radio... responds!

all asks about @universe-friday will be answered here. feel free to send questions, suggestions or opinions!

[friday-answers]

Welcome to the official universe friday ask page!

Please feel free to ask any questions, leave opinions, suggestions, etc. about @universe-friday in this blog’s ask box.

I will try and answer them ASAP! Thank you ^_^

[universe-friday]

EXCERPT #135:

Hello. I hope somebody is listening.

[...]

Paris and I have had to lock ourselves up because of the heatwave. The City is as unfriendly as ever, cyborgs roaming the streets, beeping incessantly in alarm at their overheating under the harsh sun. Everyone is cowering in the shadows, prying on every drop of water we can find.

Did they know, back when they invented the radio, what would become of our Earth?

We spend our days doing nothing. Even talking requires energy, which warms our bodies, and we don’t want that. So we just lay there, alternating who has to get up to get more water, barely even snacking because eating warms us up too.

I hate being stuck here like this. I need to get out before the next wave hits.

Tonight, it’s a little cooler. I’m out on the roof again, sending out this message, this plea for… what? Rescue? Connection? Perhaps only a kind ear, willing to listen to my nonsense blabbering. I’m sorry. The heat really does not help to keep my bearings.

I can’t leave right now, though. I’m getting closer to whatever Paris is hiding. And I’m not one to give up on finding out the truth.

She is human, that much is sure now. No robot, not even the most advanced models, would react the way she has to the heatwave.

And she’s not from the City. Of course, no one is really from the City, you know that, but most people here tend to forget that. They incorporate the City, let its atmosphere wrap around them, inhale its fumes, follow its rules. They become part of the City.

Paris is still herself, whoever that may be. And that takes a lot of will—I would know.

[friday-answers]

inspired by the current heatwave guys i'm actually melting come save me please it's horrible

a little bit of lore i'm building bit by bit... i've always seen the city as something that progressively takes a hold over its inhabitants... kind of horrifying

send me questions through this blog's ask box!

and until next week, i hope you're all doing well 🌃

[universe-friday]

EXCERPT #134:

Hello. I hope somebody is listening.

[...]

Paris gives me the creeps. She’s just always there, you know? And the more time I spend with her, the more I wonder if she actually knows anything, or if she’s just… No, she can’t be.

I always have to show her how to get away from the cyborgs every time we walk the City. She’s not exactly discreet. I don’t know how she’s survived this long before meeting me, honestly. It’s like she’s trying to get us killed! Except she can’t be. If she were, why would she have saved me that very first day? It doesn’t make any sense.

Unless she has some secret use for me alive for now, but she plans on getting rid of me soon enough. I know that sounds paranoid, but you have to believe me, old sport, she’s pretending to be someone she’s not.

I know what it’s like to wear a mask all the time, the way it seems to merge with your own skin after a while, and you don’t know how to take it off because you don’t remember where the edges are, can’t discern between who you are and what you made up about yourself.

Paris has that kind of mask on, I can tell. She’s hiding something.

I’ve started looking around for… well, I don’t know what exactly. Some clues, I suppose. Anything that might indicate what her true motivations are. When she falls asleep, I check her pockets, the drawers in the kitchen, under the chairs… I haven’t found anything suspicious yet, but I’ll keep looking.

If she isn’t who she says she is, there has to be some trace somewhere.

[Trapdoor opening.]

PARIS: Radio?

RADIO: Yeah?

PARIS: Dinner’s ready.

RADIO: Oh, thanks. I’ll be right there.

PARIS: Yep.

[Trapdoor closing. Sigh.]

You hear it too, right? She’s definitely hiding something. And the stars won’t help me find out what it is.

[friday-answers]

hehehe i'm excited about this paris character what do you guys think of her??

send me your thoughts and questions if you have any through this blog's ask box!

take care of yourselves, i'll see you next week 🌃

[universe-friday]

EXCERPT #133:

Hello. I hope somebody is listening.

[...]

Ever since I’ve met Paris, I’ve been very careful of what I say around her. She acts all innocent, but she hears everything and remembers it all perfectly.

I promised myself I won’t let my guard down around her, so I went up on the roof to send out this message. Whoever is listening right now, let the record show that I was careful. Paris is inside right now, sleeping. At least, I assume she’s asleep.

This is why I’m talking so quietly. Just in case she’s under the trapdoor, listening. I’d rather take unnecessary precautions than find myself compromised.

I’ve been trying to figure out her gameplan, but it’s like something is still escaping me. I can’t exactly grasp her, you know? Something doesn’t make sense, something doesn’t add up.

Why does she know so much? Why does she trust me so easily? How did she find me, now of all times? Why is she helping me?

Oh yes, if you were still wondering about that, I’m entirely normal again, now. No more blinking and finding myself in a different place, at a different time. I am one hundred percent conscient when I’m awake.

Which makes it kind of hard to fall asleep. I don’t feel at ease, giving up my surroundings for that dark and heavy blanket we call slumber. Paris’s breaths are so quiet when she sleeps, like she’s in so deep there’s barely any air for her so far into the abyss. It confuses me.

How can she just… be so comfortable? So trusting? I could have stolen her things and ran away a billion times before she wakes up every day, or worse.

I can only get a few hours of restless sleep each night as I stay up until I collapse and startle awake at any movement.

[Yawn.]

I’m going to find my way back to my base soon. I can’t stay here much longer. I just need to find out what else Paris knows that could be useful.

[friday-answers]

some of radio's thoughts about paris...

let me know through this blog's ask box if you have any questions or random things to say!!

and i'll see you next weeeeek 🌃

[friday-answers]

hi!!! so sorry to bother but i havent caught up with universe friday in a while and i was wondering if its still following the plot of radio silence? cause #126 would be aled's birthday and then after that slowly frances' character gets added too and allat.

hi! not a bother at all :) for now universe friday is still set before the events of radio silence

[universe-friday]

EXCERPT #132:

Hello. I hope somebody is listening.

[...]

“Do you know anything?” Paris asked, and I nearly laughed.

Did I know anything?

She was genuinely asking me that! Like you can just go around the City asking people for information! Ha! Hahaha! Like I was just going to tell her about my echo and how Beep Boop’s real name came from the stars and what time of day the sky is the exact same shade of blue as Adhil’s eyes. Like I could trust someone I’d just met!

“About what?” I asked; maybe if she was willing to ask me what I knew, she’d show me her hand before I laid down my cards.

“The disappearances.” Paris looked at me with a worried expression again. “Do you have a concussion?”

“What? No! I’m fine.”

“Did you spend too much time inhaling the fumes?”

I didn’t bother with a reply.

Paris sighed. “Radio, I can’t help you unless you let me.”

“Why would you help me?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

I was speechless, old sport, let me tell you. Have you ever met someone so incredibly naive that you don’t even know what to think of them? Someone that’s just that little bit too sweet to be believable, but there’s some part of you that holds back on your anger, asking what if? What if they truly are that kindhearted? Is it possible?

Can someone want to help simply because?

I don’t know. I decided I had no reason not to go along for now though, so I told Paris I’d been breathing in the fumes for several days. She gave me soup she said would help me get my bearings again after a few days.

That was three days ago. I haven’t had any weird space-time skip since.

[friday-answers]

what do you guys think of this new character? can she be trusted?

as usual, send questions or remarks through this blog's ask box, and i'll answer!!

take care, until next week 🌃

[universe-friday]

EXCERPT #131:

Hello. I hope somebody is listening.

[...]

I woke up in a strange place today.

I’ve been finding myself in strange places more and more lately. Or, well, I guess I couldn’t say exactly how long it’s been, since I can’t seem to really be present for uninterrupted periods of time. I could have been out of it for just a few hours or for several weeks, for all I know!

Ha… Anyway…

So I woke up in a strange place today, which has been happening to me a lot. This time was different though, because I wasn’t alone. There was a young woman sitting beside me and looking at me when I opened my eyes.

Before I could attack her, she rushed to explain that she’d found me passed out on the roof and so she’d brought me inside with her and I’d been asleep for fourteen hours. She was beginning to think I might never wake up.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“My name is Paris.”

Strange name, but then again, I’m not in a place to say anything. “I’m Radio.” People go by all kinds of strange names in Universe City.

“That’s a good sign, if you know what your name is. Do you know what day it is?”

I shook my head. She looked worried—I didn’t like it.

“Time and space have been acting weird for me,” I said, like that might be a reassuring explanation.

“Yeah, some buildings here can do that to you,” Paris said.

For the first time, I looked at her more closely. She had short, black hair, soft brown eyes, and was wearing an outfit that looked close to a school uniform.

“You’ve noticed, too?” I asked quietly. I wasn’t sure how trustworthy she—or this strange place—was just yet.

Her eyes went wide. “Of course I have. People don’t usually talk about it, but there have been so many disappearances lately, it’s harder to pretend everything is normal.”

“Disappearences?”

[friday-answers]

I'M SO SORRY FOR POSTING LATE!!!!!!!!!

i don't even have a reason i really just. forgot T-T i had exams every other day this week so time has been weird and i was so confused and i genuinely thought today was friday up until like 2 hours ago helppp

sorry again let's all pretend it's still friday. YAY! FRIDAY!!!

also! new character! exciting!

anywayyyyy as always feel free to send me any questions or remarks through this blog's ask box!

thank you for being here, i hope you have a good week 🌃

[universe-friday]

EXCERPT #130:

Hello. I hope somebody is listening.

[...]

I don’t really have anything to report.

The cyborgs are still following me. The buildings are still surrounding me. The stars are still taunting me.

They blink, all the way up there in the night-sky, closer to you than I might ever be again, February.

I blink, and I’m on a rooftop. I blink, and I’m in the streets. I blink, and you’re gone.

What happens when the stars blink, I wonder? Do they travel billions of light-years away without even knowing? Do they lose loved ones? Do they get lost in the darkness?

Twinkle, twinkle… And when a star goes out, when it forever closes its eyes, then it becomes a black hole. And the black hole swallows all the light, and its star-friends can’t ever bring it back the way it was. Do they leave, then? Or do they abandon themselves to the darkness?

I feel like a black hole sometimes, February. Well, a lot of the time. I rarely light up anymore—with you gone, with Adhil and Adhafera missing, I don’t know if I still can. I keep blinking and blinking, wondering every time I open my eyes again if it will be the last time.

To live outside of time, to breach space without knowing it, is not what our minds are made to endure. I don’t think… I don’t think my mind can endure it much longer.

But the stars! The stars are bright tonight, February. Oh, they’re so bright, you would love to sit here with me and look at how bright they are.

Or maybe you wouldn’t. I don’t know. I don’t know if I still know what you would like. I don’t know if I ever did.

In any case, I’m sitting here and looking at the stars for you, in case you would like to see them. That way, I can tell you all about it, even if you aren’t really here to listen. It’s still important to tell you, you know?

So, look: you see that small cluster right above the City dome?

[...]

[friday-answers]

extremely early posting today (it's friday already for me but idk if it is for all of you reading this) because i'll be gone all weekend so it had to be now! i literally haven't even had breakfast yet

who doesn't love a good ol fashioned letter to february?

send me any comments or questions through this blog's ask box please!!

i hope you're all well, i send you love until next week 🌃

[universe-friday]

EXCERPT #129:

Hello. I hope somebody is listening.

[...]

I’ve been alone for two days now. I don’t know where Adhil and Adhafera have gone. One moment they were here, and the next, I was alone.

I always knew they would leave me someday, but it still hurts. Did they even say goodbye? Or did they leave without telling me? I don’t remember… I blinked and they were gone.

I’ve been spending an awful lot of time on the ground since.

I just… [Sigh.] I don’t know.

I wish the cyborgs would stop following me around. Everyone is busy with exams while I’m out here, the only human left on the streets, and so it appears I’m the only potential victim they see.

I’m escaping them alright, I just would enjoy a little bit of time ALONE!

You know? [Sigh.] I shouldn’t get angry…

Why did Adhil and Adhafera leave? I’m just so— ugh, no. I need to stop.

I need to stop, I need to stop, I need to sto—

[Static.]

Sorry about that, old sport. As I was saying, cyborgs have been following me around everywhere, and I had to be silent to outrun them efficiently. But I’m back now!

Anyway… The city fumes are stronger than ever, keeping everyone inside for the exams. It’s really not good being exposed to them… It’s really not good.

Wherever they are, I hope Adhil and Adhafera are at least safe. They have to be, smart as they are. They know not to walk outside in the fumes, right?

Well, I know not to, yet I’m still here. I just have nowhere else to be at the moment, so… Maybe that’s why it’s good to have people depend on you, in the end. It makes you want to stay safe for them. Being alone is good, but also… I don’t know. I’m talking nonsense again. I seem to do that a lot lately.

[Giggles, then sobs.]

Why did you leave me?

[friday-answers]

i made myself cry writing that one just so you know :)

so uh anyway i hope you're all well and that you're enjoying this part of the story... i promise it will get better again but radio had gotta go through it first!!

if you have any questions or comments or anything you wanna say to me, please do so through this blog's ask box <3

and i will see you next weeeeeek 🌃

[universe-friday]

EXCERPT #128:

Hello. I hope somebody is listening.

[...]

Ever since coming back from the dark maze, I’ve been feeling rather strange. It’s like I’m still moving through waves of time, fighting against the current to go forward.

Sometimes I blink, and I’m not where I remember being just a second before.

I decided to talk to Adhil about it, but I didn’t want to cause him any unnecessary worry after all he’s been through, so I asked how he’d been feeling since being back. He said he was surprised at how normal he felt, like he’d just been here with us yesterday. He said he could still remember his time trapped in the building, but it all seemed very far away, like a memory of a memory, or a nightmare someone else told you about.

I nodded and felt another time-wave hit me. I blinked, and I was alone on the rooftop.

[Whispering] What is happening to me?

Is any of this real?

Or will I wake up next to you again someday and realise this was all an awful dream, like Adhil’s memory of the maze…? Maybe that’s why I can’t dream here, because this is a dream.

February, if you’re still here somehow, if this was all an invention of my own mind, then we could talk again. We could talk, and laugh, just like we used to, remember?

[...]

But this isn’t a dream I get to just wake up from. I may be glitching through time right now, but that doesn’t mean it’s a way out of Universe City. It just means the City fumes are messing with my brain again.

With exam season just around the corner, everyone is in such a frenzy while I’m just standing here, in their midst yet invisible to them, watching, waiting, wafting through the wind. Talking nonsense to the stars… beep boop, beep boop… [giggles]

[friday-answers]

again i am so sorry for not posting last week, i had an irl crisis to deal with and that's when my laptop decided to die (it's thankfully been resurrected in time for this week though!!)

anyway as you can see radio is doing very well very healthy everything is super good :D

send any questions or comments my way through THIS BLOG'S ASK BOX!

until next time, i wish you all a lovely week 🌃

[friday-answers]

hii so like i dont know if my tumblr is being funky but did you not post a new episode on the 24th? just curious <3

hi i am sooooooooo sorry i had an irl crisis + my laptop crashed and so i was indeed unable to post on the 24th. don't worry i'm okay and it's all fixed now! finally!!! so i'll be back TOMORROW with a new excerpt ;)

[universe-friday]

EXCERPT #127:

Hello. I hope somebody is listening.

[...]

We moved slowly, blinded and numbed by the cold darkness. We could still hear my echo, faintly, growing fainter as we progressed towards what I hoped was the exit.

Sometimes, I thought I heard someone weep behind me, but there was only Adhil, and he was beside me.

We found ourselves jumping from place to place, holding on tightly to each other so as not to get separated again. We did not run; we knew there was no outrunning time. We simply had to keep moving until we reached our goal.

I tasted sand in my mouth. I was so thirsty and tired. Finally I could make out Adhil’s silhouette, then his hand in mine, then his face.

He was paler still than before, blue eyes sunken and almost grey, hair now falling to his shoulders.

“Radio,” he said, staring back and smiling, “it’s really you.”

“It’s me,” I said.”We’re gonna get out of here.”

The light became brighter. As we rounded a corner, I heard Adhafera’s quiet “Beep boops.”

We walked up to the trapdoor and climbed up. Adhafera nearly crushed Adhil in their hug, and this time it really was him weeping.

I smiled, but it ached.

If you were ever trapped in a time-maze, February, I would crawl down into the belly of the City to come get you, and I’d hold your hand through the time-waves to guide you back to the surface until I could see your face in the daylight again.

I’m glad Adhil is okay.

But I think maybe, deep down, I was still hoping my echo was you.

[friday-answers]

letter to februaryyyyyyyyyyy how i've missed you

you know the drill, send all questions or comments to this blog's ask box please!

i really like this one i hope you like it too hihi <3 until next week 🌃

[friday-answers]

Heyyyyyy sorry this is a dumb question but what generally is the radio silence podcast lore? I read the book, but just don't understand the podcast

hi!

so in the book, we don't find out much about the podcast lore, we just know some little bits and pieces from the excerpts and from what Aled and Frances say about it. most importantly, it's set in a futuristic city that the main character, radio, is trapped and feels isolated in.

on this fanblog i basically imagine adventures for radio and what could happen in that world :)

i hope that answers your question!

[universe-friday]

EXCERPT #126:

Hello. I hope somebody is listening.

[...]

Adhil told me… He told me about getting trapped in the building while I was helping Adhafera escape. He told me about the dreamlike state he was in, pulled from corridor to corridor, lost both in space and time.

“It felt like trying to get out of the sea in the middle of a storm,” he said. “You run to the shore, but just as you think you’re safe, the water reaches for you again, and you can’t outrun the wave before it pulls you back in again, tumbling with the sand and shells. I was running out of breath from trying to outrun the time-waves pursuing me.”

Adhil told me he had been waiting here for so long he’d stopped trying to guess how many days had passed. Every moment was only one more confusing realisation of consciousness after the other, like constantly waking up from a bad dream.

Then, he had found himself here, at the end of this especially cold and dark corridor, and he’d found an old radio station behind a corner, dusty and rusty like it had been forgotten by the last humans who used such outdated technology. He had thought of me—of my echo.

And he’d thought of Adhafera, of how worried they must be. He’d wanted to let us know he was alive.

So he’d looked and tinkered, and tried to find a way to reach us. The only message he managed to send out was by redirecting my own—the very one we’ve been hearing all over the City. If our theory is correct, then he’s the one who’s been my echo this entire time.

Old sport, it appears Adhil was sent back in time.

[friday-answers]

time for the big reveal!!!

there's more to this storyline still but things are becoming clearer (i hope)!! if you have any questions or comments, please send them to this blog's ask box :D

and i shall see you all again next week 🌃

[universe-friday]

EXCERPT #125:

Hello. I hope somebody is listening.

[...]

Somehow, down in that dark and confusing maze, surrounded by nothing but cold walls and my echo, I found him. Adhil was alive, and I found him.

“Radio?” he whispered.

I nearly wept at the sound of his voice, old sport, but I managed to keep it together.

“Adhil, it’s me,” I replied.

Suddenly we were hugging, both shivering from the cold and relief of not being alone anymore.

“Why did you come back?” he asked.

“I couldn’t let you down here alone.”

“What about—”

“Adhafera’s fine. They’re waiting for us outside.”

He sighed and hugged me tighter. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry about. None of this is your fault.”

“I should have found a better way to communicate, I should have told you not to come back—”

“What do you mean, a better way?”

I felt Adhil pull away, and the cold wrapped its arms around me again.

“The echo. It was me.”

“What?”

“I found a way to redirect your signal, send it out again through this building so you’d know I was alive.”

I shook my head slowly. “No, no, the echo started months ago. Someone had been using it before you.”

Adhil was silent for a moment. My echo was still repeating the same sentence quietly.

“Radio, how long has it been since you left me down here?” he finally asked.

I gawked at the dark in front of me, where his voice came from. “That was yesterday.”

There was a choked sob, and I reached out to pull my friend back into a hug.

“I’ve been here for so long, Radio. So long… For longer than I’ve known you.”

He wasn’t making any sense, but I tried to soothe him, rubbing his back with my gloved hands and whispering reassuring statements. “We’ll find our way out, and then you’ll be with Adhafera again. It will all work out. It will all work out.”

Truth is, old sport, I was lying to him as much as I was lying to myself at that moment.

[friday-answers]

new excerpt!!! okay so i've had this idea for so long i'm not actually sure it's very understandable so hopefully it makes at least some sense... well some mystery remains for now of course but it should become clearer soon ;)

if you have any questions or remarks for me, send them through this blog's ask box please!

i wish you all a wonderfull week 🌃

[universe-friday]

EXCERPT #124:

Hello. I hope somebody is listening.

THE ECHO: Hello. I hope somebody is listening.

THE ECHO: Hello. I hope somebody is listening.

THE ECHO: Hello. I hope somebody is listening.

[...]

I thought I was done for, old sport. I was trapped in that maze, alone, with no more battery to keep the radio running, just walking around aimlessly. It seemed like the City had finally gotten me.

I was going to just give up and lie down right then and there when I heard the echo again. Except, it wasn’t coming from my radio this time—obviously, since I’d ran out of battery. It was faint, but it was actually coming from somewhere close enough for me to hear it.

It set out again, intent on finding the origin of the message that had been taunting me for months now, the message that had gotten me—us—into this mess in the first place.

I walked along the darkly lit corridor, running my hand along the wall to try and gauge if it was a straight line or a curve; I couldn’t tell. I could only see for a few feet before me.

The echo became quieter, so I turned around and ran back up the other way. Suddenly I felt an indentation in the wall. I slowed down and ran my hand along the cold surface. The indentation was deep—another corridor.

My steps echoed around me, breaking up the rhythm of my own distorted recorded voice that seemed to come from everywhere around me.

I continued in the dark, now unable to see anywhere further than my own hand. My head was spinning. The little I could make out slowly faded as it got colder, and I could only rely on my hearing and touching to orient myself now.

I collided with something big and warm—a body.

Once, long ago, I probably would have screamed. Now, though, I was past fearing for my life. The unknown is everywhere in Universe City, old sport, one simply has to grow accustomed to being surprised.

Okay, fine. Maybe I squealed. Or, it was more of a gasp, really.

Anyway.

In the silence that followed, between two echoes, I recognised Adhil’s breathing.

[friday-answers]

almost late but i'm sooooooooooooo happy with how this excerpt turned out hehehehe i'm so excited for this part of the story we're getting to, i hope you're all enjoying it too :>

as always, feel free to reach out via this blog's ask box to share any questions, comments, thoughts, or whatever you feel like!

take care of yourselves, until next week 🌃

[friday-answers]

hello this isn’t an opinion or suggestion just a thank you for keeping the radio silence fandom alive 🫡

hi!! thanks for reading and you're very welcome, i'm so glad to be here. this fandom means a lot to me <3