Cinder hummed very softly as she pulled out her thieves tools and got to work on the lock chanting the silly little mnemonic as she worked,<em> "The j pick goes into the drop pin, the gonzo hook slips up the last bar, the full ball slides up the mid pin, and the tension bar..."</em>she turned the knob on the handle, grinning,<em> "opens the whole darn thing up."</em>She pushed the door just slightly open as she withdrew her tools.  Then her keen hearing picked up the sound of footsteps.  She paused for only a moment to identify them, yup, somewhere on this floor and coming closer.  She yanked the lockpicks from the door and slid her kit through the open door, following closely behind.  She shut the door quickly and silently and pressed her ear against the door listening.  An agonizing thirteen seconds past as she heard the footsteps approach, then pass by the door, apparently unaware of her presence.<br/><br/>She breathed a sigh of relief, then grinned, she still had it.  She packed away her tools and looked around the lab.  It was dimly lit with a pair of glowing mage lights that hovered in crystal spheres on the ceiling, and one entire wall let in dim moonlight, more than enough for her to see by.  The lab itself looked like an amalgamation of a school teacher's office, replete with desk and bookshelves taking up a third of the room, one of the corners by the windows, with the rest of the space being devoted to a few tables, some of which were empty, some of which bore alchemist and magical equipment.  There was also a large glass cabinet that contained row after row of different liquids, jars of magical components, and small potion vials of unknown fluids.  Most of which she didn't recognize, some of which she did.  Once you knew the distinctive healthy red glow of a healing potion, it was hard to mistake it.  Especially when said healing potions conformed to the unwritten standard of being marked with the embossed image of a single red 'drop' of blood on the front.  But the pearlescent white one, the thrumming purple vial, the vial that seemed to contain a swirling mist?  Yeah, Cinder had no idea what those were all about.  "Probably best not to mess with those," Cinder said softly, more to keep her own curiosity in check than anything else.  Because the gods themselves knew she had issues with impulse control.<br/><br/>She sniffed the air, hoping for some sign of corruption or taint, but the lab was too fouled with a melange of a thousand different smells.  The only two that were immediately identifiable were that of Virella's scent and the unmistakable scent of sex.  Man seed and fem ejaculate, this room had seen more than it's fair share, Cinder knew for certain.  Where?  That leather couch?  Her desk?  The table tops?  Pressed up against the windows?  Probably all of the above if the smell was any sign.<br/><br/>Well, hoping for a scent was a bust, maybe she should poke around since she was already here.  Virella was an academy mage and probably kept some sorts of records in her desk, right?  Then again maybe the magical equipment would give her a clue?  Then again, it might be fun to sample the potions in that cabinet.  Why?  Well, she didn't have a good reason for that last idea, but it somehow felt like it might be worth trying.  This wasn't just because she was impulsive and ever curious, there was a job to do damnit.  That's what she told herself anyways.