The word just means dude in a way that sort of implies asshole, so his little wounded gesture just gets an eyebrow flicker from Blue. Then he looks legitimately freaked out, though, and she feels a little bad. She's never been the best at these introductions.

"Nova," she says. It's sort of a pretty name, both in its long form and its nickname, which annoys her, and she waves generally at her name tag. "I'm Blue."

She offers a truce of a handshake. "Look, I'm not good at this -- welcome wagon thing. And honestly, I've been here longer than a lot of people." Painful, but true. "Whatever gets you here just sends you back where you came from. As far as anyone knows. Maybe it won't be so long."

She glances up. "Whatever you're doing, back home, you're still doing it. Just, some other version of you, like you just split into different -- Novas. That part we know for sure, because sometimes people come from the same places, but from different times."