"I don't think that this design would be very..."

"Very what?"

"Very...Aerodynamic" Marine scratched her head with the end of a pencil and stared blankly at Tails' messy blueprint. Considering that it was made by a blind person, she had to give credit where credit was due. That there was an effort made. But other than that, she couldn't think of anything nice to say about it. The instructions were very unclear and hard to understand, even after learning Tails' method of deciphering his writing and drawings.

"What do you mean by not very aerodynamic" Tails asked.

Marine squinted at the crude artwork of an airplane that had its rear end overlapping with its wing. "As in that, it would need an extra spacial dimension to be functional"

"That would be a massive hindrance to its functionality, yes." Tails agreed, rubbing his chin in thought. "I might have some of the blueprints I created before I went blind. Let's see if those are any better."

Tails went ahead and dug through his neatly organized pile of blueprints, grabbing as much as he could from the 'Tornado-1' section, and brought it over to the workbench.

When the two-tailed mechanic unrolled the work on the desk, Marine let out a sigh of relief. Now, this was what she expected from the smartest Mobian alive. Easy to understand, clean drawings all around, and a drool stain left during a late-night work session.

"This is much better, Tails. You should have started with this one!" She glanced over to see the airplane in its poor state. "I should be able to fix the Tornado-1 with this." She stated with much confidence. Confidence that Tails had been looking for the last several weeks.

Filled with joy, Tails asked, "So what do I do? How can I help?"

Marine flinched, expecting to do this job by herself. But then again, it made a lot more sense for him to be with her when she was working. She was meant to be his assistant, after all. Not just his hands.

However, Marine was not able to create a satisfactory answer to that question in time, and answered lamely, "Er, you could watch?"

All the joy inside Tails vanished in a second. "Ok first, I can't watch you do Jack. You know why?"

"Because the lights are turned off?"

"Precisely. And second, this is my invention. My creation. I should be a part of this, Marine."

Marine blushed, embarrassed that she even thought that way in the first place. "Tails, I understand your frustration but in your condition, you're more of a hassle than you are a help."

Tails' grip on the desk hardened, his knuckles turning white. He reached for a chair to sit on and ruffled his hair. He leaned back in his seat and hugged his namesakes tightly together.

"Are you ok?" Marine asked, sitting down in her chair.

"What do you think?" He snapped back at her, frowning.

"Obligatory question. I meant no harm. Listen, here is a list of things we're going to need for the sonar I'm going to attach to the Tornado-1. We already have enough things to rebuild the Tornado, so this is all we need. Cream is going to be here soon, so why don't you go with her to the store? Meanwhile, I can take a crack at this girl."

Tails brought his fluffy pair of twins closer, thinking this through. But before he could have much time to think about it, the doorbell rang, deciding for him preemptively.

"Can you go get that for me? I'll go with her but...yeah." Tails muttered the last bit, not putting in an effort to make a reason for his actions.

Marine got up and left the workshop, leaving Tails alone with himself and the cup of tea he made for himself earlier. He reached for it blindly and drank the warm liquid that was now also all over his hands. Typical.

He expected Marine to come back with Cream, but he wasn't hearing anything. He got up, muttering to himself, "What on Mobius is taking them so long..."

"Cream? Marine? Are you there?" Tails shouted as he approached the living room.

"Y-yeah! We're here. Me and Cream. S-sorry." Marine answered, panting heavily. She was out of breath for some reason. Strange.

"What took you so long? I thought you were going to come get me or something."

"We just...had some stuff to talk about. Important stuff." Marine coughed.

"Private stuff" Cream added, and sounds of clothes shuffling could be heard, alongside the recognizable sound of someone getting up from a leathery couch.

"What were you two doing on the couch? You know what? I don't want to know." Tails tried to get the terrifying image out of his head, the only place where he could see without resistance. "Cream, I have to go downtown and pick up some stuff for our project. Can you come along with me?" He grabbed his umbrella and a satchel, hanging the satchel over one shoulder and placing the umbrella on a hook on the strap of his bag. It was easier to carry around a long piece of stick like this if he was fine without it.

Cream nodded excitedly and jumped onto her feet. "Of course! Would you like me to fly you there like we did last time?"

Tails smiled brightly, taking a blind step towards her. "Yes, that would be amazing. Can we go now? Or do you two have some unfinished business left on my couch?"

"I can go now. Cya Marine" Cream blushed heavily and gripped Tails' arm and sprinted outside, dragging him behind.

Cream had her hands wrapped around Tails' wrist as she flapped her large ears while the fox spun his namesakes. Cream usually couldn't fly very fast alone, but she had more stamina than Tails. With the two working together, they could fly faster and further, but they both had to be on full stomachs.

"We're landing soon, Tails. Slow us down." Cream noted, which slightly upset the orange fox. He loved flying way too much.

They arrived and descended softly onto the ground and walked the rest of their way to the shopping district. Tails also wanted to grab some chocolate mint ice creams while he was here, but that would have to wait until after the machine parts.

Tails reached for the umbrella when he heard a lot of people around, as he preferred having a cane with him when there were a lot of people nearby. He could navigate fine without his stick if he had someone with him to grab his arm or something just in case. But people were unpredictable, and unpredictability created opportunities for him to be run over by a car.

"Hey Cream, can you hold onto my wallet? I'm afraid I might lose it." Tails said, holding it out for her to take.

Cream stared at him for a moment, smiling and taking it. Tails noticed her slight delay in taking the said wallet and thought it was hesitation on her part. "Is something wrong?" He asked.

"No, nothing's wrong. It's just... It's nice to see you asking for help from others more. You were so unwilling to accept help to prove your worth or whatever." She told him as she pocketed his wallet.

"Ah, yeah... I've learned to be less stubborn. I still want to prove my worth but... Not in these small things, you know?" Tails blushed a bit and crossed his tails together, remembering the time he snapped at her for trying to hand him a loaf of bread.

"I know. But in the meantime, do you know where to go?" Cream asked as they approached the shopping district.

"Yeah, I do. The place is called 'The Boomer's hardware store'. See if you can find it-"

"It's right there. Hold onto my hands, ok?" She led Tails to the store, trying to make it as safe as possible for him. "What kind of store is called boomer anyways?"

"It's the owner's nickname. An unfortunate one, I know." Tails walked in, opening the door and placing his umbrella back on his satchel strap. "Hey Rotor! I'm here!"

"Oh, Tails! How have you been doing? I haven't seen you ever since your accident." The walrus approached the fox and gave him a large bear hug, making all the oxygen in Tails' lungs leave in one fell swoop.

"I've been doing well, Rotor. Thanks for asking." Tails wheezed after he was placed down. He coughed a bit and leaned onto the closest thing he could find.

"I'd love to help you out, bud... But I have a customer with me at the moment, and she's a tricky one, I tell ya. She's as smart as you when it comes to her field of expertise."

"Really? Who is it?" Tails was suddenly very curious.

"Er, Tails..." Cream tugged on his namesakes but was interrupted by the expert in question.

"Hey shorty. What brings you here?" Wave walked out from behind a corner, flipping a wrench in her hands.