The air was warm, a pleasant change from the receding autumn (fall (whatever I’m Aussie)) chill. The wind smelt like salt and there was the slightest sound of water lapping against the shore, the waves illuminated by the light of the full moon beaming down upon them. Most of this would have made for a pleasant, quiet night and other day of the year. However most of it was drowned out by the party going on not five hundred metre behind him. As it stood now music blared, its volume challenged only by the voices trying to speak over it and the crackle of fire.

The salt in the air was drowned out by the smell of smoke and burning wood. The light of the moon paled in comparison to the bonfire raging. The turnout looked about the same as last year. It was a tradition, every year they had a big party on the beach the night of the first full moon of spring. Luke remembered his father telling him it used to be a very sacred night amongst the original inhabitants of the land. Somewhere along the line it became a bit more… “Luke! Get your ass over here!” Commercialised. Even if it was just a bunch of coolers with drinks and someone’s portable stereo playing some music.

The boy glanced over his shoulder and smiled slightly before he abandoned the quiet water’s edge and quickly ran back towards his friends waiting for him. “Dude! Best night ever or what?” Mason said as he threw a beer to him. The sacredness of the night may have changed slightly, but the descendants of the first people of this land were still in charge of organising the party. As it was, that meant him and his friends usually. They’d all known each other since birth virtually, so they were more like brothers than anything else.

Luke merely smirked and shrugged as he put the drink down. Sometimes it did feel like they were doing this wrong, disrespecting their ancestors or something like that. Never did that feeling overwhelm him more than when he looked at the moon. So he usually made a point of avoiding it as much as possible on the night. Having spaced out for a few moments he missed Mason’s next comment and the sudden shove he received caught him completely off guard and he stumbled before he collided into someone and the boy quickly turned, catching them before they feel.

Delilah, known as Del, and Maria had met whilst Maria was visiting her cousins in the area. She'd come from Seattle, where it rained more than is did anything else combined. Her uncle lived a few miles outside Forks, which was just under half an our drive from La Push and the reservation, but was well over 3 in a car to her home. Luckily been able to fly into Fork's airport and be picked up there. This meant no car, and she had been starting to regret her haste in choice before she'd met Del.

Her cousins were mostly younger than her, but none were actually her age. She'd been persuaded to go by her parents, who told her she should go and enjoy herself before she started work. She had 2 months until she moved to Florida to work in a hotel, a job which her father had secured for her. It was for a friend of his and she had been pleased at the time, but annoyed too because she didn't want people to think she couldn't get a job herself.

So this was supposed to be a vacation. Sure enough, her aunt and cousins had entertained her in the house for the first few days, but since most of them were much younger than her, they soon got bored as the novelty wore off. She too, felt trapped.

Her aunt was sweet, dropping her off at the Timber Museum in hopes this would occupy her. She spent time looking at the chainsaws of different ages, and smiling politely as the volunteer talked to her of what he believed were the fascinating points to the museum. She left in a daze as soon as she politely could, buying a postcard for her collection.

It was too early for her aunt to collect her so she walked back into town, for it wasn't far. which was when she saw Del, who was sitting in her truck and listening to music. She'd asked the girl directions and had gotten a lift instead, the girl asking her questions as they drove. They ended up talking outside her Uncle's place for some time, and Maria arranging to be picked up the next day.

Del had moved there with her step-father 2 years before. He owned a local store where Del worked most days, but she loved to be outdoors in nature. Some would have been angered at being dragged into the back end of no where, but Del seemed to love it, and through her eyes Maria began to appreciate it. Del had a couple of friends, but not having been to school there were whole life, she had struggled.

A few days later, they went to the Ranger Station and then Marymere Falls and she'd enjoyed it.

It was Del's friends who mentioned they were going to stay at the Quileute Oceanside Resort, which was situated on the Indian Reservation at La Push. Del said that although it was an easy drive, it was a good excuse to hang out without having to worry about their guardians. Maria happily agreed. It was going to be 3 nights and she was fascinated at the idea of an Indian Reserve.

There had been 8 in total, 5 girls and 3 guys, piled into 3 cars. Del admitted she'd never been but she'd wanted to go before.

They'd arrived in the late afternoon, the rest of their party having gone ahead because Del had to work. She'd tried to pursuade Maria to go without her, but Maria had been adamant she'd wait. By the time they got there, the guys were talking of having a party in their room, but Del, tired after being at work all day, declined and she and Maria chilled in their chalet.

It had been Del who had become alarmed at the fire on the beach, fearing the boys had tried to impress the girls and lit some fire. There was certainly enough noise. She and Maria headed down there, hoping she could persuade them back to the chalet before they got kicked off the reservation, but as she looked at the faces, she realized she didn't know any of them.

That was when Maria gave a cry of alarm that made her start, as she was caught in the arms of a guy that neither of the girls knew or even recognised. She looked wide eyed and scared, though in fact it was just shock.

Luke looked down at the girl in his arms and quickly took a step back, letting her go. “I’m sorry!” He quickly said, holding his hands up. “I didn’t mean to I… are you alright?” Had he been the type to blush he probably would right now, as it was he was just glad that he hadn't knocked her over. It had been Mason’s fault for shoving him, and he would pay later for that, but for now he just wanted to make sure the girl was alright and that he hadn't offended her or one of her friends.

This perhaps was not the best way to meet people. “Smooth move Casanova!” Mason said as he practically jumped onto Luke, putting him in a head lock, the words and actions catching him off guard for a second, since all of his attention had been focused on the girl in front of him. Attempting to regain some composure Luke quickly pulled himself out of and then shoved the other boy gently, though couldn’t stop the stupid grin that was now crossing his face.

“Get out of here!” He growled with another smirk. Mason paused for a moment, looking confused as to whether this was just playful banter or whether Luke actually wanted him to leave. “Seriously. I’ll come find you in a little bit okay?” He then turned back to the girl and smiled apologetically with a shrug. “Sorry about that…” He paused, unsure of where to proceed from here. He guessed that she was new to the area; she had that look about her, a little uncertain and scared. Or that could have just been because some random guy had suddenly crashed into her. But he didn’t want to say anything.

Heck he wasn’t even sure if he should give his name since there was a good chance this was the only time he was ever going to see her. Which was a shame. Luke didn’t exactly relish the idea of being temporarily imprinted in the girl’s mind as ‘that guy who bumped into me at that party last night’ before fading from her memory all together. But he just didn’t know what to say to make any other kind of impression.

"I....," Maria began, as he backed away apologising, hands up like he was pleading guilty to a crime. She stood rather mute and surprised that he told his friend to leave. "No, don't worry about it. I just didn't see you. You startled me."
She gave quite a sweet smile, her cheeks having little dimple in them that made her look somewhat cherubic.
"We didn't mean to crash your party," said Del, looking over at Maria. "We thought... well doesn't matter. We shouldn't be gate crashing."
Maria nodded, and smiled again.
"Well, we should probably get back," she said sheepishly. "We're staying at the resort, we just thought our friends might be out here."
He was kind of cute, Maria thought, blushing a little as she stepped back to join Del. She seemed to have something on her mind and spoke it without hestiation.
"Were you celebrating something?"

Seeing that he wasn’t about to be reprimanded for an accident Luke allowed himself to relax, his attention skipping between both girls as they spoke but he made a point to not interrupt until he was given a question to answer. It seemed like the polite thing to do when you just ran into a girl after all. “Um… not really… tradition I guess? It’s just something we’ve always done.” He answered cryptically, since he really wasn’t sure how to answer it. They always came down here because that’s just what they’ve always done. It’s what his parents had done before him and so on.

As far as he knew there wasn’t a real reason. “You’re both welcome to join us if you’d like.” He offered as he glanced back down towards the beach. There weren’t many people there, maybe a dozen or so if you excluded his friends. Mostly just the children of the reserve, ages varied from as young as twelve up to around twenty six, so it was hardly what someone would consider an adult party. In saying that though he couldn’t remember too many times outsides had joined them unless they were dating someone from the reserve. “I mean it’s not gate crashing if you’re invited right?”

Maria smiled quite happily.
"Really? You wouldn't mind?" she said, looking past him at the rest, then looked to Del. "Wht do you think?"
Del shrugged. "How often do you get invited to stay at a party after you crash it?" she said with a grin.
Maria turned to look at him, clearly happy. "I'm Maria. Since you're inviting us, you should probably know our names. And this is Del."
Del half raised a hand, not a wave but like she was volunteering herself.
"We're hoping to explore the reserve in the morning," Maria continued. "Maybe you ca give us some pointers?"

Luke shrugged slightly. “It is public property.” He reminded them as he turned and began making his way back to the beach. “I don’t think you can technically crash a party in a public place… and if you can then it suits us right.” He said with a small grin before stopping as they introduced themselves, turning back slightly. “Luke.” He introduced himself, leading the way down to the fire where his friends were. Mason waved slightly, though gave him a slight quizzical look at the two strange girls following him. He simply shrugged in reply.

Sure, they didn’t usually have strangers at these types of things but it’s not like someone had said they weren’t allowed to. “Yeah, bring bug repellent, waterproof clothes… don’t stray off the paths.” He could have gone on but if they were new to the area he didn’t want to scare them off too much. He sat down by the fire, inviting the girls to join him, two blonde boys looking fairly curious at the new arrivals. “Uhh… Del, Maria, these are my friends, Mason and Ryan.” Both boys looked to each other for a few moments before they smiled and nodded, giving the girls a friendly smile and greeting.

They both appeared to be around the girl’s age, Mason was some inches taller than Chase, though had a fairly standard build, he was fit, lean athletic muscles was a nice balanced skin tone, he wasn’t tanned but it look like he got out too. He had short, spiked honey blonde hair and golden eyes. Ryan was a little shorter than both of the boys, but had a lot more muscle definition, a deeper tan and dark sandy blonde hair with dark brown eyes. A few tribal looking tattoos could be seen peeking out from beneath his shirt sleeves.

Del gave 2 finger forelock salue by way of a greeting, whilst Maria smiled warmly.
"This beach is beautiful," she said. "We don't have anything like it back home."
Del looked to the moon, as Maria spoke. It looked quite large from where they were, lighting the sky with it's cool rays.
"Luke was just giving us tips on what we should be doing. I mean me, Del...."
Del looked back as she heard her name called.
"...Probably knows plenty about what to do."
Automatically Del said, "don't be a smart ass and if you see a baby bear, get out of there because momma bear is right behind."
From her tone it clearly wasn't aimed at Maria, but like Luke she was just listing what not to do. Maria laughed.
"So you're Mason and Ryan," said Maria, turning back again. "I've never been to a resveration before so I don't know what to ask that won't be disrespectful to you."
Del smiled, that was Maria. She was so innocent and sweet that she couldn't possibly have offended anyone, even if she wanted to.
"We're going to the falls tomorrow," Maria carried on. "I've heard they're beautiful."