magibrain

>> Yess. One of the things I want to play with is the idea that Alpha + Heat!Omega doesn't necessarily ≠ sex; there's a whole lot of ways it could play out, and even knowing the people involved, it's often difficult to predict what will happen. <<

That makes sense, and better story tension.

>> So while a lot of the time it does happen with an uptick in libido from one or both parties, because a lot of people are sexual people and associate intensity of emotion toward another person with sex, it's the intensity of emotion that's the real hallmark of the interaction, and it's just slipped into cultural understanding as a sexual thing in the same way that intimacy is present in cultural understanding as a sexual thing. <<

People interpret a lot of things in a sexual way that don't have to be.

>> •nods• And it's interesting, also, examining that in the context of a fight/flight/freeze response, where one context could have a range of different responses, not all of them actually helpful in any given circumstance. <<

There is also a fawn response, aimed at ingratiating.

Best for fight: alpha, beta, omega.
Best for flight: beta, omega, alpha.
Best for fawn: omega, beta, alpha.

Freeze can happen with any, and is often a malfunction. As a strategy, they may employ it differently: alpha to set up a strike, beta for observation, omega to avoid detection.