Ren was a bit disappointed he didn't get to have the all-you-can-eat buffet he received previously. The tamer had to explain how that had been a special situation to help him figure out what he liked, and not to expect that everyday.

After finishing off a simple helping of toast, tamer and digimon were ready to head to the office.

They had also pre-tested a highly complex solution for the car seating situation.

...the tamer had given Ren a cushion to put behind his back to leave space for his tail.

—

The drive to work took about 30 minutes, with the time passed mainly by the tamer answering Ren's unending questions about traffic, radio shows and anything in between.

—

Eventually, the tamer pulled the car into a side street and parked.

Ren got out and looked around, noticing they had parked in a residential street.

"These are houses, Tamer. Is this... where you work?"

"Huh? Oh, no this is just where I park. Only the bigwigs get parking on site. Office is around the corner. Come on."

They walked around to the main street. A small office building four storeys high stood out from the nearby shops. The tamer pointed it out.

"That's where I work."

"Oh, that does make more sense. That is a very large building."

"Um... I guess compared to the others. And we don't have the whole thing. It's shared with a couple other companies. We have the top floor and half the one below."

They entered the lobby. The building was basically a square, with the offices on each floor forming a rough U around the central lobby and lift shaft.

The pair headed for the lift, where the tamer pushed the button and they waited for the lift to arrive. The display above the doors showed the progress.

B

G

A bright ding signalled that the lift had arrived at their floor, and the door slid open smoothly.

"EEEK."

The woman inside the lift let out a shriek as she saw the tamer and digimon waiting to enter.

The tamer gave her a concerned look.

"Uh... you ok?"

The woman was clearly distressed, planted against the lift wall in fear as she frantically pushed the button to close the door.

"NO! You keep that monster away from me!"

The door slid shut before the tamer could reply. Both he and Ren stood there reeling from the unusual encounter.

Eventually the tamer spoke up, giving Ren an amused look.

"Um... that was... interesting. Guess we're taking the stairs. This way."

He led Ren to a door behind the lift shaft and they headed up.

"...do people often react like that when they see you?"

"Sometimes... although it is normally not quite so... overt."

"Yeah, she totally flipped out. Don't know how people like that survive every day. Like, digimon are everywhere these days. You couldn't go a day without bumping into one somewhere. Does that sorta thing... you know... bother you at all?"

Ren seemed unperturbed by the encounter.

"I have come to accept it."

"Sorry Ren. That's not much fun, having to deal with that all the time."

"It is not your fault, Tamer. At least you seem quite comfortable with digimon."

"Uh... yeah. I guess I am. Even if I wasn't, I think I'd be too embarrassed to freak out like that."

They made their way up the flights of stairs, eventually reaching the tamer's office.

"... alright, this is it. My team is on this floor, but most of the company works on the next floor."

He tapped his ID card and the door unlocked. Walking in, tamer and digimon entered a small reception area.

He greeted the woman behind the desk

"Morning, Barb."

She did a double-take as she looked up from her computer.

"Miles, is that a digimon?"

The tamer deadpanned.

"No, he's our new employee."

Ren gave a confused look and went to ask his tamer what that meant. However, when he saw his tamer giving a cheeky grin and winking at him, he chose to stay silent.

Barb caught the look and gave a scowl.

"Very funny, Miles. You need to talk to Fiona in admin, please."

"Uh, what about?"

"Your new employee. You know digimon need to be added to your employee profile, right?"

"Oh... yeah, I... was definitely going to do that."

"I'm sure you were. Because they'll have to let everyone know, including the other tenants. I believe there's a lady in one of the other offices who has a bit of a phobia."

"Uh... yeah. We might've met her in the lift."

"Is that what that scream was? I heard it from here."

"Yeah."

"Better let Fiona know about that, too."

"Right. Come on Ren."

He led the digimon to a group of cubicles and approached another woman.

"Hey, Fiona. Barb said to come see you."

"Hmm?"

Fiona looked up from her computer and spotted the digimon hiding behind the tamer.

"Oh... I see. So you're a tamer now?"

"Yep."

"Alright, I can add it to your profile. We'll need to get a photo."

She gestured at Ren, then to the blank wall opposite the cubicle.

"Over by the wall, please."

The tamer interjected.

"His name is Ren."

"Right... Ren."

She continued to gesture at the wall.

Ren gave a hesitant look, looking over to the tamer and seeking reassurance.

The tamer gave a nod.

"It's fine Ren."

Ren stepped over to the wall, standing nervously whilst Fiona pulled out her phone. She pointed to the camera.

"Look here, please."

Ren's gaze fell to the camera lens.

*Click*

"Ok, all done. I'll send a note to everyone and add that to your profile, Miles."

"Thanks, Fiona. Also... uh, Barb said to talk to you about some woman from one of the other companies who had a phobia about digimon."

"That would be Jessica from downstairs. What about her?"

"We... um... might've bumped into her at the lift and... almost gave her a heart attack."

"So I should expect an angry email then..."

The tamer gave an apologetic look.

"Sorry?"

"Can't be helped. Just try not to scare anyone else."

Ren cowered under the pointed gaze Fiona was levelling at the digimon. The tamer gave his colleague a displeased look.

"Hey, that wasn't Ren's fault."

Fiona simply gave a shrug.

"...come on Ren, let's go. I'll show you around."

He led the digimon away to another group of cubicles.

"...so this is the smaller office. There's a couple of teams on this floor. Admin, which we've already seen. They handle most of the... uh... admin. I think they want to move them to the other floor so they can be with most of the people, since everyone deals with them at some point. Then my team, we do a lot of the calculations and stuff. Uh, then the drafting team. Once we do the calcs and come up with the specs, they prepare the actual plans which go off for construction."

As the tamer talked, they continued through the cubicles. He noticed Ren was only half paying attention, clearly distracted by all the new sights.

The digimon seemed particularly interested in the printer, which was currently spitting out a wad of plans. The digimon had wandered over and was crouched down beside it, watching curiously as each page emerged from the machine.

The tamer's attention was drawn by someone calling out his name.

"Hey Miles, you got a sec?"

He turned to see one of the drafters waving him over.

"Hmm? Oh, hey Steve. Yeah..."

He looked over to Ren, who still seemed captivated by the printer. He figured he could leave the digimon for a minute.

"...what's up?"

"Can you come take a look at this?"

"Yeah, ok."

He stepped into the cubicle, where Steve was looking over some plans.

"I think the loading calcs might be wrong on this one. See here..."

Steve pointed to a particular diagram.

"...I think they haven't accounted for-OH MY GOD!"

Steve had turned to look back at the tamer, who now had a digimon looking over his shoulder. The man had almost fallen out of his chair at the sight, pointing wordlessly at the digimon.

The tamer turned to see what was bothering his colleague.

"Huh? Oh, that's just Ren... Fiona is supposed to be sending an email to everyone about me being a tamer now."

"Um... yeah... must have missed it."

The tamer realised his colleague was a bit preoccupied freaking out about the digimon, so he decided to leave him be for now.

"Why don't you send me that in an email, and I'll try take a look later."

"Yeah, sure... later."

He nudged Ren to get moving, leaving his colleague to gather his wits.

He didn't get far before another voice called out to him.

"Miles. Hey, Miles. You freaking out my team?"

"Uh, hi Haley. No... uh, not deliberately."

"Good. I saw the email from HR. You're a tamer now?"

"Um, that was quick. And yeah, certified tamer."

"That's so cool. Where's your digimon?"

"He's... um..."

He turned around to find Ren had disappeared. He swore the digimon had been right behind him.

Looking around, he spotted Ren peeking curiously over one of the cubicle walls. Luckily, the person in the cubicle hadn't realised they were being watched.

"...that's him over there."

"Oh, he's actually pretty cute."

The tamer raised an eyebrow at his colleague, giving her a questioning look.

"...what? I'm just saying. He looked kinda sad in his picture."

"I haven't seen it yet. Is it... uh, is it bad?"

"Well, it's not brilliant. Anyway, are you gonna introduce me or what?"

"Yeah, ok... hey, Ren?"

He called out to Ren and waved him over.

"Yes, Tamer?"

"This is my coworker, Haley."

"Pleased to meet you, Miss Haley."

Ren gave a cordial bow.

Haley looked over to the tamer with a giddy look.

"He's so polite."

She looked back to Ren.

"Gaby could learn a thing or two from you."

Ren stared blankly for a moment before looking to his tamer in confusion.

The tamer filled in the gap for the digimon.

"Haley is a tamer too, Ren. Gaby is her partner."

"Oh, I see."

Haley piped up excitedly.

"Oh yeah, we'll have to introduce you to the other digimon! They'll be so excited to have someone else to hang out with."

"Uh, maybe later, Haley. I'm still showing Ren around."

"Aww..."

"I would be pleased to meet your partner later, Miss Haley."

"Yay!"

"Alright, we'll catch you later. Come on Ren, I'll give you the tour."

Tamer and digimon continued through the cubicles.

"She seems very friendly, Tamer."

"Yeah, she's probably a bit more comfortable talking to digimon than most, since she has a partner of her own. Oh, while I'm thinking of it, try not to be so formal, ok? You don't need to call her 'Miss'."

"Is that not the correct title?"

"Well... I guess it is. But we're all pretty relaxed, so you don't need to worry about it. First names are fine around here."

"I will try to remember, Tamer."

"Ok, I'll try not to overwhelm you with meeting too many people today. Just the people I work with for now."

"Are there many other tamers working here?"

"Um... I think maybe four... no, five. I'm trying to think of the different digimon. There's Gaby... Gaomon and Gatomon, they always hang out together... Vee occasionally comes in. There's one more, but they've only come to the office once, so I doubt you'll meet them. I can't even remember what type of digimon they are."

They passed a few more cubicles before the tamer turned and entered one.

The cubicle had four workstations, with one in each corner. Only one was currently occupied.

The tamer gave his colleague the customary greeting.

"Morning, Pete."

"Morning."

His colleague didn't bother turning away from his monitor.

"Ren, this is Peter. Peter, Ren."

Realising there was another person present, Peter turned to face the pair. Other than raising his eyebrows briefly, he gave no outward reaction, apparently not fussed by the digimon's presence.

He gave Ren a friendly greeting.

"How's it going? You get stuck with this bozo as your tamer, huh?"

Ren was quick to respond.

"My tamer is not a bozo."

"Yeah, you tell him Ren. I'm not that bad... am I Pete?"

His colleague folded his arms and gave the tamer a loaded look.

"I wouldn't want to embarrass you in front of your digimon, Miles."

The tamer let out a sigh.

"Just because I forgot to return your stapler one time..."

He logged in to his computer and started opening up the various apps he typically used.

A few new emails popped up as soon as he opened Outlook. He saw one from Fiona.

[FROM:] Fiona.A

[TO:] {Office - All Teams}

[SUBJECT:] New digimon in office

Hi all

Please note we have a new digimon in the office. Miles has recently become a tamer to Renamon, aka 'Ren' - please refer to attached picture.

I'm sure you'll make sure Ren is welcomed.

If you have any queries or concerns you can ask Miles, or myself.

Kind regards

Fiona

"Huh, she knew what sort of digimon you are."

The tamer opened the image attached to the email and cringed.

"...oh, damn. Haley was right."

The image showed a very apprehensive Ren staring uncomfortably at the camera.

"...um, that might not be your best picture, Ren."

Ren saw the image and made the same timid expression.

"Tamer, I... was self conscious. Will many people see the picture?"

"Uh, well..."

Peter helpfully piped in.

"Just the whole office... and then some. Nothing to worry about."

The tamer gave him a dirty look.

"Thanks for that, Pete."

"My pleasure. Oh, and it'll also be on the swipe pass they give you."

The tamer groaned, before turning back to Ren.

"Don't worry about it Ren. Everyone will forget about it by tomorrow."

He saw another email pop up from Fiona, this time addressed only to him.

[FROM:] Fiona.A

[TO:] Miles.T

[SUBJECT:] Re: New digimon in office

Miles

Please make sure your digimon is aware of the expected standard of behaviour whilst in the office.

I will make arrangements with building services to get a new swipe pass for Ren to have access between the two floors.

Fiona

"...maybe we can do a new photo before she sends it off."

He opened up the team chat and started typing a message to Fiona.

MilesT: hey fiona can we use a different pic for rens id?

The response was quick.

FionaA: Send me an alternative - remember plain background

MilesT: ok will do

He turned back to the digimon.

"Hey Ren, Fiona says we can take another picture."

The digimon did not look pleased with the idea of having to pose for another photo.

"Do we need to?"

"You want that pic on your pass?"

"I... would prefer not, if possible."

"Alright, so give me something better. Come on, we need to find a blank wall."

He looked around and noticed a blank space near the kitchen. They headed over.

"Ok, stand over here and I'll take a pic."

Ren did as told, again posing timidly.

"...can you try to smile please, Ren?"

The grimace Ren put on suggested he was not used to smiling. The tamer gave a sigh.

"...fine. Plan B...pizza."

The digimon's expression once again lit up at the magic P-word.

*click*

"...gotcha!"

"What?"

It took a moment for Ren to realise what had happened.

"...you tricked me!"

"You could say that. But look..."

He held his phone out to the digimon, showing him the picture. Ren looked much better than the previous photo, ears perked forward and eyes wide with anticipation.

It was a far cry from the sullen look currently on his face, as he realised there wouldn't be any pizza.

"That is mean, Tamer."

"He-he. I'll make it up to you later, ok? We can have a takeaway night. Promise."

"I will hold you to that."