It just is a, a big turn-off for, for women.

Um, clipped fingernails are a must for me.

I don't like guys that have long nails.

I think that it's all around just kinda intimidating in every way.

I don't know why, but like when you touch me and like I can feel like your like nail like in...

I don't know.

I just...

Yeah.

Oh my God

... haunts me.

It creeps me out so much, just this idea of like going to someone's house and it being a totally different person, and it being like, "Well no, that's me," but it's not.

Also it doesn't help that I'm currently watching The X-Files, and that, the a- the original Mrs. Tremond, that actress was in the episode I watched last night, and I was like, "Hey, I know her." But like, just that whole scene really creeped me out.

But also in arbitrary law, that solidified my hatred for James.

The beginning of the episode he's like talking about how he loves Donna, like gives her a ring, is like, "We're gonna be together forever." As soon as they find out about Maddie he's like, "Okay, nice knowing you, bye." I'm like, "Wh- who does that?" It's just, that's not okay.

But Lexi, do you have any thoughts on it?

I thought it was just to rule out all the possible suspects, and having some of the people there who...

Y'all were, like, flirting, so I'm good, bro." Yeah [laughs].

Yeah, so I'm super against dating in friend groups.

Um, I have a lot of guy friends that have been my friends since I was, like, 12 [laughs].

Um, and I've never once even made it remotely obvi- like-They, the door's never been open for that, so they've ...

Not one of them has ever, like, asked to be anything more than a friend.

Um, I, I'm against it because it will ...

I think it will tarnish the friendship, and it will tarnish the group of friends, I think.

And then see where it goes from there.

What is this, what has this experience been like for you?

It's been a really good experience being able to figure out how to work with people, especially with figuring out h- what ideas need to go where and how to organize them.

Organization has been one of the key, key parts for me because dealing with that many people and everything they want is... it's a big task.

And even if we all agreed on something, finding a way to put it all together in a, in a way that makes sense for us and for other people to understand, it's a lot.

Um, but thankfully, we have the amount of people, which gives us different ears, different eyes on what we're doing.

So working in groups helps with that, being able to understand different, um, perspectives and ways to do things, to understand the case, to understand how you're going to put it out there, how you're going to write, how you're going to speak.

Yeah, the group work helped a lot.

And I think that through this, we're able to give them the voices that they deserve and the closure that their family deserves.

How did that make you feel? I felt the connection between you right away, and where do you guys stand now?

Yeah.

So I mean, he let it be known right away, and I think that's the biggest choice of why I chose him, was who doesn't want a man that's reassuring? Who doesn't want somebody that's like, "Hey, I wanna be with you.

It's you on-" He would let...

He sat me down and was like, "It's either you or nobody." So I had that reassurance.

I didn't get that necessarily from Reese on day one, and obviously shows like this are moving really fast.

You don't expect, oh my God, somebody's gonna be eliminated day one.

Because I'm c- I passed the swim test.

So tired

... [laughs] of, of a lot of things, which also brings me to just the world is scary right now, and there's a lot of feelings of unknown, and helplessness, and spiraling, and I know that I've felt that a lot, and these books are a nice little anchor.

And I don't, I say escapism too, but, like, they're just a little anchor to refuel, to, to calm myself down, to be able to have that regulation, and then to be able to, once when I set it down again, then it's like, okay, then I feel like I can go out and tackle the world again, you know? And it's this little break in the craziness and the chaos of everyday life and the bigger problems, and it's so wonderful to be able to do that, and then afterward to feel energized and fueled up a little bit and emotionally in a good place to then be able to go, "Okay, now I can go do the hard things again." So-

As someone who's read cozy fantasy and, like, loves it in your heart because of the way it makes you feel, what do you think is, like, a big lesson you've learned from some of those books, or something that you've taken away even if you never read another cozy fantasy novel again?

Oh, my goodness.

So I'm going back to the idea of our own limitations and what we feel is possible, and being able to then achieve that, and I think that is definitely something big for myself.

I go back to The Magical Innkeeping book, and that one really has a very powerful message in it about what we are capable of, not just, like, fantastically, but just within our own hearts and within ourselves.

And I go back to what you were saying there about accepting oneself, and I, the more I think about it, that is really and truly at the heart of so many of these fantasy books, no matter what they're about.

So what happened with your relationship?

There was a conversation that happened almost every single phone call.

It got to the point where I was like, "I don't, I don't know if this is healthy for me anymore."It was a really hard decision 'cause, you know, I'm sitting through these conversations where I'm just learning the world's most obscure conspiracy theories that my biological father truly, truly believes in, and I'm trying to be like, "Okay, he's...

You know, he had something traumatic happen to him.

You know, just give it a little bit of time." But then he kept referencing this, uh, dream, I would call it, that he had when he was in a coma.

He said that when he was out, the only thing he could remember from this dream is that, you know, it was a continuous nightmare that I was an evil person, and that I was turning against him, and, you know, all of these...

Uh, it was just such a weird stor- like, conversation, a weird...

... would think that might be hard to shake.

[Instrumental music playing] And we are back

This is the house that I had lived in until I was 13 years old, so I'm very familiar with every nook and cranny.

My grandfather stepped away from where we were standing and walked over to our fireplace mantel.

On this mantel is where we keep our family Bible.

It's just this massive Bible in an old wooden box that latches.

My family keeps, like, obituaries and, like, the newspaper cuttings of these obituaries of folks that have passed that are near and dear to us in there, just, like, some little keepsakes, just mementos.

He ended up opening the Bible, flipping through the pages of the Bible, and pulled out a photograph

Take your time.

It's the living who are left to grasp.

Since my mom died, it feels like it's harder to throw things out than I thought.

Yeah.

I had an interesting conversation with my dad the other day, who is, of course, really, you know, grief-stricken.

And he was saying, "Why do people make art?" And he thinks the reason people make art is so that they're not forgotten when they die.

Like, you do something that remains in the world.

This client offered her a significant sum of money for violent and forced sex with a group of men, and extra if she'd do an additional horrible request.

Um, he's like, "If it is a yes, we can buy ice cream cones.

We can buy ice cream cones, shit in them, and we watch you eat.

And that will be more, 5,000, if you will eat our shit while we are recording you."

Lexi says requests like this were just one aspect of the extreme racism she experienced in Dubai.

"Black monkeys." That is one of the terms they used.

Oh, they like telling Black girls to get on their knees.

And there was this one client who asked me if I was comfortable putting on an Ankara thing so that when he rips it off me and whips my ass, he can feel the satisfaction of...