Morganite,
Seeing as how there's nothing wrong with pinky holding, you should. Agate's taking advantage of her power, so you should take advantage of her. If it makes your stay more comfortable, do it.
Blueberry came to me again last night. I was upstairs, dusting the shelves (surprisingly) when she opened the door just a crack and slipped in. Despite adeptly sneaking in without making any noise, or flooding the room with outside light, she arrived nervous. Bunching up her skirts between her rolling fingers, she stopped cold in the center of the floor, and I came down.
Before I could greet her, she said, "Hey, I hope it's okay I came back. I really wanted to see you again, and I was hoping—" Blueberry stopped to pick at her nails, hiding beneath her hair. She didn't continue.
"Do you want to fuck or read?"
"Both," she said quietly. "Is that okay?"
"Of course. I was actually just—" but I didn't finish that thought. She had connected her mouth to mine and took me by the skirts, pulling me in and taking them off.
She's wild, Morganite. She laid me down in an instant, hands all over me, fingers between my legs, in my hair, in my mouth. She shook, perhaps overwhelmed, but that didn't stop her. Before I could even discern what was happening, she had me on the floor, eating her out as she did the same for me.
After we had finished, we lay rug burnt and half-conscious. I held her as she cuddled into me, stroking through her hair.
"Maybe we should have read first."
She laughed. "I'm sorry. I couldn't stop thinking about you."
"It's funny how the desires get worse when you act on them, or maybe I have no self-control."
"Don't say that. You're amazing."
"You don't have to lie." I stroked through her hair again as the air grew cooler around us. I hadn't turned the lights on in the library, and the night progressed outside the window, until I could barely see her. I felt her gem press into my chest, and her warmth as it held me.
"I mean it." She sighed, letting it out slowly against my skin. "I'm jealous of you. You served a Diamond. You know how to read, and you spend your days surrounded by books. I don't even know why you like me." She shifted, probably to look at me, but I couldn't see her. I doubt she could see me either, but it seemed appropriate to gaze into her face.
"Blueberry, shut up. I hate it when you say things like that. You're acting like you can't learn to read."
She relaxed, "But I can't."
"Why not?" My voice echoed around the empty spaces between shelves, more than I wanted it to. "I didn't emerge knowing how to read. My Diamond taught me."
"She did?" Blueberry propped herself over me.
I kissed where I suspected her mouth was, catching half of it. "Yes, and if I learned, you can too. I'll teach you."
She remained silent, falling back into me. I felt her fingertips as they smoothed over my collarbone, caressing it.
"I'm not cut out for it," she said. "I'd have no use for reading."
"That's not true. Once you know how to read, you can take books from the library to the maintenance room and read to your heart's content. As to whether or not you're cut out for it, you'll just have to give it a try. I bet it won't be as hard as you think."
Blueberry didn't speak for a long time. As she thought, smoothing over patches of my skin, I played with her hair, telling her, "Consider it, okay?"
She said she would, and after picking ourselves up, we turned on the lights and pulled out Mark of the Red Diamond, sitting in the chair together. Side by side, she studied each page as I read it out aloud. Blueberry listened, but I could tell she didn't pay as close attention as usual. Her eyes dug into each letter, perhaps trying to figure out what sound they made.
She might have tried to memorize them. It was hard to say, but I have a feeling she's going to say yes. I hope she does. She would probably be proud of herself, to sit down with a book and get through it without help.
—Pearl