But her face quickly smooths out into a smile.  "Oh, we can certainly keep it growing in population into the indefinite future.  And I'm not sure, but I've heard there're some possibilities for universes to increase without bound or end.  I'll signal that to the worldbuilding team if they can do it!"

"I'm really glad. It's important to me to have a vast universe with a lot of happy people in it. I want it to be fun, too. People should have a good time. And they should have opportunities to grow in wisdom and virtue. One way the afterlife could differ from being alive is that people would have a lot more freedom in the afterlife. They could be able to do almost anything. Too much freedom can be bad for people if they don't know how to use it. So maybe everyone's mortal life would help them grow up, so they can make the most of their afterlife freedom to live a fantastic life and not get stuck in patterns that hurt themselves and others."

(Lac had a phase where he would read speculation on the Good afterlives and question which was best and how he would improve on them.)

"But would that total freedom really be what satisfies people?  In the afterlife or anywhere else?  Even if it might make a lot of people happy for a moment?"

She used to hear some people saying they'd get that, back in her mortal life, and it felt dull then just like now.

"And, people's mortal lives helping them grow up is a good image... but it'd demand a whole lot of active Fate to make sure everyone grows up enough to handle more possibilities in the afterlife!  Could there be somewhere else where people wait till they're grown up enough?"

"Maybe people could be reborn if they aren't ready, and then when they die they regain all their memories from every life? I don't like the idea of everyone being Fate's puppets, but maybe there could be a little Fate, in the form of prophetic dreams or visions or something that can help people make important decisions, that kind of thing. I'm not actually sure about total freedom being ideal, since I've never experienced it or met anyone who had. But I think total freedom should include the freedom to make lasting commitments or limit yourself if you want to. What are your thoughts about freedom, and potential problems resulting from too much of it?"

She's grinning as soon as Lac mentions people regaining memories every time they die, and she grins even more at the mention of prophetic visions.

"Maybe not every time; I heard there was one bad world where the villains kept being reborn until no one else was left... though wait, if the universe is eternally growing with new souls continually being born I think it should work out!  Though maybe let's let the gods tweak it if need be?

"But about total freedom... I've never had it either" (especially not that one time in her human life she momentarily thought she did...) "or met anyone who had... But if everyone can do anything, then why would people be striving for anything?  What would be holding them together?"

"I know people are often held together by hardship, but do they have to be? Could people just be held together by love and compatibility? I know challenge is part of a fulfilling life. I imagine that someone with incredible freedom could still choose to limit themselves, like how when you play a game you agree to follow the rules. Maybe some people could choose to live in parts of the afterlife with less freedom and more struggle to get things they want, and other people could live in parts where they have more freedom and can rejoice in using it creatively."

"I want gods to be able to tweak a lot of things if necessary! It would be reassuring if I knew there was a God that shared my own values, but was a lot smarter. This God could correct the mistakes I'll inevitably make when trying to design all this."

"The Worldbuilding Team can take a lot of requests about gods, but something like that --"  She shakes her head, almost chuckling.

And then she gets another idea.

"How about making sure there's a path to becoming a god yourself?  Sometime after the story?  If you avoid the Bad Ending?"

!!
"That would be wonderful. But could you alter my memory so that I only think I need to avoid the Bad Ending to become a God? That way the story still has stakes, but the entire universe isn't worse than it would be otherwise, by my lights, if I fail. I'll only think it will be."

"... The Will might allow that.  I don't know.  Escaping your Bad Ending is supposed to be all but impossible... but you usually do still die.  What happens after, I haven't seen."

"... But I know they won't just make you automatically a god afterwards.  So you'll need to complete some challenge... perhaps after reincarnating?  If you choose to?"

Darn it.

"If I get a better chance of becoming a God, whether I remember that or not, I'd be willing to make my Bad Ending worse somehow. Or give the Will lots of story input via Fate, or something. Do you think anything like that would be an option?"