#they are equal now

[respectthepetty]

Power Dynamics in Naughty Babe

@visualtaehyun wrote this wonderful post about how we see devotion play out in the episode five opening scene of Naughty Babe through the language Yi and Diao use. *read the post!* However, the biggest takeaway is the shift in power that is being freely given by Yi and fully accepted by Diao.

The scene begins with Diao on the floor, lower than Yi,

only for Yi to lift Diao up, carry him, and switch positions to where Yi is on the floor lower than Diao.

Diao leans down to kiss Yi, and Yi sits up to reach the kiss, bringing both to an equal level.

But this scene is just the icing on a long baked cake because this is a well-deserved win for Diao after an entire season of Yi dominating him in Cutie Pie.

It was difficult for Yi to give up his power to Diao in Cutie Pie. Even when he was being kind to Diao, he was always slightly higher (look at that rainbow!).

Diao was fine with that. He understood it was difficult for Yi to open up, so relinquishing his power would be tough for Yi.

But Diao thought it would happen eventually. He believed that at some point, Yi would trust him enough to let him in, but Naughty Babe started with Diao admitting that Yi is still closed off. They aren't married because HIA YI won't allow it. Even when the parents question the decision and compare Yi's decisions to Lian's, Yi still says "no"

So when Diao tries to run off to Switzerland, Yi questions what he has to do to keep Diao, and Lian, the best buddy who calls Yi stupid and everyone compares Yi to, says this - "be his dog"

It's a wild claim that seems meant for laughs, but Lian continues with telling Yi that Diao loves his dog. Diao's dog is ridiculous and causes trouble for Yi, but he is obedient to Diao, and Lian understands submission very well. This was an entire discussion between Lian and Yi in Cutie Pie 2 You about power imbalances.

He is telling Yi that he must submit to Diao. Lian trusts Kuea enough to bow to him, to kneel at his feet and be vulnerable in front of him, so he offers this advice to his stupid friend.

And, thankfully, Yi listens because from then on out, he willingly lowers himself to Diao.

As soon as Diao allows him into his apartment, Yi gets to work. If Yi is higher than Diao,

he lowers himself so they are equal.

When Diao scolds him, he remains seated instead of rising up.

And even when he pulls Diao down, it's to make them equal.

He asks for consent instead of demanding submission

And he lifts Diao up.

Yi consistently positions himself lower than Diao.

Even when his usual abrasive behavior emerges in the car, he quickly lowers himself onto Diao.

The only time he has stood higher than Diao was when Diao directly questioned him about faking his amnesia. They are in the midst of a color exchange, so it feels clear that Yi was going to lie his way out of it since he had Diao back, but instead he admitted his wrong.

And Diao walked out. Yi followed scared that Diao would leave him again, but instead of trying to dominate Diao into staying, he admitted his powerlessness.

Everything was on Yi's terms in Cutie Pie. Diao getting a dog was because Yi allowed it. Diao being allowed to continue teaching was because Yi told him he could. There engagement was because Yi finally wanted it. Yet here is Yi telling Diao that whatever DIAO WANTS TO DO, Yi will abide by it. And we get back to what Lian was telling his stupid friend. Yi needs to trust Diao enough to submit.

Yi immediately tells Diao he trusts him without hesitation because the power Yi was holding onto was to protect Diao, but this entire ordeal has shown him that was his mistake, something his father even points out.

Yi was so hellbent on controlling Diao to protect him that he didn't realize Diao is perfectly capable of protecting himself AND taking care of Yi. Diao riding his bike is what kept him safe. Diao has several medals in Taekwondo, yet doesn't need to display them. Diao would've been on a plane to Switzerland before Yi could've caught him because he is a smart man. But more importantly, as Yi's father pointed out, Diao would have never left Yi in the first place if Yi hadn't pushed him to it. Yi has known Diao for 20 years, and Diao has always trusted Yi, even when he shouldn't (the tiger), so why hasn't Yi put some of that trust back into Diao?!

When Yi is lower than Diao, Diao is taking care of Yi. He doesn't want Yi to give away all his power. He wants them to be equal. He wants Yi to see him as equal because his family has always treated him as a pawn, which Yi started doing, and he won't accept that from the man he loves.

So when Diao tells Yi that he can take care of Yi, Yi finally realizes that Diao can, and he wants him to. Yi surrenders.

This plot to ruin their wedding is wildly ridiculous, but what better way to align with Cutie Pie and make a statement about the power of marriage, then to give us a plot where a powerless character is given the authority to ruin his. Diao's family used this marriage as a way to secure power. Yi used his authority to stall the wedding. Yet here is Diao using his power to fuck it all up.

Yi stands higher than Diao in their official wedding pictures, and he looks miserable while Diao is playing his part happily.

Lian is shocked that Yi is willing to be the victim in this scenario. Yi doesn't lose, yet Yi is allowing himself to be publicly embarrassed and branded the loser, so Diao (and Yi) can gain some power over his family and this horrible deal everyone constructed without Diao's knowledge.

Yi never wanted Diao to leave, but in order for this plan to work, it has to look believable. Diao has to leave. And Yi has to try to stop him because Yi has to appear to put up a fight.

But he already surrendered to Diao, gladly.

They are equal now, and their marriage should reflect that without all the restrictions and obstacles being built into it.

Diao's family was unwilling to give them that power, so they must take it by destroying the way things are and rebuilding on its ashes.

So Diao is gonna fuck up that wedding, and Yi will trust him to do it because their marriage isn't just about a partnership and love, something these shows have constantly harped on (love isn't love if we aren't treated equally), but about the power others have denied them, and they deserve the right to enter into it on their own terms.

[whyissupernaturaltrending]

November 2-4, 2024 - Supernatural continues to trend on and off as Tumblr prepares itself for the annual destiel games Nov 5 celebration.

This year the US decided to hold its presidential elections on Nov 5 as well, bringing back the trauma memories of the destielputinelection from four years ago. Putin has a chance to do the funniest thing...

[hinamie]

sry i have chronic only draws megumi disorder the doctor said it's terminal :/

[chloesimaginationthings]

The FNAF Mikes with their (not so) little sisters

[skipppppy]

Just remembered that instead of going to bed at a reasonable hour last night I made a tier list ranking every male pokemon npc based on how divorced I think they are. This is a catastrophic discourse waiting to happen

[egophiliac]

What do you like about the Diasomnia boys if I may ask?

I always love hearing about the different reasons people enjoy characters.

I mean, c'mon. he has split custody over Sebek okay

also, Lilia in particular has maybe the best timeskip character development of all time

[starry-bi-sky]

don't you want to be a cult leader? - danyal al ghul au

this is mostly a joke post but i thought it was funny and had to share so--

his first mistake was, obviously, inheriting his father's inability to see an injustice and stand still. -- actually, danyal's first mistake was his lair being so big. a mountainous island with a large temple in the center resembling his old home in Nanda Parbat? With sprawling foliage and rivers and streams and waterfalls galore? What was he going to do with all that space? Let it go to waste? He had plants there! Native trees of the ghost zone growing from the soil! He couldn't let it all be left unchecked!

So naturally after helping a fellow teenage assassin ghost -- who he later learns is named Akihiko, -- from Walker of all people, he sent them over to hang low at his lair until it was safe enough for them to wander around the Zone. Walker couldn't get through Danyal's astrofield if his life depended on it, and trust him -- he's tried. Danny was clearing out debris from his stupid transport vans for weeks.

Honestly it wasn't so bad, he and Aki really quickly became fast friends and Danny loves having a sparring partner close to his level again -- he hasn't had this much fun fighting since he left the League. Aki was very dedicated and levelheaded, the both of them clicked really well because of it.

Nonono, the real trouble began after Danyal met some long-passed League members and allowed them to come join his island as well. Apparently they had made a few enemies of the zone, and maybe Danyal still felt some loyalty to the League. He couldn't just let them be left to rot. Their zealotry could be overlooked so long as they kept it contained and helped him take care of his island.

And it.. snowballs from there? He meets a teen squire aptly calling himself Ambroise -- whether that was his living name or not is yet to be seen -- who died during feudal france, who is just about as dramatic and passionate as every french stereotype makes them out to be. He calls Danyal "my moon and great muse" -- which is both flattering and little uncomfortable, but Danyal's grown up in the League as the Grandson of the Demon Head, he is used to mild worship. he passes it off as nothing more, nothing less. -- and while his energy is overwhelming on the worst of days, he helps Danny draw out of his shell more in ways that Sam and Tucker still struggle with.

Him and Aki butt heads a lot, but the two seem to hold the other in at least some positive regard, so Danny doesn't worry too much about them fighting while he's gone. It only becomes a mild issue when Aki also begins calling Danny "my moon". It's a little sweet, so Danyal brushes it off.

Then he takes in a troupe of ghosts some time after he defeats Pariah Dark and they begin calling him "great one" just as the yetis do in the far frozen. This is where he meets the twins -- a pair of sibling ghosts who call themselves Trixie and Missy (short for Trick and Mislead) -- who aren't quite as passionate as Ambroise but more energetic than Aki. Eventually they also start calling Danyal "my moon" and attach themselves to his hip, even within the living. They like to hide in his shadow and cause trouble for the rest of the students. He makes sure they don't hurt anyone.

He's pretty sure Aki is jealous, same with Ambroise, but he can't be too certain other than the fact that they become much more lingering (re: clingy) whenever he visits the island.. Something he's trying to do much more often these days due to the increasing amount of people living there now. Since when did he become so popular?

Then there's Pēnelópeia from the Greater Athens, who ran away from home and joined his Island after he ran into her while she was being chased by Skulker -- and he's pretty sure the reason was because of her chimeric appearance. Her strange eyes and mismatched wings and lion's tail and talons. She assimilates into his friend group very easily, she gets along well with Ambroise and Trixie and Danny usually finds the three of them climbing the trees to pluck the most fruit from the top. They can fly and he knows it, but they prefer to climb.

Then finally there's silent poet Akkara who comes from ancient mesopotamia, who gets along most with Aki -- which is no surprise there considering their similar personality dispositions. he watches Aki and Danyal fight each other and leaves comments on this or that that he notices. He writes Danyal poems on clay tablets and leaves them by his room.

They're one big mismatched group of outcasts, and Danny's got the other ghosts on his island to tend to, because they're living on his island and he wants to be hospitable even if he struggles with that. But he spends the most of his time with them.

Sam and Tucker are making fun of him. Tucker jokingly tells him 'careful Danny, at this rate you're gonna start a cult'. Danny really wishes he had taken that joke more seriously.

He just. keeps. collecting people. Wayward souls lost in the zone, looking for shelter or refuge from something or other -- whether that be another hostile ghost, or a past afterlife, or just a purpose. Danyal finds them, he takes them in, offers them a place on his island until they are ready to leave. Many seldom do. He's not complaining -- he has the space, and it feels like it's only ever growing.

His close friends, his "inner circle" as he's heard the others call them, keep insistently calling him "my moon". He starts calling them his stars, because then it only feels fair. They're his stars, this is his constellation. It becomes a thing; little star halos begin forming behind their heads, picking them out from the rest. He loves them so much, it's hard to place. Sam and Tucker are also his stars, but they reside in the living realm, they're his tie to Life. Meanwhile, his friends here know what it's like to be dead, and sometimes its nice to relate.

Those living on his island keep calling him "Great One" and he's beginning to notice zealotry in their care for his island. He really, deeply appreciates it. His close friends gain nicknames -- as his stars, it's only natural for him to pick them out from the cluster in the skies. Akihiko, his Sirius and bright star. Trix and Missy, Castor and Pollux, the twins and troublemakers. Ambroise, his zealous Antares and close friend. Penelopeia, chimeric and loyal Vega. And Akkara, his Arcturus and strength.

It's ridiculous how long it takes for him to notice; he is, of course, a deadly trained assassin. He is meant to be observant -- and normally he is! But somehow this becomes a blind spot. One that becomes too big to be dealt with by the time he realizes it.

He should've noticed when Aki, his Sirius, stood beside him one day while Danyal looked over his island and saw the sprawling spirits carrying on about their afterlife and bowing to him as they saw him, and said: "I looked down into the depths when I met you; I couldn't measure it." They aren't one for flowing prose, it took him so off guard he was silent for over a minute before he finally spoke.

Danyal should've recognized devotion for what it is, and yet he didn't. He should've recognized it when Antares began spouting praises about him, crowing about his radiance and resplendence to the heavens. He just brushed it off as Ambroise being Ambroise. He should've recognized it when Trix and Missy nearly broke Dash's leg after he knocked Danyal's books out of his hands, he excused it as them being protective. Of them coming from times where such violence may have been customary -- after all, that's what he used to be like. What he was still like, sometimes, when his emotions nearly got the better of him.

He should've noticed it when the people living on his island followed his word like gospel, looked at him like he hung the stars in the sky. When his friends gifted him a shawl with the moon phases delicately embroidered into it, with silver, shimmering thread and moving stars lovingly stitched into it. Their constellations seen clear as day in the dark fabric. When he found small shrines dedicated to him -- but they lacked any image of him beyond stones carved to look like moons, so he ignored it. When the religious imagery began popping up.

He really, really should've noticed it when a bunch of cultists accidentally summoned Antares, and Antares had turned to him when he arrived and called them heretics. But he was so centered on the fact that they had kidnapped one of his stars, that he hadn't paid much attention to what Ambroise had said.

Sages say that faith is blind, they should also say faith in you is even blinder.

It really only hits him one afternoon while he's sitting in Sam's room studying with Tucker, Missy and Trixie lounging at his feet, Aki sat on his right, Penelopeia braiding his hair, Ambroise draped against him, and Akkara lurking over him. Its one of the rare few times they're all in one room together.

It hits him like a bolt of lightning. He looks up from his textbook. "Oh Ancients," he says in no amounting shock. Everyone looks up to him.

"I've become my grandfather."

[lass-us-slay]

So I read a prompt about how Wonder Woman found Danny in a trash can (don’t remember which one) and I was bored.

So I took that lil info and made it into an AU.

So basically, Danny get yeeted into this unknown universe and has no where to live. And no where to live means no money. No money means no food. No food means Danny can’t keep his human half sustained.

So what does he do?

Decides to not change into a human and live in a trash can.

Yes you heard that right, live in a trash can.

Because he’s a ghost, he doesn’t have to worry about the germs and stuff. But that doesn’t mean he lives in just any trash can! He lives in a clean one ☝️

AND he also decorated it with his name so other people know it’s his!

And so Danny has been here for a while now and realizes

Holy shit there’s hero’s here- you know what, why doesn’t he have hero’s back home?!

And being minorly annoyed jealous (but he’s never admitting that)he thought:

Well since there’s hero’s here already, guess I’m not needed.

.

.

.

Good. I’m tired af

And so Danny caries on his life, being content with his trash can and scaring whoever comes into his alley. It’s fun. Sure he sometimes needs to ugh overshadow people to feed his human side, but other than that.

It’s going great.

But Danny doesn’t realize that with Amity gone (or smth, you choose) which was his haunt, he slowly makes the trash can into his new haunt.

And slowly but surely, Danny’s beloved haunt trash can starts to become other worldly kinda.

Yk because of the ectoplasm.

So now Danny’s lovely trash can haunt has more space inside and- Hey Danny can actually sleep in it better!! And he got some company too!

In the form of blob ghosts.

Two actually.

They keep his trash can clean and help purifying some corrupted ectoplasm that he finds. Because for some reason this universe’s ectoplasm seems half way artificial and tastes a bit weird. Which is where the blob ghosts help out in.

Everything was great.

Danny was loving the trash can life style.

He has two blob ghosts friends. Which he named Sam and Tucker, and yea they couldn’t talk but that was fine.

He wasn’t lonely, he wasn’t. He had two very much talking friends like Sam and Tucker.

However one day two weirdly dressed people- oh they were hero’s.

Well anyway they found him, one woman stripper and one furry guy.

But it was on accident! He was just peaking out of his beloved haunt trash can, and they spotted him.

He stared, they stared back.

Then the woman stripper asked him questions, even when he said:

“Don’t mind me, have a nice day!”

But they just kept bother him and giving him weird looks and glances.

Which- rude.

Didn’t they see his mark on his haunt trash can? Obviously it means it’s his home, so they shouldn’t be bothering him still. He’s safe as can be.

Plus.

It’s not like he’s looking at them in suspicion and weirdness, I mean look at them! What kinda cheep knock off vampire fury mix and American stripper style clothing are those!

They should mind their own business!

———

Just a silly lil drawing of this lmao, don’t mind me.

[theactualsunshinechild]

Feixiao scooping Jiaoqiu up by his armpits and holding him up as he tries desperately to look dignified: "This is my lovely culinary healer Jiaoqiu, he saved me from the brink of death once and eats wet food only."

Feixiao dragging a protesting and hissing Moze out from the darkness beneath the couch and holding him up by the scruff as he gives up and hangs there limply: "and this is Moze! I found him half dead in the dumpster behind my house one day!"

[macbethz]

that tweet where they transvestigate rob mcelhenny makes me laugh so hard

happy pride trans icon <3

[choochooboss]

Someone's looking well dressed tonight! What could they be up to at this late hour..? Who knows if they're after your precious life source... or perhaps to kindly escort you safely to your destination.

[dinoserious]

aaaand summore posture edits (+hexapod reshiram) for funsies

[chuuya-fan-page]

we so won in this QNA harukawa and asagiri did

now people can't say chuuya is dumb and has anger issues, I got heavy straightfoward evidence now

[sunnymainecoonx]

Can u guys tell I like setting up different interpretations of the same character together yet

I've done so with swap(he's the most obvious one) and I've done so with horror. And now dusts on that list too. I have had thought of others like ink but, maybe another time

[giantkillerjack]

Me: hm, I want something to put on the TV as background noise... Huh. Looks like YouTube is recommending something called The Last Unicorn. That's perfect, it's probably some old shitty animation that has aged poorly! I can watch it ironically!

Me, 2 hours later as the credits roll: *crying, cheering, buying the book, composing the songs*

Me, 2 weeks later: So I have compiled all of the quotes from the book that I think could make good tattoos, and also, HOW HAVE I NEVER LEARNED ABOUT HOW THE LAST UNICORN FUCKING SLAPS??? This gay-ass little fairytale fed my soul! Watered my crops! Transed my gender! Can't believe I heard of this story from youtube recommendations, of all places!!

[ochibrochi]

metropolis nights 🌙 (kal-el ver. under the cut) original "template" by @/K0TTERl