Groveling was an essential part of being a lackey. A good lackey had to be willing to shamelessly express their abject deference to their partner. It was a required skill for the weak-willed in the Hidden World, necessary to earn and keep the favor of the larger-than-life personalities.

Of course, this made things a bit awkward when a group of lackeys lived together.

Any small misunderstanding or mistake could trigger a chain reaction of frantic, cringing apologies. Favors would be asked with averted eyes and timid tones, and responded to with heavy-handed eagerness. As a result, things could get a little stressful, since each of us found that the others didn’t respond to groveling in the way they were supposed to. Apologies were supposed to be responded to with exhausted sighs and “it is no matter”s at the very least and punishments at most. This let the lackey know that they were still valuable enough to bother correcting. But when an apology was replied to with another apology for having created the impression that an apology was needed, the first person would be left anxious, thinking that they were an imposing nuisance.

There were many different methods of groveling. Anise, for example, tended to talk fast, eager to quickly establish her willingness to perform favors or complete tasks. When someone was struggling with a task, she would quietly and timidly ask if any help was needed, and if the answer was yes, then she would practically shake with excitement at being able to help. Celeste preferred to heap praise on her housemates, whenever her melancholy didn’t prevent her. Out of nowhere, she would suddenly blurt out how important Anise or Bliss was to her, how beautiful they looked, and how grateful she was for all of their kindness. Bliss groveled more rarely, having at least partially accepted her role as the one in charge. However, if something went wrong, her apologies were as strong as the rest of ours. She would sometimes even lay prostrate and beg for forgiveness.

For my part, I would grovel less openly than the others. I wanted to offer help and praise in the way I had for my Queen, but I was afraid of being annoying, so I usually just tried to stay out of the way. If someone was upset or struggling with a task, I would slink away to my room where I wouldn’t make things worse. I would pause whatever I was watching whenever someone else entered the room so that there wouldn’t be any irritating background noise. I would follow around whoever was speaking to me so that I didn’t miss anything.