Priuses and Power Exchange

How is a Prius like a dom?

They both need to run properly to stay powered up.

My Prius is a great car. I love the fact that it’s cheaper to run than a regular car and better for the environment because of the much higher mileage. As a hybrid, it requires gas, but while it’s running, it’s mostly electrical. It draws power from the battery but then it recharges the battery as it runs by capturing the energy expended during braking. It’s a cool little system. One drawback however is that if the car is off, running the lights or the radio will start to drain the battery fairly quickly. Without the input from breaking or the gas motor running, it beings to power down.

Being dominant is like that too. We use the term ‘power exchange’ to refer to a variety of different facets of the dom/sub relationship. Slaves surrender power to the master, and the master in turn directs his power toward his slaves in different ways: he flaunts his superior qualities for them to praise and worship, he tortures or fucks or otherwise uses them, and he gives them orders, makes decisions for them, and supports them when they hit a rough patch.

When things are going well, the system works beautifully. The power the slaves yield up returns to them transformed by the master into something else, something they can’t or don’t enjoy providing for themselves–control. It’s like a Prius–the gas and the braking power are converted into the electricity that the car runs on. The slave needs that electricity and master loves providing it.

But just as a Prius will run down when the battery is being drawn on without being recharged, the master runs down when he is expending a lot of energy and not getting it back in return. If a slave hits a really rough patch and the master has to expend a great deal of power being supportive, he may not be able to get the power back from the slave. Slaves, like any human being, aren’t always able to play their normal and proper rule in their relationship. Ideally, the master has deep reserves of power to draw from–good Doms tend to be pretty strong people.

But sometimes a genuine crisis can drain the Dom’s power down to very low levels. And when that happens, the dom can struggle to connect to his dominance. Without getting that power from his slave, he can have trouble feeling like he deserves the control he’s being given, or that he is the superior man who deserves worship. Like a Prius with a dead battery, nothing works. (Even the trunk won’t open.) Prolonged crisis, grief, loss, these are things that can make it extremely hard for a dom to find his dominant self.

That’s where other slaves and subs come in. Their job is to help the master by giving him other sources of power to draw from, like getting a jump-start for the battery from another car. They may worry that they would be intruding on the dom in a time of trouble (in my experience, subs ALWAYS worry about being a bother to their dom), but when he’s struggling, when his power is draining out to support one of his other subs, they can play a hugely important role in keeping his motor running. It might be as simple as words of support or a foot rub or doing a chore that the other sub has had to put down, or it might take the form of a play session, worship, or something else that helps the dom remember his dominant, superior self.

Obviously, every dom is a unique person and what they need will vary. Nor should a sub try to force a dom to receive support against his will; having his wishes violated will only weaken the Dom’s sense of dominance. But even just being reminded that his subs admire and look up to him can provide support and a reminder of who he is capable of being.