Close by the ready room but not near any manner of explosives, Roubani opens up the hatch and pulls the newly-found cigarette from behind his ear at the same time, stepping far enough into the room so as not to block things. And then lighting.
Kai isn't far behind. He eases the door shut with a dull clang, and pauses not a foot inside the entryway to light his smoke. It catches on the third, and he takes a deep lungful of the stuff before pacing closer and taking up a lean against a bulkhead. The expression on his face is expectant without being demanding; he's generally a patient man.
Roubani slides his lighter away, sitting down on the edge of a box near his leg. The smoke from the newly-lit cigarette leaves a serpentine vertical trail as he moves. "I'm worried about Eddie," he says, sans preamble. His voice has a slightly softer quality in here, though that could be due to the smaller space. "I wanted to ask if you might speak to her if you find the chance."
Kai pinches the cigarette between his teeth, and slides his arms out of his flight suit for a bit more breathing space, so to speak. Thankfully, he showered before he went out, so.. it could be worse. "Morales?" He talks once he's freed his mouth of the smoke again, and dropped his shoulders back against the bulkhead. "What's wrong?"
"She has been…" Roubani tilts and lowers his head, scratching at his hairline. "…far more lashy than normal. If that makes sense." Naturally he takes notice when people display more emotion than usual, given how rarely he does it himself. "The night Demitros announced the merger she was very…lost."
Kai watches Roubani while he speaks, the cigarette toyed with absently between his fingers before he takes each drag. Typical stick jockey. Fidgety. "I feel like a shit for saying it, but I haven't seen much of a lot of the wing, lately. Including Morales." His brows furrow a little, then slowly smooth. "I'll track her down and have a word with her." Softer, "Thanks for keeping an eye on the girl."
"It isn't as though it's because you've been on vacation," Roubani says, with a slight twitch of lips. "You have more on your plate than we do, we all know that." He gently flicks his thumb against the filter of his cigarette, glancing at his fingers. "Don't…tell her I said anything, of course, please. The last thing I want to do is hurt her pride."
No comment on how much he has or hasn't on his plate, of course. Just a slight flicker at one corner of the Captain's mouth in reply. Their mannerisms are so similar sometimes; it's probably no coincidence. "I won't tell her you said a word, Nadiv. No need to worry." He gives a soft grunt, and drags again off his cigarette. "How are you doing with all of.. this?" This, encompassing the crew merge, the new ship showing up out of nowhere, presumably.
"I feel useless," Roubani says, looking back up. "To assist, to comfort, to…anything." It's honest, but it's neither self-deprecating nor self-pitying. "How are you doing with it?"
Kai turns his head aside, and blows a rather well-formed smoke ring away from Roubani. It drifts up, up, and comes apart slowly before it reaches the network of pipes and rafters that form the storage room's ceiling. "I guess being a comfort and a support isn't always about doing something," he murmurs. "Sometimes it's just about being there."
Roubani looks back down at his hands for a few moments. "Salazar asked me what a sofreh aghd was," he says, somewhat out of the blue. Or perhaps not. His fingers fidget with the cigarette, rolling it. "Uh…I didn't know what you'd…er…talked about. But I told her what it was."
Kai drops his head in a nod, and keeps his eyes lowered while Roubani speaks. "I'm under the impression she's been paranoid that it involves dead animals and smoking mind-altering herbs, for some reason," he murmurs, stifling a small smile. "Hope you managed to set the record straight."
"Well I almost told her it involved nudity and glitter, but…" Roubani shrugs primly. "I figured I could never get away with it."
Kai chuckles softly, the sound just a husky little burr in the dim light and dusty air. "I don't know, she might've gotten a kick out of it." He adds blithely, "At my expense." After a couple more drags of the smoke, he checks his watch and shoves off the wall slowly. "You let me know if you need anything between now and then, all right?"
"I believe there's still a birthday present lurking somewhere, no?" Roubani still has a drag or two left on his and damn it, he's going to milk them. "Other than that, I will let you know. And you do the same, Karim." The last two sentences come out more quietly. Then the cigarette's back in his mouth.
"Yeah, yeah." One more hit from the smoke is savoured, and then Kai drops it to the deck, and grinds it out beneath the heel of his boot. "Don't get your hopes up. It's nothing all that special." Birthday presents are hard to come by in times like these. "See you later, Nadiv." His blue eyes turn toward Roubani one last time, and then he ducks his head, shoves his arms back into his flight suit, and heads for the hatch.
That -might- be a soft chuckle. Hard to tell. Roubani lets his back rest against the wall, scratching his fingers over the back of his head. "Gods keeps you safe."