Gabriel lifted his eyebrows and put his hand over his heart in utmost innocence. "Now where would be the fun in things if I did that?"

At least this way he got some perks out of it. Mostly in the form of icing and chocolate chips, but he was starting to work out a very good system of pretending to 'learn' to bake while not actually doing much at all. In the meantime, he actually did get something other than the rations. It wasn't a bad system, really. Except for the part where his stomach had boundaries.

"What did they stick you with?" he asked, giving the old man a critical eye. He looked like a professor or an old retired doctor. Of course, he could've owned a funeral home too; that would have been interesting. But also less likely.