Two sets of inspiration for some of this snippet:
1: Wanted to do something for Whip around the time of her birthday on October 12th (by the time this gets posted it'll have been far past the 12th).
2: Leona's Heidern-themed costume in SNK Heroines.
What was usually a month within the season of preparation for the Ikari army towards whatever 'threat of the year' may come was instead part of an open schedule this year as a result of the King of Fighters tournament's rare off-season year.
And interestingly, it just so happened to be October...
For as long as traditional history has understood, the month of October guaranteed two things:
A focused respect on all things monsters and the supernatural.
And costumes galore.
Unlike most of the other soldiers, Leona didn't have much in the way of being 'social' or having awareness of 'trends' outside of the military world she knew. She was primarily focused on 'the mission at hand' whenever there was one.
Therefore, her costume for the Halloween tradition was a nod to the one she felt the most familial comfort within – the commander who helped bring her into the ranks of the Ikari Warriors.
Aside from an unbuttoned opening in her jacket, Leona's costume decently replicated the camo-green-colored fashions of Heidern – right down to the cloth wrapped over her right eye.
However, she wasn't as confident about Whip's costume on this 'dark holiday'...
"I hope you don't feel offended when I ask, but... what exactly are you supposed to be?"
Whip met back on the bluenette with a raised brow, and it was hard to tell if she was perplexed by Leona's lack of pop-culture awareness or if the shiny and squeaky leather of Whip's skin-suffocatingly tight 'Catwoman' cosplay was as uncomfortable as it seemed.
"I figured I had to work with something that involved Voodoo..." Whip held her namesake close, hooped around her forearm. "Might as well put her to good use~"
Leona admitted bluntly, "I feel as though you're intending to be noticed around here..."
"That's half the fun with a costume party like this," responded Whip. "I'd say you might be pretty noticeable too. I know that's not what you mean, considering who you're trying to flatter."
"It's the most I could do," Leona responded. "At the least, the Commander could be flattered by my tribute."
She was about to exit the quarters she had shared with Whip as they got prepped and properly costumed – but something held her back before she could fully open the door.
The starting few inches of the mystical whip's elastic length hooking right on the back of Leona's pants, wrapped snug around the belt.
This rendered Whip to a chuckle that only slightly struggled to come out. "Sorry~ I think Voodoo's a little flattered herself."
Seemed as though the festivity of the cosplay was getting to her already. The normal professionalism had stepped aside to warrant an unleashed Voodoo.
Leona wasn't supremely irritated by the notion, only mildly inconvenience.
"Whip, could you please...?"
Whip chuckled again. "Alright, alright... Voodoo, be a good girl now..."
She tugged on her prized plaything, bringing Leona closer towards her as she quickly contemplated the best way to unloop Voodoo from her cohort's pants.
Leona's already agitated mood wasn't being helped by every budge that followed.
"Whip, I'm serious..."
"I know; I'm trying..."
Whip was tugging a little harder – she was realizing quickly how hard she hooked on, and the results were more difficult than normal
Not to mention torture for the fabric.
VRRRIP~!
Leona's pants gave up all of a sudden, and ripped almost the whole way off of her waist and beneath.
As soon as she felt air grazing even more on her skin, she looked down, and anyone with top-notch vision could be able to see the tips of Leona's hair already struggle to turn red as she stared coldly at the whip-bearing soldier.
Whip's chuckle was a mixture of shame, comedy and a little bit of fear. "I-I swear I didn't mean to do that~!"
She was lucky Leona simply and silently left the room for a new, preferably untorn pair.
As for the other half that made up the main quartet of famed Ikari soldiers under Heidern's wing – the two that defined the 'Ikari Warriors' name – the keyword to the answer was simply 'Testosterone'.
"What's the matter – Ikari got you pushin' too many pencils?"
Clark's body put energy towards the muscles that mattered, his right arm struggling against his partner's left; sweat dripped over veins shrouded by the camo face-paint of his Dutch Schafer homage.
"Heh – don't draw 'first blood'..."
Ralf was letting the red headband channel one John Rambo through his simple, shirt-unneeded costume – much like his blond partner, it wasn't exactly high-effort, but to support some 'fictional war heroes', it was on-brand for the Ikari Warriors' motivation of badassery.
To them, it was a very referential moment of manliness – but to Leona trying to walk past them in this cramping hallway, she would rather not have to deal with anything right now.
"Oh – hey, Leona..." The first thing Ralf glimpsed on Leona's costume was the eyepatch. "No guesses as to who you're going as, huh?"
Clark followed, "'Like commander, like agent', right?"
The most Leona let out vocally was a slight grunt of unease as she ducked beneath the clutched-together arms of her cohorts...
As she evaded further contact, both of the strong-armed soldiers were a bit confused about her self-conscious nature of getting around them.
"Huh... something up her ass or somethin'?"
"Might want to work on that phrasing, Ralf."
Somewhat apt advice given the 'pantsless' state of Leona's tributing costume...
…and how little anything else covered up the admittedly well-curved butt of the blue-haired soldier, and how little of an underlayer of black undergarments there was to cover up the unmentionables. If she wasn't trying to hurry around the corner, she would've had quite the sharp stare to fling at her fellow agents for the possible cheek-peeking.
It could've been worse. It could've been a cat bikini.
So yeah – also played a little bit on the 'Rambo' reference dynamic that the Ikari Warriors were inspired by. Naturally it turned into something more about Schwarzenegger (and his role of Dutch in 'Predator') and Stallone since they're usually the two that are compared alongside one another in terms of 'old-school action film superstars'.
