"So now that you understand radio and cameras, you might be able to start comprehending video." Barry said, crossing his legs and straightening his back. It gave a light crack and he sighed in relief. "We can see things because they reflect light into our eyes. An ordinary camera photographs things by capturing this light on light-sensitive film or using electronic light-detectors to make a snapshot of how something appeared at a particular moment."
Mineko nodded with a whole new understanding of the world. She glanced at the graphs and scribbles of paper that littered the floor around them for verification. Barry had spent the entire day explaining how things work to her, writing down certain elements to help her understand and drawing terrible images for her to reference.
"A TV camera works in a different way: it has to capture a new snapshot over 24 times per second to create the illusion of a moving picture." Barry continued.
"So, it is like a camera that takes singular pictures but is capturing thousands?" Mineko asked curiously. "And it is not that they are trapped inside... it is just a glimpse of the moment?"
"Exactly!" Barry replied with a giant grin on his face. To anyone else explaining these things would be both taxing and tedious, but to him it was satisfying. It was a challenge to provide a general understanding of science to a person from the 1400s, and when it came to science, Barry loved a challenge.
"But there is another aspect of this that I still do not understand." Mineko mumbled lowly.
"Yes?"
"With the thing you call 'movies', why do people pretend to be chased by monsters and extra terrestrial beings?"
"Oh..." Barry said, stretching nhis hand back to scratch his neck. "I... well, it's for... entertainment?"
Mineko's once curious expression morphed into surprise, then disgust. "That is revolting!" She boomed loudly enough for her voice to echo off the apartment walls. "There is enough violence in our reality, why would people desire to see more?"
Barry's lips formed into a tight line. He wasn't entirely sure himself, and he certainly didn't have an answer that could be deemed sufficient. "I guess it's like an outlet?... Y-Yeah, that's it. We watch that stuff to satisfy our own violent tendencies, and so we don't turn to violence in real life."
Mineko scrunched her nose up at his response. "Does it work?"
"... Sometimes?"
Mineko's head turned to the side in confusion. If it didn't work, then what was its purpose? Despite being from a century without such great strides in science and technology, her mind was a logical one. If it had no reason to exist, then why did it?
As Barry continued in his efforts to explain this phenomenon, the front door was being pushed open. Wally, who had grown worried after the abrupt phone call, stepped into the apartment only to hear a crunch beneath his foot.
Wally jumped back in surprise with a quiet yelp. When he finally gathered the courage to glance at what he had stood on, he saw nothing more than a piece of paper... No, hundreds of them. All scattered about the apartment and covering any sign of the carpet.
Wally simply blinked at the mess then, finally, leaned down to pick up the sheet under his shoe. His eyes scanned the writing, noticing the badly drawn picture of Einstein in the corner...which Wally, initially, thought was meant to be some new breed of pig.
'The speed of light' was written at the very top of the page and Wally instantly
recognised it as Barry's handwriting; barely intelligible and rushed. 'Our lord and saviour, Albert Einstein, explains that light always travels at the same speed for every observer, regardless of if the observer is moving at their own speed. If you could travel at the speed of light, you could go around the Earth 7.5 times in one second.'
Wally raised an eyebrow at this and skipped to the bottom where there was a small footnote. 'Important: Light Speed is a constant and, theoretically, nothing can travel faster than it... except maybe me.'
It was confusing, to say the least, seeing Barry writing down what he was already well aware of. It was like a toddler repeating their own name over and over again... Barry was so knowledgable on the subject that there was no need to jot it down.
"Uhh..." Wally started, eyes still fixed on the sea of pages. "Barry...?"
"In here!" The answer came from the living room. Wally, very cautiously stepped over the pools of paper, only stopping when he spotted a familiar figure on the ground, broken and deserted.
"Bones...!" He said intensely, picking up the action figures body and head in seperate hands. "What have they done to you?"
He walked into the living room, palms extended outward and holding Dr McCoy's decapitated figure. Now he could see Barry clearly, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the room with a woman. She was wearing a baggy robe, her long black hair left free to graze against her back.
"Who are you?" Wally asked cluelessly.
"I am Mineko of the Eicho monestary." She replied as if it had been rehearsed over a thousand times. "We spoke from a distance on Ser Barry's telecommunication device."
Wally stared at her then the sword on a nearby table in disbelief. "You... really did bring back a samurai."
"Yep." Was Barry's only response.
"Awesome." Wally gleamed. "I didn't even know there were any female samurai that far back... Ah, no offence."
"Your ignorance towards the history of my country is forgiven, as I am also quite uneducated about yours." Mineko replied formally.
"I think you can be excused on that account." Barry spoke up. "You were from an era without multiculturalism, and before globalisation had made any effect."
"Still, I must know more if I am to stay." Mineko replied, determination shimmering in her dark brown eyes. "But to quench your curiosity, in Japan samurai are called Bushi. Female warriors within this class are given the name Onna-bugeisha."
"That's so cool!" Wally grinned goofily and sat down beside them. "Don't you think so, Ser Barry." He teased.
"... Don't start."
Wally chuckled at the look on Barry's face, but Mineko was left in confusion. 'Ser' was a sign of respect where she came from, one that was not to be taken lightly. So, when Barry asked for the tenth time that she cease using it, she was deeply troubled by the request.
Thankfully, as long as Wally was there, she didn't have to linger on the issue for long. "Hey, so you're the one that broke Dr McCoy?"
"The figure that Barry was raving about?" Mineko raised an eyebrow at him. "I was curious about its inner workings, only to find it hollow and not made of wood like I had suspected... Can you not just fix it?"
"I suppose we could super glue him back together-"
"Are you crazy?!" Barry suddenly yelled over him. "It's a first edition figure! It cost more than you'll ever make in one sitting, you can't just stick glue into it!"
Wally raised his hands in playful surrender. "Jeez, sorry. Thought it was better than chucking the whole figure out."
Barry, of course knew that this was the logical action... but he wasn't about to inform Wally that he was correct. "Don't you have something better to do?" He said lowly, grumbling to himself as Wally continued to beam at him.
"Something better than talk to a 600 hundred year old warrior?" Wally said giddily. "Nah, don't think I do."
"She's here for a reason, Wally." Barry sighed. "That reason isn't to be subjected to your staring."
"Oh, right... What is the reason then?"
"Thawne... He brought someone here from her time." Barry said lowly. "Someone that, apparently, we can't defeat without her thorough understanding."
"There's... two of them here?" Wally blinked oddly before smiling again. "Cool."
"I fail to understand what is so amusing about this." Mineko finally spoke. "She is a danger to you and your world."
"So awesome." Wally said absent-minded, and extremely excitable. "I gotta tell Jesse about this."
"No, don't tell-" But, as expected, it was too late. Wally was already gone and Barry didn't have the time or energy to chase after him. The boy huffed in irritation at his fellow speedster. Wally could never keep his mouth shut about anything, and now another of his speedster comrades, Jesse Chambers, was going to know all about it.
"He is... like you?" Mineko asked after realising that Wally had disappeared.
"Yeah." Barry answered shortly.
"Are there others?"
"... Yeah."
"And they wear those odd costumes as well?"
"They're not odd, they're heroic!" Barry defended, puffing out his chest. "They make us look cool!"
Mineko's expression scrunched up, and for a split second it looked like she might laugh. She didn't though. "I can assure you, they are not as aesthetically pleasing as you seem to think."
Barry pursed his lips almost childishly and averted his gaze from her. "Well, it's cool in this era!"
Mineko struggled this time to remain silent. She was positive that it wouldn't be considered desirable in any time period, not even this one.
"I-It's primarily meant to conceal our identities anyway..."
"Oh, so that they do not accuse you of sorcery?"
"Well... I mean, that's not really an issue anymore." Barry pushed back to his feet and in an instant had cleaned up all the paper from the floor.
Mineko stared at his handiwork in the usual awe that his speed left her in, then quickly shook her head to snap out of it. "Why then?"
"So we can lead normal lives."
Mineko, though she didn't understand it, could tell that this conversation was one that made Barry uncomfortable. He obviously wasn't use to discussing these things with others. Instead the woman glanced around the apartment for another topic of discussion, finally finding a few framed photographs on a nearby desk.
"These are... taken with camera you mentioned earlier?" She asked curiously, picking one up that looked to be of him and his father.
"Yeah, pretty neat, huh?"
Mineko nodded, placing the picture down and reaching for another. This one had a woman in it. Her hair was brown with a slight sheen of red in the illuminating light, and her eyes were pools of warm summer rays. "Who is this?"
"That's..." Barry trailed off when he saw what she was holding. Sorrow flashed across his face and he grabbed the frame, a little too aggressively, from her hands. "No one."
"Judging by your reaction it is difficult to believe that."
Barry exhaled sharply and wiped the glass of any dust. He touched it so delicately... as if he was afraid he'd break it, or that the girl would fade from the image if he pressed too hard. Finally, Barry placed it back on the desk with a heavy heart. "Her name was Iris... She was special to me. That's all you have to know."
Mineko's eyes dared to peek once more at the photo. He didn't need to say any more for her to understand it. He had loved her, and she had died. It was all in his expression. She wished desperately that she could sympathise with the man, but she had never known love... and never had the misfortune of losing it. She figured that it was better that way. You can't lose something that you never had in the first place.
Mineko's fingers twitched at her side, longing to comfort the heartbroken figure in front of her... but she kept them firmly in place. She had no experience in dealing with such strong emotions and she feared that she'd only make it worse. The urge to mutter an apology jolted to mind, but instead she slinked into the hallway without another word. Privacy was all that she could offer him at a time like this.
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