It was a beautiful day, really,... late enough in the month of August for there to be a hint of September in the air, and one or two dry, green leaves skittering along that had dropped prematurely from the trees. One of them (leaves, not trees) blew past the high-heel-clad feet of a young-looking woman, and then up into the air, in the path of a pigeon. Confused, the pigeon ended up flying smack into a window, bouncing off, and hitting a small child, knocking a toy out of his hands. The toy rolled into the street. The boy ran to retrieve it. A car swerved to avoid him, and was broadsided by a car coming the other way.
There was a lovely smashing sound.
The woman in high-heels smiled.

Keye stared gape-mouthed at the accident. What the...wow. That was...that was just some really weird coincidences right there.
...coincidences?
Suspicion narrowing his eyes, he glanced around until his paranoid gaze settled on Fortuna.
Shit.
Maybe she won't notice me...
White-faced, he ducked his head and tried to stand inconspicuously behind some rubbernecker, who was unfortunately shorter than he.

Not a chance, Keye.

She glided up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Why, Keye darling. Fancy seeing you here," she purred, smiling pleasantly. "How are you these days? I haven't seen you since- oh it must have been that little game we played. You remember that, don't you?"

Keye shuddered and took a deep breath.
He wanted to fling curses at her until he lost his voice. He wanted to run screaming. But neither of those would end prettily.
"I'm flattered that you remember." he replied hoarsely, with a weak smile.

"Oh, you've learned manners," she said, in mock surprise. Though she was making fun of him, she was, oddly enough, pleased. "Is that a new development, sweetheart? It must have been hard on whoever was teaching them to you, but they seem to have done a good enough job..."

"Who could fail to learn under the instruction of such a lovely teacher?"
Which, of course, means after suffering severe psychological damage and nearly dying because of you, I decided that being nice to you would work out best.

She reached up and tilted her sunglasses just slightly down - more for the effect of the gesture than anything else - and seemed to look through him with those pure liquid black eyes of hers. "Well, well... old dogs can learn new tricks," she smirked, and tipped the glasses back into place. "About time, too... "

He shuddered and looked away, avoiding her eyes. He couldn't take that.
"I d-do my best."

"Hmmm." She raised an eyebrow. She was still irked at having lost that chess game, but she was glad that the boy finally seemed to have learned what 'respect' meant. He wasn't one of her favorites - the serious risk-takers - but he was unpredictable, which was almost as good. Smirking, she beckoned to him.
"...C'mere. Let me whisper something in yor ear."

He swallowed hard. Obey fickle goddess and maybe escape with life, and maybe not, or run away and definitely don't escape with life? He edged towards her.
"Okay, tell me."

Fortuna was plainly shorter than him, but somehow she didn't have to stretch to be able to place her lips so close to his ear that her breath was still warm where it touched. She laid her sharp-nailed fingers on his shoulder.

"I think I'll have you as one of mine, now," she whispered, then pulled away and giggled as if she'd just told a very dirty joke. She held a finger to her lips, still smiling. "Remember, now, babe. It's a secret."

"Yours?" he really was trying hard to keep the fear out of his voice. "What does that mean?"

"It means I'm keeping an eye on you..." she smirked. The good luck would be better. The bad would be worse. The good to bad ratio would depend on whether she was pleased with him or not,... or if she felt like changing it. 'Because I felt like it' was a perfecty valid reason according ot her. "As long as you remain interesting, anyway."
(She had a habit of dropping the uninteresting ones as easily as a child does an old toy.)

"One thing I'll say for my life is that it's never dull."
He looked at her for a minute, thinking...
He could please her by being willing to take a chance, or he could mortally offend her...but that was all part of the chance, right?
He leaned forward and kissed her cheek, then turned and scampered off.
(He wouldn't kiss her lips, though. He was taken.)

She watched him go, then turned and melted into the crowd.

A strange glitch caused the 'don't walk' light switch to 'walk' whenever Keye crossed a street the rest of the day. A small thing, but at least it indicated that he was on her good side.
For now.