Difference between revisions of "Manilla Winkledorff"

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(Later Life)
(Relationship with Scarlet)
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==Relationship with Scarlet==
 
==Relationship with Scarlet==
In N.D. 512, Manilla met for the first time a 7th grade student named [[Scarlet Jusenkyou]], whom she would later describe as 'adversarial'. Manilla disliked her initially, then began to hate her when she learned about [[Royland and Annaria Jusenkyou#Roy|Roy's]] vocation. Though she ahted all of her students, her disdain for Scarlet was unique. She described the girl as combative, and constantly correcting her
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In N.D. 512, Manilla met for the first time a 7th grade student named [[Scarlet Jusenkyou]], whom she would later describe as 'adversarial'. Manilla disliked her initially, then began to hate her when she learned about [[Royland and Annaria Jusenkyou#Roy|Roy's]] vocation. Though she hated all her students, her disdain for Scarlet was unique. She described the girl as combative, and constantly corrected her, even when Scarlet had given the right answer, or done something honorable.
  
 
  They do, however, connect briefly. While Winkledorf doesn't care as much about history as a teacher should, she does have questions that Scarlet can answer.
 
  They do, however, connect briefly. While Winkledorf doesn't care as much about history as a teacher should, she does have questions that Scarlet can answer.

Revision as of 19:30, 11 October 2020

Born Manilla Etsy Dotsen, Manilla Winkledorf is Scarlet Jusenkyou's history teacher in 7th and 8th grade. She is in her late 50s and is known for being a spiteful and abusive teacher.

Early Life

Manilla was born in N.D. 460 on the outskirts of Boarder Watch where she grew up on a dairy farm. Her parents can best be described as "dull" and "strict". Her father was a 19th generation farmer, the family having worked the land since the Long Night, and lucky to get a legal claim on it at the start of the new Alliance. While Manilla will always tell you her family was poor, the truth is her father was simply a miser, and didn't believe in paying for "frivolities" such as clothing or shoes. His family dressed in outfits sewn from flower sacks (or, when these were cheaper, flour sacks) and his children usually went barefoot around the farm. Meanwhile, they always had money for new equipment, and their finances saw them through a few rough patches.

As the youngest of five children, Manilla had few prospects at home. Her elder brothers were to inherit the farm, and the then-rural community did not offer many opportunities. Despite having no interest in a career of teaching, Manilla applied at 16 for a supplemental program where she could finish high school and start college in Arindell, having her room, board, and schooling expenses paid, in return for agreeing to work for a time in a field where workers were in high demand. Based on standardized testing, Manilla was put into a training program to become a school teacher.

Education

Manilla came into the program apparently barely able to read, the standards of her rural village school having been much lower than expected in the fast-paced program. At the training school she was implicated in numerous petty thefts and three times accused of plagiarism. While she did well enough in the program to avoid dismissal, her marks were not high enough to for the compulsory employment program and she was directed to pay back the cost of her training and to find a position on her own.

Career In Arindell

Manilla went to work at the age of 21, having completed schooling and student-teaching requirements. Despite rumors to the contrary, she did not attain a prestigious position at any of the high-paying private schools, and instead worked the public school circuit initially as a substitute.

From her first paycheck, Manilla began to revel in her newfound freedom. She'd never had money growing up, and had no idea how to manage it. Manilla was provided with a year of transitional housing as part of the program, but still ended up living in her car. Deeply in debt, Manilla took up with a man named Edsel Winkledorf, a medical student from a well-off family.

Marriage to Edsel

Edsel Winkledorf was a 24-year-old medical student when Manilla met him. His family was wealthy and paid for an apartment near campus as well as a generous allowance, so he could focus on his studies. At the time, Manilla was a notorious "party girl" and disliked by Edsel's parents. She was able nonetheless to move in with him, allowing her to continue her lifestyle.

By all accounts, Edsel was a cold and distant man even at a young age. He spent long hours on his studies and was often not home, while Manilla put in the bare minimum at her teaching job while partying every night at Edsel's university. After two years of cohabitation, Manilla became pregnant, and Edsel's parents insisted they marry.

The child was most likely not Edsel's, but it is unknown whether he suspected or cared. With the pregnancy, Edsel saw something he was familiar with: medicine. Manilla would describe in her divorce filing how Edsel became "very demanding and controlling" after they were married. His side of the story is, he forced her to stop drinking for the welfare of the unborn child, and kept her to a strict regime of diet and bed-rest. Medical records attest it was a high-risk pregnancy.

Manilla had a second child before divorcing after six years of marriage. She was by then a bit better at managing her life, but did not request custody, preferring instead to leave the children with their father. Edsel Winkledorf had completed medical school by then and was rewarded with a lavish home purchased by his parents. To assist him in his promising career as a surgeon, his parents paid for a nanny and a cook. No formal visitation arrangement was made, and the cook later attested that Manilla "often came by to see her children around meal times, and was never shy about accepting leftovers".

Edsel was at this time in the middle of a surgical residency. As both of his parents were still alive, he had very little money of his own. His parents owned the house he lived in, the cars he drove, and paid the wages of his hired help. However, because of the high standard of living they had enjoyed on his parents' dime, Manilla was awarded a sizeable alimony settlement.

After the divorce, Manilla tried briefly to return to school and find something she was interested in studying, but quickly fell back into debt. The law in Arindell stipulated high wages for teachers, and though she had difficulty holding down a job it did mean steady pay, and she was forced to stay in her profession.

Later Life

Manilla eventually gained enough competence with her finances to buy a house. She settled on teaching history and literature because they required the least effort. By teaching from a prefabricated curriculum, she could score most assignments with a rubric and use her students to grade each other's papers in class, thus freeing her to spend more time hanging around in bars.

Around the time her eldest was fourteen, Manilla began a shared custody arrangement, but felt like she was a stranger to her children. This relationship was mirrored in her job, where she had a reputation for being harsh and distant. Manilla never stayed at any one school for too long. She was dismissed four times for yelling at students and twice for incompetence.

In her late 40s, with her children grown and off to school, Manilla remarried impulsively to a truck driver, but kept her old husband's last name. The marriage lasted approximately 29 days, but was enough to free Edsel from his alimony commitment. Following her second divorce, Manilla was audited and discovered to not have paid any income tax on the alimony she'd received from her first husband for nearly 20 years. Manilla was forced to sell her house. Deeply in debt, she could not find proper living arrangements and moved in with her adult daughter.

By N.D. 510, now 50 years old, Manilla had settled in to a job at a small middle school in the suburbs of Arindell. She had by this time learned how to keep her temper in check and exactly how much effort had to be put in to keep from getting fired. She was still living with her eldest daughter to whom she had to pay rent, and drove a fifteen year old car of which the only upkeep she could afford was to replace the nuclear battery every five years.

Relationship with Scarlet

In N.D. 512, Manilla met for the first time a 7th grade student named Scarlet Jusenkyou, whom she would later describe as 'adversarial'. Manilla disliked her initially, then began to hate her when she learned about Roy's vocation. Though she hated all her students, her disdain for Scarlet was unique. She described the girl as combative, and constantly corrected her, even when Scarlet had given the right answer, or done something honorable.

They do, however, connect briefly. While Winkledorf doesn't care as much about history as a teacher should, she does have questions that Scarlet can answer.