Philip
Now, there were two ways to go about this; A smart way was obvious, of trying to scope this person out before making an approach. Icidro, while normally a smart man, was more incensed than anything else upon seeing the figure's black coat.

Brazenly walking through those doors and into the building, the caballero struts his stuff all the way over to the front desk. Coming to place his hands atop its surface, Icidro leeeeaaaans over the desk with an edged smile, eyebrow raised as he regards the figure for any particular details—

"— Having trouble with the ledger, amigo?"
Michelle
*Under the hood is a black cloud, obscuring any potential face beneath. The figure, however, leans back, shaking its head with unsteady motions. Icidro's likely to notice that its sleeves go far over its hands.*
Philip
Either he'd frightened them by coming on too strong, or the figure was put off upon having been caught red handed. Either case, simply accusing them would just cause them to clam up, no?

"Aaah— Apologies for scaring you." Icidro says, before gesturing toward his own face upon finding this figure lacking one, "I was passing through, you see— There have been _reports_ of some 'gang activity,' you see, with the common denominator of black coats such as yours— A scary thing, that I had thought been handled."

"If I may ask, would you mind pulling back your hood? It's bad luck to wear it indoors, you know."
Michelle
*The figure shakes it's head more vehemently, waving it's arms back and forth in front of itself in a very clear, nonverbal "No!" This causes it to wobble side to side. It appears to nearly lose its balance before doubling over, then straightening back up. It's movements are somewhat reminiscent of a Tube Man, but with intention behind them.*
Philip
... What was this? An uncoordinated Toon? A pair of children on each other's shoulders? It had to be _something_ alive, with how animatedly the shook their head, 'no.' Attempting to see for himself, Icidro reaches out to grasp them by the shoulder— An odd scene to walk in on, if any of the other Storm Riders were to walk in on them.

"Steady." He murmurs, eyebrows raised, "Are you sure everything's alright?"
Michelle
*As soon as the knight puts his hand on the figure's shoulder, it collapses. White and black spotted puppies numbering seven jump out of the face hole, fall out of the sleeves, and scurry out from the bottom, running around Icidro's feet. Two puppies immediately run out of the hotel. Four stay well behind the counter. One, however, walks in a circle on the counter, then looks up at Icidro, eyes watering. He looks tired.*
Philip
"— Puppies?!" Icidro startles just as badly as the ones booking it out of the hotel. A half-beat passes as the caballero has to process this piñata of a display they had set up, before shouting out, "Pongo! Perdita! Those are your parents' names, right?!"

"Come back, we've been looking for you!" He says, before looking back down toward the ones left behind. Flustered, baffled, and a number of other emotions, Cid repeats himself far quieter, to them, "... I know your parents?"
Michelle
*One of the two puppies stops, then slowly walks back over to Icidro's feet. She looks up and cocks her head at the mention of her parents.*

*Three of the puppies behind the counter then jump up onto it. One leaps back off of it onto the handle of a drawer, grabbing it with their small teeth. They kick off the bottom of the drawer, opening it, then drop back down.*

*Another puppy jumps off the counter onto the open drawer, tosses a pen and a small scratchpad onto the counter, then jumps back down onto the floor.*

*Lastly, the third puppy grabs the pen with his mouth and writes on the paper in large letters:*

`PARENTS?`
Philip
"Holy—..." Oh, that's... Unnerved by the sheer degree of intelligence on display here, Icidro's world view has to shift by a few more degrees than he thought it already has. Blinking rapidly, Icidro nods to the puppy behind the written message. He offers a hand out toward the puppy in question on the hope that he still smelled enough of Pongo to prove himself.

"Pongo and Perdita, aren't they? They're holed up just down the road, in that house right—" Pointing to the house's roof just within the same district, Icidro's gaze snaps back toward the puppies, "— They never stopped looking for you. They just have more help, now."

"Want to go see them?" He asks, before looking back out the door, then down to his feet, "We're down one— You think you can call them back?"
Michelle
*The three puppies behind the counter jump up and start yipping amongst themselves excitedly, bouncing up and down. The puppy with a pen in his mouth snaps at one when she steps on his scratchpad, then tries to nudge the crowd away. They eventually get the message, bounding over to the left side of the counter joyfully.*

*The writer puppy, however, writes another word, then yips once at Icidro when he's done.*

`POSTCARD`
Philip
"Postcard? I'm sorry, I'm not sure what you mean. What postcard?" As he continues to address the puppies and watch them bound and cavort around him, Icidro's initial shock fades in lieu of novelty and adoration.
Michelle
*The Puppy jumps back to the open drawer, pulls out a flier (  ), and waves it at Icidro with his mouth. He's likely to recognize it, having seen them around Traverse Town.*
Philip
Icidro stares at the poster for a long time. Far too long. When he actually moves again, it's to draw his Gummy Phone and snap a picture of the puppy and poster together.

```'Assassin' was puppies. Mogcorp has puppies hostage.``` 

"... Thank you for bringing this to my attention— Is that why you were working here? Ah... Don't worry, we'll get them back."

"Now, shall we go to the post office, or go and see your parents?" Icidro asks after a moment of furious texting, a smile on his face as his phone buzzes in response.
Michelle
*The lobby erupts in yipping, with all the puppies scrambling over to the writer puppy and tackling the poster. From the bottom of the dogpile, the writer puppy taps a spot on the scratchpad.*

`POSTCARD`