A Charlastor Story

Chapter 2: 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰𝒔 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝑺𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒕-𝑷𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆

"Sounds wonderful sweetheart! Where do we start?" Alastor asked.

"We start by getting you a phone," she said walking over to one of her drawers and opening it. The drawer was full of phones, they were for her friends or backup phones in case she lost hers. How'd she get all these phones you ask? Lucifer got so sick of his daughter always loosing her phone, he decided to buy her multiple. Now that that's over with, back to the story. "Since you don't have one, you can borrow one of mine," she said pulling out a phone from the drawer and closing it. She then walked back over to Alastor and showed him the phone. "This is a smartphone. Let me get it all set up first and then I'll teach you." After Charlie got the phone set up, she began teaching Alastor about the basics of using a smartphone. How to call people, how to use contacts, the camera, change the settings, download apps, that kind of stuff. "Now that we got the basics down, it's time for the most important part." She clicked on an app that said 'Google' and it opened to reveal a search bar with the word 'Google' over it. Alastor and Charlie both started to rap.

Alastor:

What's this?

Charlie:

It's the internet.

Alastor:

What's that?

Charlie:

It's a big network.

An open forum that allows the expression of opinions

Where people have discussion

With their different points of view

Alastor:

Woah! That sounds pretty happy!

Charlie:

Well no, it's actually pretty crappy.

"Let me give you an example." Charlie shows Alastor a boy and a girl demon on her phone.

Here are two people trying to live their life.

They both log in and go online.

They have many options for how to spend their time

but they do it differently.

Alastor:

Can you show me through rhyme?

Charlie:

Sure.

She points to the female demon.

This is Carol and she's in her thirties,

and she goes to a job where she's pretty busy.

Maybe she'll share a video of a dog

or download recipes from a food blog.

Most importantly she has empathy

and doesn't feel like she has to be mean.

Alastor:

Woah! She sounds content.

Is everyone like this on the inter-net?

Charlie:

No.

She then points to the male demon.

Meet Kevin, he used to be nice.

But then he became disenfranchised.

His life hasn't turned out as he planned

So he spends all his time posting on 4chan.

He frequently visits alt right memes

and thinks feminism is what ruined his dreams.

Alastor:

Wow! He sounds fantastic.

Charlie:

Are you being serious?

Alastor:

No, I'm being sarcastic.

The internet seems great for personal use,

Charlie:

but for some sad people that includes abuse

See, Carol can visit an internet page

without the need to directly engage.

Kevin sees a kids show from five months back,

and he feels like he's being personally attacked.

Carol and Kevin both saw the same clip.

Carol pressed like and then ate some chips.

Kevin tagged his mates in the Facebook comments.

Cos it's 'anti-white, anti-male, leftist content'.

He then posted his own reaction video

and directed alt-right trolls to attack a kids show.

"I mean, it was literally a Facebook page for a kids show," Charlie ranted.

"I mean why on earth are grown men waisting their time-" Alastor's rant was interrupted by Charlie who continued rapping.

See, Carol doesn't need to post abuse.

Because she puts her time to good use

But Kevin hates his job, and women won't date him,

Because he likes to quote Rick and Morty verbatim.

But instead of looking at himself,

Kevin likes to blame the world.

Alastor:

So where does a person like Kevin go?

Charlie:

The comments section on a kids video.

Alastor and Charlie:

Word.

Charlie and Alastor both start laughing. "Well I have to say, that was very fun!" said Alastor.

"It was. So what did we learn?" Charlie asked.

"Don't be like Kevin," Alastor said with a chuckle.

"And?"

"That the internet is a global network providing a variety of information and communication facilities, consisting of interconnected networks using standardized communication protocols." Charlie was silent for a moment, taking in all that she just heard.

"Yeah, that's pretty much it," she replied. Charlie then realized something. "Darn it, I got so excited about teaching about smartphones that I completely forgot about working on the hotel. We should probably get back to it."

"Right my dear," said Alastor. Just as they were about to get back to work, they heard a knock at the door. They both turned towards it.

"Princess, Mr. Sevanthian has requested a private meeting with you," said a male voice on the other side of the door. Charlie and Alastor both looked at each other.

"He probably wants to apologize to you, my dear. You should go, I can work on the hotel by myself," said Alastor putting an arm on her shoulder.

"You sure you're okay with this?" Charlie asked.

"I'll be fine. Smile darling, you look much more adorable with a smile on your face," Alastor said in a reassuring tone. Charlie blushed and smiled.

"Thanks Al." She hugged Alastor who then started to blush as well. "I'll be back soon," Charlie said getting up and walking towards the door. She opened it, walked out of the room and down the hall. Alastor looked at his smartphone and smiled. As Charlie walked down the hall, Charlie felt her phone buzz in her pocket. She took out her phone and saw that Alastor just texted her. 'OMG, his first text,' she thought excitedly. 'I wonder what it says.' The text simply read the words 'I miss you already'. Charlie blushed and giggled. "Alastor," she said with a happy sigh. She put her phone back in her pocket and kept on walking.