OUaT thought: i just read an article about issues with OUaT, and one of them was that Emma’s ‘superpower’ didn’t work consistently and was never really explained. And I have seen this come up (more gently) in a lot of fics.
And… i always figured that Emma was referring to how she had spent a lifetime dealing with shitty people and had been forced to learn to look out for the signs that she was being played (or maybe just assumed everyone was lying until proven otherwise — Emma’s always pretty suspicious). But when she first said the line about her having a 'superpower’ she was framing a tough survival mechanism in a kid-friendly way because she was talking to a ten year old. And one who had obviously been cossetted his whole life.
And maybe she kept it up because there’s a part of Emma that thinks having a superpower — that is all hers, Emma Swan’s, and hard-won without any of that magic or destiny crap — is pretty cool.
The reason Emma’s superpower doesn’t always work is that it’s not a magical lie/truth binary sense, it’s a skill honed from long hard years of experience. Emma’s good at spotting a lie but she’s not infallible.
(And she can always tell when Regina’s lying because Regina may keep her plans to herself but, well, she never really puts too much effort into hiding her feelings!)
one of the funniest side effects of chimney being captain instead of bobby is how buck went from being the firehouse captain’s nepo baby to the firehouse captain’s dancing monkey. anyone else does something stupid now buck is guaranteed to catch a stray on account of being the captain’s annoying little brother
