They hung there dependant from the sky

Sometimes negotiations with the library pixies progress favourably, and sometimes they go all kattywumpus and end with management concessions and loss of dignity, for that is the essence of good-faith bargaining in the cut-and-thrust of the labour market. Recent negotiations to roll over the terms of October's Cataloging, Shelving and Downloading Digital Material Relevant to Needs of Riddled Researchers without Snide Comments and Rickrolling Contract through the month of November have turned into something of a coup, thanks to the brinksmanship and superior poker skills of the Riddled Appointed Negotiating Agent, though I say so myself.

You can see how cleverly I have convinced the pixies that a management-supplied Guy Fawkes piñata is appropriate for their Guy Fawkes Night celebration, rather than allowing them to expect a more expensive firework display and bonfire that would have made serious inroads into the staff Chocolate Digestive-Biscuit fund.

It is not my problem if they want to bring a spider along as their own Appointed Negotiating Agent. If you are wondering why the background consists of two elephants standing on their trunks on levitating hillocks, it appears that the pixies' notions of decor for the Graphic Novel wing of the library are inspired by reading the "geyser bouncer" episodes of Dan Dare on the Rogue Planet.

I'm sure that's only a piñata.