Who do you think would be Sally's closest friends?
Oooooo. You know I love talking about her!
Honestly, I feel like in general, Sally is the kind of person who gets along with anyone. And even then…thats lowkey canon (as canon as anything in Haunted Mansion lore can be anyway) considering how most modern adaptations from the last decade or so portray her as this very caring and sociable spirit, as well as several official sources and merchandise describing her as one of the mansion’s most beloved residents, I think her getting along with everyone tracks. But I do have a few HC’s for people she’s especially close to.
Master Gracey: More than just friends, in my story Sally and Dorian are lovers (eventually married for about a year before Sally’s death). Initially, I wasn’t sure if this post should include purely just platonic friends or beyond that but ultimately I decided to include Dorian here because you know what they say, your lover being one of your best friends is a sign of a healthy romantic relationship. Like if theres no friendship in your romance, what do you even have? On top of that, before they even fell in love, the two were actually childhood friends due to their fathers being good friends. This was before Sally had an accident where she lost her memory and went missing as a result of someone targeting her family, which in turn is what led to Victor adopting her and her joining the circus, but thats a story for another time. Eventually her and Dorian would meet again as young adults by pure coincidence, obviously not recognizing each other but still being drawn to one another, eventually falling in love and finally remembering each other after she manages to recover her memories.
I already mentioned this in my organist Headcanons post so I won’t get too deep into it but I’d be remiss to not mention it here, her and Victor are close since he practically raised her and acted as the father figure she needed after she was separated from her birth family. I know thats more of a familial bond than friendship but its worth mentioning
April-December: Aka April Gracey. In here, she’s Dorian’s twin sister and therefore Sally’s sister-in-law. She and Sally have a really good SIL relationship. Admittedly they didn’t hang out too much while alive because April was always traveling in her adulthood but she and Sally still liked each other quite a bit. April didn’t really grow up with other girls aside from her mother so getting a sister in law was really exciting for her, and she’d even show Sally pictures of Dorian from when he was little (because she knew Dorian would find it embarrassing and she loves to spite her brother). Although, at first she was kinda confused when Sally first told her she was in love with Dorian, cause “you’re telling me, of all the people in the world, you want…his weird ass?!” April sometimes wonders if they’re talking about the same person, but yknow, as long as everyone is happy, and she finally gets the sister she wanted so who is she to complain. Like:
Sally: I think I’m in love with Dorian
April: And prayers, you’re going to need them
Not sure if they’d be super close but I like picturing her interacting with the Werecat Lady (who I call Katherine) mainly based on aesthetics, cause they really feel like the My Melody and Kuromi of Haunted Mansion.
Against all odds…Constance. Like ok, Connie unsurprisingly has beef with a lot of people. Theres alot of people she hates. Growing up, the only person she truly cared about was Emily (its important to note that I see Constance and Emily as sisters, with Connie being older), and by default, she comes to be fond of anyone who she sees Emily in (even if she doesn’t admit it), Sally being one of these people since her and Emily have very similar personalities. But yeah Connie’s dynamic with both Sally and Emily basically boils down to “Mean Girl who hates almost everyone + her wholesome friend who is nice to everyone”. Her freindship with Connie is also helped by them both being stretching room ghosts
I don’t necessarily think they’re close to each other on an individual level but in general I like to think all of the stretching room residents hang out quite a bit as a collective cause thats just fun. They by de facto spend alot of time together when tours are going on in the mansion so I’d imagine they all atleast have a friendly coworker dynamic if that makes sense….except Constance constantly rolls her eyes at the quicksand men cause she thinks they’re idiots (and she’s not totally off, they have no real canon characterization so I just made them a parody of the 3 stooges)
She’s definitely besties with Emily no doubt. Like I said, I see them as having very similar personalities. I feel like both have these very ingenuous and whimsical qualities to their character, although I defenitely think Emily is a little bit more reserved while Sally is more outgoing. I will say, I don’t think they really met while they were alive. I feel like they definitely became friends when both were already dead. At the time of their deaths, both were around the same age, but Emily died a few years before Sally did so while “physically” they’re in the same age bracket, Emily is chronologically older. But yeah, I definitely think they’d be best friends due to their matching personalities and overall attitudes. Idk how to explain it, its just a vibe
Last but certainly not least, we mustn’t forget her pet alligator. Cause sometimes, pets are the greatest friend one could ask for (even if they did maul you to death). I know some people headcanon that the alligator was her pet even in life, and that is cute, but I almost prefer the idea that he was just this wild alligator that she somehow managed to domesticate immediately after it killed her (the gator died soon after due to it choking on her parasol), just cause thats really funny to me. Like my version of Sally is in a way a bit of a disney princess archetype but with a spooky twist, and one of those things is her having an animal sidekick in the form of a giant lizard who literally killed her, but that she would go onto domesticate in the afterlife. Also, while she’s generally very kind and overall what you would call a “people’s princess”, “my” Sally also has a side to her that is just SLIIIIIIGHTLY unhinged, loosely inspiredby how she’s depicted in the Original Marc davis concept art, because let’s be serious, no one who is willing to tightrope walk across a lake of alligators is fully sane (although to be fair, nobody in the mansion is 100% sane, and we love that about our beloved happy haunts)
Ok wow, this turned out way way longer than I expected, but what can I say? I love talking about my girl!! 😔Thank you for asking about this!
