Darklore Circus

Highlights include:

For your first two years (when you were small) you lived in a foster home with people who raised you into a very polite young man. Two is like you plus me, that's what two is.

Some people adopted you before me and they called you Timmy (which is a stupid name) and they returned your ass almost immediately because you were so annoying at that age.

Like think about how annoying you are right now at seven years old, but way worse.

I'm better than them though, I don't call you Timmy and I wore earplugs to bed for three years because you love to scream at bedtime. Earplugs are like when I roll over and go back to sleep even when you are yelling so so so loud.

I got you at a time in my life when I was really sick (being sick is like when I'm up late because I'm throwing up and you are a very handsome good boy who sits with me) and they had to put me asleep for a procedure. A procedure is like what happened to you when they put you asleep and took your balls away.

✨ PILLOW ✨

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“What d’ya say we skip the small talk and come to the point, Lieutenant,” Lunk said suddenly.

Scott contemplated the line his boot had drawn, then raised his eyes. “All right, Lunk. The fact is, I’m looking for Marlene.”

Lunk spit. “I thought so. What happened, Lieutenant — got lonely for you up there?” He motioned with his chin to the cloudless sky. “Figured maybe you’d passed on a good thing down here, a girl that was only trying to love you the best she knew how?”

That from the guy who had called Marlene a traitor that day in Reflex Point, Scott thought, getting to his feet. “It’s nothing like that, Lunk.”

“Think you can just fly in here with your little jet and pick up where you left off, huh?” Lunk held the ax like a hatchet and shook it in Scott’s face. “Lemmie tell you, you’re way off the mark, Lieutenant. Marlene’s had a rough time of it, but I’ve been helping her. She’s kinda come to rely on me, and I think your showing up is just gonna gum up the works, understand me?”

“Look, Lunk, I just want to talk to her.”

“I’m tellin’ ya how it is, Lieutenant.”

Scott left a brief empty space in the exchange, waiting for Lunk to cool down. “Back at Command everyone’s still scratching their heads about what happened at Reflex Point,” he commenced on a casual note. “There’s a possibility the SDF-3 got itself caught up in the Regis’s exit.” He looked at Lunk. “I think Marlene can help out.”

Lunk glared at him, then threw the ax down into the stump and left it there. “Come on,” he said, storming off across the field in the direction of Roca Negra.

Scott fell in behind him for a silent walk that delivered them fifteen minutes later to two spacious freestanding tents erected side by side on a small parcel of land dotted with olive trees. Lunk’s battered APC was parked off to one side.

“Marlene,” Lunk bellowed, rustling the mosquito-netting front flap of the larger tent.

“Lunk?” Marlene responded from somewhere inside. “You’re back early.”

Scott’s heart broke at the sound of her voice; save for a hint of Southlands Forager accent, it might as well have been that of Marlene Rush.

As the Invid simulagent stepped into the sunlight, luxurious red hair shorn to her shoulders and skin as pale as a Tiresian’s, Scott thought: She is Marlene!

The Regis’s daughter took a moment to absorb the scene before she collapsed into Scott’s slapdash embrace, sighing. “I knew you’d return for me, Scott, I knew you’d return.”

Lunk quickly turned his back to the two of them, afraid they would see his tears.

* * *

Scott immediately realized that Marlene had undergone a profound change since they had last embraced. Marlene then had been alive and vital to his confused thoughts and anxious hands, a woman of human lusts and needs, nothing like the insubstantial being he cradled in his arms now. It was something he could not articulate, but it was obvious to all who dared to look deep enough into her eyes.

Scott led her to the shade, to a canvas-backed chair at the head of a split-log longtable. Lunk positioned himself behind the chair, his large callused hands resting on Marlene’s frail shoulders. “I told ya she was having a rough time of it, Lieutenant. Ya never shoulda come back.”

Marlene patted Lunk’s hand and gazed up at him fondly. “I’m all right, Lunk. Really.”

Scott felt her eyes return to him and swallowed hard as he perched himself on the edge of the table. “Marlene,” he began, “how much do you remember about those last few days at Reflex Point?”

“Only some of it, Scott. I remember when we were all inside the central chamber together. With Sera and Corg and the Queen-Mother.”

“What made the horde — er, the Queen-Mother leave, Marlene? I mena, I’m sure she realized the fleet had plans to irradiate the area, but it seemed like she’d decided to leave before the neutron missiles were launched.”

Marlene nodded and reached across the table for a water bottle. “It’s true, Scott. And something vital left me when she departed.” She took a long pull from the bottle. “I know you sensed it when you held me. I feel as though I’m only half-here, as though if I breathe too deeply I’ll fade from sight. But I have a knowledge of things, Scott, a knowledge that seems undreamed of by any race.”

“Don’t worry,” Lunk said, “I’m not about to let you fade away.”

Marlene squeezed his hand. “You see, Scott, the Queen-Mother finally understood the reasons for all that had happened on Optera, Tirol, and Earth, and that knowledge liberated her.”

“But what was it she understood?” Scott asked.

Marlene quivered. “I can’t tell you, Scott.”

“Please, Marlene,” Scott snapped.

Lunk stepped out from behind the chair. “I’m warning you, Lieutenant.”

Marlene put a hand on his balled-up fist. “No, Lunk, Scott doesn’t understand. It’s not that I’m keeping something from you, Scott. I only mean that you’re asking the wrong person.”

“Sera,” Scott said after a moment’s reflection.

“Yes. She was more closely bound to the Regis than I was. But I fear that bond has affected her more than it has me.”

“Do you know where she is?”

Marlene closed her eyes and took a shuddering breath. “I can sense where she is. Sometimes I can almost see through her eyes and feel her suffering.”

Scott edged closer to her. “Where, Marlene?”

“The city of tall towers in the Northlands. The one Sera and Corg were to rule.”

Scott and Lunk exchanged looks and simultaneously said: “Mannatan.”

“Yes. She is with Lancer.”

Scott was already on his feet. “Will you come with me, Marlene? You, too, Lunk,” he was quick to add. “Just until we locate her.”

“Forget it, Lieutenant,” Lunk said. “Marlene’s not going anywhere.”

Marlene stood up and gently swung Lunk around to face her. “But I am, Lunk. Don’t you see that I have to go?”

Lunk’s face fell. “No, Marlene, no. You can just stay here and let me take care of you. You said yourself you were all right. I could just —”

“No, Lunk, it’s no good this way,” she cut him off. “Remember who and what I am.”

Lunk stiffened. “You’re Marlene, that’s it.”

Marlene shook her head. “I am Invid, Lunk.” She reached up to stroke his face. “But that doesn’t mean I haven’t loved you.”

Lunk steeled himself, holding back his anger and grief. “You’ll come back to me?” he asked softly.

“Nothing can take away these past few months, Lunk.”

It was Scott’s turn to avert his gaze.

He swore to himself he would never love again.

Novel-writing duo Brian Daley and James Luceno recognized this fact and, married to this notion that somehow the Invid Marlene is a clone of Marlene Rush (an extrapolation taken from a too-literal interpretation of the way Scott keeps seeing Marlene Rush in her place, as he does in “Enter Marlene” and “Frostbite,” and the fact that the ROBOTECH production staff encouraged this interpretation by casting Melanie MacQueen in both roles), produced the passages quoted above. Scott Bernard is still torn and uncertain, full of mixed emotions, and still not exactly over his hatred of the Invid, of “the enemy.” (That very word appears in his thoughts just a page or two earlier in The End of the Circle.)

2006’s as-of-yet unamended direct-to-video animation that covers similar ground, The Shadow Chronicles, alters the very stuff of the final episode of ROBOTECH to reshape Scott Bernard to fit its narrative. It inserts scenes where Scott states that his attitude towards the Invid has changed and admits to feelings for Marlene — who, for reasons that I honestly believe are reasonable within the series and from a storytelling standpoint, is now going by her Invid name Ariel. (The production team went so far as to recast the role to further divorce Ariel from that “Marlene” identity. That was probably a step too far but, again, it sort of makes sense given one point in particular below.) The problem is that this change isn’t supported by the TV series and, because the two nest around one another, we never see that attitude change depicted. How does one go from denying your own humanity in the name of revenge, to a nihilistic attitude about the mission you’ve dedicated nearly two years to, to a genuine belief in the possibility of human and Invid coexistence in a matter of minutes? That is some serious emotional whiplash, especially when he’s professing that he “doesn’t care if you’re human or Invid” after telling Rand that he’d “rather not talk about” his last conversation with Marlene. There’s no hesitation, there’s no apology, there’s just this change. And it’s just not dramatically satisfying.

The key reason for this change is because of the introduction of Marlene Rush’s brother Marcus, whose attitude about the Invid mirrors Scott’s for the bulk of the New Generation episodes. Scott, emotionally attached to an Invid girl and having actually stood before the Invid Queen-Mother and heard her explain herself, is supposed to provide a contrast to Marcus. However, this would have been just as easy to do with the Scott Bernard that actually flew into space at the end of the New Generation episodes as it is with the altered Bernard that appears in The Shadow Chronicles. Listening to Marcus go on about how many Invid he killed and the notches he made in the holo-locket could be part of Scott’s emotional journey, looking back into a mirror of almost two years past and thinking about the things he’s seen, the things Rand said, the way Marlene/Ariel professed her love for him. When you consider the experiences that follow as he is reunited with Ariel aboard the Icarus, as he tries to protect her, is interrogated by the Expeditionary Force because of her, and watches the same pattern play out as the android Janice Em is placed under suspicion due to her partially-Haydonite origins, you can see there’s a structure in place to support that journey … but unfortunately Tommy Yune and screenwriter Ford Riley place Scott too close to the finish line at the outset, which makes his and Ariel’s final scene together where they share a kiss feel completely unearned, a sour concluding note finishing off a symphony out-of-tune.

ADDENDUM ONE: Ariel’s arrival in the middle of the action of The Shadow Chronicles does feel like a more expedient mirror of Scott recruiting her help in the passage above. Interesting, though, that being cut off from the Queen-Mother in The Shadow Chronicles seems to grant her strange new powers, where being cut off in The End of the Circle drains her life away. Again, however, Scott swooping down to recruit Marlene is far more dramatically and emotionally satisfying.

I understand this is actually “What’s Up with the Shadow Chronicles?” which is a very good question, actually.

I mostly agree with all of this, so I actually don’t need to add that much. The question of Scott’s character within the series is regrettably accurate. I think that he has the potential to be a very good person, but has allowed himself to become all-consumed by the mission.

In fact, I would go so far as to suggest that goes for all the freedom fighters, seeing as along with the obsessive we have the scavenger, the biker chick, the brat, the diva, and the coward, not to mention the enemy spy.  None of them are especially good people. That may be what makes the story so compelling: They are better as a team than they ever were alone.

And there is far less character development, especially when we compare it to say, Rick and Lisa’s story. The freedom fighters are very interesting and all learn a great deal on their way to Reflex Point, but I would argue that none of them undergo a real hero’s journey; no one goes from farm-boy to Jedi, so to speak. 

[I was just explaining this theory to best friend Ray, who hotly informed me that Rand is “gold” and the hero of the story, and how dare I imply otherwise. I agree that he is probably the best of them, and comes the farthest along.]

Of course, I never really liked the End of the Circle, aka In Which Every Character is a Tool and oh yeah We Offed Lancer For No Discernible Reason. Scott’s storyline is the best thing about it, but when you turn every character into a jerkass, then the actual jerkass comes out looking pretty dang good. But I have found it hard to argue that The Shadow Chronicles is much better.  At least EOTC aimed for continuity, showed us the characters we wanted to see, and made an attempt to tie it all up in a nice little bow. I don’t know if it was all that successful, but at least it tried. The Shadow Chronicles does none of that, and takes far fewer risks, when risk was one of the things that made Robotech great. They seem determined to keep all the series’ original characters beyond reproach, even if it cheapens the narrative.

Which is a shame. If one was going to continue Robotech as an epic, then Scott Bernard and the freedom fighters seem to be the logical characters to carry it forward (which they have in my decades of fanfiction writing). After all, it was decided long ago that the Invid were the big bads behind all the others in the series, which implies that the New Generation is the most important saga of the three. It would be nice to allow its “heroes” to continue the story. They could take what they’ve learned so far and apply it to the next big challenge, backed up by the previous generations. That would be awesome.

Because he is a problem. He isn't a good person. I have written three different crossover sagas which start with Robotech, (working on a fourth), and in two, he's gone full antagonist. The character exists on an alignment slippery slope and even in my latest work it has taken him two full volumes just to get to the "maybe I don't want to live this way" stage.

But that's the character. He is driven by anger and vengeance throughout the series. Scott's attitude was actually toned down from MOSPEADA's Stig, who was far more direct with his kill all Invid viewpoint, which never changed. Greg Snegoff tried to add a "doesn't matter what color her blood is" line which is completely incongruent with the behavior that follows. And then in Shadow Chronicles they tone him down some more and shove him way too close to the finish line.

But I have decided that The End of the Circle is worse, because in that story, the finish line is taken away entirely.

It goes like this: The REF needs to find the missing SDF-3, which they believe is with the Invid, and as we see above, Scott goes and picks up Ariel and brings her back to the fleet. She keeps claiming she doesn't know, that her connection to the hive mind is tenuous, and she just isn't feeling it. They try to jog that connection first by treating her like an enemy agent/test-subject (which Scott does not participate in other than alternately berating and banging her), and then by handing her over to Scott to play house with. Neither works. The former is futile, and the latter just makes her feel less connected to the Invid.

Eventually, they do get the information, when Scott tells her in no uncertain terms and in front of the entire crew that he hates Invid, always will, is disgusted by what she is, and anything he ever said otherwise was a charade to get information. Obviously it hadn't worked, he continues, and he is done with playing games and wants no more to do with her. He is brutal, and it works. She calls him a liar, and then tells them that the Invid and SDF-3 are on the other side of a black hole.

So the reader is like yeah, that is some pretty good drama, and a really good setup for a tragic parting or maybe some sort of connection built on something new, but that isn't what happens. What happens is that going through the black hole, Ariel fades in and out of reality, and as she does, she integrates with the mind and memories of the woman she was cloned from: Marlene Rush. When she wakes up on the other side, she is Marlene. Scott gets Marlene back, and all he had to do was be a complete jerk about everything since she died. And at that point in the novel he becomes a static background character with no more to do.

So in The End of the Circle, Scott Bernard goes through zero character development, and gets back everything he lost. Everything he wanted. He doesn't have to deal with his grief, he doesn't have to self-reflect and face his demons, he doesn't have to change even a little. He does suffer over his feelings for Ariel, but that suffering doesn't cause him to change in any way. It's seriously the most tragic thing that can happen to a character: to go through so much, and learn absolutely nothing.

note: I (the owner of this blog and maker of wheels) am not into warrior cats! I just thought this would be fun to make

What's the first "big news story" you remember from when you were a kid?

It's something I love to ask mixed-aged groups sometimes because I think it's really interesting to see the responses. I've gotten answers from the Olympics of [whatever year] to Watergate to more recent stuff from my niblings.

✨ DIFFERENT ✨

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But now it's all lumped together as one newspeak buzzword: all the good that came before along with this awfulness being thrust upon us now, and it is confusing.

Look at when NaNoWriMo came out with their "shame on you all for hating on AI when it helps people write" without distinguishing between tools meant to assist actual writers and tools used to produce slop, so they're basically defending LLM generated novels and spellcheck in one breath, without ever clarifying. I still don't know what they really meant (I didn't stick around to find out).