APP

[redonijesus]

Name: Nico / Nruu
Age: 22
Journal: royul_thyme
Contact: NruuCake
my e-mail/gchat: hadesisnototherpeople @ gmail
Other Characters Played: N/A!

Canon: D.N.Angel (manga)
Character: Daisuke Niwa
Age: 14
Timeline: Stage 4 Volume 10, before Riku confronts Daisuke
Background:
Long ago, a young thief and a young artist became mortal enemies. The Niwa often stole the Hikari's work, which were imbued with a deep magic that gave the pieces life. The emotion the Hikari put into his work was so strong, the pieces took on a life of their own. (Or so they say.) In essence, the Hikaris could create life.

One dark night, the artist was creating a massive painting: Dark Wing. It was to be his crowning achievement, his best work.

The artist began to breathe life into the piece when the thief broke in. He attempted to steal away with it. They fought, disrupting the artwork's magic. The artwork split into two--white and black--and merged into the two family's bloodlines. Black for the Niwas, white for the Hikari. Their dynamic continued through generations . . .

On Daisuke's 14th birthday, he found out he inherited that love gene. Even better, it was just after his crush rejected him! Even better better, whenever he gets too flustered about his crush, he would turn into the Phantom Thief Dark. Daisuke's family had shounen-style trained him his entire life to be a phantom thief. Since birth, Daisuke has had to avoid his mom's traps throughout the house. Every day was an obstacle course! At night, Daisuke now must steal Hikari artwork before they go haywire and start kidnapping/killing people. But not before Daisuke's mom sends in an advance warning. Because telling your enemy your plans is cool I guess?

In the day, Daisuke must act like a normal kid and go to school with his crush, Risa Harada. Oh, but that's not all! He also has to act normal around Satoshi Hiwatari . . . the very person who's trying to capture Dark! And to make matters even more complicated, Satoshi Hiwatari . . . is actually Satoshi Hikari!

If you think all that's weird, well-- The only way that Daisuke can get rid of this troublemaking bad boy living inside of him--his other half--is to fall in love with someone who returns his feelings and loves him for who he is.

Considering the series starts with Risa rejecting Daisuke's confession, it wasn't looking good for him. But Daisuke's 14. He's bound to go through some things, grow, and change gears . . . and his perception of Risa changes a lot. His perception of a lot of people, really.

After the rejection, they tried to be friends. Risa continually asked Daisuke to help her out. This would be fine, except for one thing: Risa liked Dark. She was continually trying to impress him. So she asks Daisuke to help her find Dark. A lot. When her hat was blown away on a mountain trail, she asks Daisuke to get it for her. Daisuke sacrificed his time and feelings for Risa over and over. Every time it was for Dark, it hurt Daisuke. But he liked her, so he wanted to help.

This had been going on for a long while, all building up to this moment. Risa asked Daisuke to test her cooking. She had made a cute, homemade bento--a boxed lunch. Touched, Daisuke agrees. Eating the cooking of your crush, sitting on a bench outside . . . it was a romantic fantasy come true! As he's eating and complimenting her on her terrible cooking, Risa tells him the truth.

It's for Dark.

Risa went on and on about how hard she's been trying to cook well for Dark, and how much testing Daisuke will have to do.

And Daisuke said no. He couldn't do it anymore. He told Risa he couldn't be friends with her. To him, she was never a friend. He's always liked her.

Of course, she completely misunderstood him and got mad, as is comedic romance tradition. Despite the cliche, that moment began Daisuke's transition in getting over Risa. Eventually, he succeeds. But not before he starts developing feelings for the older Harada, Riku. Oh, did I mention? They're twins.

It was White Day. Daisuke was planning on giving Risa a white ribbon, which is a symbol of love toward a girl. If a guy ties a white ribbon to a girl, they say your love will last forever. Naturally, Risa completely, irrevocably rejects him. Lost in despair, Daisuke gave up. Admitting defeat to Dark left enough room for Dark to take over . . . while still in Daisuke's form. The last bit wasn't exactly planned.

So, stuck in a prepubescent boy's body in a middle school . . . What's a guy to do? Cause trouble, of course! Pretending to be Daisuke, Dark began flirting with every girl he came across. One of them? Was Riku.

Dark tied a white ribbon around Riku, moved in for the kiss . . . and then ran off. Daisuke freaked, thinking, "I almost transformed!!" Then he realized--was he Dark when he tried to kiss Riku . . . or was he Daisuke?

"Who am I?"

That began Daisuke's feelings for Riku--the same girl Dark liked--as well the beginning of Daisuke's biggest subplot. The line between Dark and Daisuke blurs even further . . .

But before existential crises, we have romance to settle! See, every time Riku was around, and Dark got too flustered, he would transform back to Daisuke! But Risa liked Dark! So, to recap, Risa likes Dark, who likes Riku, but Daisuke likes Riku, too, and Olivia likes Cesaro, who's actually Viola, but mistakes Viola's brother Sebastian for Cesaro--and Riku doesn't know who she likes! The four of them were in the most awkward love square of all time. Daisuke was competing with himself for the girl he liked! Tokyo Mew Mew, eat your heart out.

So understandably, Dark thwarts Daisuke at every romantic turn he can. Daisuke effectively is his own romantic rival. That's deep stuff, man.

Much of Daisuke's life centers around love and the Hikari-Niwa feud. Often, the two are intertwined. You know the guy who's trying to capture Dark? Satoshi Hiwatari? Well, true to Daisuke's trusting, shounen-protagonist-in-a-shoujo-manga personality, he becomes friends with his enemy. And within his friend is a darkness . . . or should I say "whiteness?" Within Satoshi resides Krad, the sadomasochist other half of Dark, the white wings.

Krad is Dark's other self, and in a lot of ways, his opposite. While Dark uses very little magic so he won't hurt Daisuke, Krad goes all out. He forces wings to sprout from Satoshi's body, which is excruciatingly painful. Every time Krad appears, he tries to kill Daisuke and Dark. Because Krad wants to be the only artwork left. And Krad will kill anything that endangers Satoshi or gets between them. Daisuke and Dark fit both bills. Lucky them!

Even without Krad, even before Satoshi meets Daisuke's family, their relationship was a little strange. In chapter friggin' 6, Daisuke falls down the stairs with a bunch of heavy gym equipment. Satoshi catches him, breaking his hand in the attempt. At another time, Satoshi carries Daisuke off to the nurse's office. They keep doing things to help the other, despite being enemies. Despite Daisuke's mom and grandpa seriously distrusting Satoshi. Daisuke makes the best decisions, clearly.

Shortly before Satoshi caught Daisuke as he fell down the stairs, Dark had made a bet with Satoshi. If Dark stole his next target, Yufilia's Night Scene, then Satoshi couldn't do anything to "him." He could only capture Dark while he was Dark. When Daisuke was Daisuke, he'd be off limits. If Dark failed in stealing the painting, then Satoshi could do whatever he wanted.

It was a daring chase, and Satoshi fell off the roof. Dark grabbed his hand and said, "I've returned your favor from this morning. This bet . . . I win."

With Daisuke off-limits, he was free to hang around Satoshi and maybe become friends. Of course, Satoshi still sent Daisuke piercing stares and half-lidded Looks when he knew he was up to something. Though it made Daisuke (hilariously) nervous, that didn't stop him from being near him. I mean, he was his classmate, and if he needed help . . .

When Daisuke carries an unconscious Satoshi back to the Niwa household, they both scold him. He DID bring the enemy into his home base, after all . . . Daisuke's father, however, has an outsider's perspective. While Daisuke listened in, his dad gave Satoshi some advice and said he hopes Daisuke and Satoshi become best friends. Which would be a lot easier, if it weren't for Krad.

Last time, on Whose Body is it Anyway, Dark and Daisuke tried to steal a bird statue on the top of a lighthouse. It's too bad Satoshi was faster! He pulled Dark out of Daisuke's body and trapped Dark in a mirror. Awakened by Satoshi's feelings for Daisuke, Krad took over Satoshi's body. He began to choke the life out of the Niwa . . . until Dark saved him from inside the mirror. Daisuke escaped, and with the help of the bird statue, Towa, and some advice from Satoshi, he dove into the mirror world . . . and Dark's dream.

Daisuke completed some side quests, and medium-length-story short, he saved Dark for once. The two halves back together again, Daisuke realized something: he would be lonely if Dark left. Without Dark, it felt like something was missing, something important--and it left a gaping, empty hole.

Daisuke decided they wouldn't fight for dominance or merge into one. They would co-exist.

Of course, Dark didn't agree to not be a troublemaking jerk and get sweet on the ladies whenever he took over. He and Daisuke were rivals in love, afterall.

By the end of it, the Niwa family had a new maid: Towa, the piece who had helped Daisuke save Dark.

Now, by this time, Daisuke had a bit more of a positive feeling on being a phantom thief. And it wasn't just because he had developed an emotional connection with Dark. Back in volume 4, shortly after the St. White Day fiasco, Daisuke's grandpa sent in an advance warning for a piece that wasn't Hikari--a necklace called Agate Links. Luckily for Daisuke and Dark, Satoshi was sick at the time. So other than the cops (and really, they're no challenge), they had no opposition in stealing it--

--except for a little ghost girl. The night they went to retrieve it, a girl Daisuke's age was sitting all alone in the museum, and she was holding the necklace. She said it was hers, and begged Dark to wait one more day. She was waiting for her important person. But if he hadn't come by the next day, she said Dark could take her precious treasure.

The next night, Dark came as promised. The girl's important person hadn't come. As Dark asked for the Agate Links, Daisuke's close friend Saehara burst out at him with a baseball bat! Saehara was an aspiring journalist and the police chief's son. He had snuck in earlier and had fallen for the girl. Saehara was going to protect the girl and her necklace no matter what! He ripped Agate Links from the girl's neck and ran off!

After a classic Scooby-Doo-esque chase, Saehara fell out of a window. Brilliant. Dark followed after him and took the necklace from the passed out Saehara. The necklace had broken in the tussle. As the girl looked on, Dark said that breaking it was the point, anyway. As long as the necklace existed, the girl would be bound to it. Now that it was broken, she would be free.

"I was always waiting . . ." the girl said, crying. "But, today is the last . . . and I never met him . . ."

Dark held out Agate Links. He said, "This . . . Even though it's broken, still--"

The girl's eyes widened. It wasn't Dark, but Daisuke!

"I think . . . it's better if you keep it!"

The girl began to cry. Daisuke looked just like the boy who had given her the necklace, so long ago. She thought it was him. "On the promised day, I've finally met you!" she said. "I always wanted to show my gratitude. Thank you . . . my little Phantom Thief."

The girl, Menou, disappeared. Daisuke went home and told his grandfather, Daiki, what happened. He found out that his grandpa was the one Menou wanted to meet. When Daiki was Daisuke's age, he was the family phantom thief. Like Daisuke, he had no passion for it. He was only doing his duty for his family. Back then, Daiki had met Menou one night, sitting at her window. She was chronically sick, and could only stay in her room. Every night, on the way back from a job, Daiki and Dark stopped by her window. Smitten by her, they stole a necklace that shared her name: Menou. But when they went to give it to her . . . they found she had already died.

Daiki had left the necklace in her hands, then flew away. The day Daisuke and Dark stole it was the day Daiki had promised to give her the necklace and tell her his secret.

Daisuke yelled at his grandpa. "Then you should have gone! Menou was waiting for you!"

But she was waiting for his fourteen-year-old self, Daiki responded. The boy she remembered. Not the old man he was. "Sometimes," Daiki said, "you need to give dreams to people who need them. That's also part of being a phantom thief. Sometimes people need a happy lie."

Daisuke has carried that with him since that day. He decided to be the phantom thief that so many people dreamed of. He would keep those dreams alive . . . as Dark.

Another day, another artwork to steal. Dark and Daisuke tried to take The Second Hand of Time. Daisuke got sucked into the piece's world, where he met Freedert. She and the Second Hand of Time were dying, so Daisuke risked his life to help. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. As Freedert was dying, she told Daisuke to live, no matter what. To live for the person he loved. To not die protecting the person he loves, and end up leaving that person behind.

See, she knew how it felt to be the one left behind. Her love, Elliot, had died in the war hundreds of years ago. Since then, she's waited for him to return.

In a tragic climax, he does return. And Freedert dies. Daisuke wept. As snow began to fall in the town of Azumano, Dark gestured at the flakes. He said they were Freedert's last magic. A goodbye. Dark said that humans try to create eternity by creating things. And so if you believe eternity exists . . . then it does.

Daisuke painted a portrait of Freedert and The Second Hand of Time. He then helped make his school play about their story, Ice and Snow, a huge success. That was his answer to Freedert. The two girls would live on in the hearts of the audience and in Daisuke's painting. They had eternity.

Soon after Freedert, Dark and Daisuke go on a date with the Harada twins to Azumano Joyland. It involved a lot of running back and forth, a lot of hilarious misunderstandings, and a heckuva lot of stunt doubling. Near the end, Argentine kidnaps Risa. He locks her away in a booby-trapped tower.

Daisuke and Satoshi planed a rescue. Daisuke wanted to save Risa. Satoshi wanted to destroy Argentine. And he also wanted to help Daisuke, because they were friends. As they climbed the tower's spiraling stairway, Satoshi told Daisuke about his curse. He didn't have long to live. Daisuke was so incredibly frustrated with himself. He wanted to help, but he felt he couldn't do anything. He thought to himself, "Even if I could help, what would I do? I don't even have the slightest idea of where to begin. Why . . . do I always have to be this way?!"

Daisuke decided. He would help. In an emotional moment that I'll get into further in the personality section, Daisuke tells Satoshi that he'll help him. "There HAS to be something I can do! I'll make it work, no matter what!"

Satoshi told him that Daisuke has already helped. He'd resolved himself to hating his family and the Niwa family. But because of how Daisuke is, Satoshi can't hate him. "And to me," Satoshi thought to himself, "that is . . . the one thing in the world that truly ever gave me joy."

That stoked the fiercely determined fire in Daisuke's chest. He would help Satoshi, one way or another. Because they were friends. That moment completely solidified their friendship for Daisuke.

And by the end of that, the Niwa family gained another magical servant: a butler by the name of Argentine.

Daisuke's next adventure was in--where else?--a museum. In it, he encountered a mysterious mirror, Insomnia. As he looked at his reflection, it pulled him and Risa inside. Daisuke and Risa awoke in a world similar to their own, except for a boy they've never met: Hasumi Rokuto. Through gentle manipulation, memory-tampering, and a sleepiness that comes with thinking too hard, Rokuto made them think he was Daisuke's best friend. He also made Daisuke doubt himself, fucking with him, saying he's not Dark. That rather than the Dark within the mirror, Daisuke was the imposter. And even better, Rokuto liked Riku, and stole her from Daisuke.

Who the fuck is this Rokuto guy, though? Well, gentle readers, he was no other than Insomnia. Duh. He wanted to make Daisuke lose sight of himself so Rokuto could take his place, leaving Daisuke to wander the mirror world forever.

Luckily, Dark, Satoshi, and clever, clever Risa helped Daisuke claim back his Self. And they escaped.

Seeing her sister and kinda-sorta-maybe-boyfriend in the mirror, Riku smashed it with a chair. Fucking bad. Ass. Daisuke and Risa tumbled out, free. And Insomnia essentially died.

Shortly thereafter, Daisuke wound up in Paradise. Kid just can't catch a break.

Personality:
When I said that Daisuke is a shounen protagonist in a shoujo manga, I wasn't kidding. He has determination, courage in the face of fear, a strong will to help others, and an awkward personality offset by an extraordinary skillset. Daisuke is clumsy, trusting, caring, gracefully acrobatic, and wears his heart on his sleeve. He can certainly lie well when he has to--excluding his terrible excuses for what he's been up to--but he'd much rather tell the truth. He has a strong moral fiber. Daisuke doesn't want to steal things from people, but he does it out of duty to his family and to help the artworks. He'll do everything in his power to help people, especially if those people are his friends.

We truly see Daisuke's strength of determination, trust, and courage in the Argentine arc. Daisuke learns of Satoshi's short lifespan. It's the curse brought upon him by Krad, while Dark's curse is Daisuke's love gene. With a fiercely determined face, Daisuke proclaims that he'll help him. He won't let Satoshi die. He exclaims, "There HAS to be something I can do! I'll make it work . . . no matter what!" I can hear the One Piece theme now . . .

In that same arc, we see a lot of something we already knew: Daisuke is extremely sympathetic to the problems of others. Instead of attacking Argentine, an artwork who went ballistic, kidnapped Risa, and was a general Creepy McCreeperston . . . Daisuke chooses to help him. Even though he's angry at him, he explains what a heart is, and that Argentine had one. Argentine had kidnapped Risa in order to gain a heart, you see. And now, Argentine is his butler! Talk about awkward.

Despite how competent he is, Daisuke isn't very confident in himself. He gets bursts of confidence, but they fade soon after he's done what he has to do. It's the same with most negative emotions, too. He gets sad, wallows in it for a small while, then pushes himself back up and does something about it. Daisuke doesn't let himself stay sad for long. It's the same with anger--he certainly gets angry, but he can't hold onto it for long. His anger often fades to sympathy, sadness, or sighing acceptance. Daisuke is a person of extreme emotion, but his personality is often moderate and temperate. He always falls back to that stable center.

Of course, the best way to shake that stable foundation is to take away someone close to him. He goes ballistic trying to save them. He pushes his body to the limit, commands Dark's power, and desperately does everything in his power to help them. Dark said Daisuke "connected to me . . . with your rage." In those moments, Daisuke needs other people to stop him, or he'll run himself into the ground.

And if he thinks he's lost them romantically . . . ? He accepts defeat and wallows in a dark corner, hugging his knees. It's kind of really pathetic. In those times, too, he needs someone to tug him to his feet and push him forward.

Daisuke is not a very complicated person. He's an optimist. He sees the best in people--and he hopes what he sees is the truth. He wants to help people because he wants to--because it's right. He doesn't want others to get hurt, because he honestly cares. So he'll do everything he can to protect them, and save them.

Probably the most complicated thing about him is the question, "Who am I?" There's this confusing ongoing subplot that Dark and Daisuke are starting to become one. The line between the two is blurring, and Daisuke doesn't know who Dark is, and who Daisuke is. The first hint of this was planted early on in the series--like, chapter 17. But it's all so vague, that it seems not even the manga-ka knows what's going on.

Regardless, Daisuke usually puts others before himself. He has a martyr's soul. Even when he's hurt badly, he asks the other person if they're alright. But if he wants something bad enough . . . he can be selfish.

Remember when Daisuke leapt into Dark's dream world within the mirror? He wanted to save Dark, and get him back. But Dark had forgotten him; he'd created a world where Dark took the place of Daisuke Niwa. He had his friends, his mother, his grandfather, and his girlfriend. Dark had the normal life he wanted. Daisuke realized this almost immediately. He said that for Dark, who can never take anyone's place, who will never have love for longer than a moment, can never be happy. So he created that world for himself, because it was the only way he could find happiness.

This is the part where the protag says, "This is what's best for him. He deserves this happiness. I'll just let him have this" . . . right? Wrong!

Daisuke instead says, "I still want him back! I don't want Dark to forget me!" So he fights to give Dark back his memories . . . without thinking of Dark's happiness. He just didn't want to lose Dark.

Now, Daisuke is fourteen. He's entitled to a little bit of selfishness. And if it were me, I would definitely want to be woken from a fake reality. No amount of fake happiness will ever equate to what you could earn in reality. But did Daisuke think of what Dark would want?

No.

It puts some flaws into his character. Daisuke isn't perfect. He just tries his hardest whenever he can, and hopes for the best. That pretty much sums up everything he is. A determined, strong, stubborn, cry-baby courageous kid who wants to protect his friends.

That's not his only flaw, of course. Daisuke has . . . maybe not an inferiority complex, but definitely frustration with himself, when it comes to how useful he is. He can never save anyone without Dark's help. When he tries, and he stubbornly refuses to call for Dark, even when falling from a very high tower . . . he ultimately fails. In the end, he always calls Dark. And of course, Dark admonishes him for "calling me last minute," and "you really couldn't do anything in the end without me, could you?"

Still, despite feeling like he can't do anything without Dark's help . . . Dark also gives him courage and confidence. We see it with Freedert, with Insomnia, and in little moments interspersed throughout the series. At one point, Daisuke thinks to himself, "Because Dark was here, I thought someone like me could do something. I've always thought that."

They're kind of . . . codependent, huh?

Abilities/Additional Notes:
raised to be a PHANTOM THIEF since birth, so he can:
♚pick locks, from the simple to the crazy complicated
♚parkour and free-running
♚swim
♚recognize and avoid most traps
♚has a high stamina
♚sleight-of-hand; magic tricks. fortune-telling. pickpocketing.

in addition, he has a few NORMAL-PEOPLE SKILLS:
♚painting and drawing, usually in a representational style (meaning realistic-looking). his paintings are naturalistic or representational, depending on the subject, and often borderline impressionist.
♚intelligence
♚people skills (except with the Haradas, as he often has to escape before he transforms)
♚getting walked all over by his friends, because he has issues standing firmly by his NO
♚except that one time he told Risa no because he can't pretend he doesn't like her, and she was FREAKIN' USING HIS KINDNESS knowing that he liked her HUFF PUFF
♚heart-breaking smiles HE IS JUST SO ADRORABLE, OKAY
♚friend-making powers (just by being genuine and wanting to help)
♚giving detailed directions in museums and other places he's staked out/stole from
♚so probably a photographic memory

3Step Communicator:
A thick, leather-bound sketchbook with a little screen embedded in one of the pages deeper inside. The screen is as thin as a film, and not unlike in its texture. There are countless kinds of paper within, ranging from the smooth and absorbent watercolor to a high tooth count, good for charcoal and the like. The cover is russet with an intricate, spiraling design twirling all about the border. It's graceful, yet humble, and its journey seems to never end. Imprinted in the center is the contour of a feather caught mid-flight. Or was it mid-fall? Other than the black of the lines burned into the leather, there is no other color, so the feather appears to be a deep russet.

All Daisuke has to do is think about what he wants, and flip the pages--and he'll find himself on the page he wanted. The video screen doesn't show itself for anyone other than Daisuke and Dark. The sketchbook appears to be sentient . . .

Sample Network Post:

Subject: First Feather ;; VOICE->VIDEO
[there's a TAK TAK TAK sound, like someone's tapping their communicator]

Erm, hello? Is this-- Can you hear me? I'm Niwa Daisuke, and-- Ah!

[a scuffling sound rattles through your magic speaker-whatsits, and then a heavy THUNK. yeah, he . . . he dropped his communicator. when he picks it back up, it's clear he accidentally switched it to VIDEO. a baby-faced fourteen-year-old redhead stares down at the screen]

Um, sorry. Anyway, I'm Daisuke, and I'm . . . a little lost. Could you point me toward the nearest train station? Or convenient white door? I'd really appreciate it. . . . Please? --Ah! [waves a hand emphatically] You don't have to be my guide! I can get out of this world on my own. [there's a pause before he frowns at something off-screen] This time I will. [smiles back down at the book] I just need directions.

[. . . TAK TAK TAK] Hello? I thought for sure . . .

Sample RP:
technically action tag and prose are both third person, so I'll just give you both.
an action-tag example in Dear_Player: a long thread with Satoshi Hiwatari
and a prose example:

Daisuke wandered along the edge of the water, looking across its impossible expanse. He turned to his right, toward the park. It looked like people were staying there in . . . Were those teepees? He cocked his head in bemusement.

Really, Daisuke was much more calm about being thrust into a new, strange world than a normal boy should have been. It's like this was almost passé, like he's done this before. That's because he had. Don't tell anyone.

He tilted his head and shrugged, as if to say, "Might as well. Here we go!" Daisuke jogged toward the camping site. Something told him this wasn't a camp-out vacation that his mom signed him up for as surprise training.

. . . He'd have to keep an eye out for her traps.

Among the tents, he stopped and realized something--you can't knock on tents. H-how was he supposed to politely visit people like this?! He couldn't just burst into their homes! What if they weren't decent? What if there were girls? And not only that, it was just rude!

Daisuke raised an uncertain hand. "Ah . . . Excuse me . . . ? Is anyone here? I have no idea where I am. Could I please have some directions . . . ? H-hello?"

He started walking--and tripped on the spoke of a tent. The entire thing collapsed in on itself.

Daisuke jumped back and yelped, "I-I-I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-- Are you okay?"

Companion Name: Dark
Relationship to Character: his other half/other self
Companion's Personality: Dark is mischievous, cool, cunning, prideful, perverted, possessive, and a total show-off. He doesn't like it when people take his things or sully his great Phantom Thief name. He's also incredibly stubborn. The only way to get him to do what you want is to a) be a pretty girl, or b) goad him into it. Unless what you want him to do involves stealing a Hikari artwork. Otherwise, dares seem to work nicely, if they challenge his pride. One-upping Satoshi is always a plus, too.

Dark doesn't seem to get easily attached to people, but when he starts falling in love . . . he tries to protect them as well as he can. And that usually involves him leaving them alone. Because Dark's life is dangerous, and seeing as he'll disappear once his wing tamer (read: host) obtains requited love . . . there's only heartbreak on the horizon.

Even when it comes to other artworks, Dark isn't sympathetic. Even those who want to become real, like Dark . . . if they endanger something that is his, then he'll break them and like it. If Daisuke or either of the Harada twins are put in danger, Dark will hurt anyone who's responsible. And he does use the word "break." Scary.

If Dark doesn't have a reason to hurt an artwork, though, he doesn't bother. He steals them, enjoys messing with those who try to catch him, and brings them home. It's not that he cares all that much about the life of the art he steals, as a general rule. He just doesn't have a reason to hurt them. He loves the thrill of phantom thief-ing, of stealing something valuable right under everyone's noses, and getting away Scott-free. And he'd be a very bad thief if he broke the pieces he stole. Afterall, the Niwas collect them in their creepy basement.

You might be wondering, "Well if he's got such a terrible personality, why is he so popular?" That, ladies and gentlemen and third option, is because Dark is a lady's man. It's his cool exterior and the rare, genuine smile that draws people in. He seems completely unaffected by everything around him, like he just soars through life unscathed. Seeing as he's a legendary Phantom Thief, that's not entirely untrue. But once a fair maiden here and there see the softer side of Dark--a man who can still fall in love--they are screwed. It's that "bad boy with a heart of gold" that gets people. It's just that his heart of gold is very selective.

Still, Dark cares about Daisuke. When Daisuke doesn't feel brave, Dark cheers him on. He's totally vulgar about it and usually teases him, but he means well. Dark's like . . . 70% a good person.

Companion's Abilities/Additional Notes:
Abilities:
Well. Dark's got a lot of magic. He can't use a whole lot without it heavily affecting Daisuke, though. Magic takes its toll, and Daisuke's body gives out after too much. Dark can:
♠summon wings from within, literally sprouting wings. it hurts like a mothafucka {use: ★★★★☆}
♠call With, a familiar who can transform into his black wings, as well as take the shape of anyone
♠turn on the power of an entire district that's gone black {use: ★★★★☆}
♠travel inside the world of an artwork {use: ★★☆☆☆}
♠erase someone's short-term memory
♠and probably a few other minor things
besides magic, Dark can do anything you'd expect from a legendary Phantom Thief, like acrobatics, free-running, lockpicking, dancing, and sleight of hand.
He also has exceptional strength, like throwing people around and gripping someone's face hard enough to hurt

It's clear Dark can do much more than this, but he doesn't, because it would seriously injure Daisuke. His body can't handle the strain. Even when fighting Krad, Dark doesn't use all his power.

Additional Notes:
Technically, Dark and Daisuke are the same person. Don't ask me, not even the manga-ka knows. They have their own personalities, thoughts, memories, feelings, and desires--but essentially, Dark is Daisuke, and Daisuke is Dark.

The only difference is, Dark can never truly be Daisuke. He can take over his body, but he can't take his life: his family, his friends... Dark will never have his own life. He can never be real. Not unless he trapped Daisuke's mind somewhere, or they merged into one . . . and Dark took over.

And let's be real, Dark wants to have his own life. He wants to be a real boy.

Teal deer, it's complicated as hell and sometimes not even Daisuke knows who he is. Dark, on the other hand, is pretty comfortable with it. He's been sharing a body with generations of Niwas. This is old hat to him by now. For the time being, he seems content with co-existing . . . Let's see how long that lasts.

Companion's Sample Journal Post:
Subject: VIDEO
[a tapping comes from your communicator as VIDEO flickers to life. looks like there are two in here who tap on the screen . . . but at least his deep, smooth voice is pleasing enough]

This thing on? Yooo, ladies. [Dark tips his hat] I'm Dark, at your service.

With all o' this dangerous stuff goin' on, monsters lurkin' about . . . figured I'd lend a hand. So, any lovely ladies out there who'd like some nighttime company? I could walk ya home, maybe get to know each other. Even if ya can handle yourself, I make a good partner.

In more ways than one. [winks~]

[Dark grins slyly, then sends an irritated glance to the side, like someone's chastising him. he rolls his eyes and cuts the feed. the ball's in your court, ladies of Paradise~]