All Comments on '48 Hours on Blue Bayou Pt. 25: Julie'

My guess the empress.

Thank goodness the latest episode has been posted and I can relax for a few days.

My first thought was the empress too, but then I thought that was a bit too obvious. I may be wrong but my impression is that the empress, though the doyen of Hong Kong society, does not have the kind of resources available to Martin. My impression is that she is part of the old colonial aristocracy, still influential, but much reduced. She buys her slaves cheap, like Butterfly, and trains them herself.

Poor Julie, she tries so hard but still gets into trouble. This episode was really great, I liked the way the slaves helped each other to concoct the rumour and subtly undermine the Slavemaster, who went a bit beyond his brief, I thought. If she was just stood down I think the rumour would have been, that someone has made an offer so astronomical, that she is effectively pre-sold. My main criticism is with Julie's potential buyer, who boasts of "not learning a thing" at the School for New Owners, and that they (his family I presume) have slaves at home. Yet his reaction and treatment of Julie shows he has not the slightest idea of how to treat or manage a slave, according to the "rules" of this story.

Well what now?

After a short wait, the package room door will open. No, not her new master but some quite anonymous security person. She will be hooded and cuffed, taken down to the garage in a private lift, hustled into a waiting limo and driven away. When the limo stops, she is removed and can tell from the noises around, that she is back in the Marina. She is taken into another super-yacht, through many corridors and gangways, into a thickly carpeted room. She is told to kneel. A minute or two go by til she senses someone approaching. A hand touches her neck and stokes her back in an, oh so familiar way.....

Very Good, even better than I expected.

The new owner?

My first thought was for the Empress too, and in this case Julie could resume her place at the Opera House ...

My second thought was for her past owner, but on a personal account, not for the Enterprise any more ...

Perhaps, instead, it could be a good fellow and competitor of her past owner, so she can remain in touch in some way with the world of her trainers and make them sorry for selling her when they meet again with her in a high level position, thou being still a sexual slave ... or something more than that ...

... but first she has to go through a tough bdsm experience with his/her New Owner before gaining her new better position...

Infuriated Anonymous again

The more I think about the House of Slavery's Slavemaster, (Yes I am obssessive, why do you ask?) the more I think he should be fired - or sold!

I'm trying to think of a parallel in the "real world", it's as if Christies got hold of a Picasso (or to be real, a lesser known cubist, say Juan Gris) and lets some four year old scribble over it with a marker pen. So the slavemaster's job is to show Julie to the most discerning and wealthy potential buyers, right. I'm sure that the Scheduling Desk doesn't just work on a first come, first served basis. Even if there were no requests at all, they would just say they would "try to fit you in". Many request but few are chosen, to coin a phrase. The woman who approached at the registration didn't get a look in, did she. Julie could have been shown to a variety of buyers with different desires, and this would be her only opportunity to talk to them relatively frankly, before change of ownership. It's quite explicit that the House of Slavery endeavours to get, not just the best price, but the best fit for slaves and Masters/Mistresses. What a fail.

Now to address the author's question, how should Julie approach or react to her new master.

Complete submission, of course. If Julies many punishments corrections have taught her anything, it must be that slaves just wait to be told what to do. Any spontaneous reactions, whether of delight or dismay are not generally welcomed. When (as in my earlier scenario) her cuffs and hood are removed, she could make a full obeisance.

The current chapter though relatively short is more in line with earlier chapters tonally and that is probably a good thing, the slaves at least don't seem to be being mistreated left right and center this chapter which is good. I was also happy to see a relatively inexperienced master portrayed (something I don't think we've seen in this series) and that the portrayal wasn't him being horrible just for the sake of it. Plus the slave interactions were pretty cute as was ice cream ^_^ .

However the chapter does feel a bit rushed with Julie not being aloud to partake in the major display meaning that the chapter was condensed without us getting much of a picture of what the display day was about. Further as another Anon has made comment on I feel that the slavemaster as a device to speed up the story by banning her from display wasn't a good plot point, his aim is to make more money on her not less, not allowing her to be displayed seems like a major punishment and maybe a breech of contract (as they are being paid to display her). One last point I'd like to make in regards to something I see repeated a lot over the last few chapters is the idea of "slave corridors" which seems slightly odd seeing as we're talking about high quality pleasure slaves, many being bought as companions to private owners, in such circumstances "slave corridors" seem rather unduely forceful and harsh.

p.s.

My bets on who were betting on Julie are 1. Charles 2. The Empress 3. Her Master (but not with enterprise money)

I wonder if the author is auctioning her off as a way of opening up a new story line, perhaps in a new city. Is Julie being Shanghaied?

The story gets better chapter after chapter. Go on!

Keeping Julie 'In the Family'

It is quite remarkable I came this far in this story and am still highly interested.

Probably written by a woman, it gives a highly unusual but probably accurate portrait of the mindset of an abducted sex slave. So far, the story is a far cry from the horror stories of sexual slavery under control of criminal gangs from Russia, former Yugoslavia or Turkey as recorded by police across Europe. On the contrary, I find it reasonably pleasant and, at least as far as Julie is concerned, the oriental element adds extra spice and decor to the narrative.

Of course, there are elements that are not to my taste at all, like urine drinking, but perhaps that is part of the obligatory elements in a story about sex slaves.

My thanks to the writers for extolling this lengthy tale with such precision and psychological depth.

As I am a scientist and historian, I have to remain anonymous.

All the Julie chapters are written by 2 male coauthors. We are always grateful for thoughtful comments.

As a historian, we would like your assessment of our other series, 16th Century Slave Market.