  Jets in blazars are an excellent forum for studying acceleration at
relativistic shocks using the highly-variable emission seen across the
electromagnetic spectrum. Our recent work on combining multi-wavelength
leptonic emission models with simulated thermal+non-thermal distributions from
shock acceleration theory has resulted in new insights into plasma conditions
in blazars. This has demonstrated the ability to infer the cyclotron frequency,
the plasma density and thus also the Alfven speed, thereby determining the
rapidity of particle energization. An important inference was that MHD
turbulence levels decline with remoteness from jet shocks. This paper outlines
new results from our recent extension of this program to a two-zone,
time-evolving construction, modeling together both extended, enhanced emission
states from larger radiative regions, and prompt flare events from compact
acceleration zones. These are applied to flares in the FSRQ blazar 3C 279
monitored by Fermi-LAT in gamma-rays in late 2013. With impulsive injection
episodes from the shock zone, as the acceleration first proceeds and then
abates, the radiative simulations obtain a pronounced spectral hardening in the
optical and gamma-ray bands as the flare grows, followed by a softening during
the decay phase. For 3C 279, while model radio and X-ray synchrotron flares are
temporally correlated, there is a lag in both bands relative to GeV gamma rays
and optical emission on timescales of a number of hours. This delay is governed
by the short cooling time associated with the bright external Compton signal.
