Look! Look! I have a gorgeous new default icon!!!! It's made by the super talented apreludetoanend, who generously made it as a holiday gift. This is my favourite Spike/Xander scene on the show, and the scene that made me think "you know, they'd be a cool pairing" so I'm very thrilled to have such a beautiful icon of it - isn't the lighting impressive?! Everyone should definitely check out the post here to see the other equally awesome S/X icon she made me and because there's a version of this one without my username that is snaggable!! Also, there's a wonderful S/X drabble with very fun Veronica Mars references! Yes, that's right - not only is apreludetoanend a fabulous graphic artist (check out slightlyiconic for her icons), she's also a very talented writer!

Wheee! This totally made my day!!! Thanks so much apreludetoanend!! *gazes at my new icons happily*

And since I'm talking Spike/Xander, it seems like the perfect time to pimp one of my favourite S/X authors, actually one of my all-time favourite authors regardless of pairing: reremouse! If you're not reading Scoffs at Gravity, rush off and read it now - it's here. It's set during AtS season five, and Xander is working as a watcher at Wolfram and Hart. To quote reremouse's summary/warning: Xander's a watcher, Spike's a ghost, Angel's a CEO. Watching, alcoholism, insults and periods of masculine communication via grunts and hand signals. Like all of reremouse's stories there's fabulous humour, excellent flow, wonderful characterization, awesome details and way more going on below the surface than it may initially seem. She's posting Scoffs at Gravity each weekday, and I highly recommend reading as she posts (and commenting too, of course *g*) because I feel that each chapter should be savoured on its own. Although I'm rec'ing this story, I recommend all of reremouse's work.

Oh! And since this is clearly a good news post, read here how the Firefly fandom rallied despite the cancelled Flanvention and how the actors turned up! It's so wonderful to see actors being nice and caring people. Truly a heart-warming story that makes me teary with happiness. Special shout-out to carmen_sandiego who I hope is having a fabulous time!!!

ETA: Oh my goodness in all this excitement, I almost forgot to wish kenyacandoit a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! I hope your day is wonderful and filled with many delightful surprises! *hugs*