#but I can count on hand how many people translate ratio's ID issues into trans hcs

[eternitycongregation]

This is real. It annoys me so much; because while I do avidly ship the two of them, I don't project onto Aventurine as strongly as everyone else seems to, and that aspect of shipping appears to me to be the reason why there's such a hard focus on Ratio being Ave's rock (pun unintended) and source of comfort. Ratio fulfills the fantasy of someone gentle-hearted and reliable taking care of you while you're a whole mess and a half—which isn't a bad thing in itself—it just doesn't resonate with me when Ratio's character is flattened *and* the romance feels so one-sided, as Ratio isn't ever shown to *need* Aventurine as much as people depict Aventurine needing him. A romantic partner isn't just someone who exists to meet all your needs; they're a whole other person who has their own needs and struggles and will want your support.

I rarely see people talking, writing, drawing about Ratio's life and Ratio's family (or lack thereof) and Ratio's insecurities. His struggle with the siren call of chasing excellence and building your own sense of worth around academic achievement only to face the reality that you will never be good enough (and thus shattering your sense of self), with being ignored by the gods you know exist in the universe (people suffer irl enough with the idea of being abandoned by gods we aren't sure are out there, what more if they physically exist and you have proof they don't care about you particularly), with having no true peers because you exist in a weird space between social classes. I rarely see people depict Ratio feeling unwanted, because there's a difference between being desired for your looks, for your labor, for what you can provide for others...and being desired for who you actually are. These are running themes in his character introductions and character stories, but they rarely show up in fanworks.

At most people bring up headcanoning Ratio as autistic, but rarely do they actually explore how being autistic affects Ratio. It's more or less just "I find him weird/strange/eccentric" and slapping the label on him without really thinking about it. Autism is more than just intense interests people might find "weird" or a bunch of social quirks...it often comes packaged with a lot of physical, cognitive, and mental disorders and disabilities. I rarely see anyone depict Ratio with his own trauma, speech disorders, intellectual disabilities (this one in particular requires people challenging their biases), or anything else commonly (let alone uncommonly) comorbid with autism. It's almost as if anything that would shatter the image of him being perfect in everything he does (and by extent being the perfect partner to attend to your every need and help you in every struggle)...would make him undesirable. And it just feels weird.

Or some people who know a little bit of this and that recognized the melody of the Seikilos Epitaph in his character trailer...but I see little speculation on who might Ratio be mourning or in remembrance of that this composition is significant to him. Little thoughts out there of Ratio's relationship with death and loss and how a loss in his life affected him and his present outlook.

And most people don't really have a grasp on what a professor even does or what they're like, so I think I've actually never seen anybody talk about what struggles Ratio would have as an educator despite that being his entire thing. I personally think the adage "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." that people tell you as a kid to discourage you from wanting to become a teacher would haunt Ratio for a good while as he's struggling to find his place in the universe after failing, since he is the one who can't [become a Genius] and so he now teaches [to give others the chance to excell to great heights].

And so Ratio seems to never really be passionate about anything besides Aventurine in the ship fandom. His career is a backdrop and source of quips and comments rather than a significant part of his life and core personal values. The only way Aventurine is depicted as caring for him is to either physically protect Ratio from harm, shower him with gifts, or pamper him for Stress Relief (without discussing the source of stress beyond vague Work is Hard things)—almost never providing emotional support of his own. Not because Aventurine wouldn't know much of what goes on in Ratio's head at whatever point in the relationship being depicted, but because the artist/writer depicting them doesn't consider Ratio as needing any support or comfort and has no ideas for what that would look like at any point in their relationship. Ratio is there for Aventurine to contemplate the risk of falling in love and having something priceless to lose again; Ratio's suffering is only present to depict Aventurine's survivor's guilt; Ratio living and maybe starting a family with Aventurine is just for Ave to heal, have more reasons to continue living, and a means to pass on his memories to a new generation of Avgin...and Ratio is just the babydaddy.

Not my usual type of post but something that saddens me is the fact that in a shocking amount of ship content Ratio just seems to have no character apart from being Aventurines lover.

I'm not talking about him not being the focus in fics that aren't Ratio-centric, but it seems like he's nothing but Aventurines partner in the type of content I'm talking about.

He doesn't have his own flaws or problems, he's just there to be Aventurines boyfriend, nothing else. He's the comfort in the hurt/comfort but beyond that he's not even really there. It's the same with Genshin and Kavetham, I understand that it's mostly because both Kaveh and Aventurine are more popular in the fan base and there are definitely big problems with how people handle them as well, it's just disappointing to see my favorites constantly overlooked and watered down for the sake of shipping.