Basic Trope: Somebody licks an injury they have.
- Straight: Alice cuts her hand and then starts licking at the injury.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice spends an hour licking at her cut.
- Alice gets severely beat-up during a fight and starts licking herself all over like a cat.
- Downplayed:
- Justified:
- Alice isn't thinking straight or doesn't know the risks of licking wounds, so she's just acting on instinct.
- Alice is a cat.
- Alice is an alien whose saliva can make injuries go away.
- Alice mistakenly thinks her saliva can make injuries go away, due to being an ancient Celtic woman, or a little girl who took "kiss it better" too literally.
- Inverted: Alice gets a cut on her tongue and tries to avoid using it.
- Subverted: Alice gets a cut on her finger and considers licking it, but changes her mind.
- Double Subverted: She changes her mind again.
- Parodied: Alice cuts her finger, so Zurg, an alien whose saliva has medicinal products, has to lick it. This feels very awkward for the both of them.
- Zigzagged: Alice has a long think about whether or not to lick the cut on her finger.
- Averted:
- Alice does not get injured.
- Alice does not even consider licking her injuries.
- Enforced:
- Lampshaded: "Uh, Alice, 'lick your wounds' is usually just an expression."
- Invoked: Bob, an old man, tells Alice, "Just lick the cut; that's what everyone did back in my day."
- Exploited:
- Defied: Alice refuses licking her wound lest she get an infection.
- Discussed: "Is it safe to lick a minor cut?"
- Conversed: "Eww, does this character not realise that saliva isn't sterile? Why is she licking her cut?!"
- Implied:
- Deconstructed:
- Reconstructed:
- Played for Laughs: A Fantastic Anthropologist thinks human saliva must have medicinal properties due to observing humans licking their wounds.
- Played for Drama: Alice ends up getting sepsis as a result of licking her cut.
- Played for Horror: Licking her wound gives Alice a zombie infection.
Back to Wound Licking.
