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Post by Solana on Jun 12, 2011 13:02:47 GMT -5
Same here on the coffee. The smell is pleasant, especially if it's Mocha with Max chocolate, but I don't enjoy the taste at all. I'll stick with the tea. As for the soap, I may have the notes from making the stuff, but I don't exactly have the equipment. No Bunsen burners or Erlenmeyer flasks or access to the starting materials. Hmmm, but one of my peeps at the bookstore is a bio person and helps make the base solutions for the students. He might be able to get us access in return for a cut. For the insurance case, I would dearly love to see an agent walking around the Shrine motel and taking notes. "Discounts- top-notch security system, many healers, and residents well able to take care of themselves." "Added fees- multiple children in possession of dangerous powers, prinnies, multiple pyromaniacs, souls in jars, dangerous weapons not locked away... you know what, I think we've seen enough." It's a good thing that Lunar doesn't have the equivalent of the FBI, or we'd have to be on Dire Garde during inspections. ;D (Max Lucado title, name of a dungeon in Esther Friesner's short story 'Deathswatch' in 'Castle Fantastic. If you like her work, I consider it one of her best. I also love her 'Chicks in Chainmail' series.)
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Post by Ambrienne on Jun 12, 2011 22:34:35 GMT -5
Ah, yes. When you don't have the tools and/or resources, networking can really save the day. Or so I've heard (it's not really something I'm gifted at, to put it mildly).
Is it a State Farm agent you're imagining? Because with that latest series of commercials and the chip tunifying of their theme, it just seems to fit.
Hm... Maybe that's where the agents get their teleportation and other genie-like abilities, through deals with otherworldly denizens.
But who needs to worry about the FBI? It's Child Protective Services that's the real scary group. Not that they'd have an easy time trying to collect any of our young charges. We'd just Fade Away before they got to us.
(title of a Harlan Cohen book... not sure to classify the series it's in as mystery, action, or just general mayhem in a somewhat psychotic real world setting)
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Post by Solana on Jun 13, 2011 18:09:44 GMT -5
(We always put the guy in mystery if that helps. ) Not to worry about the networking- I've got plenty of practice at that from the convention work. That's why we'd be a team, though in RL we're Miles away. We'd have your knowledge, brilliant ideas, and nose for finding deals. I'll network, have the science know-how, and the smoothness if we need to sweeten the deal a bit. Good call, I never thought about where the State farm people got their supplies. One might wonder if anyone from the Netherworld has a hand in it. Certainly insurance can be a great source of funds, especially if one has... ways... of insuring things do or do not happen. (Laughs) I'd almost like to see the child protective services try to take any of our little treasures, especially if we all join forces. It'd make the beatdown that Enigma got look like a lovetap. Or we could just sit back and watch the kids take care of themselves. Either way, it'd be a Hoot. (Last name of Rosalind Miles, who wrote the deliciously guilty pleasure 'Tristan and Isolde' series, Carl Hiaasen title.)
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Post by Ambrienne on Jun 14, 2011 22:58:44 GMT -5
Speaking of nose, they've got a 'yellow' sale a BaBW right now, and I'm using their slashing of the classics down to 3 bucks as an opportunity to expand my scent knowledge. Especially since some of the classic blends of theirs have such innocuous or deceptive names that I never bothered to try them... And yet since most of the fragrances are somewhat broken down for you on the website, I see some that I really want to try now, for purposes of fueling my own creativity if nothing else. Want to get an idea of what I mean? Look up the Rice Flower and Shea one. Or the Brown Sugar and Fig. Those are prime examples of the name letting down the product. I have not smelled them yet for myself, but the scent breakdown makes it sound worthwhile. By the way, if you have smelled Dancing Waters before, let me know what you thought of it. That one I know isn't in our local store, and the site only told enough in the description to drive me crazy imagining what it could possibly be like. Flowing water over blossoms, indeed. That could be anything. And that reminds me... Don't know if you knew this about the Fragrance Mists/Body Splashes, but... at least some of them need to be shaken before you spray them. With the lid on (otherwise it might leak on your hand). I figured that out when I sprayed one of their testers in store and it didn't smell like anything at all that I could tell. And yet the same scent was great in lotion form. Could there possibly be that big of a scent difference just because one medium was more solid than liquid? I didn't think so. I guess it's like some fruit juices and other things like that; shake before serving. Come to think of it, I wonder if it's just the scents containing fruit that behave like that. I'll have to try it with one that's all flowers/wood and see if it doesn't need the shakedown. Not that it would serve much of a useful purpose that I can tell by knowing, but still... Getting back to fragrance names, I think if we were creating our own blends, you have to have names that have the right amount of mystery and yet don't sound totally preposterous once you find out what's inside. One name that popped into my head that would definitely have the mystery factor would be Pandora's Box, but with that one would anyone want to find out what's inside? And please tell me that's hope I'm smelling and not all the evils that were locked in the box, too. Sure, the kids could take care of themselves. And if not, we can make the chicken do all the work. (In any of dozens of mythology books, just emphasis)
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Post by skylark on Jun 14, 2011 23:00:38 GMT -5
*Giblet cocks her head to the side.*
Giblet: *clucks*
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Post by Solana on Jun 16, 2011 6:26:45 GMT -5
Ooh, more sales? That's a great way to try all of the scents and find a new one to be Your Heart's Desire. Is that just on the website or in the stores as well? (Another weekend coming up!) Dancing Waters is very lovely, but it's mild. The blossom portion is very faint, but there's a bit stronger smell of greenery. (If you've ever tried the 'Bamboo' scent, think of something like that.) I would recommend it if you didn't want something overwhelming, or were planning to use a floral perfume on top afterward. That big a difference in scent... (puts on the lab coat.) I guess it would depend on the molecules in the scent, whether they mix better with a lipid or alcohol base. If they don't want to mix with alcohols for the sprays, it's more likely that the scent will stay in the bottle as opposed to being used. Whereas with lotion, that's less likely to be a factor because it's being squeezed out as compared to going through a diffuser first. (Takes off lab coat.) Sorry, get a science person started and we never stop... That'd be a great experiment with the shakedown test. Let me know how the First Test goes. That's hope that you're smelling with the Pandora's box test, trust me! It could be a fun box to play with. Say we have a huge range of scents, and each bottle is a little different, so one never knows what it'll be. (A la the every flavor beans from Harry Potter.) That is a fine line to tread, giving out enough info to rope them in, but not too specific to leave them wondering. Maybe the best advice comes from Lemina- 'Say a lot, but don't promise too much'. We can make the descriptions as lovely and flowery as the scents themselves. (Sonia Choquette title, Tamora Pierce title.)
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Post by Ambrienne on Jun 16, 2011 15:24:04 GMT -5
For the most part, all the website deals are in store as well. The one exception I found was on one of the Eau de Toilette sprays (was half off on the site but not in store for some reason). The people there are kind enough to check for you if you ask, though. It's good that you're waiting 'til the weekend, because they just announced that they're doing another buy 3, get 3 free of the signature stuff, so you can get all your deals at once. But really, if they haven't temporarily brought back your Juniper in store (which they did do for some of the other classics in mine), I should point out that Juniper Breeze is not immune from the deals and should be grabbed now on the site if you're in the mood to stock up. I guess it's just as well that Dancing Waters wasn't there then. Grass and I don't get along (think allergically). I've never tried to push the sensitivity limits to see where the line gets drawn, but I'd just as soon avoid it. Well, I tried it with the classic, Plumeria. It doesn't appear to need the shakeup. I'll try it again later with the shakeup to make sure that it really makes no difference and not just 'less' difference. If that makes any sense. But maybe it does after reading the science. I do know that it's one of the scents that doesn't need special heat activation, though. The one that did need the shakeup, if you're curious, was Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin. Through really, that one's almost closer to being an apple pie than a pumpkin one scent wise. But whatever... it's a nice enough smell for spraying on the bedding, the curtains, the inside of your hat... Yes, I may not keep a Cat in the Hat, but scent is fair game in this weather. I doubt anyone beside me has done that to a White Sox cap, but that's okay. ;D I'll also try the White Tea and Ginger scent on the shakeup test sometime later... after the Plumeria fades. I've noticed that Plumeria is one of the longer lasting ones, even though it's only a mist and not an Eau de Toilette. And, for some reason, it reminds me of that Mariah Carey frangrance. Yes, I got some of that last year after Christmas just 'cause I wanted the bottle. But believe it or not, the Plumeria is better. I think the MC stuff has a bit of an artificial undertone to it. Come to think of it, the BaBW stuff is better than pretty much every 'higher end' fragrance I've smelled. Great for your budget, sad for department stores. Don't tell me... you'd use the public to beta test the product and make money at the same time. I thought only Microsoft did that. ::coughs:: Just kidding there. I guess one way you could make use of variants would be to have each box contain a certain number of trial sized bottles/spritzers. They might have numbers or shapes on them that would allow us to tell them apart but not the consumer. They could use that marker to vote for their favorites. Popularity would indicate which ones moved on to full size bottles and got their own names. We could also give a general theme to the boxes so that people who bought one could at least hit their target area of scents (especially if it was being bought as a gift, 'cause I'd hate for someone to mess up there). One you might know concentrated on flowers, one on fruits, another that could be called elementals (that would include some of the things that often get classified elsewhere with terms like breeze, rain, etc.), and maybe one that was more along the spicy or exotic line. (From the great Dr. called Seuss)
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Post by Solana on Jun 16, 2011 21:09:57 GMT -5
It might well be time to go browsing. Thanks for the tip about it being on the website as well. (And it is, it is! ;D) I haven't picked up anything juniper for a while. There are so many lovely scents on here I've never seen in the store. Let me know which ones caught your eye. And this way, I wouldn't have to worry about having someone yell, " Guards! Guards!" and have the Men-At-Arms chase me off-campus armed with tasers as I brandished a pail of juniper berries. I could see some of my former professors coming to my rescue. Kyle would probably have a few buckets of something far less pleasant than juniper berries on hand- biology professors always do, especially ecology and even more so freshwater. Wow, even the candles are half off! A few Christmases back, I bought my mom a lilac candle from there. It's the best lilac-scented anything other than the blossoms that I've ever smelled. She doesn't burn it- she keeps the cover on it and just smells it. When the first layer has been smelled away, THEN burn a little, wash, rinse, repeat. Mmm, never thought of spraying the curtains. That must be nice to have the windows open, a light breeze carrying the scent over to you while relaxing. Maybe some Night-Blooming Jasmine or Moonlight Path at night. (Well, my setup's a little weird. I have a bamboo shade over my window, but it doesn't keep out light, so I put up a dolphin shower curtain at night. My curtains are hanging in front of my closet. Add some tropical or sea scents and I'll truly have Atlantis.) What, you mean launch something unexpected at our customers without them having any idea of what's coming? Who would do that? (Aryn brings up ToH III, the first cooking post, etc.) ...never mind. You're right, organizing it by category would avoid a LOT of issues. Or we could even do it both ways- have a line of scents that would be in families, and have just one line that would be a complete mystery. Maybe at the bottom of the bottle, there could be a note to way which scent it was, if the person really loved it. Or there could be a riddle of sorts to give clues as to what it truly is. (Two Terry Pratchett titles, and a character in one of Ralph Compton's 'Trail Drive' books.)
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Post by Ambrienne on Jun 16, 2011 23:07:54 GMT -5
Hm... starting first with the things that are most on sale: Well, of the Signature Vanillas, I think the Cherry and the Apricot have the most promise. I know, given my fondness for coconut in things, you'd think I'd choose that, but I didn't find the CV, er, 'coconuty' enough. I didn't have a chance to smell the Lemon Vanilla, but there' seemed to be an awful lot of it in the bins, so... Not necessarily a bad sign, but I'd definitely check it to be sure. I think you pretty much know the classics pretty well, but along with Plumeria, I think the best ones of those I was able find, were Pink Grapefruit, Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin, and White Tea and Ginger. Other stuff, which I guess are the newer scents you may not have smelled... If they still have any of the P.S. I Love You or the Orange Sapphire (they should still be at least 50 percent off since they're on the chopping block) you should definitely check them out. P.S. has an incense quality to it so it may not be as instantly appreciable to some people as OS, but they're both good. Country Chic is kind of subtle, like the way you describe Dancing Waters as being. Except I don't pick up any grassy/greenery trails from it, just a subtle flower mix. Carried Away... You may have noticed that the Eau de Toilette of it is already sold out on the site. Yes, this really is an indication of how good it is. When they had the scent event several weeks ago where they had you vote on 6 mystery scents, that was the one my dad picked as smelling the best. It's probably still in the stores, so this is one to check out. Into the Wild... I've only smelled this in lotion form, not in the Eau de Toilette. It's pretty subtle and, for some reason, my dad can't even smell it. Which is why I got some for him at one point for his dry skin. Secret Wonderland... Now, this scent is nice. Really nice. Even without the scent listing you'll pick the strawberry note out right away. I think this and Forever Sunshine are my two favorites of the newer ones. Forever Sunshine... I'm not quite sure how to describe it (the back does a pretty good job of telling you the impression if not the full ingredients), but somehow, it's the kind of thing that makes you want to inhale deeply and sigh happily. Scent to avoid: It could be just me, but I don't think so. I think the fact that it's one that got relegated to the 'get rid of me' bins so fast also speaks volumes. That would be Butterfly Flower. ::gags just thinking about it:: And you know what made it worse? I smelled it for the first time right after I smelled Forever Sunshine. Try giving it a sniff for yourself... maybe you won't find it as revolting as I did, but then again, you'll probably thank me later for giving you the heads up. A riddle might be the way to go. It might require a little thought to make, but I think it'd add to the fun and mystery. (A quote from Monk, which would be cheating if it weren't for the fact that it was used in the books, too. )
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Post by Solana on Jun 17, 2011 21:09:16 GMT -5
Ooh, Orange Sapphire is quite lovely! (As much as the Mango Mandarin.) I'm usually more about the flowers and musk and aquatics than fruit, but the citrus ones are an exception. That's too bad if they're going to try and get rid of it.
I did pop over to the site yesterday while writing my reply, and will be finalizing choices. Forever Sunshine did catch my eye and land there, and there it'll stay. Thanks for the suggestion- I adore peonies and they have a lot of nostalgia. (My grandparents had some bushes at their farm.) Dark Kiss also made it in the preliminaries, but I think I remember it being a bit too overbearing. (Blackest Amethyst was the same.) I'll also give the 'Carried Away' lotion a try, since it promises to be non-greasy. Which is good, because I've missed calls at work after putting on lotion, and the headset slipped out of my hands.
It's a bummer that there aren't more 'woodsy' scents, that make one feel like they're in a Grover something. Twilight Woods didn't impress me much, though I bet they've sold tons of it with the book series.
Good riddles aren't easy, toeing the line between making them fun or impossible. (Writers from Wild Arms II, take note.) We might want to have a few for each scent, so that it's not TOO easy to guess. And I think at least one line of fragrances MUST have puns in the titles. ;D
(Portion of a title by Shirin Dubbin, character from the 'Percy Jackson' series, and I think the last needs no explanation.)
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Post by Ambrienne on Jun 17, 2011 22:02:35 GMT -5
Funny that you should mention that about the citrus scents. They're releasing three new ones of those the 4th of July. I only know this because the second time I went in for $3 Classics, they stuck one of those coupons for future use in my bag. Along with it was the advertisement for the new ones, Pomegranate, Apple Blossom, and Peach (I'm assuming that the support scents must be the real citrus due to, well, stuff like apple not being citrus).
Since I know you like both MM and OS, I'll be able to tell you if it's worth your while when I go over there the Friday following the new release. Because by then, the coupon will be burning a hole in my pocket. Ugh, I can see it now; I think I'll be only getting the bare minimum, but I just know they're going to have another sale that happens to coincide with the releases. It's their Wickedly brilliant business strategy.
Of course, their strategy will fail if I don't like the new scents, right? ...Yeah, just... keep telling myself that, and maybe I'll eventually believe it.
I didn't even mention Dark Kiss. But yeah, I instantly recoiled after sniffing that one (as did my dad). Not as badly as with Butterfly Flower, but it definitely wasn't my thing. Certainly OS, the I Love You, and any 5 of the classics you could name are more deserving of shelf space than that.
Did you take a look at the new men's cologne? I think that one of those probably does pass in the woodsy category, but I admit to having no clue what they really smell like. I can't even remember if I saw them in store or not. And one of them is called Ocean, too, I believe, so... Well, hey, women wear pants now, so why not cologne, too, if the scent suits their fancy? Life is short; Carpe Jugulum! Er... I meant 'Carpe Diem'; really, I did... Yeah.
Ah, fragrance puns... I feel a blessing coming on, already. No, not 'that' kind of blessing. ::coughs:: I was just thinking that, if you had lip balms to go along with the fragrances, we'd have to call them Slap Sticks. ;D
(You know, that 'new take' on the Wicked Witch's history that morphed into a multitude of forms that would probably make L. Frank Baum turn over in his grave, and a Terry Pratchett title)
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Post by Solana on Jun 18, 2011 12:15:33 GMT -5
Yay, a whole Trinity of citrusy goodness! I wonder if the trick to pound flowers and mix them in lotion would work with fruit, too. Apple blossoms... I hope that they do it right. The scent is so exquisite, but the flowers don't last too long. Ah, well, it makes them all the more precious for being ephemeral. Pomegranate has been so popular as a superfruit and in drinks, I'm not surprised that it's taking stage for the scent now.
(Laughs) I hear you about starting with the minimum and things Snowball- ing from there. Start off with the sales to stock up on Juniper, but oh, that Moonlight Path shampoo looks lovely, and there are some new scents to try. Adding another to the basket cuts down on shipping costs so it balances out, and what's that one? The site even adds suggestions before checking out, as if to be sure that that's all a person wants. Curse them and their clever marketing techniques!
Yeah, I've got no objection to trying out scents intended for guys. (Didn't know about the new Ocean one.) Essential oils don't have specifications, so why should any other good scent be different? Some places are even making unisex colognes. Why not make some that everyone can enjoy?
Oh, yes, bring on the slap sticks! ;D The world would have to prepare itself to have our brand of humor brought into the mass market. I wonder if this is going to turn into a mini-pun war in a pun war, coming up with these. ;D
(Character in a Ralph Compton trail drive book, black horse in the Boxcar Children title 'Mike's Mystery'.)
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Post by Ambrienne on Jun 18, 2011 21:07:02 GMT -5
I remember hearing how anointing oil is made, so it should work. After all, olives are fruit. So there should be no reason that other fruits and even (gasp to think of it) vegetables couldn't do the job if they had a desirable aroma. And let's not forget the wonders of the zest of citrus fruits.
I'm usually able to resist their last minute suggestions, because by that time, I've already calculated things up to the limit of what I'm willing to spend and am ready to make The Getaway while I still can. It also helps that I don't have a credit card and have to play the 'I'll pay you back next paycheck' game since the site doesn't accept Paypal. If I order off site, that is. I usually withdraw a certain amount of money before I go in store and that's that. Then the only juggling I have to do is internal where I ask myself which things I'm most in need of (shower gel, cream, or fragrance mist/eau de toilette).
I think if they concentrate too much on gender (or lack thereof) before coming up with a scent it may hamper their creativity. But hey, I guess this falls under the category of 'their problem', not mine. I think I'm the type that would just experiment until I found a combo I liked and let someone else sort out such trivialities.
...I also think that if you tried packaging the same scent within two different bottles/packaging combos that people would mentally trick themselves into believing on that basis that it was for guys or gals. Within reason, that is. There are some scents that just seem too geared to one side over the other regardless of the tricks you play.
Okay, get ready for your first Slap Stick. It was inspired by one of your quote explanations. Its name?
BB in a Boxcar.
.......
..................
..........................
I wonder if you've guessed what the starring flavor is before I'm about to reveal it here.
It's blueberry (and you just know there'd have to be a round blueberry person that people would accuse of being a Smurf knockoff grinning on the side). I'm not normally a fan of blueberry, but I've experienced at least a couple of combos (one in an all natural juice mix, the other in a hard candy I ate) that make the hated berry palatable even to me.
(One of the Burn Notice books if I'm remembering properly)
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Post by Solana on Jun 19, 2011 9:19:13 GMT -5
(I believe you're thinking of 'The Giveaway'. However, since getaways are such a HUGE part of what they do, I figure it counts just as well. ) Vegetable scents- well, why not try that route? I could see a mild carrot offsetting something like Apple, or adding a bit of lettuce to some of the greenery ones. People add certain vegetable juices to smoothies, or mix them with fruit juice, and it works well for the taste, if not the aroma. Apple's mild scent could mix well with some of those, so that we'd have something for everyone. (Then we could tell them, 'There's an Ap for that'.) Good plan on giving yourself a limit, just like at the casino. I kind of go the opposite route. I'll see everything that looks intriguing, then start to whittle it down to the 'necessities'. Mostly it involves talking myself out of one thing or another for various reasons and keeping whatever's left. It's still fun to take a Chance on a new scent, since it can become a favorite or come to "GAH!! What was I thinking?!" That could be fun to mess with people with the packaging. ;D We could try that with the Pandora's Box line. Put some really dusky musk/violet in pale pink, or a delicate sea scent in a woodsy style box. We'll see how closely people follow the riddles or puns. As for the slapstick line, I have two- Kick Aster (a hardcore floral theme) or Peas in a Pod, with sweet pea and snow pea flowers. (Another horse name from the book 'Josie', and the title character in a short story from a Sword and Sorceress anthology.)
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Post by Ambrienne on Jun 19, 2011 21:10:29 GMT -5
(And that one requires The Big Fix, but we'll just leave it for posterity... because it prompted another quote that doesn't need an explanation.)
I was thinking of carrot, too, when I mentioned the veggies. Put in the right spices (like maybe some cinnamon and ginger), some walnut or pecan extract, and add in a few ingredients to simulate a good frosting (Perhaps vanilla and a coconut derivitive unless we can simulate cream cheese), and you've got the olfactory equivalent of carrot cake.
There could even be a whole dessert themed line simulating different cakes, cookies, and ice cream treats. And, of course, they'd automatically make good lip balms by definition. ...But if you put it in soaps, gels, n' stuff and it smelled that good, you'd have to put it out of reach of really young ones. They could try to eat or drink it.
That time I maneuvered my purchases to qualify for the tote deal was on the site, and I did choose things like you did with a load 'em up, knock 'em down strategy, but I managed not to get any bad scents. So, I guess it was kind of like hitting the Jackrabbit Jackpot, except without the repeated losses first.
Of course, since they started adding general fragrance notes to most of their scent descriptions, it's a lot less of a shot in the dark, unless you come to some major ingredient and you don't know what in the world that weirdly named thing is. Sure, since you're already on the internet, you could just look it up, but that would be too easy.
You know how you said something about putting a sea type fragrance in woodsy container? Say hello to Davy Jones' Locker. ...Okay, that might work more for a stronger sea scent than a delicate one. How about Mermaid's Kiss?
With the violet in pink, makes me think maybe of the name Shy Violet (If we were doing cartoon quotes that would have been a reference to Rainbow Brite, but hey...).
Nice slapsticks. Let's see if I can come up with some more. Perhaps a Carrot Top (which would be kind of a creamy carrot) and maybe a Strawberry Blondie (Kind of a cross over with the dessert theme), then a Brewnette (Coulld be either a tea or coffee flavor), and somehow words fail me for one with black hair. And technically that's two types of red hair, but calling it Dumb Blondie would just be mean... and not as innovative.
(Ha, wonder which number of kingdom that came from, and in, well, pretty much every pirate novel ever, including Treasure Island)
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