Although swim season is over, the heat of summer makes a great time for practice. For nearly two months, Ami locked herself up in libraries, forcing herself to study hard and avoid all extracurriculars. Combined with her penchant for stress eating, it wasn't healthy, and now--disappointed with her body image--she's hit the pool hard again, with an intent of getting her racing figure back in shape.
Truthfully, it won't take her long, but no one has ever accused Ami of half-measures when it comes to competitiveness. For the past hour, she's been doing laps in the large pool at Seishou Public School, alternating between timing herself at freestyle or butterfly, and taking short breaks with breast stroke laps.
Now, with dinner time approaching, she finally pulls herself up at the edge of the pool. She's in a racing one-piece: a dark blue number with silver accents and trim. Her skin is wrinkled from all the time int he water, and her hair is soaked. Rather than getting fully out, though, she just pulls herself up to the edge, grabs a towel, and wraps herself while she lets her body cool down a little from all the work. Drying off in the sunshine feels good, and Ami really isn't in a hurry, today.
He's carefully off to one side, not dressed for swimming at all, but watching nonetheless. The casual observer might mistake him for a stalker, or a creep- if they noticed him at all. It's not likely, given that he's somewhat difficult for those with mundane senses to notice. Still, when she emerges from the pool, Izumi- Zoisite's- distinct voice floats out of a 'nowhere' that soon switches to a 'somewhere'.
It's pointedly a safe distance from the dangers of getting chlorinated water on him, even by intent. This doesn't make him any less likely to get attacked by water, to be fair, but it might at least casually reduce the risk of her splashing him in surprise or using the pool while in civilian form, at least. "I thought you'd never get out of the pool." His tone is a pout, and his expression goes with it. "I have something I need to tell you, and it's rather important." He would much rather be taunting her for her mental health than delivering the news he bears.
Notably, he is not trying to be an irritant- if anything, he's trying to accentuate the severity of his expression and tone. It wasn't all that long ago that a civilian knowing Sailor Moon's mundane identity would have been a goldmine for him, something he would have exploited to her detriment. It would have suited him all the better that it was a member of her own family. The fact that this thought causes him discomfort isn't on his face, but the 'intensity' is. He's mostly resisting the urge to sit on the air, though the tempation is there- especially given the discomfort of this topic. It's one thing for his own paper-thin guise as Izumi Inoba to fall apart, another for the mystery surrounding Sailor Moon to be punctured by her own father.
"Waah!" Ami's response to the sound of Zoisite's sudden voice is dramatic and, unsurprisingly, slightly confused. She teeters towards the pool but catches herself from falling in, then covers herself more fully in her towel. "What are you doing here!?" she asks, irritatedly, as she rolls to her feet and stalks towards him. "Geeze, haven't you ever heard of a cell phone?" Nevertheless, she isn't running away, and she isn't punching him. Maybe she isn't going to throw anything at him this time (all she's got is the towel, after all).
"I've got something I should tell you, too," Ami says resignedly once she's closer to him. She's still dripping, a steadily growing puddle at her feet. "But I guess you first, since what I have to say isn't really that important."
Zoisite rolls a graceful shrug. "I'm sure you've heard stories about me and phones," he says casuallly. Pointedly, he's not actually looking at her. If she pays attention, it's pretty obvious he has little to no interest in how she looks in a swimsuit, for the moment. Even as fodder for teasing about how he's seen her in one. He does fix her with a flat stare, dead in the face, after a moment. It's as bland as plain oatmeal. "I figured you would take my news better if you were in a place where you had an advantage... and an opportunity to be upset about it while you are otherwise isolated." Also known as a warning that she is very likely to dislike the news, nearly as much as he does.
The idea that she has something to tell him gets an eyebrow raised, but not much more of an expression other than that. "Tsukino Kenji knows who Sailor Moon is," he says after a moment, picking his words carefully. His face is suspiciously, studiously blank, his tone as flat as possible. Newscasters and newspapers everywhere simultaneously lusted after the lack of bias in his tone, which was, in itself, a tell for how much he hates this concept. Still, a loose lock of hair goes around one of his finger, and the too-bland expression fades after a moment. "I hope what you have to tell me is better news."
Ami opens her mouth, then closes it, then opens it again and stares at him agape for a few moments. That is not the news she expected. Not even remotely related to anything hse might have expected.
It, suitably, takes her a moment to process. Eventually, she reacehs up to rub at her face with the towel, and uses the opportunity to close her mouth again. She takes a slow, uneven breath, then asks, "Who told him? And does Usagi know?"
The youngest Shitennou nods a little at her shock- it's pretty much exactly what he was expecting. He also loses his fight with the urge to sit in the air. "He followed Mamoru-sama around, apparently, and yes, he knows." He sighs, heavily, dramatically. "Mamoru-sama thought it would be best for you to know, given your role on her team, and sent me to tell you." He had been following herm after all. He would know where to find her, and his Prince had exercised his Royal Right to delegate the hell out of the task.
The fact that he isn't taking the silence as a chance to tease her over being in just a swimsuit is likely telling about how serious he finds his own news. Still, now that she knows, it bears asking. "What were you going to tell me?"
"Get down," Ami scolds Zoisite irritatedly, then sighs and reaches up to rub at her forehead. She shakes her head, then sighs. "Well, if Usagi-chan knows, it's mostly her problem. I ... think I would freak out if my mother knew, but ... I suspect she won't care as much."
Ami sighs and looks up at him again, then shakes her head. "Why is it every time you come around, you tell me something painfully true, but also incredibly annoying?"
There's a faint laugh at that. "It's habit, and I've been good about it all day." Gravity and Zoisite are not always good friends. Still, he does at least set foot down again. It's not entirely smart to be hovering like that while dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. It doesn't help that the heat that seems so unbearable to others doesn't appear to bother him any, giving his seat in the air an even more obnoxious note.
"It's a hobby," he offers, flippiantly. The discomfort of sharing the news now leaves way for shamelessly teasing. There are worse things in the world than a civilian finding out about Sailor Moon's identity, surely... it just nags at him with hints of what he used to be, how exploitable something like that would have been, the sick joy he would have gotten from torturing the man for Sailor Moon's identity. "You still had something to say to me, too, o bathing beauty." His tone says nothing of flirtation-- just a casual reminder that will hopefully shock her into aggravation at him enough to leave one topic for another. If she thinks it is mostly Usagi's problem, then that's how it will be handled internally. After all, even married couples keep some things un-shared, why not a Prince's Court and a Princess's Court handling things separately?
Ami's expression turns sharply to a glare, when he calls her a bathing beauty; evidence that his manipulation attempts have succeeded. "Swimming," she points out irritatedly, "not bathing. I was going to apologize to you, but now I'm pretty sure I don't need to, so nevermind. How did you even find me here?"
Zoisite looks wounded for a moment. "And you considered that not important? I'm hurt!" The question of how he found her here doesn't even get acknowledged; after all, she is a genius. Moreover, she's a genius who has gotten a chance to observe his powerset in the past. While she may not be actively thinking about it right now, she does have all the relevant knowledge to answer her own question on that front. Thus, her question goes flat-out ignored. "But if that's all, might I suggest changing into something you're more comfortable in?" He shrugs a little, looking more than ready to leave the discussion. After all, he'd delivered the news Mamoru had sent him to deliver, and as much as he enjoys teasing people, he would much rather taunt Ami in another location, one not so... full of water.
Ami's glare turns even darker. "Why, so you can stalk me into the bathroom and watch me change? You're such a creep," she says to him frustratedly. "And no, I definitedly don't think apologizing to you is more important than the news that Usagi's father knows that she's a magical girl."
Zoisite looks offended, and shakes his head. He can see her line of reasoning, but no. "There are some lines I don't cross," he mutters, instead. "I am going home regardless of what you do, but you seem obviously uncomfortable in that." There may even be an offended little huff. Honestly, is she determined to take everything he says in the worst possible light? Not that he doesn't deserve it, but it's the principle of the thing. He turns to walk away, waving his fingers a bit as he does so.
"... I am not," Ami says, half whine, half indignation, as she calls after him angrily. "I'm just creeped out that you're stalking me!" Because knowing where to find her clearly means he must be stalking her. Ugh. Frustrated, she storms off towards the showers. She's probably not even going to bother changing, just in case he is watching; she'll just put her clothes on over her bathing suit and shower when she gets home.
Zoisite just laughs at that. He knew she was smart enough to figure it out on her own, and she's just demonstrated that beautifully. Granted, now that she's wise to it, he's going to stop, but it was interesting while it lasted-- seeing how long it would take her to figure out she was being watched.