In my latest reread of N7 Soldier, I found myself wondering what Guzzard would of thought of Shepard, if he got the opportunity to learn all the things Genesis, Sephiroth, and Angleal learned about her history after his death. Her being an Alien, a Commander, a war veteran, a cyborg...?
I really wanted to respond to this with a fic exploring guzzard’s POV, hence the late reply (sorry!) but the muse just wouldn’t play ball :(
In place of that:
He figured out Shepard’s an alien long before genesis and angeal did. Shes just… not that subtle. He heard her muttering things under her breath that didn’t make any sense (before she cottoned on to just how strong SOLDIER hearing is), all her gear is stamped with brands, serial numbers, and product lines that simply do not exist on gaia. The very top of her omnitool display lists what planet she’s currently on by its coordinates, and when she runs a medical test on someone in the field the first result listed is always species. His comes back as ‘human, modified’. He never caught sight of her results, but he would put money on it having some other words in that category.
There are a lot of things he never knew however. The full extent of her cyborg situation. It wouldn’t shock him but it’d make him terribly sad. He knows she’s military and probably special ops, but he would never have guessed that she’s a big famous hero, let alone humanity’s literal poster child. He’d tease her endlessly if he saw the recruitment ads the alliance used to show before the whole Cerberus thing.
He would have loved the normandy. Coming from rocket town and being cid’s friend he’s interested in space travel, even if his shinra-trained survival instincts meant he could never ask. He always wondered though, what it must be like to travel the stars. To drift away from shinra’s rusting world and be free. He secretly hoped one day he would get to see it himself.