"I want to keep the rails of Fate.  We're going to be in a story; don't you want it to make sense as a story?"

"I think there's plenty of story to be had just from our initial circumstances, is the thing.  That, and exploring the world we build!"

"Yes, there could be - but I'd want to know there is!"

"But aren't we already sure we're having it?  I don't want to fight you for stupid reasons!"

"Oh - is it that you don't want to be Fated to lose?  Even if you could overcome it?"

"I want the world to actually respect my choices - not merely pretend to do so - and I want to choose to not get dragged into status-seeking games and instead do the best I can by my people and my kingdom."

That last point hits home with Lila.  She'd been hoping to do that.  She'd been planning to.  And then -

- well, some of the dragons decided they were mad about Barvid after all, a few years after they'd promised they weren't, and she insisted on going herself, and then she got thrust into another story.

The angel comments, "You would be able to evade Fate anyway; it would just be harder.  And even if you don't have it in general, it is going to put the two of you in some sort of conflict."

"I'm not willing to commit to - to facing stupid bullshit nonchoices, at any volume.  If the Will of the Multiverse thinks it needs those to create narrative tension and conflict, it's a hack.  'Fate' can damn well sod off, it's not part of the cosmology.  Just create the right initial conditions and there will be something."

"... All right.  Let's do it that way and do the best we can."

"I do hope to be entertaining and narratively coherent, don't get me wrong.  I just want my hand on the wheel."

"... yes, of course.  In a good way.  For us and everyone."

She's realizing - too late - that "rule your kingdom for the people's good" isn't the same thing as "rule your kingdom and arrange interesting stories."  Usually it'd lined up (she hadn't arranged Barvid's invasion, of course, and as the protagonist she knew what she should be trying for)... but sometimes it doesn't.  She probably should've sent someone else after the dragons after all.

And the same things apply when setting up a world.

"Who are we going to be in this world anyway?"

The angel has a good idea what concept her alt realized, but not about the circumstances.  A hug would help... but probably not a hug from her, in her role.

She flips back to the start of her pad of paper.

"The first question is - your hair, which has meta-magical significance for your personality here.  For both of you, do you want curly drill hair which is associated with the stereotypical rich-villainess personality (and a magical laugh perk); hime cut which comes with a more serious and dangerous personality (and the "Silk Hiding Steel" personality perk); or elaborate hair which gets you an extra maid?"

...Alicia is absolutely willing to offer Lila a supportive gesture.

"Serious and dangerous, if you please."

She accepts the hug gladly.

"Same for me, though I might change it when I know more about who I'll be."

"In that case, I'll skip over hair color for the moment - it's got just as much effect on personality - and..."

She skips over several pages, actually.  She knows what her alt is thinking about here.

"Your social role in Villarosa.  At the start, both of you will be teenagers in the exclusive Royal Academy of Villarosa.

"Lila, as the Heroine, you can be:  an Extraordinary Commoner who won admission on sheer merit; a Poor Princess who can be either a princess of Villarosa or another kingdom; or a Hero's Daughter whose heroic parent died but won admission to nobility.

"Alicia, as the Villainess, you can be:  the Royal Princess of Villarosa; the Duke's Daughter, daughter of the highest-ranking duke in the realm; or a Rich Heiress, daughter of the wealthiest merchant but not nobility.

"And yes, for both of you, being nobility or not will matter.  That's not Fate; that's how the world will be set up."

"I'm not sure whether I'd rather be the Duke's Daughter or the Princess, but I certainly don't wish to be the Heiress.  Capitalism was bad enough when I wasn't its preferred agent."

"Ah yes; as the original story's Heroine, I get to be the underdog in social status."

She pauses a moment to consider being a Princess again.  But she'd be a Poor Princess, so either this wouldn't be her kingdom or it would mean some uncomfortable things about her father.

"I'll be the Hero's Daughter."

"...I'd like your advice on - the likely default realities I'd be working with, should I pick these, honestly.  In terms of - how entangled I'd be, by default, I suppose?  I don't have good models of that."

“Entangled with… society?”

"I'm not sure what I'm trying to ask, really, except - 'what's the probability that my propensity to focus on doing cool things with magic to the exclusion of social-status-seeking will bite me in the butt'?"

"...Your family's expectations and reaction will depend a lot on whether you've got brothers and sisters.  If they can carry on the family name and social standing, they won't have such high social expectations for you.  Assuming you stay honorable, of course.

"Socially..."

She wasn't in high society herself between being a little girl and being crowned queen.  But she's been a lot closer to it than Alicia, if her guesses about Alicia's home are right?

"Socially, it'll be easier as a Princess than a Duke's Daughter.  A Duke's family is still... playing the social game.  They're still on the same field as everyone else; they can still lose.  Unless they're a very unusual family who doesn't care to play it - I knew one of those; they stayed home and just accepted that everyone else thought they'd lost.  Wonderful people, most of them.

"...But anyway, a Princess doesn't have any equals except her brothers and sisters; she comes in with her own social standing on a different field and stays that way even if she's a wild sorceress or something."

"Alright, then.  Let's lock in Princess, Isekai Angel Lila.  ...So I'm...going to want to have family.  Huh.  Never had any siblings before.  At least not any that I've met; theoretically my mother gave birth to someone else before me but - well, he came out even earlier than I did and consequently didn't make it.  Had a lot more cousins, but they weren't around."

"And at least one of my parents is going to be dead... again.  I guess I won't have any family.  Except maybe a little brother or sister?  That could be interesting..."