| b u g s | MCYT(OC)

~A Casual Stream~

"Alright, hi chat!" Fern said, a tired edge to their voice. The chat was slowly flooding with people, some that they recognized from past streams. "I hope you're all doing well today. I'm exhausted, so we might not stream for long."

In front of them, minecraft was loading in. They had Corpse's music playing in the background, not that they'd ever sing along. They refused to say anything vulgar or swear. Their chat knew that.

"I don't know what we're doing today." Fern shrugged, watching Hypixel spawn around them. "We could play that Grinch Simulator game. Maybe I could grab Scott and see if he wants to make it a competition."

Their chat seemed to disagree with that idea, so they offered a few more.

"Bedwars? Skywars? Ooh, Skyblock would also be fun. Mods, can we have a poll?" They took a drink of their water as they waited, humming along to the quiet music. Their mom would have their head if she heard it.

"Skywars it is." Fern said, cracking their knuckles as the poll closed. "I'll just talk, then. I've got some pretty good stories."

They were glad to join the lobby, waiting patiently for the game to start. It gave them some time to come up with something.

"Okay, so," They took a breath as they spawned in, ready to start. "My dad is huge on hunting. Like, guns and stuff all over our house. Our living room has like eight deer heads in it."

As they spoke, Fern collected everything from their islands chests and began a bridge to mid. Their competitors had no clue.

"And where I live, we're in deer season. So we head out to my grandma's farm, right? He and my mom are gonna go hunting during the day and me and my brother are just gonna sit inside doing nothing, basically. Except, as you guys know, I've got ADHD. That doesn't work."

They paused in their story for a moment, staring up at someone who tried to bridge above them without being noticed. In pure silence, they shot them off and into the void.

"So my little brother is sitting in the kitchen, he's talking to my grandma and coloring and stuff. I decide that hey, it's like ten degrees outside and I didn't bring any more than a hoodie, I should go and climb on the hay bales. You know, like a smart person."

After looting mid, they move to leave only to walk in to their competitors fighting. They watch in silence for a moment before quietly killing them both and picking through their things.

"So I snuck out. There's like three inches of snow on the ground because it snows by October here, and I went out in shorts, a hoodie, and tennis shoes."

Another kill, knocking someone off the bridge they were building to mid. Chests were refilling in three minutes, but the game would be over by then.

"Now, I'm used to the cold." Fern prefaces, as if their chat didn't already know. "This isn't the first time I've been outside like this. It is, however, the first time I'd climbed all the way to the top of the hay bales by my own. It was at this point I remembered two things; my fear of heights and the family of raccoons that always hid there during the winter."

They watched as two other players fought, lowering their health. As soon as one was dead, they fired an arrow and killed the last player. They were sent to the dragon, letting them demolish the map.

"So I'm sitting there, without my phone, on a literal pile of snow and hay, when I hear a cat." They paused for a moment, taking a breath as they waited for the next round to start. "There's dozens of cats on the farm, no clue why. But they were all over on the porch, like on the other side of the yard. It's a farm, there's a giant yard."

As they spawn back in, they open the first chest they see. There was virtually nothing good in it, so they moved on only to discover that most of their spawn island was the same.

"If you guys have ever seen a hay bale, they're round so when you stack them together they don't fit perfectly like squares would. So I checked in this little hole, right, and I'm expecting a family of raccoons to just tear my face to shreds, and there's this kitten trembling on his mom."

They bridged to mid, hoping for a better haul from the chests there. One other player had made it before them, but they were focused on a chest. Fern made quick work of them, lowering their health before they even knew they were there.

"I'll spare the details of what happened to his mom, but he was cold for a reason." Fern shrugged, not that their viewers could see. "I figured that, hey, this kitten isn't gonna survive if we don't get it somewhere safe. It's super cold, there's animals out here looking for any chance to eat, and this kitten has no food source. He's dead if I don't do something."

They mindlessly resort to shooting people off their bridges, killing almost three before someone finally made it across.

"But I'm still trapped on the haybales and it's not like I can offer much warmth. I'm horrified. I have no way to call someone, I could fall and die at any second, I'm like fully accepting death here. But I really like cats, so I want to find a way to keep this kitten alive at least until I'm found, right? I'm like," Fern clapped their hands together, going still in the game for a moment. "I've prepared for this, even though I've done nothing."

Someone hit them in game, and they were quick to cut themself off. It only took three hits to kill the newcomer, either because of their low health or Fern's strange ability to hit crits without trying.

"So I scoop up this cat, and I stuff him in my hoodie pocket. He doesn't like this plan, and since he's a kitten living on a farm he hasn't been declawed, so he tore up my arm. I'm shoving this ungrateful brat into my pocket, trying to save him from death, and he's sitting here tearing up both my skin AND my favorite hoodie."

Behind Fern, a small meow echoed. They ignored it, knocking someone off of mid.

"And in the middle of all this, my parents pull in. From the driveway, if you're pulling in, you can see to the very back where the hay was. They sat there for a few minutes, watching me struggle against a kitten that really shouldn't have been as much trouble as he was, before they finally decided that I was turning blue and should probably come inside."

Chests refilled, catching them off guard. Had it been that long? It didn't matter, they had what they needed.

"They had to drag me down from the hay bales. I did, in fact, end up breaking my leg when I fell onto the actual ground. It's healed now, but it was funny to go into the doctor and explain that I'd fallen off a haybale and messed up my leg. My parents thought I was exaggerating, too. Seeing their faces when the doctor showed up my X-Ray was the best thing ever."

Fern shrugged, finishing off the final player.

"Anyways, that's how I got my jerk of a cat. His name is Stick, and he hasn't changed at all since then." Behind Fern, Stick loudly meowed. This time, Fern let themself chuckle.