"Writin' your own story's worth it." He says, but then hesitates.

"When I got free, I didn't really know what I was doin'. I ended up makin' some bad deals 'cause I wanted to stay ahead. Just uh... Keep people around that'll call ya out, alright? People taught the way we was? There's stuff that takes us a long time to figure out. Longern' other people."

He was older than her when he was freed- in his twenties -but he still knows having that formative stuff taken?