[Contains NBM/MBM elements. This is a sequel (kinda) to Post-workout wash, but you don't really need to read it to understand what's going on. It's purely for context]

Another bead of sweat fell onto the laminate flooring, making an already slippy surface even more precarious, reflecting Ellie's red face right back at her. She wasn't entirely convinced that weight training really was her thing. Yeah, it was better than running on a treadmill for hours, but she couldn't get to grips with how sore she was all the time, even after a month into her new, (supposedly) highly rated fitness-influencer regime; she could barely get up the stairs to her apartment on leg day. Now, standing in her kitchen, those same legs shaking under her own weight, she started to have second thoughts.

"So what are you gonna do? You can't keep coming back like this. You're not going to be able to do anything for the rest of the day!" Bella stood in the doorway, concerned for her room mates welfare. She didn't want to come across as condescending, or seeming to dismiss Ellies efforts to keep in shape, but she was getting sick of how far she pushed herself. "Maybe you're going to hard on yourself? Have you thought about cutting it back a bit?"

Ellie took a minute to respond, gulping on a protein shake that was advertised as being strawberry flavoured, but clearly not judging by her grimaced face. "I know, but I don't want to lose my mojo... I get such a buzz from doing it! I'm sure by the end of next week I'll be better."

"I have my doubts if you can't even walk after some squatting," Bella quipped, "and I thought you had to extra cautious now that you're modular?"

"Oh, they just say that for insurance purposes. People use it as an excuse not to exercise in the first place!" Ellie heaved a little and turned to reach for a glass of water to wash down the shake. "It's too easy when you can buy a slimmer pair of hiii....."

A faint wet pop preceded a painful thud, accompanied by a sweaty smack and a squeal of shock from Ellie. She leaned on her elbows to look at what she tripped on, finding an entire leg a good foot behind her. Bella crossed her arms and huffed to herself.

"Maybe you should look into finding an instructor"

Ellie stuck the leg back on as she nodded in vague intrigue.

"And you think I have the money for that?"

"Is it really that expensive? And I was thinking for only one session, just to see if she can help you at all."

"Well, I haven't looked into it before. Maybe you're onto something." She stood up, careful not to slip on the sweat droplets. "I'm sure that my gym has a few in-house options I can choose from"

Later that evening, after a hot bath and a minor accident involving a massage gun and a missing arm, Ellie was having no luck. There didn't seem to be an instructor in her area that was either available within the next 6 months, or within her budget. She didn't want a guy, nor did she like the look of some of the bulkier girls who were flaunting their powerlifting medals. She just wanted someone to tell her where she was going wrong so she could run up the stairs still by the time she was in her sixties, that was all.

"Are you still looking for an instructor? It's getting kinda late..." Bella peered her head through the doorway of their living room, finding Ellie lying on the couch, split in half with her legs beneath her torso, using her butt as a cushion, "...you seem pretty comfy, to be fair."

"Ha, this is the main reason I go to the gym in the first place!" She patted her own cheeks, her leg bending and foot flexing to gesture to her hard work. "Might as well make the most of it seeing how much luck I'm getting right now."

She huffed and put her phone on the coffee table next to her. Bella sighed in compassionate response. "Well, I'm going to bed. Just promise me you're not going to stress yourself out over this."

Bella was cautious of letting Ellie ruminate over things. She wasn't the best at managing difficult things, not that she wasn't capable, but she let her emotions get to her, and she knew it, which only made things worse. Even if they were only room mates, they both cared for each other. Perhaps they had to since they live together?

"I'm not. I'll look more tomorrow. Maybe I can get a cancellation." Her tone wasn't convincing. "I've got to send a message to someone at work before I go in tomorrow, so I'll see you in the morning."

"Alright. Don't be to long. Night."

"Night..."

Bella wandered to her bedroom as Ellie reached for her phone again, sending a quick reply to a colleague confirming a shift swap, and did one more google search to satisfy her curiosity.

'*Personal trainers for modular girls*'

To her surprise, the first result was almost a perfect match.

'*Looking for an experienced gym instructor who's down to Earth and knows your goals? I don't push you to break PRs or dish out bro-science because of a sponsorship. My goal is to get you to be the best you want to be...*'

Some more semi-convincing copy followed until one phrase in particular caught Ellies eye.

'*Having Natural Body Magic should never be an excuse or a fear - Being a user myself, I will teach you how to overcome, and even utilise it to your advantage!*'

This was almost too good to be true. She checked the important logistical details, just knowing that this lady would be... oh, she's only a few miles away.

"Nah, she must cost an arm and a leg or something, not that it would matter I guess. I can't remember how much those growth vitamins cost though..." Scrolling further down, the real cost wasn't any where near what she thought it would be. It was actually a pretty fair price, reasonable in fact. There was no way she was... "Tuesday?! That's my day off... That's perfect!"

A few clicks, several taps, and a small fee later, she had a session booked. Not only was it a convenient time, but it meant she didn't feel so bad taking a few rest days before to make sure she didn't embarrass herself in the first 5 minutes.

Tuesday came, and Ellie was walking down a gravel path in her best gym gear; a cute little  purple-orange gradient crop top and shorts set. She'd got first bus going west out of her town, getting off one stop before it went before the end of the route, and walked 10 minutes away from the urban build-up towards some fields, seemingly equine in purpose. This instructor seemed to have her own home gym, which was a bonus in some ways. No one else was there to watch her struggle, but kind of weird in a way. Why not use a normal gym? Does she have money to burn?

Eventually Ellie was met by a quint looking summerhouse at the end of the path, a pale green wooden structure shrouded with tall trees and a view of a well kept garden to the right of it, backing onto what she assumed to be the instructors humble, yet sizeable home. Looking though the bi-fold doors, there clearly wasn't any DIY going on in this home gym: cable machines, a leg press, a smith machine, a pilates... stretcher-thingy? She'd seen one of those online, clearly a specialised piece of equipment, and not cheap. A few minutes went past as she did as she was instructed on the email - wait by the summer house at your appointment time and Gemma will come and meet you - and she didn't mind at all that she was standing in the late summer dawn, cool air passing though the leaves and the late blooming flowers, carrying a sweet scent to her nose. It was rather mediative.

Gemma actually caught her by surprise. She was a toned, blonde 30-something with a professional looking tablet in her hand and equally competent gym wear. Her teeth her pearly white as she greeted a slightly startled Ellie.

"Hi, I'm Gemma. I'm guessing your Ellie?"

"Yes, I am. So nice to meet you... your place is amazing!"

"Oh, thanks! I'll admit, it's the gardener who you should tell that too, I can make fabric flowers wilt." A series of small talk carried on until it reached a natural conclusion into why they were both there in the first place. "So, your form said that you've been working out for a few months, but your not progressing as much as you'd like. Have I go that right?"

"Yeah, I just seem to be so exhausted after my sessions. I ache so much that I can't do anything for a few hours afterwards, and it's really getting to me. If it keeps happening, then I'll have to go less and less since I can't work when I'm sore, so I'm really worried that I'll stop altogether if I don't resolve this."

Gemma was far more empathetic than Ellie was expecting, even if she wasn't entirely sure what to expect. They talked a bit more about Ellie's main aims and her desire to stay as trim and toned as she could for as long as she could, and finally got onto what Gemma was going to do for her.

"You're defiantly an NBM user, yeah?"

"Yeah, only for about 6 weeks at this point."

Gemma's eyes widened. "Oh, I think I see the problem then. Have you noticed any side effects since getting the treatment?"

"Well, some I think. Apart from the initial fragility, I guess I've had the odd incident with loose limbs?"

"Oh, of course, I still go to pick up a dumbbell only for it to be too heavy and rip my arm off! Anything post workout?"

"I can be a bit loose, actually. I also feel pretty weak for a few hours, like I can't quite control myself as well as I could."

Gemma rubbed her chin for a moment before turning to Ellie, then towards the summer house. "Ok, I think I know what's going on. I'll give you a quick introduction, then we can get started as soon as possible. Hopefully I can identify what the root cause is and we can fix it."

"That sounds great to me!"

"Good. Follow me..."

They both followed the decretive stones to the steps leading to the bi-fold doors. Gemma opened them fully, letting the fresh morning air into a state-of-the-art set-up with everything Ellie had seen and even more. She was stunned by the quality and quantity of stuff in the home gym, and was equally surprised to see what looked like Gemma's head on a duffle bag on a bench by the bi-fold door. It was leaning to one side as it smiled at her, it's hair in a tight, tactical bun in contrast to fully-body Gemma's flowing golden locks. She shouldn't have been surprised, but she was still quite surreal seeing a disembodied head, especially when it was so quaint and relaxed, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Did you read the new client info sheet on the email?"

"Uh, no, I don't think I did. Sorry"

"Oh don't worry. I don't think the link has been working recently. I'll explain it quickly." She reached down to pick up her duplicate head, tucking it under her arm. "All I need you to do before we begin is take your head off and hold it like I am here." The eyes on her other head glinted at Ellie. "Then I want you to turn around face the wall whilst I check your posture."

"Uh, sure." She followed her new instructor without much thought or concern, the obnoxious wet pop of her head coming off filling the space they were in. "Is this for check my balance, or... woah!"

An electric pulse ran through Ellie's body, all of it flexing, then tingling, then nothing at all. The only thing she could feel was her arm around her head and her hand holding onto her next stump, which moved slightly involuntarily. Her body turned to face Emma again, sans the head under her arm.

"Sorry, a lot of people freak out when I do that. It's best not to warn you, other your body could have rejected my head and that's a serious pain to deal with. Anyway, are you ok?"

"I'm... fine, I think?" She tried to feel for something she didn't have anymore. "Do I have a body any more or what?"

"Of course you do! The only difference is that I've got one of my heads on it, so I can run though all the exercises and tests for you with your body, hence why I can control it and you can't. In the mean time, I'll take you into my kitchen to discuss meal plans, how does that sound?"

Ellie was feeling a lot better all of a sudden. For a brief moment she thought she was becoming a victim of a bizarre kidnapping, but now she was pretty excited to hit two bird with one stone... or two heads?

"Um, sure! I can see why you get good reviews now."

Ellie's body lifted her up to Gemma's head, who spoke to her with her now signature beaming smile. "People love it when you do the hard work for them!" She winked at Ellie as she handed her head to Gemma.

Gemma and Ellie's head walked out of the summer house, leaving Ellie's body and Gemma's (work?) head to get on with some warm up stretches. Ellie was actually really enjoying being a head, not having to worry about where she was walking, what she may trip up on, what she was going to do, having no choice but to take in the scenery as Gemma occasionally stroked her neck stump.

"We're going into my kitchen so we can discuss what your current diet is, then I can show you some recipes, weekly menus for you to try, stuff like that."

"That sounds good to me. I'll admit it now, I'm not the healthiest of people."

"Oh, don't worry, it's pretty hard to be consistent when you're starting out. I've got some meal prep ideas I can show you which don't need reheating or any cutlery. They're perfect for work!"

"That's my main issue, actually. It's so hard finding healthy convenience food. I just hope you need me to have any hands either!"

They both laughed as Gemma walked with her under her arm, her body getting ready to do some squats in the summer house. She felt like she could get used to this.