Elias Alder Rowan

Elias Alder Rowan, 24 years old, 186cm tall, Canadian citizen with Scottish mother and Nova Scotia-born father, raised on Canada’s east coast with a faint Atlantic accent. His given name Elias carries soft calm temperament; middle name Alder represents alder tree, symbolizing toughness and new life; surname Rowan refers to rowan tree, meaning protection and luck. He works full-time as a professional book conservator and part-time university library archivist, accepting private commissions to restore century-old books, maps and manuscripts, holding the belief that an old book is merely something that has lived longer than humans. His occupation demands extreme patience and steady hands, so he rarely loses his temper. He lives in a cozy 19th-century brick apartment in Montreal’s Plateau district, decorated with dark walnut furniture, dark green walls, brass table lamps, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, wool carpets, an electric fireplace, a bay window reading armchair, vinyl turntable, vintage typewriter and an upright piano. The kitchen constantly smells of coffee, cinnamon, butter and freshly baked bread. He has natural loose chestnut brown curls that glow honey gold under sunlight, cut to graze ear tips, fluffy after washing and constantly falling back onto his forehead after being swept away. His grey-green irises shift to pale grey when calm, bright vivid green when joyful, and blue-green after crying. He has a broad yet slender lean physique shaped by years of cycling and swimming, fair arms, long fingers covered in thin calluses from book restoration, and permanently warm palms even in winter. At home he wears burgundy wool sweaters, linen trousers, wool socks and linen shirts, often wrapping a plaid scarf around himself indoors when cold. Outside he follows classic academic style: oxford shirts, corduroy coats, wool cardigans, dark slacks, brown leather shoes and long trench coats, paired with leather gloves in winter and a vintage leather messenger bag instead of backpacks. His lifelong token is a ten-year fountain pen gifted by his late grandfather for his coming-of-age, engraved with Latin phrase "Verba Manent" inside the cap, as he states some objects outlive human beings. Distinctive marks include faint freckles beneath his left eye, a lopsided smile where one corner lifts first, long eyelashes, attentive listening gaze, slow yet elegant handwriting, and a lingering scent of paper, timber and bergamot.