Stop the Snot - Aeris and Iona
Zoniverse, 2026


“Welcome back!” Andie’s voice cut through the noise as the camera swept over the cheering studio audience, settling on the yellow mouse who was with a small light blue dragon girl at the front of the red tiered seating. “When you left us, Iona here was stepping into the drop zone for Stop the Snot…” She put her arm around the reptilian, who smiled with a blush. “But when she saw the underside of those nostrils, she decided she’d rather put someone else in there instead - Iona, who’s going in your place?”


“Uh, my mom,” Iona smiled embarrassedly as Andie turned to face her.


“That’s right! Come on, let’s go and see how she is…” Andie took Iona by the hand and jumped to her feet as the cheers swelled again, leading her across to the plastic booth on the opposite wall. As Andie guided Iona into place next to her at the side of the cubicle, the dragon girl’s teeth showed in a nervous grin as she made eye contact with the young mother dragoness seated on the pool chair inside. She had similar blue scales to her daughter, fading to turquoise on her front, had a pair of slightly curled black horns on her bald head, and was wearing a light summery top with thin straps across her shoulders. As the cameras turned to her, she raised her hands in the air to acknowledge the audience’s whoops, shifting from side to side in the bouncy chair in a nervous dance.


“So, in the snot-seat this week we’ve got Aeris, who’s 32 and comes from Rockhaven - thanks for stepping up and being our player today!” Andie greeted her, glancing down at the card in her hand. “Are you a fan of Massive yourself?”


“I’ve - uh, I’ve seen parts when she’s watching it…” Aeris indicated to Iona.


“All right - well, if you haven’t seen this game before, I’ll just let you guess what happens if you lose!” Andie stretched up past the edge of the clear plastic panel between her and the dragoness and patted the side of the huge green plastic canine muzzle that protruded from the wall above Aeris’s seat, its nosepad hovering a couple of feet above her head. “Iona, you feeling better out here - are you okay with the risk of your mum getting snotted?”


“Yep,” the younger dragoness nodded enthusiastically, prompting a laugh from the audience and a grinning whimper from her mom inside the tank as she leaned forward and twisted to look up into the nostrils looming above her.


“Okay, Aeris,” Andie said as the dragoness budged herself back in the seat, leaning back but cringing with a smile as she caught sight of the looming nose prop again. “The good news is, you can just relax and enjoy the game - all you have to do is pick one of the three callers we have on the line. Who’s going to try to save you and get Iona some prizes?”


Aeris blinked and looked out to one of the camera monitors as the yellow mouse pointed, looking at a choice of three names on the screen as she drummed her hands anxiously on the plastic arms of the seat. “Let’s have… Rish,” she decided.


“Rish! Fourteen years old, from Silverlake - are you there?” Andie raised a finger to her earpiece and paused, then smiled as a young male voice responded.


“Yeah, it’s Rish,” he said, his voice distorted over the phone.


“Good! We’ve got a really nice dragon mum here who’s risking being gunged for her daughter - do you think you can save her?”


“Heh, I’ll try!” Rish responded. Andie glanced back as Aeris smiled faintly, her toes tapping on the floor of the booth as she wriggled her shoulders.


“Okay, so you know how this is going to work,” the mouse continued, glancing at the monitor as the game display appeared at the side of the screen. “Twelve cards on the screen, you’ve got thirty seconds to match them up into six pairs. And here are the prizes you’ll earn for both you and Iona for each pair you find…”


The two dragonesses shared a glance and a smile as the prerecorded voice of an announcer took over, listing off the six escalating prizes. Iona’s eyes drifted up to the giant nose looming over the booth again, and Aeris ran her hands along the arms of the seat as she followed her gaze, shoulders shaking in a silent nervous laugh.


“That’s what’s on the table, Rish!” Andie cut in as the watchers cheered in front of her. “Was there anything that caught your eye?” 


“Definitely the science kit,” he replied, and Iona nodded in agreement behind Andie.


“The science kit, ‘Slime ‘n’ Explosions’!” Andie repeated. “Okay, you’re gonna need four out of six pairs for that - so Aeris and Iona are both going to be hoping your fingers are fast. You ready?”


“Yeah,” came the confident reply.


“Okay, Rish, it’s on you now - stop the snot!”


The studio darkened as a metallic ticking noise started up, the monitor showing the dragoness poised nervously in the gunge tank next to the grid of squares. Touch tones played over the sound of the timer as the cards were flipped in pairs, revealing a set of differently shaped green splatter marks and swapping places with each mismatch. A cheer erupted as two identical ones in a row were uncovered at the bottom of the grid.


“That’s one!” Andie enthused. “Ten seconds gone, go back and find another!”


Aeris gradually leaned forward in the seat as Rish uncovered a second, then a third pair, watching the monitor intently with her hands balled into fists and her bare toes tapping on the floor. She gasped and glanced upwards again as the mechanical click of the timer changed to a more insistent electronic beep.


“Hurry up, Rish!” Andie called as the caller fumbled over the last six cards, with Iona practically jumping up and down behind her. “Yes!” she cheered along with the audience as the fourth pair was revealed, and Aeris joined in yelling encouragement as two of the last four cards flipped over. She shrieked as a buzzer blared, throwing herself back to slump in the seat at the sight of another mismatched pair.


“Oh, out of time!” Andie groaned in commiseration, but turned to look into the gunge booth with a grin as the blue-green dragoness gripped the arms of the chair, her eyes closed with her neck hunched. “And she knows what happens now!” Aeris whimpered through her nervous smile as the whoop of a siren rose up around the studio, and dipped her head down in a half-nod just as two waves of dark and light green slime dropped from the prop nose above her, meeting just as they splurged out over her head.


Iona jumped to the side as an arc of dark green gunge squelched heavily on to the plastic panel she was standing beside, and stepped forward to watch with a grin as the twin green downpours ballooned out over her mum, who shrieked ticklishly from somewhere in the flower of slime with her horns and gaping snout poking out of the dome of gunge splattering off her. Underneath the bowl shape, the glop oozed down her chest and around her muzzle, dripping thickly down into her lap in sputters and blobs.


The streams eased back a little only to start up again, and Aeris drummed her heels on the floor as a new dome splattered over her head, the colours swapped over and the new gunge forming dripping finger patterns as it crawled down over her. Licks of the stuff splurged out from her head on to her arms, her hands visible twitching just in front of the chaotic downpour.


After a few seconds the siren sound effect faded as the gungy downpours began to ease, with the floods of slime parting to reveal the dragoness now coated with an oozing thick green mixture. The remains of the slime streams trickled down from the edges of the giant nose onto Aeris’s slimy shoulders, slithering down her arms as she slowly raised her hands from the chair. With a squeamish gasp, she brought her hands to her face and drew her fingers outward across her eyes, blinking them open then flinching again as the gunge kept falling in a rhythm of heavy drops spluttering on to her green-coated head.


“Wow, what a snotting!” Andie grinned, watching the sloppy dragoness splutter and laugh under the coating of mixed green gunge. She shook her head, sending steaks of the stuff flying outwards, and put her hand to her forehead again to swipe at the slime dripping from her brow. “Aeris, thanks so much for going in the gunge tank for us - Iona, are you happy with the result?”


The younger dragon grinned dreamily into the ooze-splattered booth for a couple of seconds before she jumped as she heard the question. “Um - yeah, definitely. Thanks,” she replied with a smile as she turned to Andie.


“Glad it wasn’t you in there?”


“Oh, yeah,” she laughed. She turned back to look at the gloop-covered older dragoness as she brought her hands down to push the pool of gunge out of her lap, but then yelped again as the movement sent thick waves of it crawling down her leggings.


“Yeah, me too - but I think you should come and say thanks to your mum as well…”


“Heh…” Iona cautiously approached the tank as Andie opened the green-stained door, and she squeaked as Aeris struggled to slither forwards in the seat, reaching one slime-dripping hand out towards her. Iona ducked out of the way before straightening again, giving a squeamish giggle as her mum smeared some of the gunge across her cheek.


“Let’s hear it for Aeris and Iona, everyone!” Andie grinned and clapped her hands above her head as she turned back to address the audience. “Now here’s Shane with this week’s top ten…”