By the time Dan arrived, Ciaran was quite lost in his own thoughts, so he did jump slightly when at last a voice spoke in the real world, and not the world inside his own head.
"Ah, Jesus-" he gasped slightly, placing a hand to his heart. "I thought you were in my head. I mean, you were in my head, but... well, you know," he gestured at him, there and clearly a real physical being and not some bizarre imagining.
He realised a little late that he was being offered a handshake, and he accepted it at last. "I am, yeah," he nodded. "Dan. But you sound like the other guy, now. Your father," he observed.