okay at first i was like, why is ayan threatening to tell people akk's the one bringing the curse back when he already said he wouldnt. ayan also claimed he didnt believe akk anymore about not stealing the notebook bc of what he’s "now" seen akk do - but he’s known akk was behind things since the beginning. and actually the only motive i can come up with is that he was worried about what akk would do if he was left alone that night, because akk kept trying to get away from him, and not letting ayan help him. so ayan threatened to tell people that akk was bringing the curse back if he didnt stop.
and i realized that... something huge about ayan's past is that he witnessed his uncle’s suicide. and IF im interpreting this episode correctly, you have to consider that aspect of trauma alongside the way he acts towards akk, & the reactions he gets from akk.
akk pushes ayan away when ayan says he needs to think of himself first. akk leans into ayan’s hug at first but then pushes him away again and tries to leave. so ayan follows and does what he’s done in the past. he threatens. he gets a rise out of akk, a confrontation akk can't back out of rather than an attempt to escape. and maybe ayan only does that because he’s scared. maybe he’s scared of leaving akk alone, not knowing what akk will do - whether it be continue the curse or something worse. he needs to make sure akk will stop.
so throughout the rest of the episode, as ayan drags akk back to the school to search for his notebook, it’s possible that what he’s really doing is just keeping akk busy. and it works because they settle back into the same teasing/exasperated relationship they had before. it smooths things between them. but the balance doesn’t truly tip into where it needs to be until ayan has his nightmare, and akk hurries to comfort him. after their conversation on the beach, things couldn't go back to the way they were before, but couldnt move forward either. akk isn’t the only one who needed to show weakness in this ep, ayan needed to as well. especially since while they were searching for the notebook he avoided akk’s question abt why it was important again. they both needed to lean on each other this ep. they both need to learn to trust each other. so i can’t wait to see what comes next, and how ayan eventually opens up about the truth of his relationship with dika and what happened to him.
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This is an entirely unrelated thing, but i had an idea for a “custom” follower forever ago that, if you’d like to hear, i’ve put below! warning: its fucking long and i dont have the time nor energy to make it real beyond thinking it out.
To begin with a few precursor things: i enjoy asshole characters, as we dont often see them as followers and they flesh out the world of the game in a nice way, and i enjoy characters that are relevant to specific plots within the game. If there are personal stakes involved, like serana with her story, it makes it all the more satisfying to look for dialogue and go through to the end of the quest with them.
And i’m also DEEPLY mentally ill about three things: castle Volkihar, moral ambiguity, and a guy named ronthil.
If you’ve never heard of him, i don’t blame you: he’s a vampire bosmer within clan Volkihar that does nothing but serve as a merchant and a speech trainer. His wiki is super fucking small and the unique thing about him is that he’s treated worse than dirt within the clan, making him sleep behind a bookshelf iirc. He’s constantly staying on the good behavior to not get kicked out and making himself available to tasks. ur standard pathetic meow meow, so of course i like him.
Anyway my proposal was to turn Ronthil into a “Serana dialogue add on” styled mod that changed some of his core motivations, re-contextualizing his people pleasing personality, offering players an additional perspective into clan volkihar’s inner workings, provide players who were already vampires a different start to dawnguard (because a vampire hunter approaching a vampire and said vampire going to the vampire hunter’s lair is suicidal stupidity at best), and finally provide a moderate voice for why somebody might wanna be a vampire and stay that way.
so the proposed changes start like this: Whether or not you’re a vampire, you’ll sometimes see a man wandering about at night along the roads. If you’re a human, he basically doesn’t interact with you.
If you’re a vampire, he makes the suggestion that something of value to the both of you has come to his attention recently, and if you were to help him he’d be more than generous with the earnings. Obviously this is an equivalent exchange, as he is considerably ill equipped to take on anything nasty, so you’ll have to do a lot of the heavy lifting as far as fighting goes. If you agree, he leads you straight to Dimhollow crypt and the quest follows as normal. You return Serana home and are given the typical reward offer.
Assuming you accept, you’re given the standard speech and told to get your ass going to redwater den. If you speak to him after (you’ll find him loitering about) he’ll offer to accompany you, off the record of course, if you require him. He will then be available as a follower from that point on
If you’re wondering why a Volkihar vampire is being so charming and so helpful for no good reason, he’s not being; the truth of it is that he’s an intense social climber. He sees that Harkon favors you for the return of his daughter and you’ve already shown off your combat prowess at dimhollow, now with the added bonus that you’ve been given the power of a Vampire Lord. He suspects that rubbing elbows with you in a positive capacity will prove beneficial to him rising up that clan ladder down the line. Though, to be fair, he doesn’t at all suspect that it all leads to Harkon’s death, and you & serana effectively becoming the most powerful ppl at court.
Still, that’s really all the better for him so long as he can prove useful enough to you to be given a higher position, or at least treated with more dignity.
Ronthil in this version is basically faking all of his niceties, and underneath it all is a calculating little bastard. He wants power and status, typical vampire desires, but wants them for the protection and strength they provide, not necessarily to squash people beneath him (though he’d be tempted were the mood to strike him. I mean, he IS a vampire.) His climb to the position he’s in now, lowly as it is and even with how he’s treated, is still something he fought tooth and nail for, so he’s not willing to risk himself being stupid unless he thinks there’s something better in it for him to be that way.
aaaand i just ran out of creative juice, so thats the general idea i’d cooked up. if you read this far, congrats and also wow i sure hope you like vampires lol.
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