I have no idea where this little something came from, but the text just wouldn't let me go. A definitive surprise for breaking the writer's block spell (it has been a loooooong, years long while since I wrote anything in any fandom), given Lady Penelope is not quite my go-to TAG character head-space, but oh well, what do I know. So, here goes nothing…
Lady Penelope is used to close scrutiny, by the Tracy brothers even more so. So she takes some time to reflect on the eyes of her beholders. Set on the margin of Tunnels of Time. Pen and Ink (you don't even have to squint).
Yet - to my frugal Eye...*
Scott looks at her and sees a lady. The Medieval type that is. The one he would kneel and pledge his sword to, given half the chance. Penny's fairly sure he'd be apt to make fortresses fall in her name but would never as much as kiss the hem of her gown.
John… Oh, John sees her. John sees the walls and barriers of fortified glass and porcelain, and the exact arm's length her refined demeanor puts the world at. John is all but her own self born with a different name and a Croquet team of brothers. John sees a timid girl playing tea-party with vintage toy china.
Virgil keeps her wondering, if she's ever so inclined. At times, it seems he is not looking at all. But his is an artistic eye, so she presumes he'd be seeing a work of art at the very least. She definitely invests lots of time and effort in the resemblance with marble to be there for a beholder to spy and, might be, commit to form.
It's this new gaze that gives her pause. The gaze is familiar, of course, hazel and honey, and a stubborn glimmer. Warm and unrelenting. A boy's gaze that, all of a sudden, reflects back a woman in her. The one she recognizes yet sees for the first time. Reckless yet vulnerable, fallible yet trusting. The one he is bold enough to expose. A boy's dare, a man's courage. And she looks harder…
* I lost a World - the other day!
Has Anybody found?
You'll know it by the Row of Stars
Around its forehead bound.
A Rich man - might not notice it -
Yet - to my frugal Eye,
Of more Esteem than Ducats -
Oh find it - Sir - for me!
(Emily Dickinson)