He's a meter-tall, dancing fur-belly with mono-molecular edged claws, an embroidered nose, and telomerase chains longer than your arm. He's an unnatural – a custom-coded gene-job, a chromo-tweaked talker gestated in a pickling jar and born full-grown in a pet store. The tag in his furry side reads, Teddy Da - StitchLife – Made in Tokyo.

We’re halfway through a group therapy session when I lean over and poke Lawrence in the cheek. He looks tired. His eyes are slack buttonholes. I can’t resist, so I push the index and middle fingers of my right hand into his eye socket all the way up to the knuckle.