More info for liminal purgatory au, mainly about Blurr and the others.
How the characters experience the Backrooms/other liminal spaces:
This au will be explored from three (now planned) perspectives for three different kinds of experiences (Blurr, Rodimus & Drift, Prowl & Jazz) from the way they end up in Backrooms or other liminal spaces, to how they react and deal with their time in these places, and interact with one another.
1) Blurr will have the usual (lol) experience of the Backrooms, with a few additions to it. From entering to exploring to the occasional chase by a monster/creature, Blurr is not going to have a good time and will definitely be traumatized by the end of it.
Blurr will essentially be on his own for the majority if his time in the Backrooms, and will be one of the characters who comes out of the experience the worst/will need a lot of recuperation time, as mentioned before. Blurr feels trapped when he’s unable to freely move as quickly as possible, hindered earlier on due to an injury to the knee joint (that unfortunately provides the microorganisms the easiest access to deliver their virus). He also does not have support from another mech until at least part 4, but even then there’s a communication barrier, as creatures Shockwave is not in a good state and is only partially lucid at times but enough to not be an active threat once he and Blurr come to a mutual understanding. When it comes to being in contact with the other trapped pairs, Blurr has trouble trusting the eventual offer of help due to the state he ends up in, and creature Shockwave helps to bridge the gaps in communication despite his inability to verbalize.
2) Rodimus and Drift enter the liminal spaces pool like area initially (inspired by the game(s) where one wanders a lot of water areas but never gets chased-just unsettling noises and the like). They do end up there via the way the person the POV speaks to does in Kane Pixel’s 3rd video toward the end by no-clipping into the Backrooms like the POV did.
But unlike Blurr, the majority of their time in the liminal spaces pool (and a few others) Rodimus and Drift do not get chased-they just can’t find a way out back to the Lost Light so they explore and chat (note-I’ve yet to decide if there’s any shipping to be had in thus au or not).
The two will run across Prowl and Jazz, exchanging limited communication as Prowl is currently attempting to corner Jazz who has apparently been set off in some way and is currently ‘dangerous’ to other mechs. Buzzare interaction as Prowl is nothing like either had encountered before. It turns out that Jazz is the most danger to all the mechs in the Backrooms/liminal spaces compared to when Rodimus has Drift cone across Blurr and creature Shockwave.
That interaction happens after Prowl is unable to contain Jazz and the two IDW mechs have to engage in a fight to break off to put enough distance between them and Jazz, to allow Prowl another chance to help calm the Jazz down. Interaction with Blurr and creature Shockwave are a much more sedate encounter and that makes extending an invitation for medical aid (once they locate a way out) easy to deliver but difficult for the offer to be accepted.
3) Prowl begins by no-clipping from his office not into the Backrooms, but another liminal space, where he meets Jazz. Prowl presumes Jazz to have been there somewhere between the time starting his mission to the present by a few days, based off an initial once over of Jazz.
Prowl has a mix of quiet time exploring with Jazz, but also has times where he is being chased BY Jazz, as something about this world they are in has greatly affected him (the virus with its parasitic nature). Prowl has trouble figuring out what was going on when Jazz is as deadly as he is, even when Jazz isn’t entirely there. But he’s aware enough for the most part that the saboteur can restrain himself from actually causing damage, even if it’s clear Jazz is struggling with himself.
Prowl isn’t sure what to make of Drift and Rodimus but they’re competent enough and the chance they’ll all escape and receive medical care needed rises if they combine forces. There is a temporary split when Prowl has to corral Jazz, having already dealt with the moments where Jazz turns to pursuit instead of exploration.
Prowl calculates that Blurr can be helped but there doesn’t appear to be anything to do to help creature Shockwave. Runs Tacnet on and off as time passes and info is gained and it still doesn’t look good for creature Shockwave.
Effects of the Backrooms/liminal spaces on the characters:
Blurr and Jazz (who began in a Backrooms place like Blurr) are both affected by their time and are there long enough for the place to begin to physically affect them, though in a different way than humans are affected in that a virus is given via a microorganism in the Rooms to deliver the virus that begins to act parasitic as it goes through its stages.
Blurr ends up experiencing the stages up until the end of the 2nd (or 3rd) stage. He does not do well with the restriction that begins in his frame. Being able to move as quickly as he ought to be makes the situation that much more unbearable, and being in proximity of other mechs eventually that he doesn’t even know and therefore never worked with makes accepting any help at all difficult since he’s used to being on his own for most missions. Blurr knows this is not a mission and that realistically he has a better chance with others but there’s the unnerving thought of if this is all a plot by Shockwave to catch him unaware. Because really, not only do Rodimus and Drift looks too armor heavy to be speedsters or who they say they are but Prowl and Jazz completely confound him; Prowl acts nothing like the one he knew apart from the outward calm that spoke of perhaps dabbling in circuit-su, but thus Jazz is a terrifying mech that makes Blurr honestly wonder why Prowl trusts him as he does when half the time Jazz randomly attacks. Blurr does not know what is going on and funnily enough it’s only creature shockwaves steady presence and offered memory records that keep Blurr from running away entirely from potential allies.
Eventually Blurr has to decide with the others whether to bring creature with them and potentially be unable to help, or to leave him behind to allow him to continue to roam on the off chance that he may be able to help other mechs that get trapped in this place.
Jazz, on the other hand, is unfortunate to be going through the middle of the 4th stage, which is the longest lasting for the 5 stages of the virus-induced infection. Prowl does not pick up any microorganisms until he comes into direct contact with Jazz, which for a time Jazz subconsciously tries to avoid happen since he knows he’s not in a good spot and that something is very, very wrong.
While Prowl does have the virus injected by those microorganisms, he never progresses past the very beginning of the 2nd stage of the infection, because neither of them are in the Backrooms properly, but in other liminal spaces that are distant from it, and therefore, there are only the microorganisms from Jazz that are capable of injecting the virus into Prowl. However, not being in the Rooms eventually causes those to go dormant and mainly cling to Jazz’s protoform, with a minimal amount clinging to Prowl, therefore limiting the easy spread of the virus in Prowl. In Jazz, he’s been subjected to the virus long enough that his condition continues to deteriorate but it’s enough of a break for him to subconsciously reinforced certain protected areas of his processor when he first noticed what was starting to happen to him.
Because of this, Jazz begins to allow Prowl to try and assist him and guide him around through touch, as Jazz is able to maintain more of himself with this ‘break’ and prevents himself from acting impulsively in the aggressive urges he’s feeling. Mostly. He still does chase Prowl now and again but this time he’s able to fully stop himself before he gets his claws on Prowl. This is not held against Jazz, since Prowl can tell from his own frame that something isn’t right, just like Jazz initially noticed. There is more urgency to find a way out.
Rodimus and Drift are the least affected in terms of the stages of virus infection as they mainly stick to the liminal spaces and not the Backrooms specific ones where the microorganisms would specifically target the mechs. When they come across Blurr and creature Shockwave, Blurr does have those microorganisms hanging around him so initial infection happens to the two, but with more armor panels and transformations seams protecting their protoform, they are not subjected to anything further than the beginning of stage two infection and therefore it will be easier for medics to rid them of the virus and to destroy the microorganisms that linger-most won’t once they are out of the Backrooms area, as they are only able to properly function within that space, and once out of the Rooms, the microorganisms would cling to protoform and therefore be easier to find and destroy.
Although Red Alert will quarantine every area Drift and Rodimus pass through on the List Light, and everyone that comes into contact with them will be decontaminated and checked over by a medic. To ensure nothing is brought into the Lost Light to fester like a group of scraplets did a few months back. The microorganisms are much smaller in scale to be near intangible without assistance from a device Brainstorm developed to see microstructures so medics could ensure rust infections and other smaller troubles could be caught earlier on and dealt with.
Note: Hi, I may be just a *tad* bit obsessive over this. I’m considering drawing some things for this, but I’ll likely have more writing posts, as that’s where I’ve put most of my skill points over the years XD
