Pretty Little Wide-Eyed Innocents

There's something about the loss of innocence and naivete that always grabs me in stories. Maybe it's some strange twisted fascination I have with characters seeing that the world isn't a perfectly nice sunshine and bunnies land of milk and honey. Maybe that's why it's so much fun to write. 

Galatea-(left) Galatea's story comes from her myth. Basically what happens is a sculptor, Pygmalion, is so dissatisfied with the women around him that he decides the sculpt the perfect woman, and ends up falling in love with his own creation in the process. In desperation, he prays to Aphrodite, goddess of love, to make her real so they can be together. Aphrodite grants and his wish and the two are married. Now a lot of people seem to view this story as quite romantic. However, I've always viewed this myth as incredibly creepy. Pygmalion CREATED her, so doesn't that technically make him her father? And to immediately assume that someone who was once stone and just come to life would know all about the world and how things worked and that she would be happy in a marriage to someone who created her to be perfect has always struck me as a little disturbing. In my story, Galatea is essentially a child in a woman's body and very naive and confused. She also finds Pygmalion's obsession with her and perfection repulsive. So she runs away, inciting the anger of Aphrodite who brought her to life for the purpose of marrying Pygmalion. Galatea's wanderings bring her to a noble family where she learns a few things about life and what is expected of her role as a woman, then eventually to the god Hephaestus, who pities her and takes her in and befriends his apprentice Icarus (yep, the one who flew too close to the sun and fell, here he isn't killed but he no longer has the use of his legs and Hephaestus found him and decided to help him out). She also ends up meeting up with a rather arrogant Adonis. Galatea starts out as very naive and innocent and always questioning the world around her, yet as she becomes wiser she becomes a little tougher and more mistrusting, but also learns to stand up for herself. 

Kalligeneia-(center) The younger daughter of an abusive father, Kalligeneia ran away from home when her brave, adventurous and pretty older sister decided to leave and see how they lives would change if they went to the cities. Life for them there wasn't much better as they were broke and two young girls alone. Things seemed doomed for them until Kalligeneia's older sister, Margarites, was approached by a woman to become a hetaera (a courtesan), as she was very beautiful. Desperate for money to fill their bellies, Margarites, only thirteen at the time, started to learn the arts of pleasure, while trying to keep Kalligeneia safe. Maragrites proved to be quite popular among the clientele and was able to make sure she and her sister didn't go hungry. Meanwhile, Kalligeneia kept out of sight, believing herself to be a freak due to her appearance. Unlike her lovely dark-haired and golden-skinned sister, Kalligeneia took after their slave mother, a foreigner from some unknown land; pale and fair-haired. This within itself would not have been too much of a big deal, however what Kalligeneia believes makes her a "freak" are her mismatched eyes, as one is blue and the other green. Despite her sister's assertations that she is lovely because she is different and would be considered exotic, poor Kalligeneia believes she would only be considered strange and a shame to Margarites's beauty. Their story essentially follows them as their lives progress between Margarites's rise within the hetaerae and Kalligeneia dealing with her sister's growing noteriety in the city and mounting pressure to join her sister as one of them, despite her fear of of men.

Sophronia-(right)The youngest daughter of five of a very well-respected general, Sophronia has lived a fairly enchanted life. Her happy, peaceful life is soon shattered however, when she starts discovering secrets about her father's past that have come back to haunt him and their family. Apparently her father has angered more than a few people in his military career, both in and out of the city. Suddenly Sophronia is left wondering who of her father's old "friends" she can trust and questioning her own father's loyalties. And the more she learns of her father's past, the more secrets she finds lurking about the city, and the more dangers she finds exist. Soon her former optimistic, peaceful personality is slowly stripped from her and she is forced to become harder. 

Made using Azalea's Dolls Goddess Maker-www.azaleasdolls.com/goddess-s...