Go to offer some inspiration to the shirt designer

I lead Regina towards an apartment complex, and the confusion is clear in her mind.

"You know that I can live with you, right? That it really doesn't make sense for you to get me an apartment to keep your story straight, right? That you could just change the story to Clara next time and she wouldn't be able to notice, right?" Seems like she was already starting to doubt my sanity.

"I'm not that stupid, you dummy. We're not here to spend money, in fact, we're here to do the opposite... long term, at least." I point to our chests. "This shirts right here? We're going to the designer and offer some 'inspiration'"

"I'm listening." A smirk appears and vanishes from her face. "Not sure you want something naughty to be drawn by someone that makes you look like that, tough." She pointed at the maniacal look in the bleeding face.

"Hey, that was what I asked her to do at the time. And do you really think I'd be the first client she has that would be asking her to draw porn? I've seen the way she decorates, she has some expensive stuff in her home, there's no way she doesn't do lewd commissions." I dismiss the concern.

"If you insist. How far are we taking this?" She starts rubbing her hands.

"There might be nudity, we're not fucking her. Not today at least. Seems wrong to do that to one of my pals." I scratch the back of my neck.

"You're gonna do that sooner or later to one of them if we keep bringing them along to test your power." Regina reminds me.

"Yeah, I know, but I want to be in control of my powers by then. Like, ideal world, fame and fortune along with even more of a killer bod makes me insanely attractive, I do a thing or two in their brain to make sure they're into girls and open relationships, bada bing bada boom, we're in love." I start paying attention to the door numbers now that we're close.

"How much functional difference is there in just making them love you? You're already imposing your will on them." She points out.

"The difference is that, unless I somehow have the time to get really introspective and wax philosophy in between all the sex I'll be having, matches I'll be wrestling, and money I'll be making; I'll still able to go to sleep at night and not think of myself as a bad person." I admit as I stop in front of the door. Regina seems regretful of having pushed it that far when I look at her again.

"That's... I didn't expect that answer." She looks at the ground a little ashamed. "Sam, I'm-"

A kiss on her lips is enough to cut this pity party short.

"Regina, it's fine. The pros far outweigh the cons in here, and that's even before counting you as part of the gifts that the ring gave me." I hold her cheeks in my hands for a moment, giving her another quick kiss before letting her go and ringing the doorbell. "Think you can act convincingly as my wrestler friend I might or might not be dating?"

She takes a moment to process what just happened before she nods. "I think I was born for the role."

Before either one of us can say anything more, Susie opens the door. She's probably one of the raddest persons I know, specially outside my wrestling circle. She certainly stands out from the crowd with her dark skin, rainbow colored dreads and the stars tattoos around her mouth. She seems happily surprised to see me.

"Sam, girl, what are you doing here?" She asks me and we intermediately pat each other's backs a few times before breaking up the hug. "Who's your friend?" She points at Regina.

"She's Regina and she's a newbie wrestler that I'm basically taking under my wing. I met her on the road and she happened to be wanting to move to somewhere around this area. Our schedules matched up and while training with her I learnt that we made for a pretty good team. I already got her some matching gear to mine, but we both know that we need merchandise to make that official." I elaborated on the story I was going to tell anyone about how the two of us found each other. "I was hoping we could talk with you for a while to bounce off ideas, maybe take a few photos that could serve for inspiration. That's cool with you, right?"

As expected, Susie nods along, but to be perfectly honest, I don't know if I needed the ring for that or not. Still, now the three of us are sitting on her couch, eating snacks and making some small talk before we get down to business. We laugh when she asks if we only teamed up for the aesthetics of 'black hair and white hair' together.

"Nah, that's pure coincidence. But, if we're gonna speak aesthetics, we might as well tell you of the visual theme that we were hoping for the designs." I throw around the idea, and then nod to Regina. It takes her a moment to notice that I'm actually leaving the decision to her, and she seems baffled, but not wanting Susie to catch on to anything suspicious, she coughs into her hand and excuses herself due to nervousness.