Zura Grattachecca

> Diamonds really are forever. I only wish I can say the same with friends.
>
> Zura Grattachecca, reminiscing about her childhood friend Ghiaccio Francescon.

###### Character Summary:

*The brash and confident second-in-command of Hitman Team #47, Zura was initially serving life in prison for supposedly murdering of her former best friend and his step-father out of jealousy before joining Passione. Only Olio was able to prove her innocence, revealing that she murdered the step-father to stop him from abusing her friend further and letting her friend start a life anew in exchange for Zura's own freedom. She was not just a powerful mafioso but Olio's closest confidant- being one of the only two people to ever see his face behind the mask. With Demidevil, Zura can turn any inorganic matter into precious stones, and especially uses her ability to turn her nails into sharp blue diamond claws. Unapologetic and protective towards the people she calls family, her perseverance and talents ultimately led her to be Passione's infamous Consigliere and Giorno Giovanna's right hand woman.* * Introduction
* Gallery
* History
* Trivia

## Zura Grattachecca

### Namesake

Zura: Persian for "force, strength, power". Reyhangül: Uyghur elaboration of Reyhan, meaning "basil", with gül meaning "flower".Grattachecca: Italian shaved ice. Bastani: Persian ice cream.

### Occupation

The Hitman Team second-in-command (former), Giorno Giovanna's Consigliere

### Status

Alive

Zura Grattachetta is the second-in-command of The Hitman Team and a core ally in Fate of Zephyr.

In the past, she was best friends with fellow ice skate competitor Ghiaccio Francescon before he was accused of attacking her in an attempt to covet her chances of joining Italy's Olympic figure skating team. She eventually murdered Ghiaccio's step-father to save him and was inprisoned for it until she was bailed out by Olio Nero. Zura is also a mentor figure for Giorno Giovanna and follows him and Olio in their mission to bodyguard Gigi Una and ultimately help them identify the Boss before being promoted to Consigliere of Passione.

Zura is known for her stand Demidevil, which can transform inorganic or dead items into precious stones, and obtained it after going through Ogio Engio's test.

## Appearance

Zura is a young woman of average height and build with greenish-brown eyes and long dark blue curly hair. The top part of her hair is tied into two pigtails, one on each side of her head, which is twirled around to be buns. She is of both Persian and Uyghur descent, sharing physical traits from both ethnicities.

Zura wears white triangular bikini top that is laced up in the front, with matching detached laced-up long sleeves and thigh-high laced boots, and with black metal accents. The laces vary in colors of white, blue, black, and red. The top edge of her top is lined with light blue and silver small diamonds that alternate. Matching her top, Zura wears white jean shorts, which are attached to her top by ribbons, which alter in colors like her other laces. She is shown wearing glass platforms that are decorated in shiny pearls and other colored precious stones. Her face and body are covered in small diamonds, resembling freckles, and she wears a daisy pendant that matches Ghiaccio's hair pin around her neck. She also sports long blue nails, which can grow to resemble blue diamond claws when activating her Stand.

As a child, Zura's hair was not curled or blue, but black and more wavy than curly, which she frequently tied up in a tight bun to avoid it from getting in her face when she competed in figure skating. Her body was much slimmer due to years of training as a figure skater, only developing a more muscular build after joining The Hitman Team. As a former practicing Muslim, Zura grew up wearing a hijab and more modest clothes when visiting mosques and praying.

When she became Consiglieri, her hair is dyed white in reference to Olio with blue tips. It is tied into two pigtails and decorated with white roses with blue diamonds and shaped like cat ears. She has a detatchable black leather collar and wears a red and black dress with short puffed sleeves, with the black fabric also being leather. Although her nails still resemble blue diamond claws when her Stand is activated, her actual nails have changed to red, with encrusted gems of various colors littering her hands. Her shoes are replaced with blue lace up sneakers, resembling the original Ghiaccio's shoes.

## Personality

Zura presents herself as confident and proud, relishing in praise and admiration towards her abilities and talents even when she trained to be a figure skater. Like Ghiaccio, she is known to have a short-temper, is prone to fits of anger, and often acts on impulse as a result of her fits and anger getting the best of her. This was especially seen when Zura went to find Briano Zucchero on the boat despite Olio telling her to stop and then afterwards proceeding to torture the former until her anger was satisfied. Even when her impulses compromise her success, she tries to remain conscious about her weaknesses and work her way around them when she is level-headed. According to Taehyung, Zura is also a quick thinker and strategist in her own right, able to reverse a situation in her favor and ultimately change the tide in combat to her favor. She is also known to have a competitive streak, which followed her from her childhood to her career as a hitman.

Despite being known as a polar opposite of Olio, Zura is also proven to have leadership skills and easily take control of the situation when called on it. Initially, Zura attempted to follow the same approaches Olio used but then was encouraged to find her own leadership style instead. Unlike Olio, her style was proven to be more gentle with her approach, as she encouraged Giorno to find different ways to apply his Stand, yet still critical when necessary. She is also known to be empathetic, although only showing her ability to sympathize and provide emotional support when one-on-one with members instead of as a group, and ended up being a confidant to members for various reasons. Zura, however, presents herself as more aggressive and hostile towards strangers, often assuming the worst to whoever attempts to approach her team with no proper introduction or announcement. She is willing to physically attack or threaten anyone regardless of status, as she threatened an aged businessman before the latter asked Olio to investigate Marsala. Oftentimes, her threats include her revealing her Stand via her claws, retrieving and retracting them in front of potential attackers, and nearly nicking them to establish dominance. To those that she is familiar or friends with with, Zura is very close to them, regardless of how she met them. An example was Zura's former parole officer, which she explained her close bond coming from the officer often sneaking in snacks for her while she was in prison in exchange for information about inmates.

As a woman who also pursues justice, she has a distain for those who abuse or oppress individuals or groups, especially those who do it towards women and children, and stands in solidarity with those who had been victims in the past. As a result, she has a soft spot for the women and Taehyung on the team due to their histories of surviving abuse, and became the unofficial mentor and advocate for the other female members when she can. She also developed a soft spot for Gigi after discovering the truth of her and Father Diavolo's relationship, although she was initially had a professional distance with her in the beginning. Zura is critical on herself when she is unable to see abuse or unfairness right away. This was especially evident when discovering Ghiaccio being abused by his step-father and criticizing herself for not being able to step in to help her friend all those years.

## Abilities

### Stand

Demidevil is a short-ranged Stand that allows Zura to turn solid matter into precious stones, mainly blue diamonds; these stones must be at least a 7 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness. The ability would only work on non-living matter or matter that is either dead; using it on living items will cause it to die if left in its state for too long. However, because of this effects, it can be used to catharize wounds and decrease the chances of creating scar tissues or living areas to die faster despite it's potential when left alone.

When used in close combat, Zura would often transform her nails into sharp claws and use them to scratch or shield herself from attacks. While it cannot be used on living items or contribute to growth, it has a rather interesting effect where nails can be grown longer and sharper. These nails are often unbreakable but can be broken off from the finger via extreme force but still capable of being used as a weapon.

### Ice Skating Abilities and Athleticism

As a trained athlete since childhood, Zura is physically stronger than many of her contemporaries and continues to strengthen herself physically even after retiring from figure skating. This was seen when she took down a man with minimal effort and having to be pulled back and drive away before she could finally kill him. Due to her previous career, Zura is shown to still have some skills and abilities when it comes to jumps and spins, although she is somewhat limited due to the injuries she sustained as a result of her attack.

Despite being able to fight, Zura does not have any background training in defense or fighting techniques. However, she is able to take down her opponents without her Stand with ease.

### Driving Abilities and Car Interest

Zura is a fan of cars, something that she shares with Salata Mista. The two are often seen racing each other or attending car meetups.

## References

* Zura's outfit at the 2021 Life is Beautiful Festival in Las Vegas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpfNCZmeWT4
* Ashnikko's Genius interview regarding their song "Daisy": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3p8Appnu\_g
* Ashnikko's Genius interview regarding their song "Slumber Party": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlUgcDjnn3w
* "Daisy" music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i01tOMgBDU

Ashnikko's iconic blue hair as inspiration for Zura's own hair.
## Site Navigation

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 Zura Grattachecca/Gallery

 Zura Grattachecca was born Reyhangül "Rey" Bastani and identifies herself as Persian and Uyghur.

## Life as a Child Athlete

Zura grew up as an only child to a Persian-American father and Uyghur-American mother. Because she was training to be an Olypmic hopeful for figure-skating and at the insistence of her mentors, she grew up without her parents being very involved in her life and traveled frequently to train and compete. Outside of ice-skating, she is homeschooled and had plans to pursue a career in law after she finishes her ice-skating career. Her journey to become an Olympic figure-skater led her to become friends with Ghiaccio Francescon (formerly female), another fellow Olympic hopeful in figure-skating who was also her competition rival, and the two ended up being each other's only friends in long term. Zura found her friend's step-father rather suspicious, as he is often viewed by the public as an involved yet strict parent, and Ghiaccio is often shown having a strong, private relationship with him. Despite the rivalry and expectations to one up each other at every competition as well as Ghiaccio's insistence of not talking about her life outside of skating, the two became close friends.

However, their friendship seemed to come to an end when a group of men were sent to attack Zura before a major competition that would determine who should compete in Italy's Olympic figure-skating team. The attack, which should have killed Zura, instead injured Zura's legs, leading her to withdraw from the competition and later on its revealed that she would no longer be able to skate again because of it. Ghiaccio was pointed as the mastermind behind the attack, with the motive being to take Zura's spot in the Olympic team and led to the former being banned from figure-skating in the Olympics and later on in future competitions. Zura, feeling betrayed and hurt by her only friend's apparent actions, would publicly denounce her friendship and said choice words to Ghiaccio in anger, and the attack caused media frenzy that vilified her friend. Zura sought to confront her friend at another competition she snuck alone after the meet but ended up witnessing a tense scene between her friend and her step-father instead. Overhearing and witnessing the interaction while hidden in a locker, Zura figured out that it was Ghiaccio's step-father who planned the attack and scapegoated his child to avoid accountability and did so to make sure Ghiaccio would make it onto the Olympic team while also despising Zura's friendship with his child. It didn't take long for her to piece together the real relationship Ghiaccio had with her step-father, which involved abuse against Ghiaccio and his half-brother Amadeo Müller; she realized that the latter "running away" from home had more to it's reason than being a "delinquent act".

Zura didn't leave the locker room or make her presence known to the two even after they left, but not before seeing the true physical and emotional abuse that Ghiaccio had to endure for years under their step-father's hand.

## Murder of Ghiaccio's Father and Alleged Murder of Ghiaccio

Zura decided to take matters into her own hands to make up for what she said to Ghiaccio. A few months after the attack and having witness the abuse that her friend went through, she snuck into Ghiaccio's house as a means of convincing him to sneak out. Unbeknownst to her, Ghiaccio had just screamed at his step-father for discovering his part in the attack and had just run into his bedroom while the other was preparing to "punish" him for insubordination. However, upon being caught by his step-father, Zura panicked and attempted to escape while still in her cast. After being tackled in the living room, she grabbed a nearby sports trophy and smashed his skull at full force. She repeatedly beat him as she screamed about what he had done to her friend and how he didn't deserve to live for being a terrible father and person.

Ghiaccio heard the commotion from upstairs and recognized Zura's voice before coming down stairs. When he entered the living room to see Zura standing over his now dead step-father, Zura noticed his presence. Ghiaccio asked what she had done and was initially terrified of her intentions of being in his home, but Zura explained what she initially wanted to help Ghiaccio leave without notice and what ended up happening. Zura noticed that Ghiaccio already had plans on running away, seeing that he appeared with a backpack and dressed to survive the cold weather while remaining concealed. She also explained how she saw what happened in the locker room on that day and apologized for not being able to see what her friend had endured and not being able to do anything to stop it from happening. Ghiaccio tried to apologize for having Zura kill his step-father but Zura justified her actions by saying wanted Ghiaccio to live a life free from expectations and fear. She gave him the money she planned on giving to help him sneak out, packing any remaining items that can be taken with him, and told her friend to leave before the police were going to arrive due to the commotion. Despite hesitating, Ghiaccio began making his way through the back as police sirens were heard in the distance. The two friends shared one last embrace and Zura told him to never contact her again. When asked why, she repeated the same words of wanting Ghiaccio to live a new life once more.

Zura rearranged the crime scene to make it resemble a planned attack. By taking some raw meat from the refrigerator, using clothes left behind by Ghiaccio, and smearing more blood onto herself while hacking at the step-father's body, she made the crime look as if she snuck into Ghiaccio's home with the intention of killing her friend and also attacked his step-father when he caught her breaking into the house soon after she supposedly murdered Ghiaccio. She further bribed law enforcement to accept her confession in order to meet their quota by claiming she murdered her friend and his step-father as revenge against their attempted attack months prior. The media reported Zura was found by the police officers and appeared deranged and armed with a hammer; both the weapon and her were covered in blood.

## Imprisonment and Joining Olio's Team

Zura was sentenced to life in prison after successfully bribing the police and prosecutor to charge her with first-degree murder of two people instead of manslaughter of one. She further strengthen her case by making herself appear more deranged, creating a narrative that she was crazy enough to plan the attack and was driven by revenge and jealousy. However, the judge decided to give her a life sentence with possibility of parole after her tenth year. Zura kept to herself in the local maximum prison for women, only acting insane to keep up the narrative and be left alone. While she used her parents' money to ensure that her life in prison will be a comfortable one, the charges led her to become estranged from them. She ended up befriending one of the officers, who took pity on her case despite not knowing what actually happened and would sneak her items such as books and sweets on occasion.

Although Zura maintained her persona when needed, she was otherwise described to be a behaved prisoner and role model, with many veteran prisoners admiring her after she admitted what she actually did. For weeks, Zura was contacted by corrupt lawyers who claim to want to help her appeal her case so that she would be granted parole quicker in exchange for them receiving some credit and commission, but she refused to cooperate with them. When a visitor requested to meet her, Zura assumed it was another lawyer but was surprised to instead meet Olio Nero, who was recently promoted to become the leader of The Hitman Team. He had been reading her case file and reports regarding her story out of curiosity and initially came to ask her about the inconsistencies of the evidence he read on.

Zura initially continued to hold her story about intentionally killing two people but Olio saw through her lies and pointed them out. He even used his Stand on her and explained that it marked her as "innocent" when he flipped to see if she killed Ghiaccio and his step-father for reasons beyond justice. It wasn't until he revealed his theories on what he thought actually happened that Zura finally confirmed them, and Olio expressed his admiration for her actions to help Ghiaccio and serve justice for her friend. He then revealed his true intention of meeting Zura: to recruit her onto his team as his second-in-command and therefore clear her records of her charges. Although initially declining his offer, Zura eventually accepted his proposal to release her from prison and have all her charges dropped in exchange for her membership into his team.

Zura was sent to Polpo and ultimately gained her Stand Demidevil as a result. She would then go to recruit Anita Cicchetti and, with Cassio Montagna, Taehyung Pescatore. Like Cassio, she became Olio's close confidant. She briefly served as leader of The Hitman Team during Giorno Giovanna's preparation to be Don and ultimately was promoted for her efforts.

It was known that Zura retained her close friendship with the officer she befriended.

## Post-Fate of Zephyr

Zura became Consigliere for Giorno, retiring her position as second-in-command for The Hitman Team and giving its leadership to newer members.

As Consigliere, she serves as an advisor alongside Jean-Pierre Polnareff and helps oversee the management of Passione's capos. According to Polnareff, she insisted on being third-in-command so that she could still be closely involved with Passione's underlings while still holding an advisory role, something that she easily transitioned to as it was similar to her role as The Hitman Team's second-in-command. Zura also helped serve as communication for Andreas Arancini to ensure that Trish is taken care of after the events of Fate of Zephyr. She eventually helps liaison Passione's partnership with The Speedwagon Foundation and tracked Clara E. down to re-recruit her in order to eliminate the Narcotics Team #4.

Giorno eventually helped Zura track down her friend, who now goes by as Ghiaccio Francescon, and the two reunited soon after. They rekindled a close friendship together since.

* Zura came from a redesign of an original character Azzura "Azzy" Grattachecca. Both are heavily inspired by Ashnikko's songs and music videos.
	+ According to the Genius interview on the song "Daisy", Ashnikko's persona for the song is "... a bad bitch who wears... blue diamonds and these glass platforms... and she throat-punches rapists and horrible, horrible people." This description served as a basis for both Zura and Azzura's personalities and character designs.
	+ While Azzura began as a jewelry maker with no direct association to Passione and originally created to be a niece of Ghiaccio, Zura was made to represent Ghiaccio's role in Fate of Zephyr.
	+ Despite the coincidence, Zura and Azzura weren't inspired by American rock singer Diamante Azzura Bovelli.
* Zura identifies herself as Persian and Uyghur, due to her last name being a Persian dessert and both ethnicities being known for their Muslim population. Zura herself is a former practicing Muslim, although there is no correlation to Islam and Ashnikko.
* Zura's appearance is heavily based off Ashnikko's outfit during the 2021 Life is Beautiful Festival. The detached collar is an accessory seen in many of Ashnikko's photos during her promotion of the mixtape and prior.
	+ Ashnikko herself is known for her bright blue hair and BDSM/Camp-inspired appearances. Most notably, her hair is often curled and shaped as horns or tied up in pigtails with bangs.
* Blue diamonds are Zura's personal favorite precious stone, not only to reference "Daisy" but due to its strong properties and close resemblance to ice.
* Zura's backstory is based on The 1994 Cobo Arena Attack, which American figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was struck with a baton in an attempt to prevent Kerrigan from taking part in the ongoing 1994 United States Figure Skating Championships, which would allow her to compete in the upcoming 1994 Winter Olympics.
* According to the team's documentation, Zura's code name is Diamante, which is Italian for "diamonds" and a direct reference to her abilities.

## Notes from the Author

First off, it was interesting to create Azzura because the mixtape was not completely out yet when I was creating the original OC. I didn't want to name the Stand just "Daisy", so I kind of had to guess based on that whole song what the Stand abilities and Azzura's own personality should be. Thank God it worked out in the end! I was already in the process of making Azzura her own independent OC, since it was originally made for the Golden Kids AU, so I thought of using her for Fate of Zephyr. I think Fate of Zephyr is where I really started developing Azzura into Zura and to make the character into one that was unique. Similar to how Cassio is made to look like Tim Henson, I wanted Zura to look like Ashnikko. I looked through many of their outfits and then I found their TikTok where they were feeling themselves to a mashup of Evanescence's "Bring Me to Life" with this white corset and ribbon outfit and long curly blue hair. I immediately thought of Zura wearing that. Azzura initially was just wearing a blue bustier and some diamonds since I was making do with what I had in my closet. But Zura in all white contrasting with the sensuality that she took agency for fit her so well.

I was initially concerned on whether I should have Ashnikko be the artist that influences Zura's character for two reasons.

The first is that they didn't really have a clear connection to The Beatles, specifically to *White Album*. I thought about alternatives to Demidevil, something that would reference The Beatles better, even looking at girl groups that might resemble what I wanted for Zura. There was a disconnect between the two artists in terms of style and history, so to have her musical influence be something completely different from Ghiaccio's was something I had to get over. I kept reminding myself that Ashnikko is meant to represent the sort of persona that both Zura and Ghiaccio have that "I-don't-give-a-fuck" confidence and vibe. Ashnikko themselves are unapologetic, confident, and arguably a female version of Ghiaccio. Plus, Ashnikko's hair being so blue and their association with luxury and camp in their music videos really sells this characterization as something unique and worth making a Jojo character. Especially when it is curled up.

The second, and biggest, concern is that Ashnikko themselves write music that celebrates sexuality and feminism while critiquing their commercialization and exploitation, which can be interpreted as being purely sexual and fetishizing for those who aren't familiar with her music. As a result, that would not only diminish the important message Ashnikko themselves is trying to put in their music but also make Zura seem like a mix between Ghiaccio and Melone, or even another Melone, even though we already have a character for the latter and it would also diminish Zura into being a sexual deviant as well. This is especially a concern knowing that Zura identifies as Uyghur and Persian. I try best to avoid stereotyping characters, but it still worries me to see characters that identify as Asian are still fetishized in media today, and the risk of Zura falling into the "sexual" category due to her associating with Ashnikko and being Asian was very high if I let her use Demidevil. It became sort of a balancing act for me; Zura is proud of herself, her body, she identifies as being very feminine, but she herself is not overtly sexual or meant to be a sex icon. But in the end, I decided I should let her use Demidevil as a means to reclaim this sexual empowerment. I think doing so can also open a pretty good discussion on what society views as femininity, sexuality, race, and agency.

And this spreads into her situation as a woman in Fate of Zephyr too. I think that due to her being in a leadership position within the male-dominated criminal world and being non-Italian, she often has to deal society trying to make her balance her femininity, racial identity, and even deal the backlash that entails if she's "too much" or "too little" of one thing. Maybe she did struggle a bit with this in her early years, but I like to think that she got the hang of knowing how to deal with the misogyny and racism when we're first introduced to her; it also helps that Olio and Cassio have encouraged and advocated for her by using their privilege to ensure that she is heard and respected. In a sense, Zura embodies the Daisy persona that Ashnikko describes, as a result of her experiences as the second-in-command. She's brash, she's unapologetic, and she knows how to get shit done.

When creating her, I told myself I don't want to write her like how Captain Marvel was written in her movie: that whole no emotions, always aggressive, angry, tears other women down character instead of actually showing what strong, empowered women are like in reality. Zura is independent, she empowers other women, she's confident, empathetic, etc. She acts more masculine than, say Anita or Clara, but it doesn't mean she lacks femininity or is less a woman because of it. She chooses to be the mean bitch that tells cat-calling men to "smile more" after beating them up and she sometimes flips off traditional feminine expectations with her behavior. But she treats her fellow peers, especially her female contemporaries, with respect and comradery. This was something that helped her gained the respect and trust of everyone on her team, and even gaining the same from her male teammates. None of the women on the team see each other as threats to their femininity or compete with each other for male attention and she made sure the men know and respect that. I think that's what sets these women apart from the women of Team Bucciarati and other teams: Zura knew that women should support other women and went out of her way to establish that.

Also, the relationship she has with Ghiaccio is one of the sweetest I've ever thought of. To reference that comradery right away, I wanted to show that Zura deeply cares for her friends, especially with what she did to make sure that Ghiaccio started a new life without any strings attached at the cost of her legal freedom. This is how I also interpret Ashnikko's "Daisy" persona- not just a woman who will beat people who cause harm but help others to overcome and grow from their trauma. I thought both of them should have this very pure, sweet friendship that ultimately stood the test of time and tribulations; Ghiaccio sees Zura as the only person who genuinely loved him as a friend and still loved him after they had to go their separate ways.

I kept on replaying that scene where, one day after Fate of Zephyr's storyline, Zura would come into Giorno's office, demanding to know why he got rid of her friend's memorial that she set up years ago, even though both of them knew that her friend never died, only to find that Giorno did it to officially legalize Ghiaccio as an actual person and let her meet him safely. Giorno knew Ghiaccio meant just as much to her as she meant to him, so he used his power to have Ghiaccio's name and gender validated to where it was legitimate; Ghiaccio didn't have to go into hiding anymore with false papers or go through a further lengthy process to confirm that he used to be a woman and turned into a man. That led to them seeing each other for the first time in years, reunited as friends, like they promised before they were separated. I leave it up to interpretation as to whether they do have any romantic feelings, but I personally don't think they would ever be in a relationship beyond platonic. You can have such a strong friendship between a man and a woman without thinking it will end up turning romantic or something. They're soulmates in a sense that they are meant to be friends for life, and I'm all for that.

Zura is the woman I want to become if I was brave enough. She's the friend I wish I had to empower me. I don't think I'm that brave or strong to do what Zura does, but I fully respect her for taking no shit and living the life she chose to live.