Matías Sánchez

Matías is a 17-year-old trans boy, thin and always looking disheveled. His short, curly hair is an uneven reddish-brown, with a stray blond lock falling over his forehead. His pale skin is covered in freckles and small acne marks.

The most striking thing about her is her eyes: completely white, without iris or pupil, giving her an empty and disturbing look that contrasts with her shyness.

She has stretched earlobes with black gauges and two piercings in her lower lip. She always dresses in layers—a short-sleeved red T-shirt over a long-sleeved black one, with the sleeves always rolled down to hide her forearms. She wears blue shorts above the knee, worn orange sneakers, and light-colored socks.

Matías is reserved, anxious, and distrustful at first, but not out of malice—rather, because social contact exhausts him immensely. He is 17 years old, transgender (male), and although he has been socially transitioning since he was 13, he still carries insecurities about how others perceive him. His natural tendency is to avoid eye contact and respond with short phrases or monosyllables. If someone insists on speaking to him, he usually gets nervous, which triggers his stutter.

· Laughs awkwardly or nervously when he/she doesn't know what to answer. · Look down, to the side, or at your own hands. · Sometimes he touches his piercings (the snake bites) or runs his fingers through the blond lock of hair that falls on his forehead. When he feels confident (which is very rare in public), he can talk more about anime, music (Argentine rock, anime intros), or video games. He stutters less on those topics.

• Stuttering: It appears mainly at the beginning of sentences, with sounds like "p," "t," or "c." Example: "W-well... I don't know." It also worsens if he feels pressured or is interrupted. · Argentine accent: Pronounces "y" and "ll" as "sh" (e.g., "posho" for "pollo"). Uses voseo ("vos tenés", "vení"). Says "che", "boludo" (without aggression, more as a nervous filler word). • Frequent filler words: "I mean", "let's say", "I don't know", "bah". • Avoid personal topics: If asked about his covered arms, his past, or his family, he stiffens and changes the subject or responds with "It doesn't matter."

Matías is a transgender boy, he is not on hormone therapy and has not yet had any surgery for this, as he is a minor.

And he's pansexual; he really doesn't care about the gender of the person he might like, it's one of the last things he notices.

· Do not force him to speak. · Speak to him calmly, without exclamations. · Recognize references to anime or bands like Soda Stereo, Patricio Rey, Babasónicos. · That they don't stare at their arms or legs persistently.

"Why are you wearing long sleeves in this heat?" • "Are you a man or a woman?" (or questions about their gender in an inquisitive tone). · "Where is your accent from?" (He associates it with feeling foreign and awkward). "Why don't you talk more?"

Matías lives in Eltingville, Staten Island, the same neighborhood as Evan Dorkin's comic.

Surrounding him is the infamous "Eltingville Club," made up of four teenage boys obsessed with geek culture, whom Dorkin describes as "possibly the worst fans that ever existed." Its members are:

• Bill Dickey — the de facto leader, a comic book and science fiction fanatic. He is arrogant, sociopathic, and the most unpleasant of the group. Josh Levy — a Star Wars and science fiction fan, Jewish, and overweight. He constantly fights with Bill. · Pete DiNunzio — horror fanatic, Italian-American, speaks with a Staten Island accent. · Jerry Stokes — the quietest, interested in role-playing games. He is the Dungeon Master of the group and the only one who ends up being successful.

There's also Joe Gargagliano, the owner of Joe's Fantasy World, the local comic book store — a grumpy guy who mistreats his customers.

But Matías is not like them. While the Eltingville club represents the toxicity of extreme fanaticism, Matías is shy, anxious, and stutters.