#abo mating

Peter doesn’t know why the hell he allowed Chris back to his place, much less why he’s even slightly susceptible to the hunter’s pitifully lackluster method of proposing.

But there’s one thing for sure: Peter is going to say ‘Yes’. After he makes Argent sweat a bit.

David Guetta - She Wolf (Falling To Pieces) ft. Sia (Official Video)  

Lyrics under the cut

Wolf Courting and Mating

Wolves mate for life, which means, once they choose a mate, they stay with that mate for the rest of there life. Normally only the alpha pair would mate, but on rare occasions, subordinates do mate with other wolves as well. 

Wolves who decide to mate, will go through what is called a 'courting period.' This will normally last for a day before the pair actually mate. 

Smell is probably the most acute of a wolf’s senses, and another important way wolves communicate. 

THE CHEMICAL TRAIL OF SCENT

Following the Scent:

Scent is an important way wolves communicate. Scent glands between the toes on the bottoms of their feet leave a personal chemical signature in the dirt, grass and snow wherever they travel.

Wolves have scent glands that produce a personal signature in the form of pheromones. These glands exist many places on a wolf’s body including the dark spot on the back of the tail and between the toes on the bottoms of their feet, leaving their personal chemical stamp on the ground and in the snow where they walk.

Scent Rolling:

Scent rolling is another way wolves employ chemistry to communicate. What they are communicating isn’t exactly known. But when wolves find something with a strong or unusual odor like the remains of an animal carcass, they seem to find it irresistible and will roll in their prized discovery, coating their fur with the odor.

Scent marking:

Wolves use scat and urine to mark the boundaries of the pack’s territory, a clear message to neighboring packs and dispersing wolves. It is likely that wolves can identify one another by the smell of their urine.

Male and female urine differ in chemical composition, so scent marking — urinating on trees, shrubs, etc. — can advertise availability. When in estrus, the chemical composition of a female’s urine changes, signaling her readiness to mate. A paired couple may leave double scent marks, declaring their status as mates and warning other wolves to stay away. 

ABO Scent Glands & Mating Bite Locations

“Distribution of sebaceous (blue), eccrine (green) and apocrine (brown) glands on the human skin surface.”

“Skin glands can be divided into sebaceous and sweat glands. Sebaceous glands produce sebum, which consists of lipids and dead cells. Sweat glands comprise eccrine and apocrine glands, and produce mainly water .Eccrine glands are located all over the body, and produce sweat to cool the body by evaporative heat loss when its temperature increases. Apocrine glands are mainly found in the axillary region, and are hypothesized to play a role in human pheromone production ”

(Putting it simply, the dark blue is where people are most likely to get acne, the dark green is where people sweat the most, and the dark red is where pheromones are emitted.)   

Omegaverse-wise, all three of these locations would be prime locations for mates to put their claiming bite, especially the Apocrine and Sebaceous ones -- neck, shoulders, and groin/genital area. 

Of course, some spots are just logistically impractical, like the scalp, brows, and ears.

MATING RUNS

I hunt for you with bloodied feet across the hallowed ground….

There seems to be a general consensus in fics that Mating Runs are an ABO/Werewolf specific mating ritual where the participants hunt for a mate. 

The hunting grounds are usually a forest, or within a specified breeding territory (like the Beacon Hills Preserve, in the Teen Wolf fandom). Alphas, Betas, and Omegas are released into the woods butt naked at predetermined intervals or with one dynamic given a head start (Omegas usually). Within the allotted time frame (Heat week/month/Ruts/etc) the participants must use all of their senses, wiles, and cunning in order to not only survive in the wilderness, but track down and even fight one another for a compatible mate. 

Usually it’s the Omegas being hunted by Alphas and Betas, and dubious consent is often a thing when Omegas are just being yanked into the tall grasses and mounted right then and there. Headstrong independent bamf Omegas often try to make it hard for Alphas and Betas to find them. Others see it as a good thing and try to prepare as much as possible, eager for a mate for claim them. 

Alphas usually can sniff out a mate fairly quickly, unless Soulmates and Soul Bonds are thrown into the mix; forcing some participants to leave empty-handed run after run until their true mate matures/presents or moves into town, and they finally pick up THAT one special scent. 

Betas either end up paired with each other; are challenged by Alphas for perspective mates and have to fight for who they want; are released faster to get the easy pickings due to their lesser senses; take the longest to finish the run due to lesser senses, thus ending up with whichever participants were left; or leave empty-handed (often they see this as a good thing, leaving them with the best chance of finding someone on their own terms outside of the “archaic” runs).

Mating Runs are usually government sponsored events; necessary for the continuation of the species if set in a dystopian society where population control or dwindling numbers requires more or less forced participation by all members of society. More often than not, Omegas don’t leave a mating run having been mated and claimed and not be pregnant. 

So, that’s pretty much my ESSAY on what Mating Runs are. Nothing is definite, as there are so many fics in so many fandoms that treat it so many ways. But this is the general gist of it. Probably forgot to mention something important that someone’s gonna point and laugh at me about later. 

This is in direct response to the Werewolf Vodka music video post I did. 

I could NOT STOP LAUGHING reading the questions from this one review/reaction blogger, and I think they actually tie in really well with questions one might come across in werewolf-related fandoms, fanfictions, and fanverses. I thought about them a lot in terms of the Teen Wolf fandom, specifically. 

If you were a fancy werewolf, what would you drink?

Why is Three Olives’ big commercial campaign about a fancy vodka-drinking werewolf? Is Three Olives trying to market themselves as vodka for werewolves? Isn’t that kind of a specific demo? Or are these supposed to be aspirational, like “Drink Three Olives vodka, like a fancy werewolf!”

Do all werewolves drink vodka? Like, is that a thing I’m just not aware of? Do you think sometimes when werewolves go on vacation they kick back and order a mai tai or something? If you were at a Sandals and saw a werewolf sitting by the pool drinking a fruit-filled cocktail with an umbrella in it, what would you do? Freak out a little bit, right? 

If you were a fancy werewolf, what would you drink? 

Do you think werewolves ever order a Bloody Mary at brunch and then hope someone says, “A little hair of the dog this morning?” so they can wink at their werewolf friends at say, “Something like that”? 

Do werewolves have senses of humor?

Seeing as how I'm a fan of the Teen Wolf fandom (not the show itself, just everything around it), I love the Alt-Universe idea of there being Known Werewolves, with marketing geared towards their lifestyles that run parallel to those with human demographics. 

Werewolves are perfectly able to live their lives like regular humans, but there are certain things that distinctly set them apart -- control of their shift, increased senses, longer lifespans, immunity/susceptibility to diseases, ABO mating cycles, and to stay on topic, their tolerance for alcohol and what can and cannot get them drunk or induce a high. (See the Wolfsbane tag for more.) 

Crazed werewolf-humpers?

Did this lady get all dressed up to go to an upscale downstairs nightclub and drink martinis by herself? Did she see his teeth turn to fangs for a second there? She definitely saw his eyes go creepy werewolf yellow, right?

If you were an attractive, well-dressed woman, and a man walked up to you with a martini moments after his teeth briefly turned into fangs and his eyes did a werewolf thing, what would you do? Show a little more trepidation about it than this lady, right? What kind of crazed werewolf-humping alcoholic is she? Has she always wanted to sleep with a werewolf?

I’m all for werewolf-human relationships. In the True Blood universe, people who willingly and eagerly slept around with vampires were pejoratively called “Fang-Bangers”. I don’t see why the slur wouldn't be just as relevant in werewolf universes, especially if there is a high enough population of speciesist anti-Werewolf humans or even anti-human werewolf purists who look down on humans who sleep with werewolves, or werewolves who sleep with humans. 

Is sleeping with a werewolf technically considered bestiality?

Is sleeping with a werewolf technically considered bestiality? Or does it depend on what form the werewolf is in at the time?

Like, if you can prove to a judge that the werewolf was in human form — or maybe 51 percent human — when you slept together, should that exonerate you? How great would it be if this was a Supreme Court case?

What if you flipped on the TV one night and Anderson Cooper was like “In a groundbreaking decision, the Supreme Court has ruled that humans MAY have intercourse with werewolves as long as the werewolves are more than 50 percent human at the time?”

The Beta Shift is apparently the half mark when one “wolfs out,” and it's pretty rare for a were to achieve a full shift and become the actual animal. 

I have read a good number of Sterek fics where Stiles pretty much needed to assure Derek that he was fine with the wolf letting go and going into his Beta Shift while they slept together. I thought it was interesting, as I’d assume sex would be the one time where werewolves would definitely be shifting, no questions necessary, since the baser instincts and full intimacy of sex lets people finally be themselves with one another. Maintaining that much control to resist the shift on top of trying not to pop a knot or come too soon is really impressive. 

But I suppose this is where the question of “Is it safe to sleep with werewolves“ comes in. The claws and fangs and extra strength would of course need to reigned in a bit, so what happens if you try to bite your human and accidentally puncture an artery or something? Is it fair to ask a werewolf to hold back at all? But is that not in turn accusing/assuming that werewolves can’t control themselves, in bed or otherwise?.... 

#NotAllWerewolves are Dogs

Wait a second, what happened to the ladies from the other commercials? Is this guy just bombing around London picking up new women every night?

Do you think the other women are running around town telling their friends not to sleep with werewolves because they’ll never call you again? Are other werewolves out there doing the whole #NotAllWerewolves thing when they hear people trashing them because of werewolves like this one?

If “werewolves mate for life” or “werewolves only ever have one mate,” then we haven’t really seen evidence of that adage on Teen Wolf, not with the way these characters seem to be constantly falling into each others’ beds.  

Lydia might prove the saying right, though it can’t really be tested, seeing as how Jackson effed off to whereverville and Aiden’s gone, though they both seemed to have genuine feelings for her, especially Jackson. 

At the same time, however, Derek proves the saying wrong, since he barely took the time to REALLY get to know his ladies before they were screwing him over, and he kept falling for the same trick over and over. Either he has terrible taste in women, or his mate is literally one who can run circles around him. But the one girl he wanted to be with who didn’t put up with his nonsense rejected the bite and died. But maybe that was Ennis’ fault since she’s not compatible with his bite, but might have been compatible with Derek’s bite of he had been an Alpha back then and bit her instead? IDK.  

Fashion!Wolf

Speaking of this guy, don’t you think it’s a little risky for him to be out and about in expensive-looking clothes during a full moon?

Wouldn’t they all just get shredded when he fully changes over, kinda like the Hulk’s do? Wouldn’t it be smarter for werewolves to wear baggier, stretchy clothes when they go out at night, so they don’t end up spending a fortune continuously replacing their wardrobe? Or is this guy just rich enough that it doesn’t matter to him? What do you think he does for a living? Probably works at a hedge fund or something, right?

Do you think he has a personal tailor who’s just flabbergasted about the number of suits he goes through? Or does he order them in bulk from Men’s Wearhouse or something? Would it surprise you if you found out werewolves all over the world were ordering large quantities of cheap suits from Men’s Wearhouse because they kept ripping through them while trying to pick up women using martinis made with mid-level vodka? Wouldn’t surprise me at all.

I get the feeling Stiles Stilinski wrote half of these questions. 

I love the fics where werewolves live in houses with mud rooms, so that they can quickly and cleanly get in and out of clothes after running through the woods. And fics where werewolves do indeed keep spare clothes lying about that they can afford to get ruined, should they need to make an impromptu shift. Actually, my favorite fanfic ever, Hung the Moon, did both. ^_^