All I Want Is Everything

Making progress

You've gotta turn over a new leaf,
'Cause that old one's turning on you.
We've gotta turn over a new leaf.
And let your love come on through.
You've gotta turn over a new leaf,
'Cause that old one's turning on you.

Bad Religion, New Leaf

The news of Flerken signing Shield was big and there was speculation about Ella's reaction to this and whether she had anything to do with it. The label squashed that, saying that Ella's input on the signing was not sought. Loki took on the press, releasing Ella's bland comment that she wished Shield well. Rumors started to circulate, fanned by Thor, about the new album, which was enough to get the band invited to perform at the same festival Ella was performing at, the second one. She was pleased for them but also smug that she'd be on the main stage right after Poison and just before Motley Crue went on, while Shield would be relegated to a secondary stage, significantly earlier in the day. She polished her new song for the festival appearances; it was a banger, easy for people to pick up and sing along, with plenty of shredding... a sonic good time. Sam liked it too. Just because Ella was the lead guitar didn't mean that the rhythm guitar didn't have a lot to do and important music to play.

Ella bit down that summer and took two classes at Mission College, concluding the courses there that she wanted to take. Scott had asked her to work with him producing another album in the fall, which she was thrilled about. Although Ella's days were full with her classes—pastry was so much fun!—her evenings were more casual, going out for drinks with friends, dating, although not as much as she had in the spring. She was getting tired of casual connections. Loki loved how her dates with popular actors kept her in the public eye, and most of the men were perfectly fine, but... she felt like having a deck of cards printed up with her answers to the standard questions men asked on dates, which didn't speak well of her level of engagement. This was part of the Hollywood game for them too, though, even if they were likewise phoning in the dates, publicity was important. She did better with the guys who understood the game they were playing and were pleasant to talk to and did interesting hobbies. The ones who had neither vastly supersized egos or crippling insecurities.

Sometimes it was a rough road.

But she had her festivals to look forward to—she loved performing and wanted the reaction to her new song—and she and Becca were going back to Vegas in late July, between her first and second festivals. They were going for a week, becoming nightcrawlers, and she was going to get more tattoos. She was falling in love with the idea of becoming a garden of pale flowers. And because she remembered Ned's admonition to watch sun exposure only after her tanning attempt, she bought a huge umbrella and a large, comfortable fabric hammock that she stationed by the pool. But because Bec would be bored with the tattooing, having reached her personal limits on that, they were going with Kate Bishop and Wanda Maximov from her label—they'd all become friendly—and a couple of friends that Bec had made, Jessica Jones, a PI that Bec's agency used occasionally, and Yelena Bulova. Ella wasn't sure what Yelena did, but she also felt disinclined to ask, for some reason. She was great fun, though. Girls trip to Vegas, there would be something for everybody. Meanwhile, she was happy that her friends were getting in the habit of dropping for informal parties a couple times a month, and she was meeting more people through them. Bec and Bucky, of course, friends from the industry and her label, including Scott Lang, his wife Hope, and his favorite sound engineer Luis, and Pepper and Tony, along with her friends from classes, her musician friends, and guys she'd dated but remained friendly with. Loki, Thor, Erik, M'Baku, Ayo. Stephen Strange and Rhodey came by for some of them. And people brought a guest or two; her get-togethers were starting to attract movers and shakers. She had a bar (that could be secured when she wasn't using it) put in the cave along with a few chairs for when it got too hot out, and the patio on the roof had a barbeque. She was making friends and contact all over the city and in different professions, and that was a lot of fun. People learned to keep cool; people who made scenes, got too drunk or too excited about the celebrities you could bump into-and that included some of those celebrities, too—would not be invited back.