Bio

[intherightplace]

Player name: Song
Characters played: Katya, Maggie, Monty, Sophie & Tess
Character Name: Sarah Ann Gordon
Age: 39 pushing 40
How long They've Been in the Deck: forever
Suit/Rank: Ten of Hearts 10
Occupation: Public Relations Director
History: Sixty years ago Prudence Carmichael and Malcolm Gordon decided to wed. It was a good match. Like most old Deck families, the Gordons and the Carmichaels  were thrilled to see their lines continue. They were even happier when Pru and Malcolm popped out heirs (all fine, strapping lads) one, two, three in as many years. That was more than enough for Prudence. Once her youngest entered grade school, she returned to teaching. The little family rambled along quite nicely until fifteen years later when the birth of Sarah Anne put a wrench in the gears.

After the initial shock, Sarah's parents took the new pregnancy in stride. All misgivings were forgotten when the doctor held up their first and only daughter. Prudence had always wanted a little girl to play with and Malcolm desired his little princess to spoil. Even her brothers were excited and eager to adopt the role of protective older brothers. Sarah was a happy and bubbling baby who grew into a bright and cheerful little girl. She also grew up spoiled and coddled and happy. Sarah loved being the center of attention. It wasn't long before she came to believe she ought to always be the center of attention.

You needn't be the brightest student when you can be the most popular one. She did well enough in her classes, and if she was worried she always found a friend happy to do her homework or help her with one or two answers on a test. It was so much easier to smile and joke and play along than to grandstand and proclaim your own importance. You got what you wanted either way, but her way also got you friends. Sarah had learned early on that friends could provide for you just as much as privilege.

She was smart enough to keep that opinion to herself and focused instead on making friends. She was everybody's buddy and could be counted on to offer whatever was needed, be it shoulder or adventure, advice or money or light flirtation. She entered the Rank system at fifteen like all Deck children and like most Deck children, she had ambition. Unlike many new Numbers, however, Sarah was smart enough to realize she needed to make friends on the way up if she wanted to keep from dropping down. No need to alienate people with a meteoric rise. Well, she disliked getting her hands dirty, so challenged up to Four by the time she was eighteen. Everyone thought she'd soon be a Five. That's when she surprised them all by announcing she'd applied and been accepted to Stanford.

Sarah's many hours spent watching movies and television hadn't prepared her for the real Outside. She'd expected something magical. The Outside she experienced was poor, nasty, brutish, and short. Selfishness abounded. Local petty crime astounded her.  Worse, she was no longer a big fish in a small pond. Outsiders didn't understand decent conversation, true unbiased discourse or even common manners. Oh, she made the best of things. She was a Heart after all. She even made a few good friends (and even more valuable contacts). That didn't prevent her from looking around and noting every fault with the Outside world. It was dirty and seamy and chaotic and violent. She lost count of how many wars popped up during her time in California. She watched as the US went gung ho over the first Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo, ignored the cleansing of Rwanda and barely lifted a finger to help in Somalia. Violence raged across the Middle East and Africa and even Asia and Europe.

These were the people they were letting into their home?

Sarah didn't want to stay Outside any longer than she had to. She knuckled down and completed her dual degree in Public Relations and Psychology in just under four years. With her diploma clutched tight in her hand, she headed back to the Deck and sanity. Time to be Somebody.

She was assigned to the Heart's sparse Public Relations department and immediately challenged up to Six. A year later Sarah was a Seven and a year after that an Eight. Her career hit a little burp when she entered into a liaison with Marc Bowen, a liaison that resulted in her spending nearly a year back Outside working with Heart lobbyists. It didn't matter if they noticed her pregnancy, but there was no way she intended to let her parents in on the secret. What they didn't know wouldn't hurt them. Sarah didn't have time for children. Children had ruined her mother's career. They weren't going to ruin hers. The Outskirter family she found was more than happy to accept the little boy once she'd provided them with enough monetary incentive. An airtight contract and enough money to ensure their silence. Once that little obstacle was out of the way, she returned back home.

Sarah spent enough years at Eight to make herself indispensable to her boss. It wasn't long before he named her second in command. When Mahish Gadhavi began to make sounds about retirement, Sarah approached her old friend and requested permission to challenge him. Keep the friends you have. You never know when they'll be of use to you later. She saw no reason to alienate her boss and make her transition difficult. Far better to obtain his recommendation for his post. When she pointed out that his years of service would offset any reduction in retirement funds, he readily agreed to her suggestion. The switch from Eight to Nine and assumption of the Public Relations Director title occurred nearly seamlessly. By then, Sarah had already assumed most of Mahish's workload. She didn't find the change a hardship.

She was content to stay a Nine while Ceiro and Judith reigned. Judith was the daughter of the old king. She'd always felt it right that she'd become their Queen. Then her world turned topsy turvy. The Novak plot was revealed, Ceiro stepped down and a newcomer--an Outsider!--put up in Ceiro's place. Speculation over Judith's probable abdication abounded. Sarah herself thought it likely. She also considered herself Judith's most likely replacement unless Wren moved into the spot. Blythe was too young and untried. She knew she had the reign in the bag when Wren left.

So she was left floored when an upstart Outsider was offered the job instead. Naturally, this never would have happened had Ceiro still been King. Outsiders favored Outsiders. Everyone knew that. But an Outsider couldn't properly rule. They couldn't govern themselves out of the Deck. What made them think they could govern within? Sarah bided her time and waited a few months before requesting to challenge to Ten. No need to be obvious. No need to warn Rowan her days were numbered.

Personality: Above all things Sarah is friendly and outgoing and so very charming. She genuinely likes all people (even Outsiders for the most part). Her ability to truly listen to someone and give them undivided attention may well be her most valuable skill. People walk away from Sarah believing she genuinely cares. Some of the time she even does.

Sarah loves to be the center of attention and is quite adept at assuming the limelight in any situation. She's also subtle enough that people don't realize what she's doing. It's normal for someone so friendly and sensible and outgoing to take the lead or draw the eye. Besides, she never shoves people out of the way. She's not adverse to them sharing her light (even if it is a bit more shadowed). Really, it's amazing how often a smile coupled with the right words will open doors and minds and hearts.

She loves to have fun, to be praised and petted and admired. Naturally, she prefers group activities to single ones. She's the first one to start dancing or to buy a round of drinks. Sarah can kick back and watch a game while guzzling beer with the gang or can dress to the nine's and appear on the arm of a handsome and eligible bachelor. It doesn't matter so long as people notice she's there.

Her open smile hides a darker side. She's manipulative and self-absorbed, though she'd deny the accusation. No, she merely puts her natural skills to use. It's not her fault if others don't do the same. Besides, she's a Heart. Of course she has everyone's best interests in mind. She just happens to know what's best better than they do. Sarah even likes the Outsiders, just not, well, in charge. People need to be part of the Deck, to grow up in it to appreciate it. She doesn't want any of the unwarranted madness and violence to creep into her home.

Sarah grew up knowing she could do no wrong. Her ideas always work and she's always right. She likes to get her own way and grows resentful when she doesn't. Don't get mad; get even has been her motto ever since the day Jennifer Nighy won first place in the elementary talent show. But Sarah's no Spade. She doesn't demonstrate her displeasure with force. She's no Diamond to shun her opponent out of existence. Sarah was a Heart with a caring Heart's ways. By the time the next talent show rolled around, Jennifer had decided--all on her own!--that it was a little embarrassing to perform, that those smiles hid amused laughter, that she wasn't quite as good as she'd thought she was. So she was ecstatic when her best friend Sarah's rendition of Girls Just Want to Have Fun took the prize. Exactly as Sarah had planned.
Character PB: Sienna Guillory