Just a copy

      Ginger was never truly happy with her life. She always felt like something was missing.       Yes, she got quite a bit of attention during the winter holidays… But nothing more. And in those episodes, the gingerbread toon was never the one in the spotlight, because there was always someone better near her.       What were all the episodes she was in about? Christmas with Bobbette, or cooking with Cosmo and Sprout. There was never an episode where the focus was solely on Ginger. There was never an episode where Ginger got even a little bit of character development. There was never an episode where Ginger was anything more than Cosmo’s cousin or Bobbette’s friend.       And this upset her.       But Ginger pretended as if everything was alright. She was genuinely happy that her cousin was doing well. She was glad that Cosmo had good friends, good screen time, and even real fans!       She always dreamed of having fans. She dreamed of at least one child giving her a drawing with the words “You are my favorite toon!” But that never happened. The kids did came up to her, but they rarely asked Ginger anything about her life; the questions were always about Cosmo or Bobbette or Sprout. And what about the drawings? In the kids' drawings, she was just a background character, and there was always someone else in the center.       Ginger always tried to do everything as correctly and beautifully as possible. She thought that if she didn’t make mistakes, the public would love her. That is why before the holidays she practiced cooking so that her food would at least be edible. If she cooked as well as Cosmo, she would receive as much attention. Right?..       But every time she made mistakes. Every time her cookies came out burnt, no matter how hard she tried.       She then decided to spend more time on her appearance. Glisten had told her that children were often drawn to colorful characters, so Ginger decided to try adding some color to her look. She stood in front of the mirror in her room every day, carefully applying makeup and perfecting her hair. It took her at least an hour every day.       Before going out in public, she would always ask someone if she looked okay. They would always tell her “yes, you look wonderful” and ask her not to worry about it so much, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t afford to look ridiculous in front of everyone because they would definitely laugh at her.       One day she heard children discussing their favorite toons. She was happy to hear her name, but the rest of the sentence upset her very much. “Ginger seems scary to me, especially with her half of her head missing!” said that child. The others agreed with him, and someone even laughed at that, saying that Ginger was very ugly.       This is what you should expect when you are literally a character in a children’s show… But it still hurt.       The gingerbread toon then hid the bitten off part of her head with her bangs for a long time, hoping that this would make her have more fans. Then, after long conversations with Cosmo and Bobette, she simply accepted this unique thing about herself. But this still did not stop her from putting on makeup with trembling hands to make herself look as presentable as possible.

***

      While watching the comments under the episodes she was in, Ginger often noticed comments about how she was literally a “female version of Cosmo.” And one day, she seriously thought about it.       Yes, Ginger and Cosmo had similarities: both were pastries, both had some kind of make up on their faces made of something frosting, both could cook, both had a best friend who is a main character of the show… And at that moment, Ginger realized that there were a lot of similarities. Too many of them.       One day, when all the toon handlers were distracted by something else, she snuck into the office with the character references; the beta designs of all toons, brief descriptions of their personalities and everything else related to that stuff were stored there. When she found a piece of paper with information about herself, the gingerbread toon was very surprised.       At that moment she regretted finding that piece of paper. At that moment she dreamed of erasing her memory.       “Cosmo, but female.” That’s all what was written about her. That’s what her creator had written about her.       A copy… Ginger was just a copy of Cosmo. Her personality was Cosmo’s personality. Her hobbies were Cosmo’s hobbies. Her friends were Cosmo’s friends. Her whole life was Cosmo’s life. The only original thing she had was her appearance.       Ginger silently put the paper back and went to her room. She locked herself in there, thinking about what she had learned that evening.       Did she tell anyone about it? No. Did she talk to Cosmo after that? Yes, but much less often. Did the toon handlers notice anything wrong? Yes, but they didn’t care. As long as Ginger can entertain the public, they don’t care about her feelings. Did she cry afterward? Yes.       That night she realized she was forever doomed to be just Cosmo’s cousin. That night she knew she would never be a well-known toon. And that night she accepted her fate and stopped fighting.       That evening, Ginger gave up, accepting the fate of being a simple copy of another character.