Biographical Information
Name: The Gingerbread Man
Nickname/Alias: Gin
Approximate Age: 29
Source: Old English Fairy Tale, has a few variations. I'm using the traditional anglicized version where he was originally made out of gingerbread... not cake.
Appearance: In Gingerbread form, Gin stands only about five inches tall. His facial features and clothing outlines are made entirely out of icing, though his shirt does come with gumdrop buttons.
In human form, he's of average height and thin with dark blond hair and a sweet trusting appearance. Clothing is generally nothing fancy or expensive, most of it having been stolen over the years while drying on clotheslines. Simple pants, simple shirt (generally with buttons, he likes buttons) and comfortable shoes. After all, comfort is key, he needs to be able to run at top speed in anything he wears if necessary.
Personality: Gin's personality can be generally summed up in a single word... paranoid. Ever since his creation he has been consistently afraid of anything sentient. Everything was a threat to him - being originally made out of nothing but Gingerbread, he was a delectable treat meant for devouring. Adding to the fact that every time he runs, he seems to be chased, Gin is afraid. Very afraid.
He doesn't talk to much of anyone until his trust is earned and that can take an extremely long time. After the instance with the fox, everyone is probably out to 'get' him.
Because of his rather vagrant lifestyle, he's become a bit of a scavenger and to an extent, a thief. If he needs it and sees it unattended, he'll take it with little hesitation. It's not that Gin particularly likes to steal, he just feels that he needs to. To ask someone for something was akin to begging and requiring a level of trust that he would receive it, or worse, to seek employment of some kind and having to be constantly around others.
This constant fear of the world around him leaves Gin rather unhappy. He doesn't like not being able to trust and he certainly doesn't like always feeling like he must be on the run. However, survival seemed to dictate that he do those things and until proven otherwise, he will continue to do so.
For the few that actually encounter and speak to him, Gin comes off nervous, but polite. He did have a cocky streak at his creation, but circumstances that followed taught him to keep that in check. If he really feels he's in the right, or that he will sustain no harm, that cockiness just might come out. “You'll never catch me!”
Strengths: His general cautiousness to the world around enables Gin to very rarely be caught off guard anymore or taken advantage of. Trusting no one has that distinct advantage. He's never a fighter unless no other option is present, opting instead to walk (or in his case, run as fast as those legs will carry him) away. In a fight or flight situation, he will 9.75 times out of 10 opt for flight.
Weaknesses: This same lack of trust that enables him to stay alive also hinders his quality of life. Gin has not been able to make friends, start relationships of any kind, nor reside anywhere that isn't secluded from the world. Fear is a terrible lifestyle which means that he is frequently tired and hungry. Panic, a rather extreme form of fear, has the unfortunate side effect of causing him to revert to his initial created form where it can take hours and sometimes even days to gather himself enough to voluntarily switch back to his more human form.
History: Synopsis of and version of the tale I am using as canon as well as what happened after his tale:
Once upon a time there was a little old man and his wife. They had no children of their own, but not for lack of trying, it seemed it was just not meant to be. One day the little old woman was making gingerbread for her husband. She molded the dough carefully with her hands, all the while wanting and wishing that she had a child to share the gingerbread with. The gingerbread took the shape of a boy, was baked and finally decorated before he leapt up off the table and ran immediately away in fear that he was going to be eaten. That was, after all, what one tended to do with gingerbread.
The couple raced after the boy, only to be told, “Run, run, fast as you can! You'll never catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!”
This mantra was repeated over and over again as the boy encountered various people and creatures in his new world. Not having been raised from a baby, he did not know what the world around him held. Everything was new and frightening. Everything was a potential threat.
By the time he came to a river, Gin was being chased by: the little old woman, the little old man, a barn full of threshers, a field full of mowers, a cow and a pig. Pacing back and forth, it seemed all hope was lost for he could not wade across the river. The water would make him soggy and fall apart. From behind a shrub walked a sly fox, who looked at the Gingerbread Man and was determined to make him lunch. Knowing that the Man would run away, the fox employs all manners of trickery he can.
“I'll help you get across the river...” the fox started and Gin, not knowing that foxes were sly creatures, trusted the animal to aid him. First the fox lures the Man onto his back and begins swimming across the river. Then, as the water gets deeper, he convinces the Man to climb onto his nose. When Gin was upon the foxes nose, the fox reared up and tossed the Man into the air, catching him in his mouth and swallowing him whole.
This is where most feel the story ends, but this is not so. Gin was not so scared that he did not fight for his life. Down through the esophagus and into the stomach, he fought, pounding his little fists and kicking his legs at each bit of tissue he encountered. This caused such an internal ruckus that the fox grew quite ill, retired to it's den in hopes of waiting out the upset in his belly before retching most terribly.
Finding himself still in one piece and quite free, Gin immediately took to hiding until it was safe for him to leave the den and wander out into the great, wide world. Over time, Gin had begun to change. He began to grow. See, for the wish of the old woman who was his creator, Gin was her wish. She wished for a true child. Part of this wish was what brought him into being and the rest of it would allow him to become human.
It wasn't a uniform change, nor was it always in effect. As years passed, certain parts of his body would take human form while others remained to be made of his original form... of gingerbread. As an adult, physically, Gin is able to switch back between forms as necessity dictates. He lives always alone, calling home a shelter built in the trees in the woods. Up high he cannot be gotten (or worse, eaten again) by so many of the creatures he had grown to fear.
Special Abilities: Fleet of foot, Gin possesses a running speed that would be coveted by many an Olympic runner. He has outrun, on numerous occasions, both man and beast. The only thing that had stopped him was the sly fox and the fear of the river. This means he is unlikely to be caught on land... extremely unlikely. However, in rough terrain or over water, he is slower than the average person.
Beyond this, his only other gift lies in his ability to shift between his small gingerbread form and his grown man form. While it can be done with relative ease at will, when panic sets in, Gin is far more likely to revert to his original form rather than think clearly and remain human.
Nickname/Alias: Gin
Approximate Age: 29
Source: Old English Fairy Tale, has a few variations. I'm using the traditional anglicized version where he was originally made out of gingerbread... not cake.
Appearance: In Gingerbread form, Gin stands only about five inches tall. His facial features and clothing outlines are made entirely out of icing, though his shirt does come with gumdrop buttons.
In human form, he's of average height and thin with dark blond hair and a sweet trusting appearance. Clothing is generally nothing fancy or expensive, most of it having been stolen over the years while drying on clotheslines. Simple pants, simple shirt (generally with buttons, he likes buttons) and comfortable shoes. After all, comfort is key, he needs to be able to run at top speed in anything he wears if necessary.
Personality: Gin's personality can be generally summed up in a single word... paranoid. Ever since his creation he has been consistently afraid of anything sentient. Everything was a threat to him - being originally made out of nothing but Gingerbread, he was a delectable treat meant for devouring. Adding to the fact that every time he runs, he seems to be chased, Gin is afraid. Very afraid.
He doesn't talk to much of anyone until his trust is earned and that can take an extremely long time. After the instance with the fox, everyone is probably out to 'get' him.
Because of his rather vagrant lifestyle, he's become a bit of a scavenger and to an extent, a thief. If he needs it and sees it unattended, he'll take it with little hesitation. It's not that Gin particularly likes to steal, he just feels that he needs to. To ask someone for something was akin to begging and requiring a level of trust that he would receive it, or worse, to seek employment of some kind and having to be constantly around others.
This constant fear of the world around him leaves Gin rather unhappy. He doesn't like not being able to trust and he certainly doesn't like always feeling like he must be on the run. However, survival seemed to dictate that he do those things and until proven otherwise, he will continue to do so.
For the few that actually encounter and speak to him, Gin comes off nervous, but polite. He did have a cocky streak at his creation, but circumstances that followed taught him to keep that in check. If he really feels he's in the right, or that he will sustain no harm, that cockiness just might come out. “You'll never catch me!”
Strengths: His general cautiousness to the world around enables Gin to very rarely be caught off guard anymore or taken advantage of. Trusting no one has that distinct advantage. He's never a fighter unless no other option is present, opting instead to walk (or in his case, run as fast as those legs will carry him) away. In a fight or flight situation, he will 9.75 times out of 10 opt for flight.
Weaknesses: This same lack of trust that enables him to stay alive also hinders his quality of life. Gin has not been able to make friends, start relationships of any kind, nor reside anywhere that isn't secluded from the world. Fear is a terrible lifestyle which means that he is frequently tired and hungry. Panic, a rather extreme form of fear, has the unfortunate side effect of causing him to revert to his initial created form where it can take hours and sometimes even days to gather himself enough to voluntarily switch back to his more human form.
History: Synopsis of and version of the tale I am using as canon as well as what happened after his tale:
Once upon a time there was a little old man and his wife. They had no children of their own, but not for lack of trying, it seemed it was just not meant to be. One day the little old woman was making gingerbread for her husband. She molded the dough carefully with her hands, all the while wanting and wishing that she had a child to share the gingerbread with. The gingerbread took the shape of a boy, was baked and finally decorated before he leapt up off the table and ran immediately away in fear that he was going to be eaten. That was, after all, what one tended to do with gingerbread.
The couple raced after the boy, only to be told, “Run, run, fast as you can! You'll never catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!”
This mantra was repeated over and over again as the boy encountered various people and creatures in his new world. Not having been raised from a baby, he did not know what the world around him held. Everything was new and frightening. Everything was a potential threat.
By the time he came to a river, Gin was being chased by: the little old woman, the little old man, a barn full of threshers, a field full of mowers, a cow and a pig. Pacing back and forth, it seemed all hope was lost for he could not wade across the river. The water would make him soggy and fall apart. From behind a shrub walked a sly fox, who looked at the Gingerbread Man and was determined to make him lunch. Knowing that the Man would run away, the fox employs all manners of trickery he can.
“I'll help you get across the river...” the fox started and Gin, not knowing that foxes were sly creatures, trusted the animal to aid him. First the fox lures the Man onto his back and begins swimming across the river. Then, as the water gets deeper, he convinces the Man to climb onto his nose. When Gin was upon the foxes nose, the fox reared up and tossed the Man into the air, catching him in his mouth and swallowing him whole.
This is where most feel the story ends, but this is not so. Gin was not so scared that he did not fight for his life. Down through the esophagus and into the stomach, he fought, pounding his little fists and kicking his legs at each bit of tissue he encountered. This caused such an internal ruckus that the fox grew quite ill, retired to it's den in hopes of waiting out the upset in his belly before retching most terribly.
Finding himself still in one piece and quite free, Gin immediately took to hiding until it was safe for him to leave the den and wander out into the great, wide world. Over time, Gin had begun to change. He began to grow. See, for the wish of the old woman who was his creator, Gin was her wish. She wished for a true child. Part of this wish was what brought him into being and the rest of it would allow him to become human.
It wasn't a uniform change, nor was it always in effect. As years passed, certain parts of his body would take human form while others remained to be made of his original form... of gingerbread. As an adult, physically, Gin is able to switch back between forms as necessity dictates. He lives always alone, calling home a shelter built in the trees in the woods. Up high he cannot be gotten (or worse, eaten again) by so many of the creatures he had grown to fear.
Special Abilities: Fleet of foot, Gin possesses a running speed that would be coveted by many an Olympic runner. He has outrun, on numerous occasions, both man and beast. The only thing that had stopped him was the sly fox and the fear of the river. This means he is unlikely to be caught on land... extremely unlikely. However, in rough terrain or over water, he is slower than the average person.
Beyond this, his only other gift lies in his ability to shift between his small gingerbread form and his grown man form. While it can be done with relative ease at will, when panic sets in, Gin is far more likely to revert to his original form rather than think clearly and remain human.