[Contains NBM/MBM elements - part of series do have a looky wooky etc, etc... :D]

"Here you are! Your favorite!"

"Ahh, thanks Em. I don't know how much I'll eat this time - it's the 4th plate of toast you've made in the last hour."

"I know, don't worry, I can make more!"

"Oh no need, please. Why don't you sit down and take a rest? Must be hard doing all that on, uh... just one leg?"

"What, this? Nah! It's what you call exercise, isn't it? I'm doing jumping jacks AND making you food... I'm so athletic!"

"That isn't... never mind."

It had been a good 2 days since Em discovered what toast was, and she was determined to show me just how good she was at making it. Yes, it had been my 4th portion that hour, on top of the many others I had forced down, which had got progressively better to her credit. It started with just bread, but after she worked out what the toaster was, she's become an expert in a way. I've never seen someone so dedicated to one dish. Perhaps that because she only knows one dish, nor does she really know what food is, I think.

"Besides, you told me to 'break a leg' when I asked if you wanted toast, so I did! You can't get more broken than ripping your leg off!" The leg in question was next to me, bent slightly up the coach, the foot gently reminding me it was there by stroking my arm. I was used to assorted body parts all over the place at this point, and frankly, I quite like the company. I even stroke it back occasionally. "Is it keeping you company?"

"Yes, it is. How about you come and sit with me... and your leg. I'm sure that's more appealing than making toast."

"Well, if you insist. Actually, I've got something to tell you!"

My heart sank a little when she said that, and my mind began considering what she could possible have done now as she hopped around and sat down, putting her leg on (half?) her lap and rubbing her calf.

"Go on, spill the beans."

"Beans, I can get some if..."

"No, Em."

"Oh yeah, that's a saying... anyway, I was getting ready for bed last night, putting my bits and pieces in my boxes..."

"Yeah"

"...then I dropped my head on the floor."

"Oh no, did it hurt?"

"No, it was pretty fun! I went spinning for a bit before I stopped, then I realized something when my arm came to put me back together."

"What, did you break it?"

"Uhh... I don't know..." She looked into the distance pensively, interlocking her fingers with her toes as she fiddled with her foot, deep in thought... "Not really."

"Is that why you took so long to get up this morning?"

"Uhh... yeah, sort of. When my hand got hold of my head, I couldn't feel the top of my head, so I kept feeling around and found that my head was hollow!"

I had to stop myself from laughing. "Well, Em, I could have guessed you didn't have a brain..."

"Hey! How did you know? That was what was coming next - that triggered a memory of Emily removing my brain. She does it to all the displays. That's why I'm so stupid!"

My little jipe wasn't seriously suggesting that, but now that she mentioned it, her bizarre behavior started to make far more sense to me. Those displays weren't normal, but brainless? I was shocked to be brutally honest, and also very confused. If she didn't have a brain, how does she do... anything?

"Well, are you sure?"

"Yes! here, look!" Em suddenly ripped her head off with a POP and held it in front of me, and shook it like a kid with a piggy bank, making some eerily similar noises. "I might not have a brain, but I do have space to keep things now!"

"Well, that's great and all, but what have you put in there?"

"The same things you have in your bag-thingy, I think."

"Did you just put some random shit form the cupboard in your head?"

"No, in my ear, actually." She put her head on the cushion next to her, reached to the knife laying on my untouched toasted, and proceeded to push it into her ear, like that cheesy magic trick, but real. No words could pass my lips before she was shaking her had again, ringing with the sound of all sorts of crap she'd shoved in the holes in her face. She really was a big kid.

"So, can you get anything out?" Again, she put her head on the cushion and wriggled her jaw, eventually puffing her cheeks out and spitting out a few coins. "Ah, I see. Any chance I can have something dry?"

Her eyes gave me a look suggesting that I'd soured the moment. Her funny little talent ruined. "Don't you like it?"

"No... I do? Well, it's weird, don't get me wrong, but it's the best thing I've seen you do so far!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! I just don't my stuff to be all... wet." I said as I picked the sodden spare change off the couch. "Let's have a look at you."

I picked her up and sat her on my lap, inspecting her head for any obvious signs of a way into her cranium that wasn't her mouth. "Did you say that the top of your head fell off?"

"It did." She chirped from beneath me. "I'm sure if you give it a push it wo..."

Click-fwoosh

"Ah, perfect!"

A quick and accidental flick of her ear cracked the lid of her head open, hinges and all, revealing a pile of junk and the knife she'd shoved in her ear in a peachy-pink bowl. I couldn't see any holes on the inside of her head - must be a quirk of her NBM - so I dumped the stuff onto the coffee table in front of us.

"There's my spare key! When did you find this?"

"This morning in the cuter... cul... currugghh-knife and fork drawer thingy, so I thought I'd keep it safe!"

I run my finger along it's jagged edge. "Didn't it hurt when you shoved it in your ear."

"Hehehe... no, it tickles!"

At this point, an idea came to me. It was only inevitable after spending this long with Em, but I finally felt the urge, and the courage, to at least feel what it was like being modular. That was the point of having a doll-like, putty-playdough-semi-human with a mason jar for a head, after all. So, I left Em open on the table as I got up to collect a few things, and to hide the toast.

"Want to go out, Em?"

"Oooh yeah! Where to?" She said with anticipation as her body jumped up onto it's leg, the detached one falling onto the floor with a thunk.

I scoffed into my hand again as I walked over to her head and picked it up, "Just... out. I thought I'd make use of this..." I said tapping the rim of her open cranium, dropping my purse and the spare key into her.

"That sound's interesting. Where is 'Out', exactly?"

"Everywhere, Em... everywhere."

I threw my phone into her, too, and some lip gloss, face wipes, handwash, even a hand mirror, and there was still plenty of room. She'd be a steal if she were a real clutch handbag, which is how I held her as i made my way to the door.

"I'm sure your body knows it's way around by now. She can stay here, can't she?" Looking over my shoulder, I saw her bend down to pick her leg up.

"Don't see why not. Bye body!" Em beamed as her body shuffled and oriented itself towards us. I waved at it playfully, and to my surprise it waved back with the leg in it's hand, the foot flopping all over until a quick *rrrip* and POP made it tumble onto the floor. "Oof, that always happens with that leg."