What happens when a piece of Palistrom wood ends up in the hands of a puppet maker named Camila Noceda, and she decides to build a puppet with the features of the daughter she never had? And what happens when a not always reliable fairy decides that it's not such a bad idea to try to animate such puppet? And what happens if this puppet is particularly mischievous, naughty, and with a certain ability to always get into the most absurd trouble? This is the story of Luz Noceda, a puppet who embarks on the difficult journey of life in a world populated by fairies, tricksters, talking animals, shape-shifting creatures and unspeakably dangerous sea monsters, in the hope that perhaps, one day, she will be able to become a real girl.
(In case the preface wasn't explanatory enough, this is basically the story of Pinocchio but with our Luz as the protagonist. I state that the story will be mainly inspired by Collodi's original work, but I will also add some elements from the Disney film and others, plus separate episodes of my own total invention (sorry for the narrative license, but after all, it's not an Owl House fanfic without a little Lumity!). So... let's try this crazy experiment, and see how far it takes us!)
Once upon a time there was...
"A king!" my little readers will immediately say.
No, guys, you were wrong: once upon a time there was a piece of wood. In appearance it was no different from the others: no more than five feet long, covered in thick bark and with a few small leaves still attached to it. However, it had a strange peculiarity: the bark was not dark brown like that of normal trunks, but rather had a strange blue shade, tending towards grey. This oddity immediately caught Tibbles' eye when he found the piece of wood right outside his shop. "Damn, what is this?"
Tibblet-Tibblie Grimm Hammer III, better known to his fellow villagers as Tibbles, was a carpenter who lived in a small town named Gravesfield. He was a rather short and plump person and with a red nose, so red that the neighborhood kids teased him by nicknamed him 'Master Cherry'; he had rather large ears and a very broad face, which gave him an appearance quite similar to that of a pig, and it was no coincidence that the rumor spread throughout the city that he hid a real pig's tail inside his trousers. He always wore his purple shirt with white sleeves, the only 'high class' garment he owned, because so he could make a good impression on customers; and he always had two large glasses on his face, even if they were fake, because they gave him a more intellectual look.
There was little to say, Tibbles was a professional cheater: he cheated on his appearance and his products, since the furniture he made was almost never as he described it. He was willing to use any loophole to make money. And in fact when he found the piece of wood in front of his door he didn't wonder how it ended up there, or why it had that strange color; his only thought was, "Wonderful! It's already blue, so I can save on dye! Nor will I make a tea table for the high class! Oh, with this color, it will be perfect! Exotic enough to attract the attention of some nobleman silly! I'll tell them that this wood is a rarity coming from... well, at the moment I can't think of anything, but I'll invent something! In the meantime, let's get busy!"
And having said this he grabbed the piece of wood to take it into his carpentry shop, and dragged it with quite a bit of difficulty due to his short and plump body which wasn't exactly suited to physical activity. But as he dragged it, Tibbles realized something strange: it was as if the piece of wood was resisting. Confused he looked down and noticed that some scraps of branches were hitting the floor. The vision disturbed Tibbles: they were strangely reminiscent of fingers, as if a person was being dragged away by an attacker and was desperately grasping the ground in an attempt to resist. Tibbles felt uncomfortable for a moment, but then shook her head and resumed dragging him. "I'm letting my imagination run a little too far today" he grumbled. "A piece of wood that resists... tsk. What comes to mind? It must be because I just woke up. Clearly, what's happening is my fault: I didn't check to see if this piece of wood wood still had some twigs stuck to it so I dragged it away the wrong way! Yep, I'm just the fool!"
And having reassured himself, he finished dragging the piece of wood to his work table and rubbed his hands. "Mh, let's see... to turn it into a coffee table, I will have to cut it into two parts first. Therefore, this is the right tool!" he said grabbing a large axe. He raised it in the air as if he were an executioner ready to behead a condemned man, and then brought it down with all the strength he had; but at the last second the piece of wood rolled away, and Tibbles ended up only hitting his work table. The impact was such that the little man was almost thrown away.
"What the… did this piece of wood just move on its own!?" Tibbles exclaimed. "No, impossible... I must have made a mistake. Actually, no; probably a woodworm gnawed through one of the legs of my work table last night, and so now it's slightly tilted. Well, no problem: I can slice this piece of wood even while it's on the floor!"
Tibbles brought the axe down again, but again the piece of wood rolled away as if moved by some will; he tried again, and the same scene repeated itself again. At that point Tibbles was really upset. But he was even more disturbed when the few twigs that remained attached to the piece of wood began to rustle, producing a sound that was very similar to a tiny little voice saying: "Don't hurt me!"
"But... what does that mean? Could this piece of wood have learned to move and speak like a person!?" Tibbles murmured, then he shook his head vehemently: "No... no, it can't be. This must all be the fault of the four beers I downed in the pub last night. There's nothing strange about this piece of wood!"
He said it with a certain confidence, but still for safety he took a rope and this time tied the piece of wood to his work table; after which he went to retrieve his axe. But as he picked it up he noticed that the piece of wood was moving in a strange way: it was clearly shaking, as if it wanted to free itself from the rope. Fear gripped his heart and in a frenzy he ran towards the work table and tried to hit it, but before he could do so the rope broke and the piece of wood rolled away again.
Tibbles stepped back, shaking like a leaf, clutching the axe in his hands and holding it above his head as if there were a terrible enemy before him. "No, I didn't imagine it this time! This piece of wood must be magical! Oh, damn... what if it's witchcraft? What can I do!? What..."
Just then there was a loud knock on the door. Tibbles, who at that moment wanted to think about everything except the piece of wood, took the opportunity to focus on what interested him most: money. If someone had knocked on the door, then there must have been a customer, and a customer always brought money. So, completely oblivious to the oddity that was currently on the floor of his woodshop, he threw the axe away and ran to the door with a smile on his face. This smile, however, completely disappeared when he saw who was on the other side. "Oh... it's you, Camila"
In the doorway of Tibbles' carpentry shop stood a woman; she had tanned skin, a medium build and brown eyes. Her name was Camila Noceda and she was known throughout the city for her good heart and for the wonderful puppets she made; however, Tibbles only knew her as a nuisance, as she often came to his woodshop to ask if he had any wood left over. He was in fact the only carpenter that Camila could turn to since he was practically the only one in the town, so even though she clearly didn't appreciate the man very much she was forced to go to him. Normally Tibbles would have been happy about this, since he could earn a lot of money, but Camila had one major flaw, at least from his point of view: she was poor, which meant that Tibbles only got a few coins from her any time.
And Tibbles was sure that this time would be even worse than the others. In fact, Camila had recently been the victim of a tragedy that was talked about throughout the town: the death of her husband Manny. Camila had been devastated by that event and she hadn't worked for over a month, and she had also had to pay funeral expenses; in a way Tibbles could see the effects of the woman's pain still on her, as until a few weeks ago she had worn her hair in a bun with two fringes swept outwards, but now it had grown out and become curlier and a gray streak had appeared on one side, a sign that she hadn't spent much time caring for them. Tibbles didn't care about what the woman was going through anyway: all he cared about was that Camila was already poor before, and now, after funeral expenses and a month of inactivity, she was certainly even poorer. Meaning, no money for him. "Let me guess: you want some pieces of wood"
Camila nodded sadly. "Yes, Tibbles. I have to start carving puppets again... I can't stop working if I want to keep eating"
Tibbles snorted. From his point of view, Camila could easily eat like a queen if she wanted: she was loved throughout the town, which meant that anyone would be ready to host her if she asked. The complete opposite of Tibbles, practically. But Camila was a too good and honest woman to live at the expense of others, and she would never have accepted a handout. "How much money do you have?"
Camila showed to him some copper coins. Tibbles couldn't have bought even a piece of firewood with them. He wanted to chase the woman away, but he knew it was better not to do it: he already had the reputation of a cheater, he didn't need to also have the reputation of a person who refused to help a desperate widow. And if that widow was Camila, a woman loved by everyone, the situation for him would not have been rosy at all. "Come with me to the lab, I'll give you some scraps" he then told her.
Once at the laboratory, Tibbles started rummaging through his things, while Camila immediately noticed the piece of wood on the floor; she was immediately interested in its strange coloring. "What wood is this?" she asked.
"Uh... er... I have no idea, actually. I found it on my doorstep this morning. A gift, I guess" Tibbles responded nervously, looking at the piece of wood that he was now sure was haunted. Quickly he picked up some scraps of wood and brought them to the woman: "Here you are. This is the best I can give you... ouch!"
Tibbles felt his foot hit, as if someone had kicked him; he looked down and saw the piece of haunted wood that had rolled right onto his ankle. A shiver ran down his spine; now he just wanted to get rid of that strange piece of wood, so he did something that he had never done in his life: "Wait, take this one too! I give it to you!"
Camila looked at Tibbles with suspicious eyes. "Really?" she asked, knowing very well the man's stingy and miserly personality.
Tibbles shrugged. "I also have a heart, even if I don't use it often. And you're going through a bad time, so... I'll give you this gift. I don't know what wood it is, but it's certainly precious. It will help you restart your activity. Consider it one of my rare acts of generosity"
Camila raised an eyebrow: she knew for a fact that Tibbles didn't have the slightest scruple and that he would never give something away just out of generosity, and therefore there must definitely be something behind it. However, she was in no position to refuse: at the moment, the more wood she had available to make puppets, the better for her. So she took the oddly colored piece of wood, along with all the others Tibbles had sold her, and she said: "Well, thank you. That's very kind of you..."
"Yes, yes, I understand! Now go away, before I think again!" Tibbles said pushing her towards the door, which he then closed behind the woman. Camila thought the man had been strangely hasty, as if he couldn't wait to get rid of her. Even though she was suspicious, she couldn't do anything to understand what was happening, so she simply went towards her small shop, which was also her home.
Camila's workshop was very small, and currently it was also very bare: normally it had always been full of puppets of all shapes, colors and sizes, but for more than a month Camila hadn't carved anything anymore. She hadn't felt the need: Manny was the one who sold the puppets she created, so why create them if no one would sell them anyway? However, a month after the funeral, she had steeled herself and decided that she couldn't continue to remain inactive, so she had to get back to work. So she sat down at her desk and began carving new puppets using the pieces of wood that Tibbles had given her. However, she didn't use the piece of wood with the strange shade; she didn't know why, but something inside her told her that it wasn't suitable for just a random puppet, so she left it aside waiting for inspiration to strike.
Within a few hours, the shop was filled again with puppets crowding the shelves. A nostalgic smile appeared on Camila's face: she felt like she had gone back to when Manny was still with her. The two had always been together ever since they got married, and not a day had gone by without them expressing their love. For Camila, losing Manny had been like losing a part of her; but she had to go on for him too, because he had asked her this on his deathbed. After all, suffering so much when a person died was the price to pay for having loved that person so much; Camila had no regrets.
Or rather, she had one regret: that she and Manny had never managed to have a child. Camila had always wanted to be a mother, and Manny would undoubtedly be a wonderful father; but unfortunately they had never managed to generate a new life. Camila sighed, finding herself fantasizing about what their baby would be like. Preferably she would have wanted a girl: sure, she would have loved a boy equally, but if she could have the choice than she would have wanted a girl. Who knows what she would have been like... she would have had Manny's eyes and her tanned skin, and maybe her personality would have been a mix of both, or something completely different...
As she thought about it, his gaze fell on the piece of wood with a strange blue hue, which lay forgotten in a corner of the room. Suddenly, Camila had an idea, and for some reason she felt it was the right idea. "I have decided: I will make a puppet that is like the daughter I imagined! There is enough wood here to create a puppet the size of... hm, I would say a fourteen or fifteen year old girl? I like it. Let's do it!"
And so she got to work and carved the piece of wood with extreme precision; and strangely the work came very easy to her, almost as if the piece of wood was becoming softer for her, or was turning slightly allowing her to always cut the right places without ever making mistakes. It was as if the piece of wood was alive and wanted to take shape. And Camila didn't ask herself any questions: at that moment in her mind there was only the desire to finish her work. She meticulously carved every hair, every eyebrow, every single detail of the puppet, and she forgot absolutely nothing. When she finished, she placed her work on the desk and stepped back to admire the result.
What she had created was a puppet with the features of a girl of about fourteen; just like Camila she had tanned skin and dark brown hair, but it was shorter than hers, and styled in a pixie cut that vaguely resembled Manny's; her eyes were light brown, just like her late husband's, but also held a light golden hue like hers. Her attire consisted of a pair of ebony earrings, a half-white, half-indigo short-sleeved hooded shirt with cat ears attached to the hood, dark gray high-waisted shorts, and a pair of white loafers.
Camila couldn't help but sigh as she looked at her. The puppet was so well carved that she seemed as if at any moment it could breathe and come to life. She was just the perfect fusion she had always imagined between herself and Manny. "Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. What name should I give you?" she murmured, touching her wooden hair. She looked into the puppet's eyes and noticed that strangely the faint golden hue in her eyes seemed to shine, as if she were giving off her own light. That gave her an idea. "Luz! Yes, it's perfect! Luz Noceda! From today this will be your name. And here you can feel comfortable" she said, placing her on a shelf, from which the puppet could admire the entire shop. Assuming she had real eyes and a functioning brain of course, two things that she didn't have.
Camila knew that that was just a piece of wood and not her real daughter, but she was still happy that she had made it. It almost felt like just looking at her warmed her heart. It was only then that she realized that it had grown dark outside. "Uh, damn! I better go to sleep, tomorrow I'll have to reopen the shop. Well... goodnight, Luz"
And having said this he went to his room and went to bed; but before falling asleep she cast one last glance at the puppet on the shelf, and this generated a smile that she could no longer take off her face. And so it was that she fell asleep, and for the first time since Manny had left she slept peacefully, even if with a very slight note of sadness: in fact a desire had formed in her heart that she knew was unattainable, but which in any case did not she would have been sorry for it to come true: for her Luz to become a real girl...
And so let's start this crazy experiment. Who knows what will come out of it... well, after all, the funniest stories come from the craziest ideas, right?
In case anyone needs context because you are unfamiliar with the story of Pinocchio, in Collodi's original novel he is created from a piece of wood found by Master Cherry who then gives it to his friend Geppetto. In this story the role of Master Cherry is played by Tibbles and is a little different from the original as I chose to show his unscrupulous nature, and that of Geppetto is obviously played by Camila. After all, I never understood why, in the original story, Master Cherry should have given a friend of his a piece of wood that he himself thought was haunted. I think Geppetto should choose his friends better...
I would like to point out that in the next chapters I will also add notes to explain the dynamics of the story and how they differ or are similar to the original story. So don't worry, you don't need to be an expert on one of the most famous stories in the world to read it! Just have fun, after all, as we've already established, this is a crazy experiment.
ATTENTION: this story is currently being published on the Archive of Our Own website, with 2 chapters per day, approximately at around 9 am and 9 pm according to Rome daylight saving time. Here on this site I will post the chapters once a week. I recommend reading the version on the original site, but you will have one here too. Enjoy the reading!