The Misadventures of Riley and Rill

Chapter One: This might Work

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"This might work," Rill said. His experiment that would either make or break his career as the Shifter's Head Engineer was finally ready. He pulled the rope and watched his dreams sizzle and die.

"Well it might have worked…if your intent was to drench Entia," Wryly, his unicorn said riley.

Rill smirked as he turned to face Riley. He wasn't quite sure how the unicorn got up to roof, but he was ready to kill the obstinate, four-legged beast. "Wryly!" He gritted through clenched teeth.

"No, Riley."

"That's what I said."

"Nooooo. You said wryly."

"Yeah. Wryly."

"There's a difference," Riley began, flicking his tail back and forth. "One starts with an R, the other with a W."

"Oh?"

"Look it up."

Rill frowned, but he pulled out the Webster's Unabridged Dictionary that just happened to be in his back pocket. "Let's see. R-i-ley," he said, drawing out the syllables. Riley rolled his eyes, but Rill was too busy trying to find the word in the dictionary to notice. "Riley. R-I-L- Ah! Here." Rill read: "Riley, noun, a rather uppity shadow unicorn who likes to say things wryly. SEE WRYLY."

"Good," Riley said, "now the other one."

Sticking his tongue between his teeth, Rill flipped to the W section. "Wryly, adverb, a way of saying something; a tone commonly taken on by Shadow Unicorns. SEE RILEY."

Rill looked up. "Hey, they're cinnamons."

"Synonyms."

"Yeah, that's what I said."

"No, you said cinnamon, with a C. You meant synonym, with an S."

"Whatever."

"Look it up."