Chapter 1, First Impressions - Synopsis: Of course, she caught his attention. Takes place in Part 1.

He had noticed her walking around the monastery for quite some time now. Sylvain had a knack for these things after all. Any time a beautiful woman was nearby his eyes would immediately follow her. Then it wouldn't take long before he would introduce himself and charm his way into a first date and if he was lucky he would be rewarded with a kiss. Although he wasn't so sure if it was a good idea for him to approach this one in his usual easygoing fashion. Needless to say that didn't stop him from trying.

"The blue girl from the Golden Deer class?" Ashe blinked in confusion before he recognized who Sylvain was talking about. "Oh, do you mean Marianne?"

"Marianne... Marianne von Edmund?" Sylvain asked and to which the younger boy nodded. Ah, I see now. The daughter of Margrave Edmund from the Alliance. "So that's who she is."

Beside him, he could already feel Ingrid's pointed gaze burning the side of his head. "Sylvain, I know what you're thinking," she began.

Sylvain braced himself for the inevitable. "And what exactly is that, Ingrid?"

"Do we really need to go over this again? You leave that poor girl alone."

"I haven't even met her yet," he protested.

"Exactly," she reprimanded. "She's going to be transferring to our class pretty soon so the last thing we need is you scaring her off because you can't keep it in your pants."

Ashe chuckled much to his chagrin. Their weekly study session proved to be ineffective as Sylvain often found his mind wandering. It also didn't help that the mysterious and attractive Professor Byleth was teaching. The bells of the church rang signaling that classes were finished for the day. Sylvain, Ashe, and Ingrid walked out to the courtyard and at the same time Raphael also walked out of the Golden Deers classroom. His eyes landed on Ingrid before he jogged over to her with a big grin on his face.

"Ingrid!" he greeted. "Hey, guess what? I heard that they're finally serving Deirdru Style Roasted Pheasant today!"

Ingrid gasped. "No way! Ever since you told me how it tastes like I've been dying to try it."

"Well don't just stand there. Let's go before it's all gone!"

Sylvain and Ashe observed them in amusement as they were both brimming with excitement. The two made a mad dash towards the dining hall. One of the monastery monks yelled after them to not run. In their haste, Raphael nearly knocked over a small young woman. He didn't bump into her but it was close enough to startle her and make her fall on her backside. Sylvain wasted no time.

"Hmm, I can't remember the last time I've ate roasted pheasant," Ashe said. "Do you want to go eat Sylvain? It's a little early but they might run out later. Huh, Sylvain?"

Sylvain knelt down next to the young woman and offered his hand. "Are you all right?"

Deep brown eyes locked onto his. There were dark bags under her eyes and the blue hair that framed her delicate face seemed to accentuate the color of her eyes. Marianne looked at his hand suspiciously before taking it. "I'm fine. Thank you."

He helped her stand up, taking note of the faint scent of lavender that was exuding off of her. "That was pretty rude of Raphael to knock you over."

"No, it was my fault. I should have been paying more attention to where I was walking."

Sylvain studied her face and noticed that she avoided looking directly at him. He gave her his most charming smile. "You're Marianne, right?"

"Yes, um," She glanced down at their joined hands. "can you please let go of my hand?"

"Oh, where are my manners? I'm Sylvain of House Gautier, by the way." He bought her delicate hand up to his lips and gave it a soft kiss. When he released it, she held her hand protectively against her chest. "So I heard you were transferring over to the Blue Lions. Since we're going to be classmates, if you ever need help with anything I wouldn't mind lending you a hand."

"Oh, that's um, very kind of you but I shouldn't impose."

"Hey, it's no problem at all. If you got any questions I'd be happy to answer them especially if they're about me," he winked.

She gave him a queer look. "...If I need any help, I'll make sure to ask Professor Byleth."

"Oh okay." Time to try something else. "So were you heading to the dining hall? I was just about to go grab a bite and I wouldn't mind having company."

"No thank you. I'm not really hungry right now. Please excuse me. I need to um... go pray." She bowed dismissively and then scurried off in the direction that was most certainly not towards the church.

Well, that could have gone better. As far as impressions went, Marianne was reserved and courteous. Perhaps too guarded or could it be that he approached her a little too strongly? Maybe she was put off by how he kissed the back of her hand? That did seem a little excessive now that he thought about it. In any case, he's dealt with shy girls before. This wouldn't be any different.

Ashe walked up to him and sighed. "Oh, Sylvain. Was that really necessary?"

"Well, you know me. I can't help it. By the way, why didn't you tell me that she was shy?"

"You would have found out one way or another. Besides, I wouldn't bother if I were you."

That piqued his interest. "Why's that? Wait, don't tell me. Have you already tried making a move on her?"

Ashe flushed. "No, of course not. It's just that she seems like she already has enough problems of her own. She's often by herself and she always seems so... sad."

"Have you ever thought that maybe she's sad because she's always by herself?" He retorted. "Maybe she just needs a friend."

"Well, I'm her friend... I think." Ashe changed the subject. "Anyway, do you want to go eat?"

Sylvain looked down and noticed a leather bound book on the floor. Marianne must have left it. "Go on ahead. I got something to take care of."

With the book in his hand that was titled How to Be Tidy, Sylvain couldn't help but skim through it as he tried to make sense where Marianne could have gone. Did she head to the Knight's Hall? Maybe the market? There was no way she went to the church, otherwise she would have went straight to the bridge instead of the reception hall. He received his answer when he spotted a head of blue hair near the stables.

She wasn't alone. She stood next to a brown mare coated in battle armor. Sylvain also recognized the bright orange hair to be Ferdinand von Aegir from the Black Eagles House. The two of them seemed to be arguing so they did not notice him as he hid behind the edge of the building. It probably seemed unbecoming to eavesdrop but Sylvain was curious, nonetheless.

"You are a noble, and yet you do not wish to be one. Is that not so?" Ferdinand inquired. "I did not expect to hear that from the daughter of Margrave Edmund."

"But I'm not actually his daughter," Marianne explained. "He's a distant relative. We share very little of the same blood."

"But still, you come from a noble lineage, do you not?

"Oh, no. I'm just a minor noble from the countryside.

"Minor though it may be, you were born into a noble family," Ferdinand pressed. "Which means you are a noble too. We did not choose to become nobles. We were born into nobility."

"I understand, but that's why... Why I don't care to be responsible. I had no say in the matter!"

"Marianne! I-

"My parents and I have suffered because of this bloodline and Crest. Even so, I am prepared to do what I must as the daughter of a noble family... But to be told that's still not enough, I...I just... Ugh!"

There was a dramatic pause before either of them said anything. "I...I see. I will not pretend to understand." Ferdinand said. "But you should try to calm down a bit. Certainly, things did not turn out the way you had hoped. But the conditions are such that-"

"The conditions? Those will never change? There's nothing to do but give up! Please, just leave! Ignore me!"

"There will be no convincing you. Very well. I will go." Footsteps indicated that Ferdinand did leave, and much to Sylvain's relief he was heading towards the market.

"Oh Goddess... Why did you curse me with such suffering?" Marianne pleaded but her silent prayer went unanswered.

Well, that was unexpected. Sylvain could certainly feel the tension of that dispute from where he was hiding and he was beginning to wonder if it was a good idea for him to have heard that.

Ferdinand was insufferable, and hearing him lecture about status and the social norm just added to Sylvain's already growing distaste of him. However, he did admit it seem a little preordained for Marianne to be despairing over her position. Then again, Sylvain knew nothing about her situation and thus he had no intention to preach about how she should handle it. He peeked around the corner and watched as Marianne leaned against the wall behind her and slid down as she curled into a ball.

For a moment, he almost thought that she would begin crying. Dealing with a crying girl was possibly one of the only things Sylvain still had trouble with despite how much of a charmer he was. He would do his best to console someone when they were upset but given the predicament, it didn't seem fitting for him to be butting in. It also didn't seem appropriate for him to be comforting her when he barely knew her.

Even though she was distressed, Marianne stood up gracefully and turned towards the patient horse beside her. Sylvain stole a quick glance at her face and noticed that she was in fact not crying before he left. It didn't seem like a proper time for him to return her book. Ashe and Ingrid were right. He would need to rethink how to approach her the next time he would talk to her.

End Notes: The last part where Marianne and Ferdinand are arguing is their C+ support. I almost forgot about it until I saw it again when I did my second playthrough and I thought it would be interesting if Sylvain were to witness it especially since it was weird that he somehow knew Marianne didn't like Crests.

There's gonna be more after this but it might take awhile. This is gonna be a collection of oneshots that may or may not be connected. I've been playing nothing but Three Houses for the past few weeks and I feel so robbed that Sylvain and Marianne don't end up together. Heck, if you got any prompts for these two, let me know. Thanks for reading.