So I have a few questions about the scent (and mating really) according to your headcanons (Btw, I absolutely love your blog and its immensely helpful in building an universe <3); When mating occurs between, do they both need to bite each other or, for example an Alpha just needs to bite an Omega? Do Omegas and Betas feel the need to bite their mate? Can other people smell that they are mated? What about when they are apart? Just mating things I wonder about.
Aawnt thank you ^^ I’m glad to hear that, it’s seriously one of the nicest compliments I get from people, I appreaciate it a lot.
And hum, I guess in my verse there’s a difference between mating in a biological sense and mating in a cultural sense. Biologically speaking if an Alpha claim-bites any of the three dynamics, the one bitten is now tecnically “mated” to them. Same goes if a Beta (Male or Female) bites another Beta or Omega. But that’s the most rudementary and crude way of looking at it, isn’t it? There’s certainly some unpleasant inplications in there I’d rather not think about because they make me sick. I made a post a long time ago because of another ask regarding unwilling claim marks, feel free to read it here in case you want to know how that would go. But talking about it once was already enough for my stomach so I rather not get on it again.
But in there I said “(…) when an Alpha and an Omega bite each other what they’re doing is introducing a set of proteins to their mate’s body through their saliva. Which will in turn mingle with their own proteins/natural scent and signalise to their brains that this is their mate. Their brain then signalises to the pituitary gland that they must start producing a scent that incorporates this new protein as their own new scent. This is why one’s scent changes when they mate with one another”. So yea their scent does change. It’s not enough to erase their own individual scent, but you can definetly tell there’s an underlying subtle change in there, that’s their mate’s scent.
As for “need”, I think I can say for certain that in my verse Alphas will always feel the need to claim-mark. Even the most submissive, quiet, shy and gentle Alphas will still be itching to sink their teeth on their mate’s glands. Alphas run on pack mentality, claim marks are a permanent remainder that whatever life they share with someone is not solely their own, it’s almost a lifeline. It assures them in a fundamental and instinctual lvl that they are not alone, which is by far the no.1 fear that aflicts Alphas.
Historically Betas claim each other independent of the fact that the other is a male or female, but it has less to do with “equality” and more to do with maintaing a sense of unification. Betas don’t have that primal need to claim, but by doing so they manage to set themselves apart from Alphas and Omegas (at least in the past). Omegas weren’t allowed to claim their mates back for majority of history, even the females, only their Alphas/Betas could do that. So while Omega females took precedence in many things over Beta females, the claim bite was a subtle yet clear way of letting Omegas know that dispite all of that they were not “in the same level” as Betas, they were still below the right of claiming their mates back, they were still borderline property.
As for Omegas, they do feel the need to claim back. It’s not as strong as Alphas, but it’s there. I think the Omega crowd is a little divided in two groups, the ones that don’t mind being the only ones with a mark to show, and the ones that, no longer having a “prohibition” on that anymore, really want to do it and take advantage of this new-found right. Either is fine I think. It’s not like majority of people finds it weird or “revolting” anymore. It’s common for Omegas to bite back (in more than one sense) and that’s about it. Alpha scents are stronger than Omega’s though, so in the case of an Omega claiming an Alpha it might be a little too subtle for a lot of people to catch on to it at first.
And when they’re apart, well I once read a fanfic that made so that the first week after mating occured impossible to get the two parties apart because separation anxiety kicks in really hard and they get extremely distressed and uncomfortable. Real emotional and acting as if you just told them they’d never be able to see the other person again. And I really like the idea, but the more I think about it the more those unpleasants “what ifs” and terrible inplications creep in. So I’d like to say it’s a rare occurance. When two people match each other way too well, when they basically soul mates, that's likely happen. It’s still a “one in a million mated couples” scenario, otherwise if two recently mated people get apart shortly after mating nothing really happens. They might miss the person with a little more intensity, but that’s about it, pretty dang normal.
Aaaaand I think that covers it. Sorry for long ass post, but it’s my blog so I hey what did you expect? It’s pretty much par for the course at this point… I should probably improve on that. Anyways, I hope it was helpful and clarified most of your questions and thanks again for the compliment. Peace!