VICTORIA CROSSING | soundtrack | animation style! | full site
"They told me I'd find you here."
Tama's heart sank when a 'so' and 'what of it, kid' came in response, almost surprised that the man before her spoke without so much as a glance in her direction. She gripped the edge of her sweater, and ground her sandals a little into the blackened grass .
Then before she could think, Tama spat.
"Because" she heard herself say, "I'm going to be taking you in now, punk."
Tama's heart sank when a 'so' and 'what of it, kid' came in response, almost surprised that the man before her spoke without so much as a glance in her direction. She gripped the edge of her sweater, and ground her sandals a little into the blackened grass .
Then before she could think, Tama spat.
"Because" she heard herself say, "I'm going to be taking you in now, punk."
Quick notes:
- Victoria Crossing, the name of our setting. Crossing also references “TRANSCENDING OF LIMITS” and “BRIEF MEETINGS OF NEW CIRCUMSTANCES AND PEOPLE.” The Victoria Cross also happens to be the highest honour of bravery in England!
- POLLUTED WORLD RULED BY FACTORIES
- 50s~70s FASHIONS.
- THERE IS AN OIL LAKE!
- AND A GIRL WITH A MONSTER IN HER STOMACH yes.
'Black grass and smoke-stack-yellow skies; beautiful world, isn't it?'
Setting:
- The world of Victoria Crossing is ruled by the Factory cities. The landscape is barren as one gets further and further from the culture and economic centers: these industrial Factory cities (which are as the name would imply, cities comprised of just factories)!
- It is very dry with frosty temperatures during the winter, and blazing heat waves during the summer. There happens to be a lot of oil pits around, but natural watery bodies and rain are rare. When rain DOES occur most people stay indoors for the mostly yellow-hued and smoke-filled sky is polluted and the rain is dirty!
- There are plenty of towns (THAT LOOK… LIKE… MIDWEST… AMERICAN TOWNS except more barren) here and there to house regular people, but yeah! OTHERWISE BETWEEN THOSE TOWNSHIPS AND THE FACTORY CITIES, IT IS BARREN WITH LONG STRETCHES OF ROAD WITH DRIED GRASS/FIELDS AND THE OCCASIONAL JUNKYARD AT EACH SIDE FOR GAS-GUZZLIN MOTOR VEHICLES TO PLOW THROUGH. All farming is mechanized-- all food is manufactured.
- AND ALSO A LOT OF crows and vultures flying about. It’s considered bad luck to kill a crow, or a vulture. Any predator that is seen attacking a crow or a vulture is usually shot, or fended off. This is due in part to old old old superstition and the fact that because the ground is hard to dig up, peoples’ bodies are laid out after death for the birds to eat and then take up to heaven! (MONGOLIAN STYLE)
- Clothing style: dieselpunk mixed in with 50s~70s clothing and technology. CD/tape players, not ipods. box TVs that play low production shows rather that flat screens. there’s more emphasis on utility and pragmatism@clothing.
- It’s colourful, but for the most part desaturated! AND DIRTY. so dirty so so dirty… Even the richer folk— the factory owners (which I will describe momentarily) dress rather dully!
- The land is controlled by Factory owners! The most powerful of them all-- Lantos Manufactory-- also happens to be the most financially successful. Each individual factory owner tends to have him/herself a group of specialized guardsmen known as HANDS that work to protect their assets. There is a very weak central government; otherwise, the nicest areas are where the Factories have been built and whose owners thought it'd be good to develop roads and all that. Crime rates are kept low as Factory owners often put up bounties for wanted criminals destroying their shit. There are lots and lots of wanted posters fluttering around! However this causes many vigilantes to appear here and there...
Background story:
- Once upon a time, long long ago before the TIME OF THE FACTORIES there existed THE LAKE. In this lake dwelled oil-based supernatural monster creatures all of which have the ability to turn into oil and hide in the lake and to grant small wishes/blessings (I WISH FOR GOOD CROP/I WISH FOR LUCK THIS YEAR) in exchange for coins (LIKE A WISHING WELL! OIL WELL! AYY) or offerings of food.
- People did not think much of it, just that perhaps it was a blessed lake!
- ANYWAYSSS
- Then the Factories came! Generation by generation people forgot about this practice and decided instead to find work at the Factories and make themselves more marketable for that work.
- Until at last no one came back.
- All the while, the factories began to dump wastes into the lake.
- Because of the lack of food and the decreased hospitality of the lake, most of the creatures decided to leave for other oil lakes. But, some stayed behind to weakly curse people (thus increasing the number of urban legends associated with the lake.)
- People stay away from the lake because of this and Factories continue their dumping because it’s just a convenient place no one goes near anywais. This makes its current residents INCREASINGLY ANGRY.
- It’s sort of a vicious cycle in that regard! No one cares about the lake because it is scary, and the lake is scary because no one cares…
tama by omocat@tumblr
Storyline. (MOSTLY TENTATIVE)
- THE MAINNNNNNN CHARACTER IS TAMA (see link and to the left)!
- For whattevverrrr reason (yes there is a reason go to her profile if you want to spoil yoself) one of those creatures — this one is named Mara-- lives in her stomach. She goes about doing outrageous stunts/capturing villains with bounties on them/etc heroic acts to rake in cash to feed the creature.
- IN OTHER WORDS SHE EATS COINS/SOMETIMES THE CREATURE HAS FOOD REQUESTS. One of the side effects of this is that really bright rainbowy ectoplasm gas comes from her mouth which is reminiscent of rainbowy oil puddle residue.
- She hopes that one day, she will feed him enough and he will help her save her missing dad!
Character concepts
- ALREADY TALKED ABOUT TAMA AND TAMA’S DADDY. Though, I’ll elaborate briefly on Tama. Personality-wise, Tama is a very immature person, with very little aspirations prior to the start of her adventure. Her idea of happiness/the good life is being able to do brave, heroic things all the time and being praised for it…!
SHE BECOMES A BIT MORE WITHDRAWN SINCE HER FATHER IS MISSING, but regains her confidence in addition to a more genuine sense of heroism as the story carries on. - Datta; A plumber. He had a family, but they are dead. He claims to hear the voice of God, and God tells him that he must “release people from this world” and hang them up for the birds to eat (LIKE SCARECROWS YAY!). Sometimes, he leaves them to die all staked up and eaten alive. Sometimes, he binds people and slashes their wrists and has them sit in warm water baths. Then, he talks about his mission from God as they slowly die…
Personality-wise he was once a mildly religious man, but has become more and more withdrawn since he’s been hearing voices.
…
… I’LL ALSO MENTION THAT It’s not actually the voice of God, it’s one of the more vicious oil monsters I mentioned earlier. It lives in his ears and has him kill because he hates humans SO SO SO SO SO SO SO much. He also happens to hate Datta, and sometimes has him press his head to grinding metal/loud/terrible sounds. Datta does this—ALL OF THIS— because he believes in God.
Tama gets to face him AHHAHAHAHAH….. GOD YOUR LIFE SUCKS TAMA.
When he is introduced, or when they’re about to fight this song plays. - Gasmaskbro; follows tama around.
- Glim's mother, the old flower mechanist. Weatherbell Glim! She has since given up on her dream to grow flowers in this wasteland and chooses instead to (IN HER SPARE TIME) collect glass bottles/spare parts and lights to create flowers. These ‘flowers’ when they light up are very pretty. Her home, known as The Palace is something of a tourist attraction. Her eyesight is going, and she isn't as nimble with her hands as she used to be, so she relies on Glim to manage most things nowadays. She can feel death in her bones, and is very afraid.
- Merridoll Glim, the new flower mechanist; A girl, Tama’s friend. She finds her first name fussy, and all subsequent nicknames (merry and doll) silly. She goes by Glim, and tells people that it's short for Glimmer, rather than a bastardization of Grim. She helps her mother at The Palace finding people who get lost and leading them out, and also making flowers in the background.! She's a very creative, quiet girl though not shy so much as she prefers to listen to others! When she speaks, her voice is very soft, yet very firm.
- Tama’s stepmother; Not much on her yet! I just know that I want here to wear something like this. Also, I decided that her scientific mind definitely rivals and sometimes surpasses her husbands’ (depending on the subject).
- Brothers who come across two halves of one whole oil monsters. Both halves give readings of certain events. Little do they know, one half only tells the good things, the other only tells the bad things! GOOD FORTUNE BAD FORTUNE. Each sibling takes one AND THEN THE STORY UNFOLDS
- Peita: Owner of the good fortune half. His brother took the half with the voice box. His half does not speak, rather it lives and hides on his skin as blemishes, moving only to answer questions and give him clues on his body as to what it is trying to say! His younger sibling Rika has run away. He is told that the day they meet again will be a day of good things. He sets out to find Rika!
- Rika: He wants to believe in a future that changes....! (MM VAGUE)
- A boy who gathers the bodies of the dead for the vultures and crows, whilst simultaneously shooting/warding off predators. I think I’d like him to be very fond of birds. He wants to pull a James and the Giant Peach one day. SO HE NEEDS ALL THE BIRDS.