(i can still be in your head, if you prefer,) Dan sent, before nodding. "I know. That's... uh, a long story that's probably best told over coffee."
When the handshake was done, Dan reached up to push hair back from his face, and then scratched at the stubble on one of his cheeks. "I guess I should get the basics out of the way first, before we go anywhere else," he said, and shoved his hands in his jeans pockets. Do this quickly, get it over and done with. Like ripping off a band-aid.
"You're on a space station. It sounds crazy, I know, but just listen. You're on this massive space station, and we don't know where it is in relation to Earth. But we're also in... some sort of Limbo? Time where you're from has stopped. Like when you're watching a movie and you pause it. Or when you're reading a book and you mark your place. You'll be here for however long, and then you return home and everything starts up again. Nobody will know you've been away anywhere."