Lara Swift is Colonized, Epilogue: Robin A

It was Robin.
	Who else could it have been? She had a fortune to begin with, then multiplied it by doing no real work.
	"This is bullshit!" Errol shouted, snarling and hitting the table. "Fucking Bullshit!"
	Dr. Wu gave him a withering glance. No one was intimidated by his outburst except for Lara.
	"Robin won the auction. Please stop making such a scene."
	"Fuck you!" Errol shouted back. "I have it in writing: I am her guardian. You can't give that away. That's not how it works."
	"The Institution controls how it works. Not you." was Dr. Wu's grave reply.
	He was ready to say something else, but she cut him off.
	"You've been living outside your means for a while, right Errol? You never could access Lara's accounts, at least not to the degree you needed. I'm guessing that you planned to just borrow money now, then pay it back when you got her full inheritance. That's been your plan, right?"
	Errol shook his head. He didn't seem to like where this was going.
	"I have a right to her inheritance. I have this in writing," Errol said.
	"As soon as she gets out of here, right?"
	There was a pause. Lara saw fear on his face.
	"What if we decided it was necessary for Lara stay in here for a year? Would your lenders be alright with waiting that long to get their money back?"
	It was the nearest Lara felt to laughing, watching Errol's face as the gears turned in his mind. No doubt, he borrowed the money from some loan shark. Who else would he go to in order to get such a big loan, so quickly, with the collateral being an estate that wasn't even his? What would be the interest on such a loan? And what would happen if he failed to meet a payment?
	"I-I would contest it. I would put in to have Lara transferred."
	Dr. Wu laughed, but it was more derisive than anything.
	"I am running out of patience. Robin won. I strongly encourage you to make peace with that. I would also warn you against doing anything that might upset anyone."
	Errol's face turned red. It appeared difficult for him to remain quiet. Although she glad to be rid of Errol at least temporarily, Lara was no less afraid. Having Robin as her guardian was truly strange. Wasn't the girl younger than Lara herself? Adding to Lara's anxiety was the winning bid of eight million pounds that Robin had thrown down so casually. Then there was the strong attraction Lara felt towards the girl, even after all the horrible things that she had put her through.
	"Lara, come here and kneel down for me? My feet are getting cold, I need you to keep them warm," Robin said.
	As Lara moved to take her demeaning position, Robin addressed Errol.
	"I will let you keep the money from her estate. But don't ever bother me about seeing her. I will share, but I hate to be bothered."
	Lara felt Robin's bare feet rest in her lap, looking down at them instinctively. She had slender toes, and arches so high that she had to angle her feet a little so the curve of her arches matched the curve of Lara's bare thigh. Robin instructed Lara to rest her hands on Robin's feet, to bundle the heat and help them warm even faster.
	They were cold, especially around the toes, but they warmed quickly beneath the Tomb Liberator's hands. Lara was revolted to be a human footrest, but her conditioning made resistance nearly impossible.
	"Mrs. Liao, I will fully cooperate with you about how Lara should make her restitution. As the Lady of Abington, you should probably live on the estate. It's not far from London – I could send Lara over there, practically on demand, to tidy up for you. Or anything else you need."
	Mrs. Liao thanked Robin for her help. Errol was flabbergast – he wouldn't even get the damn house?!
	"Lara, please sign all these documents so we can get out of here."
	With a gloved hand, Lara Abington signed her life away. Beneath the smiling faces of her enemies, she agreed to the most audacious terms of behavior once she left. Her property was gone, her name was taken. She would leave here as Lara Rabynya, committed to a lifetime of servitude  to the very people who had stolen everything from her!
	"Stop wasting time."
	**
	"Stop wasting time."
	 Silly Lariska, daydreaming again.
	She was on her allotted 15 minute lunch break, sitting watching the screen they had in the break room. Whenever she would look at a screen it tended to make her think of the Institution. In fact there were many things that triggered flashbacks, but screens were one of the most annoying ones.
	As bad as it was working for Robin, Lara was infinitely happy to be out of the Black Hole.
	She washed out her cup. The same pink sludge she had eaten in the asylum was all Robin permitted Lara to eat now, on specious reasoning, but Lara was in no position to argue back. The pink much must have been cheap, but Robin still forced Lara to purchase it from her at great cost, from a drink dispenser in the break room.
	The drink dispenser only accepted Pinkcoin, which was the only currency Robin allowed Lara to use.
	Walking onto the floor of the salon still gave her anxiety. The place was busy today, with barefoot women sipping champagne and having a good time. A little of it was even contagious. The other technicians were getting large tips. Lara's client was Kelsey Lipton, a local influencer known for her long blonde hair and new age vibe. She had come with a few of her friends, and they were talking about her recent engagement.
	As Lara covered her hands in moisturizing oils, her black wedding band tattoo was on display for everyone to see. It was a symbol to the world of her time in the asylum and a declaration that she was mentally unfit to enter into a marriage. The strange amative ink they used for that tattoo was still in full effect. It made giving foot massages rather pleasant, her hyper-sensitive ink responding especially well to prolonged repetitive contact with another person.
	Kelsey was resting both feet together on the pedicure stand. She didn't even acknowledge Lara at first, she was so busy talking about her dress.
	Lara began massaging Kelsey's feet to signal the start of the pedicure.
	Robin marketed her salon as a place women could come, relax, and practically have their hands and feet worshiped by the technicians. In a market where everyone else was trying to go cheap, Robin went as expensive as possible. The cost of the service was staggering – Lara had calculated it, roughly. Robin insisted that organic cotton was to be used as toe separators, never just cotton, and the disposable pedicure flip flops had to be made of a biodegradable material.
	Those were only the beginning of the costs.
	Every step of the way, Robin outdid herself in finding a more expensive, more niche way of doing things. It did help with the marketing, and the salon was busy at pretty much all the time. The Chelsea location certainly helped things. It was on the exact street Lara used to walk down during Christmas, able to purchase the most extravagant gifts for her friends. Now Lara worked there. Full time, in the nail salon, as the lowliest shop girl in the entire complex. Robin gave out free services to the shop girls at nearby stores. Because these women didn't tip so well, Lara's co-workers would usually stick her with them. They invariably wore high heels, and were always very grateful for the massage. Lara's reward was that they would come back to her, sometimes the very next day, saying "can we do 30 minutes this time?"
	 Robin's salon just seemed like an expensive clubhouse for her and her friends, right there next to the Chanel store. To prove that they made it and could afford such luxuries. If it ever lost money, Robin could certainly afford to take the write-off. In fact, if she were to lose money in this business, she would probably lower her overall tax burden and made the money back somewhere else! Probably on gains from her cybercurrency speculation.
	"You were Lara Abington, right?"
	Any mention of the name made Lara cringe. Kelsey was looking right down at her.
	"Karen Liao is the Lady of Abington, now," Lara said, "I am Lara Rabynya. I gave her my title. Karen, I mean."
	Lara worked as she spoke, filing Kelsey's nails, careful to shape them perfectly. She had nice nail beds.
	"Why?"
	"I had an addiction that was destroying my life," Lara began.
	Kelsey's eyes lit up – this sounded like juicy gossip!
	"I got tangled up with some bad people. I'm not supposed to talk about specifics. But for me, it's either working here or being in an Institution. Robin helps with my therapy, it's only thanks to her any of this is possible."
	"Treatment? What do you mean 'treatment'?" Kelsey asked.
	"It's a type of OCD. I require strict supervision and a highly regimented lifestyle, or I can have an episode." Lara was really hoping that Kelsey wouldn't dig deeper. She really didn't like airing her dirty laundry in the salon even though asked her about it constantly.
	"I have something that would really help with that!" the woman said.
	"It's like a healing sound meditation. We all sit on a rug and do energy work together, allowing cleansing spirits to take hold of us. It helps with everything. I had such bad anxiety before I started doing this."
	It was exactly what Lara needed – less anxiety!
	"You could talk to Robin about it, and see what she says," Lara answered. Even in her personal life she had to direct people to talk to Robin to make decisions for her. Anyway, she knew what Robin would say.
	She would see it as an attempt for Lara to undo her conditioning from the Black Hole. Or, at best, she would allow Lara to go. With her! Then Robin would find some way of totally interfering with Lara's enjoyment of it. More likely, Robin would forbid Lara from going and then come up with her own version of it, which Lara would then be made to work. Robin was obsessively demanding of Lara's time and attention. Even when she wasn't around, she was meticulous that Lara be nearly buried in work all the time, always in a rush to finish to avoid a punishment.
	Robin loved to administer punishments.
	Kelsey chose a white polish, which looked good even against her pale complexion. Lara's hands were as still as a surgeon's for this task. She carefully applied the polish onto each of Kelsey's toes, such that it was impossible to see a brush stoke.
	Robin came into the salon in the early afternoon, as Lara was sweeping up an unoccupied  chair.
	"Lara, I need a polish change and a foot massage. Have Lena take care of all of this," she said, pointing to the clean-up duties.
	"LENA!! Take over cleaning!"
	Robin practically shouted this. Her tone was bratty as she kicked off her heels and took a seat at her favorite pedicure chair.
	Lara hurried to begin, annoyed as always when she realized how long it would take to do a simple polish change.
	She reached for the nail polish remover. Instead of acetone, like any reasonable salon would have, Robin bought a weird soy-based substitute. It came in wipe form, and was frustratingly ineffective at removing polish. She had to rub the wipe vigorously over each individual nail, sometimes for an entire minute, to remove all trace of lacquer. Lara grasped Robin's big toe and began carefully wiping her old polish off. She had put it on for the girl not more than two days ago.
	"I made time for us to do yoni breathing later" Robin said casually.
	"Thank you, Robin," Lara replied, trying to smile and not grimace.
	It was probably another exercise from the Institution. Another extended session of teasing and denial where Robin would reach the heights of sexual bliss while leaving Lara a frustrated mess. It appeared to please her that Lara was sexually frustrated all day; she enjoyed finding uses for all of that energy. There were many days Lara found herself wearing a maid's outfit, kneeling with her head in Robin's lap, licking the girl's pussy until her tongue and jaw ached beyond belief.
	Lara finally got the last of the polish off.
	"Will you need another advance before Friday?" Robin asked.
	"No thank you," Lara answered, "a few of the girls from the Chanel store gave me some pinkcoin. I can make it to Friday now."
	"You didn't ask them to tip, did you?" Robin started in.
	"I don't want them paying money. They are influencers. They are getting people excited about this place, we want them here."
	Lara bit her lip. These 'influencers' were coming to see her specifically!
	"I did not ask them to tip, Lady" Lara said.
	Robin liked it when Lara called her 'lady', especially when the girl was imploring her for something.
	"Fine, then. Just keep up the good work. I'm talking to people about franchising this concept."
	Lara thanked Robin for the compliment, then began putting fresh polish on her nails.
	She tried not to get caught up in shows of kindness like this. A compliment was nice, but Robin could have easily picked that up from a popular management self-help book. What could the compliment mean? Robin still kept Lara as a slave. Still paid her in pinkcoin – a ludicrous cybercurrency that was little more than scrip. Then there were the rumors Robin had spread about her, and the more subtle ways she had wedged herself into Lara's life and taken control of it.
	All the while, Lara Rabynya sat here working for her! Massaging womens' hands and feet, polishing their nails, listening to them brag about their amazing lives. Even though Robin acted like she didn't care if the salon made a profit, she was still very hard on Lara to do excellent work to keep people coming back. The unfairness of the situation always bothered Lara. It was made worse by the fact that she had been so sympathetic to the class struggle, back when she had wealth. Now she was penniless, and living worse than any working class girl!
	Lara was massaging Robin's feet as her polish dried. Her soles were incredibly soft, she might not have worked a day in her life. Her toes were proportionate, slender, a little long. There was a spot around the lumbrical muscles between her toes that was very sensitive, and Lara would dig at it with both thumbs to create the right acupressure strokes. Moving around Robin's feet, millimeter by millimeter, trying to sense her tension and help her feel better.
	It was fall, but Lara wasn't much for seasons. She didn't go outside much, her mistress finding so much to keep her busy with indoors. It was well enough: her agoraphobia had become a lot to contend with. Usually, Robin opted to have Lara wear a blindfold whenever she needed to ride in a car – something she had picked up on from the first day they left the Institution. Even without the blindfold, how far could she see? The pink fog was constant.