"There's an order I'm supposed to go in, there's actually quite a few choices- Do you want to start on that now, or maybe dream up some refreshments to clear your head or something? As long as you're still working towards making the choices in some way there's a lot of room in how long we can be here."

...sure. She will try to dream up a pot of tea and a nice egg sandwich full of sprouts that crunch and condiments with a flavor.

Fading in like some sort of low-budget special effect, there's a fancy wooden dining table with clean plates and shiny silverware. There's tea, and an egg sandwich, and a bowl of mixed fruit, and a vase full of flowers.

Serenity walks up and materializes a chair for herself, as well as a slice of pepperoni pizza.

Well the real question is does it taste right.

It does taste right. It also crunches just so, and smells the right way, and is a little bit chilly, and is generally indistinguishable from a real egg sandwich.

Oh. Okay. She's going to just scarf that down and get herself a soup course and a ripe pear and a bowl of ice cream too then.

The food is very obedient. Her guide is much less urgent about it, snacking on some roast veggies and a stack of pancakes.

Eventually El is kind of slowing down on her chocolate chip cookies.

"How are you feeling?"

"Well, dead, I guess."

"One thing that I always make sure to mention is that it's possible to arrange for some people from your home world to be reincarnated with you. Your new world would be 'paused' until after their deaths in your home universe, so they can be reincarnated with you. They would be able to eventually recover most of their memory, but not until the 'main story' is well and truly resolved."

"God, what a thing to put on somebody. What'll become of them without, I suppose."

She winces. "It wouldn't be better to not mention it, would it? Whatever would happen to them without any intervention. I can put in a special request to find out what that 'whatever' is but... Those don't always get answered. And if they do the answer isn't always nice."

A frown. "There are certain things I'm really not supposed to suggest or hint at, particularly as far as 'breaking the system' goes." She stares at El and tries to give a meaningful look.

"How very mysterious of you."

"Want to start talking about your options now?"

"Nothing could possibly bring me greater joy."

"So, the story you're being set to cast in has a few core rules. You're going to be nobility, in a country where nobility has real and serious power. It's going to be a romance, with you cast as the villain- The romantic rival for the heroine. The idea is that this story was counterfactually created as a major media franchise, and then you got sent to it to replace the villainess. Since it's a story world, there's going to be some level of story logic and fate in play by default. There's one option to give Fate a good kick in the pants that I'll get to later, but that's the basic idea. You'll choose to define your own character, the heroine, the love interest, some minions, some of worldbuilding and 'canon' story, and some additional 'perks' and 'flaws'. Make sense so far?"

"Oh, yeah, totally, easy as क ख ग. Suppose I've had enough of being a villain, what then?"

"Well... You can try to derail the story as early and energetically as possible, though there's - almost certainly going to be some sort of major conflict no matter what you try. Taking the 'off the rails' perk for best effect. You could be a minor villain instead, more in the background but with less steering power."

"Steering power, you say."

"As the main villainess you have more money, more political and social power, more chance to direct how things unfold. We're talking an actual princess, or heir to one of the most powerful dukedoms, or technically a commoner but buy-out-countries rich. A minor villain is instead an up-and-coming noble, a highly placed servant, or the sibling to the main villainess, not the direct driver of said villainy but associated with it and strongly incentivized to help. And with fewer resources to maneuver with."

"I haven't got any siblings. So I don't know how I'd take to it."

"Well, you will experience twelve or sixteen years of growing up before your memories really start to return, so it'd be a natural experience. -Your overall personality and temperament stays the same, there's a consistency."

"But who am I really without a dark prophecy looming over my head like the world's most socially objectionable umbrella?"

"...Might be why you were chosen for this- Extreme personalities show up here more often. The story is slated to properly end, and give you a 'happily ever after' if you overcome its natural course."