12- Unity

The rooms were conjoined with double-doors separating them. Next door was a suite for the kings. Shimmer and Dicentra took one side while Vortex and Ghoul took the other. Vanity flashed the six a prod smile as they looked around the girl's chambers. "You like it?"

"I LOVE IT!" Shimmer yelled, bouncing on one of the bean bag chairs in the corner.

"Oh and Dicentra, I added some fake plants in here just for you. Y'know so you don't blow my roof off!" Vanity let out a laugh and Ghoul enthusiastically joined him. Dicentra giggled a little too but when Unity looked at her he saw more embarrassment than humor in her smile.

"Well, I'll leave you guys to get comfortable. Vortex, there are some cleaner clothes on your bed because these scraps you're wearing honestly insult me." Vanity said before closing the door. Vortex took no offence to the man's comment and he along with Ghoul made their way out. As they opened the door, the prince shrieked at something slimy oozing into the carpet outside the room. "What the fuck is that?!" Vortex yelled, retreating into the room and slamming against the wall. Everyone peeked outside the door to see what the commotion was. "What are you squealing about?!" Unity asked in frustration.

The specimen outside the door was certainly something you wouldn't expect to see in a professional hotel. It was an ugly caterpillar-like creature, with slimy fuchsia skin and six pairs of nubs for feet. It had a pig's snout, huge dark eyes and curly antennas. It made a small snorting sound as it attempted to wiggle its way into the area.

"A plink," Infinity said in amazement "It's a baby plink!"

"It's DISGUSTING!" Ghoul shrieked again from behind Dicentra.

"It looks like it has a sweating problem." Vortex pointed out the slime exuding from the plink's skin.

"That's normal for plinks. It's not sweat, just the oils from their old skin leaking out when they're prepared to shed a new one." Infinity explained. Unity smiled at the joy in his husband's eyes. Normally plink's were too slimy for Unity's taste but he couldn't help but grin at Infinity's pure excitement for them.

"How do we get rid of it?" Ghoul asked frantically.

"We don't son, we just enjoy nature at it's beautiful work." Infinity said "God, I can't believe Vanity had one of these at his hotel!"

"Yeah, I thought is was sanitary!" Ghoul snapped indignantly.

The plink ignored everybody's comments and shuffled its way to the beanbag where Shimmer was sitting. The young girl looked weary but didn't move. Infinity's eyes lit up even more "You know plinks are fascinating creatures. They have such an evolved relationship with benders it's to the point they know which ones to latch themselves onto."

"So they're star-bender fans huh?" Dicentra asked, prying Ghoul's hands off her shoulders.

The plink sniffed Shimmers ankle for a few moments before pressing its snout against her leg, letting out this quiet cooing noise. The girl's eyes illumed with joy and amazement, scooping up the plink and giving it a bear-hug. "IT'S SO CUTE AND UGLY AND I LOVE IT!"

"That's so cute!" Infinity cooed "It senses your good heart Shimmer!" He got up to stroke the animal, who responded just as positively. While everyone either 'awwed' or 'ewwed' at the moment, Unity's mind was elsewhere. How did a baby plink end up in a hotel like this? Buying them for exposure is illegal. A lightbulb came over him. If Vanity really bought a plink for exposure for his hotel, then it would for sure get him in trouble! While snitching is something Unity usually wouldn't stoop to, this IS breaking the law, so he was legally required to tell someone! Then again, he had to ask the man himself. "Uni, get over here and pet this thing!" Infinity called over.

Unity told the others what was on his mind. The first response he got was a scoff from Ghoul. "You can't seriously think Uncle would do that?"

"Ghoul, you don't know him like I do."

"And who's fault is that?!"

The room became quiet. Well, almost. Only Vortex's little 'ooooh damn' could be heard among the silence. "I'm just saying," Ghoul spoke again. "You've been really on edge since we got here, talking about how uncle's 'not to be trusted.' But all he's done is treat us with hospitality. You realize he didn't even charge us for any of this right? Maybe let whatever grudge you have against him die and move on." the prince ended his point by leaving for his room. Vortex followed, eyes still a little wide from Ghoul's outburst. Unity lowered his head shamefully as his husband walked over as comfort.

"Um, so can we keep the plink?" Shimmer asked hesitantly. "I named him Slork."

*********************************************************

"Damn, brother I still don't know what I did to make you think so low of me." Vanity said reaching for Unity's margarita.

Two weeks. They've been at this hotel for two weeks and Unity knew something was up with the place, he just wasn't sure what. He asked around and most of the workers consider themselves 'lucky' to have the position they do at this hotel. (They would emphasize their gratitude for this advantage HEAVILY, like it could have been worse). And every time Unity - or anyone would bring up Capricorn, Vanity would hastily change the subject or act clueless and say, "No, I'm a Libra."

The kids didn't seem to mind. They wasted countless sleeping hours at the arcade or the minibar and Infinity has already had two instances where he had to drag a wasted Vortex from a karaoke machine by his ankles. For a kid that has never tasted something simple like waffles, he sure had a thing for the booze.

Finally Unity was more forceful with his brother. It seemed even Infinity, in the stress of handling these kids on a constant sugar high and this plink they've randomly adopted, forgot the reason they were staying here. Leaving it up to good old Unity to set things straight. Nothing completely out of the ordinary.

The pair of plant-benders sat themselves down at Vanity's private pub to discuss the tension that's been drowning out their communication for decades. Unity made it clear he wasn't interested on making amends he just wanted to find Capricorn and walk out of his life. For good this time. "You know damn well what I think of you and why. You were always the golden child. The one who could do no wrong...the one who stood 'straight' and never 'bent'." The last part was harder for Unity to say, those words tying back to some...fun dinner discussions where they were repeated in his face.

"I don't understand how any of that is my fault. Can I help that I was born lucky?"

"Where is Capricorn?"

"Y'know the last thing you said to me ten years ago...after the coronation. How did that play out for you?"

"Just fine. I married royalty."

"Yet you never receive calls from dad. Happy you ditched your rags for riches?"

"HE ditched ME." Unity felt emotion growing in his voice and welling up in his eyes. No, this wasn't what he was here to talk about. "I'm starting to believe Capricorn just doesn't exist."

"Bro of course Capricorn exists. YOU'RE a Capricorn!"

"Stop fooling around. We came for one thing. The kid. Just say you don't have him and I'll go back to peacefully pretending you don't exist."

Vanity placed his finger and thumb under his chin, deep in thought for a few moments about what to say next. "Have you spoken to Dad recently?"

"Is that supposed to be a serious question?"

"Why is it I wasn't allowed to visit Ghoul?"

"I was scared you'd give him food poisoning with your atrocious cooking skills." Unity was only half-joking this time. "Also, don't twist my words?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't say we didn't allow you to visit Ghoul. That kind of crap is why he hates me-" The emotion rebuilt in his voice, Unity tried tuning it down. "That kind of crap is why he feels so unwanted. You were plenty capable of visiting. You just didn't want to because you didn't care. You were busy building an empire and that took priority over your own nephew. So don't twist my words years later thinking I didn't care. YOU didn't care."

Vanity leaned back in his chair not phased by Unity's monologue. "What can I say bro? My priority paid off well. I mean look at this place! And the kid was always a wretch in my side anyway so consider yourselves lucky I called at all."

"Wouldn't consider any interaction with you lucky."

The two sat in long silence after that. Unity wondered how they got to this part. He just wanted to help fulfill phase one. Nothing more. Vanity was staring at the empty wine glass between his fingers, thinking of a new way to get under Unity's skin when suddenly-

"Uhm, sorry sir Vanity." a sharp-suited waiter burst in with a fearful face, not even acknowledging Unity. "The plink...it is missing."

Vanity's relaxed face turned to panic as he shot up from his chair. "FIND IT!" He bellowed. "Search every room. Even the do not disturb ones. Or I swear you will be-" He cut himself off remembering his brother's presence. The waiter nodded and shut the door hastily. Unity turned to his brother with a smirk. "So, this IS illegal exposure?"

"Of course not...plink's just tend to leave trails that lead to...unwelcoming places. I can't have my carpet stained with plink plasm." Vanity quickly gathered himself before rushing to the door. "Great talk brother! And if my moon sign is Capricorn I promise I'll let you know."

Unity sat alone for a few minutes, exhausted. He decided to get Infinity and go to bed, but the king wasn't with the others at the arcade. "Shimmer?" Unity called to the star-bender as she moved her legs to a dance game. "Where is Infinity?"

"Uh, I think he went to drag Vortex out of the bar again." she replied, focused entirely on the screen in front of her.

"Thanks. You guys go to bed now, okay?"

"Sure." she was now completely disassociated.

Unity went up to the bar and could already hear the karaoke cranking out old disco music from the Glarsow era. When he went inside, he didn't expect to see both Vortex and Infinity, contently singing their hearts out to Dance the night away from the old band Boogey! The pair were pickled beyond logic, but the lovely harmonies were hard to deny. He turned and saw most of the people there were either crying like it was a tragic movie, or standing and clapping to the beat like some school musical. Then there Ghoul at the very back. On his table, five empty glasses and Slork squirming in circles. Thankfully the teenager didn't look drunk. But was easily mistakable for that as he was having a full blown conversation with empty seat across from him. "No way. You cannot just tell me you've been here 150 years and never heard worse covers than this!"

"Ghoul!" Unity said, finally reaching him. "What are you doing here? And I swear if these are shot glasses-"

"No! Obviously not! Please go, I'm having a conversation here."

Unity picked up Slork, and observed the slime trail he had left when squirming in here. "Ghoul, I have to take care of something. Make sure your father doesn't get into any beer fights. And for goodness sake go to bed. You're eyes look bizarre."

Unity wasn't wrong. Above the deep eyebags the prince's pupils were dilated to the point of being specs of black. And the rest of his iris looked as if it were glowing.

"Right, right I will. Goodnight." was all the prince said before resuming his chat with the air. "You stay out of this! I'll talk how I want I don't care if you used to be a parent yourself!"

Unity stepped out into the hallway and found Slork's trail leading down the hall. His brother's words echoed in his mind Plink's tend to leave trails to...unwelcoming places.

"Alright brother," Unity whispered to himself. "Let's see what unwelcoming places this dammed hotel of yours has."