Tobias Schneien

## Tobias Curtis Schneien

* Main
* Pre-Possession
* Post-Possession

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> *"It's insulting to me for anyone to think that I'm so helpless that I'd need the help of someone who can barely take care of himself. But I don't have much of a choice. No one ever tries to see how I really feel."*
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> - Tobias referring to Mattias
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## Bio

 Tobias Schneien is 15 years old who's been home schooled his whole life until now. Raised in a church in the woods with his many siblings, tentative mother, and religious father, he is wrought with severe paranoia of being in public with peers by himself. His only comfort here are the voices in his head, the blade in his hands, and his god.

## Appearance

Tobias has medium length jet black hair and a slim build that conveys a sense of androgyny alongside his large, almost childlike ice blue eyes that were formally more of a sapphire blue like his grandmother (apparently a side effect from Mr. Edburt's possession of him) and fair face with its soft features. He is 5ft 5in. Tobias usually wears a white collared shirt, black pants, black shoes, and a green sweater (in early chapters).

Tobias has a large scar on his back in the shape of a cross, potentially a result of one of his father’s “punishments”, as well as scabby matching blotches on his stomach and back, though he doesn't recall the origin of those while Mr. Edburt taunts him with the information.

According to Carmelo, Tobias has an accent somewhere between German and British.

## Personality

Tobias is very quiet and reserved though typically snippy and even sassy at times, having little patience for his own peers. However, at times he can lash out violently or succumb to the voices in his head, his temper surprisingly explosive and sudden but seldom activated.

When Tobias was a child, his father had told him to not show any weakness to others. Thus, he is very confused when people show him kindness and pushes most people away. Lucas is also physically, emotionally, and verbally abusive towards Tobias, even taking out a gun and threatening to kill his son if Tobias misbehaved in school. Because of this, Tobias has been conditioned to associate pain with forgiveness, understanding that punishment was necessary for atonement.

Tobias has compromised morals, often believing in survival of the fittest and penance. However, he is gradually opening up to other peers, like Rudolph. Tobias’s personality has changed slightly thanks to his interactions with Rudy. He sometimes thinks about what Rudy would do in certain situations (such as comforting Carmelo) and briefly experiments with modeling his behavior after Rudy’s to try and attempt to be more sociable. As he learns more and more communication, his behavior seems to oddly shift to one more childish and open, giddy with the concept of deliberate misbehavior but yet to truly act on it.

## History

As a child, Tobias enjoyed spending time in the forest surrounding the St. Dabamoth church where he was raised with his seven octuplet and his 15 other siblings (Making it 24 kids total including Tobias). He was frequently verbally abused by his father after his father's sacrifice of him as a toddler and found solace in the woods. Tobias would often run off alone, leaving his octuplet brother Mattias to come after him. Mattias would sometimes pass out whilst searching for him due to his alleged narcolepsy and occasionally while with Tobias, forcing Tobias to frequently have to bring him home.

Around the age of eight (awakening age), it seems like Tobias attempted or even succeeded to murder Mattias. When questioned, he told Lucas why he did so in stating that “It was just an animal, Father. I was putting it out of its misery”. However, some suspect that it was just a misunderstanding on Tobias's part and Tobias was convinced that it truly was an animal he had stabbed while under the influence of Mr. Edburt while it was Mattias in actuality.

His mother, Suzie, eventually convinced Lucas that Tobias needed to be socialized and attend school to which Lucas begrudgingly agreed, the family forging documents for Tobias to attend the school. Tobias first met Rudolph Richardson, Rudy making it a point to befriend him despite his rude resistance to it only for the relationship to end catastrophically while Tobias struggles to pick up the pieces amidst his regret. Tobias also copes with the obsessive presence of Emilio Murkmere who deems him to be perfect to Tobias's chagrin, Tobias accustomed to always being treated as less than so.

## Demonic Entity

Something awful happened to Tobias when he was eight. He doesn't remember it very well, but most of his family does and are subsequently afraid of him. This was likely related to an entity known as Mr. Edburt and the attempted murder of Mattias.

> *"I find myself facing these odd moments where everything becomes hazy and painful and when I wake up something or someone is bleeding. Sometimes that thing is me. Sometimes I know exactly what I'm doing."* *-*Tobias Schneien
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As a toddler, Tobias was introduced to a strange woman known as Lady Kiraba or “Mistress” after walking in on her having a conversation with Lucas. It seems that after this incident Lucas gave Tobias to Lady Kiraba in exchange for his 3 deceased children being revived, including Mattias. After being “given” to Lady Kiraba, Tobias’s eyes changed color from sapphire blue to ice blue and then when he became of age (eight) he began to be visited by something that called itself Mr. Edburt.

Tobias can hear the voice of Mr. Edburt, a demon eater/grey man. Mattias is aware of this as well. Mr. Edburt tells Tobias degrading things that make him completely dependent on Mr. Edburt and distanced from other people.

> *"Mr. Edburt does things to me. I'm not sure what. I just know that it hurts. But I still don't know if it's real. I don't usually try to stop him. There's no reason to. It's okay. Because he means a lot to me. Because I belong to him. No one is going to help. I can't remember why I'm afraid of him.”* -Tobias Schneien
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Mr. Edburt can take control of Tobias whenever but typically it's when Tobias lets his suggestive thoughts get to him or when he freaks out and shuts down. Mr. Edburt is also seen to be able to distort Tobias's reflection and pull him into mirrors. When that happened Mr. Edburt took control of Tobias during his first day of school. He also defended Tobias when a bully attacked him, saying that he doesn't want "his mistress's underling" to be damaged.

As the story progresses, Tobias seems to gain some level of control over Mr. Edburt. He is seen asking Edburt to control him in order to ask Francis what he told Rudolph, and keeping Edburt out of his head while fighting with Rudy. It is suggested in one of Circus Papa’s AUs (more specifically the “raised by Luther” AU) that Tobias has the potential to completely control Edburt and prevent the latter from controlling him entirely.

## Relationships

### Mattias Schneien

Mattias and Tobias are two of the octuplets in the family. They have been very close since they were children, when Mattias would go into the woods to find Tobi hiding out and Tobias would carry Mattias home if he later passed out. While Tobias's feelings regarding Mattias shifted to resentment growing up as he envied Lucas's loving treatment of him, Mattias has remained loyal and determined to help him.

### Wolfgang Schneien

Wolfgang is the oldest of the Schneien children (excluding the two that were previously adopted) as well as the first-born octuplet and therefore deemed himself the leader of the 8 of them. He and Tobias were close as children (Wolfgang gave Tobias the teasing nickname “Tobaby”). Wolfe is a very mischievous boy who delights in pranking behavior, seeing as he was planning to hide his baby sibling and place a roach in their father’s cup upon Mattias’ ask for help and generally seems to be a pain for the family to deal with despite his very playful demeanor.

### Lorelai Schneien

Lorelai is one of Tobias’s younger sisters. She visits Tobias at school to talk about their father’s treatment of him. Tobias is upset when Lorelai says that Lucas really loves Tobi and asks Lorelai to leave aggressively to which she disappointedly obeys.

### Susan Titus

Suzie is Tobias’s mother. She cares about Tobias more visibly than Lucas and tells Luther that she, too, believes that Lucas’s parenting methods are too violent but fails to prevent it despite claiming she was trying. When Tobias mentions to her that he might have a stalker at school (Emilio Murkmere), she becomes visibly distressed and stabs a tomato as she offers to handle it, which seems to hint to some homicidal tendencies.

### Lucas Schneien

Lucas abuses Tobias verbally, physically, and emotionally. He seems to care about Tobias at some level, but never shows it to his son, fear taking over his paternity as he no longer recognizes Tobias as his boy but instead the "demon" he offered him to. Tobias, in turn, accepts Lucas’s ludicrous punishments and believes that by letting Lucas hit him, burn him, lock him in closets, or anything else, he can become the perfect son. Tobias has been receiving this kind of abuse for at least the past seven years, leading to him misconstruing punishment and forgiveness.

Lucas also threatens to murder Tobias if he doesn’t stop misbehaving at school.

### Luther Schneien

Luther, Tobias’s uncle, tries to be a positive albeit irresponsible presence in Tobi’s life. Luther recognizes that Lucas is an abusive parent, especially towards Tobias, but also knows that he can’t do anything to stop it.

So Luther tries, instead, to give Tobias some happiness in his life. Sometimes his decisions aren't the most thought out, such as giving Tobias a knife for self-defense as Tobias expresses that he doesn't feel safe at school and alcohol despite Tobias being too young as he himself no longer wants to be sober at that moment. However, Tobias’s time with Luther gives him a chance to let his emotions out and talk, without the filter he needs in order to survive around Lucas.

Tobias sees Luther as an irresponsible adult and a free spirit, but he also knows, whether consciously or unconsciously, that he can share his true thoughts and feelings with Luther. Tobias notes that Luther is going to hell for the things that he does, however he knows Luther doesn't care, the man living somewhat chaotically with his own wife and daughter.

### Rudolph Richardson

Rudy is the first friend Tobias has ever made outside of his family.

At the start of the comic Tobi looks down on Rudy as someone weaker than him and as someone who just accepted abuse from Carmelo and did nothing about it. But they gradually become friends as Tobi realizes that maybe having someone to rely on can be positive though fails to comprehend a proper balance, eventually expecting to be forgiven for his own issues on the grounds of it not being intentional as Rudy initially dismisses them.

Tobias is hesitant to call Rudy his friend, but as the comic goes on, he becomes increasingly invested in Rudy’s safety and mental health (flying into a rage when Carmelo has no idea why his actions would make Rudy feel suicidal, using Mr. Edburt to hear what Francis said to Rudy that unnerved him so) and attempts to become quite friendly with the Dane.

However, Rudy and Tobias's relationship took a turn. After a big fight during Halloween (S1, Pt3.5) where Tobias almost kills Rudy, Rudy can see the toxicity in the relationship and decides to end the friendship and to take time to heal away from the toxic people in his life. For once, Tobias can feel what it's like to lose a friend, the fear of someone close now hating him is eating him up inside as he struggles between the concepts that Rudy "deserved" to be attacked and that Tobias was the one at fault for the implosion of their relationship. At the end of the field trip (S2, Pt1) , Tobias makes the decision that Rudy must punish him in order to be forgiven, but Rudy refuses, appalled by the request.

Tobias admits to Rudy the existence of Mr. Edburt in a desperate attempt to make Rudy understand and accept him again, though Rudy misunderstands and offers a personally supportive monologue that Tobias fails to comprehend as he's too focused on his emotional attachment to him. The encounter ends in Tobias once again scaring Rudy off, this time in his distracted and thoughtless move to kiss Rudy's hand.

Watching Rudy enact the very retribution he requests on Carmelo, however, turns that attachment to jealousy.

### Emilio Murkmere

Tobias immediately notices Emilio, he stuck out among the other students from his stare to his odd apparel. Emilio is infatuated with Tobi, and refers to him as the “perfect being”. This compliment both upsets Tobias, because of how it runs contrary to everything his father tells him on a daily basis, but on some level also makes him happy— as a child all he wanted was to be a perfect son for his father.

Tobias is initially upset about Emilio's "punishment" that he had requested upon believing he had attacked Emilio for a misunderstanding but convinces himself that it was a fitting action and that Emilio had merely effectively delivered on the punishment he had asked him for. Having grown up with the understanding that suffering was necessary for atonement, Tobias deems Emilio's actions rightful despite Rudy's insistence that they were not though can't shake the wariness he still feels for him.

Emilio and Tobias’s relationship seems stable enough as long as Emilio is on his medication— he and Tobias bond over the idea of scribes and recorded history, the two have a similar dry sense of humor, and he seems like a good person for Tobias to learn how to cultivate a friendship with. However, when Emilio doesn’t take his medication, his mental state takes a turn for the worse. Non-medicated Emilio is obsessed with Tobias’ murderous inclinations and acts more outrageously. When Tobias asks Emilio to punish him with the implication of stabbing him, he takes it too far by not only stabbing him but licking the blood from the blade and forcing Tobias to taste it with a kiss. When Emilio finds a corpse left by Tobias in the woods he begins to craze over his abilities and lusts over the concept of being strangled to death by Tobias's hands himself.

Throughout the field trip (S2, Pt1), Emilio discusses Tobias's nature with Rudy and feels compelled to buy Tobias a gift of a porcelain doll- one Tobias does greatly appreciate upon reception- as he'd overheard Tobias was fond of them. He's surprised when, on the ride home, Tobias makes the request that Emilio kiss him again to reenact the attack of S1, Pt1 with the conviction that he needs to witness it again in order to comprehend the negative feelings it yielded. Emilio hesitantly and uncertainly obliges, but the experiment, however, is interrupted as Luther calls and neither Tobias nor Emilio pursue it further.

### Carmelo DeMonte

Tobias and Carmelo are school acquaintances. Tobias is upset with Carmelo for bullying Rudy and encouraging his suicidal tendencies, but Tobias also makes an attempt to bond with Carmelo and help the latter figure out his feelings for Rudolph. Tobias and Carmelo are partnered on the school trip that they embark on later on. Neither of them seem content with the partnering system, however they are forced to go together. Both are sorting their feelings regarding Rudolph but for varying reasons, both recognizing the ways they both had screwed up against him. Later during the trip, Carmelo sticks up for Tobias by comforting him when he had an upsetting vision, rescues him from an impromptu suicide attempt, and helps him break into a mausoleum for information, becoming more and more exasperated by Tobias's behavior that eventually results in an inevitable though brief breakdown as Carmelo admits just how much the fear and pressure of keeping Tobias alive weighs on him.

Tobias is later envious of Rudy's punishment towards Carmelo, worried that Rudy is unreasonably more willing to forgive Carmelo than Tobias himself.

## Trivia

* His last name—Schneien—when translated from German to English, means "to snow/ snowing."
* The name ”Tobias” means ”God is Good” in Hebrew in reference to his family’s religious roots.
* He has a large cross burned into his back. It is alluded to that Lucas carved it in with a wood burner as a punishment.
* It’s shown during Circus Papa’s ”What if Luther Raised Tobias” that Tobias is potentially able to assert almost full control over Mr. Edburt with willpower alone, stopping him from taking over his body and refusing to follow his demands and that the only thing that gives Mr. Edburt power over him is his own subservience.
* As an adult, Tobias has a son named Tiberius who resembles him in looks but not in personality.