arbitrator

[arbitrator]

and if i said they were everything to me... what then

[arbitrator]

ARBITRATOR :  A PRIVATE AND SELECTIVE ROLEPLAY BLOG FOR THE ORIGINAL CHARACTER KANŌ SHIRABE FOR THE THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU SERIES. HEAVILY BASED ON HEADCANONS FOR THE HIGHER PLANES. CREATED AND WRITTEN BY SYD. RE-ESTABLISHED MAY 2023.

a study in: duty to that which is, being faux affably evil, a role as identity, a sense of self as a consuming thing, negative character development, & acting as vessel for a higher will.

[arbitrator]

the concept is this: twisting the way shibuya tends to spark individuality not by having shirabe learn to love the city and want to defend it, but by having their loyalty to the will and perfection of the higher plane and that individuality coalesce in a way that... renders their position of arbitrator as an identity rather than a position.

they find identity as an individual, but it's as arbitrator for the higher plane still. they act out on their own per what that will desires as an endgame rather than doing what the will desires in the present.

[arbitrator]

SHINJUKU’S COMPOSER

shibuya really is of that much significance to the higher plane as to send the arbitrator — that thought sends several almost - emotions through hazuki, too fleeting to properly form much less register as more than a sharp sensation in the back of their throat. even that is too much, and hazuki is suddenly all too aware of how long they’ve spent away from the higher plane.

it makes them feel frayed around the edges. dirty. sullied in the presence of someone else from the higher plane. their wings, not physically manifested but nevertheless always - present, shift in the space between planes.

“ i thought i had made myself perfectly clear. the executor i tasked with cleansing shinjuku wanted to continue the work in shibuya. he acted independently, ” which the hivemind, the elites, had let happen, a part of hazuki notes, “ but because it was originally me who requested the executor’s presence in the lower planes, i … thought it inappropriate to let that choice affect areas beyond my jurisdiction. ”

“ and you know we did nothing to intervene when he would have erased shibuya. ” it is not a question. something almost... pitying takes over their countenance — it stems from something much deeper than them the body and personality. “ did you not once think to listen?? and did you not once think that perhaps he was listening?? ” tarnished. polluted. there is no sympathy to be found in the arbitrator or in anything that courses through them.

prolonged exposure to the noise of the lower planes seems to more often than not have the most detrimental of effects. the stream of consciousness remembers — it remembers shibuya’s producer ( fallen, truly beyond saving ), shibuya’s composer, and now shinjuku’s composer... and there are others, yes, separated by distinct zoning ordinances within the hierarchy. it appears the higher plane was right to impose such boundaries, lest the contamination spread as rampant as ideas in the realground do. “ why did you wait until the eleventh hour to intervene as you did?? if you were aware of his plans, why give him time to wreak havoc in shibuya if you intended to put a stop to his actions?? ”

[arbitrator]

SHIBUYA’S COMPOSER

The top of 104 is peaceful in a paradoxical sort of way – Shibuya’s thoughts remain raw and unfiltered below them, but the height of the tower generates some sort of distance…as if the Noise of the city is being shuffled through a screen. Joshua likes it up here. While he, like Neku, has grown to accept the changing tides of the city, and even find solace in said changing tides, the fact remains that he is a solitary individual who generally prefers his alone time.

Which made this visit quite unwelcome.

His eyes flick down to the Scramble at their question.  “The truth of my investment, huh…? Didn’t you say it yourself? Shibuya is interesting.” THEY are interesting. HE………is interesting. HE’S —-  “I can’t go and let them get Erased when they make my life so fun.”  Joshua giggles emptily at that, knuckles pressing to his lips. A breeze catches on the edge of his shirt, sending thoughts to the top of 104 along with it, various prayers and whispers soon to be forgotten.

A moment while Joshua wets his lips, gaze redirecting downward once again. “I would have agreed with you three years ago. Shibuya is an individualistic city, and it attracts the worst misanthropes due to that. Which is why I made the worst one I could find my proxy. But even he has changed. It’s hard not to notice his Soul out there in the crowd. How much happier he is with those friends. And the city repays him in kind–you don’t live here, so you don’t notice, but the city has been better off ever since that change was sparked in him. It’s warmer. More receptive. Kinder.”  For a split second, Joshua’s mouth hangs open, as if wrestling with some unspoken fact, then –  “I guess that change made its way to me. After all, the Composer must allow themselves to be guided by the music on occasion. Hehe.”  The laugh is an afterthought.

“What is this, anyways? A performance review?” Joshua turns so his back rests against the bar of the rooftop–surely it’s there to prevent any construction workers from falling to their untimely demises.  “Got any feedback for little ol’ me? I’m willing to make another bet on the future of the city, but I assure you, I will not lose. That said, I do love a gamble…so now’s your time to make your proposition if you have one.”

“ personal investment, then, ” comes the reply — and it lacks any inflection or personality in the delivery. “ you see something special in the city itself and those who inhabit it. ” only now is there some inflection, and it comes through as distaste. their eyes — purple, inhuman, otherworldly — flick to the streets below, and for a moment they stand and stare over the edge of the railing with nothing moving at all behind those eyes. for a moment, they are statuesque. for a moment they are as still as the will of the higher plane itself.

a moment more, and then: “ this city is loud. louder than any we have had the opportunity to see. ” we have seen all together, and practically nothing at all alone. “ impure as well, or because of it. ” they suppose the specifics have never mattered much — reason has always mattered less to them than outcome has.

as always, there is a perpetual distance to the arbitrator; all of the composer’s words are taken in, but few are outwardly addressed. there is much to consider after all: the matter of the proxies the composer has utilized for his petty gambles — the very things that have sullied this city beyond saving —, the matter of the fate of this much - debated city, the matter of shinjuku’s composer and the executor and how both acted out of line in very different ways... such is the job of the arbitrator, to examine all sides and make a ruling, without emotional involvement of their own as speaker for the higher plane — as their eyes, as their ears, as their vessel.

“ you can call it that. we have no doubt it seems that way in your eyes. ” something shifts in its eyes as its gaze moves back from the streets below and to him where he rests against the railing. something hardens, but something becomes more amused. “ we have minded our distance for longer than we intended. you have your producer to thank for that. but kubō tanzō was not exorcised for violating the will of the higher plane, and you would do well to remember that. his mistake was for stepping outside of the parameters set before him by the one who brought him to the lower planes — and that is all. ” the higher plane would have sanctioned the erasure of shibuya, even if the tactics were less than ideal.

and now, finally, the arbitrator smiles a smile devoid of all warmth or amusement. “ the arbitrator’s duty is to determine how to proceed. you could consider this vessel a proxy in its own right. and you have practically admitted yourself that this city’s impurity has taken root in you. ” so do go ahead, o’ arrogant composer. place your bet.

[arbitrator]

This user is an angel

[arbitrator]

[arbitrator]

\\ The void stirs, you are not yourself and you are every you there has been. You are none of them and all of them. You watch them and they see you in the mirror, and if you cross the threshold, maybe you can hold their hands once more \\

[arbitrator]

Mabel, ep 8.5 — Letter from Juniper

TMA, ep 32 — Hive

TSV, ep 6 — It Winds, It Worms, It Wends

[arbitrator]

sorry for the url change but this url was free and i could not resist having simply their position title as a url

[arbitrator]

unsure if shirabe will ever develop in any real way given how integrated into the hivemind of the higher plane they are, but if they do... that is when they’ll start to refer themself in the singular. as it is now, they’re very much a willing cog in the machine with no individuality to speak of save for the position of arbitrator. 

if they do start to develop at all, i find it likely the use of i or me would slip into their dialogue almost without noticing at first

[arbitrator]

@purificr​ asked:  the ug distorts - fleetingly, the plane making way for a higher frequency being tuned down to its level - and hazuki freezes, their body locking down to keep their own lowered vibes in check in presence of another. the buzz that is a constant in the back of their mind is suddenly louder, more present, and something in hazuki's eyes just - dims. still, they smile / and for all its emptiness it is a true smile. " now this is a— " but it is not a surprise, is it? " can i help you? "

at the very least hazuki wastes no time dancing around the fact that they surely know that the arbitrator must have a reason for visiting the lower planes — so rarely do they take matters into their own hands and subject themselves to the pollution of this world. tuning - down is uncomfortable for a being such as this one, as unused to it as they are; it makes their mind feel clouded with so many thoughts — a singularity of thought — that is both their own and other. bodies such as this are not meant for that sort of strain, it remembers from the experiences of others.

shirabe ( a taken name, pulled from the fold of consciousness and being as nothing more than a suggestion the last time it had been forced into this form — and it had stuck, interestingly, as a designation of self only when needed ) fails to return hazuki’s smile for a moment, its expression pensive for a moment longer. and then those lips pull into something faint and upturned, although calling it a smile might be disingenuous. “ we hope you can, at least. ” and when the angel speaks as arbitrator, they speak for the host in the planes above, thoughts filtered through the shared consciousness before passing over their lips — and always with a delay, almost imperceptible to all except those who know what to look for. “ tell us what exactly it was that transpired down here. your reports left a few questions... less than clearly answered. and we must fill in those gaps before we proceed. ”

[arbitrator]

syd has made one more bold decision, this time in the form of a sideblog for an original character — an angel from the higher plane of the world ends with you. this one is well and truly loyal to the harmonious hivemind of the higher plane, and is rather displeased with the state of things in the lower planes...