Basic Trope: Mourning over a presumed deceased character when they are in the vicinity.
- Straight: A lion escapes from the zoo. When Alice sees the lion chewing on Bob's shoe, she thinks he ate Bob and starts to cry. Bob then shows up and says, "Hey, Alice, why so sad? I can easily get new shoes if he spoils that one", Alice replies, "Not now Bob, I'm too busy grieving for Bob". Then, she says, "Wait—you're Bob!" and starts crying Tears of Joy while Bob and the lion watch, bemused.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice spends all day crying over Bob, who keeps reminding her "I'm right there," but she just brushes it off with "Go away, Bob, Bob's dead"
- Bob and Alice staged the lion breakout to make it look like Bob died and when Bob Attending Your Own Funeral, Alice starts crying as if he really died, despite being right next to him, and him wearing a Paper-Thin Disguise.
- Downplayed: Alice realizes Bob's there but decides she'd better make sure and does a Spot the Impostor test before finding out it's really Bob.
- Justified: Alice is The Ditz or had a slight lapse in judgement.
- Inverted: Bob dies but Alice thinks Bob's okay and is celebrating while Charlie tries to point out he's dead.
- Subverted:
- Alice says, "Just kidding, I knew you were there"
- Bob realizes that Alice can't hear anything he's saying; a few moments later, a skeleton in a black cloak comes to lead him away.
- Double Subverted: The cloaked skeleton turns out to be a lost cosplayer and Alice notices Bob after a few moments.
- Parodied:
- Bob takes a hold of the Idiot Ball and starts mourning himself after seeing Alice cry over him. Then, the lion can talk and says, "Am I the Only Sane Man around here?"
- Alice, upon seeing Bob 'dead', cheers, and talks of how she never liked him anyway. Naturally, this is quite off putting to Bob.
- Alice mistakes Bob for a ghost or a zombie and socks him in the face.
- Averted: Alice realizes Bob is alive as soon as he shows up.
- Zigzagged: ???
- Enforced: To cheer the viewers up after crying with Alice when they think the lion ate Bob by throwing in some comedy.
- Lampshaded: "I'm right here, obviously alive, so how come you're still crying over me?"
- Invoked: Bob fakes his own death by putting the shoe in the lion's mouth just to see what Alice would do when she sees it and then sees him.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Alice refuses to mourn someone who's obviously alive.
- Discussed: "How come when Alice thought the lion ate me, she said 'Not now, Bob, I'm too busy grieving for Bob'? That doesn't make sense"
- Conversed: "I've seen it before and Alice was holding the Idiot Ball when she said 'Not now Bob, I'm too busy grieving for Bob', but even so it was comedy gold!"
- Implied: Alice is still teary-eyed and sad when Bob is in the vicinity.
- Played for Laughs: Alice plans Bob's funeral after seeing his shoe in the lion's mouth, which Bob attends just to see what everyone says. He is flattered when Alice says, "He was such a good friend," says "Well, you'd better be" when his brother Charlie says "And I'm sorry I stole his candy when we were children", blushes when his Love Interest Diana says "And I had a crush on him", and says, "Hey!" when his Jerk with a Heart of Gold friend Edwin says "It's his stupid fault!"
- Played for Drama: Alice justifiably wanted Bob dead, maybe even arranged the "lethal" accident, but has to pretend she's sad about his seeming death because she's the only one who knows how truly awful he is. When Bob shows up, Dramatic Irony ensues as Alice goes from happy and pretending to mourn, to horrified as she pretends she's relieved to see him alive.
Back to Not Now, We're Too Busy Crying Over You
