Between the two of them they had managed to get a fair bit of the housework done. Ren was now a certified expert with the vacuum, having done both the spare room and his tamer's bedroom.
"Alrighty, thanks for doing that Ren. Saves a lot of time having an extra set of hands to help out."
The digimon gave a polite little bow of his head.
"You are welcome, Tamer."
"So, now we have to figure out something for you to sleep on."
"Tamer, you do not need to worry about this. Providing a room for me is already more generous than I deserve."
The tamer let out a long sigh.
"Ren... do all partnered digimon talk the way you do?"
"How do you mean, Tamer? All digimon talk."
"Yeah, I know that. I mean like the way you talk about yourself. It's barely been a day but I'm already getting tired of the way you keep putting yourself down, as if you expect yourself to be perfect. With the vacuum, you were acting like it was the end of the world or something. Now you're saying you don't deserve stuff. And before, you were talking as if you're just some object rather than a living being."
The digimon opened his mouth as if to reply, before hesitating. It seemed he didn't have a response for that, genuinely struggling with the thought of being viewed as a living being.
He eventually spoke, falling back on his practiced response.
"Digimon... we are just programs created to fight, Tamer."
The tamer was quick to dispute the statement.
"No. I reckon you've just been told that your whole life and now you believe it like some stupid doctrine."
Ren's gaze fell to the floor, unable to deny the accusation.
The tamer let out another sigh.
"I think we have a lot of work ahead."
"Doing what, Tamer?"
"You said part of a tamer's job is to guide their digimon, right?"
"Yes."
"So, lesson number one: no more self-loathing."
"I... do not loathe myself, Tamer."
"Really? Do you want your own room, Ren?"
"I would be very grateful, but I do not wish..."
The digimon stopped mid-sentence, realising he was about to play right into his tamer's hands and talk himself down again.
"See. You were about to say something like you don't deserve it again."
"That... it is always what I have been taught."
"Really? By who?"
"The masters of Primary Village. The importance of serving a tamer was the highest teaching, to the exclusion of all else. The life of a digimon is nothing compared to the importance of serving and protecting the tamer."
"Jeez, Ren. That's what they were teaching you?"
"Yes."
"And you never questioned it?"
"I had no reason to believe otherwise."
The tamer took a deep breath.
"I see I have my work cut out for me."
"How so?"
"Well, I don't mean to question everything you know, but... that's a load of crap."
"WHAT?!"
The tamer was taken aback by Ren's outburst, given he had remained quite impassive so far.
The digimon quickly recomposed himself.
"...Tamer, how can you say that?"
"Honestly? It just sounds like the sort of thing someone would tell you to keep you compliant."
"But the masters would never treat us like that. They looked after us and prepared us for the world."
"Sorry, Ren. I don't think they were doing you any favours with those teachings."
"But they..."
Ren had a troubled look on his face as he grappled between what he had always been taught, and his tamer's new advice.
On the one hand, he was always told to serve his tamer. On the other, his tamer was the one telling him that was nonsense and not to follow it.
"...Tamer... how can you be so sure when you have never met the masters?"
"Well, I guess I can't be certain. It just sounds exactly like something a dodgy person would do to manipulate you."
"I cannot believe they would do that."
"Look, it might not be deliberate. I can sort of see what they were trying to get you to think. Maybe at some point it was a lot less harsh. You know, look after your tamer or something like that. But over time the message could've slowly changed as it's been passed down."
"You think they are following an incorrect teaching?"
"It's possible, I guess. And if they believe it like you do, they wouldn't have questioned it either. But that doesn't let them off scot-free. Anyone who tries to teach you that you're worthless is just wrong. If you're gonna be my partner, I don't want you thinking like that, Ren."
"Tamer, I... this..."
He noticed how distressed Ren was becoming about the subject. It was clear this was not something he could convince the digimon about easily. He decided to take the pragmatic approach and ease off for now.
"Alright, look... I'm sorry to stress you out. How about you just try not to be so hard on yourself for now?"
"I will try, Tamer."
"Good. Now... are you going to let me set you up with something proper to sleep on?"
"I suspect you will not accept no for an answer."
"Yep."