Except in this conversation he isn’t mentioning that he did it to impress his friend- he already had the love of his friend, there was no need to impress the furry. But it is possible he wanted to impress his online associates, or assumed he was their leader and was demonstrating some kind of leadership ideal by this act. Waz he an instigator or organizer of the groups he was in, or a groupie trying to impress someone who is?
This isn’t like the twit who tried to kill Reagan in some crazy hope it would impress a girl who didn’t even know he existed.
impress his discord freeks is most likely