S2E22
· Shades of Gray Flashback

Edo Revelry — Riker's Ease, Worf's Reserve

A jubilant flashback places Riker at the center of an Edo council chamber: music, food, games and easy, sensual contact. He declines a playful marble game, soaks in casual flirtation and a friendly pat, and trades teasing, sexually charged banter with Worf. The sequence establishes Riker’s charm and embodied pleasure-memory while sharply contrasting Worf’s austere warrior code. As a positive, formative memory this scene is a deliberate emotional hook — the very kind of endorphin-rich recall Pulaski and Troi will later exploit (and that the pathogen responds to).

Plot Beats

The narrative micro-steps within this event

4

Rivan trumpets the visitors and Liator opens the bounty, flooding the chamber with welcome. Hospitality surges as Riker soaks in a joy-drenched room alive with music, food, and easy laughter.

cautious curiosity to amused warmth

Edo marble players beckon Riker into their game; he grins, declines, and keeps drifting through the revelry.

invited inclusion to polite restraint

Riker pauses by an entwined couple; a passing spectator pats his backside with, "Joy and happiness!" and he answers, "Certainly is," smiling as he moves on.

curiosity to playful appreciation

Riker hails "The good life" to Worf and needles him about love and sex; Worf answers with Klingon severity—human females are "fragile"—prompting Riker's teasing about bragging and Worf's puzzled echo.

pleasure to humorous cultural contrast

Who Was There

Characters present in this moment

5
Edo Man
primary

Content and engaged; physically present in a private pleasure that is nevertheless public and accepted here.

An Edo man reclines on the couch in an intimate embrace with a woman, forming part of the sensual tableau that demonstrates the community's casual openness and provides tactile, erotic texture to Riker's memory.

Goals in this moment
  • Share and enjoy sensual intimacy in public context
  • Participate in communal revelry without shame
Active beliefs
  • Public displays of intimacy are natural and socially sanctioned
  • Communal pleasure strengthens social bonds
Character traits
intimate relaxed sensual unselfconscious
Follow Edo Man's journey

Surface calm and principled; inwardly mildly uncomfortable with overt sensuality and awkward with Riker's teasing.

Worf stands with Riker as a contained, watchful presence; he verbally rejects indulgence, asserts warrior identity, and answers Riker’s teasing with literal, culturally bound responses that underline restraint and cultural distance.

Goals in this moment
  • Maintain personal and cultural discipline in an unfamiliar social environment
  • Protect the away team’s dignity and his own warrior code
  • Avoid participating in what he sees as frivolous or compromising behavior
Active beliefs
  • Pleasure and sensual play are not priorities for a Klingon warrior
  • Appropriate partners must conform to Klingon norms for true intimacy
  • Restraint demonstrates honor and self-control
Character traits
austere literal-minded duty-bound guarded unsentimental
Follow Worf's journey

Pleasurably relaxed and amused; inwardly basking in communal warmth and embodied memories of physical pleasure.

Riker moves through the chamber taking in the sensual revelry, politely declines the marble game, accepts a friendly pat, smiles and initiates teasing, flirtatious banter with Worf — embodying ease, charm and pleasurable recall.

Goals in this moment
  • Enjoy the Edo hospitality and sensory comforts
  • Maintain diplomatic composure while engaging socially
  • Reinforce his own identity as convivial and desirable
Active beliefs
  • Social, tactile pleasure is a legitimate and positive human experience
  • Casual flirtation and humor help smooth cross-cultural relations
  • Displaying ease signals confidence and social power
Character traits
charming bemused physically at ease curious playful
Follow William Riker's journey
Spectator
primary

Playful and open; comfortable expressing tactile warmth with strangers.

The female Edo spectator moves through the crowd, pats Riker on the backside and utters a breezy greeting — a public demonstration of physical familiarity and communal joy that normalizes tactile contact.

Goals in this moment
  • Express communal goodwill through friendly touch
  • Include the visitor in local modes of affection
Active beliefs
  • Physical touch is a harmless and positive social currency
  • Strangers who accept touch are respectful participants in Edo culture
Character traits
affectionate uninhibited cheerful sociable
Follow Spectator's journey

Warmly welcoming; invested in making the guests comfortable and included.

Liator gestures the away team forward and explicitly invites them to partake in food and games; he functions as a hands-on host, translating ceremonial welcome into embodied hospitality.

Goals in this moment
  • Encourage guests to relax and join communal pleasures
  • Demonstrate Edo generosity and lower barriers between groups
Active beliefs
  • Open, tactile hospitality fosters positive diplomatic relations
  • Participation in local customs signals trust
Character traits
hospitable cheerful engaging inviting
Follow Rivan's journey

Objects Involved

Significant items in this scene

2
Edo Council Chamber Couch

A low, well-upholstered couch holds an Edo man and woman in a near-sexual embrace; the couch anchors the sensual tableau and visually contrasts Riker's polite detachment and Worf's restraint, functioning as a concrete signifier of the culture's bodily openness.

Before: Couch is occupied by the embracing Edo couple, …
After: Couch remains occupied; the couple continues their intimate …
Before: Couch is occupied by the embracing Edo couple, draped with bright textiles and scents of incense/food.
After: Couch remains occupied; the couple continues their intimate behavior as Riker and the away team pass by.
Edo Council Marbles (Revelry Game)

A handful of polished marbles function as a tactile game; three Edo players conceal varying numbers in their hands, reveal totals, and then offer marbles to Riker as a playful invitation. The marbles serve as flirtatious tokens, a low-stakes social ritual that signals inclusion and tactile pleasure.

Before: Marbles are in the hands of three Edo …
After: Marbles remain in play with the Edo players …
Before: Marbles are in the hands of three Edo players gathered on a surface within the council chamber.
After: Marbles remain in play with the Edo players after Riker politely declines; they are offered to him but not accepted.

Location Details

Places and their significance in this event

1
Council Chambers on Rubicun Three

The Council Chambers on Rubicun Three stage the entire revel: an informal, multi-seating hall filled with food, harp music, games and tactile intimacy. It functions as a sensory theater for communal hospitality and a memory-rich environment that anchors Riker’s pleasurable recollection and later strategic exploitation.

Atmosphere Warm, relaxed, celebratory and sensually permissive — joy threaded through music, food and casual physical …
Function Stage for ceremonial hospitality and communal revelry; meeting place where hosts intentionally lower formal barriers …
Symbolism Embodies Edo social openness and communal trust; contrasts Starfleet formality and Worf’s martial reserve.
Access Open to invited visitors and local community members; public and permissive in this context.
Lilting harp music played by a visible music group Abundant fruit, nuts, food and drink selections on low tables Soft, well-upholstered seating including a prominent couch Warm, informal lighting and the scent of incense/food

Narrative Connections

How this event relates to others in the story

No narrative connections mapped yet

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Key Dialogue

"EDO MARBLE PLAYER: "This will please you. Join us!""
"EDO SPECTATOR: "Joy and happiness!""
"RIKER: "The good life, Worf." / WORF: "I am not concerned with pleasure, Commander. I am a warrior.""