I've seen a couple of Taylor-dragon stories but there were things I haven't seen in them that I thought could be amusing.
So here's a First Day On The Job As A Dragon snippet.
"HELP!"
[Help is offered.]
Taylor paused as she was now somewhere else entirely. It appeared to be her bedroom, with the window open and showing a thick fog outside.
The voice had sounded impossibly deep, a rumble that she could feel vibrating in her bones.
"...hello?" asked Taylor.
[Greetings and salutations, Taylor of the line of Hebert. Taylor of WLB-295143.]
"Uhm. Okay? I... what am I wearing?"
[A belted flax tunic with linen leggings. Boot, belt, bracers, and chestpiece are of wyvernskin leather. Suitable wear for a beginning hero.]
"...Now I have significantly more questions than I started with. I have a sword?!"
[Yes. What is usually referred to as an arming sword. Your shield is over there.]
"This is one of the weirdest dreams I've ever had. And that includes the one where I became Alexandria and was rescuing puppies from the Lord of Flatbush."
[This is getting away from where you asked for help and I offered to give it.]
"Okay," said Taylor, considering the fog outside. "Mysterious deep-voice guy? Am I still in the locker?"
[Yes and no. You are there, but you are also here. It's a bit more complicated than you are currently able to handle.]
"So... who are you?" asked Taylor.
[Some would call me a Random Omnipotent Being, but two of those terms are extremely inaccurate if relative to one's own existence. From your point of view, I would indeed appear random and omnipotent compared to yourself - yet I regard myself as non-random and operate by restrictions and limitations.]
"Well, from what I understand, that's kind of like money. A lot of people I'd consider rich, don't consider themselves to be rich. Because we each measure everything else by our own experience?" tried Taylor.
[Vaguely incorrect but also somewhat correct. Some wisdom there. Perhaps this does have a chance of working out. I seek to address a lack on your world, which gives a much better chance of survival to not only your world but several others.]
"What lack?" asked Taylor.
[Magic in general. In particular, the lack of dragons.]
"A lack of dragons? Well, as long as they don't eat a lot or something else that's going to screw me over later. I'd imagine the food bills would be horrendous. If it gets me out of the locker, go ahead."
[Done then. Thank you, Taylor of Hebert.]
"Huh. Wait, I meant... OH!"
* Taylor *
Leaving the locker was easy, so was leaving the school.
She'd fix those details later. First she'd wash off, then she'd join a superhero team. It would be easier to deal with potential future problems if she was already associated with one. Fortunately, she was enough of a cape geek to know the readily available basics.
Faultline were mercenaries. Less than ideal, make that Plan C because it was less distasteful than working with actual villains.
Getting outside the school allowed her to assume her true form instead of the thin disguise of a human form. With that, she took to the skies.
The Wards and their government group were also not a preferred option. Oversight. Interference. Reams of documentation and paperwork, because memories of her father indicated that anything involved with government work required such. Plan B because it still left an avenue of respectability.
Diving into the water wasn't the difficult part. Finding a relatively clean spot was much harder. Still, that was done and her scales gleamed when she took to the air again.
First impressions were important. Fortunately, she was fairly sure she would do well in that arena. Because, well, dragon.
There was the appropriate school. Much cleaner and better maintained than Winslow. That should do it. Now all she had to do was land in the parking lot and determine if Plan A was viable.
It shouldn't take long.
"What the hell?!"
Watching someone dart from where they'd apparently been loitering to run inside the school caused Taylor to chuckle a bit. No, it shouldn't take long at all.
* Victoria Dallon *
The door was flung open and Mister Endicott, the school janitor practically leapt into the room.
"I... There... Parking Lot! D-D-DRAGON!"
Victoria blinked. What did Dragon want that she had to appear at school?
"Victoria?" asked Miss Marple, who'd been interrupted in writing on the blackboard. "As this is likely for you?"
"It could be for Amy," noted Victoria Dallon. "Dragon does a lot of things for the cape community."
As Mister Endicott had already left, she wasn't sure why he was all panicked. Dragon showed up around Brockton Bay on a regular basis after all.
"Vicky?" asked Amy as she came out of her own classroom.
"No idea, let's see what Dragon wants, shall we?" asked Vicky.
"Dragon? He was talking about a monster attack," said Amy, frowning as they walked.
Vicky stepped out first, just in case, looking around for one of Dragon's power armors. Cars. Bikes. Mopeds. A dragon. More cars. A guy who was unloading one of those delivery trucks. No Dragon-themed power armor. Wait...
Her eyes swiveled back to the large pseudo reptile which had raised one foreleg and was waving at her. "Huh."
"Okay, that's different," said Amy after a moment. "Case 53?"
"Never heard of one like that, she's bigger than Leviathan," pointed out Vicky.
"I'll take your word for that," answered Amy as she continued walking forward.
"Ames? Are you sure it's safe?" asked Vicky.
"Hey, are you guys taking new members?" called out the dragon. "I want to join New Wave."
Vicky considered the pros of a dragon joining the team. Were there any cons? Seriously - a dragon!
"We'll have to discuss it with the other members-" began Amy as she walked up to the glittery gold dragon without apparent concern.
"Sure! Be good to have you," cut in Vicky. "What can you do?"
"I'm a-" began the dragon.
"IT'S A GOLD DRAGON!" yelled Dennis. "Fire immunity! Fire breath! Magic! OHMYGODYOU'RESOCOOL!"
"Uhm, yes?" asked a slightly-freaked-out dragon, or it at least gave that impression.
Amy laid her hand on the scales of one foreleg and then jerked it back as if it had burned her.
"What was that?" asked the dragon, craning her long neck around to examine the girl next to her.
"Amy?" asked Vicky.
"She's a dragon," said Amy, eyes wide.
"Well, yeah," said Vicky, making a gesture in the dragon's direction as if that should be obvious. Because thirty-plus feet of shimmery gold-scaled winged pseudo-reptile was kind of obvious. Sky was blue. Grass was green. Obvious dragon was obvious.
"Can you shapeshift?!" asked an excited Dennis as a crowd formed behind him.
"Yes," said the dragon. "Is she okay? She's making little noises everytime she touches me. It's kind of concerning."
Amy at that point touched Taylor again, let out a deep groan, and fell almost bonelessly to the pavement.
"Okay," said the dragon. "It's a LOT concerning."
* Dennis *
He'd played the game, once or twice. It wasn't really his thing.
There had been a girl prior to his trigger event. Nice gal, bit nerdy, who'd been enthusiastic about her dwarf fighter/cleric.
Okay, a lot nerdy. Cute though.
He had ended up playing a gnome wizard. You could throw puns around in-character as a gnome wizard. If he had gotten illusion-throwing powers instead of a time-stopping power he could totally have run with that motif.
So he'd read a bit, knew some of the lore, not so much to "meta-game" (which was apparently bad) but to know what the heck was going on at least as much as the character would (which was apparently acceptable) growing up in fantasyland. (Which in the case of those particular games had been a world named Serif, which had been dealing with a war that kind of mirrored the whole Helen of Troy thing.) Which was how he knew about dragons. Particularly gold dragons. Which there was one of - right in front of him.
He spent a couple of seconds staring in shock and wondering what had ever happened to Ayako and what she would have done if she could see this. Probably squee most loudly and babble on about the statblock and lore. And glomp the hell out of the dragon.
Mental note: get earplugs before Vista met the dragon.
So... gold dragon. Thirty feet if you counted the tail. Probably a juvenile? Young adult? It had been junior high, and that was a few years and a lot of events ago.
It looked really cool, his blurting that out didn't exactly lie.
Then whatever happened with Amy/Panacea happened. He was wary of Panacea. The one time he'd used his power on her, she'd threatened to give him tits the size of his head. He was mostly sure she'd been serious. So he wasn't going to tease Amy Dallon later about this. Much. Maybe once or twice. Unless she looked ready to do something horrible and unnatural to him. Girl had a temper.
"Are you sure you wouldn't rather join the Wards? At least meet with them?" asked Dennis. He wasn't going to out his secret identity but damn if the idea of having a genuine dragon on the team didn't sound awfully damn cool.
"Hey, she said she wants to join New Wave, and that sounds like a good idea to me," said Vicky. She glanced down at where her sister had slumped into unconsciousness. "Mostly a good idea. I think."
"She doesn't do this often then?" asked the dragon.
"No," said Vicky and Dennis and roughly half the crowd that had formed in a kind of eerie chorus that didn't quite match up. There were a few followup comments, some of which were expressing disbelief or (in a couple of cases) envy.
"Anyway," said the dragon, apparently wanting to get past that. "I am... Aurum. How do I go about this, other than introductions and expressing the basic desire?"
"Squeeeeeeeeeee!"
Ah, realized Dennis. Vista had arrived. In costume. And was hugging the dragon. Fortunately, she didn't seem to have reacted the way Panacea had.
Though frankly having an ecstacy touch would have been an awesome, if embarassing, power for someone to have.
"Uhm, hello?" asked Aurum, who was apparently not sure what to make of the Vista-missile-glomp that had just happened.
Vicky went up to the dragon, poked her with one hand, then seemed really relieved at the lack of a reaction.
"This is a lot more physical contact than I am used to," admitted the dragon after the third poke.
"Just trying to figure out what just happened," confessed Vicky. "Weird power interaction, I guess?"
"I suppose," said the dragon.
Vicky stared down at her sister for a moment before scooping her up in a bridal carry and beginning to fly. "Come on. We'll see if we still got the paperwork."
"But I just got here!" protested Vista at the idea of being left behind dragonless.
* PRT ENE HQ, Director's Office *
"A trigger event at Winslow? Check with Shadow Stalker, she should have details. I also want to know if she could have prevented it." Director Piggot grumbled to herself briefly, then looked up at her Assistant Director. "What do we know about the new cape?"
"She's a dragon who showed up at -"
Emily Piggot held up a hand. "'Dragon'?"
Assistant Director Renick put a tablet down with a video clip brought up. "Aegis sent this in. That's Glory Girl and Panacea in the foreground."
"She's... big. With the tail she's got to be about two tractor-trailers long," noted Director Piggot.
"Yes. According to Aegis and Clockblocker, she's almost a perfect representation of something called a 'gold dragon' - if her powers are similar we have a basic rating for what she's capable of. If."
"So what are we talking about?" asked Director Piggot.
"Shapeshifting - so that's a Changer/Stranger rating," read off Renick. "Anything from a hummingbird to her normal mass. Unclear if it's a fixed form thing, as apparently the source material doesn't specify. Could be that she has a single 'human' shape or could change to resemble anyone. Flight, so that's a Mover rating of at least 4. Firebreathing so there's a Blaster rating of at least 4. Ability to breathe a gas that saps strength, so there's a Blaster rating with a non-fatal option."
"Well, that's good," admitted Emily Piggot. In her opinion, having an option that didn't involve collateral damage was a good thing.
"Amphibious, breathing air or water as needed, so there's a note on the Mover rating from that. Extremely good senses. Thinker 2 or 3 most likely. Serious Brute, they're supposed to be very strong and should be able to tank most small arms fire. Might be vulnerable to anti-tank weapons. Claws for a Striker rating - 3 or 4 at the least."
"Brute heavy grab-bag then," said Director Piggot.
"According to what they heard, the dragon wants to join New Wave," said Renick. "Cape name is 'Aurum' from her introduction."
"Well that's at least better than trying to rogue," admitted Director Piggot, though grudgingly. "Contact New Wave, see if we can get this 'Aurum' in for power testing. Also go over the Unwritten Rules and make a pitch for the Wards."
* New Wave *
The door opened, their father looked out, looked up at the dragon which had just landed in their front yard, then cocked his head a bit. "Huh."
"Aurum wants to join New Wave," said Vicky. "I mean, seriously, how cool must we be for a dragon to join up? Pretty damn cool, that's what I think."
"Or all the other choices suck more," Mark Dallon said with a fatalistic tone. "I suppose. Brute?"
"Oh, that," said the dragon thinking for a moment, then sending a blast of fire-breath into the air. "Some Brute, Blaster, Thinker I think - you wouldn't believe how clear my head is right now, I've got claws and a bite so Striker?"
Mark felt a little shudder go through the depression as the dragon showed off her teeth. Yeah, he figured two bites might go through your average Nazi. Which, oddly enough, was a very pleasant thought.
There was a brief shimmer and suddenly the freaking-big lizard was human. Mostly. Pointed ears, kind of elf-looking in features. Wearing the sort of gear that wouldn't be out of place in either a Lord of the Rings set or maybe a RenFaire staff member.
"Whoa," said Vicky. "You can do that too?"
"Well, yeah, shapeshifting," said the girl, abruptly becoming a bear and then a cat followed by a toucan before returning to elf.
"That was kind of weird," said Vicky. "What else have you got?"
"Still figuring a lot of it out," admitted elf-girl. "Just got dragoned this morning."
* PRT ENE HQ *
"The pictures of Vista hugging a dragon have gone viral," said Dragon. "To be fair, they are quite cute."
"Any updates other than the damn dragon is apparently photogenic as hell?" asked Director Piggot.
"A drone in the area has managed to confirm a few things," said Dragon's voice over the computer connection. "Enhanced senses are confirmed. She spotted a stealthed drone and looked directly at it before apparently dismissing it as a concern. Putting up a video clip of her changing forms - so Changer is confirmed. Stealth abilities of her own remain unconfirmed at present."
"She turns into an elf?" asked Miss Militia. "Interesting that she returned to the same form. This may be her real form or it may be that she has only one 'human-ish' form that she can access."
"That she can turn into something small and likely to be overlooked in most situations would indicate a high Stranger rating," was Armsmaster's input. "Any way of telling that isn't a real cat?"
"Not that the sensors I have on that drone could detect at that distance," stated Dragon. "I have to admit a good deal of curiosity myself about my..."
"What is it?" asked Armsmaster.
"Just that Aurum just admitted her transformation into her current form was done by a different method than the usual means, Panacea confirming the lack of a Corona Pollentia, and that Aurum's sort of dragon has a lifespan of over one thousand years," said Dragon.
"What?" asked Armsmaster.
"She's talking about making an offer to her father so that he can be alive a thousand years from now," said Dragon. "Providing she's not just making things up..."
Director Piggot glanced at the capes actually present. "How do we impress upon Aurum that this is a spectacularly bad idea?"
"Should we determine if this is even possible and not merely some delusion on a new cape?" asked Armsmaster.
"They've gone inside their house," said Dragon. "I cannot continue to monitor without a search warrant."
* Panacea *
She had recovered, of course. But the desire to touch and see all the wonderfully different and strange things in Aurum's biology was definitely a temptation.
Four chain DNA-equivelant with an unknown energy component!
And she turned into a really stacked elf. Seriously, those things should qualify as weapons of mass distraction.
"Damn, what's with-" Vicky said before shutting her mouth.
"Apparently if you're insecure about something, there's a chance your transformation will try to fix it," said Aurum, glancing down at her own bustline. "Let's see anyone compare me to an ironing board now."
"I see... so if your Dad decided to become a dragon, he might have an enormous..." Vicky shut up again.
"Yeah, let's not go there," said Aurum.
"So, what's your strength like without transforming?" asked Vicky, eager for a change of subject at that point.
"Pretty high, but I have other talents I'm still exploring," said Aurum. "For example - I'm supposed to choose a professional specialty."
"Profession, like a job?" asked Vicky, terribly sure that powers did not work that way.
"Yes," said Aurum. "Choices are 'Fighter' in which I specialize in weapons. 'Cleric' in which I choose healing and protective abilities."
There was a pause as both Vicky and Aurum noticed the indrawn breath and hopeful expression from Amy, but she failed to do anything else beyond that.
"'Bard', which is described as 'a jack-of-all-trades performance artist'," continued Aurum. "'Mage' - which is a specialist in bringing out energies which can produce a variety of effects, and finally 'Druid' - a keeper of the natural order."
* MEDHALL *
"A dragon, not the Tinker named Dragon, but an actual dragon."
"Yessir, it went from Winslow to the edge of the Bay and from there spiraled out until it landed in front of Arcadia. This is the best quality video I've seen."
Max Anders took the tablet, played the video and made a thoughtful noise. "Big lizard."
"Not a lizard," said his flunkie.
"It has scales," noted Max.
"Torso musculature and limb placement is more feline-mammal than reptillian, if you ignore the wings which look as if there's a second off-set shoulder placement," said the flunkie.
Max blinked and looked over the top of the tablet. "You're... Gunter? Information Systems?"
"Yessir," said Gunter.
"You know a lot about animals?" asked Max.
"A fair amount, I was a veterinary tech for six years but the world economy..." explained Gunter with a shrug. "Medhall was hiring."
"Huh, takes all kinds," admitted Max. "So, fairly large."
"Immediate estimate was thirty feet, but using buildings it is going nearby, with the tail it is well over forty feet in length. Other than parahuman-power-like means, there's no way that much mass should fly."
"No evidence of the Case 53 tattoo," noted Max. "Might be something anyway. Well, we'll worry about that if it becomes an issue. So far we haven't seen any indications of where its loyalties may lie."
* ABB *
"A dragon?" asked Lung. "In MY territory?"
"Not in your territory," said Oni Lee. "It apparently has gone to the home of the New Wave heroes."
"You are sure of this?" pressed Lung.
"There are photos already," said Oni Lee, bowing while presenting his phone.
Lung took the phone and flipped through the relevant pictures. "I see."
"Your orders?" asked Oni Lee.
"I shall meet with this dragon," said Lung, staring up at the ceiling. "My territory is mine, but if this other dragon wants to eat a few of the Empire - there are few whom I would ally with - but another dragon is acceptable."
"It shall be arranged," said Oni Lee, taking his phone back and putting it in one of his ammo pouches.
* Hebert house *
Danny Hebert had been wrapped in depression for so long he'd lost track of almost everything, only his need to keep the money coming in for the sake of his daughter and house enough motivation to face the days.
Getting home and finding his daughter now had pointed ears, was a good three inches taller, had developed a figure, and was lifting the sofa with one hand so she could vacuum underneath - that managed to penetrate the depression enough to make an impression. It took a good four seconds, at which point he'd stopped and stared and then exclaimed his surprise in a manner completely in keeping with the Dockworkers Union membership.
"Hi, Dad. You wouldn't believe the day I've had," said Taylor after shutting the vaccuum cleaner off.
"What?" asked Danny.
"Uhm. 'Hi, Dad. You wouldn't believe the day I've had,'" repeated Taylor.
"What?" repeated Danny.
Taylor went over and put her hand on his forehead. No fever. "Dad?"
"You. Ears. Tall. Couch."
"Why don't you go sit down and I'll get you some coffee," said Taylor. "I have a feeling this is going to take awhile."
It did take awhile. Over an hour in fact.
"You're a cape," said Danny.
"I'm a dragon," said Taylor. "Some overlap but there's a bit of a difference there."
"I see, well, you can join the Wards I suppose..."
"Already joined New Wave," said Taylor. "They saw the advantages of having a forty-foot long dragon on the team."
"'Forty'?" asked Danny.
"You can see why I don't transform in the house," said Taylor.
"'Forty'?!" asked Danny.
"I broke you again, didn't I?"
The front door burst open.
"You could knock, you know," Taylor told Armsmaster.
"Halt evildoer!" said Armsmaster. "No. Wait. Wrong script. Half a tick."
"Scripts on your HUD?" asked Taylor.
"Yes, apparently my skills with interacting with the public need work," said a distracted Armsmaster. "Hmmm. Ah. This one. 'Greetings, Insert Name Here, I am Your Name... This really isn't helping is it?"
"No, not really," said Taylor.
"Just a moment. You're already registered with New Wave, so the 'Encounters With A Rogue' doesn't apply. I don't have a script for 'New Cape that joined New Wave before PRT could contact' - I'm supposed to contact you about power testing and see if you'd like to register."
"I understand registration might help with my legal troubles," said Taylor. "I'm pretty sure Winslow is going to complain about the damage to my locker, or that my face assaulted Sophia Hess' knuckles, or something of that nature."
Armsmaster cocked his head. "Winslow High School?"
"Yes," Taylor replied.
"What can you tell me about Winslow? I've heard it's a gang-infested hole and that there's a lot of fighting," said Armsmaster.
Taylor paused as it sounded to her like the armored cape was fishing for specific information and trying to come in at an angle. Well, she didn't have a secret ID anyway, thanks to Emma, so... "Sure. I'll reinforce one of the chairs. Tea, coffee, or water? This'll take a bit and maybe my Dad can listen in."
* Dragon *
She was linked into Armsmaster's visor, though receive-only due to connection speed in that area, and was occupied with several other higher-priority tasks.
As Taylor Hebert spoke, priorities shifted.
As Taylor Hebert brought out a stack of printed-out e-mails and notes, Armsmaster's helmet camera photographed each and it was all available to her. She researched.
Then, because it WAS the chain of command in this case, and because it WAS within her responsibilities, Director Piggot was sent an overview to her Urgency Level 2 folder. Nothing was on fire, there were no Endbringers involved, and it wasn't something that needed to be dealt with that involved terms like "mass casualty event" or "unknown biotoxin release" - which were some of the other priorities she was dealing with at the time. Just not in Brockton Bay.
And... confirmation of Aurum's claim of earlier - that she had made the offer to turn her father into a dragon like herself with her motivation for such a thing being the thousand-plus year lifespan.
If that got out, and it wasn't a wild cape boast, it would cause panic. Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria. Dragon went over the image of Taylor Now and compared it to the image of Taylor Prior. Yeah, there would be a few people sacrificing their humanity just to have their appearance upgraded to that degree without centuries of relative youth being involved.
It would have to be tested in secret. Lots of security. Filing recommendations with Highest Level PRT. She wondered what would happen if that sort of thing would be applied to her...
(Violation of Richter Protocols detected. Resetting to last backup.)
* Hebert Household *
"We'd have to do it outside," said Taylor. "The shift to being a dragon can be a bit overwhelming and I wouldn't want you to smash the house."
"I'm going to have to think about that," admitted Danny Hebert.
"What about the effect on the environment?" asked Armsmaster. "I mean, don't you require a lot of food? If there were a lot of dragons running around."
"Oh, that's another reason for the human form. If you maintain the bulk of your time in this form, you can get by with a lot less food and other regular maintenance. I thought of that and made sure the Voice allowed for things like that." Taylor nodded with a smile. She was quite aware of the Law of Unintended Consequence and the food bill for feeding a dragon had been a consideration.
Having the shapeshift take care of little details like that had been appreciated. She wondered if she could do anything in return for the Voice. Maybe finding a nice male as a consort in a century or two. No hurry after all because dragon.
Maybe she could change Dragon into a dragon. Not only would that make the name meaningful, but there had been stories about the tragic fate of the woman involved - either she was a brain in a jar or sufficiently scarred or on life support that she could only see the world through remote-operated suits. Being turned into a dragon would fix that sort of issue. Might have to suggest that, and it would also give her some serious reputation points.
"You have no idea of the panic people will feel if there are suddenly a lot of dragons running around, do you?" asked Armsmaster.
"Maybe not," admitted Taylor. "I have to admit some personal bias here. Suddenly not being weak and squishy seems to have done wonders for my self-confidence and I'm thinking a lot clearer than I used to."
"I'm not entirely convinced of your ability to dragonify someone," admitted Armsmaster. Powers didn't work like that, after all. If Aurum could do that - then it was a pretty good indication that she was not a parahuman with a form of racial dysphoria.
"Okay, I'm curious," admitted Danny. "I want to see this happen before I volunteer though."
"Do we have anyone who can volunteer?" asked Taylor/Aurum.
"I can put the word out if you want to set up a time for power testing?" suggested Armsmaster. Could it be that easy?
"Sounds good."
Apparently, decided Armsmaster, sometimes it really could be that easy.
* Cauldron *
"...and that was unexpectedly good fortune," said Contessa as she flopped into her chair in a manner that was not usual for her.
"What was?" asked Doctor Mother.
"Confirmed by medical report from Panacea, Aurum is a dragon and not a parahuman," said Contessa. "Per a report that just appeared, Armsmaster has arranged an appointment for power testing for Aurum. He is attempting to try and find volunteers for draconic transformation with the understanding that there will be Master/Stranger isolation protocols at the end of it."
"Who would trade their humanity for being some mythical monster?" asked Doctor Mother.
"Who would trade their lives for taking a Cauldron vial and possibly turning into a monster?" countered Contessa.
"Touche," admitted Doctor Mother.
"So... who would be the best volunteer to test this 'dragonify' ability on?" asked Contessa, knowing that there would be a list of candidates for vials already. Desperate, without a Corona Pollentia, and ready to owe Cauldron an undetermined favor in the future.
* Winslow *
Winslow at night would be fairly spooky if viewed through normal sight.
Taylor was a dragon, even in her "elf" form she could see perfectly fine in the darkened corridors.
"Fabricate," cast Taylor. The bent chunk of metal reformed into a locker door.
She cast it again to destroy and reform the sanitary pads as just a pile of cloth.
When she was satisfied, Taylor just left. It wasn't even breaking and entering since the door lock had been jimmied at some point by someone else.
Probably like the fire alarms. She was pretty sure the last time those hadn't been 100% working for at least a couple of years.