‘I’ve been thinking about not wasting my life,’ she says eventually. ‘How we have to make it count. Maybe that’s how we win.’

Bochen and Cherry arrive in a flurry of bags and perfume and exclamations over how nice Natalia’s mum is and how hard her street was to find. They carry their shoes in their hands, because there’s nowhere to leave them at the door, and bring a bag of vacuum-sealed bubble cups. I can tell Natalia hates her herbal jelly drink but she drinks it anyway, to be polite. Maybe some of the things I’ve said to her have gotten through.

I show them some reference shots, some famous, others maybe not so much. The famous ones are Ai Weiwei flipping the bird at famous monuments around the world, and most controversially, sticking his finger up at the Gate of Heavenly Peace in Tiananmen Square.

‘I like the spirit of rebellion,’ I say. ‘I want to capture that.’

‘You know he’s a friend of Bochen’s parents,’ Cherry says cheerfully.

Bochen shoots her a dirty look. ‘Not friends. Perhaps they are in the same scene.’

‘Her parents are artists.’ Cherry is oblivious to Bochen’s discomfort. She points. ‘She’s supposed to be an artist too, she’s meant to be going to the Central Academy, but she’s a bad girl so they send her here.’

Bochen grabs Cherry’s finger and squeezes it to shut her up. ‘Don’t ruin my reputation. What’s the next photo?’

‘It’s a video.’ I cue up Cao Fei’s Cosplayers video on Natalia’s computer. The video starts with young cosplayers acting out action or fantasy sequences in a range of busy city environments. Gradually, though, they’re shown hanging out in the city like normal teens, riding the subway, walking down the median strip of a busy highway, looking out at water, bored. Eventually they’re shown at home, still in their costumes and doing mundane things like scrolling on their phone or eating dinner in front of the TV.

It’s a combination of how they would like to be seen in their best fantasies, together with the bare reality of their lives.

‘Do you recognise any of those places?’ Natalia asks Cherry.

Cherry gives her a pitying look. ‘I’m not from Guangzhou.’

I turn away so Natalia doesn’t see me smirk. When we get going on the shoot everyone starts to get along a lot better.

I’ve asked Bochen and Cherry to bring their own costumes and direct us on how they want to be portrayed. It’s a lot more loose and random than what I did with Natalia, but I’m hoping it will capture something truthful.

Bochen wears a tiger onesie, stripes and ears and tail and all.