VLVL2 (10) This kid is dangerous, 193-194

[Paul Nightingale]

(193.30-31) "... Prairie had been sitting glazy at one of the screens,
stroking some keys."

The sight of the computers takes Prairie back (amid the talk of
malfunctioning time machines) to all the time she spent in the Ninjette
computer library, where computer terminals announced the presence of her
mother. (And perhaps Raoul has recalled the terminal that wished her good
night on 115.)

Hence, "props to make ol' Sleazebrain here look good" signify something
else. The chapter thus far has dealt with a discrepancy between what she
might have anticipated (based on her knowledge of film and the mythology of
LA) and what she has found ("Hi-tech Heaven").

Then follows the mini-dispute:

(193.33-194.1) DL: "I really don't get this ..." and Prairie: "She ran out
on me ... I leave anything out?" Then DL: "Like all your friends in 'em
Cobra gunships ..."

Finishing with a reference back to the military helicopters that appear at
the end of Ch9 (190-191). At that point Prairie had wished she were in a
sitcom; this dispute takes the form of a sitcom (or soap) exchange, one
designed to update the audience (ie the story so far). Takeshi's slapstick
intervention ("pretending to ... anxiously check the sky") both continues
the illusion and breaks it.

(194.8-9) DL to Prairie: "Until you get to see her ... would you settle for
watchin' her?"

The difference between seeing and watching, where the latter is associated
with voyeurism.

Scopophilia: pleasure in looking.

(194.11-12) "... keeping her eyes down, because she knew DL was on to her
and if their eyes met she'd just blow it."

Cf "So blatantly longing that DL had to stare down at her feet, like an
amateur tap dancer" - just after DL has observed that Brock Vond is
"dangerous" (103).