"Excellent. How's tomorrow night?"

"Excellent," they can set up an hour and Henry will provide the address.

And Ari eats the rest of his sandwich, after a bit more flirting, and gets back to work.

The following evening, he's there at the appointed time,

leading another switch with an indulgent expression on his face. He's got long, subby hair, but other than that his presentation is as mixty as Ari's.

"You're awfully excited about this," he murmurs. "Is there something I should know about this Henry?"

"He's pretty," Ari offers, knocking on the door.

Henry opens the door, which might or might not give credibility to that statement. "Hello, Ari. And that is Eli that you brought?"

Eli grins and bows slightly. "Yes, it is. I imagine you're Henry?"

"Correct. Come on in. My Gabe is setting things up," he leads them inside.

The apartment is... okay.

Well, the decor is pretty good, actually. Arranged by someone with both care, funds and a talent for it. But the space... is just okay. Which wouldn't be noticeable if this wasn't a place owned by two psions.

Speaking of psions. Here is a tall and muscular, but otherwise very sub-coded man the same age as Henry.

"Gabe, say hi to our guests, Ari and Eli."

"Hello," Gabe says one of his hands raising up and waving in a jerky motion, while the other puts down a vase with freshly cut flowers.

Ari smirks, in a way completely unlike how he looks at Henry. "Hello, Gabe. I hear you've got some fun tricks."

Gabe glances at Henry to get non-verbal permission. "I do, would you like me to show it to you?"

"Do it," Ari says.

Gabe does it. Ari immediately can feel a connection, something that feels elastic and also electric between Ari himself and Gabe. He can also feel there is a second connection, going elsewhere.

Then there is the sense of proprioception of Gabe's muscular frame, the sensation is not quite tactile, but very easy to interpret. Like knowing that if you pull a string, the puppet will lift their arm.

He pulls experimentally, to see if he can get Gabe on his knees.

Gabe knees bend as directed.

"Eager," Ari comments. "But I don't think we're there yet. Get back on your feet."

Eli offers him a hand.

"Thank you, sir."

"So... I was told that Gabe is not the only one with tricks," Henry asks, aiming the question at both Ari and Eli.

“Well, we are both Eclipsed. Mostly I don’t have tricks fit for polite company, though.”

“Oh, don’t be precious, do the ears.”

“Yes sir,” Eli says wryly. His ears turn pointed, then full-on bunny ears, which flop around adorably.

“They’re very soft if you’d like to touch them,” Ari suggests, doing so.