There was no fire. Clearly there HAD been a fire, because the room was filled with acrid smoke and there was a large soot stain on the ceiling. It looked like a piece of lacy fabric had caught fire and burned itself up. Judging by the singe marks, it fluttered too close to a large photo flood bulb on a C-stand. The source of the fire had consumed itself, but not before setting off the alarms. Or maybe it was the burning insulation smell of the thick smoke that lingered in the air that set them off. But that was the least of it.

Tina and I stood, bewildered, in front of a writhing Zoe, heaving with violent coughs, lashed into some macabre heaving contraption. My mind usually doesn't go there, but trying to wrap my head around this complicated and ominous looking device, I struggled unsuccessfully to come up with any other description than ….steampunk sex machine.

Zoe's outfit only enhanced this image. Bits of constricting leather and rubber with lots of shiny brass and chrome fixtures holding her collared neck, waist, wrists and ankles into this macabre machine, being bent in ways I didn't know the human body could bend - by pulleys and brightly colored ropes. And what the hydraulic apparatus of the machine was trying to DO to her... I guess successfully doing to her... I didn't even want to think about!

Her head was sealed inside something that looked like a giant black beach ball, with a screw-on accordion-style vacuum hose leading to a pleated rubber bag that was ballooning and collapsing with her violent coughs.

After a moment to collect our wits, Tina and I scrambled over to the device and tried to extricate Zoe. Tina tried to unfasten all the restraints while I searched for how to switch off all the ...erm... pumps and motors. I finally noticed a heavy duty cord that fed a splitter box and I yanked it from the wall. The gizmo shuddered to a stop and I heard a large click as Zoe's brass and chrome restraints fell away from the machine. Tina and I gingerly got the other parts of the machine ...out of her, and tried to sit her up. Tina went to remove the beach ball thing from her head, but Zoe broke away from her and scrambled to her feet, tripping over a light-stand and running straight into a wall. Tina guided her to the door, she stumbled out into the hall, then struggled to get the contraption off her head.

“What the FUCK????” she whispered, her voice trembling with rage.

“Yeah! What the fuck???” Tina shot back, hands on her hips in fury.

“You fucking broke into my room!!!” She snapped in a hoarse whisper.

“You set off the fire alarms.” I pointed out. “Lucky we disabled the auto-911 feature when we moved into the empty house, or you'd be having this argument with firemen.”

Zoe scowled, but calmed ever so slightly. She glared at us and held up a finger as she backed into her room. A moment later the bright lights went out. A moment after that our finally recovering hearing heard the sudden silence as her computer's fans shut down.

She stormed back into the hall and bellowed at us “You had NO fucking RIGHT!” her accusatory finger trembling with rage.

“We thought the house was on fire!” Tina shot back, getting more agitated and sure to soon meet the calming Zoe at the emotional halfway point.

“I checked the master panel. It was your room. Look at the smoke.”

“I'm fucking aware of the smoke!” Zoe glowered, and I finally noticed the hoarseness in her voice.

“Well, we HAD to do something!” Tina snapped. “We weren't going to burn the house down!”

“And what if we weren't home?” I cried, suddenly alarmed at the realization.

“Well, then, I guess I'd have become fucking legend.” Zoe muttered with a wry grin.

“Would you like to explain just what the hell is going on?” I demanded.

“No.” Said Zoe with fire in her eyes.

“Well, tough. You nearly burned the house down. And we had to invade your private space to save your sorry ass. So 'NO' doesn't cut it.” Tina said to her with a fearsome authority I instantly recognized from her dad.

Zoe scowled at us. Winced at a small cough and muttered “I need a fucking drink” pushing past us and making her way to the stairs.

We sat around the breakfast station until the sun rose. I called in sick to work and Tina blew off classes. Zoe talked. But it was like pulling teeth.

“God, I feel like a gitmo inquisitor.” I glared at Zoe. Then I muttered “only no bright lights and tying to a chair. I've had enough of that for one night.”

Zoe snorted and I saw a smirk flash across her face.

“Look. We respect your privacy.” Tina said.

“Until you almost burn the house down.” I snarked.

Zoe just rolled her eyes.

“Fine. Fine. FINE. What the fuck do you want to know?”

“Uh... what the hell is going on?” Tina cocked her head, but her voice betrayed more demand than curiosity.

Zoe sighed and told us about “Slipknot Siouxsie”. A character she created on AOL chat as a dorky 11 year old. Originally just an alter ego with no self esteem issues, she was the superhero under the self-conscious teen with severe body image issues. As she grew and became more worldly as a teen, so did her online alter ego. Slipknot Sioux became a wicked flirt in online chat. Over the years the chat evolved from simply flirty to downright raunchy. Meanwhile, Slipknot Sioux was becoming a bad influence on Daddy's little mathlete. She rebelled as a teen and her father never figured out the bad influence on his little girl was actually her online alter ego. After a few close encounters with some creepers, and a funny story about one relationship she eventually figured had to be one of those seamy TV news show predator traps, and how she punked them really good, getting two different 'perv-hunters' each pretending to be teens, trying to entrap and arrest the other.

The sexy talk eventually evolved into sexy cam photos after she turned 18, but Zoe always protected her privacy. As she got older and more daring, and tech got more advanced, she kept pushing the envelope, to the point where she became a live-stream cam-girl, performing pre-negotiated scenarios for subscription audiences like some X-rated pay per view.

It paid really really well, but she pumped most of her profits back into the business on wardrobe and props. Like that crazy stuff we stormed in on.

In fact she had a number of different personae – each with a specific kink. She described it as how Coke and Sprite and Fanta were all brands of the same sugar-water company. She had dom & sub characters, male and female (and in-between) characters, gay & straight characters, and subdivisions of stuff like rubber, leather, plushplay (furries) and activities from med fet to rope bondage – her original thing & first persona, watersports, breathplay, electro, etc. She was always looking for new edgy 'performance genres' to use online. Which is why she frequented the kink clubs, networking & looking for fresh ideas. Zoe, it turns out, always worked alone, being ultra paranoid about her privacy. Her 'co-stars' were real-doll type mannequins which she macguyvered into animatronic type figures that seemed to have rising/falling chests so they appeared to be breathing. She performed the most active person in the scenario and the dummies stood in as passive doubles for her other characters. It really was performance art disguised as porn. By some point she built a stable of characters of varying genders ages and phenotypes.

It let her scratch her wild itch, AND keep her anonymity. Which is why she freaked when Tina tried to remove that beachball headgear in her room before her cameras. Zoe scowled that we may have revealed our faces to her pay per view pervs, but maybe the smoke was so thick and the movement so frantic that they didn't see much of anything.

She grumbled that she would need to contact all the subscribers to last night's 'performance' and offer them a refund since it was interrupted and veered from the script as soon as the lighting rig set the backdrop on fire. She said she would check the recording to see if it clearly captured either of our faces.

She then yawned and stretched and asked us if our inquisition was done. She slouched upstairs to her room saying she had a lot to clean up and she was exhausted.

“Not to mention sore?” I raised an eyebrow.

Zoe shrugged. “You'd be amazed what you can get used to.” She said dryly.

Tina and I spent a few more hours chatting.

Tina was poking at her iPhone. She must have been doing web searches. “So our roomie is a notorious cam-girl.” She muttered wryly.

“So it seems.” I said, still not sure how I felt about that, but knowing I couldn't afford to move even if I wanted to.

“Apparently a very famous notorious cam-girl.” Tina smirked, still poking at her phone. “You might say, she's kind of cam-girl royalty....”

“Princess Zoe?” I snorted.

Tina grinned. “More like her exalted highness the Sovereign Slipknot Sioux.”

“All bow down before her.” I laughed. Tina snorted.

“I think her subjects would be thrilled to.” she quipped.

“Oh well, Live and let live. It's not illegal.” I shrugged. Then I turned to Tina. “...is it?”

Tina shook her head with a smile. “...Not everywhere, anyway...”

“OK. So our roomie has her private life... her not blatantly illegal private life... with other consenting adults of their mutual choosing....” I scowled slightly.

“Live and let live?” Tina smiled halfheartedly.

I nodded and returned her woeful smile.

Zoe was right about one thing. It's amazing what you can get used to. Over time, our relationship with our quirky roomie became gradually less awkward and eventually we found ourselves back at that place we had been when we all moved in. Then the relationship continued growing closer. Now that her secret was out, Zoe felt free to grumble to us about 'work'.... about some of the stuff her clients tried to pull and tell the painfully awkward – but always funny – story from time to time.

It even got to the point where I found Zoe and Tina heads down around the table in our dining room. Zoe asked Tina's help as a creative writing major to 'fix' a scene people were asking for that just didn't seem right to her but she couldn't pinpoint why.

Tina actually got into it, smiling that it was another 'new genre' to master, and she felt a bit naughty, yet exhilarated, helping Zoe script out these steamy performance scenes.

Zoe kept telling Tina she should help. Not as a subject so much as a bit-part as a minion. Zoe persuaded Tina by saying she could write much more ambitious scenes if she was there to help Zoe get in and out of her various predicaments. Zoe admitted that having to do them all singlehandedly really limited the scope of her canvas. Zoe sold Tina and got her started really slowly, just handing wardrobe pieces to Zoe occasionally zipping an armbinder or cinching a corset.

I could see that Zoe was getting Tina to dip her toes in and warned her that eventually she may find herself doing tag teams with Zoe. Tina laughed and shrugged it off.

One day Tina approached me sheepishly.

“I really wish you would join Zoe and me.”

I smiled and shook my head 'no chance'.

“No no no. We don't want you to do scenes. And if you'll notice, even I resisted that temptation miss 'corrupting influence'” she taunted with a smile.

I smiled back.

“But it IS a temptation! I had no idea how much money these guys will pay just to watch random strangers on the internet. It's sick.”

“Yes it is.” I smiled primly.

“No!” Tina laughed. “I mean YES.... yeah.... it is kinda sick... especially some of the stuff they ask for.... but no, I mean the money is sick. A sick amount.”

“So why is Tina still drawing tall lattes at 5AM?” I teased.

“Why did Clark Kent take a desk job?” she shrugged.

“Comic nerd.” I snorted.

“And THAT's what I wanted to talk to you about!....” Tina grinned.

It didn't really take too much arm twisting to get me on board. When Tina talked about her crazy idea, I found her enthusiasm contagious. Zoe was cool with it. In fact Tina thought that she was secretly flattered but would never admit it.

Tina handed me some rough story pages and in a couple of days I handed her my surface tablet with the finished artwork pages. Zoe had some suggestions, and Tina took another pass, but in a little over a week the first issue of 'Camgirl Chronicles' was online.

I'm not sure what came faster, our subscriber numbers or Tina's fresh pages.

It was a crazy kind of feedback loop. Or maybe more of a nuclear chain reaction. But the alt.art success of Camgirl Chronicles ended up getting art and comic nerds to Google Slipknot Sioux. They seemed stunned that there was a real character with that name and some folks emailed Zoe's alias 'warning' her that someone had stolen her brand and was using it to peddle a comic series. Zoe let them know that it was an authorized use of her brand, that she was flattered someone thought she deserved to be immortalized in print, since she was basically a performance-artist, and her own ephemeral artworks only lived in whatever she could burn into the minds of her live subscribers. She claimed to steal some ideas from the comic (although in truth it was an active collaboration with Tina) and admitted that some of the stuff in the comic came from actual incidents she shared with the writers, and challenged them to guess which were which.

It seemed like the writers and the subject of the comic were aware of each other and in occasional contact.

If anyone had any idea we all lived under the same roof, their brains probably would have exploded.

Tina gave Slipknot Sioux a backstory very different from Zoe, and I took great pains to portray her as equally fierce, but physically quite different from Zoe. I did have the good sense to collaborate with Zoe so her animated alter ego was exactly who Zoe wanted to be but wasn't. Tall and blonde and curvy and fearless, a high powered executive at a conservative Washington think tank. Part of Tina's devilish backstory was Sioux recognizing lots of the 'stuffed suits' she dealt with in her day job, and them having no inkling of her alter ego.

I also realized early on, that that first awkward conversation I had with Tina's dad was because he thought I was 'Slipknot Sioux' not Sue. I had to grin when I realized that after all this time, her housemate had become an influence on Tina ...though not in the corrupting way he imagined. I wondered what Frank Aldone made of 'Camgirl Chronicles'. I had zero doubt that he was aware of it. He didn't miss much, and he watched over 'his little girl' ...if only discreetly and from afar. I swallowed hard. I couldn't imagine my own father watching out for me.