Kelketek No Longer SED PR Fox

Lost among the noise of the SpinDizzy Fair was the announcement that Kelketek, SED’s PR fox, no longer works for this organization. Our reporter caught up with him between two events in order to ask a few questions. What follows is a minimally edited transcript of the interview.

(Claude sets down a phonograph. He places a new wax cylinder inside the machine and starts recording.
Kelketek looks to him, eyes focused and ready, yet his smile is warm.)

Claude says, “Thank you for joining me today, Kelketek. I’ll try to keep it short and focused.”

Kelketek murrs, “You’re welcome, Claude. Where should I begin?”

Claude says, “To several furs, the end of your collaboration with the SED came as a surprise. Can you comment on that?”

Kelketek murrs, “It may seem strange to many, but the SED actually does keep its word. I was released as promised on time. There were parts of my contract that said my stay could be lengthened if my performance was lackluster, but it seems they found my work sufficient, and so it ended right on schedule. You’re much more likely to deal with some degree of legalism than direct falsehood with the SED. Though as of late they’ve been better about keeping the spirit of their agreements as well, and I expect this trend to continue.”

Claude nods. “So, the SED has changed since you have started working there?”

Kelketek nods, “Certainly. While I worked on a new image for the SED by presenting their case, I also worked within, showing people love and care and discussing with them what was on their hearts and minds. Then I’d often advise them on how they could deal with some of the issues they were facing. The SED is a utopian organization more than it is a directly ‘evil’ one, believe it or not, and its primary problems come from personal issues held by its members. Many of them actually do want to do good, but they don’t know how, or they are stuck with a specific issue within their hearts that makes them cruel or cold or seemingly unempathetic. But when someone actually went in and cared about them, and sat down with them, gave them a hug and talked with them about what was on their heart, things started to shift.”

Claude smiles. “You have anticipated one of my questions, so let’s skip ahead. How did you end up working for the SED in the first place?”

Kelketek looks up at the sky, “Before it all started, I met Sora Mk.1 in the Rose Garden. Only indirectly, though. I just observed her. She was following Morticon’s orders without regard for herself and got herself very hurt, but was still saluting and ready for duty. I found myself distressed by this and confronted Morticon about it. Morticon actually took it to heart, and had her nicely patched up and gave her time off. During which I spent time with her and we grew closer. We went and got milkshakes, and we danced. Of course, it was very different back then. She was almost completely incapable of empathy, or emotion in general. So most of the kindnesses and things, such as the aforementioned dancing, made no sense to her. But she was feeling some sort of enjoyment, so she kept letting me spend time with her…”

Claude nods, listening quietly, a dreamy expression on his face.

Kelketek murrs, “I heard a rumor that Morticon was planning to feed Sora to Borris when the mind battle with Azure was over, so she would be disposed of. I wouldn’t stand for this so I appealed to Borris not to do such a thing. He agreed, and for a while I thought she was in the clear. Of course, that was wishful thinking. After the mind battle, Sora had lost, and so they went up to execute her in front of Azure’s eyes. I found out later this was the plan whether she won or not. She was considered a failed experiment, and oddly enough, there was some desire to ‘put her out of her misery’, since her life was torture. The idea being, if they could intimidate Azure at the same time, so much the better…”

Claude fumbles with his notebook, looking a little shocked. “What happened then?”

Kelketek explains, “Well, as soon as the mind battle was over, I rushed to hug her and hold her. Then I turned around to find a rifle pointed at me and Sora. One of the Ainata had been ordered to kill her. I pulled out my pistol, making a stand-off, and tried to reason them out of it. But by that time, Morticon had hopped off and already given his orders to those under him with imprinting. Getting them to not kill her was going to take more than just some words, unfortunately. The Aina fired, blew a hole in my side, and I fired back, and after a while the whole thing was a big firefight. Sora was confused during the whole matter, and didn’t know what to do. When she finally began to fly away, the Aina clipped her wing with a shot, and she fell to the ground…”

Claude listens with big eyes. “Go on, please…”

Kelketek murrs, “After that, I lead the Aina into the fog of Squirrel Park. I caught her by surprise and fired a few rounds into her chest. The armor kept her fine, however, and I tackled her. I had one shot in my pistol left, and had I planted it right on her face mask and fired, I could have killed her. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it, for one reason or another. She had the upper-hand in hand-to-hand, and Zeta, not being able to see, had been trying to make me a deal the whole time. Back then I didn’t expect the SED to keep their word, but seeing how I was about to lose everything, and Zeta was cutting me a deal, I figured I’d take it. I was rather glad she couldn’t see they’d already won.”

Claude says, “… and the rest is history. Say, rescuing Sora like that was an unusually brave thing to do. Can you tell our readers more about your background?”

Kelketek nods, “Certainly. I was raised in a bit of a religious household, and was a bit of an outcast in my younger years. But I ended up going to a special secondary school, and during that time had an epiphany on the value of human life, and love. I’m afraid I don’t have time to relay all of what happened there, but afterwards I joined a leadership academy, where I was trained in speaking, reasoning, combat, and basic field medicine. However, I didn’t make it all the way through, having made a mistake I’d rather not speak on at the moment. After that, I was starting on film school, but in the middle woke up here on SpinDizzy.”

Claude says, “That wasn’t so long before the incident, am I correct?”

Kelketek murrs, “It wasn’t. I was only here a short while when all of this happened. And while I still don’t know how I got here, I feel I know why. I feel I’m making a difference here. And so I’m more than happy to be with all of you, and I love SpinDizzy and its citizens.”

Claude smiles. “You sure seem to enjoy PR work.”
Claude says, “Ahem. How are you and Rainfall doing now? What are your plans for the future?”

Kelketek smiles, “It should be noted, first, that when Sora and I were taken back to the base, that Morticon told me to rename her, as who she was no longer reflected his work. So I renamed her Rainfall. Since then, I worked with her to consolidate the three parts of herself into an orderly and manner. We got her tutors for her ‘cat’, ‘bird’, and ‘fox’ mental states. The cat one coming from previous versions of Aina imprinting and not from any biological origin, but still very fundamental in her psyche. Once she had all of her parts consolidated, and we talked through some things, we decided to get married. After which, we went on our honeymoon and had a wonderful time. We only returned just recently, and a few days after my return, my term was over.

As for what the future holds, we’re taking a couple of months to plan things before taking any action, though we do have a direction in mind.”

You say, “Right. I almost forgot about your wedding.”

Kelketek chuckles, and scritches the cat.

Claude giggles. “Well, Kelketek, I can’t speak for everyone, but I’m happy you are with us, too. Thank you again for this interview.”

Kelketek murrs, “You’re welcome, Claude. Is there anything else you wanted to ask?”

You say, “Well, I can’t wait to see what you and Rainfall are up to. But that’s a story for another time.”

Kelketek nods, and hugs the cat, “I can’t wait to see the article.” He smiles.

(Claude leans forward to stop the phonograph.)