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#meanwhile making that effort (even if you're still learning!) proves that you actually care about my experiences
mlwritingprompts · 2 years
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Submitted prompt:
Okay first as a note I've seen similar prompts where Kagami learns about the Lila situation but I'm not sure I've ever seen any that address how her perspective might be influenced by the fact her mom is blind. Also I'm sorry this is so long, this is my first time sending in a prompt so I apologize if I messed up or made it too out of character.
(There's no such thing as a prompt that's too long :) )
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Kagami would probably learn about part of the Lila situation from Adrien and would criticize the advice he gave to Marinette. From that point she'd probably seek out Marinette and ask for her side of the story. She'd probably start out pretty understanding and feeling pretty sympathetic at the beginning, considering the way she ended up as Oni-chan as a result of Lila's actions.
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However, her reaction would pretty quickly shift into horror at hearing Marinette recount the whole seating situation. She can't believe what she's hearing, meanwhile Marinette is pretty oblivious to the fact, as she's just glad to finally vent and rant about everything going on in class so she just keeps going and it makes everything worse.
At some point (probably relatively fast cause I don't imagine her sitting through that for very long) Kagami would cut Marinette off and shut her down. She'd cut to the point real quick.
How did she think Kagami would feel about her trying to "prove" someone isn't disabled? When her own mother has to put up with jerks claiming she's faking being blind or some other nonsense all the time?
You could probably hear a pin drop and Marinette is pretty aware that she's unleashed hellfire on herself at this point.
Perhaps Marinette would try to defend herself ("We know Lila's lying though!"). Her feeble attempts would only further Kagami's rage however ("How do you know that? What if you'd actually injured her in your attempts to catch her in her lies? Would you throw something at my mother if you thought she was lying about her disability? I don't care if what you decided to throw was a napkin! You're still throwing things at her!").
Looks like telling her about the napkin incident was a mistake.
At first Marinette wouldn't get it. She'd probably wonder why Kagami would be more upset at her trying to expose Lila's lies than the fact that Lila was faking her disabilities.
If she were to voice such an opinion, Kagami would once again shut it down immediately ("It's not about if Lila is faking or not! It's about the fact that someone I considered to be my friend is being incredibly ignorant right now! People with disabilities aren't obligated to prove themselves to you! Even if you don't like them or you think they might be lying or whatever other way you want to spin it!").
Kagami would probably keep going and bring up different questions.
How would Marinette treat Kagami if she was in Lila's shoes and needed to be moved to the front? Would she try and call Kagami out in front of the entire class and accuse her of faking it?
Marinette would of course vehemently deny she'd ever treat Kagami like that.
And Kagami would go for the final blow ("Really? Even before we became friends?").
I think it'd sink in for Marinette at that point specifically because she'd remember her behavior towards Kagami before she realized her assumptions about her weren't correct (for example her prior efforts to sabotage or humiliate Kagami before realizing she just wanted to make friends). Would she treat Kagami the way she treated Lila if she still viewed her as being an enemy? Would she allow her dislike of Kagami back then to cloud her judgement? Would she try to make Kagami "prove" that she was disabled the same way she was trying to do with Lila?
Marinette would be left to think about things and to question how she treated Lila and how she genuinely messed up.
It could just end there or it could continue with Marinette making the effort to try and make things right with her classmates and Lila (for being ableist towards her; just in case anyone comes at me for seeming like I'm being too sympathetic towards Lila and trying to make Mari apologize for like everything). And repairing her friendship with Kagami, though that one might take a while.
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seyaryminamoto · 7 years
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One interesting point here: being conquered by Azula was objectively better for the citizens of Ba Sing Se than being under the thumb of Long Feng. Sure, you're not free, but you don't risk being brainwashed! I don't think there is any villain in the show that compares to Long Feng in pure evilness: his brainwashing shtick is just horrific, and I think that's why even the pragmatic, super-loyal, all-about-the-mission Azula rejects this (very effective, as we're shown in the cartoon) tool.
It’s a fair enough assessment… Long Feng is definitely in the ranks of self-serving villains on the show, rather than those who worked to achieve missions or for learned beliefs (such as Azula, naturally, or even Zuko during Book 1).
What is clear, though, is that the first lot of villains aren’t usually as effective as Azula is. It’s probably why people are more ready to point at Azula as the most evil thing ever, even over her own father, who’s not just the one who sent her on her missions, but the one who raised her into being who she is. But Ozai, Zhao, Long Feng… all three of them are pretty much self-serving. Ozai’s motivations are either just to follow on the footsteps of his forefathers (most likely), or he’s just a madman who wants to watch the world burn. Zhao wants glory, fame, renown, he’s a man who wants to be remembered forevermore, from the looks of it.
And then there’s Long Feng… and Long Feng turns out to be the more clever of the three. He’s in it for power, not so much for glory: he’s a puppeteer, who wants to have full control over his city. And truly, we see he’s going to stop at nothing to maintain that control. He has brainwashed countless people, filled Kuei’s mind with fantasy, kept him oblivious to the war being waged outside the city walls (surely by taking care of the war effort himself, but he must do this as secretly as he can, if he’s to keep Kuei in the dark about the war). Long Feng doesn’t care about the Earth Kingdom as much as he cares about being the mastermind behind the crown. He cares about having power, about never again being the weak boy he once was, who had to struggle and connive on his way to becoming someone important.
His motivations are a lot clearer than Ozai’s or Zhaos, and his MO is something I personally see as that of a twisted dictator. It reminds me of what hapens in my country, all that brainwashing: TV and radio stations get shut down if they dare report on the chaos in the streets or the state of the economy. Any criticism of the government and you risk disappearing or being chased out of the city/country for your troubles. Long Feng’s Lake Laogai is a different way to achieve this effect, only, people will turn up again, as Jet did (after his brainwashing session, I mean). People will notice the difference in behavior, but they probably will think they just learned better than to question the Earth King and his men! And in the end, both in my country and in Ba Sing Se, the official version of the story is: nothing’s wrong. Everything’s fine. Dare say otherwise and you’re going to vanish too.
In short… Long Feng is the intelligent politician. The tyrant in the shadows, waiting for the right opportunity to seize full power. If he thought the Earth Kingdom could stand a chance against the Fire Nation and that seizing this chance would grant him more control over the world, chances are he’d go for it, if you ask me. 
So yes, Long Feng is simply not as resourceful or charismatic as Azula, not as efficient, not as effective: but he was nothing short of a dictator. His methods prove as much. Azula’s apparent tyranny still had Joo Dee, of all people, instated into power while she left for the Fire Nation? If anything, at least it’s more honest on her part to outright show who her puppet is and who’s really pulling the strings here, a lot more honest than what Long Feng did. Naturally, both forms of government were authoritarian, but we’re talking about an era without democracy so yeah, who could expect otherwise in the first place? And yes, Azula is terrifying, and opened the eyes of Ba Sing Se to the truth in the world: but she didn’t kill any Earth Kingdom people in her conquest of the city. No idea what happens to anyone who dares rebel against her rule after she took the city, but we don’t see her ruling Ba Sing Se at all, let alone with an iron fist, because she’d rather take off to the Fire Nation than be Earth Queen elsewhere. So I’d think it’s fair, although no doubt people will disagree, that Azula’s rule on Ba Sing Se may have had a few perks compared to Long Feng’s era. At least she might have started an era without brainwashing, eh? :’D
And indeed, I agree with your assessment about the degrees in evil. And you’re also quite right to bring up that Azula canonically didn’t resort to brainwashing anyone for any of her purposes, despite she had the Dai Li who could have easily brainwashed anyone for her. I remember a fic where she did resort to their abilities for this purpose, but indeed, it’s a fic. Canon-wise, she elects not to: I think Azula rather enjoys proving others wrong through wit and arguments, or she just loves teasing them to no end. Unlike Long Feng, who couldn’t risk anyone ruining his forced utopia, Azula seems to enjoy banter and dealing with people who oppose her (see Day of Black Sun Part 2…). She likes having something to fight against. She’s definitely controlling in her own way, but she would rather wield her authority to keep people in check rather than brainwash them into absolute obedience.
It’s curious too… because Azula actually wants to know if people would like her as she is, for who she is. That’s what her little experiment in the Beach was about, even though most people don’t seem to understand it. She wanted to find out whether or not she could make friends (well… if she could get a boyfriend, rather) without them knowing she was royal, If she could bring people to like her as she was, without resorting to fear and authority to achieve it. And that really says a lot about her character, if you ask me. This girl really wanted to make solid bonds with other people. Meanwhile, Long Feng brainwashes anyone who dares defy him. No doubt there’s a key difference in the fact that Azula is a teenage girl and Long Feng a fully grown-ass man, but still. For someone who’s so frequently described as controlling and manipulative, there’s a fair share of characters in the Avatar franchise that outdo Azula in that department by MILES, and Long Feng is one of them.
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