A young tiger streamer attempts to find inspiration in her streaming service to come out of an art block she is having due to difficulties.

Tiger Streamer

“Hello! Charlotte Campbell here, and I am back with another game to broadcast with you all!” Young Charlotte Campbell is an average YouTube streamer, using her content to make a living for herself. But in this particular stream, she is having a bit of a problem.

While Charlotte is an artist, she has random bouts of art block, which makes it hard for her to focus on what she can draw next. This is where her streaming service comes in.

Charlotte resumes her commentary while a retro video game plays out on her screen in attract mode. “I may or may not regret this but this particular game looks mesmerizing in particular. It's called Space Zap and I'm gonna try it out for a bit. Then when I'm done, I’ll move on to something else.”

The attract screen displays the gameplay scenario for a bit more until the stationary base lights up from a northbound shot culminating in the base exploding in a spectacular display of pixels, even recoloring a few of the letters. Seeing the explosion makes Charlotte cringe off-camera but the reaction can be discerned in her voice, “Oohh, I don't know about this… that explosion looks brutal. Well, I said I’ll try it out so might as well make good on my promise.”

Charlotte begins a new game session, picking the one-player mode. Immediately, the tigon woman is faxed with enemy attacks from all four directions, requiring her to shoot the projectiles and the enemy guns themselves. So far, the first level is relatively calm and easy, though the speed and intensity begins to pick up.

Charlotte can barely keep up with the fast-paced gameplay, though she gasps, “Oh jeez! I think I may have made a bad decision here! I should have picked something else!”

Her decision wasn't in vain; she is able to reach the end of the first wave when a satellite materializes and spins counterclockwise in a wild attempt to kamikaze the base, but is stopped cold by the northbound defense turret.

Second wave, no problem. Charlotte resumes her gameplay as usual. But once again, the gameplay picks up in both speed and intensity. Like the first wave, the gameplay starts off calmly. Then after a few enemy ships are destroyed, the gameplay intensifies.

“Oh man! I don't know if I can keep up this time!” Once again directly on the defensive, Charlotte tries her best to keep up. Unfortunately, a stray shot from the westbound side gets past her and obliterates the base in a huge pixelated explosion.

“Aarrrgghhhh!! I almost had it!!” Charlotte groans in frustration at her first base being completely obliterated by enemy fire. While she wasn't able to keep up, she just barely made it to the end of the second wave on her second base to defend. After a few more enemy ships are destroyed, a satellite materializes, only to be obliterated by eastbound laser fire.

“I think I have an idea on what I want to draw now!” At the start of the third wave, an idea comes to Charlotte while she begins her defense. But having to hurriedly push away and destroy enemy turrets and ships at a rapid pace gives her no time to even concentrate on her idea. Her second base is eventually wiped out by an enemy bullet from the northbound side, causing her to throw her hands up in frustration, off-camera.

The destroyed base is replaced by a third and final one. Now Charlotte must fight to keep this one alive for as long as she can. As she makes it to the end of the second wave, she is just barely able to hold down the fort, blasting an enemy projectile that is almost too close for comfort. Then the satellite appears, swirling around the base; Charlotte destroys this with the eastbound laser turret.

Following a brief pause in her game, the tigon woman has finally made up her mind. She declares, “I’ve got it! I’m gonna do a space-themed picture to show to my friends! They'll love it!”

Third round, third life. All Charlotte has to do is hold off the enemy fleet until the satellite appears and she will be good to go. But halfway through the wave, she is overwhelmed once again by the constant barrage of enemy fire; she almost makes it but ends up a split second late where a passing enemy bullet from the westbound side tags her final base and destroys it in a spectacular explosion.

“Okay, I’ll admit - for lack of a better word, I’m pissed at this right now, but it was worth it!” Charlotte’s frustration soon turns to laughter where she reflects on her new idea by the video game she is engaged in. And after adding in her initials to the high score table does she sign off and proceed with her new idea.

“This will really look great in my portfolio and my friends’ galleries.” A few minutes later, Charlotte is working on her new idea when she finally puts up the piece on the Community section of her YouTube channel. It is a space-themed drawing of herself and four of her friends inside of a large spaceship. Charlotte herself is the pilot, and her four friends are gazing out of the windows. In the background is the giant starfield as well as several planets around them. The young feline also leaves her own comment, “After playing an intense game of Space Zap (which I suck at), I was finally hit with something that got me out of my art block! Ta-da!”

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Charlotte Campbell belongs to PolygonZ (ToyHouse) for this short-length writing commission!