Sign of the Zodiac: Cancer
Damian Castor's

Damian had just reached his home, a luxurious domus located in the center of the capital Ponza. A spacious atrium with many famous paintings welcomes Damian's arrival. A stone statue of a robed man with a bushy beard stood in the middle of the room. The statue he got from a famous sculptor in Ponza, when he handled his case. In the end the sculptor had to be locked up because Damian reported about an antique statue that offended the emperor.

How else, it's his job. Damian is a delator prosecutor, a news-seeking informant who is paid to gather gossip about the entire population of the city. He lived by reporting on the bad actions of others. Although because of the job, Damian does not have many friends, and tends to be shunned, but he enjoys it. Damian likes things to be organized according to his own personal standards.

“You're home, Damian?” A middle-aged woman greeted Damian from the second floor stairs. The young man took off his coat and handed it to a servant who had appeared to serve him.

“I'm tired, Mother. What's our dinner today?” suhut Damian as he walked to the end of the room, was about to enter the first floor corridor.

The mother, Mrs Castor, came down the stairs and followed Damian. He then extended his hand to his son's arm. They walked to the dining room on the first floor.

“Our new chef made your favorite special dish. There is a lot of fresh meat and fish,” said Mrs Castor while stroking Damian's back. “You must be tired of walking around town all day. Did those nobles pay you so much? Until you have to work this hard,” continued his mother looked anxious.

“Take it easy, Mom. You know I like doing it. This is a job that suits me very well. People love to look for trouble anyway. I just need to pour a little oil, and the fire burns so fast. Once one of the parties is burned, then my salary will be doubled. This job is easy and fun. Seeing people fighting makes me entertained,” Damian said with a satisfied laugh.

“But you have to give up your youth because of the work. You also have to get married and have a family. With that job, who's the girl who wants to marry you. Their families are also anxious about marrying their daughter to you. I can't calm down to see you constantly living alone. Although you make a lot of money, but it's useless if you don't have a family to share. Look at your brothers, all of them are married to good families,” complained his mother at length.

“Ah, Mommy .. why start discussing this issue again. I told you I already have someone I met. You just need to be patient until the time I bring her home,” Damian said as he stroked her mother's hand. He tried to calm the mother who started tantrums every time discussing the issue of marriage. Damian is not too old to get married. He was only twenty-one years old.

“Alright, you have to promise me to bring the girl, Damian. Don't keep making Mom anxious. You know that Mom loves you the most, right,” urges Miss Castor again.

Damian nodded in understanding while smiling convincingly. Without feeling they have arrived at the family dining room. Damian's two older brothers, Titus and Marcus, were already sitting at a long dinner table with their families. His father, Lord Castor, sat at the end of the table talking to his other family.

Upon seeing Damian coming with Madam Castor, her father immediately welcomed her warmly.

“You've arrived, Damian. Your mother waited in the atrium all afternoon. So we can start dinner now?” greet Lord Castor after Damian and his mother sit on the side of the table that is still empty.

“I'm sorry, Brother. Next time I will go home early, before dinner,” Damian said as he put a white napkin to his chest. One waiter poured Damian a glass of wine, while the other waiter served him a bowl of warm soup as an appetizer.

“I would do the same if you hadn't come home, Titus. Since eating together was our family tradition,” refuted Mrs Castor staring at her first son.

“You never did it for me or Marcus. By the time I got home late because of my work in the mines, the entire dish had already been cleared up by the waiter. I finally ate in the room with my wife,” Titus chimpal while holding the hand of his wife, Aurela.

“That's because you came so late. How could you have told your mother and father to wait for you until that late.” Mrs Castor has again denied.

“Already, already. Don't quarrel. Let's just start the dinner,” said the head of the mediating family.

“Say something, Marcus. Your first brother was always jealous of his youngest sister.” Mrs Castor looked still upset.

The second son, Marcus, simply smiled in response. “We'd better start eating, Mom. The food starts cold if left too long,” said full of patience.

That's how Castor's family finally started their dinner routine. In the mansion, there were three families living together. Most people in Ponza live with their entire family in one room of a kind of house called a domus. The houses were built around two or three sides of a courtyard, one or two stories high. The other side of the courtyard had high walls to protect from thieves.

The homes of the wealthy in the Ponza tribe have a front door leading to an atrium, or courtyard, and rooms around the courtyard. Sometimes there is a roof over the yard, often with a light hole in the middle for the entry of light, and to channel rainwater into a tub in the middle of the yard.

Damian was the last of four children. His father, Lord Castor was a member of the Magistratus of the kingdom, a Chief Justice. His older brother, Titus Castor, was a legislator. Only his second brother, Marcus Castor, did not work in government. Marcus is a diamond businessman who owns a quarry on the edge of town. The three families live together in a domus.

Only her third sister, Balbina, did not live with them. Balbina moved into the family home of her senate husband. Because of his family background, Damian worked in law. However, rather than working legally in the constitution, Damian chose to be a freelance informant or often referred to as a delator.

Not a favorite type of job, but promising. Delators are usually removed in social life, as they tend to report other people's mistakes to the board. A delator could imprison or even kill someone from his report. That's why everyone was so vigilant near Damian. But Damian always had a way to get information. He was trained to be a smart man. It may be due to genetic factors in her family as well.