was debating on whether i’d include it or not, but i definitely am. it’s a big factor in their story so race & culture is absolutely getting included in lykaia. boohoo if you don’t like it.

i could absolutely imagine lou & imogen cooking together. and lou plainly asking imogen why they use so many different seasonings when they cook. her short answer would be because she’s black and culturally that’s what we do, but i don’t think lou would settle for the short answer. and the long answer would have to lead into an entire history lesson on slavery and seasonings, then into african cultural practices. promptly ending with her shoving him out of the kitchen and to the library in their living room. imogen’s got a book about everything. lou’s always happy to learn, though he had hoped she’d pick up a book with more pictures and less text versus the absolute brick of book she’s plopped in his hands.

or whenever imogen helps lou comb his hair. dallas used to comb it when they were kids. whenever he’d come by over the summer it’d be matted. (shout out to melissa for being a horrible parent.) imogen has now taken over the task. he is 100% the “i brush out my curls because i don’t know what to do with my hair” type. even though all he need pretty much is a wide tooth comb and a spray bottle of water. it ends with imogen putting dutch braids in his hair and him questioning if they’re okay braids for him to wear. she reassures him this particular style is fine. though she can’t really say, he’ll have to ask the dutch how they feel about it and he gets this glimmer of panic in his eyes. she thinks it’s hilarious.

he’s grown up with imogen and her family. so he’s long been a guest in their culture. but still makes an effort to not cross a boundary. as for himself, he doesn’t really know. i wanna get into that too. but even as it stands rn, idk what he is either lmao. the running thing rn is that lou is a mutt. (because.. he’s a lycan. dog joke.) only person that would know is melissa. and well, y’all know how that’s going.