The vigorous, evergreen, self-clinging climber, Hedera helix (common ivy, bentwood, bindwood, English ivy, ivory, ivy gum plant, love united) can be prune to make wall topiary! The juvenile stage has adventitious roots (growing from the stem) that cling to a range of surfaces. Mature plants produce bushy, non-clinging branches with diamond-shaped leaves, and small, nectar-rich, greenish-yellow flowers in the autumn, followed by black berries in winter.
meet the stellar sounds, a magical (?) girl band tasked with defending the earth from an alien invasion 💫👽 wait why's one of them a robot... and isn't that last one an alien herself...?
challenged myself to design characters based off of cool objects and it kinda went off the rails a bit and i drafted a whole story premise for these 4...
more info about the characters & story plus stills under the cut & a lineup so you can see their heights properly :D
Charlie works as a sound engineer all over town. She’s well-liked in her small community, charismatic and always willing to lend a hand — even though she complains dramatically the whole time.
Though she appears very self-assured, the reality is that she’s brute forcing herself into feeling content with her life.
She’s always dreamed of being in a band but the thought of putting her best into something and failing is so paralysing that she’s deliberately never tried. Instead, she pursues music as a “casual hobby”. Ignore her ever-growing instrument collection.
Thankfully that all changes when someone new drops into town — well, technically she’s returning to town.
Meet Bia!
She’s recently come back to her childhood home after burning out and quitting her nursing job. But she’s super bright and bubbly and everything is fine!! So don’t worry about it!!!
Her and Charlie were childhood best-friends, though they lost contact and haven’t spoken in well over a decade.
On a whim, after seeing an advert for a yard sale and recognising the address, Bia decides to pay her a visit — and it's only after she’s made the drive to Charlies’ family home, all the way on the outskirts of town, that she stops to think “Wait… What if she moved?”
But can you blame her? She’s so excited to reconnect!! And… she could use the distraction.
But how do they end up fighting aliens?
After a warm and slightly charged reunion, Charlie invites Bia for a post-yard sale tea so they can catch up without being interrupted every 5 minutes by someone trying to buy another one of her parent's bizarre lawn ornaments. (Did they really need a gnome for every holiday? And why were they all so rude?)
Between the banter, reminiscing and inside jokes it truly feels like no time has passed at all. The sky grows dark outside, and just as Charlie steels herself to ask how Bia’s handling her “career break” (word travels fast when your mums are retired and love to gossip), a bright streak of light interrupts the skyline, followed by a deafening metallic crash.
Which leads us to our next character, Hedera!
She’s soft spoken but intense, doesn’t mince words at all and she’s obviously not human.
Hedera's just crash landed on Earth — the location was intentional, the crash not so much. She's come to warn the planet's inhabitants of an oncoming threat and to give them the tools to defend themselves.
Unfortunately, said threat is her own planet’s governing bodies.
Her leaders intend to drain Earth of its natural resources, viewing the inhabitants as too technologically inferior to put up a fight. They were preparing to send a few agents for a preliminary hands-on assessment when one of their scouting ships mysteriously vanished.
Hedera is not a fighter.
She's a diplomat and a scholar, but she couldn't just stand back and watch. Against her better judgement she stole a bunch of new-tech gadgets she didn't fully understand and made a run for it.
When the two humans stumble onto her, unconscious and injured, they bring her back to the house and Bia tries her best to patch her up.
Charlie is freaking out the whole time because a fucking alien just crashed into her backyard! But she's not a cop, she's not gonna call somebody about this.
And Bia... She’s in problem solving mode, so she’ll deal with the logistics of the situation tomorrow.
When Hedera wakes, she gives a whole spiel about Earth being in danger and that she’s been sent to help, though she omits her own planet's part in it. She touts the gadgets she's brought with her, hoping to inspire confidence, and highlights one as the first step in her defence strategy — a device that can turn even the most rudimentary piece of technology into an incredible weapon capable of enhancing the wielder's strength and agility.
Bia jumps at this, burning with curiosity and a need to see it in action, though she listens when Charlie pleads for them to not blast that thing inside Her House and to instead take the weird alien technology outside.
The yard sale left overs are still strewn about, Charlie too distracted with Bia and then a weird alien lady to even think about tidying up. Bia peruses the unsold goods and holds up an old children's toy for their “alien saviour” to consider. Hedera inspects it, unsure of it’s initial purpose, but confirms it as a suitable target.
She warns the two humans to step back, points the gadget towards the toy and fires away.
Aaaand, that's where our fourth and final character comes in!
Cassie is friendly, energetic and incredibly curious.
She also Just Got Here.
Hedera was in over her head (maybe even slightly concussed?) and so focused on trying to impress her new allies that she forgot to double-triple check all the settings and now they've got a talking robot on their hands. Oops!
Sudden sentience is disorienting, but after a brief explanation from Hedera, Cassie finds her footing by inhabiting her perceived role in the group — her purpose is to defend Earth and protect her new friends!
Her narrative journey would involve overcoming this baseline "instinct" to be obedient and complacent and actually figure out who she is as an individual, rather than a tool. But for now, she's chilling.
After the shock that is Cassie popping into existence and Hedera trying to pass it off as Totally Intentional actually, they go ahead with making weapons for the rest of them. Seeing that Cassie already has a giant microphone as a weapon, Bia insists on the rest of them sticking with the theme and Charlie begrudgingly lets them snoop through her assorted instruments, for the greater good of course, though she abstains from making an instrument weapon for herself.
Together, they form earth's first defence against alien invasion, and fledgling indie band, The Stellar Sounds!
And finally here's the full lineup :)
Thanks for reading all the way till to end!! I've also got a process video up on my youtube where I talk a bit more about the design process itself in between the story bits, if anyone's interested :D
