"New?" Ishiah wondered, gaze lowering as he stopped to consider the way that his behavior had been in years and decades past, even centuries ago when he'd first moved over to Manhattan. He pressed his lips together— it wasn't entirely true. He knew what it meant to protect those around him, the people whose welfare he was most invested in, one way or another. However, there was something about Lucy in particular, something that concerned Ishiah on a level not just practical, but emotional, one that he'd only recently discovered back home upon the death of Cambriel.

"Relatively so, perhaps," he agreed at last. "Until I'd witnessed the death of my brother, I'm not sure that my efforts went far beyond what practically had to be." His gray-blue eyes flickered up to Trixa's own, conflicted.

"I want Lucy to be happy. And the same goes for all of my friends here. Yourself as well, surprising though that initially was to me."