Lieselotte did not often hang around the docks. But sometimes, she felt a calling — one that encouraged her to go forth and ruin some people's days and jobs — and off she went! On the occasion of which we shall speak, she had done no particularly noteworthy misdeeds for what was almost an entire six days, so it was to be expected that eventually she'd give in and commit some horrible non-crime.

She skipped jauntily towards the harbor, and cast one look over the area. Well, she got here, but she had absolutely no idea what to do now that that was out of the way. That is, until she saw what appeared to be unattended fishing nets, and so she set off extremely non-suspiciously to go fiddle non-suspiciously with those nets, in a way that was most certainly not malicious in the very slightest.

Anne didn't have time for mischief. Get up, clean and light the stove, make breakfast for the family while her father went out to inspect the sea. See her father and brother off, go to the beach, gather enough bait for about two thousand hooks, destroy her back while doing so and freeze to death as her skirt and shoes got wet, return half soaked, see to it that her youngest brother had lunch, skane mussels, meet her father and brother at the harbour and carry home the lines, prepare the lines, make dinner, eat dinner, sleep, repeat. All the women's work depended on her since her sister had gotten married, and it kept Anne so busy, she hardly remembered she existed. She was cold though, permanently cold, and tired, and shaky.

Today, she had been allowed to leave the rest of the baiting to her father and brothers, however. Her father had ordered her to fetch the nets he had left to dry at the harbour. The nets were heavy to carry home, but it was a welcome change to the tormenting routine. She even found that it was warmer than this morning, and that some gentle rays of sun warmed her face.

She almost felt cheerful when she reached the harbour. And then she saw a new challenge and her spirit sank. Anne didn't really know Lottie, but she knew Lottie the way that half the town knew her. Anne had always admired, judged, and been intimidated by her at the same time. All from a distance of course. Lottie had never talked to Anne, nor had she had a reason to. Anne practically had a degree in invisibility.

How she wished she could be invisible now. But the girl was fiddling with their nets. Anne approached. "Erm... Lottie..." she said in a soft voice, as if she was trying not to be heard while trying to be heard. "Those are our nets..."

Please don't dislike now, she added in thought.

Lottie was there, commiting her acts of mischief, when she heard a voice that had almost made her jump. But it was so soft that when usually she would have been near intimidated, now she was most certainly not. Regardless, she quickly stood up, kicked the nets away, and put her hands behind her back, and grinned mischievously. Who knows if that soft-spoken gal will call her parents or whatever. Not wise to take too many risks.

"What? Well, it's good that I haven't touched them, then!" Her cheekiness showed that she most definitely did not believe or intend to persuade anyone into believing that what her statement was true.

Anne had seen Lotty touch the nets, and kick them, on top of that. But she was too intimidated to confront the girl. Instead, she flustered. "Well... I need them." She somehow felt the need to announce her approach, and then walked over to the nets, not in a straight line, but staying as far away from Lotty as possible, as if the other girl were an aggressive dog that might attack if she made an unexpected movement.

Lottie gestured towards the nets in a flourished way. "Then you go ahead and take them," she so very helpfully said. "easy as can be." She tilted her head as she looked at the girl, not moving an inch otherwise. Certainly seemed odd, this one. She didn't think much of it. Everyone at this part of town was odd.

Anne reached for the nets, reluctant to turn her back on Lottie. She had never actually seen the girl do something downright evil, but she was so confident and had such a reputation, that Anne didn't think her above shoving her into the water for crossing her the wrong way. Even the girls Anne called 'friends' sometimes had fun at her expense. Surely a confident girl like Lottie had to be worse.

But Anne forgot her anxieties when she spotted a hole in the net, where some knots had come undone. She gasped and turned to Lottie. "You made a hole in our net!" she accused her. "Can't you find something useful to do!?"

Lottie put her hands back behind her back, stood still, and looked at the girl with an expression showing faux-surprise. "Oh, I did not!" she gasped. What the girl had said didn't bother her in the slightest — she'd been receiving scoldings like this every day for fourteen years, this didn't even make a dent. "I won't be receiving false accusations, sorry!" And with that, she crossed her arms and turned her nose on her for a moment, though she did return to her previous stance very quickly.

The blatant lie confused Anne for a moment, and pushed her back into feeling intimidated by the other girl. "Well... I saw you playin' with it..." she said more hesitantly. "You shouldn't touch things that ain't yours."

"That's slander and my father can sue you for it," Lottie said with the utmost confidence, blatantly lying and exaggerating just for the sake of it. She sat quiet for a moment as she thought of another rebuttal. "and you shouldn't be leaving your stuff out in the open if you don't want anyone to touch them."

That threat did the trick. Anne didn't know if it was true, but her family had had enough experience with criminal justice for her to know that the law was not their friend. "Don't tell your father," she begged, her voice back to timid.