Writer's Note: I recently had a Maiko Prompt Post over on LJ, so be warned - there are a lot of posts coming up that feature the two. This one is for Ixmythot, who requested an alternate genre. I picked sci-fi, since I'm a nerd and find it amusing (if any of you ever read my Shadow Raiders fics, well, you know why).

Warning: Contains some spoilers for the end of the series. Occurs post-series.

Zuko's grumble brought Mai up from reading her tablet. She looked up, keeping her face blank, and saw him pacing in front of her, his face looking as frustrated as his growl had sounded. "Zuko," she said evenly, giving him an opening.

"I've tried every single thing they want me to try!" he answered, proving her theory right. "I've opened the ports to allow trade on all sides of the planet. I've taken down the blockades of ships that prevent anyone from Earth or Water to land safely. Hell, I've even given everyone a green card to use our landing docks whenever they need to, and posted that everyone was welcome here, no matter what. Why isn't it enough yet?"

Mai's finger slowly moved over the face of her tablet, her eyes shining with the glow of it just a little. In silence, she brought up the windows that showed just what Zuko was saying, displayed on the internet for everyone of all planets to see. There were over fifty threads of comments on each post, and her eyebrows rose in surprise: most of the comments were really rather mean-spirited.

"I know Aang is doing is best, and I know how hard it is for him, not even having a home planet anymore, but really. Really. With the dissension so high, you'd think he would try to do more!" His voice rose and so did his hands, going right to his hair and tugging.

"Zuko," Mai broke in, "have you read these posts?"

Surprise clouded his features. He lowered his hands and looked over. "The bulletins, you mean?"

"Yes. Have you even read them?"

He reddened, and she sighed. "I just thought that Sokka would be able to handle them."

"Sokka's a good speaker, but his writing ... needs work." Mai tried to word it delicately, but her tone must have given something away. Zuko strode over and snatched the tablet away from her, his eyes wide and already blazing. His eyes raked over the characters quickly, and his grip on her tablet was so hard that she idly wondered if it would snap.

Each message said the same thing:

"Are you from Planet Earth (or Water)? Do you want to visit Planet Fire now that there is peace? Well, Firelord Zuko would like you to come on by! He's graciously invited you by dropping the borders and given you enough room to land, and he won't even shoot you! And if you see many armoured soldiers around, well, that's just business as usual! Come on down to the Fire Nation - where tempers are just as hot as the fire they bend!"

He tossed the tablet away, and Mai easily caught it. Stomping, he strode over to the panel, his fingers hard on the buttons as he called up Sokka's destination. There was a pause, then the screen flashed and displayed Sokka's distracted looking face. Mai walked over and stood beside Zuko, placing a hand on his shoulder, noting with some amusement that Sokka was clearly avoiding making eye-contact with the Firelord.

"Sokka..." Zuko snarled through his teeth.

"Hi, Zuko!" was the reply, the smile as big and as fake as the tone. "I bet things are really busy for you right now! I can understand if you can't talk."

"I. Called. You."

"Ah, so you did," Sokka replied, his voice getting higher and higher. Mai noted that clearly he was in the South Pole of his planet, his parka laced up to his chin and his breath coming out in clouds. She wondered why he was bothering to stay in the Pole at all now that the rest of his planet was free of Fire Nation occupation, but that was another discussion for another day.

"Why. Did you. Write that. Message?"

"Ah, well," Sokka finally looked at Zuko, and his face paled at seeing his friend's rage. "I wanted to make it seem like you guys had totally changed, you know? That it wasn't about invading and taking over and all that. Cheerful and lighthearted, you know?"

"You make me look like a fool!" Zuko snapped out, his hands holding onto the edge of the panel tight, as if trying to keep standing. "I'm trying to make everyone realise that they don't have to watch their skies anymore, that they don't have to worry about us invading anymore! Instead, you make it seem like I'm making fun of them!"

Sokka smiled easily. "Maybe you're taking it too seriously."

"Too seriously? Too seriously?"

This was going nowhere fast. "Sokka," Mai broke in, squeezing Zuko's shoulder a bit. "What were you thinking?"

Probably sensing an ally, Sokka now focussed on Mai, looking a little embarrassed. "That really was what I was thinking!" he said desperately, throwing one arm out. The other, no doubt, was holding the com.

"Can you please rewrite it?" Mai suggested. "You can write an apology, saying you were joking. I can send you some drafts, and you can add your own style without diverging too much. That way, it says what we want and it comes from a good source. Is that fair?"

Both men looked relieved by this. "Yeah," Sokka agreed. "Yeah, that sounds great, Mai."

"I'll send them to you in an hour."

"Don't add anything!" Zuko snarled out as a final word, before Sokka rolled his eyes and signed off, blushing a bit.

Just another day in the new peace.