Turn It Into Magic

"What do you need, Pogo?" Abi presented the question without even looking up from her computer at the keyboardist. Not only did Pogo shuffle into the room, but Twiggy did as well, both looking as if they were up to no good.

"Oh, you know. The usual," he responded while plopping down in a chair at their table. The bassist followed his example.

"The usual?" Elizabeth asked skeptically. "And what would that be?"

"Well, you guys sit around on your computers all day. It's kind of what you do. The usual for you. I bother you guys. That's my usual," he explained happily with a shrug of his shoulders.

"So, you've made it your task to bother us?" Abi asked.

"We are allowed to do whatever the hell we want today, you know."

She sighed and closed her eyes. "I'm well aware of that, Pogo. But just be aware that you'll have four hours after your day is over to return the hospital to it's previous state."

"Oh, you're no fun," Pogo laughed. "Don't you like what we did to it? I think it's nice. Brightens things up a bit."

"I liked it the way it was."

"That's not good, Abi. You need to keep up with changes. You're going to wind up being one of those old people that can't figure out how to use a telephone," Pogo reprimanded her, clicking his tongue a few times as emphasis.

"I am not going to end up like that!" Abi yelled, glaring viciously at him. Pogo snickered and glanced at Twiggy.

"Looks like I hit a nerve with that one," he murmured to the other man. The bassist tried to suppress his giggles with the sleeve of his shirt.

"If you guys have the whole hospital to yourself, and you can do whatever you want, why are you still here?" Iggy asked. Her voice was calm, though the words would normally be quite harsh. Pogo turned to her, looking as if the answer to her question was the most obvious one in the world.

"We can do almost anything we want anyway. It was cool to have permission to make the hospital look pretty, but everything else...? Well, we can do that whenever we want," he explained happily.

Abi deadpanned. "The fact that you can even say that tells me there needs to be some changes around here," she said tonelessly.

"Aw, don't rain on our parade, Abi! You could have stopped it any time you wanted to. I think you just enjoy it," Pogo grinned. Abi closed her eyes and sighed, attempting to ignore his comment. The keyboardist turned to Twiggy and quietly murmured, in the manner of a college frat boy, "She totally enjoys it."

"Shoo, Pogo. Go find someone else to bother," Abi said with a dismissive motion of her hand.

"I can't, Abi."

She stared at him, deadpanning once again. "You're physically incapable of bothering someone else? It would hurt you?"

"Yes!" he exclaimed, as if she weren't understanding something he was trying in vain to tell her. "Did you see what I had Jeffree do to John and Zim? They're gonna go to Ginger and Marilyn, who are gonna get pissed. I could always go see about Tim and Trent..."

"What happened with them, anyway?" Elizabeth wondered aloud, turning her attention from the computer in front of her to whoever wanted to address her. She couldn't remember having heard anything about Tim being informed of Trent's interest in Abi.

"Nothing. Trent's still acting like nothing is wrong, and Tim's too oblivious to think otherwise." Pogo rolled his eyes at the thought of the dysfunctional couple.

"You'd think Tim would have noticed something by now," Elizabeth said.

"His obsession with Trent won't let him see that," Abi explained to her.

Abruptly, Pogo stood, and Twiggy followed a millisecond after. Both looked at the clock, then at each other.

"It's time," the keyboardist stated ominously.

Abi looked at the two carefully. "Time for what?" she asked.

"It doesn't concern you."

With that last, brief statement, the keyboardist turned and pulled Twiggy from the room. The three girls watched after them, even after the door slammed closed behind them. Each imagined what sort of trouble they were going to cause now, and none could think that it was something good.

It took a few minutes before they were able to resume their usual routine. Abi was the first, and, with a huff and a roll of her eyes, she turned back to her computer.

"Those two, I swear..."

__________

Nobody realized how long a time had passed until Iggy's head suddenly shot up when she glanced at the clock. Soon after, Abi and Elizabeth checked the time as well.

"They've been awfully quiet for far too long," Abi murmured.

"I hesitate to say we should check on them," Elizabeth said quietly. Nobody wanted to take the initiative to see what they were doing.

"Technically, we don't have to," Iggy offered. The two other girls looked at her with a look of confusion. She elaborated, "They have the day to do whatever they want. We can inspect the damage later."

"That's just it, though," Abi sighed. "I feel like we should at least see what they're doing. That way we know exactly how much damage they're creating."

The three friends exchanged knowing looks before they jumped up from their chairs. In seconds, they had made their way out of the room and were following their instincts to the elevator. Something told them that they wouldn't be finding Twiggy and Pogo in their rooms.

They waited the few silently impatient moments it took for the elevator to reach their destination, then sprang from the confines of the small room as soon as the doors opened. They raced down the hall and stopped in front of the door to what passed off as one of their living rooms. Some odd noises could be heard from inside. The three stopped, then looked at each other.

"Do you think this is it?" Iggy asked ominously. Abi's response came in the form of her throwing open the door. The sight that was revealed to them was one they had never expected to see.

The first thing they seen was the group of men sitting on and around the couch. Twiggy, Marilyn, Zim, and Ginger had all crammed into the few seats offered, while John sat at the drummer's feet. Tim and Trent had taken their place at one end of it. But it was their expressions that were the important part: a mix of amusement, disbelief, and something resembling disgust. But it wasn't the couch that became the focal point of the room.

Pogo stood in front of the TV. His hair was a wild, disheveled mess; it stuck up in random places, looking rather unintentional. He had strapped a pair of ski goggles over his eyes. In his hands he was wielding a sword that looked like the remote control for a video game. However, it was his outfit that took the cake. He was wearing nothing but a loincloth and his boots.

"W-what the hell?" Abi asked, donning a mix of disbelief and disgusted horror. Elizabeth's jaw dropped, unsure of what to think about the situation.

"You motherfucker! I'll fucking kill you for that!" Pogo growled to the TV, which sent Twiggy into a fit of giggles.

"What's going on?!" Abi demanded of the men at the couch. Zim was the one who turned to her. His face was still made up from Jeffree's visit, although his look of discomfort had increased.

"Pogo's battling a virtual dinosaur. He said his livelihood depended on it."

The sigh that Abi emitted was one she couldn't hold back. She gripped the bridge of her nose and seemed to be deep in thought for a few moments. When she finally did move, it was to glance back at the men. Her expression was void of emotion.

"What's wrong?" Elizabeth asked gently, as if she were afraid that prodding Abi would result in an explosion of wrath.

"I just can't believe it," she responded helplessly. "I... It... It's astonishing."

Everyone fell silent as they watched Pogo swinging his sword through the air in swift, jerky motions. Every few minutes, he would shout obscenities at the virtual creature he was battling, though he growled far more often.

By now, the entire group of men seemed to be amused by something. Whether that 'something' was Abi's semi-mental meltdown of Pogo's current antics, none could be sure.

"Haha! Yes!" Pogo cried as he punched the air triumphantly. He then whirled around to face Abi with a grin of pure happiness on his face. "Come and join me, Abi! We can play on two-player."

"No."

"Oh, come on, don't be that way! Zim? Oh, Zimmy, what about you?"

"No thanks."

"Marilyn?"

"Nope, I'm alright."

"Trent?"

"Hell no."

"Goddammit, you guys are all so fucking boring!" he exclaimed, exasperated. He threw his arms up in the air and turned away from the watchful eyes of the group.

"I'll play with you, Pogo," Twiggy announced, stepping forward to pat on the keyboardist's back. Pogo spun around. The grin had returned to his face, and he pulled the dreadlocked man into a hug.

"I knew I could count on you, Twiggs."

Within seconds, both men were gearing up for the battle. In following of Pogo's example and the excuse of, 'if he can do it, so can I!', Twiggy stripped off his clothes until he was donning nothing but the pair of jean shorts he had on. They took their swords and Pogo began to adjust the settings of the game.

"Go sit down," Twiggy smiled. He waved to the couch in an attempt to urge the girls to find somewhere to sit. Abi sighed, but Iggy shrugged and stepped forward to sit next to Tim.

"Think about it, Abi. It's not all that bad," Elizabeth murmured as she led Abi over to take their place at Marilyn's feet. "At least they're not complaining about being bored or trying to destroy the hospital."

"I just worry about their sanity sometimes. That's all." Abi shook her head as she watched Twiggy leap up and bring his sword slicing down through the air.

"Why should you worry about that? You're dealing with Marilyn fucking Manson," John pointed out to them.

Marilyn leaned down to say, "And, after all, this is a hospital."

Though she refused to admit defeat, Abi silently accepted their deduction. This isn't as bad as some of their other antics, she thought with a smile. Really, they were just two restless children trapped in the bodies of adults. This was just their way of having fun.

"Motherfucker! I can't believe you beat me!" Twiggy cried, less than ten minutes into the game.

Pogo laughed. "I'm the master at this game, Twiggy. I've never been beaten."

"I bet I could beat you in a real sword fight!"

"Oh yeah? I'd like to see you try!"

"You won't see anyth-!"

"There will be no sword fighting in this hospital!" Abi shouted. Both men stopped dead in their tracks and looked at her.

"But... but Marilyn and Pogo got to have a chessboard battle!" Twiggy said accusingly.

Marilyn threw his hands up defensively. "Don't drag me into this, Twiggs. Calm down."

"I will not-!"

"Twiggy!"

"Fine, no sword fights," he pouted. Then he wandered over to the singer and plopped down on his lap like a child.

"Abi," Pogo began as if he were introducing a business deal, "you agreed to let us do whatever we want today. If we want a sword fight, we should be entitled to it."

"No sword fighting. Go have an orgy or something, I don't care. I just don't want you guys to die," Abi sighed, defeated.

"Aw, you do care!" Zim snickered as he pulled Abi in for a hug that was made awkward due to the fact that they were each sitting at different levels.

"That's great and all..." Pogo trailed off, a look of mischief in his eyes. "But I think I'm going to have to take you up on that offer of an orgy. And yes, before you ask, you have to come along, too."