brow. "A unicorn? That sounds unlikely."
"The Unicorn," emphasised the woman. "The jewel thief? Nobody knows who he is. He's just struck again. Snatched Lady Babbington's pearls right from under her nose."
"Funny place to wear pearls," came a mumbled joke from Donna, which caused the Master to promptly nudge her again. Not that she would have reacted to that, much to his annoyance.
At least no one paid her any attention as the next guests were called out. The Master promptly used the opportunity to drag Donna into the crowd, preferably far away from any nosy eyes and ears. It didn't stop her from hearing everything though. And she didn't let herself be dragged too far before she tore her arm out of his grip with a sour look.
A young man was introduced and Donna scoffed over her drink. "Typical. All the decent men are on the other bus."
He looked around, not seeing any such vehicle close by. "What bus? I'm not sure they even-"
"Oh, not an actual bus, silly. I just meant… look at the boy."
"I'm looking. What about him?"
Donna leaned closer and held a hand up to her mouth, whispering, "I bet he's gay."
"He doesn't look that happy to me."
"Not as in happy. He's… why do I even bother?"
The Master shook his head, but then remembered a conversation he had had with Lumin once, that had gone in a similar direction. "You mean he prefers his own gender?"
"He's catching up," mocked Donna, nipping at her drink.
"Why do you use a word for it that means nothing related to that? And why do humans even have a word for it? Seems pretty silly to me."
Donna shrugged. "Silly, because it's normal for Time Lords? I mean, you two have a lot of issues, no one can deny that. But your gender doesn't seem to play a role in that."
"What for?" He poked Donna's shoulder. Maybe she would finally bring light to this absurdity he kept stumbling over again and again.
"What f- Oi, stop that, alien boy!" She slapped his poking hand away. "People are just old-school. Can't say I understand why, never bothered me to be honest. Just let them love who they love. Doesn't hurt anyone. Well, maybe except Chelsy who thought this guy, Jeremy was his name I think, flirted with her and she was really into him and then all of a sudden… oh no, he had a boyfriend."
He shouldn't have asked. The Master groaned and rubbed the bridge of his nose. This woman could literally talk your ear off. And he still had no explanation. Not that human behaviour always had one. Those primates had the weirdest customs sometimes. Like binding themselves to only one partner. Or, well, this whole gender thing. In the end it really didn't matter.
And also, there came the person they had been waiting for. And with her came the perfect opportunity to make Donna shut up. This time she luckily reacted, when he nudged her.
"Here she is," Lady Edisson said. "A lady who needs no introduction."
The woman in question looked exactly like in the old photographs. Her long face and blond hair. And she too wore a dress the Master could only describe as horrendous. Whatever they dared to call fashion during this time period was reason enough to absolutely never come here should he ever end up wearing dresses again. Never.
It was a good thing they weren't here for that.
"No, no, please, don't." Miss Christie mumbled, blushing slightly. She started squirming as soon as everyone stared at her. "Thank you, Lady Eddison. Honestly, there's no need."
"Agatha Christie," murmured the Master.
"That's me," confirmed the blond woman, a curt smile on her lips.
Donna smiled and nothing in the whole wide universe could have spooked the Master more in this very second. He wanted to observe and learn, not make it obvious they didn't belong here. All he could do was to toss a warning look in her direction and then approach the author before Donna could. The Master stepped forward, putting on his most charming smile and shaking Agatha's hand. "I was just talking about you the other day. We were having a lively discussion about crime literature and yours is the best I came across so far."
"Oh, oh this is lovely to hear, Mister…?"
"Keller. Emil Keller. And this is Miss Noble. We are… you might say fans of your works."
Agatha raised a brow and regarded them both with a stern look. Nothing of her initial shyness was left, all of a sudden. Instead she smiled. "You make a rather unusual couple."
Couple. The Master had to take in a controlled breath to keep himself from strangling the author right here and then. "We're nothing even close to a couple."
"Oh no, absolutely not," seconded Donna.
And Agatha, she just smiled once again. "Well, obviously not. No wedding ring."
Good. One bullet dodged. The Master had no idea how the Doctor could stand being around those primates all the time without murdering them. As a politician he had at least enjoyed the privilege of acting from afar, not being in the need to meddle much with humans. Here however…
And he was on a mission on top of that. So maybe it would be beneficial to show himself from his 'best' side. At least until he found a good moment to hypnotise her without anyone noticing.
"You have a keen eye. No ring and there won't ever be one."
"Good choice." Agatha chuckled. "The thrill is in the chase, never in the capture."
And with that she already got dragged away by other guests, leaving a sulking Master and an all too curious Donna behind.
"Humans and their short life span," he grumbled to himself. "Chase a few centuries and you won't find it as thrilling anymore."
"Sounds like you talk from experience." Donna was decidedly not faced by his death stare. Instead she started babbling again, about the weather, the drinks, about the people around and what she thought of them.
The Master wasn't far from simply leaving. There would be another way to get more reading material. Somehow this started to be the opposite of what he had been looking for.
Two things happened then that made him stay anyway.
The first was the date he saw in a newspaper.
"Oh, Doctor. You did get us to the wrong date again," he mumbled.
Donna stopped babbling for a second and looked at him curiously, so the Master pointed at the newspaper.
"This isn't the party they are supposed to have. It's almost a year later. And not just any." He made a short pause. Just for the dramatic effect. "It's the day Agatha Christie disappeared."
"You're kidding! Have to. This can't…" Donna took in a sharp breath. "We might find out what happened!"
"Mhm, exactly. A nice little mystery is exactly the thing I need right now. Distraction."
"From what?"
Nosy thing! But alright. She wanted gossip, she would get it. Completely ignoring the question, the Master took her arm and lowered his voice. "She'd just discovered her husband was having an affair."
"Ohhhhh, poor woman. You'd never think to look at her, smiling away."
People could hide so well, Time Lords were even better at it. A face could speak a thousand words and yet say not a single one. But he wouldn't explain that to her. Instead he dug out what he knew about humans.
"Well, she's British and moneyed. That's what they do. They carry on. At least that's what they are known for. Except for this one time. No one knows exactly what happened. She just vanished."
"I never knew about the details."
"Then listen. Her car will be found tomorrow morning by the side of a lake. Ten days later, Agatha Christie turns up in a hotel in Harrogate. She told them she'd lost her memory and then never spoke about the disappearance till the day she died."
Donna looked up at him with wide eyes. There was almost awe in them and he knew that was the look the Doctor was chasing after all the time. Admittedly, it was a bit satisfying, even though he wished the one next to him would be literally any other person. Why again had he taken her along?
"You're sayin' whatever occurred back then. It's about to happen."
"Right here, right now."
And then, as if the universe itself had heard him talk, the second thing happened. A small and round woman with a foreign accent came running out of the manor, frantically waving her hands about.
"Professor! The library! Murder! Murder!" she screamed, before collapsing on the grass.
The Master smirked. Yes, this was indeed exactly the kind of distraction he had been looking for.