Hands Off My Fluffy/Playing With

Basic Trope: Would-be heroes attack a Fluffy Tamer's pet.
 * Straight: Albert, Marcy and Luna see a big red dragon looming menancingly over a cute little pigtailed girl! They rush to her rescue, heroically attacking the dragon -- only for the little girl to counterattack! Turns out that Ruby is Ichigo's beloved pet.
 * Exaggerated: Albert and his friends spot a cute little girl who's completely surrounded by dragons, tigers, snakes and other beasties. Naturally, they rush in to help, only to learn that they're all her pets.
 * Justified: Prior to this point, all of the dragons Albert and his friends have encountered appeared to be Always Chaotic Evil.
 * Inverted: Albert and Marcy see a little girl with a cute bunny near her. It turns out, the bunny is Killer Rabbit and is after said girl.
 * Subverted:
 * Luna coos and squees over how cutely that little girl's playing with her pet dragon. Then the little girl starts screaming like a banshee as the dragon lowers its head...
 * The cute little girl earnestly attacks those who are attacking her pet monster, driving them back, until they realize from her slurred speech, lack of energy, and inability to realize what is going on, that it is draining the life out of her.
 * Double Subverted:
 * ...However, when Albert and the rest rush to her rescue, they learn Ichigo was just upset because Ruby accidentally ripped part of her skirt. Bad Ruby!
 * Except that it wasn't the monster; the monster is actually guarding her while she -- slowly -- recovers from an attack by a life-draining necromancer.
 * Parodied:
 * Albert sees the two of them playing together and attacks Ichigo, trying to protect the dragon.
 * Ichigo stubbornly insists that they're 'just playing' even though Ruby is clearly doing its utmost to kill her.
 * Deconstructed: Since her pet is seen as a threat, with would-be heroes trying to 'save' her from its clutches, Ichigo is driven to the edges of society and becomes cynical and mistrusting. Emperor Evulz takes advantage of this to try and tempt her into joining his forces. It doesn't help that most people who are aware that she's got Ruby well trained automatically assume that makes her evil anyway...
 * Reconstructed: However, after Albert, Marcy and Luna meet her and the intial misunderstanding is cleared up, they quickly accept her into their True Companions, enabling Ichigo to open up and trust other humans again.
 * Zig Zagged: When they first see the two of them together, Albert wants to charge in and protect Ichigo, but Luna points out they're playing. Still, Albert is understandably nervous, and misinterprets their roughhousing as more serious several times. Then Ruby does attack Ichigo, and Albert leaps in to defend her -- but even though she was hurt, Ichigo still tries to defend her pet.
 * Averted: The creature is not anybody's pet.
 * Enforced: ???
 * Lampshaded: ???
 * Invoked: Libby hires Albert to do some dragonslaying, neglecting to mention that he happens to be Ichigo's pet.
 * Exploited: The Necromancer gives Ichigo a dragon, knowing that Albert will attack it and thus lose any chance of getting support to attack the Necromancer.
 * Defied: ???
 * Discussed: ???
 * Conversed: ???
 * Played For Laughs: Ichigo turns out to be far more dangerous than the massive Ruby.
 * Played For Drama: Albert and his friends are sent to slay the 'evil red dragon', unaware that the villagers who sent them already know that Ruby is Ichigo's pet, and just don't care.

Back to Hands Off My Fluffy.