Archive of Our Own ^beta

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Dos

• Fluff
• Angst
• Ship content
• Miscellaneous headcanons
• Anything that's not in the "Don'ts" category

Don'ts

• Smut (not only can I not write it at all, I would also have to invent an entirely new anatomy system just to feel kinda comfortable with writing about puppets having sex)
• Anything archive-warning worthy
• Just anything that's straight-up diabolical

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TRANSCRIPT

[The audio begins with the ringing of a phone. Footsteps can be heard as Julie rushes to pick it up.]

JULIE: (Rolling the R) Joyful Residence!

[A muffled sound can be heard on the other line.]

JULIE: (Agitated) Barnaby! Is this another prank call?

BARNABY: (Laughing) Heh, good guess, lil' lady! But I wanted to talk to you about something. You said you were helping the others in the neighborhood with their problems, right?

JULIE: Oh, yeah! Dr. Julie's calendar is super busy, but I can make some adjustments for ya!

[Julie pulls a calendar out of her hair and looks at it for 30 seconds, trying to sound very busy and very professional. The calendar is completely empty.]

JULIE: All done! What can I help you with, my furry friend?

BARNABY: Well, I think I've been coming down with something these past few weeks.

JULIE: (Concerned) Coming down with something? (She clears her throat, adopting a more 'professional' voice.) Can you name any symptoms you have, Mr. Beagle?

BARNABY: Well, my face has been heatin' up, my tail has been wagging against its will, my stomach is full of butterflies, and my heart's been beating faster lately.

JULIE: (Taking notes) Patient...has...irregular...heartbeat! Is there anything else, Mr. Beagle?

BARNABY: Well, there is one more detail...this only happens when I'm around Wally. I'm fine around everyone else, but around him, I feel sick...

JULIE: Hmm... (Gasps) I've got it!

BARNABY: Well, what's the diagnosis, Doc?

JULIE: You, my friend... (Pauses for dramatic effect) have a crush!

[There is silence for a moment before laughter is heard on the other end.]

BARNABY: (Laughing) Gee, Jules, I thought I was the only funny one in the neighborhood!

JULIE: (Frustrated) Oh, I'm serious! Having butterflies in your stomach, fast heartbeat, unprompted tail-wagging - and only around Wally? You don't even need Dr. Julie, I bet anyone in the neighborhood could figure it out! 

[Julie sighs.]

JULIE: Give it to me straight, Barnaby. Do you have a crush on Wally?

[More laughter can be heard on the other end, but it becomes softer over time until it stops completely.]

BARNABY: (Uncharacteristically shy) ...Yeah, I think I do.

JULIE: Well, there's nothing wrong with that! I, for one, think it's sweet.

BARNABY: (Chuckles) Of course ya would. But I need help with something else.

JULIE: Oh? What is it?

BARNABY: (Softly) I... I want to confess to him. Heh, but you know me - I'm not exactly the sentimental type. Still, I want to make something special for him. Do you think you could help?

JULIE: (Excited) Oh, helping is my middle name! Well, actually it's Janet. (Giggles) Don't worry, I've got the perfect plan! Now, where do you keep your apples?

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Full name: Julia Judith Janet Jennifer Jean 'Julie' Joyful

Gender and pronouns: Genderfluid (canon) + she/they/he (in order of the pronouns she uses from most to least)

Sexuality: Bisexual (canon)

Personal favorite ships: Julie x Frank (I used to ship this big time before uh... learning more abt the implications, but it still has a soft spot in my heart, romantically and platonically), Julie x Barnaby (underrated af) and Julie x Sally (mandatory yuri)

Height: 5' 4''

Ethnicity (as a human): White (I did an atrocious amount of research to come to this conclusion)

Family: Mr. and Mrs. Joyful, and Jonsey, Franny and Bea (from oldest to youngest, excluding Julie)

Now for the more miscellaneous/random ones!

• She has fangs, along with her siblings!
• Has the most bomb-ass outfits of the entire cast (besides Sally). I mean look at her she is a style QUEEN
• Like Bea, Julie almost never got in trouble with her parents, mainly because she was a good lil noodle but also because she didn't want to put her parents through the trouble of having to yell out her full name
• (Elaborating on the previous headcanon) Franny and Jonsey were probably the biggest troublemakers back when they were all kids
• Extremely flexible, even for a puppet. Spine? Nonexistent
• She can (and often does) hide random shit in her hair because it's that big, even if it should realistically not fit
• Comically strong (I like to think that all of the puppets operate on cartoon logic like this)
• Enters her friends houses through anywhere but the actual door
• The reason why she has so many middle names is because the Playfellow Workshop couldn't decide whether to name her Janet, Jenny, Judy, or Jeanie, so they made them all her middle names. A running joke in the show is that Julie will say '[insert trait] is my middle name! Well, actually it's [insert one of four middle names]', and none of the neighbors know which one is her real name. There's a betting ring and everything. She has played them all for fools
• She and Barnaby argue like a married couple (this isn't just a ship headcanon for them I just personally think it would be really fucking funny)
• Her name was originally going to be Junie, but some intern made a typo on the pilot's script, and no one realized until they stopped shooting, but by then the name stuck
• In a genderbend AU, I imagine his name would be Jamie
• Her 2nd favorite game is 'Showgirl in the Big City', where Julie is a fabulous showgirl named Janet Van Joyful, Frank is her long-suffering producer, Sally is her friendly rival, and the other neighbors are backup dancers, interns, etc. The game usually ends with Frank and Julie going into the 'Super Secret Conference Room', then coming out 5 minutes later, which is when the neighbors learn Julie (er, Janet) is giving up the stage for love, much to Frank's dismay
• (Elaborating on the previous headcanon): "Janet, you can't give up show business! :(" "I can and I will! >:D" She then finds the nearest person in the room and asks them to kiss her (usually it's Barnaby or Sally)

Annnd that's all I got for Julie (so far)! Hope you enjoyed my headcanons!

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Here is the picture! I hope you like it :3

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Full name: Barnaby Benjamin Beagle

Gender and pronouns: Cis guy (unfortunately /j) + he/him

Sexuality: Closeted bisexual (Wally was his bi awakening trust)

Personal favorite ships: Barnaby x Wally (please someone make more content of this ship I BEG you), Barnaby x Julie (like I said w/ Julie's hcs, it's very underrated but has a lot of potential) and Barnaby x Howdy (I used to be more neutral towards this ship, but FanfictionsForFantasticReadersAndWriters on Ao3 has made it grow on me a lot, and now I find it quite cute!)

Height: 7'0''

Ethnicity (as a human): All I can say for sure right now is that he's not white

Family (you've got to hear me out on this): Has two moms - Mrs. Beagle (as in the chicken), and Mrs. Beagle (his bio mom who's a dog)

Random headcanons go!

• One of the only neighbors (besides Julie) that has some sort of teeth
• Good at lots of games (board games, the kind Julie makes up, etc.), the only ones who could possibly beat him are Frank, Howdy (at board games) and Julie (everything else)
• He painted his spots on to match Mrs. Beagle's (the chicken) as a kid, and he has to repaint them like once a month. None of the other neighbors know about this (except Wally bc he actually repaints Barnaby's spots)
• At one point he just disappeared from the neighborhood for a day or two and came back wearing one of those cones dogs get at the vet
• ^Everyone: "Barnaby are you okay? What happened?! :(" Barnaby: "I don't want to talk about it."
• Poppy reminds him of his mom, so much that he accidentally called her 'Ma' once (the other neighbors never let him live it down)
• Snores the loudest out of all the neighbors
• His tail sometimes wags on its own when he feels strong emotions, which can sometimes be a problem
• ^Julie: "Do you have a crush on Wally? :D" Barnaby (tail wagging profusely): "...No"
• Is a surprisingly good singer, but doesn't sing that often
• He's not good at cooking AT ALL, but he'll eat anything as long as it's edible so it works for him. Everyone else is worried he's gonna ingest something hazardous (he probably will)
• I imagine that he'd be good friends with Sans from Undertale
• In a genderbend AU, her name would be Bernadette

That's all I have for Barnaby so far!

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Full name: Francis Thomas 'Frank' Frankly

Gender and pronouns: Nonbinary (canon) + they/he

Sexuality: Achillean

Personal favorite ships: Frank x Eddie (I think it's such a sweet ship!) and Frank x Julie (again, I used to ship this a lot before uh... The Implications, but it was my first ever ship in the WH fandom and it holds a special place in my heart)

Height: 6'0''

Ethnicity (as a human): Sammarinese

Family: Mr. Frankly, Mrs. Frankly, and his 3 older siblings, Roger, Amy and Margot

Random headcanons go!

• He and his siblings couldn't be more different from each other (I imagine that Roger is the rowdiest and Amy is the sweet one, while Margot is a bit more quirky!)
• ^I imagine that he and his siblings have a similar situation to Julie and her siblings - while the rest of the Joyful siblings are more chill and Julie is very energetic, Frank's siblings are more goofy and Frank is more uptight
• Has a love-hate relationship with birds because some of them eat butterflies
• Occasionally wears reading glasses
• His hair is naturally wavy, but he straightens it cause he doesn't think it suits him (Eddie thinks it looks nice)
• He and Franny (Julie's sister) get along well with each other
• His favorite flavor of anything (candy, drinks, scented markers, scratch and sniff stickers, wipes, etc.) is lemon!
• (This one is connected to one of the Julie headcanons, so go look at those if you haven't already!) Frank is the only neighbor that (correctly) thinks Julie has multiple middle names, but he can't figure out what they are
• Loves to color code things. One time Julie gave him a multicolored shirt and he couldn't figure out where to put it at all
• He and Poppy are good friends! I imagine they like to exchange tea recipes and stuff like that
• Has been friends with Julie since they were in kindergarten
• Has played chess against everyone in the neighborhood
• ^Wally painted all of the pieces different colors when he wasn't looking
• Frank's name in the genderbend AU is Frances/Fran
• People rumored that he and Julie were dating since they were teenagers (they can't escape the heteronormativity :()
• Speaking of which, in my beta AU take (in this version, the og WH was more geared toward adult audiences), Frank and Julie's names are Jonathan and Janet, and they were actually married (but they were cheating on each other with Eddie and Sally respectively - it's a whole thing)

Annnd that's all I have for Frank right now! Now I kinda want to make his siblings into WH OCs...

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Plot:

Everything seems perfectly perfect in the city of Pleasant Valley - from the happiest couple in town to the rambunctious street performer, the charismatic salesman to a sweet seamstress, there' no shortage of interesting faces to meet. But not everything is as it seems in this 'perfect' place...

Background:

Conceptualization for the show 'Meet the Neighborhood' actually started as early as the late 1950s by Sadie Sweeny Studios, and it was said to be one of the very first animated programs aimed at adults. The show was intended to be a mockumentary of sorts, showing a less perfect side of American suburbia at the time. However, the studio went under right before the first episode was set to air, and they sold the idea to The Playfellow Workshop, which changed it to what is now known as Welcome Home.

--

Wally Darling

• The main character of the show, always happens to be in the opening scene (which kicks of the plot of the episode)
• The most levelheaded person in the cast, besides Jonathan/Beta Frank
• Very tired of his friends drama and antics (he loves them though)
• Aspiring artist, mostly works painting sets at the local theater

Janet Jitters/Beta Julie (formerly Janet Joyful)

• The most cheerful neighbor!
• Used to be a successful businesswoman before she married Jonathan
• Secretly dating Good friends with Stella (Beta Sally)
• Loves organizing fun activities for her friends!

Jonathan Jitters/Beta Frank

• Resident insect collector
• Works as an accountant
• Secretly dating Good friends with Allen (Beta Eddie)
• Janet's comedic foil

Stella Von Starlight/Beta Sally

• Wannabe actress and playwright
• Regular at the bar Barney works at
• A bit arrogant, but very talented
• Usually wears black

Flora Feathers/Beta Poppy

• Owns a clothing shop
• Mainly stays in her shop, which also doubles as her house
• For someone who stays inside all day, she seems to know about all of the neighbors
• Best friends with Sally

That's all I have so far! Make sure to check in again for an update!

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Full name: Edward Darrell Dear

Gender and pronouns: Cis guy + he/him

Sexuality: Pansexual

Personal favorite ships: Eddie x Frank (love me some possibly doomed puppet yaoi), and Eddie x my OC (It's not a ship per se, but they have a Julie and Frank situation where the producers are trying to make them a couple. She's an angel and also a showgirl, I'll post abt her when I finish the other characters!)

Height: 6'4''

Ethnicity (as a human): White

Family: Ms. Dear, 1 brother and 2 sisters (he's the 2nd oldest)

Random headcanons go!

• Lived on a farm with his family before moving to Home
• Seems like the type of person to say "Good golly Miss Molly" unironically
• Since he canonically uses glue to style his hair, I like to think that he uses glitter glue for special occasions
• Usually a very good cook, but nearly managed to burn his house down by making grilled cheese
• Has never taken a day off of work (someone please make him take a day off of work)
• His favorite season is fall! I was going to say it was winter, but, um...the Christmas update...
• A running joke (pun not intended) is that the way he usually enters a scene is by running into Frank, almost always carrying like 20 different packages. The thing is, he never runs into the other characters, it always happens to be Frank. I know what you are, Eddie
• ^Frank: "I don't understand, why do I keep losing at chess? >:-(" Eddie, with an ungodly amount of packages, running towards Frank at full force: "{|:0]!"
• As a mailman, you'd probably think he collects stamps, but he actually collects stickers
• Loves animals, but unfortunately animals don't love him (at least the ones on his farm)
• Cries when anything too sad happens in a movie
• ^Before neighborhood movie night, everyone has to check their choice on Does The Dog Die just in case
• He also can't handle horror movies
• Very good at bowling (read a fic from FanfictionsForFantasticReadersAndWriters that gave me the idea)
• Genderbent AU name: Ellie!

That's all the headcanons I have for Eddie so far!

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Full name: Sarah Anne "Sally" Starlet

Gender and pronouns: Cis woman + she/her

Sexuality: Sapphic (This is subject to change but right now you CANNOT look me in the eye and tell me she doesn't like girls)

Personal favorite ships: Sally x Julie (they're so silly), Sally x Eddie (unfortunately, the only fics I can find of them as a pairing are one-sided on Sally's end, but I think it has a lot of potential as a ship), I also think Sally x Poppy is pretty cute!

Height: 5'6''

Ethnicity (as a human): French (she's probably from a lesser known city bc Paris is a little overused lol)

Family: Only child, raised by her dad (she has a lot of relatives/extended family though)

Random headcanons go!

• Tells people her middle name is Estella instead of Anne bc it makes her sound fancy
• Her spikes have a tendency to get caught in the other neighbors hair/fur/feathers, which isn’t usually a huge hassle unless it’s Wally or Julie
• She can do stellar impressions of all the neighbors…except Wally 
• Can probably roast your entire bloodline like it’s nothing and still make you love her for it
• The spikes on her head can spin around in a lil circle :3
• Her body temperature is naturally warm since she’s a star
• Can glow in the dark!
• She starts releasing heat waves whenever she feels strong emotions (kinda like Barnaby’s tail wagging, only twice as obvious)
• Orders food based off looks and not taste (this can have some unfortunate consequences, however)
• Puts salt on things that have no business being salty
• Other than Julie, she has the most stylish outfits out of all the neighbors
• Wears one of those expensive robes to bed to seem fancy, but she’s actually just wearing a t-shirt and shorts with stars on em
• Loves The Drowsy Chaperone (this is mainly just me projecting but I also feel like it’d be one of her favorite musicals)
• Genderbend AU name: Sandy!

That's all I have for Sally so far!

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Roger's going first (older siblings privilege I suppose!)

Full name: Roger Justin Frankly

Gender and pronouns: Transmasc + he/him

Sexuality: Achillean

Personal favorite ships: Honestly I ship him with every guy in the neighborhood (except Frank ofc), but my favorite ship so far is Roger x Jonesy!

Height: 6'0 (w/o heels), 6’5’’ (w/ heels)

Ethnicity (as a human): Sammarinese

Family: Mr. Frankly, Mrs. Frankly, and his younger siblings Margot, Amy and Frank

Voice claim (if he was a real character): Kyle McCarley (Narancia Ghirga from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure)

Random 'headcanons'/trivia time!

• Is an expert at the guitar
• Used to call Amy ‘Meelie’ when they were little (still does)
• Came out to his siblings Allen he was 13 (the Frankly siblings say trans rights)
• Wears heels to make himself look taller
• Scared of insects (oh the irony)

Next is Amy!

Full name: Amelia Jessica 'Amy' Frankly

Gender and pronouns: Cis woman + she/her

Sexuality: Pansexual

Personal favorite ships: Amy x Julie, Amy x Sally, Amy x Franny, and Amy x Barnaby!

Height: 6'1

Ethnicity (as a human): Sammarinese

Family: Mr. Frankly, Mrs. Frankly, her older siblings Roger and Margot, and her twin Frank

Voice claim (if she was a real character): Kath Soucie (Kanga from Winnie the Pooh)

Here's all of Amy's trivia!

• When she was a child, she used to change her nickname constantly depending on her mood, but right now her current one is here to stay! Probably...
• Mixes people’s first and last names up often (she’s just like me fr)
• Hides a bunch of hair ties throughout her house so she can easily access them (she even has a box of hair ties under her sink)
• Easily flustered
• She secretly likes rock music (her favorite genre of music would probably be showtunes, however)

And finally, Margot!

Full name: Margaret Candace 'Margot' Frankly

Gender and pronouns: Cis woman + she/her

Sexuality: Sapphic

Personal favorite ships: Margot x Bea, and Margot x Julie!

Height: 6'4

Ethnicity (as a human): Sammarinese

Family: Mr. Frankly, Mrs. Frankly, her older brother Roger, and her younger siblings Amy and Frank

Voice claim (if she was a real character): Susan Egan (Megara from Hercules)

Even more trivia/'headcanons'!

• The only sibling who wears glasses
• In addition to being in their reality show Meet the Franklys, she’s also the show’s producer
• Is a very avid reader, along with Frank
• Loves anything with sugar in it. She’ll eat almost anything as long as you sprinkle some on
• Has very high standards for herself

That’s all I have for the Frankly’s so far! I’ll probably add more as I develop their characters more!

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Full name: Anna Jillian Van Halo

Gender and pronouns: Cis woman + she/her

Sexuality: Pansexual Straight ally (denial is a river in Egypt sweetie)

Personal favorite ships: Annie x Eddie (this was really only created for lore purposes, but it has grown on me, especially bc I love the “She’s everything” x “He’s just Ken” dynamic!) and Annie x Sally (love me some petty rivals-to-lovers puppet yuri)

Height: nuh-uh (I will add the height when I update her reference sheet, just not now)

Ethnicity (as a human): White

Family: Only child, raised by her mom and dad (like Sally, she has a lot of extended family!)

Voice claim (if she was a real character): Sutton Foster (either as Janet from The Drowsy Chaperone or Millie from Throughly Modern Millie)

Lore + conceptual Valentine’s Day Update

• Was made by a producer’s niece, but they liked her so much they made into a character (named after said niece)
• Since Annie’s a showgirl, they decided to make her Sally’s semi-rival, with them competing for the spotlight in many episodes
• Similar to Julie and Frank’s situation, the producers also implied that Eddie and Annie were a couple throughout the show
• Her skits usually consisted of segments where she sung and danced to songs, whether original ones or parodies of popular music in the 60s and 70s, or writing something on her typewriter during their ad breaks and handing them to the characters (most likely edited versions of their scripts)
• ^However, in the Christmas update ad breaks, she’s actually writing a holiday shopping list!
• The Valentine’s Day update takes place after the Christmas update and before the spring update
• By looking through the website, you can find three links hidden in the daisies all over the website - one is a daisy Sally and Annie are looking at together, the other is hidden in a limited edition Annie and Eddie Valentine’s Day card, and the last one is in Annie’s hair in a piece of restored concept art
• ^These links lead to videos titled “He Loves Me,” “He Loves Me!” and “NOT” respectively
• The first video is a recording of Annie asking the neighbors if they’ve seen Eddie, since she was planning to host a V-Day performance with Sally and she wanted everyone to be there, the second one is is the neighborhood hosting a full-on search party, which ends with Annie getting separated from the rest of the group, and the third video is her becoming self aware and realizing that the only reason that her audience loves her - possibly the only reason that her friends care about her at all - is because of her performances, leading to her having a panic attack

Random trivia go!

• Has a sweet tooth (she loves baked goods in particular)!
• Her middle name is a sort-of mashup of Millie (as in Throughly Modern Millie) and Janet (as in Janet Van De Graff from The Drowsy Chaperone)
• Her name was going to be Annie Angel, but I scraped it bc it sounded to similar to Alice Angel
• Her hair changes shape depending on her mood
• Used to travel a lot before finally settling in Home
• Despite what her last name might indicate, she does not actually have a halo
• ^She does have wings, however! They're pretty small compared to regular angel wings, though
• Her favorite genre of anything is romance (what a surprise)
• I like to think that she can turn into a slightly more biblically accurate angel, but she almost never does for fear of scaring someone
• Very good with kids!
• Usually wears dresses or skirts, but she does like wearing pants on occasion!
• Despite being rivals, she and Sally are also best friends
• She's a bit chubby, especially compared to the other girl characters

That's all I have for Annie right now!

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Full name: Poppy Petunia Partridge

Gender and pronouns: Trans woman (canon) + she/her

Sexuality: Lesbian (also canon!)

Personal favorite ships: I honestly don't ship her with anyone rn, however I think Sally x Poppy is a very cute ship!

Height: 7'9''

Ethnicity (as a human): Nuh-uh (code for 'I'll figure it out later')

Family: Raised by her mom and dad as an only child

Random headcanons go!

• Tallest neighbor in Home (also side note but the heights for each character have been getting increasingly unrealistic and it's so funny like...no one is 7'9'')
• Has a cookbook with the most scrumptious recipes known to man
• Can imitate calls of other birds with ease (partly intuition, and partly bc of Sally's help)
• Runs a neighborhood book club with Frank, but everyone ends up doing something completely unrelated to the books
• She (surprisingly) loves carnival rides, but unfortunately she's a bit too tall for some of them
• All of the neighbors have called her mom (or a variant of it) at least once (especially Barnaby)
• Loves popsicles
• ^She also collects popsicle sticks in case neighbors need them for crafts
• Knows a lot of gossip for someone who rarely leaves her house (mainly from Sally)
• Genderbend AU name: Peter!

That's all I have for Poppy so far!