Basic Trope: Obsessively, furiously, and/or compulsively scrubbing oneself clean as a response to guilt, disgust, or trauma.
- Straight: Pete Perkins, after getting raped by Tommy Sharpe (along with other unsavory things that Pete was forced to endure), he gains a Character Tic in which he nervously scrubs himself off, particularly in the bum area.
- Exaggerated: Pete is constantly scrubbing himself after having to endure horrors beyond his comprehension.
- Downplayed:
- Pete offhandedly remarks that he needs to take a shower after meeting Tommy, though he doesn't go further than that.
- Pete rubs his mouth instead, and often washes it a lot. Whether this was due to suffering a forced kiss from Tommy or being forced to give him a blowjob is unknown.
- Justified: Pete feels "dirty" metaphorically, after being used and abused by someone he genuinely looked up to. He can't stop scrubbing himself because no matter how hard he tries to stay "clean", he'll always be haunted by Tommy and the horrific memories of getting raped.
- Inverted: Pete often scrubs or scratches himself as a natural Character Tic, but he stops doing it once he endures a traumatic event.
- Subverted: Pete decides that he shouldn't scrub...
- Double Subverted: ...In public. In private, he tends to take showers that are three hours long.
- Parodied:
- Even merely talking to Tommy causes the squeakiest clean characters to scrub themselves for hours on end. That is how much of a slimeball Tommy is.
- Inexplicably, random chunks of dirt, mud, and other filth tend to grow on Pete or any of Tommy's victims.
- Zig-Zagged: Whether or not Pete scrubs himself out of trauma is Depending on the Writer.
- Averted: Pete doesn't scrub himself clean after getting raped by Tommy.
- Enforced: It's a good way to show that someone's traumatized.
- Lampshaded: "No matter how hard I try, I don't think I can ever get myself clean..."
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Pete refuses to scrub himself, and gets therapy instead.
- Discussed: Pete's friends discuss his new Character Tic of scrubbing himself, especially after news of Tommy's pedophilia had been brought to light.Flash: After what Tommy did t'Pete... I oughta' crush that fuck fer defilin' 'im. Kid won't stop scrubbin' 'imself, an' it just makes me sick that guys like Tommy can even walk around as free men.Eddie: Poor Pete, even though he may be spotless, he'll still always consider himself Defiled Forever.Harry: I can't believe it! Tommy Sharpe was always presented as the darling of today, while Pete suffered under him for who knows how long... It's sickening enough that he's a pedo who hurt our friend, and it's even more so when I found out that even my dad has been partaking in that sick fuck's child molestation parties! God, I can only imagine how much worse their victims are having it...
- Conversed: ???
- Implied:
- Pete scrubs himself all the time, but when asked about why, he can only respond in shudders and muttering about how Tommy Sharpe "wasn't all that cool".
- It's well known that Pete has been raped, and while people say he's been grooming himself a lot more than usual, it's ambiguous as to whether he's either trying to look good or trying to clean himself after getting violated by Tommy.
- Played for Drama: Normally done as is.
I tried Scrubbing Off the Trauma, but all I managed to scrub off was some skin...
