Of course he did it so he'd be liked. Of course he did it because he wanted John to like him. And of course, most of it is because he wants to manipulate him. He's well aware of that. He's played that game himself.

But there are other ways he could have gone about it. John's done those too.

...honestly, John's expecting those to pop up sometime soon. He's bracing for it. He isn't excited for it, because there's going to be collateral damage, but he's looking forward to when Astarion decides they can move onto the next stage of things.

"And that made you sad?"