  Stochastic quasi-cycles for a two species model of the excitatory-inhibitory
type, arranged on a triangular loop, are studied. By increasing the strength of
the inter-nodes coupling, one moves the system towards the Hopf bifurcation and
the amplitude of the stochastic oscillations are consequently magnified. When
the system is instead constrained to evolve on specific manifolds, selected so
as to return a constant rate of deterministic damping for the perturbations,
the observed amplification correlates with the degree of non normal reactivity,
here quantified by the numerical abscissa. The thermodynamics of the reactive
loop is also investigated and the degree of inherent reactivity shown to
facilitate the out-of-equilibrium exploration of the available phase space.
