Your first point is a bit off because the MC did offer for her to use the phone. He just happened to get a text from Alexis during that time.
He offered her the phone to call her friend (who he didn't know was Lexi), NOT to snoop through his private shit. This is a big difference.
An example: if you receive your neighbor's mail in your mailbox, you are allowed to give it to him personally (without looking at sender address) instead of giving it to the mailman to go back to post office and be sorted again and then be handed to the mailman again to arrive to the house or apartment next to yours, but you are NOT allowed to open it and read it! In the US it's a federal crime to do that, meaning you can be prosecuted over state lines.
" What's not so widely understood is just how serious the consequences can be. Intentionally opening, intercepting or hiding someone else's mail is the felony crime of mail theft. It comes with some heavyweight penalties, including fines of up to $250,000 and five years' incarceration in a federal prison. "
In regards to going through someone's phone.
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"Although specific laws vary from country to country, going through someone’s phone
without permission is illegal. Wiretapping and privacy laws around the world
enforce this through criminal charges. Even though tracking someone through cell phones and
going through their messages are easier now, it doesn’t mean you can legally do so. Again, going through them without the owner’s permission is illegal"
Permission to go through either his messages or photo gallery was never asked for, much less given.
So, we can see here that not only did
Erynn break rules of privacy, she
also broke several very serious laws for which she could
go to prison. So, yeah, it's not as inconsequential and unimportant as you think to be shrugged off.
Otoh, there is no law out there to criminalize having sex with someone you fancy just because your friend is ambivalent towards them. At worst, the airline could've been pissed off about having sex in the toilet.
While it's still snooping it isnt as bad as you make it out to be.
uh-huh.... Really?
It's also break of trust. On his phone he had private photos of himself and
his girlfriend. He had her NUDES. That she went through! Would you like or tolerate your ex THAT REJECTED YOU going through your phone and oggle your current gf's nude photos? And even use that to fuel some self-righteous fury to tear into that girl? If a guy did that I'd break his nose at the very minimum. He would also instantly stop being my friend and I don't think I'd ever want to repair that friendship again.
And Erynn had the audacity and the gall to go through them, look at them and then the self-righteousness to go and verbally and emotionally attack his girlfriend over her relationship with a man Erynn had no claim over.
Erynn basically did the same to MC&Lexi as Ethan did to her, she violated their sexual privacy and their human rights-given right to have a sexual relationship without outside interference or snooping and not have anyone violate it digitally.
She is no better than Ethan. He recorded her having sex, she snooped through her friend's sexual privacy and violated her right to be nude in private with only a person she chose.
To me it doesn't as it wasn't her original intent and probably seemed a bit of a coincidence to her.
Her original intent means nothing when it changed and became "I'm gonna break his trust and snoop through his private photos because I'm CURIOUS and jealous".
When the message arrived she had the choice to ignore it and go through with her original intent.
The ability to control our impulses is what separates us from animals.
Instead, Erynn didn't control her first impulse and not only broke rules of privacy, but broke several international laws and became a criminal.
Since someone named Alexis texted him and her best friend that she talked about how much she liked MC is named Alexis
Look, no matter how you turn it, it was NOT. HER. PHONE.
IT'S ILLEGAL. She was not supposed to do that, she was only supposed to call her friend. The only reason why she had it in hand was because her friend whom she was just rebuilding friendship with had lent it to her for
only calling her friend, whom MC didn't know was Lexi.
Ask yourself: if MC knew that Erynn would snoop through his private photos like a sickly jealous girlfriend and then went on a rampage because of what she saw there, would he still have lent her his phone? Especially without supervision?
but yeah you are right should of still told him that she looked at his pictures
No, the issue is not about her not telling him, the problem is she did it in the first place. THAT is the issue. She shouldn't have even done it in the first place!
Well Alexis did lie to the MC as she knew who he was the entire time and he even confronts her about this. She did lie to Erynn about not going to the concert with her cause she took the MC instead when they were originally were going to go with one another. While you do make a bit of a point about it would be taking away control from the MC to tell Erynn but it wasn't like he asked Alexis to keep it a secret either
Yes, you're right, she didn't tell MC and she felt really bad (we can see even before it comes out how it torments her, we don't really see Erynn being haunted by her actions and choices) and she answered for it. She should've told him. In terms of the VN, that would terminate her path at the very start, so I guess she was right not to.
I'll beg for forgiveness for running apologism myself right now for just this once: she knew if MC knew who she was he would reject her and that would've broken her heart. It was underhanded to scam him. BUT! This is where I do apologism myself for a change: it's good that she didn't because due to that we got probably the most interesting, complex and feel-good relationship in the entire game out of it. PLUS. It's also a relationship that is already quite apparently LONGTERM and committed and dedicated, thus it's a case of the end justifying the means. By the end of the current patch
MC and Lexi have already broached the topic of MARRIAGE AND CHILDREN!!!!!! That is a HUGE milestone and I hope I don't have to explain for anyone reading this just how big it is, especially given they've been together for only 5 weeks. It's like a turning point and a step where their relationship becomes solidified with a definite future agreed upon. It's no longer just mere teenaged dating, it's now an adult fully committed exclusive relationship with expected result of marriage and family.
True, mostly jokingly, but they have still nonetheless talked about it and settled on a rough outline (max 10 years before having kids) - compared to every other path where they're still far from it (in some he doesn't even have sex with the LI yet). It may have started with dishonesty and trickery on Lexi's part, but is bearing amazing fruit and when they end up happy, married and with kids, can we really still hold it against her?
Her trickery lead to longterm happiness for at least 3 people, MORE if you count in their parents being happy for their happiness and getting at least 1 grandchild out of it.
Stopping apologism.
Also, MC's relationship with Lexi is the most adult and mature of all his LIs.
None of the other paths can compare or even come close. Least of all Erynn. Both MC and Lexi treat the other as an adult and they are both being very mature as both partners and as individuals. Looking at Layla, Elena, Erynn, Tori, Gabi, Iris paths, we can't say that about none of them.
To quote Iris: "
They sound like an old married couple already."
And not because they fight, but because they're that in-tune, relaxed, have easy and easily-given affection and comfortable with each other.
You're right, she lied to Erynn, no apology for that. She should've told her straight out she's going on a date, period. No need to specify with whom, just that she's going with someone else.
The last part is, while MC didn't ask her to keep a secret,
Erynn also didn't ask her to let her know when/if MC ever came back. Maybe I'm biased to that point, but I see Lexi not revealing his status because she was
treating him like an adult. And adult who can manage and lead his own life and decide on his own about relationships and whom to contact without outside guidance or input.
She's not his mother, he's not 12 or mentally/emotionally incapable, he's a fully functioning 18 year old and she is his lover/hookup.
We need to remind ourselves, at that point MC and Lexi were nothing but hookups. They really had no claim on each other, even more, the nature of the relationship demands privacy and discretion. Only later, after the camp, they became gf&bf and at that point they also became obligated to protect each other and care for each other ABOVE OTHERS. Except maybe parents, depending on situation.
I'd say it was more something like an implied promise since they are best friends that tell each other everything keeping the MC's return a secret does come across as one. Even Alexis feels bad for doing it that right there is enough for me to say at the very least she was being dishonest. Since you dont feel bad about doing something unless you know it was wrong to begin with.
I don't know dude, I've felt bad about killing a spider and yet it wasn't really wrong to begin with... In other words, that argument doesn't have a leg to stand on.
Implied promise is nulled here it's implied, not stated, but mainly because of the state of MC's and Erynn's relationship (rather lack thereof), the way it ended and the nature of his relationship with Alexis and the fact that
he's told her on the plane that he has reservations about Erynn and didn't really wanna even think about the reunion.
mc "But back then, I just didn't want to hear from her."
a "That reunion will be... Interesting at the very least."
mc "If it's ever going to happen, to begin with..."
a "You don't want to meet her?"
mc "I do but... I'm just not sure, to be honest. I might run into her at some point though... Besides, who says she wants to meet me?"
This is their conversation on the plane, taken direct from rpy file. As we can see MC made it clear he doesn't want to meet Erynn yet, which also includes Erynn finding out he's here cause that would force a reunion. Alexis telling Erynn would've gone directly against his explicitly expressed wish and desire not to run into Erynn yet, until he knows how to handle it.
