"I know you're upset, but please, don't be too angry with Adrien," Tikki said the minute they were alone, "He doesn't know any better."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Marinette asked, a touch angrily.
"You know how sometimes you'll be babysitting Manon and turn on her favorite tv shows?" Tikki asked.
"Yeah," Marinette replied.
"And how every single one of them has an episode about bullying?" Tikki continued.
"Yeah…" Marinette said.
"And how whenever one of them comes on I get so angry you have to change the channel for fear of me giving myself away?" Tikki said.
"What is with that, anyway?" Marinette asked, "I've always thought that was weird for you."
"What's with that is that every single one of them has the same 'moral'," By all rights Tikki should have sprained something putting the air quotes around moral, "Don't fight back, don't defend yourself, let the bully use you as a doormat because if you don't, that makes you a bully too. It's stupid and shortsighted and it makes me so angry, but it's what children nowadays are being taught. Often it's not until they are actually put into those situations that they learn that it doesn't work, and it leaves them without any recourse at all."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Marinette asked.
"Marinette, think! This is the first time Adrien's attended school, the first time he's ever dealt with a bully like Lila. All he knows about bullies was taught to him by children's entertainment, which means he still thinks that if you ignore a bully long enough, they'll go away. He really doesn't know any better, and so he gave you the best advice he knew how to give."
"I guess that makes sense," Marinette said, "I didn't really want to be mad at him, but I also didn't know what to think."
"I am proud of you, Marinette," Tikki told her, "You've handled yourself very well these last few days."
"Thanks, Tikki," Marinette smiled, "I don't suppose you have any thoughtful insights into the rest of my classmates."
"Hmm…" Tikki made a show of thinking about it, "In my experience, something one of Plagg's previous chosen once said is always effective. Human's today call it Hanlon's Razor."
'Oh yeah? What's that?" Marinette asked.
" 'Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity'," Tikki said.
Marinette stared at Tikki. Tikki stared back. Then Marinette snorted, and before long both of them were rolling on the ground laughing.