All Comments on '48 Hours on Blue Bayou Pt. 38: Three'

To start I'd like to compliment the continuous high quality formatting and prose of this story , if memory serves it's a collection of authors but both of these factors are always of the highest quality.

So first thing that I really liked about this chapter was that it was upbeat, one of the issues that I've had in the past not just with this story but with others in the catagory is that everything is always unpleasent and downbeat. So hats off on the happy moments here, the dinner scene was sweet as was the marketing department who seem to be composed of reasonable individuals. Finally everything about the sailing trip, which was a much needed refreshing change of pace and a very sweet interaction between Three and her master.

One thing that I wasn't too keen of this chapter was master Hari who after being exceptionally attached to Three in previous chapters just sort of said hi and wanted to get off from her. Seemed a bit of weird interaction compared to previous ones especially after he seems to want to thank her yet does nothing for her. I know slave and all but Hari seemed the type to reward and he didn't.

I really liked that she got to have a name at the end, I think naming is a really good way in the full on slavery style non-con to confer that a slave is trained and for keeping ( a bit like the difference between pets and livestock ). I'm also glad of this because all the characters with numbers instead of names is really hard to keep track of and bogs down the story. p.s. the no name thing also seems really mean, as mentioned even pets get names.

One thing that I've always struggeled with in regards to the 48 Hours stories (past the early couple) is that the enterprises comes off as ridiculously hipocritical and I saw a lot of it again this chapter. Experienced and highly trained slaves live in cramped dorms, no body wants to listen to their input (except eccentric marketing) yet they're placed in job positions which require others to listen to them, punishment for extremely minor matters is extremely over the top. I find all of this to just end up comming off as mean spirited especially when they try and play like they're the good guys by setting up disaster relief funds (Three mentions this one but that doesn't absolve the narative problem).

This is all compounded by the enterprises being constantly mentioned to be extremely finance oriented in regards to their massive worker base of slaves, which doesn't really make sense, slavery was a massively expensive enterprise to maintain the in the realworld let alone in a modern setting. One of the Julie chapters even mentions this in passing, stating that the master just likes to own his own harem of slave girls, despite it being a poor financial decision, this however doesn't make much sense when applied to the massively expanded base of slaves shown for example in this chapter.

Overall, other than a few background narrative gripes I really enjoyed this chapter and this story and wish you good luck and to keep up the good work :)

5/5 stars

p.s. if you read all my ramble you deserve an attaboy ;)

This reply is from Taliesin1, who writes the "Three" stories.

Dear Anonymous

Thank you for your detailed and perceptive comment, and forgive me if some of my reply is a little tongue in cheek. As you correctly note, we are are a consortium of authors, and our efforts are subject to rigorous group editing, so we are most glad for your comment on the writing and formatting.

This story, since almost the beginning of the "Julie" chapters, has been written by J Spe, I am responsible for the "Three", now Niamh. I picked her up as what was, I guess, a "walk-on" character, hence her number, and you might recall, being called by a number was the trigger for her first bit of rebelliousness, what in fact attracted me to her as a character. Julie was also told early on that the accounting people would have "a proper number for you", though she never seems to find out what it is, so the numbers are partly for continuity.

I'm really glad you liked the chapter, I intended to flesh out Martin as a character, to show him in a relaxed situation and make him a bit more sympatico.

Master Hari. I must admit that I agree with you, he was a bit terse. In his defense, he has just returned from his Australian trip, has been thoroughly quizzed by Martin and is probably more than a little jet lagged. I actually cut out quite a lot in this scene (saving it for later) in the interests of finishing the chapter, and keeping it, more or less, within the usual posting length. So I'm asking you to cut him a little slack :-)

The Enterprises, hypocritical? Well, you may have a valid point! But this is, you know, an "owning slave girls" fantasy, so there have to be slave girls, right? As for their corrections, please, not punishments, the strongest are for actions which could lead to the overthrow of this somewhat secret society. As for the economics of slavery, I'm not so sure. There are more slaves, we are told, in the world today than ever before. I once calculated that estimating the price paid for Julie, and allowing that she has to be fed (and occasionally clothed) and given the salary of a top-flight PA in Hong Kong, not to mention a bed companion, the probable payback period was two to three years. This is without factoring in the invaluable business intelligence she and her sisters glean.

Finally, on a personal note, I was drawn into this group through writing a comment, very much like yours, so be careful, or you too might be condemned to the vocabulary mines. And do not apologize for your extended comment, such things are champagne and strawberries for us writers. We would much rather be condemned than ignored. Thanks for the "attaboy".

Taliesin1

Thanks for the response, I'd just like to start this reply by saying that I really appreciate such a well thought out and detailed response to my comment, as to your response being tounge in cheek, well lets just say we all fall into that now and then ;p

So first on your point about use of numbers being required for continuity I completely agree and certainly wouldn't point it out as something to change just a pet peeve more than anything. My issues with it are more clerical in keeping track of side characters than narrative really, further I think it's more an issue for Three due to her interactions that are more indepth with much more of the other slaves at the enterprises than Julie is. Still I stand by the numbers instead of names for trained slaves feeling a little mean (it's okay, I still give 5 star reviews when you're a little mean).

I'd just like to reiterate how refreshing the interactions between Three and the master were, I've commented previously in Julie chapters that I find their lack of interactions to be one of the weaker aspects of the narrative as Julie has been dragged to so many ancillary characters and sub plots over the course of the story (which are very enjoyable still I should note). As to Hari, don't worry I'll cut him slack, I thought their might have been a cut somewhere as he seems to start towards praise and reward and then stalls out, still glad that there's something to look forward to there :D

As to my point on the enterprises being hypocritical, well, yeah, I know they're slave traders in a story, but still it's something that has been brought up a few times in the narratives and never truely confronted, I suppose that's my gripe, similarly I can't see either Three or Julie getting away with that conversation without a paddleing so I guess it's something that will stay unconfronted for now.

My minor gripe in regards to "corrections" (I'll give you this one) is that they seem to get very big very quickly whether it's Julies months of punishments for a thought crime or Three's days of ball-gagging, whilst symetrical in design they seem excessive in execution. Add into all this that all of the slaves are amazingly well behaved, I mean the way they are described they are practically robotic in their devotion. (Plus there are at least few of us readers who want to see Three and Julie happy, so you can't blame us for trying to convice you to play nicer with them :P)

(Long section on economic theoy incoming - you have been warned)

Now onto the econonmic arguement <rubs hands together>, so when determining the viability of slavery you have to take into account a few things, initial cost, training, security, maintainence and retirement/chance of loss. Initial cost is obvious its the purchase and as an illegal good/service is expensive not just because your paying a criminal but also for the bribes to keep away searches and bribes to keep away onlookers during long distance transport in this instance (so more than a hire).

Training is also more extensive for a slave as you don't need to just train them for the task at hand but also as a slave (again more than a hire - but not much more).

After that you get into securtiy, maintaining constant vigilance through a large number of handlers is expensive, historically this role was performed by the lowest and cheapest rungs of society and this still went heavily as a contribution into the ecenomic instability of slavery, furthermore normal workers don't hold a high risk of attacking you so don't need restraints and again you need to pay bribes to workers who might have issue and police to look the other way in case of escape attempts (another area where slaves are far far more expensive).

Which brings us to maintainence, so first of all you could keep slaves in poor conditions, small amounts of food, etc which is some respects would be saving in costs. However you quickly find that this causes long term issues and costs far far more in the long run. As such the enterprises is shown to have private trainers and pre planned diets for slaves both of which when you factor in costs gets expensive, add in all the other expenses you wouldn't need to field normally such as clothing and toiletries (areas you can skimp in but will hurt your image as a slave owner) and it starts adding up. Then you hit the biggest issue, healthcare, slaves are off the grid due to legality so you have to pay both fully for the healthcare but also discretly. If you want skilled doctors and not backstreet gang doctors then you're going to need to pay them a lot, both in bribes and in service costs which is a lot, way more than you'd need to normally pay even for routine matters. Lodgings due to security matters normally end up being expensive to create and maintain however likely are cheaper than alternatives when compairing skilled slaves against skilled workers. Finally the main area you can save on is leasure as slaves don't need fun and that's where your main saving is when talking about out phasing skilled workers for slave workers, however there are serious detriments to this psychologically and well as with doctors psychiatrists who can get your slave out of suicidal depression are expensive (an area that varries but theoretically you can save on a slave vs a worker as long as the slave is skilled, doesn't have any health issues and your willing to risk placing them in an ascetic lifestyle).

So finaly you come to retirement / loss of slave. These issues aren't necessarily the same as slaves can be lost due a wide variety of reasons from escaping, to suicide to being killed by careless employees and finally in self defense of attacks from slaves. All of these carry the issue that slaves are dangerous both literally (beaten dogs have a habit for randomly attacking) as well as financially as slaves are a massive cost sink and a dead or badly damaged slave is worthless. Add into that, that you have to keep long term focus on when slaves are too old to be profitable, especially pleasure slaves who hit the threshold much earlier, at which point they are practically worthless as anyone who would buy them is taking on massive risk of increasing expensive medical issues as well as a lack of return on what little they pay. At which point execution of the slave may seem a better cost return as retirement is expensive and without return. However this too houses major issues (other than obvious major ethical ones) prime amoungst these issues being, if a slave knows that when it gets old it gets killed, it has no reason not to attempt escape or to violent rebellion as the conclusion of innaction will always be the same. This makes security a much larger issue and makes slaves an even riskier premise.

So after reading all of this you might wonder how come people kept slaves historically if they were so bad an ecenomic choice and the answer to this is two major points. First slavery was legal and security in regards to retriveing run-away slaves and dealing with slave crimes was handled as a governemental duty as such government subsidised the security aspect of slavery heavily and of course no bribes were required. Secondly slaves were acquired cheaply from military victory and it was in the respective empires best interests to rehome such slaves to increase their manpower / production, as such slaves were sold by the armies that caught them extremely cheaply. However the modern world has moved away from physical labour intensive production, making slavery lack many of the original lucrative appeals it has historically held. For more on this there are some really intersting acedemic compilations on how many of the leading colonising empires never made a profit on them and how even american slavery was near an end due to industrial advances making it unviable.

(end of long essay on the economy of slavery - if you got through that then I owe you an attaboy and a few internet points)

tldr: of the above, Julie as a highskilled, high returns slave may make a profit, Three as a highskilled, medium returns slave may be able to make a slight profit in the short run. However the number of menial slaves constantly mentioned would likely be massive financial drains on the enterprises. Remember to look out for hidden costs that appear to be unconnected. As to the comment on slave numbersin the real world, take it with a pinch of salt, many under the label today would be reffered to as serfs historically (which is still bad but they don't include serf numbers into their historical slave totals) and mainly working low skilled production and housekeeping in third world with their "employers" having very little care for their health and wellbeing, very different to the "slave girl fantasy" written here ( which I love and could probably write essays on :P ).

Thanks again for your time and attention, as to being drawn into writing through comments, well if only I had the time to be put to work in the vocabulary mines :D between reading this (and a couple of other good new chapters on the site) and my essay of comments I've probably eaten up most of my spare time.

5/5 stars (I thought I'd reiterate - still you can have a couple of attaboys for getting this far)

p.s. looking back at the title I gave to my first comment I feel the need to apologise, I very much enjoyed this chapter and this story in general, it's just one of the absent minded titles I use when I have a long comment :D

p.p.s I had to finally create an account after years of anon-ing on the site so I could post this comment so congratulations for finally dragging me in ^_^

My coauthors were quite impressed with your treatise on slave economics. I will tell you that Taliesin1 has an accounting background, so you might be in for a stimulating discussion on "401S" accounts and "LIFO/FIFO" for slave inventory. ;-)

He says he will try to incorporate your ideas in future stories. Of course, we have to leave a lot of the details to the reader's imagination.

Watch for a response from Taliesin1 soon. (or perhaps a spreadsheet!)

Feel free to send a pm on my page. I will pass it on.

And--- since you said, "the 'slave girl fantasy' ( which I love and could probably write essays on."--- You might consider writing a brief outline of a slave story, which I know you already have in your head, and letting one of us 'flesh' it out. Fun!

Again a five (stars) for Three (not that I ever gave Julie any less). I welcome her new name, a humane gesture from her Master. And that's perhaps another sign of the Enterprises' hypocrisy. Another aspect of this tale: slavery does not seem legal, although it is tolerated by governments if slavers don't abduct elite persons. But ordinary employees, at least within the enterprises seem to accept Three's slavery with ease. And at the same time, it's forbidden to talk about it in public. Curious if you can explain such seemingly inconsistencies or even cause these to appear logical.

Nevertheless or perhaps even more so, I love this well-wrought story with characters that have real and very convincing feelings and - through the esteemed authors - are able to phrase these so eloquently.

from Taliesin1

JP, if I may call you that, you are obviously very engaged in the story and you have raised a number of very interesting questions, so I would like to respond in the spirit of friendly debate.

Corrections. Because, as you point out, slavery is illegal, for the sake of the story, any attempt or even thought of escape, or public reference to slavery, as in Niamh's case would endanger the whole society of slave owners, it is treated as the most serious offence. The question of the ultimate fate of the slaves has been raised, at least mentally by Julie, but that is for my co-author, J Spe, to comment on (Carole99 wrote the first chapters but is not currently active in this story). Niamh/Three has only just reached a level where the question would even be relevant. I would like to assure you that we both intend happy endings for our respective "girls".

The economics of slavery has, from my reading, been fiercely debated for quite some time, and of course each historical case is different. I don't propose to debate it in Literotica comments, (or offer any accounting moves, sorry Carole) but if you're really keen, contact me through my account - Taliesin1. As for The Enterprises, the way I see it, the problems of slavery are very like that of any employee; recruitment, retention and retirement.

So, initial cost of purchasing the slave, as opposed to Employment Agency search fees and commission, plus maybe an inducement payment, yes probably quite a bit more. As I mentioned, from clues in the early chapters, I reckon Julie probably cost $90 to $95,000 USD while the asking annual salary for a top flight PA in Hong Kong, at that time just under half that figure. But the slaves don't get paid, so there's a big saving. NB, I have no idea what the average price of slavegirls might be. All employees require training, Julie's and Niamh's are a bit different but lets call it evens.

Retention. For most employees, providing a career path, regular salary increases, bonuses and other benefits are the main means of retention. These are not required for slaves, apart from maybe a career path. As a huge multi-national corporation, The Enterprises, will have security staff in any case, and require employee identification, swipe cards and control access to various parts of the building. Looking after the slaves is just a minor add on. The electronic collars recently introduced will cut security costs. Large Asia based businesses are often rather "patriarchal" providing food and health services for employees, not usually accommodation though, so in this respect the slaves are not much different.

Retirement. Well you've certainly got me there. I haven't really considered that aspect, though as I mentioned above we are looking at Happy Endings, so that is sort of retirement. Perhaps they become like Pat and Anne, slaves/not slaves, who stay because they want to and probably don't have any other close connections. As for damage or death, The Enterprises emphasises that the slaves may be hurt but not harmed, and generally they are all treated respectfully when carrying out their jobs.

Of course, the real reason for having slaves, as Martin says in one of his interviews with Julie, is the ownership. "It isn't for the talents or the bodies that we prefer slaves. The point is the owning of a slave. The fun comes from selecting the slave, trying to see if they have the emotional structure we want, training them to do what we want, rather than what they might like. For each slave, can we create the person we want? " - 48 Hours on Blue Bayou, Part 26.

Finally, I would like to thank you for the stimulus you have provided me to think more profoundly about the rationale and story arc for my character. You have inspired some ideas which I think will be developed in future episodes. Remember, this is a story, a fantasy. In real life, I am utterly opposed to slavery in any form.

Thank you both for your time and effort in replying to my points and your kind comments in regards to my points, I've been an anon on this site for years commenting on stories trying to be politely constructive (thought at times I feel it can come off as blunt) and I'd just like to commend you both on your thorough and engaging replies, they truely are a testement to how well thought out your writing and worldbuilding is :)

To address the first point out of the gate, knowing that a happy ending is on the horizon (though maybe not too soon because the stories are very enjoyable) is very pleasing to hear :)

As to the comments/rebuttal of my treatise on slave economics I think you make a lot of good points a number of which I have to admit I'd not properly thought through for example mitigating headhunting costs which do when dealing with high skilled workers become somewhat extensive. When i wrote my original statment on economics I made it more in light of risk management analysis rather than necessarily the steely gaze of an accountant (I joke but I'm impressed especially with the financial run down on Julie). Another area that I'd not truely thought about was your stance on retention which again is very well thought out and in particular I found your comment on Asian cultures surrounding employment as very interesting, I didn't know about provision of food and health services which does help your arguement significantly, though I did know somewhat about the cultural working issues such as the job for life guarantees most Asian buisnesses work under.

I still do hold that health care would be a significant concern in comparison to standard workers as health care plans would need to be significantly more "robust" plus again the issues of damage/injury arrise whether inflicted by an over eager employee (in particular regarding meanial working, easily accessible slave girls). The mean manager shown in this and the last Three chapter would be a prime example of the type of employee who it seems could overzealously cause injury to a slave girl, however low level employees looking to make a name for themselves seem another likely candidate. Even in the instance of no physical damage such interactions if compacted with poor living conditions and a difficult meanial job aren't going to leave the girls in a good state of mind (though somewhat pampered girls like Julie and Three when they're behaving are less at risk to this).

On the security issue the only real things I'd like to add are that security costs for research and development do have high initial cost sinks which would need to be factored in spread out across the girls if we were being pedantic, and that security would still be needed to stop them from engaging in outside communication (such as using an unattended computer to email for help) or attack an employee (maybe in self defense as it might be). Though the arguement on cost reduction due to the collars is a good and well thought out one.

Though as you point out it does all become somewhat moot as Martin does make that statement (I'd had the niggling memory of that when writing my original point). Though from that I'd like to argue that if he's more interested in having a hareem of pretty hardworking slave girls at his disposal and that the economics issue is more so a motivating technique (or at least not the major concern), then I'd like to argue in favour of the mid level slave girls (those not in training) getting a nicer accomodation / rights package, slave girls need pampering too ^_^

Just to join you in the final point, again I write all this and the previous in regards to fantasy slave girl stories and whilst talking about real world risks, etc. do not endorse the horrid practice of real world slavery.

Happy writing and thanks for a lovely discussion :)

p.s. as to my own outline of a slave girl story, well I do have one lieing around (though sadly not the time to deal with it) however I'd want to give it greater consideration before handing it off to someone else, it still feels somewhat incomplete for the narrative flow I'm trying to gather. Thank you very much for the offer though, I'll seriously consider it :D

I don't understand the high praise for this chapter. Everything was so out of character. Julie had all these down rules and corrections and speaking to her master had weight.

This was like "yo 3, wanna go on a date? You can definitely drive my boat with no one else here to make sure you don't escape or just suck at sailing. Oh you do suck at sailing but I guess it's cool because you came back for me? No corrections for thar, let's just go to a restaurant in public and let you talk to strangers. Oh and that "no booze" rule? Fuck that, have some whiskey, get on the couch and do whatever you want without prompt because????"