Thread:Butterapple101/@comment-1931440-20151113045213

You said something about helping me with Hope, so here's a run-through of what I’ve got for the story so far. Basically, Hope is The Princess and the Pea meets Russian folktale, redone by Disney. The major themes are friendship and not being afraid to live life. As I am still figuring the story out, this summary has a lot of holes, is probably not chronologically accurate, and loaded with the spoilers I have misgivings about putting on the net.



The setting is a fantastical equivalent to the Kievan Rus, around the beginning of the 11th century. I’m thinking of calling it the twelve territories. Unless you know the Kievan Rus’ equivalent of a duchy?



Princess Nadya, daughter of the duke and duchess of the tiny territory of Pamet, is about to make debut into the royal court, and she’s a bundle of nerves over it. Her home is hit by a freak storm that destroys the castle, and the princess is separated from her parents in the ensuing flood. Following her mother’s orders, she heads to the capital city, Krepost, to get help. Amidst the confusion, the princess sees a gigantic monster bird that she recognizes as the embodiment of storms of legend.



When Nadya gets to the capital city, she sees that Duke Solovey, Krepost’s duke and the Tsar’s longtime advisor, has gathered a mass of nobility; to discuss the rash of freak storms that are plaguing the land with the other dukes, and their daughters to find a suitable bride for Prince Pytor, who couldn’t be less interested. Unfortunately for her, nobody believes this dirty little chit of a girl is a duke’s daughter, and everyone laughs at the idea that a fictional giant bird is behind the storms. But the Tsarina and the castle’s jester-in-training Ivan recognize that she is someone in need, and give the princess food and clean clothes.



During her first day in Krepost, Nadya properly meets Pyotr and Ivan, and accidentally gets a place in a test that all the present princesses are taking. It’s surprisingly simple: place her hand on a strange stone. Ivan barges in, trying to get her out of the test, but the stone falls into her hands and it faintly lights up! Everyone is stunned, especially Solovey, but there is no time for questions. Suddenly, an apparition of Granny Bones, the infamous witch of the Silver Woods, appears before the court. She says that someone has stolen magic from her, and that unless it’s returned within three days, she will raze the territories. Later that night, Nadya catches Pyotr, Ivan and their cat Arkady packing up and sneaking out to go meet Granny Bones alone. Nadya asks to go too, hoping that the witch can find her parents.



So the epic journey starts. All while the Storm Bird is looming nearby, the quartet goes into the Silver Woods, meet a friendly Leshy (think Treebeard, but with branch-antlers and clothes,) have dinner and a sing-along with a Romani tribe near a nice lake, and have a near death experience where Pyotr reveals he’s cursed with a literal heart of stone, detached from his chest. Behind his friend’s back, Ivan fills Nadya in: Pyotr is really the son of the Tsar’s sister and the commoner she eloped with. His parents died in an accident when he was little, so the Tsar adopted him and made him his heir. Sadly, the pain of grieving was too much for little Pyotr to bare, and following a folktale Ivan told him, he sought out Granny Bones’ well to cure his heartbreak. In response, she ripped out his heart so he wouldn’t feel ANYTHING. The only cure she told him and the royal family about is “the hand of true nobility,” explaining the hunt for a royal bride for Pyotr.



By the time everybody has fully bonded, they reach the old wishing well that Granny Bones calls home. Pyotr demands that the witch take back the curse. She really doesn’t want to help the ungrateful punk and his posse, but tells him that he already has the means to break the curse. Then the conversation, someone stole a down feather from the real Storm Bird from her years ago, and the thief has started using it to throw nature out of balance. The trio realizes this means — BUM BUM BUM! — the Storm Bird is a human with an insane amount of magic. The kids exit the well, with no idea what to do now. Then Solovey shows up with a small army to take the runaway Prince home.



Back in Krepost, Pyotr tells the Tsar what Granny Bones said. Solovey tries to get Nadya alone with promises of finding her parents, but she notices a strange feather he has. As his attempts get more forceful, Nadya realizes that Solovey is the Storm Bird. She runs to tell everyone, and, pushed to the brink, Solovey transforms in front of the court, and flies off with Nadya and Pyotr’s heart.



<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;">Near the Romani camp from earlier, Solovey ties Nadya up and has his motive monologue: He’s been using Pyotr’s heart for years to hunt for a pure heart, so he can use it in a spell that will grant his wish for immortality, and he’s been toppling duchies as the Storm Bird to ensure that, in his screwed-up logic, the loss any of their princesses will be meaningless. Since the stone heart reacted to her, he thinks that it’s Nadya’s heart, and he prepares to take it out with magic.

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<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;">Pyotr and Ivan arrive to save Nadya, but Solovey incapacitates Pyotr by abusing his heart, calling him a disgrace to the royal family, then finally throwing it into the lake. Something goes wrong with the spell, and Nadya breaks free so she can dive into the water after it (something she has been afraid of since the flood.) Ivan joins her, they retrieve the heart together, and the faint glow form Nadya’s touch turns bright at Ivan’s touch. Realizing what this means, Nadya and Ivan together reunite Pyotr with his heart. Solovey’s spell turns on him, and he is turned to stone, forever.

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<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;">Granny Bones appears, takes back her feather, and reveals that Pyotr and Solovey misinterpreted exactly what “the hand of true nobility” meant. All Pyotr needed was for a someone who he trusted and trusted him to restore his heart, because the noblest hand is that of a true friend, something an elitist like Solovey couldn’t comprehend. Just before disappearing, Granny also directs Nadya to the Romani tribe. It turns out Nadya’s mother (father didn't make it) has been cared for by the Romani tribe for a bad bump on her head the whole time, and the mother and daughter head back to Krepost with Pyotr and Ivan.

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<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;">So Happily Ever Afters all around: Pyotr connects with his uncle and aunt for the first time, Ivan becomes Royal Jester, Nadya makes her debut with new confidence, and all three of them affirm their close relationship. Just as friends or polyamory if you choose to look at it that way.

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<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:Helvetica;">So there is most of my ideas. Maybe you can tell me what you think should be kept, modified or dropped? <ac_metadata title="Hope plot with spoilers"> </ac_metadata>