#i can literally sit here for hours and talk about how alicent being abused shaped her into becoming an abuser and how her abuse toward her

[americanprometheuss]

i love it when the voices start speaking to me and they make me realize that the reason i sympathize and feel bad for alicent’s children is because i AM alicent’s children.

i’m the child being overlooked in favor of someone else, the ones who have to watch their mother beg for their father to realize that his inactions are harming me. the one being scorned and sneered upon while being told that my father figure isn’t my father, he’s my authority figure, the one who holds the rod instead of being my nurturer.

i’m aemond after he loses his eye, and is watching alicent beg for viserys to do something to help him. i’m aegon slowly wasting away as he tries to live up to the mantle of king that was forced on his head. i’m heleana who speaks of the misfortunes of her family but is ignored and pitied.

i feel like every person who has been emotionally, physically, mentally, etc. abused in their childhood can find pieces of themselves within each of the green children because they’re just the beacon and poster child of how the same abuse can make so many different types of adults.

[comicalcats]

Volume 2: Bitter Sweet

CHAPTER 1

As Alice had stated, the two were now on an adventure. Although it had started on a positive note, it quickly became apparent that there would be some issues concerning the clashing of their personalities.

Dale seemed to prefer the safer route due to his lack of courage and backbone. The routes that Dale perceived as ‘safer’, were the routes that were less likely to have them stumble across villages, which suited his lack of social interaction skills. Unfortunately, the safe route was almost always the longer route, which didn’t sit well with Alice.

Alice was completely alien to someone like Dale, who had spent his entire life avoiding people. She was his complete opposite in literally every way possible: she loved to talk and appeared to be very opinionated. Not to mention, her obvious superior strength. Without even outright saying it, she made it quite clear that she was incredibly intent on getting to the Kingdom as soon as possible, even if it meant dealing with danger to do so.

They had been travelling for about three days before they got close to a village. But before they could actually get to the village, night fell, enveloping everything in darkness. While this made it difficult for Alice to see, it was ten times worse for her traveling partner.

Dale was afraid of the dark, and for good reason; while his impaired vision made bright colors appear dull and washed-out, colors such as blue and black came to him as much darker and bolder than they actually were. Because of that, the only things Dale could see around him besides an unending sea of darkness were his blue clothing. Other than that, he was more or less blind.

Alice has no clue about any of his issues. They had only met a few days ago, and Dale wasn’t exactly the sharing type. Despite Alice’s title of ‘best friends’, he had yet to give her his trust.

Little did they know that something change when they finally stumbled across a village one fateful evening.

DALE

Just kill me already.

Thank goodness Alice wasn’t a mind-reader, because dozens of thoughts similar to that one had been filling up my mind faster than a dam flood for the past few hours, including a few not-so-kind thoughts about her. Even if she had been a mind-reader, she was much too busy blabbering on about something or other. I didn’t know her very well, but the one thing that I could say I knew for sure about her was that she liked to to talk.

Scratch that, loved to talk.

I wasn’t really paying attention to what she was saying. It wasn’t that I couldn’t focus, her rambles just didn’t require much of my attention. But I did tune in from time to time, just so she didn’t think that I was ignoring her. Even though I guess I kind of was, I didn’t want her to catch on.

I decided to tune in just as she jumped onto a new topic. “Y’know, I’ve always thought that people who wear a ton of makeup look like clowns. Makeup is fine, as long as you don’t look completely ridiculous wearing it, I mean-”

I drifted again once it became obvious that I wasn’t really missing much. Alice gave off a vibe of being in a hurry. Everything she did seemed rushed, from simply walking to packing and setting up camp. At the moment she was ahead of me, but she glanced back every now and again to make sure she wasn’t leaving me behind.

I had never been in shape, so I felt a bit bad at the possibility that I was slowing her down. Of course, it seems that Alice is quite used to doing things quickly. I can only imagine how much easier this trip must be for her than me.

After hours of walking, a village came into view. I sighed, half relieved, and half disappointed. I had hoped we wouldn’t come across any people for a while, yet there we were. It was a stupid thing to hope for, looking back on it.  

I was pulled out of my thoughts by the sound of Alice’s voice ahead of me. “I wish I was a little more like you. You’re so quiet and peaceful, and I never really know when to shut up. Living on your own must have been nice, too. Not a single person to bother you, all silence and tranquility, by yourself in the forest. I’m a little envious,” she added, laughing dryly.

I almost couldn’t believe the words that had just come from her mouth. Envious? How could she possibly envy living in such misery and sorrow? If she knew what my life was like, she would never have opened her mouth to speak in the first place.

Before I could even react to her statement, she spoke. “We’re here! Come on, let’s go find an inn to stay at for the night.”

I hadn’t even realized that we were at the outskirts of the village. Just as we passed the village sign, we heard yelling from inside a nearby shop. Alice’s head turned in that direction, seemingly interested in whatever was happening inside.  

I felt my chest fill with dread as I realized what she was about to do.

She marched towards the shop to investigate just as I feared she would. I had a split second to decide what I wanted to do. I could stay outside by myself, in the dark and quiet, and possibly get mugged.

Or I could follow Alice into the shop where the source of all the noise was, as well as a decent amount of light. Each option had a couple of pros and cons.

I followed Alice into the shop, jogging slightly to catch up with her fast-paced walking.

A bell dinged as she opened the door, but the people inside the shop didn’t notice a thing. Closest to us were three men and a woman, all angry-looking. Even the smallest member of their group was much taller than me and looked like he could break my bones with a flick of his hand. They were yelling at the old man behind the counter. He had gray hair, a mustache, and a terrified expression.

The man who appeared to be in charge was the one shouting. “Listen up, old man. You said you would have the money this week, and now suddenly you don’t have it,” he paused. “Y’know what? I think you’re lying to us.”

The counter man looked even more scared now than he had a few moments ago, if that was even possible. “No, please, I swear. I just-”

Behind the counter, a boy burst through a doorway covered by a curtain. He was a short redheaded kid with glasses and a high-pitched voice, which he used to cry, “WAIT!”

The room fell dead silent. No one moved, their eyes glued to the redhead. Finally, he spoke again. “It was me. My grandpa is innocent. Please, don’t hurt him,” he pleaded.

The man who had been yelling at the shopkeeper let out a low laugh. He sneered at the boy, “What makes you think I’m gonna listen to a little twerp like you?”

He leaned over the counter and grabbed the boy by the collar of his shirt, dragging him out from behind the counter. The boy resisted, of course, but he was no match for the thug, who was much older and bigger than him. The thug pushed the boy towards one of his cronies, who grabbed his arms from behind, effectively restraining him.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. He was just a kid, easily the same the as myself. How could people be so cruel towards an innocent little boy trying to protect his grandfather?

I remembered how the inhabitants of DonDo had treated me. I had done nothing to earn the hate of the village, yet they had decided that I deserved to be abused. For no reason whatsoever, they detested me. They threw things at me. Mercilessly, they pushed, punched, and kicked me without putting any thought into why they were doing it. This kid, although not completely alone, was in a similar situation.

And it hurt. Even though I wasn’t the one being picked on at that moment, it hurt to see someone else receiving that kind of treatment. If possible, it hurt even worse than when I was the one being attacked. To see another person endure the same torture that I had endured for years tugged at my heartstrings. I thought I was going to throw up.

A resonating smack filled the room. 

  Holy shit. I didn’t have enough time to process what had just happened. I was stunned.