Ben has to think about that for a few moments. He has his own problems with the idea that there are roles allotted for people, a particular function that they must fulfill or else they aren't living up to some grand "supposed to". That had been how it was with the Academy. He was Number Six. He was meant to be a certain way, think a certain way, act a certain way. And he'd done his best to be those things his father had told him he needed to be. And all he had ended up was dead before he even had a chance to decide who he really was as a person.

But his experiences aren't universal and for all he knows, fitting within those categories is a good and fulfilling thing, for a spirit. Maybe it's only humans who chafe at being put into small boxes. He makes a soft 'hmm' noise in his throat and then says:

"I don't think it's true, to talk about it like being nice to you is taking something away from someone else. The way I look at it is like this... people don't have a certain amount of cruelty and a certain amount of kindness, and they spend it like money until they run out of each. If you act like a dick to one person, it makes it a little easier to act like a dick to somebody else the second time. So the opposite's true, and - letting people be compassionate to you helps them practice being compassionate so they have even more of it for whoever comes around after. Right?"

That was an awful lot of words in a row for Ben, and he says them with small pauses, fumbling for the correct words but convinced of the ideas behind them. He had seen it in action, the way kindness fostered more kindness, how it just took a little bit to get a chain reaction started.

"Besides... you do give. From what I've seen, anyway. You do. So- that's good!"