Yeah, I thought it might be the case that I was reading too much fic. *sigh*

I haven't read any Gibson (I know, I should be shunned). I read it as she was renting "puppets" (to use your phrase) for sexual pleasure, which is why the propietress worried about soreness, and then, when she said she wanted to watch to puppets to things to each other, the proprietress said something about needing a special chip for that.

Or I might just be a big pervert.