Donatella Aquato

Donatella Aquato is a supporting character in Psychonauts 2. She is the mother of Razputin Aquato and the matriarch of the Aquato Family Circus. Donatella is passionate for the circus and her family's reputation, and openly disdainful of her son's and husband's exploration of their psychic abilities.

Appearance
Donatella is a tall, spindly woman with yellow skin, a square head, and large blue eyes. She wears blue eyeshadow and has long, curled eyelashes. Her dark brown hair is fashioned into an elaborate updo: two long peaks on either side of her head, with two smaller peaks in the middle.

She wears a sleeveless blue-and-white striped leotard jumpsuit with blue frills near the neck. Over her circus jumpsuit, she wears a short brown skirt and tall blue boots laced up to her knees. Her jumpsuit is covered with holes, patches, and safety pins.

Personality
Energetic and theatrical, Donatella is the self-proclaimed prima-donna of the Aquato Family Circus. She has little tolerance for anything standing in the way of the circus's success. She is the decisive creative force behind her family's performances and stunts, taking inspiration from nature and requesting input from her family, though critical of many of their suggestions for both practical and personal reasons. She prioritizes danger and thrill in their shows, though cognizant of their financial limitations.

Resentful of psychics for cursing her family to die in water, as well as unable to let go of the long-standing circus feud between acrobats and fortune-tellers, Donatella had no patience, interest, or support for Razputin's new job as a Psychonaut, or Augustus's new acceptance of psychics. She dismissed the implementation of psychic skills to the show as cheap tricks which would sully their family's reputation.

Donatella desires for her family to be a cohesive unit, encouraging Raz to reach out to both Dion and Augustus to discuss the recent, dramatic changes in their family. She personally "stretches" the family members every morning and values their physical prowess. Her concern for her family occasionally crosses boundaries into controlling behavior, such as passive-aggressively shaming Raz for running away, and locking her children's door at night because Queepie began sleepwalking.

Although still unwilling to accept creative contributions from her children, Donatella ends the adventure supportive of Augustus's psychic journey, and more willing to let Raz and Queepie run free without restrictions, knowing they have their psychic skills to protect them.

Notable Psi-Powers and Skills
Donatella possesses no psychic abilities.

Non-Psychic Abilities

Donatella is a skilled acrobat and possesses immense physical strength and dexterity, leaping off of the Psychonauts' jet and balancing in human pyramid formations with the rest of her family, including one-handed on Queepie's head. She is also the creative mind behind the Aquato family's stunts, developing the "Devil's Firehose" act shortly after seeing a backwards-flowing waterfall near their camp.

Major Relationships
Augustus Aquato

Donatella is married to Augustus and loves him deeply. They are physically enamored with each other, Donatella calling him "handsome," and Augustus calling her "the hottest thing [he] can think of." Though initially exasperated and ashamed of Augustus's exploration of his psychic abilities, Donatella showed her support by giving him a pinecone to set on fire. When Augustus was distressed by the truth of his altered childhood memories, Donatella was tender with him, calling him "mio caro," and rallying him and the rest of the family to Raz's side in the confrontation against Maligula.

Razputin Aquato

Donatella was hurt by Raz's decision to run away from home, and reminded him of this on a regular basis. Despite this, she hugged him when she saw him again, and admitted that she forgave him, citing running away from home as a rite of passage for circus performers. She remained disdainful of his psychic pursuits, though insisted that she was keeping an open mind. She entertained Raz's suggestions to improve their show, though quickly shot down most of them for being impractical or tacky. The use of Clairvoyance on Donatella reveals that she views her "little pootie" as a swaddled infant.

Dion Aquato

After hearing of his hostility upon reuniting with Raz, Donatella sympathized with her eldest son Dion's misgivings toward psychics. She explained to Raz that Dion struggled with his entire worldview being overturned, having been told his whole life that psychics are evil and dangerous. She assigned the boys to assemble the Aquatodome together, in hopes that they would bond and understand each other.

Queepie Aquato

Donatella is protective of her youngest son to an overwhelming degree, causing Queepie to run away from camp to spend time by himself. She worries for his safety, locking her children's door at night when Queepie began sleepwalking, and enlisting Raz to find him when he runs away. In the postgame, Donatella allows Queepie to run free, confident that he can use his psychic abilities to defend himself from danger.

Backstory
Nothing is known about Donatella's life prior to joining the Aquato Family Circus. She married Augustus Aquato and had five children with him: Dion, Frazie, Razputin, Mirtala, and Queepie. Along with Augustus's mother, Nona, the Aquato family maintained their traveling acrobatics show in their Aquatodome despite financial difficulties. At some point, Donatella grappled with an epidemic of pink eye due to the family attempting a stunt utilizing blindfolds, which shut down the circus for a week.

Roles
Psychonauts

Donatella appeared in a memory vault, performing with her family and blowing kisses to the audience after the show. She was present when Augustus destroyed Raz's Whispering Rock Summer Camp pamphlet, which caused Raz to run away from home.

Psychonauts 2

Acquiescing to her husband's plan to visit the Psychonauts' headquarters to support Razputin, Donatella introduced her family to Agent Forsythe and the The Interns, instantly embarrassing her son with a hug and a diminutive nickname. They performed acrobatic stunts, such as assembling a human pyramid, with Donatella taking the role of the base, jovial until Forsythe insulted their caravan.

After relocating to the Questionable Area, the campgrounds beyond the Motherlobe, Donatella was inspired by the Far-Fetched Falls, the nearby waterfall flowing upside down due to psitanium, to create a new act she dubbed the Devil's Firehose. As she demonstrated when Raz stopped by to visit, the act entailed each family member standing on top of each other, passing each member from the bottom to the top in turn. The act was destabilized when Donatella and Augustus squabbled over whether or not to include "psychic flourishes" in the act, like levitating pinecones, and they fell to the ground.

When Raz spoke with her, Donatella waxed poetic of the Aquatos' once-grand aquatic circus in Grulovia and lambasted the psychic who cursed the Aquato family to die in water. She also asked for Raz's input on how to make the Devil's Firehose stunt more dangerous, though dismissed most of his suggestions for impracticality. As Augustus fruitlessly attempted to light a pinecone on fire with pyrokinesis, Donatella expressed her shame and disgust for the "parlor tricks" of psychics.

Later, Donatella comforted her husband as Augustus's real memories returned and caused him to have an emotional collapse. When Raz gathered the family for assistance, Donatella took charge, stirring Augustus from his breakdown and assembling the Aquatos into the Devil's Firehose once more to propel Raz into the eye of Maligula's storm.

After the defeat of Maligula, and of the water curse by extension, Donatella dreamed up new stunts for the Aquato Family Circus to live up to their namesake.

Behind the Scenes
Donatella is voiced by Anna Vocino, who voiced many minor characters in Psychonauts 2, including Motherlobe personnel, several mental figures in Cassie's Collection, and the narrator of Fatherland Follies.

Concept art and trailers for Psychonauts 2 depicted Donatella wearing a long, blue cloak. This accessory was unused in the final game.