Work Text:
The whole 'shedding personas' thing got old after about a month, and eleven covers. Root's never been one to really set down roots (ironic, yes) and stay in one spot, but the ever-evolving series of masks is tiring. It's not just saying you're someone else, there's so much more involved in modern society. Fake backgrounds, learning new skills on the fly, IDs, clothes and style, new places to live and work...making sure ties are severed and she disappears. It's a drain; moving around but still hiding. A kind of strange half existence. The one constant, besides constant upheaval, is the cell ritual. It's like clockwork every time she sheds her skin. Walking into a store where the clerks never see anything, Root purchases a new burner. After just a couple minutes the transaction is complete and, having left the store, she activates the phone, completing her change into a new woman. Then, she sends a text. Root knows she shouldn't, that it doesn't help make the identity shift cleaner. But she does it anyway. Just a few words; in this case it reads 'Suzanne Hollins, dentist office receptionist.' The response can take a while, but when it arrives it's always four words. Shaw always responds with 'Don't get yourself killed.' Who knows when she'd see Shaw next, sooner or later. But this ritual stays the same. The one constant through all this.
It was, at least, the same until after the hotel. When Root texts 'Hannah Karpinski, pastry chef' the response comes right away, not a minute later. Root doesn't want to read into that, but she has to smile when the reply pops up as 'Thank god, a little bird said you might not have made it. Please be careful. Don't get yourself killed. Stay in touch.' Nothing is mentioned about it in person the next time, but from then on the reply to her texts is always 'Be careful, don't get yourself killed. Stay in touch.' Root likes this new constant a lot better.