Clemens' day was a lengthy one, almost entirely based on the itching that came along with his shedding his outer layer of scales. He could manage his work well, as the loosening of the scales over his eyes hadn't yet totally obscured his vision, and to a degree with a lot of his "paperwork" that was done on his computer was in such pre-set pages that he was able to do a lot simply from memory and he didn't need to see what he was typing. After all, most typing classes generally emphasized not looking at the keyboard to begin with. That made things easier for him when he had paperwork to do.
The thing that he really didn't like about the fact that he was in the process of shedding his skin was that he had to give up the tours of the reptile house that he gave and often volunteered to do. Tour groups did occasionally see specimens the zoo had when they were shedding their skin, but that was with mundane reptiles and people seemed to have a lot more tolerance with that sort of thing. People were getting more and more used to Animal People and many of the issues that had generated either hate or unease were beginning to become more and more tolerated, but that didn't mean that they would be entirely at ease seeing him in his present condition with his scales turning more of a whitish color as they loosened from the next layer, with his body itching as well, and to a degree with some feelings of being cramped within a layer of skin that was too small for him.
"We'll do well with this, Clemens," Jacob promised him, "You have no need to worry."
"I'm not worried," Clemens gave a slight chuckle, "I know you'll do well. But I like giving the toursss."
"A lot of us do," Jacob laughed in agreement, "we stay clean... unless a kid has had a little too much to eat, or when we get to the point where we can introduce kids to animals in our collection that are safe to handle that they don't need to go to the bathroom..."
"The kidsss or the animal?" Clemens chuckled again.
"Ha, ha, ha," Jacob answered him, "but it's still that people on the tour groups probably won't respond well to their tour guide scratching himself because his scales are getting ready to come off... or the fact that he's had to slow down in order to "see" or focus on what is going on."
Clemens slowly nodded. It was one of the things that he knew well before the conversation even started. He would have to wait until the scales did begin to peal away, and once that began, the fact that he still had his hands would make that part much easier when compared to mundane snakes, even those in the zoo's collection. In the wild, snakes had to push themselves against rocks and whatever might be tough enough to get the outer layer of scales to separate from the new layer underneath, which could take time as they didn't have hands to help them. With the zoo's snakes, they had the issue that a mundane snake didn't know that the zookeepers were there to help them. They at times struggled thinking that they were about to be eaten when things were such that required the staff to help the zoo's snakes did shed their skins. The fact that he had it easier than mundane snakes was something that he continually reminded himself on.
"Anyway... I'd think that your mind is more on the wedding and whatever comes after," Jacob asked, sounding a bit suggestive at the end.
"Jenny and I aren't having sssexxx until either sshe sssayss she wantss to be like me or the infectiouss nature of the ssserum is finished," Clemens answered.
Jacob raised his hands in surrender over the issue, "I know... I know... you want to be a gentlema... a gentlesnake for her. Hopefully she likes that in you."
Clemens nodded. At the moment he had some conflict with regards to his coworkers. It wasn't that they were bad or against him the way his earlier set of coworkers were. The ones he was working with now were actually rather supportive of him in many ways, though there were times when Jacob and some of the others came up with ideas to improve either the tours or attract more visitors to the reptile house that were more silly than anything else. One of them had been to have the entire staff be Animal People to attract a more hands on approach, another had been to put all of the female staff in swimwear. Both of which only gained a chuckle at best and were never seriously considered. It was a vast improvement, which Clemens felt glad for with regard to his own work, but then he thought of all the difficulty that Jenny had been having to put up with. That was something he didn't feel that great about. He now had supportive coworkers while Jenny was dealing with bullies with high school level of maturity. What made it worse that there was little he could do in that regard.
"She doess... though her coworkerss aren't making thingsss easssy for her," Clemens sighed.
"That's rough," Jacob sighed, "hope it gets better."
Clemens only nodded.
"Hopefully things turn around and you can get out of that old skin and look nice and shiny for the wedding," Jacob commented, "but I got to get going... first tour of the day and all."
Clemens nodded and let him go. The shiny look of new scales was something that Jenny had mentioned looked good on him, which made him feel the irritation of dealing with shedding of his skin being worth it. To a degree that also enabled him to make it through the day, even with everything itching and having to stop every now and then to scratch at the parts of his body that itched. He managed to check during the course of the day but so far, no layers had come loose during the day and he was left having to endure the itching and Jacob was to give him a ride home at the end of the day.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
"You'll be okay, right?" Jacob asked him when they pulled up the curb outside the apartment building he and Jenny lived in.
"I'll be fine," Clemens assured him, "This itchess like crazzzy... but it doesssn't take me asss long to shed my sskin as it would mundane ssnakessss."
"The glory of the opposable thumb," Jacob laughed, "seriously, you'll be okay?"
Clemens nodded, "If anything starts to come loose tonight, Jenny can help if I need it."
"If not... don't be afraid to take a sick day," Jacob said to him, "we all understand."
Clemens nodded and made his way into the apartment building, scratching at an itch along his jawline as he went. He made his way up to his apartment. A part of him hoped to find Jenny there, but she wasn't as he didn't hear an answer when he called for her. He then sighed and made his way to his bedroom to put some clothing away and get a bit more comfortable. Normally Clemens wasn't bothered by clothing as much as other Animal People, such as George and Molly were. Their fur would be moved around by most fabrics that would then irritate their skin and thus make them itch. His scales normally weren't irritated by things as much, as most fabrics couldn't and wouldn't move his scales as he moved, thus he didn't really have the problems that other Animal People did.
"Ahh... that'sss better," Clemens said aloud as he set his shirt in a laundry hamper that was just outside the door the closet. He continued to scratch at the spots that itched a little too much for him to easily endure. He couldn't wait for the outer layer to begin to peal away, as that would erase the itching and would him to return to a more normal level of activity. He walked out of the room scratching at his jaw with one hand as he did so. Everything itched and the itching was worse than it had been the day before and even worse than it was in the morning. It gave him some level of confidence that the old layer of scales would begin to peal away soon.
He walked a short way before suddenly he felt the scales on his lower jaw pull loose as he scratched at it. He carefully reached up and out the loose layer of scales that had been on his lower jaw. As it turned and pivoted loosely and separate of his jaw, Clemens felt himself smile as it meant that his top layer of scales were now pealing and he could put all the itching could be put behind him for the moment. Perhaps he'd even get out of his old skin before Jenny got home.