#╰ * ARLO THOMPSON : hc ⧽ darlin' how could you be so blind ?

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fun arlo facts:

the character he plays in his superhero trilogy, firesong, is from dark horse comics. due to the character’s popularity in both the comics and his cinematic portrayal, firesong becomes DHC’s face character, as batman & superman are to DC & iron man & captain america are to marvel.

if i were to compare arlo to any real world celebrity, i’d say that due to his appearance in a mainstream superhero series, as well as his child acting roots, he’s tom holland level famous. like, 70 million followers on instagram famous.

arlo is a leo sun , aquarius moon , capricorn rising .

arlo’s speaking voice claim is will lenney of the willne youtube channel because i can and because i think it’s hilarious

arlo’s singing claim is the lead vocalist of boston manor, henry cox. listen here

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arlo’s first love is the second girl he ever dated, an actress by the name of giselle dumont (fc sabrina carpenter). it was his first serious relationship, the two having met on the set of the first firesong film. arlo of course, playing the titular character firesong himself, and giselle playing the hero’s love interest, a female villain by the name of frostbite . they dated during the remainder of the trilogy, breaking up a few months prior to arlo’s 24th birthday (a total of three years).

for a time, they were hollywood’s it couple , a relationship akin to tomdaya. from stan accounts to fanfiction to fancams, you name it, the buzz around firefrost , their character’s ship name, was nonstop. when news of their breakup first broke, the internet was in shambles. who dumped who? did arlo cheat? did giselle cheat? it was a shitshow, putting it lightly. to be honest, arlo himself is unsure of the reason behind their split, for a time.

he and giselle had a comfortable relationship. it was never heavy on the physical side of things, and because of their shared a-lister status, following the end of the firesong trilogy they were often on opposite sides of the world for filming or press tours. at this point in time, he and giselle felt more like best friends than a couple. so, when giselle tearfully breaks up with him over facetime, citing their hectic schedules and distance as her main grievances, he agrees on the split. although he does still love her romantically, he’s not the sort of person to hold someone captive in a relationship they’re clearly not content in.

they part ways, and the space between them only grows. the press settle on a rumor that arlo cheated on giselle, and several fans ran wild with it, leading to arlo’s current “playboy” reputation. giselle goes dark for a while, reemerging on social media and in the press as she starts doing promo for her new hbo show, this happening currently in arlo’s timeline (aka present time).

arlo doesn’t learn the real reason behind he and giselle’s breakup until a year’s time, when giselle is publicly outed by a gossip rag. paps get photos of her and her girlfriend kissing, publishing them before giselle has the chance to come out as a lesbian on her own terms. he and giselle reconnect during the outrage and chaos surrounding her outing, with arlo vocally supporting giselle and calling out the publication behind the matter. having been out as bisexual for as long as he can remember, he and giselle grow close once again as friends, and he supports her as she files a lawsuit and eventually wins.

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arlo thompson is so sick and fucking tired of having to prove people wrong that he just... doesn't bother anymore. he's exhausted of people expecting the worst from him because they listen to the stupid shite the media says about him. they read up when his name is trending on twitter so surely they know what his   MODUS OPERANDI   is, right? surely they know his own intentions better than he does. arlo thompson is a casanova, the media exclaims, when the paps catch him on a date not even two weeks after being broken up with by his most recent ex. because the media doesn't know that arlo's a hopeless romantic. that his relationships are all so short-lived because his exes always tell him,   "you're too clingy"   or,   "you move too fast",   and he's always the one getting left behind in the wreckage.  arlo thompson is such a party boy, a celebrity updates account on twitter announces, because if arlo has a night off he's likely out clubbing, or attending some other rich schmuck's decadent soiree, and the proof is always all over snapchat or instagram the next morning. because nobody knows how FUCKING LONELY arlo is. how he goes home to a giant, empty loft apartment, the only thing waiting for him there being thena, and that's his fucking cat. because he can't keep a relationship to save his life, because no one can stand him long enough to actually fucking stick around. and if he goes home to that empty apartment he just might drink himself silly, trapped alone with his own thoughts and that nagging voice in the back of his mind, "you'll always be a disappointment. you'll never be good enough." arlo thompson's going to end up   just like his no - good mum,   some oldhead in a chip shop proclaims, unaware of his presence as arlo speeds up, cheeks hot and eyes stinging something terrible. because they don't know he's bleeding money trying to get her clean, enduring the worst kind of VERBAL ABUSE any time he tries to speak to her. never feeling like he's somebody's son. someone who deserves to be loved, someone who deserves to be cherished. forgetting what it feels like to be loved unconditionally, wondering if he's actually ever even been loved without condition. he's arlo thompson and he's a bloody good for nothing, according to the headline of a shitty gossip rag emblazoned across the cover, and honestly, he's starting to believe it.

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father’s day is never easy for arlo. when his dad was still his agent, they’d go to le gavroche for dinner && then they’d go to a pub for drinks afterwards, with derek getting tipsy and talking about arlo like he was his masterpiece, his prodigy. referencing all of arlo’s achievements like they were an offshoot of his own, like he was an artist and his son was simply the sculpture he carved.

now that they barely talk, arlo will try and call his dad, only to be redbuttoned, unable to leave a voicemail in his dad’s perpetually full inbox. he sends off a voice note wishing his dad a happy fathers day, sends him a nice tie and tie pin to add to his collection that his dad has a PA send a prewritten thank you note for. only ever responds to arlo’s texts and gifts with a simple “👍” leaving him unsurprised but devastated all the same. because fuck, even if he���s not his agent anymore, he still wishes more than anything that he’d at least still want to be his dad. that he’d be proud to have arlo as his son. because he still desperately wants so badly to be loved as someone’s son, even if he knows his relationship with his father will never change.

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arlo constantly being the one to say "i love you" first in a relationship bc growing up, his parents never told him "i love you" unless he said it first (or unless they were in front of audiences or a camera). because now his parents don't say it to him at all, so the only times he ever hears "i love you" are those fleeting moments he gets with his sisters.

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headcanon : it's pretty well known among arlo's friends & management team that he's paying for bambi & tiff's therapy (not because they've ever asked him for a cent, in fact, he's had to fight tiff in particular on this matter), but a more well - kept secret is that he's also paying for his mother's rehab  ━ which is frequent and still hasn't seemed to stick. but no matter how many inebriated voicemails she leaves him, hateful shite she texts him when she's high, he doesn't say a word. just sends a check to the next rehabilitation center veronica's sponsor suggests to him and bites his tongue.

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okay, finally finished typing up the behemoth that is arlo's acting career (childhod trauma teehee!). eventually i'll do a write up on the specificities of arlo's trauma and his relationship w his sisters, but for now this has the most important things regarding arlo's history outlined. under the cut for a mobile friendly version.

Born on August 17th, 1997 to Veronica Thompson, nee Hughes, and Derek Thompson, Charlie "Arlo" Finn Thompson never stood a chance. Veronica, a former Elite London model & former favorite WAG, always saw a future for herself and her children that was covered in glitz and gold. Arlo's elder sister Tiffany was a Gerber baby, and the face of Pampers by the tender age of three. It goes without saying that Arlo was thrust into the limelight soon thereafter without so much as a second thought, with Derek, Veronica's former agent, taking up that very same role for his own son.

From diaper commercials to branding deals with Joules, Boden & the like, the Thompson family name very quickly became a household one, a name that when spoken aloud rung of success and good breeding. Arlo stayed a child model for a good portion of his early years, tottering around after his parents as they lavished their darling son with affection in the presence of others. They had him and Tiffany tag along for countless parties, charity event after charity event, Derek & Veronica the very picture of domestic bliss, their children shining examples of good parenting. Of course, when the lights went out and the cameras were nowhere to be seen, it was a different question altogether. A coke habit carried over from her modeling days and an eating disorder to match, Veronica's attention was rarely on her children , delegating the role of mother to the trusted family nanny Jen (whom the media didn't find out about until the cheating scandal, miraculously enough). Derek was a workaholic, the agent of several other young talents, constantly with his nose buried in paperwork and his eyes glued to the prize (re: his bank account). 

Derek and Veronica weren't abusive in the way the media is used to portraying the parents of child stars, they never forced Tiff or Arlo to work when they didn't want to, they were never physically abusive and they hardly spoke to their children enough to be verbally abusive. No, their abuse lied within neglect, the utter lack of consideration for their progeny when they weren't making them headlines or making them money. It got worse for Tiff around the time that Arlo turned seven and was cast in his first acting role, the younger brother character on a BBC family sitcom, "Our Family", that ended up taking the nation by storm the following five years. Arlo's character quickly became a fan favorite, with his button nose and big blue eyes, and of course, his point of origin (re; fans of Veronica). 

The show ended on its sixth season, a few months before Arlo turned 12 and a few months after Tiff had turned 15. The following three years are incredibly successful ones for Arlo, but tumultuous for Tiff. With his seasoned past and effectively endless CV, Arlo scored several on-screen leading roles, as well as a contract with Disney that resulted in two DCOMS and two more sitcoms. Around this time, the youngest Thompson, Bambi, had turned five, and was following in the footsteps of her elder siblings. Unfortunately, going through puberty with absentee parents and the baggage of being a child star weighing her down, things started to roll downhill very quickly for Tiff. Tiff was officially the least successful Thompson, and as the gossip rags put it, the 'least attractive' as well. Her self-esteem takes a turn for the worst, and she has no one there to take care of her.

At age 18, Tiff starts experimenting with the pill bottles she finds in her mother's bedside drawer, eventually discovering evidence of her mother's affair. In the following weeks, Tiff leaks the story to the papers, "former WAG rekindles flame with famed footy star—while still married?" The press eats the Thompsons alive, former nanny Jen coming forward as well regarding Veronica's coke habit and both her && Derek's child neglect. The five week whirlwind ends in Tiff's public overdose, which she just barely survives. The Thompsons retreat into the shadows, "to heal", as Derek tells the press, still attempting some semblance of damage control. 

The following three years find Veronica and Derek divorced, and Tiffany having cut off her parents completely. Now 19, Arlo enters the world of acting once again, with Derek still as his agent. Despite their family's marred reputation, Arlo's talent and history thankfully speaks for him, and he's able to land several smaller roles in assorted dramas and sitcoms that eventually build back his reputation enough to where instead of attending open calls, he's being invited to audition for roles personally. 

From age 20 to 23 he stars in a superhero trilogy as the titular character, "Firesong", winning "Best Hero" award for his performance at the MTV Movie && TV awards three years in a row. At age 24 he decides he wants to branch out and try new roles, break out from the typecast that he's been stuck with since effectively age seven (the golden boy, boy-next-door type). He and his father fight about it, with his dad wanting him to "play it safe" as to not risk the success he's seen thusfar the past three years. Arlo tries reasoning with his father by opening up to him, explaining how his whole life, his career has been a source of depression for him, and how if he keeps playing these roles, he's afraid he'll never be able to escape the painful memories that come along with playing them. 

Unable to sympathize with his son for even once in his life, Derek responds to Arlo's pleas like an agent would, instead of a father, still prioritizing a paycheck over his son's overall wellbeing. This is the final straw for Arlo, who fires his father. Derek insists that Arlo will be nothing without him, and that if he goes down this role, he'll never land a successful role again in his life—thus, Arlo not only fires his father, but fully cuts him off, Like Tiff did all those years ago. The next three years are a whirlwind of success for Arlo. He takes the leading role in an upcoming A24 movie, "Serendipity", one so avant garde and raw and real that upon seeing the trailer, Derek blows up Arlo's phone, insisting that his son's going to make a laughing stock of the family name. Of course, no such thing happens, and Arlo's performance is so emotional and captivating that he wins an Oscar for Best Actor that year. After his Oscar success, he scores another leading role in an HBO original, an adaptation of a cult-classic fantasy novel series, "Court of Deception", that's taken the internet by storm. For this performance alone, he earns himself two Emmy noms.

During filming of the second season of COD, Arlo takes up songwriting, avoiding therapy but still trying to find ways to cope with his childhood trauma. In the time he has off filming, he releases an album under the name "The Sound", gaining himself a cult following with his indie alternative music. The following summer when filming has wrapped for the third and final season of COD, he and The Sound go on tour, the last show on Arlo's 26th birthday that August. 

Between the time he fires his father up until present day, he becomes close with both of his sisters, who are also suffering from the aftermath of their parents neglect. Tiff, now 29, is a successful museum curator, and is going to art school in London. Bambi, only 19, still lives with Veronica, but is slowly freeing herself from their parents clutches, and seeing a therapist weekly that's paid for by Arlo.

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verse drop : fantasy (d&d specific)

in this verse, arlo is a well known bard ( college of lore ) traveling the world to share his music and his stories. he's an eladrin elf hailing from the feywild, where his sisters currently reside. thanks to the material plane and the feywild being on such similar frequencies, he's easily able to traverse through both, visiting his home intermittently throughout his journeys. because of his silvery - tongue and cutting words he often finds himself roped into trouble, even going so far as to accidentally joining an adventuring party without realizing it until a good month of traveling.