Lately I've been thinking of something and I want to share it with others
So, usually in omegaverse there's the idea that only alphas and omegas have ruts or heats (hereon referred to as "cycles") while betas have nothing. Sometimes, in situations of high, prolonged stress, those cycles will either activate prematurely/unnaturally, or cease for as long as the stressful situation lasts (and a bit after that)
My idea was that betas could have something similar!
Betas in packs (that part is very important! It doesn't happen to packless betas) that have been neglecting or ignoring them will suddenly go through a faux-heat/rut. Their scent will change, they will display physical as well as emotional symptoms, and after long enough they may just go into a dissociative or near catatonic state.
It basically acts as the brain/body calling out for the packs "hey! Pay attention to me! I'm unwell and I want love and care :((( !!" It's meant to make the pack come to the beta's aid in order to diminish that feeling of neglect. If the pack doesn't come, there are two possibilities- one, the beta dies- the catatonic state is never undone and the fatal consequences come calling. Two, the beta survives, but they become emotionally/psychologically affected by the experience (as in, it literally changes the way their brain would work and affect areas of the brain) and usually for the worse.
There's also the possibility that a non-pack member may help the beta, in which case the brain will inmediatly develop an intense and nearly codependent bond with that person as a sort of "no one else cares about me except you, therefore making you happy is the best way for me to survive". This can be used for good or for ill
As a last detail, this condition isn't very well known- most healthy packs aren't going to neglect their betas like that, and unhealthy packs are unlikely to notice or may dismiss it as someone else- it's not a formal diagnosis and you have to either be really lucky or know what you're looking for to find information on it. There's also a lot of neglect and dismissal regarding betas because they're considered "not as strong as alphas, not as nurturing as omegas" and generally thought not to have anything to distinguish them which leads to a sort of dismissal of betas as being important- they are, quote literally, the middle child if the trinary, forever ignored.
Writing out all this bc I'm gonna be writing a fic with this concept and I need to talk to someone about it
howdy!
love it when I get to hear more about other people's aus! You can talk to me about it anytime :)
Here are some thoughts I had while reading this, op you can disregard these entirely if you want, it's just literally things I would think about if I were considering something like this in one of my aus. But if it helps someone in the peanut gallery rock on!
The purpose of a heat/rut is reproduction first and i guess bonding second. When I read fics that have sudden onset/traumatic situation heat/ruts it normally makes me roll my eyes, because no way! Of course, this is by it's very nature a fantasy world so do whatever yall want, BUT irl people would observe decreased reproductive capability, not increased.
Instead of a faux heat/rut, could it be a unique third thing? This would make betas seem more like their own entity and not a non-option/between option.
In the faux heat/rut situation, who gets which one? Which betas gets heats and which get ruts? Is it based on reproductive capability? If so, in that case how are they fundamentally different from alphas/omegas?
How long does a beta have in this faux-stage before they go catatonic? If they do go catatonic and fall into a coma, how can they ever wake up?
^wouldn't this potentially make the death rate for betas in packs extremely high? At that point, is it worth the risk for betas to join packs at all if they are living happily without one because there would be no risk of this happening?
Are there ways for the individual to "go back to normal" that don't involve sex? Can a person in a coma even consent? What if the individual was underage?
Are there multiple types of packs in your au @not-someone-who-matters? What if the beta was in a non-romantic/non-sexual pack? Would this still happen?
Say a beta finds themselves in an unhealthy pack and knows the risks, can they leave/sever ties so that this condition doesn't happen to them? How does that work?
If the beta doesn't die following the event and finds themself in the second group - living with chronic illness/brain damage/mental illness/etc... who is responsible for this? Could the beta's parents take the entire pack to trial for abusing their child? Is this considered abuse?
If being a beta sucks in this au, and they live as second class citizens, what's the point at all? Are they the minority or the majority? If they are the minority and nobody really cares about them, why don't people just let them die off?
I like the parallel between real life when @not-someone-who-matters mentions that betas may run into the open arms of someone who doesn't have their best interest at heart. May people who have suffered any number of different kinds of abuses do the same thing, and that would be an interesting plot to explore.
Why does this only happen to betas? What happens to alphas/omegas if their heats/ruts aren't satisfied?
Why have betas in packs at all if this isn't something that befalls alphas/omegas?
Can a beta "save" another beta? Is this something that could happen in an all beta pack?
Is there some sort of detriment to the whole pack if a beta came down with this condition, other than the risk of loosing them? Would they feel pain through their pack bonds, all become sick, etc? That might make it more frightful for someone amongst them to contract this.
Thanks for sharing! This was a super cool thought experiement for me (yay!), and I literally can't wait to read whatever you write based on this idea! As always, let me know if you need a beta (reader!) lol.