Arturo “Tauro” Diaz
Stubborn Non-Conformist
Stubborn Non-Conformist
Their skin is their skin. Don't like it? Too bad. Look, Tauro doesn't need your approval or your input, thank you very much. Loud hair, sparkly galaxy shoes, on pointe eyeliner, dresses, or mismatched socks - they do what they do, and what's it to you? In fact, telling them they shouldn't just makes them want to do it more.
Can’t you be normal?
Look – the thing is, no matter how confident and comfortable you are with yourself, it hurts when those you love can’t accept you for who you are. They can’t help it, they don’t want to change it, and mom and dad and the rest of the cousins and extended family making little to no effort to even acknowledge your struggle really kind of sucks, okay?
So Arturo kind of likes to be noticed and acknowledged. They enter contests and competitions for the spotlight.They wear loud clothing and dye their hair bright colors. They loudly share their opinion just for a debate. Look at me please.
It doesn't always win them many friends. After all, people like the spotlight to be shared. It's kind of hard to shine when Arturo soaks up all the sun.
And NOBODY likes someone interrupting a conversation between two people and butting in with their own opinion to start a debate. Which can happen. A lot.
They really want to be a good friend - they probably just need some therapy first. Or a really patient wallflower who doesn't mind being in the shadow.
Hey, I know that!
Whenever Arturo is asked a trivia question, it will be about something they know the answer to. Their Snapple facts are always relevant, and whenever a bar bet is made in their vicinity, it will be about something they were just reading about the other day.
ANYTHING ELSE?
Arturo has a pet snake named Herman who likes to chill out with them a lot.
They have 3 sisters. They borrow their sister’s clothes a lot. They’re the baby of the family.
Arturo is agender and doesn’t care if what they’re wearing is considered masculine or feminine. If they like it, they wear it.
Same with sexuality. If they like it, they put a ring on it.
They’re never wrong, sorry (But actually…)
They know a rather large amount about cars and mechanical crap and never talk about it.
They are fluent in Spanish.
They love to read and research and pretty much live on Wikipedia.
They are the first in their family to graduate high school with more than a "barely scraping by" grade.
Graduated high school with a 4.0.
There has never been a time in their life that Arturo has felt uncomfortable in their own skin. When their mother found them in her high heels at six, shouted Dios mio and tried to get them out of them before their father got home, their response was “Why? I look good!”
When their father walked in on them putting on eyeliner in the bathroom when they were twelve and tried to tell them that it was for girls only, they batted their eyelashes and said “Then I guess today I am a girl.”
The bullies at school never stood a chance against them, though that was likely due to the fact that their parents gave them enough practice to blow it off. After all, when mom and padre didn't accept you, who cared about Jockstrap McGee's approval?
Their refusal to be anything but happy with themselves, butting heads with their parents constantly over everything, earned the affectionate nickname of “Tauro” from their mother. It stuck. Her stubborn little bull. Her stubborn little son who could never quite be the son she wanted. And she could never quite understand why he couldn't just be your typical boy.
A frank discussion when they were fifteen ("Mijo, do you want to be a girl?" asked Gloria after watching a Dr. Phil episode about transgender kids. "No, I don't want to be anything" said Tauro) at least stopped the awkward questioning and trying to get them to change, though did nothing to alleviate the sad, lost looks sent by his mother and the furrow-browed frowns from his father. His mother tried to understand. She really did - she might have even accepted having a fourth daughter - but this in-between thing wasn't something she could get. His father just wanted a son to do manly things with - and while Arturo can fix a car with the best of them (thanks dad) they'd rather not.
One thing was for sure: Whether it's being a non-conformist genderqueer or being class president, if Arturo wants something done, they dig their stubborn heels in and it gets done.
Their parents might not agree with them or accept them (they don't get the entire neutral pronouns thing) but they love them and have an okay relationship as long as they stay on approved topics - No politics, religion, or sexuality discussions at the dinner table, okay? Also, please don't tell your abuela she might have a heart attack right here on the table and die do you want that?