[Setting: A café terrace in Vancouver. It’s late afternoon. The three are sipping coffee while scrolling through news about the looming government shutdown.]

Maximus: (leaning back, half-smiling)
If the government really shuts down, maybe—just maybe—we’ll be in paradise soon. Elysium on Earth. A world without bureaucrats, no forms, no taxes. Just people free again.

Ante Bosko: (chuckles, stirring his espresso)
You’re talking like Marcus Aurelius on a bad day. I’ve seen what happens when systems collapse—empty shelves, no security, chaos. Doesn’t sound like Elysium to me, bro.

Erica: (raising an eyebrow)
Yeah, paradise without garbage pickup, hospitals, or passports? I think your “heaven” would start smelling real bad, real quick.

Maximus: (grinning wider)
You two think too small. When the state falls, communities rise. People actually help each other instead of waiting for some department to save them. No lobbyists, no corruption, no wars for profit.

Ante Bosko:
And no paychecks, no pensions, no border control. Elysium might look more like Mad Max than Maximus.

Erica: (laughing)
Maximus in the Thunderdome. That’s a movie I’d watch.

Maximus: (shrugs, dreamy tone)
Call me idealistic, but I’d rather risk a little chaos for a shot at real freedom. Maybe paradise isn’t clean or comfortable—maybe it’s just honest.

Ante Bosko: (softly)
Or maybe paradise is the idea of government working right, not vanishing. But hey… if it shuts down, we’ll see who’s right soon enough.

Erica: (raising her coffee)
To Elysium or bust.

(They clink cups, half-laughing, half-worried.)