#sprucetree asks

[sprucetreeconspiracy]

GET BOOPED

[ashdoesfandomarchieved]

Star Trek Lower Decks Fic Recs

(most of these are by the same rotating five writers bc our fandom is That Small. Still, all of these are absolute gems and worth your time. Please DM me if I forgot to put a fic on here of y'alls or if a link doesn't work <3)

you wanna kiss me so bad it makes you look stupid by InsideMyBrain

shipwide crises are a lot more enjoyable when you have someone to make fun of. unless you’re the person being made fun of.

Everything Is Fine by UncreativeIndividual

After several months serving together, Tendi begins to realize that she feels for Mariner as more than just a friend. This is not ideal for her.

The Mariner Protocol by bauchle

AKA: Beckett Mariner's Guide to Scoring With Hot Space Babes

When she learns that Rutherford is crushing hard on Tendi, Mariner selflessly takes it upon herself to coach him in the fine arts of court ship. She even drafts Boimler to help her out, though for some reason he's less than enthusiastic about the whole project.

Cue movie nights, flirting "workshops", and 400-year-old mixtapes - not to mention melees, arguments, and maybe a minor shipwide crisis. This is definitely going to end well.

im standing guard (im falling apart) by @lastoneout

“Dude Barb is way out of anyone’s league, trust me. She’s so perfect it’s freaky.” Beckett continues, “I don’t know if you noticed but it did nearly drive me insane.”

Brad falls silent for a moment, giving her a weird look that she wilts under.

“Is that why you haven’t been sleeping?”

It's Going Great, Why Do You Ask? by UncreativeIndividual

The sequel to Everything Is Fine.

Mariner and Tendi have been dating in secret for a few months. It's going well, though the former does wish to keep the relationship a secret despite the latter's wishes.

Then, Mariner's mom, Carol Freeman, starts to suspect something is up with her daughter. T'Ana gets stuck in the middle as the only one aware of the relationship, and Boimler & Rutherford are just confused as to what's happening. You can probably s ee where this is going.

are you lonely looking for yourself out there? by @lastoneout

He knew listening to her message would only make him feel worse, but he reached over and pushed the play button, waiting for Mariner’s angry voice to fill the room, reminding him of what a jerk he was.

“Boimler?” Instead of angry, her voice was quiet and groggy, like she’d just woken up, and Brad froze, quickly realizing two things. He must have hit the call button on accident, and he was totally, completely fucked.

- or -

After having a shitty day on the hell ship that is the Titan, Boimler gets drunk and accidentally calls Mariner.

i loved you then and i love you now by @punk-rock-yuppie

Seven years after the end of their friendship, Beckett and Brad meet again.

Enjoy, Endure, Survive (a surprise) by @punk-rock-yuppie

Five times Boimler surprises Mariner with something, and one time she beats him to the punch.

Letting the Days Go By by @punk-rock-yuppie

It’s been three years since Bradward Boimler left his three closest friends on the Cerritos to take an ill-fated stint on the Titan.

It’s been two years since he came back from the Titan with his head hung and his metaphorical tail between his legs.

It’s been a year and a half since Mariner cornered him and told him, drunk and hushed, that she missed him so much it felt like a missing limb.

No Time Like The Present by @lastoneout

If there’s one thing Beckett has learned about Brad Boimler in all the years they’ve been friends, it’s that he has an intense—and frankly worrying—flair for the dramatic. So she isn’t exactly shocked when he decides to confess that he loves her in the middle of a fucking red alert, but that doesn’t mean she’s happy about it.

Love Your Fate (which is in fact your life) by @punk-rock-yuppie

Five out-of-this-world shenanigans that try to get Beckett and Mariner to confront their feelings for each other, and one time these two idiots finally do something about it.

a collapsing star with tunnel vision (but only for you) by @punk-rock-yuppie

The night before Brad transfers to the Titan, he and Beckett have a one night stand.

Of course, everything gets a lot more complicated after that.

Terminal Infatuations by ProdigySorcerer

A collection for my Rutherford/Tendi fics, will have multiple stories, AU, etc.

Future Nostalgia by sprucetree

Various oneshots about Mariner and Boimler.

Chapter 1: Fletcher spills a secret about Boimler. Chapter 2: A Titan mission gone wrong leaves Mariner worried. Chapter 3: Mariner and Boimler prepare for their wedding with all of their friends and family in attendance. What could go wrong?

Who Says You Can't Go Home? by @punk-rock-yuppie

Brad knows how his reunion with Mariner will go: not well.

Spoiler alert: Brad is wrong.

Delicate by sprucetree

Various oneshots about Tendi and Rutherford.

Chapter 1: Tendi and Rutherford both work well as friends, sure. But are either of them ready to make the jump to being a couple? Chapter 2: After the accident, Rutherford wakes up.

Maybe, Perhaps, Almost by @punk-rock-yuppie

It's a tragedy, the way our story goes: maybe, perhaps, almost.

Mindless in a Worthwhile Way by @punk-rock-yuppie

Beckett and Brad's first date on Earth goes a little awry.

____

I'm also here to shamelessly promo my own fics.

[sprucetreeconspiracy]

Do you have any tips for making masc goth outfits? Especially for summer, that's what I'm struggling with the most

hello! I'm not an expert considering how much crossdressing I'm quite comfortable with and how feminine my style is in the end but I'll try! my thoughts are prolly quite generic and recycle various other people's ideas.

if it's too hot for jeans or sth worse (fake leather from plastic) i usually wear shorts, often from the women's section because they will have shorter legs (my legs are the best part of me) and often more fun materials like velvet or sth shiny. guys shorts have the too long and too boring/sporty/"casual" for a good look -disease for me most of the time. you know the cargo short type.

cut out shorts from any old trousers you wanna snip will do fine if you've got those available.

sometimes i wear tights underneath for aesthetic reasons but that may not read as masc depending on how traditional we're thinking.

too hot for boots? I'd like to get myself a pair of winklepickers but rn i have cesare gaspari's take on what a dr martens 3 eyelet platform 1461 would look with a bit more heel. A simple black dress shoe can also work rly well, like plain toe oxfords, monk strap version too if buckles are ur thing. for rain I've got rubber chelsea boots. overdressing w shoes a bit is fun because they're a thing you will see of yourself without a mirror. because I'm a bit of an xmas tree i sometimes accessorise w some flavour of leather straps (narrow recycled belts or stray bag straps) around an ankle or sth.

sun hats are fun and if it's not a bajillion degrees a woolen one will be fine too. for when it is i got myself a black wide trimmed sunny from a random grocery shop.

some shirts can be easily layered as a light jacket if you wish to have sleeves and or layers, or if the cut makes for a cool shape.

my generic tip is to avoid materials that don't breathe as much as you can and to focus on the aesthetic you want to achieve regardless of where the clothes came from, as the masculinity or femininity isn't all in the labelling. think of yourself as a character designer when outfit planning if that's a helpful way to conceptualise.

and when secondhand shopping i usually just browse by colour first, then fabric (visually), then i look at the actual piece like is it sth i could wear or customise into a wearable thing, is the condition ok for what I'd get it for, is it a shite material that gets sweaty easily etc. (sometimes i still get crappy materials cuz they work for the aesthetic like dude i can't afford leather trousers even secondhand and most see through stuff is like polyester or some shit.)

I also buy accessories secondhand and attach them into clothing or wear them on my body in some unintended way. like my fav way to wear my velvet shorts is to safety pin a thrifted black feathery chain necklace to the top so the charms and chains dangle a bit below the short leg.

dissecting old clothes that are no longer useful for anything else is also fun. got some fun zippers and studs from old pleather jacket and boots that were rubbish otherwise. and leather bits with eyelets for laces that I'm yet to slap on anything but their time will come.

a hardware store can be your friend for diy accessories, good for chains, o-rings and the like. got myself a shitton of chain from the boat section last year (and am yet to chop it into smaller accessories cuz i didnt remember to get a tool to cut it w... wore it as a harness a couple of times by stitching it together w safety pins tho).

craft shops for keyring materials are also friends, good for attaching aforementioned pieces.

so. I'd say create a silhouette you like then accessorise and keep your eyes open for pieces that could be a part of something bigger with or without some modifications. in terms of masculinity and or femininity I'd look at like traditional formal and smart wear from whatever historical period u wish and looking into the details that speak to you, then boiling them into the why that's appealing - is it the cut, the material, the fit, the shape - and finding or making sth that embraces some of those aspects.

this was a rly fun thing to think about so thank you for asking!

[sprucetreeconspiracy]

tagged by: @bluemoon-croon eyes emoji lets see

get to know you better game! answer the questions and tag 9 people you want to know better.

last song you listened to: currently playing buck tick - in heaven

Currently reading: whipping girl by julia serano

Currently watching: some korean crime show i forgot the title but i have it on my friends netflix lmao its about an attorney who is solving crimes and i should continue watching cuz i wanna know what happens but the episodes are long and my baby brain can only handle so much concentration

Currently obsessed with: ai chat bots (we are not doing so good my fellows) uhh boating accidents... pretty goth boys and leather daddies in art and in real life

im nooot gonna tag anyone however if u wanna do this do it i would like to see my friends answers even if im not gonna single u out!

[sprucetreeconspiracy]

1, 9 and 19?

aha finally getting to these 2023 end of the year asks! 1. Song of the year? mmm probably buck-tick's villain

9. Best month for you this year? i absolutely can't tell. i don't REMEMBER well enough what happened each month. i know that i had a stressful spring and a work-filled summer and this autumn has also been a bit. yeah. i haven't had a solid good or a solid bad month. just moments of varying kinds.

19. What’re you excited about for next year? again i don't know! i don't have anything truly groundbreaking coming up as far as i know. the plans i had let's say, a year ago, are no longer happening in 2024. and i haven't made any new ones. there's stuff that's prolly gonna happen but i'm not gonna get excited about that stuff until it's confirmed. and right now i'm too deeply tired to consider much exciting.

[sprucetreeconspiracy]

for artist ask: 1, 16, 22, 26

Do you prefer traditional drawing, or digital? I enjoy both! I prefer whichever feels more convenient at the time. When I'm out of the house that's usually trad cuz i can't be bothered to bring my ipad to most places unless it's a long trip. if it's a commission it's prolly gonna be digital cuz easier to edit and scale and no need to scan things.

Do you draw more today than you did in the past, or do you draw less? SIGNIFICANTLY less and it kills me every day. In fact it absolutely trashes me when I see people who can draw more than me improve and here i'm standing stuck and not drawing nearly enough to do the same. But often I'm simply too tired and worn out by life to do anything other than exist and look at a screen. or sleep. or play solitaire with a podcast on until 4 am. (...)

Are you confident that you’re improving steadily? I think I would if i actually drew more. i feel like ive been stuck ever since i went back to uni tbh. sometimes ive drawn more but mostly ive drawn less because of either having to work more or being too tired and that's made my improvement sluggish at best. idk if i've improved at all in the past 1.5 years. you'd hope so but i don't have the heart to go back and compare stuff. it's not that i don't have the ability to improve skills wise but i do think i need more hours in the day to do that which, again, fucking kills me. it's genuinely painful to me how little i'm able to put in the art basket these days, to the point that i've considered quitting uni and or work more than idk 50 times by now.

For digital artists: what program(s) do you use? On PC I use Clip Studio Paint exclusively. Procreate on ipad. I do not like procreate tho so i don't draw on the ipad as much as i would if lets say i could justify subscribing to the csp app on it (as it's sub only there which is so fucking evil).