Paolo Bucciarati/Introduction

### Namesake

Paolo: Italian variation of Paul, meaning "small, humble", in reference to the original Paolo Bucciarati.Bencivenga: Italian surname, meaning "welcome". Bucciarati: Italian fig cookies, in reference to Bruno Bucciarati

### Family

Bruno Bencivenga (son, deceased), Unnamed ex-wife (alive).

### Occupation

Fisherman (former), Team Bucciarati leader

### Status

Dead

Paolo Bucciarati is the leader of Team Bucciarati and a minor antagonist in Fate of Zephyr. In Vento Aureo, he is the father of Bruno Bucciarati.

A fisherman from a small fishing community near Naples, he turned to tourism fishing and boat rides to create extra income for his son Bruno Bencivenga after his wife divorced him. When a group of drug dealers attempted to deal drugs on Paolo's boat, a scuffle among the men led to Bruno being shot multiple times and eventually die from "surgery complications" meant to treat them. To make ends meet, pay hospital bills, and to gain protection after killing the dealers, Paolo joined Passione and ultimately became the leader of his team after Stracciatello's death. By the time Paolo learns of the syndicate's role in the drug trade, he is unable to leave but later decides to consider overthrowing Father Diavolo to stop the trade among other reasons. This decision became more prominent and desired by both him and his remaining team after the death of Stracciatello and when Gigi Una's whereabouts are discovered. Due to the respect and admiration of his team towards him, Team # 99 was rebranded to be named after him as Team Bucciarati. Paolo eventually dies at the hands of Father Diavolo via Solido Doppio, but learns of the Boss's true identity in his final moments.

Paolo's Stand is All Fall Asleep, a close-range Stand that allows users to manipulate the user's victim via their blood, which he gained from Ogio Engio's test.

## Appearance

Prior to joining Passione, Paolo resembles the original Paolo; he has short dark hair and thick eyebrows that are often furrowed due to him constantly concentrating. Due to his age and stress, he has prominent wrinkles on his forehead. Like the original Paolo, he is shown wearing the same t-shirts, which the top has a lace design on the top that matches the original Bruno.

## Personality

Like the original Bruno, Paolo is very determined, brutal, and righteous to a fault; it often ends up blinding him from harsh realities despite devoting his earlier life to shielding them from his loved ones. Always striving to achieve his definition of justice and morals, he believed that honor is based on achieving vengeance to those who have been dishonored and protecting those he deemed unable to protect themselves. Prior to encountering the drug dealers, he was a man known for his honesty, kindness, and diligence. Even before becoming the new leader of his team, he is often complimented for his stoic and cool-headed approach to issues and concerns. However, much of it comes from his struggles with expressing his emotions and speaking his mind unless necessary. Fedel Agnello frequently mentioned how no one knew exactly what his real thoughts were unless he stated them, showing that Paolo often kept to himself and rarely showed his emotions to even his own family.

To Bruno, Paolo was a doting, worrying father; many who don't know about his introverted nature incorrectly assume he was rather distant instead. Despite Bruno's maturity and age, Paolo continued to fuss over him and constant reassured his son that all will be well as a means to maintain his innocence. As a result, he oftentimes is in denial of the reality of what his son is going through and subconsciously relied on his son emotionally throughout Bruno's short life since the divorce; this denial is extended to his team members to a degree later on. Paolo tries to devote himself to his son as much as he can otherwise, willingly doing odd-jobs that are sometimes degrading in order to earn and save enough money to give his son a better education or better medical treatment, and attempting to hide the shame that came with doing such tasks from him. He refuses to publicly talk badly of those who had hurt them, especially his ex-wife and Father Diavolo, until he encountered Solido Doppio and began venting his frustration about the latter during their fight.

Team Bucciarati often commented how Paolo was still kicking himself for not doing enough to allow Bruno to live a good, long life. Due to the trauma cause by losing his family, he had further shut himself down and refused to establish any official relationship beyond work with his teammates; he still subconsciously ends up becoming a paternal figure to the younger members. As a result, any attempt of connecting with him beyond his comfort zone might lead him to lash out unintentionally, something that he often did to Ceci when she attempts to act as a child for him. He is quick to apologize when he believes he acts out of turn.

## Skills and Talents

### Stand

All Fall Asleep is a close-range stand that allows blood manipulation.

### Fishing Abilities

Paolo comes from a long family line of fishermen and as a result developed skills related to fishery.

## References

* Blood bending in ATLA and LOK series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygf9cukqHW8
* Bruno Bucciarati Backstory Part 1 and Part 2:
	+ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9jxK-NbOgc
	+ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCMQOhsemww
* "bury a friend" music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUHC9tYz8ik

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