underagoldenmoon

[underagoldenmoon]

[underagoldenmoon]

Trying to think of a name I can give to the group of protagonists so I'm not just naming them all or saying "the Under a Golden Moon protagonists" every time I want to talk about them but all I can think of is "Team Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms"

#Golden and Starry both push other people away (albeit for different reasons) #Moon's coping mechanism amounts to 'Looking like I'm coping is basically the same as coping right?' #Hazel's coping mechanism is 'True love will fix me!' because she grew up on a diet of fairytales #None of these are helpful in the slightest #character: hazel #character; golden #character: moon #character: starry

[underagoldenmoon]

I appear to have forgotten how to do all worldbuilding that isn't magic systems. Help.

[underagoldenmoon]

Holy shit I started writing version one in 2021. They were Warrior Cats OCs back then. Moon didn't have a personality. Starry was a background character who was mentioned once. Moon was allistic and alloromantic. Reincarnation was a thing. Holy shit.

#under a golden moon

[underagoldenmoon]

Rotating the idea of a human AU in my head. For the Vibes.

#I have Thoughts on what the characters would look like as humans #No you don't get to know them because there's only a small chance that I'll actually do this

[underagoldenmoon]

"She's had to learn to be stealthy; there are cats who hunt ghosts." Just that one sentence gives SUCH worldbuilding implications; I love it. (Saw your thing about if characters could survive Castle Dracula, only part of the way through reading the post, but I had to share how much I loved this line, as soon as I saw it.)

OH MY GOODNESS THANK YOU SO MUCH

If you're interested in the cats who hunt ghosts, one of them (Quince) will probably be appearing in part two.

Though I'm thinking of rebooting the story all over again, so who knows what'll happen in version 4?

The current version is kind of… 3.5? It's not quite version three but at the same time it's not really distinct enough to be its own version.

#answered asks #genuinely this means so much to me I love worldbuilding #literally one of my favourite parts of writing #so I'm glad to see that it's something that other people are enjoying about my stories

[underagoldenmoon]

COULD THE UNDER A GOLDEN MOON PROTAGONISTS SURVIVE CASTLE DRACULA? 

(inspired by Tumblr user @canyourfavesurvivecastledracula)

HAZEL: 

So first things first, we need to de-ghostify Hazel, because ghosts Do Not Have Blood. And blood is. Kind of Dracula's thing. Plus she can't die as a ghost except under certain circumstances :)

So yeah that's Happening. 

So Hazel would probably accept the crucifix, but that doesn't matter so much; she doesn't carry a mirror so she wouldn't die shaving. 

She knows that ghosts exist (she is one. Well, was for the purposes of this. No I'm not explaining how she comes back to life, this isn't canon.) I'm not sure that she'd know what vampires are, but from the start she's seeing clues that Dracula is Not A Normal Human Being. 

She had to become a people-pleaser while she was alive to keep herself safe. So she's mainly fine on the Not Annoying A Rich Jerk front. 

I'm assuming that the characters aren't aware of who Dracula is beforehand, and similar to Jonathan Harker they initially assume he's just a normal guy. So she has no reason to bring a weapon. She doesn't own one anyway (Starry is the only one who does. Unless you include Golden's whittling knife). 

The second she's told not to explore, she gets suspicious. She assumes that Dracula has a Dark Secret. At this point she starts trying to imply about how she used to be a ghost because she doesn't realise it's an Evil Dark Secret she thinks it's a Cool Dark Secret (not a Sexy Dark Secret because she is a lesbian). But as time goes on, she realises that Dracula is not to be trusted. 

She's had to learn to be stealthy; there are cats who hunt ghosts. So she won't necessarily get caught. 

She's choosing the castle over the wolves if it comes to that. All of them are, really. They're teenagers they're too young to die /hj

If she happens to be Romantically Staring Out of the Window™ while Dracula is climbing, she does get curious. "Curiosity killed the cat" type situation - but actually, this convinces her that Dracula really is dangerous. 

She might try to mislead him with a few lies about England once she realises this; she's been trustworthy up to this point, since she knows her way around well, but Dracula might be able to tell. In which case she's dead. 

But if she doesn't try to be too clever and doesn't get too obvious in her attempts to drop hints that she's a ghost, Hazel would survive Castle Dracula. 

GOLDEN: 

Golden, too, would take the crucifix. Ze reads a lot of fantasy stories. Never ignore the strange old woman's warnings. 

Let's be honest – ze is not going to put up with being forced to stay up all night. Ze needs a regular sleep schedule, and ze would rather die than have hir circadian rhythm messed around with. 

Also, hir instincts are pretty good – ze's going to work out that there is something going on. 

Unfortunately, this does not help hir. 

Ze is not going to put up with any jerk for long, let alone a rich one. 

And ze's wanted to try lock-picking for a while… and all these locked doors are so tempting…

You'd think that the fact that ze reads a lot would save hir. But no. Ze's clever, but ze has no common sense. Negative amounts, really. If ze's lucky and works out Dracula's a vampire, even that won't save hir. 

Because ze died picking that lock to try to get into the room. 

Sorry. 

Golden would not survive Castle Dracula. 

MOON: 

Honestly, I think Moon is the protagonist who would last the longest if they were all to die at any point. Golden dies after being caught lock-picking, Hazel (if she dies) is too clever for her own good, and Starry… well, you'll see. 

Moon would accept the crucifix out of awkwardness if nothing else. Because how do you turn it down without making it a thing? That doesn't really matter – he's not going to shave anyway, he's a cat. But still. 

He trusts Dracula at first – why wouldn't he? 

He works out, as time goes on, that there's something dodgy about Dracula, and since he's been raised to distrust ghosts and gods, he's going to Panic. Like when Jonathan was just. Running around the castle. He would do exactly that. 

He would avoid doing anything to anger Dracula once he realised there was something weird – he's used to the idea of supernatural creatures that can destroy you if you look at them the wrong way, though he hasn't met one. Yet :)

He would probably try to help Dracula – the idea of tricking him would occur, but he'd decide against it. He knows some supernatural creatures can tell if you're lying. He's not going to risk it. 

He spends a lot of time staring out of the windows, so he sees Dracula climbing the walls. At this point he is certain that there's something going on. 

But don't worry – he has a plan. 

A terrible one. 

He tries to climb out of the Castle. And he nearly makes it. 

He's bested Dracula, he's escaping, he's –

Fallen off a cliff to his death. Sorry. 

Moon could not survive.

STARRY: 

I think that Starry was the hardest to get an idea on. She's the newest protagonist, so she's not been floating around in my brain for… two to three years, I think? I think I started version one in 2021. Certainly during Covid lockdown.

Good grief. 

Anyway, Starry takes the crucifix because she knows by now that if there are rumours about strange things, it's better to be safe than sorry. She decides pretty early on that he's a ghost, which makes her distrust him. She doesn't like ghosts. 

She does everything perfectly most of the time she's there. She's learned to act; she's had to. 

She does nearly break when Dracula takes her stuff. After all, how will she live without her knife? 

But she manages to control herself. 

She's doing well; Dracula doesn't suspect. She makes sure to follow his rules whenever there's the slightest shadow of a chance that she could be discovered. But she quietly rebels, too. 

Then she decides she's had enough and tries to fistfight him. 

Life hack: do not fistfight a vampire. It will not end well. 

Starry would not survive.

And I can't work out how to draw this so. Uh. Sorry about that.

#under a golden moon #character: golden #character: moon #character: hazel #character: starry #my art #art #This was actually really fun and a cool way to develop the characters!

[underagoldenmoon]

Golden is convinced ze could pick a lock if ze tried. Ze has never tried before. Ze has no idea how to do so.

No prizes for guessing how this would go.

#character: golden #Of course the second I say I'm ditching Under a Golden Moon I get interested in it again /s

[underagoldenmoon]

#This has Quince vibes tbh #I mean I'm saying this purely because she has a sword /hj #No but genuinely I need to give her a girlfriend now so this can happen /hj

[underagoldenmoon]

Okay so uh

This is kinda difficult for me to say but

I'm not really enjoying Under a Golden Moon any more?

Like, I love the universe I've created.

And I really like Hazel's character and her relationship with Starry.

But Golden and Moon are really getting on my nerves at this point, Moon doesn't fit with the struggles every other protagonist is having and Golden just feels annoying.

And I've been thinking about side characters and I like them so much more than my protagonists.

So I'm going to do some development of those side characters and maybe I'll come back to Under a Golden Moon when it's stopped being a thing I've committed to but it'll probably be a new version (version four holy fuck).

This story has come so far but maybe it's time to give it a break.

[underagoldenmoon]

I am only now realising this

[underagoldenmoon]

[underagoldenmoon]

[underagoldenmoon]

[underagoldenmoon]

[underagoldenmoon]

I want to write and draw some stuff but I'm not Vibing with Under a Golden Moon canon, send in AU ideas or fandoms and I'll do some little doodles and maybe what the plot would be in that AU/fandom

#Please note that I'm not necessarily going to be familiar with every fandom #if someone submits one that I'm not familiar with I'll just let them know

[underagoldenmoon]