#but i love the slowburn shrinking trope and i wanna see more of it!

[itsybitsybatsy]

I've been lurking in the G/t community for long enough, so I figure it's about time I introduce my OCs! They're the main characters of my current WIP called "Dwindle and Diminish".

Basic premise? Sizeshifter protagonist participates in a fantasy heist, with the catch that he's cursed to slowly shrink away into nothing so long as he has these powers. Now he's on a quest to find the cursed contract that gave him these strange abilities and destroy it, before he completely shrinks away into nothing altogether. In the meantime, he learns how to not only accept his situation but take advantage of it, utilizing every new shrunken size to its maximum potential in his quest to become a master thief.

Anyway, meet Emory Bloom (shifter) and Lucy Fox (normie), the two main protagonists of Dwindle!

(Apologies for using a Picrew instead of drawing the characters myself 😔 I unfortunately lack any real art skills, so hopefully this will suffice instead!)

A few years ago, Lucy got into a car wreck that killed her entire family, leaving her as the sole survivor - unfortunately, that same accident also left her in a heavily vegetative state. Emory, one of her only living relatives, took charge as her primary caregiver, and has sacrificed his life and happiness to give her the best quality of life he can. But with little to no support system to help, Em consistently feels inadequate and wishes he could do more.

One day, Em is presented with the chance of a lifetime: accept a curse that will steal away about a foot in height, and in exchange receive the magical powers needed to restore Lucy's health to her pre-accident condition. This seems like a pretty sweet deal on paper, but it quickly becomes apparent that the contract is trying to steal a lot more than just twelve inches.

Determined to put a stop to his shrinking curse, Em and Lucy put together a team of thieves to help them steal the contract draining his soul before it's too late. All the while Emory finds new and inventive ways to take advantage of his dwindling state to help him become a better thief.

Basic personalities:

Emory (initially 6'3" but gradually shrinking) - responsible, mature, and very polite to strangers, but with a profoundly sharp wit and deadpan/sarcastic sense of humor around loved ones. He's very patient and empathetic, and strongly characterized by his intense loyalty to Lucy (as well as everyone he cares about). Has a problem with being self-sacrificial, associating his worth as a person with his ability to care for others. As a result, he can be a bit of a pushover at times. He used to have a passion for his aquarium hobby, but gave up a lot of his own personal interests in order to invest more of himself into Lucy's care. Now that her health is restored and she doesn't need a caregiver anymore, Em is slowly rediscovering all those passions again.

Lucy (5'4") - fierce and passionate, very artistic and creative and pours herself into everything she does. Can be loud and abrasive and impatient, but that's how you know she likes you. Because when she's genuinely mad, her rage is cold and silent and terrifying. Loves reading, writing, art, and cooking. Any kind of artistic pursuit is something she will gladly experiment with. However, she's also burdened by a strong weight of guilt. She blames herself for the car accident that killed her family, she blames herself for Em giving up his happiness to take care of her, and most of all she blames herself for Em taking on the curse to restore her health. She sees this as her fault, and therefore her responsibility to fix - no matter the cost.

For years, Em acted as Lucy's caregiver. But as Em becomes increasingly smaller, that dynamic switches - now, Lucy is the one responsible for taking care of Em instead of the other way around. And for Em, who considers his existence to be a burden and that he must always take care of others in order to prove his worth (and also has a boatload of trust issues)...well, you can imagine that he doesn't handle this change very well.

Anyway, I'd be happy to elaborate on the story and characters if anyone is curious! I understand things are a lot less interesting since I don't have any visuals to show you (curse my lack of art skills!), but hopefully this gave you all a good sense of their personalities and dynamic!