The Dealer Twin Duo [Enigma's first App!]

This is going to be a big one, strap yourselves in-

Diamond Dealer and Heart Dealer (Nicknamed 'Montie' and 'Queenie' respectively) are a twin stallion and mare that were born and raised in Manehattan. Ever since they can remember, they've been inseparable- they're no strangers to bickering, but they stand behind each other through and through. They may be opposites in some respects, but they know that makes them stronger as a pair and a better team. As adults they maintain the close relationship, and while they may sometimes travel apart, they know they've always got each other's back.  

Diamond Dealer

Gender: Male
Species: Unicorn
Mane: Red with thick white streaks, neatly styled. Short under the hat (there will be some pics of him without it at some point ^^)
Tail: Same colouration as his mane, similar style- a bit more free-flowing though.
Eyes: Grey
Body: Grey, with short white stockings on opposite foreleg and hind leg. His muzzle goes lighter grey until almost white at the end.
Cutie Mark: A three-card fan. Two of the cards are flipped over and the top one shows a single red diamond.
Age (Baby,adult): Young Adult
Personality:
Charming, Clever, Focused. He's likely to become so focused on one thing he misses the bigger picture. It's hard to get him motivated unless he can see what's in it for him, but if you start him on something he won't leave until it's completely over. He doesn't give up even if all hope is lost, and he always has faith the tables will turn.
Diamond Dealer is prone to go flip from periods of very very good luck and unfortunately terrible luck. He's deeply superstitious.
Diamond almost has two personas, depending on how close you are to him- with his friends, he's occasionally temperamental. Prone to complaining. He has a zest for life, he lives out-there and if he has an opinion about something, you'll know about it. With strangers, that's another story. He does his best to appear cool, unflustered, and utterly suave.
 Despite being a tough colt on the outside, he's fiercely protective of 'Queenie' and if you get him on your side he'll never desert you- though it takes a while to gain his complete trust.

Likes: Loves to win, likes games and tricks, surprises, living day-to-day and the thrill of the chase.
Dislikes: Hates to lose, sloppily finished jobs, bad 'omens', people that just can't keep up with his hasty pace.

Example RP Segment:
It is pouring rain outside. Your OC spots the light of a tavern up ahead. The tavern is filled with ponies that your OC doesn't know. Given your OC’s personality, compose a brief narrative in which your OC identifies and addresses the situation.

Somewhere, a dog howled, sending a wail ricochetting off the grey buildings that stood as tall and unforgiving observers of the Manehattan alleys. The air was cold, the sky was dark, and it was pouring buckets of rain.
 Diamond Dealer was galloping through the slosh, eyes squinted half-shut against the wind and water. His hooves smashed dully against the uneven stone and into puddles as he raced through the storm, trying to find somewhere to hide.
 Shouldn't've pushed my luck, he thought, swerving around a corner and very nearly falling over a trash can. Nothing but a little building- and a dead end. He pulled up sharply, skidding to a halt and raising one hoof as he strained to look up at a creaking sign.
 'Flagon's Tavern' it said- though the fading paint was hard to read as the sign swung back and forth in the wind.
 A soft, faint glow spilled out of the dirty windows of the little place, and Diamond could just make out the sounds of chatter over the noise of the storm. He paused. He didn't know this crowd.
 Then a crack of lightning split the sky and made his decision for him. He hurried to shove the door of the small tavern open, and stepped onto the threshold with a neutral expression set firmly in place. He shook himself from top to tail to get the worst of the water off and then looked around warily. The conversation inside the bar suddenly lulled as everypony stared at the new arrival.
 "Welcome to Flagon's Tavern!" The barpony said, grinning as he slid a drink along the bench. "I'm Flagon Drop and this here is my establishment. Best kept secret in Manehattan. What can I do ya for?"
 Diamond's usual confident smile found its way easily onto his face as his horn lit up and his hat floated off his head. He nodded respectfully to the barkeep and then tipped a good amount of water off his favourite accesory before setting it firmly back on his now slightly rumpled mane.
 "Evening gents," he said, coming further into the tavern and smiling easily as the patrons turned back to their own conversations. He walked slowly over to the bar. "Whatever you'd reccomend," he said smoothly, continuing his evaluation of the tavern as Flagon nodded and went to fill his request.
 He payed for the drink with a few bits that he produced with magic from under his hat, and then also took out a deck of cards.
 "Anyone for a little game?" he asked the nearest (and largest) table, as the sparkling light from his horn shuffled and dried the deck.
 A few ponies gruffly nodded their assent as Diamond's hat settled back in place and his drink floated over. He smiled. Perhaps his lucky streak wasn't over after all...



Heart Dealer

Gender: Female
Species: Unicorn
Mane: Short, soft and glossy. Red with thin black streaks, framing her face in a heart shape. Sometimes a few strands slip out from behind her ears.
Tail: A cute bob to match her mane, with the same colouration.
Eyes: Silver-grey.
Body: Pure white, except for two grey stockings on an opposite foreleg and hind leg.
Cutie Mark: A three-card fan. Two of the cards are flipped over and the top one shows a single red heart.
Age (Baby,adult): Young Adult

Personality:
Logical, orderly. Proper, she likes to think- though she has got a sharp wit and a cunning mind. She has a firm belief in fairness and right and wrong- the issue is usually black or white with her. When we say 'fair', though- don't get us wrong. If you've agreed to throw in a bet and you get hard done by, you've lost fair and square. You pay for stupidity on the streets of Manehattan, and she knows it. If you get tricked- you fell for it.
Like her brother, she can be very driven, but she likes everything to have its place. Quick to try and cut her losses, she doesn't like being 'painted into a corner'. Although she has an attitude that airs more on the positive side, she doesn't sugar-coat. If a situation is lost, it's lost, no use sweating the small stuff. Where her brother will get wrapped up in the details, Heart sees the bigger picture.
Unlike Diamond, Heart is not superstitious at all. She likes structure and has a great memory.
She prefers to let other ponies do the talking, and under the surface, she's never really lost the shyness of her much younger years (which will be briefly explored in the history section).
As her name would suggest, she really has a lot of love to give, and adores her brother as much as he does her. However, because she's quick to cut relationships that she feels could be painful, she doesn't have lots of friends. As she is so firm when it comes to decisions, she's not big on second chances. She also doesn't like to blather- she says what she means or doesn't say it at all.

Likes: Being organised, being three steps ahead of everypony else, her best friends, making plans. Playing games (on an even playing field of course), and foals.
Dislikes: Rainstorms, Surprises, Bullies, Weak drinks (and weak tea), fashion that's incredibly 'over the top', being in the spotlight, ponies that don't follow through on their word.


Example RP Segment:
A colt is bullying a filly in the Manehattan street. When your OC looks to him, he turns to your OC and snaps, "What're you looking at?" Given your OC’s personality, compose a brief narrative in which your OC identifies and addresses the situation...

Heart Dealer trotted briskly down the bustling sidewalk, sticking close to the edge of the road so she could avoid being jostled by the crowds of ponies. Manehattan was always busy this time of the afternoon, streets almost choked with visitors and locals alike, everypony ducking in and out of the shops that opened out onto the street.
 "Tourists," she murmured, smiling just a little as she wove around a vendor shouting his wares, and leapt lightly over a hole in the pavers. Busy as it was, the place was her home, and she wouldn't trade it for any place in Equestria. She loved how she could lose herself in the movement and noise of this big city.
 As she was standing out of the way, she took a moment to admire the sights, sounds and smells that made the city so vibrant. Her smile grew a little wider and she sighed contentedly.
 A shrill cry cut straight through the noise, cracking Heart's calm observation of the street. A colt with a pinwheel for a cutie mark had the little brown-maned filly backed up against the road, and was snickering.
Heart Dealer's expression hardened. She started to move again, quickly making her way around the shoving mares and stallions fighting for their own space to walk.
 As she got closer, some of the words the pair of foals were exchanging started to become clear.
 "You stole my bow!"
 "Nu-uh!"
 "Yeah-huh!"
 "I didn't take nothing- you're just stupid!"
 "Nu-uh!"
 "Yeah-huh!"
The colt was clearly bigger than the filly, and she was clearly scared- but Heart didn't even think they realised how close they were to the road.
 "Hey!" She whinnied, increasing her pace. "Look out there!"
 The colt paused, turning his head sharply to look at the young mare. "What're you looking at?" he snapped, putting a small hoof down with an indignant clop. The filly stepped away from the movement, stepping her back hooves off the curb and onto the road proper.
 Heart Dealer's eyes flicked further down the street where a cab pony was barrelling towards them full-pelt. It was an easy decision- she had enough time to get the foals away from the vehicle- if she hurried.
 Picking up her speed, she sprung into a canter, closing the distance to the filly and tucking her muzzle under the foal's belly. She pulled up sharply, tossing the young pony away from the oncoming cab, before bumping the bully further away from the curb with one hoof and stepping back onto the path just in time for the stallion pulling the cab carriage to thunder past.
The colt stared.
 "Th-th-thank you!" the filly squeaked, jumping up and shaking herself off.
 "Are either of you little ones hurt?" Heart asked, puffing a little from her dash.
 "Nah," the colt muttered sheepishly, looking at the ground. "Who are you supposed to be?"
 "Name's Heart Dealer. That was something foolish you two pulled just here. One of you could have gotten hurt."
 Heart walked slowly around to stand behind the little filly.
 "Now what were you two fightin' about that was so important?"
 "I didn't do nothin'!" The colt said quickly, making a small, aggressive jump forward.
 The filly pressed back into Heart Dealer, who stepped one hoof over the foal to shield her.
 "This city's too loud for foals to be fightin' and carryin' on," she chastised in her Manehattan drawl. "You gotta sort out ya' squabbles or get over 'em. A filly and colt like you should be busy havin' fun."
 The two young ponies looked at each other.
 "Sorry, I guess," the colt muttered. "I'll give it back."
 "That's- that's alright," the filly replied, ears perking up a little. "Let's go find it."
 The little foal disentangled herself from Heart Dealer's protective stance and the pair of them started trotting down the street.
 Heart felt herself relax a little as she watched them go, sighing in relief that the conflict had, at least for now, abated. She felt a sharp impact on her rump as she was knocked forward a few steps.
 "I'm walkin' here!" A business pony crowed indignantly. This moment was over, and the city was back on the move. Heart Dealer's usual smile slipped onto her face as she rejoined the crowd and slipped out the other side, darting lightly into an alley and out of sight.



Their Shared History:

 "Queenie, come on, we can do this. Together, we even beat Pop!"
 The little white foal rubbed one hoof against her other leg, unsure.
 "I dunno Mont- what if we lose?"
 "We ain't gonna lose. We've got luck on our side today."
   Heart Dealer sighed at her brother, letting her short red mane flop in front of her face. "How can you be sure, Diamond? I don't wanna make us look like a pair of silly-fillies."
 "I'm a silly colt!" He said confidently, trotting off ahead of his sister. "We can be silly together!"


Their sire was a stallion called Full House, who moved to Manehattan from Las Pegasus, hoping to make a more industrious life for himself in the big city. That's where he met the twins' mother, a firey manehattan mare that ran a restaurant. It took a little while to build up his fortunes, but now he manages a successful, respectable bar with a games room that wakes up as the sun goes down. Their mother now runs the food production in this bar. She and Full House are very happy together and with their two ones.
Most nights when they WERE little, Full House walked the floor, chatting to clients. He wasn't above joining a round or two of whichever game was the rowdiest that night.
The twins were kept right away from the more shady dealings of the bar as young foals, told to go to the small room they shared just as the sun was setting every night- but on quieter evenings, Full House would leave the Bar Pony to manage the customers and teach his filly and colt the basics of a few of his favourite games. He quickly discovered his two youngsters had cunning eyes for picking up the play, and they both became quite adept in time.
 One night they sneak into the games room, find an empty table, and challenge anyone who will listen to a game- or rather, Diamond does. Luckily, the establishment is pretty respectable, and one regular guesses that these must be the foals of Full House, so 'Let's give 'em a shot.' Sure, they're not experienced playing with the Big Guys, but it's a underestimation is a crime. By combining Diamond's ability to bluff and Heart Dealer's memory and caution, they actually make it through to the final round- and in a stroke of sheer luck, win.
 In that moment, in the thrill of winning and the joys of working together and being really good at it, the twins get twin cutie marks- However, while the designs are the same (save two distinct changes) they stand for very different things.
 Heart Dealer's is her ability to see a big picture, find order, retain information- and also, how she's a tad sensitive on the inside.
 Diamond Dealer's is literally (and figuratively) the reverse of his sisters- he likes taking risks and will get focused on just one move.
 And of course, the two are also very good at playing cards.
All the noise of a few patrons congratulating the two young ponies draws Full House over- and he is shocked but secretly delighted. He gives Diamond his hat- which Diamond still wears, though it is starting to wear thin. Heart insists he should buy a new one, if only to keep the other one safe, but he won't hear of it- it's something of a lucky charm.

Getting a respectable job was somewhat difficult for Heart Dealer, as ponies would see the cutie mark of cards and think she may be prone to wild moves or be untrustworthy. Her being shy didn't really help, but she finally found stable (get it, stable- I'll let myself out) employment at a small Manehattan library, where her talent for organisation and memory really comes in useful. She also likes it because she doesn't have to talk to ponies very much. She now lives in a small apartment with a quiet roommate (who may or may not become a future OC, I'm not sure yet) and spends some nights hanging out with Diamond Dealer.

Diamond prefers to 'live life on the edge'. He goes day to day, gambles if he needs to really raise a lot of cash for something in particular, but is convinced he wants to just have fun as long as he can. He plans to take over Full House's bar- some day- but not now. He's still young, he reasons, he doesn't want to be bound to staying in at night yet. He stays wherever there's cheap rent.



 

And, finally...
[Acceptance!]

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Well phe-ew! That was a storm of an information to take in- I hope whichever mod/admin reviews this isn't too worn out!
It took me... a while... to pull all of this together but I hope the result is a pair of rounded-out, good-to-go OCs. I will probably RP Heart and Diamond together as well as seperately, but that's something for down the track. I can't wait to start out, feedback would be fantastic!
Sorry for my shoddy explanation of a made-up card game- hope it was okay to understand. There was supposed to be a much bigger, better history briefing but I closed the tab mid-draft and it got deleted... maybe one day I'll come back and fix it, but today is not that day.
I apologise for the hand-done drawings by the way- I can't do Digital Art-but I think they turned out pretty well, and I'm going to be doing some more of these two. I'd love to do some of Foal!DealerDuo- but that's all for another day.
Thank you so much for reading!

Let me know when this is done and I'll be happy to approve it for you! :3

Alright, I've looked this over and the only thing I can see that could be added to is the history. You said they were raised by their father, where is their mother and why isn't she in the picture? Also, you mentioned that Diamond and Heart are adults, but their history stops after they got their cutie marks. What did they do that whole rest of the time?

Just fix these two little things and you should be good to go! :3 And don't worry about the hand-drawn pictures, they look great!

How's that?

(Thanks so much, Lou!)

Edits have been made, so with the powers vested in me, I hereby pronounce you...approved! :3 Feel free to post in the newbie forum or make your own thread, you're good to go. And no problem! :)