#Roswell pilot

[bisexualalienss]

ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO: 1.01 “Pilot”

Every small town has a story, but my hometown has a legend. Roswell was a sleepy cowboy settlement in postwar America, full of farmers and military men, until, one day, something extraordinary happened. Or so the legend goes. Ever since, UFO enthusiasts have flooded in, searching for some cosmic phenomenon to prove we're not all alone in the universe. As a kid, I was searching, too, in my own way, until I realized that Roswell is just a small town, full of small tragedies and small people.

[asexual-juliet]

how am i supposed to deal with the information that kyle valenti is wearing earrings during the roswell pilot

[burntotears]

MICHAEL GUERIN ➳ hat series Roswell, New Mexico | 1.12 Creep & 1.13 Recovering the Satellites

[lifewithaview]

Shiri Appleby in Roswell (1999–2002) Pilot as Liz Parker

Liz Parker is an average teenager, until one day she is shot during an altercation at the Crashdown café, where she works. A fellow classmate named Max Evans rushes to her side and miraculously saves her from death. Liz later learns that Max, along with his sister Isabel and their friend Michael Guerin, are not really from around here. To be exact, Max, Isabel and Michael are aliens, who are survivors of the 1947 UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico. But, Max, Isabel and Micheal's secret is not totally safe, as the local Sheriff, Jim Valenti is beginning to suspect something is amiss

[intertexts-moving]

ok decided to put boots purchase off for now because it was stressing me out + soon it will b winter aka ronald mcdonald boots (the red leather steel toed construction boots that my ma got like 30 years ago & r still like working great) season. so really i don't have to think about this until spring. anyway instead because i was so fucking stressed & miserable i ordered a cute tiny green corduroy backpack + a bunch of cryptid themed patches for it. bc i think mac's cute awesome backpack full of stuff that sparks joy is such a good idea. & it literally isss im so excited about it..

[pleasantfanartist]

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A post shared by Roswell, New Mexico (@roswellcw)

Can’t believe it’s been 5 years since the pilot! I just had to post one of the trailers that got me into watching the show 🏜️🌵👽🛸 I was so fascinated by Liz’s voiceover and her trying to figure out who Max was, especially when she says “What are you, Max?” 😭

[dr-lizortecho]

I need to trust people. But it has to be the right one’s. I have put my faith in genoryx, when I should have been looking to the people I care about-

[sam-reid]

September 23rd. Journal entry one. I'm Liz Parker and five days ago I died. After that, things got really weird....

ROSWELL 1.01: PILOT.

[wolveria]

Last Line Challenge

Rules: in a new post, show the last line you wrote (or drew) and tag as many people as there are words (or however many you like).

Thank you for the tag, @bilbosmom-belladonna ! I'm going to take a page out of your book and post a snippet rather than a line ;)

Taken from my extremely long, sex pollen, polybatch x reader wip:

Echo stiffened, and then slowly relaxed under you, giving another one of those quiet, breathy moans when you licked into his mouth. When you finally came up for air, his cheeks were flushed pink and somewhat dazed.

Echo's gaze drifted, and then sharpened so fast it was almost whiplash, and he growled, "Tell me you're not recording this."

Tech stared at you both from the pilot seat, very intently, his elbows propped on his thighs as he peered through his goggles.

"I record everything," he stated, as if this was a known fact. Which it was.

You froze at the full implications of that statement.

"Everything? Like... Felucia?"

Tech blinked and sat up a little straighter.

"Of course. That was a significant event that required documentation."

"What?!" Echo's outrage was impressive, even for him. "Why would you record that!"

Tech merely frowned.

"I just told you."

You didn't speak, floundered on what to say, and Tech added, "I do not see the issue."

"The issue?" Echo seethed through his teeth.

"I have not and will not show it to anyone," Tech said with an adjustment to his goggles. "And the holo is behind several complex layers of encryption. I recognize the sensitivity of the information it contains, but there is minimal danger of it being breached, and this information is invaluable--"

"Minimal," you pointed out. "Not impossible."

"Improbable."

You rubbed your forehead, the aching divot between your eyes. Echo seemed just as distressed, and Tech continued to look between you, equally bemused at your reactions.

As if that holo, in the wrong hands, wouldn't lead to the clones being decommissioned and you removed from the Order. And that was just to start.

Whoever wants to join in: @morethansky @spicedrobot @insertmeaningfulusername @theproblemwithstardust @annwayne

@doublesunsets @eriexplosion @waves-against-a-cliff @im-no-jedi @gun-roswell

@corundumb @babygirlbridger

[generationexorcist]

1890s Alien Gravesite

WHILE IT RECEIVES NO FANFARE today, the small town of Aurora, Texas was once the Roswell of its day after a well-publicized UFO crash in the area, and the pilot of the spacecraft is said to still be buried in the local cemetery.

According to a story run in the April 19, 1897, edition of the Dallas Morning News a “mystery airship,” as UFOs were known in those days, came sailing out of the sky, smashing through a windmill belonging to Judge J.S. Proctor, before finally crashing into the ground. The debris also destroyed the good judge’s flower garden. Unfortunately the pilot was also killed in the collision, but locals were able to drag what was described as a “petite” and “Martian” body from the wreckage. The body was supposedly buried under a tree branch in the Aurora cemetery, observing good Christian rites...

1890s Alien Gravesite – Aurora, Texas - Atlas Obscura

[maxispremades]

Паломничество друзей к «Старушке Пенелопе»!

Поначалу Джордж Кахилл никак не хотел идти на контакт с троицей «мажоров» из Шейди Экрс и даже заподозрил в них шпионов Теда Розвелла. Но, услышав о том, что Эрвин попал в беду, старый пилот сменил гнев на милость! Как бы скептически Джордж не относился к жителям Стрейнджервиля, тревожно-мнительный и охочий до правды Эрвин Прайс всегда вызывал у него симпатию и глубокое уважение.

Невероятное дружелюбие Марка сделало свое дело — узнав о плане ребят, мистер Кахилл не только согласился помочь им, но и дал несколько ценных советов непосредственно Лесли. В скором времени ей предстояло включиться в очень опасную игру...

(A pilgrimage of three friends to "Old Penelope"!

At first, George Cahill did not want to make contact with the trio of rich kids from Shady Acres and even suspected them of being Ted Roswell's spies. But after he heard that Erwin was in trouble, the old pilot have a changed of heart! No matter how skeptical George was about the residents of Strangerville, the truth-seeking worrier Erwin Pries always aroused his sympathy and deep respect.

Mark's incredible friendliness did its job — after learning about the guys' plan, Mr. Cahill not only agreed to help them, but also gave some valuable advice directly to Leslie. Soon, she was about to get involved in a very dangerous game...)

[statecryptids]

ROSWELL ALIENS- NEW MEXICO

Finally finished all 50 State Cryptids! Time to start putting them together into a book!

I always have a bit of a quandary whenever I showcase an alien as a “State Cryptid”. For many people the term “cryptid” typically refers to unknown Earthly animals. But over time this blog has evolved into more of an overall tour of speculative creatures in American pop culture and folklore where the lines between “natural animal”, “supernatural entity”, and “extraterrestrial” become very blurry. I’m also much more interested in the history behind these sightings than the classification of each creature, or even whether it plausibly exists at all. Plus I’ve already featured several extraterrestrials already such as the Pascagoula creatures, the North Dakota Meccano-Mummy, and the Grays that allegedly abducted Barney and Betty Hill.

June 14, 1947- Rancher W.W. “Mac” Brazel and his son were driving on their property 80 miles outside of Roswell, New Mexico when they came upon “a large area of bright wreckage made up of rubber strips, tinfoil, and rather tough paper, and sticks.” What was it? They had no idea.

 Initially unsure about what to do with the strange find, Brazel collected some of the debris a few days later and drove it into Roswell to give to Sheriff George Wilcox. The sheriff, equally perplexed, contacted the nearby Roswell Army Airfield’s 509th Composite Group. They sent a team out to the desert to collect the remaining debris and ascertain what it was. A few days later Major Jesse Marcel made a statement to the local paper about the incident. Though he didn’t explain exactly what the object was, headlines claimed the army had captured a “flying saucer”.

Flying saucers were in the news a lot that year. On June 24th, 1947 amateur pilot Kenneth Arnold reported seeing an airborne, disk-shaped vehicle near Mt. Rainier in Washington. Later, Navy seaman Harold Dahl claimed he had seen a whole group of the strange objects on June 21st near Puget Sound. Soon people were sighting flying saucers everywhere. Much of this hysteria was fueled by fears of the growing power of the Soviet Union and worries about what secret experiments they might be conducting. Paranoia about unknown Russian flying vehicles soon turned upwards beyond the boundaries of Earth as people began to speculate that flying saucers actually came from other worlds. These mysterious objects were labeled UFOs- Unidentified Flying Objects- by the US military and the term quickly caught on in popular culture. Though UFO originally just meant an unknown aerial object, with no indication of origin, it became synonymous with extraterrestrial spacecraft.

Eventually the army explained that the debris found near Roswell had come from a downed weather balloon. But such a prosaic explanation did not stick with the public. The idea that creatures from outer space had crashed on Earth had firmly taken hold, and a good number of people believed that this “weather balloon” story was just a flimsy cover-up. It certainly didn’t help that the government was tight-lipped about many of its programs out of fear that the Soviets might get wind of them.

 It turns out, though, that the weather balloon story was actually close to the truth. In the late 1940s the government began Project MOGUL, in which massive balloons equipped with sensitive detection instrument were launched high into the ionosphere to look for signs that Russia was testing nuclear weapons. One of these balloons had fallen out of the sky, crashed on Brazel’s ranch. Not wanting to reveal their secret project, military officials had felt it was better to let the “alien spacecraft” idea percolate in the popular imagination instead.

A decade later In the 1950s rumors cropped up that people had seen government agents collecting alien bodies in the New Mexico desert. These stories were soon conflated with the Roswell crash legend, leading to conspiracy theories about frozen alien corpses preserved in secret government hangers. For many years any secretive government sight was rumored to have “aliens in the freezers”. Eventually accusations settled on Area 51, a classified military base in the Nevada desert.

 These reports too had a more down-to-Earth explanation, though. Investigations revealed that the “alien bodies” had actually been special crash dummies fitted with sensors and dropped from airplanes by the Airforce to test the effects of high-altitude parachute drops. Like Project MOGUL, these tests had been hidden behind a thick veil of secrecy which did little to dispel the rumors.

As for Area 51, though the government denied its existence for decades despite clear evidence that it existed, it was officially confirmed in 2013 as a base for testing experimental aircraft such as the U2 spy plane, the Archangel-12, the SR-71 Blackbird, and others. No word on frozen alien corpses, though. By the way, the name “Area 51” is more of a pop culture term. The base is typically just called “Groom Lake”, “Homey Airport”, or simply the “Nevada Test and training Range” by the CIA.

The Roswell Aliens story gained a major surge in popularity in the 90s with shows like “The X-Files” and “Dark Skies”, movies like “The Arrival” and “Independence Day”, and comic books like “Roswell, Little Green Man” by Bill Morrison. There was even a 1995 psuedo-documentary called “Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction” produced by the Fox Network and hosted by Star Trek actor Jonathon Frakes. It allegedly showed vintage footage of the dissection of an alien corpse from the Roswell crash.  This video was eventually revealed to be a hoax, with the corpse actually a rubber dummy stuffed with jam and animal organs from a butcher.

For my depiction of the Roswell aliens, I wanted to get away from the typical images of corpses lying on dissection tables or floating in preservative-filled tubes. I also wanted to avoid the trope of aliens as malicious, terrifying invaders like in Independence Day or any number of B horror movies.

Instead, I chose to portray them as normal beings adapting to a new life on Earth.   Here we see one of the aliens recovered from their crash with the help of a wheelchair and prosthetics. I’ve imagined them setting up a new life for themselves in New Mexico, just trying to keep to themselves. They’ve taken a keen interest in their new home, evident in their collection of local plants like ocotillo and yucca. They’ve also made friends with many locals, including Indigenous communities, evident here in the “Singing Mother” figure on the table. These figures were first created in 1964 by artist Helen Cordero of the Pueblo de Cochiti, a community of the Keres Pueblo peoples.

As immigrants themselves, the Roswell Aliens also feel a kinship with the many other people that have moved to New Mexico from other countries. This is reflected in the alebrije they got from a Oaxacan-born artist.

REFERENCES

The Roswell UFO Festival!

A Smithsonian article on the crashed MOGUL balloon

An article from History.com about the Roswell incident

An article from the Chicago tribune about the high-altitude dummies that were mistaken for alien bodies.

A Space.com article about Area 51

An article about the infamous "Alien Autopsy" pseudo-documentary

Another article about the "Alien Autopsy" film

[sunriseoncrashdown]

Gif by @infp_obsessing_over_everything

Sunrise on Crashdown

An event to celebrate the 5th anniversary of Roswell, New Mexico crashing onto our TV screens

13-15 January, 2024

13th - Humans and Aliens and Actors, oh my!

What do you love about your favourites? Who immediately drew you in and why?

14th - Our Intrepid Leader: a Celebration of Liz Ortecho (aka happy birthday Jeanine!)

First impressions of Liz? Favourite dynamics with other characters?

15th - The Night We Met: Pilot Episode

Five years after its debut, all of everything about the pilot!

Submit your work by:

- Tagging "sunriseoncrashdown" and "rnmpilotanniversary" in the tags

- Tagging @sunriseoncrashdown within the post

And/or by:

- Adding your work to the AO3 Collection Sunrise on Crashdown

[Image ID: three glowing pods in a cave, followed by a gradually lightening sky at sunrise, with a cactus silhouetted against the sky, and the text: Sunrise on Crashdown / 5th Pilot Anniversary / 13-15 January, 2024]

[bisexualalienss]

ROSWELL NEW MEXICO | 1.01 "Pilot"

[maya-matlin]

hiiiii ashton <333 I know we've talked about it before but I recently was on a video and saw some comments that angered me and you know I ship leyton and brulian too but I just wanna hear your thoughts because you always give the best ones!! why do you personally prefer brucas over leyton? why don't you ship leyton? and what do you think about the comments from people saying how leyton were always supposed to be endgame even though s2&3 it certainly didn't feel that way!! and about the comments saying that chopia breaking up had nothing to do with it even though they broke up before brucas actually got back together and they could've very easily not put them together after chopia broke up if they wanted to lol I'm just very curious about your thoughts and don't really wanna discuss it in messenger tbh this is easier so I get all your opinions lol I love you so much and you always give the best responses and answers when I ask you things!! 💞💞💞

I literally don't, but thank you for saying that 💙💙 First things first, I did ship Lucas and Peyton in the past. So on some level, I understand the appeal because I also fell for them when I started watching One Tree Hill. Truth be told, one day I just snapped out of it. Before season 6 even premiered, I was watching my season 5 DVD and finding myself frustrated with the LP story line while appreciating the dynamic between Brucas. Anyways, since then I've watched every episode multiple times and analyzed both by myself and sometimes with others why exactly I don't root for Leyton and prefer Brucas. To me, they're representative of a lot of tropes that will never be my favorite. Meant to be from the pilot couples are always going to be a hard sell. The chemistry had better be something special and the ongoing story needs to be more than, "I immediately know you better than everyone else in your life after having a handful of conversations." There are always exceptions to this rule. Sometimes I fall for the ship fast (Stelena, sorry). Other times it takes until nearly the entire first season or until the second (Ephram/Amy from Everwood, Max/Liz from OG Roswell, Spelivia) for me to get past the beginning and appreciate what the couple is at the heart of it. Needless to say, this sums up Leyton (derogatory). So much of their connection is told to the audience rather than shown. From day one, it's automatically clear that this is the couple to root for. Their only real obstacle, Nathan, is a comically terrible, borderline abusive boyfriend, so the fact Lucas in early season 1 is the anti Nathan pushes him incredibly hard as Peyton's ideal match. Once Brucas starts up, there's an immediate difference in energy and chemistry. Both Lucas and Peyton take themselves so seriously. It's always deep feelings and angst and brooding and "oh, we want to be together, but the circumstances are just too hard." And meanwhile, it's only like episode 9. Brooke has deep feelings and her own insecurities, but on the outside she doesn't take life super seriously and is someone who acts rather than internalizing everything. Brooke's influence on Lucas's life feels like a breath of fresh air. Lucas begins to loosen up and see that there can be more to life than his preconceived ideas of how the world works and how everyone should be acting. On Lucas's end, he encourages Brooke to develop her intellectual side and see that she has so much more to offer than being the life of the party and someone who gets validation from sleeping with a lot of guys. Lucas is the first person Brooke wants to get serious with. Even better, this is a story line we actually get to see play out. When Lucas and Brooke talk about what they like about each other, it all tracks because we've been watching their attraction bloom and seeing how in a lot of ways, they're at their best together. Sorry, this is getting long. This is all solely based on season 1. By the end of the season, Lucas and Peyton cheat for the first time. This sadly becomes a pattern for them. Brooke is emotionally devastated. And though Lucas immediately seems to feel guilt over hurting Brooke, it takes him time to see how far he's strayed from the type of person he wants to be.

Season 2 is a massive gamechanger for Brucas. This is the first time they're truly able to be friends. Without the expectation of a relationship, Brooke and Lucas are able to connect on a deeper level. Yet again, this is something shown to us rather than told. This is the kind of relationship both took the time to develop. Much like in season 1, Lucas encourages Brooke to invest in her more intellectual, soulful side. Lucas himself works on being more selfless, taking the time to improve as a person. Unlike when Lucas pined for Peyton while she was dating Nathan and embarked on an affair during his first relationship with Brooke, this time Lucas allows Brooke's relationship with Felix to play out without any interference while still being a friend. Lucas is aware of his own feelings, but he also knows how badly he hurt Brooke in the past and has no reason to think a second chance is even a possibility. When Lucas kisses Brooke after months of close friendship and opening up to each other emotionally (albeit with Brooke understandably on guard post cheating and Lucas hiding his rediscovered feelings), it feels earned. The third season is a mixed bag. At its best, season 3 Brucas is a perfect mix of seasons 1 and 2 Brucas. Both seem to be equally emotionally invested in the relationship working out and view each other as basically their endgame. But the fun and the lightheartedness exist, as well. Brooke is still someone who brings light and fun to Lucas's life. On Lucas's end, it starts to get murky as the show gets closer and closer to the shooting episode. After spending so much time veering away from the possibility of Lucas and Peyton together with emphasis on Lucas's love for Brooke, the strength of the Brooke/Peyton friendship and even how Lucas and Peyton are actually able to be platonic, healthy friends themselves, everything gets destroyed so that the show can return to Leyton. On the one hand, it's not as though it's totally out of nowhere or implausible because again, the narrative went so hard in Leyton's favor during the first season. But at the same time, it doesn't feel believable to me when it finally happens. Lucas seems to flip flop from getting past his breakup with Brooke to declaring Peyton is the one he wants next to him when his dreams come true in mere seconds. The writers LOVE to make Lucas in denial about his feelings for Peyton. Past the first season, we don't get Lucas pining for Peyton. We just don't. We got Lucas pining for Brooke during season 2 and part of 3 and even Lucas wanting Lindsey back after she leaves him at the altar, but for the lion's share of LP's history, it's Peyton desperately wanting Lucas and somewhat being willing to sacrifice everything just for the chance of being with him. So because of this, Lucas becomes an almost passive love interest where he's told over and over again what he should want and what his true feelings are until he just kind of.. says fine, choosing Peyton. That alone is why I prefer Brucas. It's the more compelling story line and relationship. Plus, the chemistry.

And I hate to do it, but this vs this:

Chemistry is unpredictable, always up for debate, and shouldn't always be the deciding factor in what a person ships. My shipping preferences have been all over the place in this area. But when the writing is lacking and the chemistry isn't really selling the story either, these moments that are supposed to be powerful and come across as passionate somehow come across as phony and put on. In my opinion, Chad and Hilarie had buddy chemistry while Chad and Sophia had the passionate, in love type of chemistry due in large part to literally being in love and married in real life.

As a viewer, I really resent being told that Lucas was simply denying his true feelings for no other reason I can think of except maliciousness when he spent basically two and a half seasons wanting Brooke over Peyton. The romantic relationship with Lucas and Peyton during seasons 4 and 6 seems like the healthier option on the surface, but it comes back to how I feel about Lucas as a passive love interest and Peyton's arc being so wrapped up in whether or not she gets the guy. This is pretty much spelled out towards the end of season 3. During a conversation between Brooke and Peyton, Brooke confides in Peyton that during Lucas's absence she realized that she wasn't as reliant on his physical presence as she thought she'd be. From Brooke's perspective, all this means is that Brooke is somehow capable of loving and being happy independently of the man she loves. But on One Tree Hill, this is supposed to imply Brooke either doesn't truly love Lucas, is falling out of love with Lucas, or that Peyton loves Lucas more because she doesn't desire independence outside of him. It's a gross message to say the least. This brings me full circle, back to season 5. Between seasons, Lucas proposed to Peyton and broke off the relationship when she didn't accept his proposal. Objectively speaking, not the worst thing in the world and a valid thing to do if this is a deal breaker. But this causes the Lucas/Peyton relationship to be heavily imbalanced and in Lucas's favor over Peyton's. Lucas stops feeling like the kind of person who follows his heart and more this desperate guy who wants to marry someone to the point the bride doesn't actually matter. If I go along with the idea that Lucas was in love with Peyton throughout the intervening years, throughout season 5 and for the entirety of his romance with Lindsey, what does that say about Lucas? One, he's the kind of guy who is so out of touch with his own emotions that nothing he says should ever be trusted. Or two, he's an asshole and will willingly commit himself to another woman under false pretenses just because he didn't get what he wanted from his first choice on his terms. Peyton's love for Lucas is meant to be undying and unconditional, causing her to behave in such selfish, desperate ways. Lucas, on the other hand, proves that his affection for Peyton is very conditional. He's not willing to compromise. He doesn't want to wait around for Peyton to catch up with where he is.

And in the mean time, Lucas bouncing between Peyton and Lindsey actually means season 5 Brucas is a very good alternative for Lucas. It's all very unspoken, but the chemistry and the connection between Lucas and Brooke never goes away. Much like in season 2, the possibility of romance is very much off the table. Brooke returns to Tree Hill not to win Lucas back, but because she misses her hometown and sees herself settling down there. Because nothing is being pushed on either end, it's much easier for adult Lucas and adult Brooke to be friends in a way that's impossible for Lucas and Peyton. They're able to relate to each other outside of high school and their past romance. A flashback reveals that Lucas was the first person Brooke told that she wanted to have a baby. During the time Brooke is taking care of Angie, Lucas becomes the kind of person Brooke can depend on and lean on for emotional support. Even outside of season 5, there's a consistent theme of Lucas being the best, most selfless version of himself with Brooke. It's as though Brooke's influence in Lucas's life mixed with their season 1 history almost demands that Lucas be better when they're together. Both Brooke and Lucas are in the place where they're looking to settle down. In a moment that's kind of a contrast to season 3

Unlike in season 3 when Lucas was trying to fight for Brooke but kind of clueless when it came to working out what she wanted from him, this time Lucas realizes that no matter how strong Brooke seems to be, she needs him to show up for her. There will always be endless potential for season 5+ Brucas, in my opinion. Their strong bond and complementary desires for a future shine through even as the narrative reminds us over and over again that Peyton is the one who loves Lucas most and that anything that isn't about Peyton is merely "denial" or Lucas "hiding his heart." Anyways, Lucas literally fantasizes about marrying all of his major love interests, Brooke included. The dream sequence wants us to believe Brooke and Lucas want very different things, making them fundamentally incompatible. The entirety of seasons 5-9 disagrees with this, but Lucas still ends up with Peyton.

When it comes down to it, I don't like the people Lucas and Peyton are around each other. As friends, it's mostly okay. They certainly share common interests and Peyton lacks the trust issues Lucas's other girlfriends have considering she's always the other woman. But.. so much of their love story comes across as incredibly forced with so many holes in it. Their arc throughout the first six seasons does NOT hold water. Peyton isn't allowed to be a fully fleshed out person with goals that don't perfectly align with becoming Mrs. Lucas Scott. Lucas holds all the cards, resulting in him becoming far more selfish and almost childish in the way he acts like season 1 Lucas who is still butthurt his crush didn't want to commit to him after one make out session. Even in the final season, I don't see much if any growth. It's the final season for both characters and the show played out the beats of broken up Leyton, so they're put back together. So much of what happens between Lucas and Peyton is heavily reliant on the idea of everything coming full circle without any regard for how one or both have changed since then. Brucas doesn't have this problem. If nothing else, Brooke and Lucas's relationship goes through multiple changes, with each phase feeling much more mature and deeper than the one before. Even though their past and Brooke's trust issues are recurring problems, their actual dynamic always remains in the present.

As for your last question, I'll never know for sure what discussions were like behind the scenes circa seasons 2 and 3. But based on how season 2 played out, I think there's a very good chance the endgame shifted. The underlying tension and romantic affection between Lucas and Peyton was completely gone. Lucas realized he wanted to be with Brooke and never seemed to consider Peyton. Even Peyton, who has ambiguous moments that refer to possible feelings for Lucas even before the shooting, doesn't have this during the second season. She spends far more time pining for and loving Jake. When Peyton expresses displeasure over her relationship with Lucas, it's that he hasn't been the kind of friend that shows up for her emotionally. Lucas's response to this is to bring Jake back to town LOL. In terms of season 3, it gets confusing. Chad and Sophia didn't separate until multiple episodes into the first half of season 3. Meaning, the groundwork was already being laid for Brucas's failed friends with benefits/casual relationship to become a deeper romantic one even before Chad and Sophia split up. But at the same time, Lucas's friendship with Peyton was also being prioritized again with more references to their romantic past coming up outside of Brooke's insecurities. So with that in mind, it seems like LP was a possibility even as Brucas was rebuilding their relationship. However, I think the Chad/Sophia split permanently closed the door on any legitimate Brucas once their season 3 arc was completed. Personally, I don't think Peyton ending up with Lucas was set in stone until the end of season 3. Had Chad and Sophia never split up, I definitely think we would have seen another round of Brucas at some point because the chemistry alone would have demanded it. Plus, the gross producers capitalizing on the real life Chad/Sophia romance. In a universe where Chad and Sophia never broke up, my gut says Lucas ends up with Brooke. But nothing is 100%. To sum up my thoughts, I think there was a plan in place during season 1. I think another plan emerged during season 2. In season 3, the endgame was literally up for grabs. But Chad and Sophia's breakup sealed the deal.

I love you, too! I'm so sorry for making you read all this.

[harwood-pmc-official]

As Above, so Below

Part 1

William Chang sat atop the chassis of his Rifleman, looking down at the city below. A look down at his watch told him it was now D-Day plus 1, as the hand slowly swept past midnight. The landing had been hard-fought, an uphill battle from the word go against a far larger force who had been digging themselves into every frostbitten inch of that shithole.

In theory, DZ Gold was supposed to be a walk in the park. A clear LZ, only a forested ridge between the Harwood forces and AA battery SUMER, then an assault on Coen City from the high ground. In practice, it was a nightmare.

When the bay door opened to drop the ‘Mechs, it opened to a scene of hell, the gray clouds boiling in rage as SUMER spit death into the sky, lances of hellish light streaking past the open door with a sound like a banshee’s wail. Chang had been the first off, as he usually was, stepping into the empty air with his rotary cannons spinning and Medium lasers primed. The drop itself was uneventful, as there was only a handful of seconds between the drop point and the elevation where the ridgeline would provide cover. However, the second their feet hit the snow, the world erupted in crimson fire.

Despite what the intelligence reports had said, it seems like the Blakist had prepared for an assault on SUMER, and the SLDF had sent Harwood straight into the meat grinder. The hill was covered in pillboxes, trenches, and enough machine gun nests to make an Atlas think twice.

He’d ordered the complement of heavies and assaults to the front, to block fire and shield the Light and Medium mechs until they could close. However, in the end, they’d been able to secure the LZ after a grueling march up the hill, destroying bunker after bunker, sending waves of death down every trench.

By the time the DropShip was unloading troops, there was nothing left on the ridge but blackened foliage and burning corpses strewn about their ruined defenses. From there, it had taken a quarter of an hour to unload the entire force from the ship, Four companies of infantry and three mechanized assault companies, not to mention the 36 Mechwarriors already deployed.

At H-Hour plus 2, they set out, moving up the ridge as fast as they dared, keeping a careful watch for any more surprises from the Blakist forces. As they crested the ridge, it was easy to see SUMER below, like a steel hydra spitting poisoned death. The assembled Harwood forces came down the ridge like a tidal wave, Mechs and tanks and infantry all rumbling towards the compound.

Chang himself was at the head, as one of the few heavy mechs left relatively unscathed, unleashing a storm of fire from his rotary cannons and lasers as the walls drew closer. From the massive gate came WoB battlemechs, three Celestial-pattern machines accompanied by several smaller figures that looked to be the Blakists’ exosuits and cybernetic soldiers. Given his Rifleman’s weaponry, Chang chose to focus on the infantry, letting the mechanized units and Roswell’s Warhammer take the lead in reducing them to dust.

By the time they’d reached the wall of the compound, at the edge of the dense forest that separated Coen City from the military zone, the fighting had reached a fever-pitch, the Blakists never giving an inch of ground they didn't have to, while Chang directed his forces like a chess player, exploiting gaps in the constantly-shifting front line to drive then closer and closer to the wall.

200 meters, a Celestial was slamming into the right flank until a brilliant beam of light from a tank's cannon silenced that threat.

180 meters, the Manei Domini had managed to get a heavy machine gun into a position to attack the infantry until a twin blast of rotary autocannons silenced them.

150 meters, a super-heavy tank blasted a massive shell into one of the medium mechs, sending the mech and its pilot careening to the snow.

120 meters, and two more Celestial frames came marching in on the left. Two tank crews and an anti-armor infantry team would solve the problem.

At 100 meters, they jumped. Jump jets flaring with ionized gas, the mechwarriors who had the capability launched themselves into the walls of the fortress, bent on eliminating SUMER itself. It stood towering above them now, a 20 meter obelisk of foreboding steel, spiked with weapons that spelled doom for the Aurigans and other mercs landing in the second wave.

He gave the order, and every mech who'd made the jump opened up on it with the fury of a dying sun. Bullets, particle beams, lances of concentrated light, all came together in twenty seconds of blinding brilliance, reducing that ominous pillar to nothing more than smoking slag.

One the battery itself was out of commission, the Blakists had run fairly quickly, seeing the battle was lost in the face of the more numerous and better-equipped Harwood mercy. Three hours later, and mop-up operations had completed, leaving only the unpleasant business of peeling up the Bandage and taking a look at the damage.

In the fighting, they'd lost four mechs, two to the level of complete destruction, and five armored vehicles had been destroyed in the assault, with 4 more at various levels of damage. The infantry was harder to make an accounting of, but once every man was tracked down and accounted for, only 23 men had been lost from the four companies, with Dog company being hit the hardest.

That left Chang where he was now, surveying Coen City through the trees, peering through the binoculars and straining his eyes for any sign of movement. In truth, he'd rather be with the men, taking a couple of hours of rest to prepare for the next day's assault on the city itself, but he knew that he'd only dampen the mood. After all, he was Chang the Robot, Chang the Freak. Who would want him around when grieving a fallen brother?

So, he would sit. And he would watch, until it was time to move out once again.