AU

i sometimes find my imagination and emotions running wildly while in the middle of reading, writing or listening to something. if i can, i would pause whatever it is that triggered the fancies, and run some dialogues in my mind. these dialogues would often be lost once i resume my original activity. so what i am doing here now, is trying to capture those moments and push myself a bit to expand on those dialogues.
here is the first result, the trigger being Fred Saberhagen's Ariadne's Web which I just started. The texts in black are originally from the novel, the texts in red are from my expansion (unreviewed again so very raw and with plenty of grammatical mistakes again):

All through hours of darkness there had been a howling of the wind, and perhaps of livelier things than wind, in the chimneys and around the parapets of the sprawling palace in the elder city of Kandak. A scud of low clouds kept driving in from the empty reaches of the Great Sea, across the island kingdom of Corycus. Outside the stone walls of the palace, winter’s offensive from the northland seemed at last about to conquer the territory that had been occupied for several pleasant months by autumn. Inside the palace walls, a frightened king, driven to desperate steps in his efforts to cling to his throne, had spent the night attending to the efforts of his chief magician, a wrinkled and shriveled man named Creon.

For long hours a young soldier called Alex the Half-Nameless had watched them both, the king and Creon, as they went through the recitations of spells, and the blooy sacrifice of animals, all seemingly without producing the least result. The mess of the sacrifice had been cleared away, and king and magician, conferring rogether in low voices, had seemed on the point of abandoning the effort, when suddenly the god they had been trying to summon stood towering over them, bleary –eyed and swaying like drunk.

Dionysus had come into the tower where the callers had been tapping into his divine channels the whole afternoon. His presence brought forth the smell of wine and the woodlands, and the reinforced iron aroma of blood – definitely different from the blood spilled from the sacrificial rites in the room. Intoxication seemed to have also followed him into the small confines, and the participants in the sacrificial rites found lightness creeping to the tops of their heads.

“I had not been enjoying the merry making thrown for my honor by the Sirens of the Aegean. They captured a huge ship for my entertainment, but I had not fully returned their courtesy with a sincere enjoyment, what, by your constant calls. I hope this bother be of something interesting or enriching, otherwise, I might have to take one of you with me as a trident target to appease my hosts for my momentary leaving.”

“Oh gracious, beautiful, youthful god, the brood of Zeus preserved in his thigh from poor Semele’s womb, whose conquests and adventures no other god can claim more excitement and ecstasy, whose glorious and …”

“Enough!” Dionysus interrupted the old sage’s praises. “Your flattery is nothing but the shrieking of swine being roasted alive to my ear compared to the voices of the Sirens from whose entertainment you have snatched me away. Lay your business down and be creative in capturing my curiosity”

“My Lord,” the king stepped forward from Creon’s shadow. “An enemy’s army is coming in from the sea in a fortnight and this castle’s defense is depleted from the last invasion from the neighboring country. Being the former home of your mother, we pray for your protection and blessing to deliver us safely from this bet.”

There was no reaction from the wine-god. It might be that he was waiting for more details about the pending invasion? Or, maybe he is awaiting the promise of the benefit that would be offered to him in exchange of his protection?

“Gracious Lord, our army is weary and our weapons are mostly half torn. Our treasury has nearly run out of gold and our grain warehouses almost empty. But our folk are hard working and trust worthy, and will be in whatever form of assisstance you will require from us to defeat the enemy… and will be at your service and loyalty for the years to come to repay our debt.”

“What stops you from saying the clincher?”

“My god?” The king asks.

“You called me instead of Poseidon even when your enemies are now floating at the sea which he commands. You are very well aware that I do not harbor any fondness for your city, my mother’s soul has not encouraged me to do so in any way. You called me for one reason and one reason only, and you have not mentioned it yet.”

“We do not mean to be presumptuous,” it was Creon who answered.

“By calling me, you have already been… and I am telling you that you are only partially right. The army attacking you hails from Thebes and I … or rather my new bride… have a score to settle with its King. His first expedition out of revenge for the death of his brother, aye…” Dionysus said with his ears angled to the wind, as if the information is coming from whisphers from the sea… it probably is. “But my bride is soft and gentle and has seemed to have forgotten her vindictiveness once she was in the presence of ample food and beautiful gowns once again. I cannot decide if it will be wise to breech the topic with her at this time, although the opportunity to crush Theseus’ first excursion may not come again. I personally do not find pleasure in war, except in the beauty in the display of skill of a seasoned warrior, so unless there is no other offering for me but your people’s slavery in the coming years, I would have to wait for the opinion of my lady, which might take a while, for I find her resolve to be fickle even with small decisios, so I can imagine how long it will take for her to make up her mind with regards to a former lover for whom she had betrayed her father prior.” Dionysus stopped and then suddenly bursted to laughter. “Haha, the daughters of the air chastised me for making you privy to my personal affairs, but what harm can you do? Spread gossip about it? Use it for your personal advantage the same way you think my animosity towards Thebese can work for your favor? You are but mortals, I must remind you, and you should not think yourself to be any match to a god no matter how much you know about him. Oh, and the sirens are singing their call, the final act of entertainment had been ready for a while now, so I must go.”

“But Lord, I have additional offers to sway your decision to our favor.” The King hastened to speak as he sees Dionysus begin to dematerialize.

“You should have laid it out earlier when you still had my attention. I will lay the decision now on Ariadne’s feet. I do hope she reaches her decision before the last tower in your city falls to ashes. I do not know who you should pray to for that, but try The Fates. I hear that somehow they can interfere in this kind of business.” His last words were but a whispher.

The departure of the god seemed to have pulled away all the energy from the room and Creon and the King collapsed on their knees.
“We caught him in a bad time and still he was graceful enough to not have punished us.” Creon observed.

“Will it be possible to get into Ariadne’s graces as well, and fast?” The King asked.
“I now see that we should have pursued that path first after all. First, we need a sniff to find her. Unlike a god, she cannot be summoned.” Creon said, pushing himself up from the floor.