Turtles of a Feather

Chapter 5- Mask

The four little turtle tots all lied sleeping in the nest, forming a mound. Their wings overlapped over the arms, legs, and shells of their fellow brothers.

Michelangelo was at the very top while the two eldest Raphael and Leonardo were at the bottom. Donatello was snuggled up in the center of them all, shrouded in the darkness of his little brother's tan-gray wings.

Leo was sleeping soundly, unmoved or bothered by the extra weight on his carapace. Raph slept like a rock, snoring loudly unlike his quiet elder brother. Sometimes the forest turtle would even toss and turn in his sleep; being the reason that the whole turtle pile would come crashing down and waking all the brothers early.

Luckily, the tower still stood, but because all the turtles had experienced a little bit of a growspert over the past two years, the nest was getting smaller, and smaller to the point where Donnie's feet even hung off the edge; and because of the lack of area in the eagle's nest, the four tots had to sleep in a pile.

Although Raphael in particular was not happy when Splinter told them to do this, after the first few times, he had learned to adapt.

Even the rat dad on several occasions thought about maybe making individual nests for them all, but he wasn't sure the idea would be a good one. He had no idea if the branches were sturdy enough, or if they'd be too cold if left in a nest alone.

Splinter was already up, preparing breakfast of leaves, and fish for the young turtles. He knew that although they behaved like your average child, they were still turtles, and he wanted to keep them on a consistent and healthy diet.

He sat below the oak tree, roasting the fish in the small fire pit that he had built only mere weeks ago. The two fish were fairly large Perches, the youngsters' favorite fish to dine on. The rat man turned the huge stick on which they were pierced over the small flames, making sure that they were thoroughly cooked. He knew the little turtles could be quite picky about how their food was prepared, especially Michelangelo.

One of the fish started to catch on fire and Splinter went wide eyed, immediately pulling the Perch out of the fire and repeatedly blowing on it to put out the flame. Once the flame finally went out, the rat dad noticed that the whole side of the fish was almost burnt.

'Well, I suppose this will be Leonardo's half of the fish,'  he thought with a chuckle.

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Leo's nose twitched as the aroma of cooking fish meat was wafted up to the treetop. His head lifted slightly as his ocean blue eyes began to peek out from behind his eyelids. He yawned tiredly, but the scent of his favorite food was enough to wake him. After stretching out his arms and legs, he elder turtle was fully conscious, trying to squirm his way out from beneath his snoozing brothers.

Donatello was sleeping directly on top of the sea-green turtle. The third eldest shifted in his own slumber as his sibling's carapace was slightly being removed from under him.

Leo struggled to get out of his trapped position and no matter how hard he pushed, pulled, or twisted his body, he could not free himself. Donnie turned onto his side subconsciously, a large white wing draping over Leo's face.

The eagle-winged reptile grunted in frustration and used a free hand to bat the fluffy limb away. The little turtle was determined and used all of his strength to pull himself out, but yet again, no use.

The scent of fish made his mouth water and his stomach growl, and the fact that he was stuck under a mound of siblings irritated him. Finally, Leo decided that it'd be a good idea to wake up the olive brother.