What's so devastating about empurata to me is how it distorts people in a way that they're stuck in their own bodies.
I like to think that Senator Shockwave, being the huge nerd he was, used to play and practice different instruments for fun. He would sit and play to himself after a bad day, letting his mind wander and wonder, it wasn't always pretty to hear, but it was him. Sometimes he played for the kids, for small crowds in special occasions. At times like these everyone would stand up ans dance around, drowning the sound of the song with sounds of laughter and joy, but he paid no mind, this is what his music was for.
After the empurata, with his single good servo Shockwave tries to play again, in secret, but something's wrong. He knows what he should be doing, but the sensation is so foreign, the notes never come together in a natural way. He tries and tries but he keeps failing.
And it's not only the notes, when he's trying to mix chemicals for the first time after the surgery, his servo betray him again and he almost ends up exploding his lab because he can't hold still like he used to, but he's got a job to do and keeps trying until things come together. He needs help to carry things around, and isn't as agile as he used to.
More terrifying than that are his emotions. He's sill able to feel, but can't quite express it right. And everything is so... Tepid, the intensity has died out, he doesn't feel fear as much as he used to, the same way about passion. Like when you burn your tongue and tries to eat a sweet, the sensations are there, you know they are, but you are the one... Numb.
Same goes for Whirl, but instead of not feeling things raw he just swings to extremes, locked in a constant state of mania that can lead to meltdowns real quick. Like when you're stuck in a situation where you know you're supposed to feel a certain way but just ends up feeling the opposite. It's frustrating, you feel bad about yourself and want to tear everything apart but your cognitive system keeps betraying your senses.
And sometimes seems like the clock has stopped. Development, change, comes to everyone but you, it's like you're stuck in place, unable to grow out of yourself. For both Whirl and Shockwave the clock is broken.
When Shockwave received the surgery, he started to live in hell, staring at heaven. Interestingly enough, the only emotion that didn't quite ceased was the anger. No, not anger- hate.
Hate for himself, hate for the world, hate. Hate for not wandering or wondering but simply being. For not being able to show appreciation properly for those he estimates. For only being able to destroy.
