"I'm home!" Indigo announced as the door closed behind her. She ran into the kitchen and hugged her father tightly. "Thanks again, dad." She said, grinning widely.
Azure returned the hug with a grin of his own. "No worries, Zappo! I'm just glad you feel better."
"Yeah, me too." Indigo said.
"Hey, hon!" Twinkle said as she entered the kitchen.
"Hey, Mom!" Indigo said, breaking the hug with her father and hugging her mother.
"So I heard you had a rough start at school this morning." Twinkle said, returning the hug.
Indigo sighed. "Yeah, kinda. Two infodumps back to back frazzled me. Yeesh." She shuddered from the memory. "I'd rather not think about that right now."
"I understand." Twinkle said, breaking the hug. "So...what do you want to do tonight?"
Indigo thought for a moment, then shrugged. "I don't know, but whatever it is we do tonight should be low-key. I want to be at my best for tomorrow, after all!"
"Eh, fair enough." Azure said, shrugging. "But for now, how about dinner?"
"Sounds good to me!" Indigo said excitedly.
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After dinner, Indigo and her family cleaned up after themselves. "So, what's the plan?" Azure asked.
"Hmm." Indigo cupped her chin in thought. "Actually, I think I'll go for a bit of a run. Get the legs moving again."
"Don't overexert yourself, hon." Twinkle said, putting an arm on her daughter's shoulder.
"I won't. I promise." Indigo said, smiling warmly. "But for now, I'm off!"
"Stay safe out there, Zappo!" Azure said.
"Will do!" Indigo said as she walked out the door. Once the door closed behind her, she stretched and took a deep breath of fresh air. She sighed contentedly. "All right, legs. Don't you go and fail on me, ya hear?" She stretched for a few more minutes, then went on her way.
Indigo started off at a decent pace, taking in the sounds of cicadas buzzing. "Ahh, music to my ears." She said as she turned a corner. So far, so good with the legs. Maybe I'll step it up a bit. Not too much though, I don't want to risk it. She started moving faster and matched her breathing with her footsteps.
As Indigo turned another corner, she noticed Lemon Zest jogging. "Hey!" she called out. Lemon turned around. "You excited for the Friendship Games tomorrow?" she asked.
"Well of course I am, Indigo!" said Lemon. "What have you been doing to prepare for them besides hyping everyone up?"
Indigo grinned. "Whatever I can. Nobody knows what all the events are until the last minute! That's part of what I love about it!"
Lemon smiled and rolled her eyes. "Of course it is." Her expression slowly changed into a wicked grin.
"Uhhh...are you okay, Lemon?" said Indigo. "You look like a mad scientist about to resurrect a corpse."
"Oh, I'm fine, Indigo Zap." said Lemon.
"Okay, you're starting to freak me out here..." Indigo said as she backed away slowly.
"I've just had the most wonderful idea ever...how would you like to make a bet?" said Lemon, still sporting a somewhat frightening smile on her face.
Indigo stopped backing up. "You have my attention." She said, starting to smile.
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After her bet with Lemon, Indigo rubbed her hands together in gleeful anticipation. "Oh, man...this is gonna be so epic! I can hardly wait!" She said, barely able to contain her excitement. She began to run back home, surprising herself with her speed. "Aww, yeah! The legs are back, baby!" She said as she closed in on her house. She skidded to a halt with her head just inches away from the door and knocked on it. "Housekeeping!" She shouted.
"Come on in, we were expecting you." Azure said, opening the door. "You get to clean the whole house!"
Indigo blinked. "Nope. I just keep the house, I don't clean it."
Azure raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? I thought I kept it."
"You don't say!" Twinkle said from the living room.
"Oh, crap. I'm in trouble. Better get in here before I end up on the couch, Zappo." Azure said playfully.
Indigo snickered. "Oh, fine." She said as she walked inside. "Way to kill the fun buzz, mom."
"It's what I do." Twinkle said proudly, then giggled.
"Oh, hey!" Indigo said as a memory unearthed itself in her mind. "Can we watch the sequel to that movie from that night?"
Azure grinned. "Sure thing, Zappo! I held off on watching it so we could all react together!"
Twinkle nearly leaped out of her chair. "Same here! I've been dying to find out what happens!" She said, surprising her husband and daughter with a rare grin of her own.
"Well then." Azure said, "Let's get to it!"
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Indigo threw her arms up in frustration. "Of course it's a trilogy!" She growled. "Then there's probably going to be several spin-offs that spawn their own trilogies, which will spin-off into more trilogies, then become a giant and overly complex universe that will expand into books, TV shows, comic books, and it will take the rest of my life to absorb every last bit of lore until the franchise collapses in on itself and reboots!" She finished her rant, panting heavily.
Azure and Twinkle stared at Indigo. "Are you okay, honey?" Asked Twinkle.
"Of course I am, Mom!" Indigo said, grinning. "Now I have much more to look forward to than just the Friendship Games! I can't just be mono dimensional, after all!" She said, pointing to herself.
"Speaking of the future, Indigo..." Said Twinkle.
"Yeah, Mom?"
"When was the last time you filled out an application for a job?"
Indigo paled for a moment, then took a look at her arm which did, in fact, not have a watch on it. "Oh, man. Will you look at the time? I've gotta go to bed."
Azure rolled his eyes and smiled. "Okay, fine. But after the Friendship Games, you'll need to start looking for jobs."
Indigo sighed and sagged in defeat. "Okay...I will." She ran over to hug her parents. "G'night, guys!"
Twinkle and Azure returned the hug. "Goodnight." They both said.
Indigo ran up the stairs and swiftly changed into her pajamas. "Friendship Games t-minus...screw it." She decided to change her focus from the Games to sleep, as it would more than likely keep her awake all night if she only thought about the former. Sleep came to her within a minutes.