Victor Grachev's Day Off

[KaleebtheMighty 1,509]

 

"Charlie Stralheim with WKSN. Word around the league has been how your play has taken a step back from previous levels. Any comments on that?"

 

"Well you know I can start by putting in good effort on the blue line more and play a disciplined game. Focus on the simple stuff. A little frustrated but our team has a great group of guys here that keep us all competitive and focused. Just gotta get pucks deep, get pucks in the net, and win some hockey games."

 

To that end, Victor Grachev gave a nod and the reporter moved on. Most of the locker room attention was on the stars of Warsaw, Victor only saw a reporter or two every game. The life of a defensive defenseman. He had regressed in terms of points slowly in his 3rd VHL season, but it was mainly due to a rise in offensive power from his teammates @dlamb, @dasboot, and @leafsman. As Victor sat back down to undo his shin pads, activity in the locker room began to die down after most of the interviews were nearing completion. Silently, Victor put away his gear and slipped into his suit, walking out to the team bus waiting to take the team back to the hotel.

 

Once the rest of the team hopped onto the bus, Victor plugged in his headphones and tuned in to his music, watching the lights of Helsinki go by. Lost in a wave of audio therapy, Victor hardly noticed when the bus came to a stop in front of the hotel. He shuffled out with the rest of his team into the lobby and packed into the elevator leading up to the 4th floor. Once there, he turned left down the hall to room 423 with his roommate @jacobcarson877. The door opened and the two of them walked in.

"Tough loss tonight," Carson said. Victor said nothing as he took off his suit jacket. He silently stepped into the bathroom and closed the door.  "You good Grach?"

 

"I need a vacation," Victor said from within the bathroom. The toilet flushed, the sink ran, and the door opened. "You know? Just like a break or something. Take a step away from all this for just a little bit."

 

"Well, we have a game in Riga in 2 days, plus a practice tomorrow in Riga after our flight lands. Not sure how much time you'll get to spend doing a vacation of sorts," Carson stated.

 

"You know how many times I've practiced our breakouts? How many times I've worked on the PK and PP?" Victor said as he sat on his bed. "Over and over and over and over. I got it, I'm good." Nothing was said for a few minutes. Carson flipped on the tv to try and create some sort of noise in the room to block out the quiet. A couple more minutes passed; Carson glanced over at Victor to find him smiling.

 

"Dude why are you sitting over there with the goofiest grin on your face?" Carson exclaimed.

 

"Because I have an idea," Victor said. He glanced back at Carson.

 

"What are you going to do?" Carson seemed worried.

 

"The question isn't 'what are you going to do', the question is 'what aren't we going to do'." With that, Carson gulped.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Nothing was amiss as the team boarded the jet to fly to Riga. Everyone was accounted for, including Victor and Carson. The plane lifted off and the flight attendants began to pass out drinks and snacks.

"Excuse me!" Victor held up a hand to the stewardess. She politely walked over while Carson shot a glance over at Victor. "You know, I've always wanted to see the cockpit of one of these jets. Would you happen to know if the Captain would be willing to have visitors?"

 

"I'll go check for you," the stewardess smiled and walked up to the front. Victor smiled at Carson only to be met with a concerned look. A few short moments later, the stewardess waved to Victor to come up. He stood and walked past his teammates with his backpack up to the cockpit.

 

 

"Who knew Victor Grachev liked planes!" The co-pilot exclaimed as the door behind Victor closed. The Captain turned and smiled at Victor before turning back to his instruments.

"What can I say, sure would love to own a small plane and fly in my spare time," Victor said, scanning the cockpit.

 

"Have you ever seen a cockpit this size before?" The Captain asked.

"No not at all," Victor said.

 

"Well maybe your familiar with few things, but for starters this baby requires a lot of prep to get things running. It has a goofy...." Victor tuned him out and continued his scan around the cockpit. He knew that if his plan was going to work he had only a short time to pull this off. Pretending to be really interested, he looked behind the co-pilot and saw exactly what he was looking for: The pilot's jacket. He had taken it off before flying today.

 

"Any questions?" The Captain asked.

Quickly, Victor responded. "Not with that part of the pre flight, but what about communicating with the air towers? There's protocols you guys follow right?"

"Sure there are!" The Captain beckoned to the co-pilot, pointing to a binder. As the co-pilot pulled out the binder and the Captain began to explain call signs and procedures for taxiing, Victor slowly opened his backpack and slid the jacket in. No one was the wiser.

"And that's if they are nice and decide to actually let you taxi out when you are supposed to," the Captain said with a laugh. Victor laughed with the two of them.

 

"Well this has been really great and I appreciate you taking the time to show me all of this!" Victor said with a smile heading to the door.

"Not a problem, thank you for your interest!" The Captain said. Victor opened the door and stepped through. Making his way back to his seat, his gaze met Carson's only to see the worry on his roommates face.

"Please tell me you had an epiphany as to how bad of an idea this is." Carson said pleadingly.

 

"No way, I got it!" Victor said, opening the backpack a little to reveal the pilot's jacket.

 

"Damn it Victor you are really going to screw us!"

"Relax! He's going to be in the same hotel as us, he's our pilot. It's not like he's going to go fly other planes while we are in Riga." Victor sat back triumphantly. Phase 1 of his "vacation" was complete.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The plane landed in Riga without any trouble, and the team found itself checking into the new hotel merely hours before practice. Victor and Carson checked in and hopped into the elevator up. But once the elevator got up to their floor, the two of them briskly walked to their room. Once inside, Victor quickly threw off his shirt and began to button up a white dress shirt.

"Again, Victor, this is a terrible idea," Carson said.

"Maybe, maybe not if it works," Victor said slipping into the pilot's jacket.

 

"You're damn lucky it fits," Carson stated.

 

"Next step. Grab all of the toilet paper and put it in our bags." Victor mentioned as he quickly opened the cabinet doors below the sink and pulled out multiple rolls of toilet paper. Carson hesitated, but then slowly put a few rolls in his own bag. Victor then put on his winter jacket over the pilot's jacket.

 

Without a word, the two of them headed back to the lobby and boarded the team bus headed for Riga's stadium to practice. As the bus trudged along, Victor looked at Carson. Carson was staring straight ahead, almost grimacing. Victor smiled, then coughed. He coughed again, louder. Then LOUDER. Teammates began to turn heads. Victor leaned back in his chair and held his nose with his fingers.

"You alright Grachev?" @Renomitsu  said from their seat in front of Victor.

"No, god, I think I caught something," Victor said, then "sneezed" loudly.

"Jesus Victor, you good?" @.sniffuM questioned. "I can't have you getting anyone else sick."

 

"I hope not, I just have mucus piling out of my nose," Victor said still holding it with his finger.

"Take practice off and watch from the stands. I need you healthy and rested for tomorrow's game," .sniffuM said. He glanced at Carson, noticing how white his face was. "And what's with you Carson?"

 

"He's got the shits. Like really bad. Look in his bag," Victor said. @diamond_ace , being the closest to Carson's bag, unzipped it. "Jesus it's just all toilet paper from the hotel!" A few groans from the bus emanated around the two players in question.

 

"That also stays up in the stands near a bathroom. Jesus...." .sniffuM said. Victor could only grin internally to hide his true plan. Phase 2 of his "vacation" was working.

 

 

Once the bus pulled up to the arena, all of the Warsaw Predators gave Victor and Carson a WIDE berth. The two of them heading in and into an elevator up to the nose bleeds. Once there, they took their bags and emptied all of the toiler paper. Victor took off his winter jacket as well as his beanie and opened the jacket on a seat in section 315. Stacking toilet paper in the jacket, he zipped it up, put his beanie on the top roll, and placed a pair of sunglasses around the roll. Comical, but from this high no one could tell the difference from the ice. Carson finished setting up his own toilet paper man, and the two of them slipped out of the section and headed to an elevator near the back of the arena.

 

The first hick-up occurred. Once outside of the arena, the two of them stood by the street alone.

"Victor, do we have any sort of...oh I can't remember what they call them, they are only used by the elite.....ah, yes....CAR??" Carson exclaimed.

"Uhhh....no. But, I could call a cab..." Victor trailed off as he pulled out his phone. To his surprise, a cab came in only a few short minutes. The two of them climbed in.

"Funny to find a pilot out here by the arena!" The man said. "Where to?"

"The airport," Victor said sheepishly.

"Of course!" The man laughed and began to drive away from the arena. That's when Carson looked down and saw a Warsaw Predators logo on the cab driver's coffee mug. And a Warsaw Predators steering wheel cover. And a Warsaw Predators review mirror ornament. And two Warsaw Predators floor mats under their feet in the back seat. Victor felt an elbow in his side from Carson, only to have Carson point down to the floor. Victor's face went white when he saw all of the Predators stuff.

 

"You guys excited for the game tomorrow?" The cab driver said.

"Uh, yeah. Big fans." Victor said. The cab driver glanced at them through the review mirror and looked back at the road. Then glanced at them again.

"You know, has anyone told you that you look exactly like Victor Grachev? Like, EXACTLY like him?" Shit.

 

"Actually he's my...twin. Brother. Yep, not many people know that," Victor stumbled through his excuse.

 

"Well that's something, I never knew!" The cab driver said.

"Yeah we try to keep it a secret, I hate the uh... publicity, you know? I like the quiet life," Victor said.

 

"Hey I'll keep your secret, no worries here. But it's great to meet you. Closest I'll get to meeting someone from the Preds," the driver said. Both Victor and Carson clenched their teeth. Thank goodness the airport came into view. The two of them paid in cash and walked VERY quickly into the airport.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The two players headed through the airport over to security. Of course, the next hick-up occurred when Carson spoke up.

 

"Victor, how are we supposed to get through security with no boarding passes for today?"

 

Victor was silent. This was going to be a very short trip to the airport. He hadn't even thought about this part! How the hell were they going to get through to-

"Excuse me! Gentlemen!" A women in an airline uniform waved to Victor and Carson. "Pilot's come through this way." Victor's mouth dropped, as did Carson's. Without a word they walked over to where the lady was pulling aside a connector to let them through. "Pilot security is up through here. You must not fly through Riga much."

"No ma'am, first time," Victor said. "Thank you." They walked quickly up through to the separate security station, now sweating incredibly. The pathway led straight to a man sitting at a desk.

 

"Hey guys, where you flying to?" He said with his hand stretched out towards Victor and Carson. The two players froze. The man quizzically looked at them, expecting some sort of ID or anything. A few uncomfortable seconds passed. Carson then suddenly spoke up.

 

"Look. I got a bad case of the shits. I soiled my uniform and my bag, which had both of our IDs in it. I'm wearing another man's clothes, trying to get back to Helsinki and earn what little money I can to make it through the day. You either let me through or so help me this floor will look like a mud slide of grand proportions. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

 

The man gulped, quickly waving the players through. "Jesus, get them through he has got to GO!!" They quickly pulled out their phones and walked through the checkpoint. Cleared almost immediately, the two of them practically ran towards the back of the airport. Victor could hardly keep from laughing.

 

Once out of sight, Victor burst into tears. Wheezing, Victor could hardly stand up straight. Carson finally gave a smile, and began to laugh himself. The two of them strode laughing up to a desk next to two glass doors leading to the private lounge for Victor's pilot jacket airline. "Good morning sirs," a women said, beginning to stretch out her hand for their IDs. Victor and Carson kept walking, laughing hysterically, as the doors opened and let them through. The woman was frozen, not sure what to make of the two of them. For whatever reason, she decided this was already too much for a Monday and went back to her work.

 

 

Inside was a beautiful lounge with a bar and private food selection. Soft music played through the air. The two players sat in chairs facing the windows. A server approached them quickly. "Drinks gentlemen?" He asked.

"Oh why not, my plane doesn't leave until tomorrow," Victor said. The server brought the two men champagne, to which a toast was given between Victor and Carson.

 

"Damn it Victor, this may have worked," Carson said.

"Life moves pretty fast Carson. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it," Victor said sipping on his champagne. The two of them drank merrily and ate an assortment of food the entire morning, watching the planes take off and simply enjoying the relaxation.

 

Until Victor's phone rang. It was .sniffuM. He answered in his best sick voice. "Hello?"

"Grachev! Where are you! Practice is over and you're not in the stands!" SHIT SHIT SHIT.

 

"I....um....Carson and I went back to the hotel, he um......flooded a toilet and we just wanted to go back and....clean up."

"Jesus Christ stop don't tell me any more. The team is heading back to go over some game film. If you're cleaned up, you need to be there."

"Understand, we will be there." Victor hung up. "Carson, time to go."
 

"Yep, figured as much." The two of them stood up and headed for the door.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

"Did our toilet paper men fall over?? I don't understand..." Victor thought aimlessly as the two of them exited the airport. Carson headed over and flagged a cab, to which one promptly drove forward for them. They entered.

"What happened to your plane?" The cab driver said. More specifically, the same cab driver from before said.

 

"Uhhh we forgot something at the hotel," Victor said.

"IDs. Can't get anywhere without them," Carson said.

 

"Geez that's unfortunate, I'll be quick!" The driver said and sped off. A few short moments of silence entailed as the driver sped through traffic. "You know, I looked up Victor Grachev on wikipedia. It never said he had a brother and all..." the cab driver tailed off.
 

"We do a really good job of keeping him-ME. Out of the spotlight," Victor nearly slipped. The cab driver shrugged.

"Well still, if you really are, can I give you something for him to sign? I'm a huge fan of the Predators," the driver handed back a picture of him and what looked like his daughter. "My daughter plays hockey, she's a big fan too."

 

Victor smiled. "I think I can get him to sign this, I'll have him meet you after the game to give it to you." The cab driver broke out in the biggest grin.

 

Soon the cab pulled up to the front of the hotel. Except the team bus was still unloading the Predators from practice.

 

"Here you go fellas! Need me to stick around to take you back?"

"No we're good," Carson said quickly.

 

"Yeah it might take us awhile to find our IDs, I'd hate to keep you held up," Victor said.

"Nonsense! I can wait!" The cab driver said. Victor grimaced. He opened his wallet and pulled out way more cash than what was needed for the ride.

 

"Look, take this. I'm telling you we may be a long while, and I don't want to keep you. Why not go get yourself some lunch?"

 

The driver's eyes opened wide. "...OK I'll go get lunch, wow, thank you!" The two players stepped out of the car, holding their jackets in front of their faces slightly as the last of the Warsaw Predators stepped off of the bus. They followed behind them from a distance.

 

 

"Boys!"

Victor and Carson froze. The voice came from the team bus. The driver was standing in front of it near the luggage compartments. He slowly opened it, revealing the remains of the toilet paper men. Victor and Carson looked down and then back at the driver. The driver only held a finger up to his lips and tossed Victor and Carson's winter jacket and beanies back to them. Stunned, the two players turned and headed back to the hotel, still keeping their distance from the team. As they entered, they passed a loudly speaking .sniffuM.

"I have no idea where they are, they aren't in their room. Did we check all of the bathrooms?? How many are there in this building??" Victor and Carson quickly walked passed him hiding their faces still to the back of the lobby. Around the corner, there was a small lost and found. Victor approached it and quickly took off the pilot's jacket, placing it down on top of the other clothing items. The two players then quickly headed back to the elevator where, thankfully, there was no one else.

"We need to get to either a bathroom or someone else's room immediately. The team is looking for us," Victor said, hitting the floor 3 button. "Who is staying on floor 3?"

 

"Uhhhhhh I think @Hooperorama is with @Crstats23," Carson said.

"Perfect." Victor stated and put his beanie back on. The elevator doors opened to the 3rd floor, and the two of them rounded the corner. Then ran right back in. @AW13 was headed straight towards them down the hall. Victor hit the close doors button repeatedly until the doors slid shut, merely seconds before Lexi walked up to it. The two players could here her hit the elevator call button on the other side. The doors began to slide open. Victor pressed the close doors button extremely quickly, forcing the doors to shut. Lexi tried again, Victor closed them again. Frustrated, Lexi let out a groan and headed for the stairs. Waiting a few seconds, Victor opened the elevator doors. No one was around.

"God damn it...." Carson muttered, and the two of them headed towards room 305. Victor knocked quickly. One look at Carson told Carson exactly what needed to happen. Krishna opened the door. "Hey we've-" Carson strode past him. "TOILET," Victor followed behind. "Do you have toilet paper?? How much??? We blew through two bathrooms already, this hotel does NOT give enough TP!" Carson slammed the bathroom door behind him.

 

"Shit guys, is he ok?" Krishna asked. Flatulence - of course fake to Carson and Victor's knowledge - echoed in the bathroom for a good few seconds. "No that didn't sound ok," Krishna answered his own question.

 

"I'll call .sniffuM and let him know where we are," Victor said. While on the phone, Carson spun nearly a full roll of toilet paper into the toilet and flushed it, using the plunger to both sound like an absolute load was dropped and clear the toilet paper from the toilet. He washed his hands, and emerged from the bathroom to the sickened face of Krishna.
 

"I think....I think I'm good," Carson said as Victor hung up the phone.

 

"I'll say, that was a lot of shit we went through," Victor said with a slight smile.

 

And with that, Victor and Carson rejoined the team to watch game film. Interestingly enough, not a single person sat within 10 feet of Carson and Victor after the events that transpired. Victor smiled. That was just the "vacation" he needed to get back into the swing of things.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Word count: 3,675 words.

 

Using for PT weeks: Feb 8-14, Feb 15-21, Feb 22-28, Mar 1-7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Victor Grachev stepped out of the bathroom in his room dressed in a t-shirt and a robe, having taken a shower after a long day of game film and preparing for the game against Riga tomorrow. Cautiously, he looked out towards you as you sat reading this exciting story.

 

"You're still here?"

 

...

"It's over."

 

...

 

"Go home."

 

...

 

"Go!"

 

Edited February 10, 2021 by KaleebtheMighty

[KaleebtheMighty 1,509]

PT CLAIM WEEK 1/4, FEB 8-14

[Bobo 514]

Pure Genius. No more words need to be said about this masterpiece. I love the set-up, the plot line, and the overall vibe. Really makes me feel immersed in the life of Victor Grachev. Could I use this in a newspaper article in the future?

[.sniffuM 1,741]

I thought we agreed you'd leave the fact you fooled us with the toilet paper men out of the story in exchange for not suspending you!

[KaleebtheMighty 1,509]

 

6 minutes ago, dariusmarimotoman said:

Pure Genius. No more words need to be said about this masterpiece. I love the set-up, the plot line, and the overall vibe. Really makes me feel immersed in the life of Victor Grachev. Could I use this in a newspaper article in the future?

Yeah man, be my guest! Glad you like it!

[KaleebtheMighty 1,509]

PT CLAIM WEEK 2/4, FEB 15-21

[KaleebtheMighty 1,509]

PT CLAIM WEEK 3/4, FEB 22-28

[KaleebtheMighty 1,509]

PT CLAIM WEEK 4/4, MAR 1-7