#btw i hate drawing tactical gear

[8cuttlefish]

you could reverse soap n ghost in both of these and it would still work tbh

[texanredrose]

Y’all want a laugh? Here’s my explanation of the dream I had that eventually became Loyalty. Not fucking edited to preserve the shenanigans.

Alright. I have no idea how much of this is accurate, but this is how it went. Tried to break it up a bit so it's not as wall-o-texty.

So the girls are a team, right? Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang? And the organization they work for is like a government branch dedicated to hunting down Grim. That's about as much as I've gleaned, so I don't know if any of the following is actually canon or not, but that's the impression I've been working under. Apparently.

Well, our tale starts out like so: the girls are chilling in their base of operations- which was pretty swank, for whatever reason- when they get sent out on a mission to protect a high value target during transport. Yang's not so thrilled, Ruby's chipper about another mission, Weiss is anal Type A about completing it perfectly, and Blake just wants to get things over with so she can go back to her book (from what I could tell, this was considered a normal reaction for all four, so I suppose this may be where the characterizations begin to differ? Dunno). So, they head out, escorting some dude on a train, when it gets attacked by Grim (which my subconscious apparently takes to mean 'fucking werwolves'. I also rewatched the Underworld movies recently, so might be that). Yang volunteers to deal with the Grim at the back of the train while Ruby and Weiss head to the front, to protect the train's engine (the logic is that Yang can always punch off the connections between cars if she starts getting overwhelmed), leaving Blake to defend the VIP. Except, there actually are no Grim- they're just, like, shadow replicas, I have no idea how, but they go poof when hit, kinda like the Puttys from Power Rangers- and Yang, Ruby, and Weiss dispatch them easily, but not before their VIP knocks Blake out. Apparently, the mission was arranged by their organization (I think it's called Beacon? No shits given) and Yang, Ruby, and Weiss return to the VIP car to find Blake in heavy duty restraints and their VIP calling in an airlift, which promptly arrives to whisk Blake away to the protestations of Weiss, Ruby, and Yang, though Weiss is most vocal (she keeps citing protocol. Again, anal Type A, the forms were not filled out in triplicate, now bring Blake back this instant, asshole). They get stonewalled and, eventually, placed under house arrest back in their base of operations.

Weiss spends the time yelling and pacing, Ruby tries calming her down, and Yang is amused. At some point, one of the other chicks drops by (I believe her name is Cinder? Low cut red blouse, that's all I remember) and informs the group that Blake is believed to be a spy for the Grim and, through extreme measures of pain compliance, has revealed herself as having a Grim form (again, fucking werewolves). Because of this, she will be executed. Weiss is pissed, but waits until Cinder leaves to start debating their options, eventually narrowing it down to either accepting the boss' decision and letting Blake die or rebelling and freeing Blake. Ruby tries to talk to her but Yang stops her by the classic big sister tactic 'keep her from squirming and smother her mouth' (are they sisters? Fuck it, don't care) and instead eggs Weiss on until Weiss decides that, yep, she's going to rebel. Yang is excited for the impending kickassery (she apparently likes fighting losing battles? Bring 'em on) and Ruby is just praying they all make it through alive (though the youngest- I guess?- still the generally level headed one). They gear up and break out of their house arrest, fighting through their own complex to find Blake. By the time they get to her, they're extremely fatigued, but Weiss is hella determined to break through the ridiculously heavy restraints practically burying Blake. That's when (what I assume to be) the biggest and baddest of Beacon's agents show up, including Cinder, Weiss' older sister, the ice cream chick (Napoleon? Fuck, the pink and brown girl, you know who I'm talking about), and the twin chicks (I don't know they're names, but I think I've seen fan art of them in the Kill La Kill outfits?), along with the head of Beacon, their father (muscly dude, wears a suit, owns a bar?). Weiss, Yang, and Ruby are clearly outmatched but fight anyway, eventually getting smacked down due to their weakened states. Just when it looks like they're about to get absolutely destroyed, the complex comes under attack by- shocker- fucking Grim. As the agents turn their attention to the sudden attack, a group of Grim break off from the main body and infiltrate the room, finding the girls. Weiss blacks out as the Grim begin attacking Blake's restraints.

Weiss, Ruby, and Yang wake up later in the Grim stronghold, which is like a network of caves with naturally luminescent crystals lining it (I guess my subconscious was trying to imply that the Grim are not tech savvy. Or tech friendly. Au naturale. Moving on.), and under guard by several Grim. They are eventually lead to a main chamber, where the King of the Grim is basically holding a trial for Blake. Turns out, she's not a spy for the Grim, but an outcast, shuned by the Grim for failing to become a 'true' Grim (apparently, this process involves revoking her humanity and accepting her beastial form, which I guess is the nuance between Grim and fucking werewolves; the Grim never revert to a human state and hate humanity as an aberration of the natural order of predators). However, being discovered by Beacon meant they would possibly use her for experimentation and find a way to end the war between humans and Grim in the humans' favor, which they can't allow. Blake refutes the accusation she was willingly allowing herself to be used by Beacon for the purpose of engineering a 'cure' but the King demands that she kill one of her teammates to prove her innocence. At this point Weiss has had enough of this shit and, in turn, challenges the King to a duel over Blake (okay, that's not originally her wording, because she's playing this weird I-like-her-but-she-can't-know-that game that Yang thinks is stupid and Ruby just kinda shrugs because the others are older and she's not quite to the mooning over a love interest portion of her life yet, but the Grim apparently have some sort of rule where a Grim can be challenged in regards to a female, usually meant for breeding purposes, but all the Rules Lawyers are dicks and want to see the human and the King fight, so they bend the law a bit). It's a hard fought battle (Yang is a very obnoxious cheerleader, btw) but Weiss manages to force the King to yield, sparing Blake's life, which leads to a heat-of-the-moment, she-is-mine moment from Weiss that has Blake basically saying 'well, yeah, I'm okay with this'.

The fallout of embarrassing him, though, is that the King refuses to harbor the girls, and promptly kicks their asses out of the Grim caves to fend for themselves. While trekking through a forest- and with a little prodding (in the form of Ruby making Weiss actually own up to her feelings and Yang instilling Blake with some needed confidence)- Blake and Weiss admit they share a 'mutual attraction' (Weiss' phrasing?). Happy lovey dovey time is short lived, however, when Beacon's agents find them, catching the group off guard and subduing them. They're brought back to some sort of chamber, apparently being put on trial (again!) for the whole breaking Blake out thing, but it's actually going in the girls' favor. Between Weiss pointing out the inadherence to protocol, Yang's adamant defense of Blake as a teammate, and Ruby's inability to lie worth a damn, the 'jury'- which is just the higher agents of Beacon- are inclined to believe that Blake isn't a spy and is an honorable Beacon agent but head honcho isn't convinced. They're put in solitary confinement while the 'jury' deliberates, which consists of Ruby drawing as an outlet for her distress, Yang turning her mattress into a punching bag- and subsequently destroying it- as her outlet, Weiss burying herself in Beacon's rules/laws/whatever texts, and Blake tapping into her Grim side on the off chance they're found guilty and must fight their way out (again).

So, next day, Weiss found a bunch of interesting information, but none of it useful, Yang's primed for a fight, Ruby's just her optimistic self, and Blake's suddenly having trouble containing her animal instincts. Against many agents' wishes, head honcho decides that, yeah, girls are goners. Of course, the girls aren't going down without a fight, so it's initially up to Blake to draw as much attention for the others to grab their gear and level the playing field. Due to the whole 'we told you this was a bad idea' thing, Weiss' sister, ice cream chick, and Cinder refrain from the fight, until the Grim attack (again) and draw them into the fight. Turns out, Blake's distress during the whole ordeal has been like a beacon (pun!) for the other Grim and they've been timing their attacks when she's at her weakest emotionally, therefore most susceptible to making the conversion to Grim. So now we've got the Grim King, Beacon Head Honcho, and the girls in a three way battle. Weiss' priority is keeping the King from getting too close to Blake (it's still obvious he sees Blake's failed conversion as a personal insult) and Blake's priority is keeping Head Honcho away from Weiss (he sees her as the instigator in the rebellion of Ruby and Yang). This leads to Back-to-Back badasses on Weiss and Blake's part as they deal with their respective opponents, Weiss using the cool swordie thing while Blake's using her Grim powers (because I have no idea; does she actually have an assigned weapon?) and they're actually holding their own pretty well. Ruby and Yang are running interference, keeping both Beacon and Grim from joining their respective leader while pitting the two sides against each other whenever possible.

Then, in a show of finesse, Weiss manages to pierce the heart of the Grim King. At the same time, Blake uses her animal strength to overpower Head Honcho, caving the dude's head in. Everything else stops as everyone realizes that both leaders are dead. The agents of Beacon look to Blake while the Grim look to Weiss. After some tense and awkward staring, Weiss remembers something she read the night before: Beacon does run on mostly paperwork, but there's a really old clause that no one bothered to repeal, basically stating that if anyone was able to topple the leader, that person becomes the new leader immediately. Cinder acknowledges that, yes, that's still a rule (Ruby thinks it's a stupid rule; Yang is quite adamant that it's awesome and wishes she'd known about it sooner), which effectively places Blake as the head of Beacon. As it turns out, the Grim have a very similar rule (like, verbatim), which makes Weiss the Queen of the Grim. Still ready to tear through anyone who gets too close, Blake needs Weiss' help in calming her Grim side and bringing it under control (ironically, she's completed half of becoming a 'true' Grim by killing a human out of anger) while Blake pleads the case of the Grim (really, they're not all that bad; once they have a goal, they're dedicated to it, so it's really the King's fault they've been attacking the humans, they can be good pups, she swears). The two immediately order a halt to the hostilities (Yang is not exactly pleased) and everyone calms their collective shit.

Apparently (as in, the explanation given in this particular dream), Beacon and the Grim used to be two sides of the same coin: two branches of a central government. Beacon was basically the executive branch and the Grim were their enforcers, until some split happened that neither wanted to take responsibility for, leading to the decades old feud. Seeing as Blake and Weiss are now the heads of the factions, they order the hatchet be buried and reform the old government. Weiss commands the Grim as enforcers of the law while Blake takes on the administrative role as head of Beacon. They help each other out, of course, seeing as Weiss is way more into paperwork and Blake definitely 'gets' the Grim better, but they make it work. Meanwhile, Ruby and Yang are elevated to Blake's and Weiss' assistants, respectively, which amounts to Ruby getting to be a people person while Yang gets to grapple with Grim for training purposes. They are totally okay with this. Of course, not everything's perfect, seeing as the twins are a bit pissed their dad's dead and have defect to form a rough faction, and now Blake and Weiss have to deal with that headache, but it could've been worse.

So, it's essentially the story of how Blake and Weiss take over the world through the power of love.