ELICITATION

THE TRADITIONAL WAY

"Look at you! All the new colours suit you well!" Seokjin laughs, commenting on Jungkook's tattoos which had been changing over the course of the year since he saw his friend at the last festival. The younger dragon simply shrugs, though he can't help but stand a bit more proudly at the comment, considering that his body ink is a visual representation of his identity within the Clan up to this point.

It's all part of the tradition after all; as soon as a dragonkin turns 21 years old, they're considered an adult, officially on their own and ready to build their own families and futures, and while not all do it, he likes to wear his identity openly like this.

Even though in the modern world, his dragon blood isn't seen as something to be proud of anymore. In fact, it's treated as nothing more than a simple remnant of lost times, outdated and no longer of any importance.

It's why most members of the dragon bloodlines tend to stay amongst each other, most of their social circles consisting of other dragons, just like he himself tends to do. A lot of his friends have been finding their mates recently, and while Jungkook is happy about that, he himself isn't really interested in that- at least not right now.

He's doing good all by himself at the moment, so he doesn't really see the need to settle down right now. He's also not yet found anybody he'd really honestly see himself wanting to settle down with- so for now, he just attends the traditional festivals every year to reconnect with his friends and family, let himself go for a little while and leave all those expectations of the modern world behind for at least a small amount of time.

"Are the rest here too?" Jungkook asks Jin as they both walk into the quarters close to the festival spaces, many already setting up their tents and booths for tonight.

"Taehyung is coming a bit later, he said the whole trip is taking a bit longer now that his mate's pregnant." He says, making Jungkook nod next to him, greeting some elders along the way. "She's not even properly showing, yet he's already all scrambled up in the head." He jokes.

"I've heard about that! Yoongi owes me a hundred bucks now." He laughs, remembering the bet he'd made with the older dragon last year when Taehyung had announced his engagement to his mate. He'd always dreamed of a big family- so it wasn't surprising to Jungkook that his friend already had the first child on the way.

Maybe one day he'll have his own, too.

"I remember when Yoongi of all people attended the hunt and actually caught his mate too!" Jin laughs. "Remember that? It was honestly hilarious to see him so desperate. The old slow guy suddenly all out on the fields." He teases, as the man in question walks into view.

"At least I've caught someone. Not like mister forever virgin over here." He teases, laughing when Jungkook growls offended, mumbling something about that 'not being true at all hyung.!' Under his breath as the older one walks alongside them.

It's when a giggle catches him off guard, the sound accompanied by what he can only describe as a small bell faintly in the background.

When he looks for the source of the sound, he finds her eyes pretty quickly- gaze hauntingly beautiful as he doesn't even realise he'd just stopped walking for no reason, one of his friends bumping into him the only cause of distraction for him. And for a second, he looks away, only a small bit of time - and suddenly she's no longer there, disappearing as quickly as she has appeared in the first place. "Who was that?" He asks no one in particular, Yoongi shrugging as he tries to find what his friend seems to be looking for.

"Who was who?" He asks, before everyone walks away with him to greet Taehyung and his partner who'd just arrived.

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