Alissa Razatski (part 1)

It all began when Evelyn’s boss, Mr. Rogers, called her and asked her to come to his office. Evelyn was nervous. She worked at the company for a year and a half now, and she’d only been in Mr. Rogers’ office once. Her job was a simple desk job that required no special skills. The work was boring but she was glad with what she’d been able to get. These were hard times for the economy, and there were always rumors about closing factories or moving product lines to China. Her company was part of a very large multinational, so she knew such decisions were made far above her head, and even her own boss might not have much to say about it. And she was realistic enough to know that, if jobs were on the chopping block, hers was one of the first in line. With these uncomfortable thoughts, she went to Mr. Rogers’ office.

“Hello, Evelyn. Please take a seat.” Mr. Rogers said politely, but his face was very serious, even grave. Evelyn feared that she had been right about the reason for this visit. But then Mr. Rogers said something she didn’t expect.
"You know who Alissa Razatski is?" Evelyn nodded. Of course she knew the name of Alissa Razatski. One of the richest people on earth, most people would have at least heard of her. But people in this company, especially, should know the name. She was after all the CEO of the multinational it belonged to.
"Miss Razatski will be visiting our company on the 16th of December - two weeks from now. She will be given a detailed tour of the whole facility, with technical descriptions of all the processes."
Mr. Rogers was silent for a moment, seeming to think how he should go on. Evelyn thought she maybe needed to say something, but she had no idea what he expected of her. It was clear she had nothing to do with this tour. She only knew a bit about sales, she had no idea how any of the processes in their factory worked.
"Miss Razatski has the habit of choosing a person at random from the staff list to guide her. And she has picked you, Evelyn. That means you'll have to learn everything about the company - or at least enough to have all the information you'll need - in the next two weeks. Now, don't panic. We'll help you as much as we can. You'll have no other tasks during this time. You'll get sessions with the heads of operations who will do their best to explain everything to you. The rest of the time you'll study and memorize this. I'll make sure to make some time for you as well. We'll get you up to date on everything. Do you take you can handle it?"
"Um... I don't know... I hope so..."
"I'm sure it will work out, if you do your best. You'll need to work hard during the next two weeks, but see it as an opportunity. With the knowledge you'll have then, you'll definitely be in consideration for better jobs. And you'll get a very nice one-time bonus as a reward. I do have to stress how important this is. Miss Razatski could close our whole company with a stroke of her pen if she felt like it. I'm exaggerating a bit of course, I'm sure it won't come to that. But if decisions about allocating new product lines need to be made, it would be better to be on good terms with Alissa Razatski."

As Mr. Rogers had said, the next two weeks were hard for Evelyn. She had to cram so much information into her head that she had time for nothing else. Even her dreams were all about the processes in the factory. Except for those in which she was guiding Alissa Razatski through the company, and the most horrible things happened. In one she tripped and fell head-first into a furnace. In another she found herself unable to talk, and Miss Razatski kept looking at her expectantly while she stuttered but didn't manage to utter a single word.

Despite those dreams, she advanced much better than she had expected. Everyone was very helpful and friendly. It she didn't understand something, they patiently explained it again and again. The more she learned, the more her confidence grew that she might actually pull this off successfully. The two weeks rushed by, and before she knew it, it was the 15th - the day before the visit. Mr. Rogers had designated this as the practice day. He took the role of Alissa Razatski himself, and Evelyn would guide him through the company. Evelyn felt she was ready for it. She was mentally going over some parts of her tour when Mr. Rogers said: "Your clothes for tomorrow have arrived, so you can put them on for the rehearsal."
"My clothes?"
"Yes. Miss Razatski picks them herself, and sends them the day before her visit. They arrived earlier today, they're in that box. You will find that they are... unusual. Not quite what you'd expect. Miss Razatski has the reputation of being very eccentric and it seems she's living up to that name."
Curious, Evelyn opened the box. Her mouth dropped open. She'd had no idea what to expect after Mr. Rogers introduction, but this might well be the last thing she'd expected. She pulled out down pants and a down jacket, both in shiny, black nylon, and extremely well filled. Still in the box were a pair of mittens of the same material, and black Moonboots.
She looked up at Mr. Rogers. "Isn't this... some kind of mistake?"
"I'm afraid not. There were instructions that all these items need to be worn, the jacket zipped up, the hood up and tied slightly. I know it's not what one would expect, but if that's Miss Razatski's wish, we have no choice really. We want to do everything to please her."

And so Evelyn went through the rehearsal with Mr. Rogers, dressed for a polar expedition. It went bad at first. She kept forgetting what she was saying as she was too aware of how ridiculous she must look. She could see the bemused looks of her colleagues everywhere. Mr. Rogers told her to focus her attention on him, and ignore everything else. It went better then, and gradually she managed to forget how she was dressed and talk freely. At the end, Mr. Rogers said he was very pleased and that he was sure she would do a great job tomorrow. Evelyn was relieved to get out of those clothes. She was exhausted and sweaty, but a long shower helped her get over that.

---

Evelyn entered Mr. Rogers' office, once again dressed in her completely black, warm and thick outfit. The tall woman who stood inside turned around to look at her - Alissa Razatski. She was a striking figure, not at all how Evelyn had imagined a rich businesswoman. Her feet were in knee-high, black leather boots with high heels - even though she would've been taller than Mr. Rogers even without those. Then there were skin-tight, shiny black pants - latex? A shirt of a similar material, but not as tight around her body. And the most striking, an enormous, heavy-looking black coat. It was open at the front, and went from halfway her boots all the way up to a standing collar behind her neck. Out of the wide sleeves came black leather gloves.

The skin of her face and neck was pale, almost white, and the contrast with her black clothes made her neck seem longer and her features even sharper. Alissa Razatski's black hair was pulled back in a long, tight braid. She had large, expressive eyes, and her mouth's full lips were pressed together in a stark, unsmiling line.

This imposing person now looked down at the much shorter Evelyn, dressed in her heavy clothes with her hood up. Her cool gaze went over the down-clad girl, but she didn't speak. Evelyn felt blood rush to her head and she suddenly got unbearably hot. At that moment she was sure it was somehow all a mistake, or a prank at her expense. Her hands, in their padded nylon mittens, nervously brushed against her down pants. The squishing sound of nylon on nylon seemed very loud in the silence of the room. A drop of sweat escaped the confines of her hood and rolled down her cheek. The moment seemed to stretch forever. All Evelyn felt like doing was turn around and flee, but her Moonboots seemed glued to the floor.

Suddenly, Alissa Razatski's face broke into a smile, and it made her look radiant. "Hello, Evelyn," she said, in a surprisingly soft and kind voice. She stepped forward and offered her hand. Evelyn shook it, her thick and soft mitten in Alissa Razatski's strong leather glove. "I hear you'll show me around here. Shall we go then?" she asked, still in the melodious voice that seemed at odds with her strange and powerful appearance. Mr. Rogers said: "I hope you'll enjoy the tour, Miss Razatski. I'll be here when you come back." Alissa Razatski took her handbag, and then they were off.

At first, all went well. Evelyn rattled off everything she had prepared, and for the first ten minutes or so, Miss Razatski appeared interested. But her interest waned quickly, and soon Evelyn noticed the woman wasn't looking when she pointed something out, didn't react to what she said at all; in short, she didn't appear to be listening at all. And suddenly Alissa Razatski interrupted Evelyn mid-sentence. "I'm bored," she simply said, her voice still soft but somehow clearly audible through Evelyn's words. Evelyn shut up immediately, then didn't know what to say.
"I... um... Maybe we can visit the laboratory..."
"No, I have a better idea," Miss Razatski said. She opened her handbag and started rummaging in it. "I know how we can make this more fun. Where is it... ah, here!" Her hand emerged from the bag and she showed Evelyn a black rubber ball with two straps dangling from it. A gag!
Evelyn was speechless. She could only stare up in confusion and disbelief at this billionaire, this CEO of a multinational, holding up a ball gag in front of her face.
"With this in your mouth, you'll still be able to speak - more or less. It will be quite hard to be comprehensible though. So you'll have to try a bit harder. But that should make it more entertaining, no?"
Alissa Razatski spoke as though this was a perfectly normal request. "I... I..." Evelyn stuttered. Do everything to please her, Mr. Rogers had said. We want to be on good terms with Alissa Razatski. The words echoed through her head. "Okay," she said.
Without wasting time, Miss Razatski opened the collar of Evelyn's down jacket and pushed her hood back. She ran a leather-clad finger across the girl's forehead and looked at the wetness on her glove thoughtfully. "You seem to be warm enough," she remarked, "that's good. I like my girls to be warm." After that cryptic comment she gently pushed the black ball against Evelyn's lips. Evelyn obediently opened her mouth and the ball slid in. Alissa Razatski moved behind her and fastened the strap tightly, securing the gag in her mouth. The ball was not large, so it wasn't too uncomfortable. With some effort she could even barely close her mouth over it. But it would still impede her speech.

Miss Razatski put Evelyn's hood up again, closed the collar and then she started pulling the hood tighter, until her gagged mouth was covered completely and only a hole for her eyes and nose remained. "There," Miss Razatski said, "that will cover the gag, and as an added benefit, it will keep you warmer as well. Now, please continue where you left off."

They went on, and Evelyn did her best to get intelligible words past her gag and hood, but she didn't think she was succeeding. Alissa Razatski didn't seem to mind, she appeared more lively than before the interruption. At one point she stopped Evelyn and said she was thirsty, so Evelyn brought her to the cafeteria. Miss Razatski took a bottle of soda from a fridge and sat down at a table. Evelyn ignored the curious glances and took a seat opposite her.

Alissa Razatski sipped thoughtfully from her soda for a while, and Evelyn quietly waited.
"Well Evelyn, I think you're doing really well so far," Miss Razatski said, and gave her that dazzling smile again.
"Ang ooo," Evelyn said, happy that the powerful woman was pleased, even though she didn't think Miss Razatski had understood anything she had said since she'd been gagged.
"I hope you like the clothes I've chosen for you. I'm from Russia, where it's very cold, so I care a lot about warm clothes. I hope you appreciate them as much as I do."
"Yeff, Miff Mamaffi. Ihw wewy wamm and nife," Evelyn said politely.
"So how are you doing in the company, Evelyn? Have you made any promotion yet?"
"No, Miff. I onny wohg ee siss a yea and a haff."
"That's a shame. You seem very talented to me. I wonder..."
Alissa Razatski was silent for a while, seeming to ponder something. Then she said: "I have a small company back in Russia that I personally take care of. You know, more as a hobby project, to escape the stress of a leading the whole multinational. Anyway, I have an opening for a junior employee, and I think you'd fit the job really well. The salary is very nice, if I may say so. In fact it's multiple times your current pay. It's a pet project of mine, so I don't mind losing money on it, as long as I can enjoy my time there. All the employees there have been specially invited by me. And now I want to invite you to join us there. Of course, that means you'd have to move to Russia. I completely understand if you have a family here that holds you back. But if you don't mind moving to Russia, I'd urge you to at least consider my offer." She took her handbag and opened it, while she continued: "You wouldn't have to worry about finding a place to stay, we take care of everything. Here is my business card. You don't have to say anything right now, just send me an email if you're interested. Then I'll send you more details, and we'll see if we can work out an arrangement."

Even discounting the gag in her mouth, Evelyn was dumbfounded by this unexpected turn of events. She was single, and there was really nothing holding her here. There was really no reason not to accept the offer.

Evelyn never suspected that was exactly why she had been chosen by Alissa Razatski.