Daoud

Not part of Riordanverse The following article/section is from the Sikander Aziz series continuity under Rick Riordan Presents and not the Riordanverse canon.

Daoud Hassan
Biographical information
Gender	Male
Age	20
Residence	Mo's, Manhattan, New York City
Status	Alive
Physical description
Eye	Light Brown
Hair	Black
Species	Human
Behind the scenes
Appearances	City of the Plague God Fury of the Dragon Goddess

“	No, nothing like that. I used to tell him about my auditions, all the times I got cast as the bad guy. I really wanted to quit, but he insisted I keep trying. He promised that soon or later I'd get to play the hero. Y'know, save the day.	”
–Daoud to Sik on his brother's influence on his acting career in City of the Plague God.

Daoud Hassan is the romantic partner of Mohammed "Mo" Aziz, who lives and works with and lives with the Aziz family.

History

Daoud was born in a refugee camp and came to the United States at a young age. He met Mo Aziz in the fifth grade and the two became inseparable, eventually becoming romantic partners. Daoud has a hobby in botany similar to Mo Aziz, mainly in pressed flowers and creating natural flower fragrances. This is habitually with all flowers that his beloved Mo Aziz gives.

He is an aspiring actor, he played the role of a lead henchmen to a terrorist in an episode of Homeland, twice. As well as in an off-off-Broadway play.

Mo always supported him, that he should not give up auditioning even if he was always cast as the bad guy, believing Daoud would one day be cast as the hero.

When Mo died, Daoud moved in with his family, staying in Mo's room and wearing his clothes to remember him. He kept Mo's room as it was, only adding a few fashion magazines and posters of celebrities.

Sikander Aziz series

City of the Plague God

While Sikander Aziz closes down Mo's, he gets word that a well known agent from Los Angeles is going to be at an after party for Hamilton in an hour. He brags about his looks and talent to Sikander as the boy cleans tables. When Sikander says he has a zit on his forehead, he rushes off to the bathroom. When Nergal arrives, Sik runs into the house. Sik tries to get Daoud to help him fight Nergal, but Daoud runs and calls the police. After Nergal leaves, he cowers behind Mina and Nadeem Aziz when they barge in to help Sik. While Mr. Aziz yells at Sik for fighting Nergal and Mina hugs Sik to make him feel better, Daoud looks at they destruction of Mo's flowers. He tries to gently lift a flower out of a broken frame, but it crumbles in his hands. He claims he is to upset and does not help with the clean up.

When he goes to check up on the Aziz's, he is turned away for not being family. He is invited to stay at Ishtar's House and Ishtar takes him with her when she leaves, using him as a "handsome, lively" bait to attract Nergal. The following day he agrees to sneak Sik into Manhattan General Hospital to see his parents. As they take the subway they are forced to walk halfway through due to half the tracks being closed. They cut through Washington Square Park to find city workers cutting down sick trees. When they reach the hospital, he distracts a nurse as Sik sees his parents.

During the battle between Ishtar and Nergal, Daoud runs back into the house to get his portfolio. When he comes out, he drives away as fast as he can. When Sik is declared dead after being hit by a train, he is called in to identify him, but he chickens out and calls Belet Amari to do it for him. Three days later, he is staying with Belet in a hotel penthouse and happily hugs Sik when the boy is revealed to be alive. As Sik berates him for forcing Belet to identify him, he gets a call from his agent about auditioning for the Mexican drug lord and leaves. However during the audition, his teeth and hair start falling out and his agent thinks he has a better shot at playing a villain.

He returned to the deli after it was burned and vandalized and boards it up before hiding out in it. He also takes the Flower of Immortality from the garden before it is bulldozed and presses it before turning the blossoms into a fragrance he calls Mo's Promise. Two weeks later Sik returns with an injured Belet and he tells them about the bad state of the hospital and he patches the girl up in Mr. and Mrs. Aziz's room before he and Sik rain his room. He shows Sik the pictures of his brother he has in his portfolio and what he did with the flower, turning it into a perfume he calls Mo's promise. Sik uses a few drops on Belet and, after a delayed reaction, she is completely healed. They explain that the flower grants immortality, which he did not get due to wearing gloves Ashe cultivated and created the perfume. After questioning on using it to cure him or make more to cure the city, he chooses the latter and gets his kit. He manages to make a pint as poxies close in and they flee as Idiptu bursts out of Georiou's bent on revenge for Sidana's death. As they fly, he reveals he didn’t test the perfume out on himself as he didn’t want to waste a drop as the toad demon ambushes them and they crash into an abandoned office building. When he is about to be eaten, Sik and two of the lamassu, Simba and Bagheera, save his life and kill the demon. He and Belet urge Sik to continue on without them and he obeys.

After Nergal is defeated, his features are restored to normal, with the exception of a scar on his cheek. However his acting and modeling career has picked up and he is due for a photo shoot in Libya in a week. As he and the Aziz family are fixing up the deli a month after Nergal's defeat, they see a man selling water from the Big Rain across the street and he sells him a bottle of soda for two dollars to get him to leave. As he helps Sik paint, he gets a call from his agent about a staring role and leaves to take notes.

Fury of the Dragon Goddess

Following Mo's resurrection, he and Daoud are reunited. Daoud joins Sik, Mo, Belet Amari and Rabisu in battling Lugal and his forces. When Sik, Mo, Daoud and Rabisu split up, Daoud goes with the demon, with Sik noting that despite destiny taking them on different paths, his brother and Daoud were together again. Rabisu promised to look after Daoud and Mo wonders if they have a choice, if love is something that they can control or if it's decided for them and there's no point in fighting it. Mo expresses regret for not having told Daoud that he loves him, but Sik promises his brother that he'll get his chance when this is all over.

When Tiamat rises, Daoud is locked in the treasury for his own safety by Rabisu despite wanting to join them in fighting the dragon goddess. He is later apart of the Aziz family welcoming a mortal Lugal at the deli when the god uses the Tablet of Destinies to become mortal for a moment and see the better side of humanity. Along with the rest of existence, Daoud is consumed by Tiamat, but he is restored when the goddess is killed by Sik and Mo and the tablet is wiped clean.

Following the demise of Lugal and Tiamat, Sik, Mo, Daoud, Belet and Rabisu enjoy a few days in London together resting up and saying goodbye. Although Daoud wants to go home with Sik and Mo, he gets a callback on the spy gig which is down to Daoud and one other actor. Although the producers want to keep the exact role a secret until they announce it officially, Daoud spends two days at Savile Row getting measured for a tuxedo and posing with a Walther PPK.

Appearance

Daoud is a good looking twenty year old Arabic man with wavy black hair and light brown eyes. His features are described as chiseled and he has flawless skin. He also a gym-sculpted body of hard muscles. As the plague progresses, he loses some of his hair and teeth. Daoud is healed during the Big Rain but gains a scar on his cheek after Idiptu slams him into a window and is cut by broken glass that jump started his acting career.

Personality

Daoud is a vain person who cares largely about a potential acting career. He believes that, as he is an Arab Muslim, he will never get cast as the hero. Daoud also often makes excuses when needed to do work in the deli. He is known to have greatly cared for Mo, implied (and confirmed on Goodreads) to have been in a romantic relationship with Mo. Daoud secretly took pictures of his beloved and placed them in his precious portfolio as memories of his love. Daoud willingly stays at Mo's because of his duty to fulfill his promise to Mo Aziz and look after Sikander.

While Daoud does care about his appearance, he values people's future and lives over it, showing a compassionate side for humanity. After losing some of his hair and teeth during the plague, he cares less about his appearance and more about survival.

Abilities

• Botany (limited): Through his relationship with Mo, Daoud learned basic botany for his hobbies.
• Pressed Flower Craftsmanship: Daoud is able to press flowers.
• Perfumery: Daoud is well versed in perfumes.
• Cosmetology: Daoud is knowledgeable in cosmetics.
• Fitness: Daoud dedicatedly trained in the gym and carefully monitored his daily diet to ensure when he must adapt and exercise more, in front of consuming the heavy and delicious Aziz family's food, to maintain a body with less than 10% body fat.

Items

• Portfolio: A precious portfolio valued by Daoud and carried around by him everywhere. Inside are pictures taken by Daoud, random or secret, through the eyes of love. The pictures show a life of Mohammed Aziz never revealed to others and only to Daoud. After Mo's death, Daoud repeatedly offered to show them to Sikander to cheer the "Cuz" up and start a friendship.
• Pressed Flower of Immortality (Desert Hybrid): A pressed flower made before Mo's community garden was bulldozed into a parking lot.
• Mo's Promise: A flower perfume liquid made from the leftover blossoms of the desert hybrid flower of immortality. The liquid had the appearance of silvery, almost-mercurial fluid.

Etymology

• Daoud is the Arabic version of "David", meaning "beloved".

Trivia

• Mo Aziz hinted during his reunion with Sikander that Daoud held the key to stopping Nergal's plague, Mo's Promise, with knowledge of Daoud's common habit to flower press and distilled for flower perfume each new flower Mo sent back home.
• Daoud was in a romantic relationship with Mo before his death.
  • This is confirmed in Fury of the Dragon Goddess.
• He considered going into the cosmetic business if his acting career never got off the ground.